Chapter 14 – Instigators
Fox and Kendrick had arrived near the docking coordinates some time ago. It was only a twenty-minute flight from his home. King had found them while they were riding the halo, the highest set of cables, a freeway roundabout, anchored above the center of Angel City.
The city itself was composed of five interlocking districts, around a sixth central hub. The hub, also known as Executive District Zero One, was a cylindrical assemblage of the tallest buildings, anchored together at the center of the anti-gravity metropolis.
ED served the higher functions of the city-state. It housed the most exclusive restaurants and hotels. It was designed for and populated by the richest of the rich. Simply appearing out of place was enough to invite investigation by the hyper-alert security guards. Having the wrong answers to their questions guaranteed a quick ride down the gravity well.
Around the central hub, the other districts were composed of rolling sheets of terillium, stacked above and below, and then programmed to hold to specific coordinates and elevation, resembling steel and glass petals of some massive urban flower.
King and Fox invisibly descended toward the central hub, where Fuji Dozo would be docked.
Fox had requested a secure ground route to the meeting, as well as isolation of the prerequisite docking lanes. Consequently, the access streets and the local cafes around Executive Suites West were packed with black-suited professional thugs.
Unseen, Fox and King landed on the main street, a short distance from the circular canyon separating the central hub from the media district.
“Looks like everyone here is gee-oh-vee,” King said. “The regulars are smart enough to get the hell out of dodge on a day like Mama Said.”
King gestured at the mercenaries infesting the area. “I will give you a hundred dollars, if you can get one of these ass-clowns to fire a shot in anger.”
Fox laughed. “How much time do we have?”
“An hour, at least,” King answered.
The well-dressed but heavyset young men had deliberately parked their expensive cars illegally, up and down the block, ready for a quick getaway. They laughed and joked amongst each other, mock-fighting and teasing. There were few females among the mercenaries, but those present appeared more dangerous than their comrades.
Fox caught sight of a few execs stepping out of one of the parking structures. They stopped on the sidewalk and silently looked at the mercenaries occupying the benches and chatting in small groups.
The executives had been heading for the closest coffee shop, but seemed to be considering turning away and heading toward their building instead.
One of the men pushed forward, while the other two waved their goodbyes and headed for a business-building lobby.
“Here we go,” Fox said, invisibly falling into step behind the young executive.
King laughed, which prompted the exec to look around, but seeing nothing, he proceeded into the coffee shop.
The invisible Fox followed him, holding the door briefly, for King.
King whispered to Fox, “A hundred bucks if you can start a fist fight, doesn’t even have to involve gunplay.”
“Coffee first,” Fox whispered. He made his way over the drink bar and waited in an empty corner.
King powered up his gravity harness jumped to the ceiling, where he could watch without worrying about accidentally bumping someone.
The executive who’d come in before them found himself bullied at every turn. He was bumped, jostled and openly pushed, all before he even got into line. The mercs then left the man in peace, until his pocket was picked as he exited the shop.
Fox and King watched as the group of thugs went to work on the executive’s credit chip, ordering drinks for themselves and their friends.
Fox easily swiped a couple of the upcoming drinks and delivered one to King, floating above the chaos.
“Okay, watch this,” Fox said, as he descended again, into the fray.
Fox inverted himself between two sets of occupied booths.
Given their more expensive suits and lazy haircuts, the men at the table to his left were most likely private security officers, ironically hired by the very corporations whose employees they had been terrorizing all morning.
While the table on his right looked to be feds with the bureau, given their uniform haircuts and cheap suits.
One of the private security guys was telling a joke, and just before the punch-line, Fox reached over and flicked a fed’s ear.
The agent looked over his shoulder, just as the other table burst into laughter. The ear-flicked agent didn’t even hesitate, but slapped the long-haired security man hard enough to bounce his head off the table; blasting through his cup of hot coffee and splashing his friends in the process.
Fox leapt away from the table and heard King laughing above.
Together they followed the arguing mercenaries outside, where a vulgar-epithet-filled fistfight commenced.
The fight ended when the security man, whose face had been burned, beat the ear-flicked man unconscious.
Their comrades had drawn their weapons, but no one fired.
Floating above it all, King handed Fox a hundred dollar bill, laughing as the regular civilians fled the area.
As they sipped their still steaming coffee, King took advantage of the opportunity to question his old friend. “How long have we known each other now/” King asked.
“Since eighty-eight,” Fox answered.
“I was still a corporal back then.”
Fox gestured and they ascended on a slow arc toward Fuji Dozo.
“Twenty years, Tarn.” Fox addressed First Sergeant King by the abbreviated version of his call sign, Tarnung.
King laughed. “And in all that time, I never once suspected that we would end up filching coffee and causing trouble, like seventh-graders with a death wish. I mean, we’re an hour from being found out. And when they open those files, they will arrest every one of us and have us put down. You know that. And we’re out here, clowning around.”
“Hey now,” Fox said. “You think I have a death wish?”
“Don’t you?”
“Yeah, well, don’t we all?”
“Look, seriously, I need to ask you, what the hell are you doing here?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean…”
“I’m not doing anything. I’m letting things happen as they happen. One day at a time.”
“Epsilon?”
“A tragedy, complete tragedy. But I didn’t do it. I wasn’t even there.”
“What bomber you ever met, sticks around to see the bomb? The whole point of a bomb is you ain’t there.”
“That’s not exactly proof of guilt.”
“How many cabinet ministers and politicians have lost their minds, due to Micronix exposure?”
“On record, zero,” Fox answered.
“Clever,” King replied. “Stanwood ain’t buying it though. And that call to Dr. Te didn’t help your case any.”
“Hey big boss-man, don’t worry so much. They can’t do anything to us. Trust me on this. Would you, please?”
“Ross is on his last legs, and correct me if I’m wrong, but so are you, and so is Ana.”
“Oh come on, that’s six months, a nap is all that is. Look around you. We are intergalactic my friend. We are stardust. We are everywhere and nowhere. The nine of us, we have nothing to fear from Stanwood, that mental midget, I wouldn’t let him wash my car. He’s not an authority over us. He is not an expert. He’s an alcoholic and an idiot.”
“He is going to unravel this whole thing if you don’t stop him. He’s got the bit between his teeth and he is working it. You need to put that dog down. Give the word and wham, he’s out of the picture, out of the park, have a nice ride.”
“No. Don’t,” Fox said as he sipped his steaming brew. “Damn this coffee is good.”
“So, if I may ask… Just what do you have lined up for this little me
eting we’re going to?”
“Nothing special,” Fox answered. “I’m kind of curious about it myself.”
“Word on the street is… Stanwood has everything he needs to get the warrant to put you down.”
“There is no warrant. If he flashes one at you, it’s a fake.”
“Brother, he will never see me coming. Tell you that right now.”
“If there is an ambush, don’t fire until fired upon, I mean it.”
“If someone turns a gun on you, I will shoot that someone.”
“Let them get off one round, first.”
“Are you serious?”
“I’m serious. I’m making this a standing order, if anyone ever pulls a gun on me, let them get off one shot, before you intervene.”
“You’re the boss, but I’ll tell you, that is messed up.”
“Hey, look at me, everything I’m wearing is terillium threaded. Do you know how much this suit cost?”
“One-point-four?”
“Three, three million dollars in bulletproof material.”
“So they have to make it count, fine, I still think it’s a stupid idea.” King raised a hand, “Another question, can you use that instead of a gravity rig?”
“No. The coding would be too complex to manage it realistically. You’d be talking about a million different poles; it’s just way too hard to program that. You’d need some seriously refined threads too, and then you get issues with how brittle the material is, its just not feasible.”
“Don’t get me wrong, the harness works great.”
“It is something, isn’t it? You can’t even see mine, can you?”
“Not at all,” King answered.
The lines of Fox’s suit were not affected, despite the shoulder vest and gravity belt he wore beneath his jacket.
“I still don’t get why you don’t just take him out.”
“Because it’s the wrong thing to do. Besides, I’ve got you guys.”
“All right, well, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” King said.
“Heard and understood,” Fox answered.