BEYOND THE PALE: ( The Outlander ) (24 page)

Every day, Nathan
carried out his duties as usual, but his situation was far from normal. These
days he was more likely office bound, and both he and Sgt. Scott found
themselves restricted to non contentious routine police work. Internal Security
was still targeting both of them as potential corrupted assets. Citizen Naighal
in particular seemed always present in the direction of Internal Security’s
actions against Nathan personally. Sgt. Scott on the other hand had incurred
the wrath of both parties for his inept loss of the previously apprehended
River in District 18. It was really a question of evidence, and presently,
neither party seemed to have enough to suspend Nathan or Ray Scott from duty.
The other looming question was the current whereabouts of River. Nobody knew,
not even Sgt. Ray Scott, and even if he did know, he wouldn’t have been able to
talk to Major Carlson about this. This was due to the nature of the constant
monitoring that they were now subject to. It was hard some days for them not to
be down hearted about their current predicament. However this was not the case
on the particular day when Ray Scott got access to the security files that were
circulating around all divisions of CPS Headquarters. It was one of the most
inept security breeches and the worse security camera footage that Ray Scott
had ever seen. The files showed video and stills of an unidentifiable intruder
who had managed to gain access and work half a day with the Internal Security
branch. He was an imposter who had used the fake credentials of a Marekh Guild
mentor. Despite gaining unrestricted access to the evidence control rooms of
Internal Security, they had no useable audio-visual evidence on him, no
fingerprints, and no leads. The Marekh Guild had point blankly refused Internal
Security access to their servers. The whole debacle had led to a series of
hostile exchanges between both parties, and the CPS Command had to intercede to
calm things down. The main embarrassment for Internal Security was that they
could not identify what evidence if any had been tampered with. They had been
left with a sizeable portion of egg on their face and Sgt. Scott took such
comfort from their misfortune that he had to go get his friend and boss to come
see the files and revel also in a bad day for Internal Security.

Nathan did share Ray’s
comforting sense of schadenfreude. However, he also felt another uncomfortable
sense which was that of recognition. Despite the blurred and fuzzy footage, he
recognised his son through his gait and general body language.

Shondran and his
entourage became a much friendlier bunch once you got to know them. Shondran
was very laid back and his soldiers imitated his calm relaxed attitude when they
were amongst their own company. The women who worked for Shondran in his clubs
were also comfortable around him and his men. However there was an unspoken air
of violence that was residual which meant that there must have been sporadic
eruptions of Shondran’s temper now and again.

However that same night
when Shondran asked River to work for him became his introduction to the good
life. Everyone was seemingly his friend. It was the middle of the night but
this was the start of party time. Night clubs and security seemed to be the
core of Shondran’s business and as these clubs closed down for the evening,
more and more door security staff were passing through to check in with their
supervisors and maybe party with them. River found that he had acquired his own
entourage of one. She was a mixed native girl by the name of Dakota who would
become inseparable from him over the next couple of days. The first thing that
she did for him was find him a private bedroom in the same building. She
ordered two dinner trays to be sent up from the kitchens even though it was
nearly 4am, and she sat and joined him for dinner which he ate and drank as if
he was ravenous. She then ran a bath for him, and he realised that this was
because he smelt pretty bad after living rough for only two days. While he
languished in a hot soak, she somehow mustered up a collection of clothes to
provide him with a new temporary wardrobe until he could purchase his own. She
helped him dress when he was finished with his bath, and he felt shy of her
seeing him naked but she just brushed her hand in a dismissive gesture like a
doctor who had seen it all before. She never directly propositioned him, but
her body language and free attitude towards touching him left him in no doubt
that this was available. River was not stupid, although he did like Dakota’s
company, he had the impression that she had been instructed by Shondran or one
of his lieutenants to stay close and look after him. 

He rejoined Shondran’s
entourage later on, but by then the spark had mostly left everyone including
the boss himself as everyone was looking drunk and worse for wear. River
imagined that Shondran was actually running more of a Navajo war party than an
impregnable criminal organisation. Looking around the room with the steel door
at all his wasted soldiers, he wondered why Nathan and Ray Scott found it so
hard to infiltrate this organisation. He wondered how some rival gang wasn’t
able to just walk in here and take over. There was obviously another side to
this coin which he hadn’t yet seen.

Dakota slept in the
same bed as River although they didn’t actually sleep with one another. Dakota
seemed fine with this, neither disappointed nor put out. River liked the half
native girl for her comfortable attitude to both him and life. She was a
complete contrast to Audrina but for some unaccountable reason he felt like
staying loyal to Audrina. After all, it was because of her that he had returned
to New Denver.

After a breakfast late
in the next day, Dakota brought River back to meet Shondran in private. This
time he chose a private office in a different part of the building. Dakota
stayed outside whilst they talked.

“I think I need to fill
you in with a few facts about how exactly I make a living,” Shondran seemed a
different man today. He appeared in charge and even business like. “I own this
club. It is a nice little earner for me. Everything is strictly above board and
there is no trouble at all here at the Mira Belle. So this is where I can
usually be found. Before I took it over, it was a nasty little brothel but we
use the old brothel rooms as lodgings for me or anyone that needs to stay over.
So you can stay here if you like or rent your own place once you start earning.
Now I have another club in this district called the Memphis Belle. That one is
very different. It has a rough clientele and it is also like a labour exchange
for criminals. Nothing illicit happens there in my name, but I cannot speak for
others. The Memphis is a necessary evil for us. We need it to keep a handle on
our
other
ventures; the illegal ones. Now I can’t involve you in those
right now because I still don’t know if I can trust you. I won’t even tell you
about them until I do; so as not to incriminate myself. You can ask others
about them if you like.” Shondran took a break at this point to use an inhaler
in both nostrils. There were no markings on it to suggest whether it was
medicinal or a narcotic. He asked, “Any questions so far?”

“So what work do you
want me to do” enquired River.

“I was coming to that.
So I was thinking about you working security down at the Memphis, but then I
thought that wouldn’t run. You see, you may be one of the handiest fighters
that I have ever come across. Those guys of mine whom you dropped; they are
experienced enforcers. You know, they are having a hard time living this down.
Don’t get me wrong. They have no problems with you. But fellas like them are
not meant to be dropped. That being said, those guys look the part; and you
don’t. I worked security for years and I know that you wouldn’t be respected
son. You don’t look aggressive. You are not big enough, and you don’t look
handy,” Shondran took another intake on his inhaler and continued. “Then it
occurred to me that you are exactly what I need in a bodyguard. Walking around
with an ex-doorman is like walking around with a portable wall. They have the
eyes but they don’t have my sight. You look unobtrusive. Anyone who might have
a problem with me will feel that there is an open window. I will be able to see
my enemies coming at me but I will also be able to count on you stopping them.
I mean not just you. There will be back up but it will be inconspicuous. What
do you say? Will you accept?”

“Yes I do, but I need a
new Identity and someone to remove this custody bracelet.”

“River you maybe a
hotshot native fighter, but you cannot negotiate to save your life. You haven’t
asked me about credits and you haven’t asked me about working hours.”

“I trust you to decide”

“Well you can stop
trusting me son because I don’t trust you or anyone else. I don’t even know if
I can control you, but I like you and I want to try. But you have to wise up a
bit; Don’t, let people smell the
outside
off you; you need to stop
trusting people in this mean old world that we live in. Learn to live by your
wits and you might become a force to reckon with.” Shondran paused to see if
his words were registering, and then asked, “How do you like Dakota?”

“She’s a nice girl,”
replied River genuinely.

“Well she is a lovely
girl and she is your new best friend. I am going to ask her to take you to see
a man of mine; an associate that knows about identities. And by the way, I am
paying you well, so when he fixes you up with a new name and bank account, there
will be nice few credits rolling through it. And as for working hours; they are
going to have to fit around mine. And you are going to need a firearm and a few
carry weapons. Dakota will take care of that too. Oh and you are going to need
to drive. My girl again will sort you. Come back and check me tonight at
closing time and we can find out your new name. Welcome aboard Son.” And with
that, it was clear that Shondran was dismissing him to move on to other
pressing business.

Dakota had selected a
vehicle from the car pool and had insisted that River drove it. It seemed a
fairly straightforward procedure as long as you turned on auto pilot assistance
and you knew the full address code of your destination. She tapped that in for
him partly to be helpful and partly because the address of the man they were
visiting was meant to be restricted to just a few of Shondran’s entourage. She
was taking him to District 20 to meet a guy called Tiberius. He would be
responsible for creating a false identity for River.

They arrived at a
suburban address where the homes were still stacked like most others, but they
were a better class than your average downtown housing estate. The area was
much more residential and had sporadic patches of greenery. Tiberius lived in a
second floor apartment and he turned out to be a young thin white guy who
looked less like a gangster than River did.

“Hi Tee,” Dakota warmly
greeted Tiberius who replied in kind. It was obvious that they knew each other
well. “This is River, Shondran wants him set him up with a new profile and he
wants you to license him up and put him on a class B payroll.”

Tiberius extended his
hand to greet River. River was on the verge of shaking it until Tiberius
grasped hold of his right wrist.

“A custodial bracelet!
And you bring him here Dakota?” Tiberius glanced angrily at her.

“Don’t worry Tee, its
inactive. There is no trace from it.”

“I better be the judge
of that,” said Tiberius pulling River across his front room to a computerised work
station located in a windowless corner. Still holding River’s arm he passed the
bracelet over a desk mounted scanner a couple of times whilst he intently
studied the display on a small attached screen. When he was content that the
custody bracelet was truly inactive, he rested River’s wrist over another
device which emitted a strong magnetic flux that River could actually feel. The
bracelet snapped open and dropped off revealing River’s own identity bracelet
underneath. “What the frig!” he exclaimed, as he now even more urgently dragged
River’s wrist back to the first scanner. He studied the readout on the display
for a lot longer this time. Nobody talked whilst he did so but River and Dakota
stared at each other in puzzlement. “I see. I think I get it. You were just
using this one as an identity bracelet.” Tiberius picked up another portable
RFID scanner and scanned River a few times while looking perplexed, “So what is
wrong with your ID implant?”

“I think I rejected it.
It came out,” River truthfully replied.

“River, let me tell you,”
Tiberius talked whilst shaking his head. “They don’t come out and they are non
allergic. But Hey whatever; I can work with an identity bracelet just as well.
In fact this makes my job easier. My name is ‘Tee’ by the way. I am pleased to
meet you River.”

 “I thought your name
was Tiberius,” enquired River.

“It is,” Tee confirmed,
and River looked quite confused.

“So can you pick a
name, and I will set up a full citizen’s profile for it.”

“I pick River.”

“Another name please,
not your own,” Tiberius rolled his eyes at Dakota. “It is a false identity, so
it helps if you don’t use your real name.”

“I like your name
Tiberius.”

“Well that’s mine, and
it is an avatar name for when I am hacking. It is not a proper name. Perhaps,
think of something familiar or a name that has a meaning to you.”

“Cactus, they are
familiar to me. It has meaning,” River suggested.

“I cannot call you
Cactus.”

“Why not?”

“I need a first and a
second name, like John Wayne, or Eli River, or Angus Cactus,” Tiberius was
being sarcastic. He added Angus as a joke rhyming couplet to River’s chosen
name.

“I like Angus Cactus.
That can be my name.”

“But I just made that
up” exclaimed a frustrated Tiberius.

“Yes I know. It is a
false name and people can call me Cactus.”

“Nobody is going to
call you Cactus; trust me. Anyway if that is what you want, you are the
customer. Now sit down while I take some medical scans of you. I need to
compare your biological vitals to a wider database and find someone else who is
similar enough in age and physique to you that we can clone their records. Then
I set up a personal, educational and work profile and lastly a credit account
and history. Then you will be Citizen Angus Cactus. Are you happy with that?”

“Very happy Tiberius,”
River said as he sat down in a reclined chair.

“Call me Tee,” said
Tiberius who was hand scanning River from head to toe.

“So why don’t you name
yourself Tee instead of Tiberius,” enquired River seriously.

“Don’t start that again,”
Tiberius remonstrated and addressed Dakota, “What is up with your new friend.
Is he missing some vital screws?”

“Yes he is missing one
screw,” said Dakota suggestively whilst running her fingers through River’s
hair as he lay reclined in front of her.

The last three scans
remaining were fingerprints, dental and DNA which was assessed through a few
follicles of hair. Tiberius explained that these three indicators were unique
to him so once he had uploaded the patterns he would use them to supplant the
original ones on the cloned person’s medical record which he was using to build
the core of the identity profile. “So Citizen Angus Cactus, are you going to be
working for Shondran?”

River replied with his
own question, “Yes, do you work for him too?”

“No, we are associates,
I work for myself but we look out for each others interests.”

“Tee means that he is a
hacker, who works with a team of hackers, who say they are fighting the
government, when all they do really is jack off to online porn and steal
credits from data transfers. Shondran protects him,” Dakota revised Tiberius’
statement.

“Yeah I love you too
Dakota,” came Tiberius’ sarcastic but affectionate reply.

After departing
Tiberius’ apartment, they headed back in the direction of the Mira Belle. River
was really pleased to have an electronic identity again. He had Tiberius’
assurance that a retainer of credits had already been paid into his account. So
when he drove past a supermarket in East Filton, he got a strong urge to get
out and test his purchasing power there. It was the same shop where his ability
to pay had been initially denied. However a better plan then developed in his
mind, and he pulled up instead in front of Wendy’s Chinese takeaway. Dakota
asked if he was hungry, but he replied no and asked her to wait in the car. He
walked into the shop and was glad to see that Wendy was working today. He asked
her to charge him for seven breakfasts and set evening meals for a whole week.
Wendy looked quizzically at him but toted up a figure which he swiped for. He
told her that it was to help cover her costs for feeding the men that slept in
the alley across the way. She thanked him for his generosity calling him by his
first name ‘Angus’. He thanked her for her sense of charity.

The next stop was by request
of Dakota. This time it was she who told River to remain in the car. They had
driven to a run down housing estate that housed some of District 18’s rougher
residents. The difference between this estate of high rise apartments, and that
which Tiberius lived in was extreme. This looked like an area that was not safe
to walk around. River wanted to come with her to protect her, but she was
insistent. So he waited and she was back within 30 minutes and gave him a small
carry bag. He opened it and had a look. Inside was an Aladdin’s cave assortment
of small arms. “There is a selection of stun shots, tasers, electric whips,
knuckledusters, knifes and a decent pistol for a kill shot. I will take you
somewhere tomorrow to practice. This stuffs got to be concealed when you out.
If you are caught with any of it, you are on your own.”

“So they are illegal,”
challenged River.

“Yeah, hence why I had
to collect it from an armoury”

“Hence why you told me
to stay in the car”

“Orders; I am afraid.
Shondran likes you, but it will take him a while to trust you,” Dakota smiled
apologetically. 

River clocked on for
first call of duty at 2am in the morning. He joined Shondran in the same secure
back office that he had the other night, except that now he was part of his entourage.
Shondran was pleased to see him dressed up in his new regalia and looking more
the part. He questioned River about his day and then congratulated Dakota on a
job well done. Then as an afterthought he asked River what his new name was.
River proudly replied ‘Angus Cactus’. Shondran looked grave but then broke out
in a smile. “You have a sense of humour, but seriously what is your new name?”

“Angus Cactus,” River
replied again not really seeing a problem.

Shondran saw a big
problem and he was beginning to raise his voice which drew all attention to
him. “You want us all to call you Angus bloody Cactus. Son, you are having a
laugh at my expense. We can’t call you that. You are going to have to stay as
River to anyone in this room. You can be citizen Cactus in your own time. You
are an idiot River; what am I going to do with you.”

Despite Shondran’s
instructions to the room, most of the other guys in his entourage started
calling River by his new name. This was by reason of a running joke of which
River was the butt. This didn’t stop River from being accepted into the midst
of the group. He was affable, handy and un- ambitious; he fitted in perfectly.
Dakota made sure of that and had him soon conversing in a mini group of the ex
natives and herself as native queen bee. The very big guy with the braided hair
who usually acted as unofficial doorman for this room was called Treyvon; he
was Cheyenne. Another guy in this group was called Ramesh. He was Cheyenne too
and worked for Shondran down at the freight port in district 16. Dakota had
arranged to come down there tomorrow for some live round target practice.
Treyvon liked this idea and volunteered to come as well. River felt really
comfortable for the first time in a long while. He enjoyed spending his time in
the company of other natives, although Shondran would often take issue with any
cliques forming amongst his entourage of lieutenants. Sometimes he would come
over and jokingly accuse them of having a Red Injun pow-wow. They would usually
get the message.

The club takings rolled
in and Shondran stayed local to the Mira Belle all night and into the early
morning. There were no dramas, and River’s first working day was over. When he
retired to his room, so did Dakota. He found it hard to believe how tenacious
she was at staying in his shadow. He didn’t really object though because he
liked her and he was flattered by having his own entourage of one; particularly
when she was such a pretty half Apache girl. When he got undressed, she copied
him as usual and slipped into bed beside her. He found it difficult not to show
affection to her and he leaned over and kissed her in the bed. That simple kiss
was like pressing some ignition starter because she immediately climbed on to
him and grabbed hold of his hands to place them on her breasts. She held them
there whilst she rocked herself back and forth, sitting astride him on his
crotch. River was certainly excited physically but emotionally uninspired. He
sat forward and embraced her tightly while speaking quietly in her ear, “I
cannot do this Dakota. I have lost someone that I love and now I am in mourning.”

Dakota rolled off him
and kissed him on his cheek, “I understand. One day you may feel that you want
me and I will be here.” She then turned around to sleep.