BEYOND THE PALE: ( The Outlander ) (29 page)

“Doesn’t the boss want
his luggage?” River asked Cortez.

“No, we can bring that
with us when we drop off the vehicle.”

River looked out the
window to see Shondran enter the Mira Belle, and he had a distinct impression
that everything was
not
alright.

The local vehicle depot
was a standard multi storey car park that was only a block down the road from
the club. The barriers recognised the sedan and automatically rose as if to
welcome the car to its new home. River made a point of driving past a number of
tight parking spaces in favour of the expanse of the top level parking bay. He
noticed that Cortez was quieter than usual if that was possible, and that he
was staying in close proximity with him the whole time. They each took their
own luggage and shared Shondran’s bags between them as they headed across the
bay to the stairwell and exit. River had an advantage that he did not need to
carry his own case. Instead it discreetly tracked his movements and followed
closely behind him on automated coasters. Shondran's bag sat on top of it.
River did not walk in a direct path towards the stairwell. Instead he skirted
close to the three foot high wall which bordered the bay. There was a small
electricians pit in the floor directly ahead and River knew that the safety
metal plate cover was not positioned properly on top. As he deftly stepped over
it, his own luggage plus Shondran's bag took the plunge. He cursed, and Cortez
stared at him in surprise as both men peered down the pit. River bent down and
reached out to grab hold of the bags which were caught on some electrical
cabling below. Realising that they were just out of reach, he quickly lowered
himself into the pit. Cortez immediately grew concerned and his hand moved to
his stun weapon but reassuringly he saw Shondran’s case being pushed upwards
through the hole in the floor. Cortez reached down to grab hold of it and
yanked it to safety. Next River's own bag was being raised. Cortez now on his
knees reached out and grabbed a hold. With his arm fully extended he didn’t
have the strength to raise it but waited instead for River to push it up
further. He waited quite a while before he realised that he was already gone.

By then, River was
employing some of the free running 'parkour' techniques which Nathan had taught
him. In a few successive jumps he had scaled down the side of the building and
reached the street. After that he disappeared. 

Dakota was scared as
Shondran shouted in her face. He had already hit her once and she could feel
her cut lip and tongue beginning to swell.

“Do not tell me that
you don't know again. I made it your job to know. It is your job to keep a
close eye on him. I am not paying you to be his friend. I want to know where
your precious Angus Cactus is, and I think you know the answer. The least I
expect you to tell me, is where he is frigging living, and where his brother is.”
Shondran took a break from questioning, to punch Dakota in the face again. It
was not his hardest punch but the rings on his hand were doing more damage that
his fist. Dakota's left eye started to close up. There was a cut under her brow
which was beginning to bleed. It would bruise badly.

“I know he is living
somewhere with his brother,” Shondran asked her a rhetorical question and
supplied his own answer. “How do I know this? Because Ramesh told me. You see,
Dakota, he is cleverer than you are. When I found out from one of his crew,
that he had smuggled a native outlander up to the surface in a container full
of my hijacked cargo, I felt the need to talk to him. You know, he is lucky to
be keeping his job, but I need him down there at the port, and he did 'fess' up
the truth as soon as I confronted him.” Shondran had picked up a pair of
scissors off his desk as he was talking and began to cut off clumps off
Dakota's prized long straight hair.

“Please don't,” Dakota
pleaded for leniency, but Shondran gave her none. He roughly continued to hack
away destroying her once beautiful mane of hair. Some of Shondran's entourage
shuffled uncomfortably in the background. But no one dared step forward to help
Dakota; in fact no one dared even stare, lest Shondran felt them judging him.
Shondran now roughly and asymmetrically cut off her last remaining lengths, and
purposely cut her earlobe in the process. As Dakota felt blood trickle down her
neck, she finally gave in to fear and told Shondran what he needed to know.

She didn’t lie to
Shondran, because everyone knew that he had no tolerance for people that dared
lie to his face. She didn’t want to be killed, but neither did she want River
or his brother to be killed. As soon as she had given him River's address, he
signalled Cortez and Baker to go check it out, and hopefully bring back River
and his brother. This left Dakota alone with Shondran and she was now petrified
of him. He held her for a good thirty minutes but didn’t hurt her anymore
although he did squeeze her throat tightly and make her fear for her life
before finally allowing her to go.

Dakota wasted no time
at all but ran out of the Mira Belle and took the first available taxi. She
called through to River's communicator three times before he finally took the
call. Everything came out jumbled and chaotically, as she was in a state of
shock and her adrenalin was still pumping. She had not even bothered to clean
herself up, and her ear and eyebrow were dripping more blood on to her clothes.

River gleaned what had
happened, but he also had an understanding of what Shondran was thinking.

“Shondran only let you
go as he suspected you would run straight to me. You are most likely being
followed Dakota as insurance in case I wasn’t in my apartment; which I am not.”

“I am so glad you are
safe. Where are you?” asked Dakota.

River didn’t answer
that question on purpose. “Isa is at the apartment though, and he won’t answer
any calls. They have possibly already got him. I need you to go straight to my
place and check for him. It is probably being watched in case I turn up, so
phone me when you leave, and I will meet you nearby.”

River watched from a
good concealed vantage point across the road as Dakota's taxi pulled up outside
the building. It was in a fairly busy street and there were many people milling
about, and coming and going. He watched her get out the taxi and walk in to the
entrance of the apartment building. He could see no noticeable tail following
her. Nor could he ascertain who if anyone was watching the building. When he
received her call telling him that the door to his apartment was hanging off
its hinge, and that there was no sign of Isa or anyone inside, he told Dakota
to leave and to meet him at a location which was nearby and at the end of a
long alley. River was very concerned for his brother but not at all surprised
that he wasn’t there. He assumed that he would have to visit Shondran to ever
see him again, but first he had to get Dakota to safety. But first, he wanted
to be able to observe if Dakota was being followed. With little time to waste,
River set off to find a decent spot down the alley where he could watch and
stake her out as she approached.

River missed Anton by a
literal minute. Anton had just stepped out of another taxi and jogged up the
steps to press River's intercom. When he received no reply, he swiped his own
credentials to enter the building and headed up the stairs to locate River's apartment.
He passed a girl coming down the stairs who looked as if she had been beaten
up. He assumed that this was a rough neighbourhood and that it was best not to
get involved. As he looked at her, she seemed to be studying his face too. Just
one flight further up, Anton found the door to River's apartment was literally
hanging on one hinge. It looked as if a battering ram had been used to force it
open. Anton stood by the door frame and listened carefully. When he heard
nothing, he decided to enter with a certain apprehension and found the
apartment completely empty. This was his only current lead to finding River and
he was disappointed because he realised that his friend was probably in trouble
and had now moved on. Anton began to methodically search through the rooms
seeking any clues as to where else he might be able to locate him.

Meanwhile Dakota had
left the building and walked along the sidewalk until she reached the junction
of the narrow alley where River had instructed her to walk to the end. The
alleyway was barely wide enough for one vehicle. It was a service alley for
fire exits and refuse bins. There were a number of fire doors opening on to it
but no obvious exit from the alley into any building. She had nearly reached
the end when she turned around to check whether anybody had followed her into
the alley. When she turned back around, River was standing in front of her. He
grabbed hold of her and quickly pulled her inside a building and then closed
the fire exit door. Once inside he took a close look at her and was shocked at
the extent of her injuries.

“Oh I am going back
there to kill him,” he exclaimed.

“That is what he wants
you to do River. Why do you think he messed up my face? I can’t work or earn
any money for him like this. I've seen him beat dancers before; he doesn’t mess
up their looks. No he definitely wanted to upset you, and make you head
straight to him seeking revenge. He is waiting for you.” What Dakota said made
perfect sense to River and he was frustrated by having no recourse to action.

River grabbed hold of
Dakota’s hand, “I've got you now; you're safe, and you don’t seem to have
anyone on your tail. Although, I think we should leave through the front exit
of this building to be safe.” River led the way at a quick pace and Dakota fell
into step behind. However thirty yards further down a corridor, River froze and
turned around to whisper to Dakota, “See that window. I climbed in through
there and closed it after me.” Dakota looked and could see that it had been
left slightly open. She gave him a quizzical look and shrugged her shoulders.
River pulled her by the hand and led her into a set of adjoining rooms. He
whispered, “There is someone definitely in here with us. You are being
followed, but obviously not by sight, because I checked. He must have put a
tracker somewhere on you. Dakota, undress down to your underwear and leave your
clothes behind that door over there.” Once she had undressed and placed her
clothes where he had asked, River told her to hide in a cupboard on the other
side of the room, and whilst she climbed in, he removed the light bulbs to
darken the room and then found a place of concealment for himself.

He only had to wait a
few minutes before the door to the room opened and he was able to watch one of
Shondran’s men called Baker walk in. River barely knew the man but he still
didn’t want to hurt him unnecessarily. He watched Baker unsuccessfully try the
light switches but then proceed towards the door which Dakota's clothes were
behind. He obviously was reading some tracker which was in them. Baker
struggled to open the door, which River had placed a small wedge under; he gave
it a powerful kick and backed up to give it another. This was very convenient
for River who silently stood behind him. A simple hit to the back of the head
knocked him unconscious. River proceeded to give Dakota the all clear signal,
but this turned out to be premature because Cortez had just stepped in through
the open door with his drawn firearm pointed directly at him.

“You are not going to
use that Ramon, because if you do, you are going to have to kill me, and I
suspect you have to bring me back alive.”

“Whatever it takes River.
The last time I was asked to kill you, you pulled some kung-fu nonsense on me
and took me by surprise. This time, I think I might drop you instead,” Cortez
was referring to his gun rather than his fighting skills.

“Do you think Shondran
would allow you to kill me?”

“Yes actually River. I
think that he is more than okay with that. You are a big headache to him right
now and he wants you gone.”

“Not as big as your
headache,” said River.

“What headache?” he
asked puzzled.

“This one!” said Isa as
he cracked an iron bar over the back of Cortez's head. Isa had followed Cortez
into the room and was quietly standing behind him and waiting to oblige his
brother.

“It did occur to me
that you might have got away,” said River to Isa.

“I was on the roof when
they came. I have been watching them ever since. I saw your pathetic attempt to
conceal yourself across the road. I also saw these two; I have been following
them as they were following Dakota. There is another one back there in a parked
car outside your place.”

“And there is the guy I
saw going up into your apartment,” Dakota’s announcement caused both Isa and
River to turn and look at her. She was still dressed in her underwear.

“What guy?” they both
said in unison.

“He is a young thin
black guy. He doesn’t look like one of Shondran’s men,” explained Dakota.

“That sounds like Anton,”
River said excitedly. “I have to get back to the flat quickly.”

“Give me your stun
shot, and let me sneak up on the stake out guy in the car first,” requested Isa
“When you see me wave, it will be clear to go in.”

River turned with a
sense of urgency to Dakota, “Here are my keys to a dark blue pinto parked
nearby on Goodge Avenue. Get dressed Dakota, and find the car and drive it to
the front of my apartment block. Oh and when you get in the car, take off your
clothes again and throw them out the window to lose that tracker.”

All three headed out
the front of the building and Dakota headed in the opposite direction to the
brothers who ran back in the direction of the apartment. Isa took River’s stun
shot and walked up behind the parked car with Shondran’s last man staking out
the apartment. The shot was silent and the man just slumped sideways on to the
passenger seat. Isa signalled River who then ran up the steps and bounded upstairs
hoping to find Anton.

River was not
disappointed. He found Anton sitting in his bedroom downloading the data
contents of some multimedia computer console.

“Look at you still
trying to find a technical solution to every problem.”

Anton looked up with a surprised
and joyful expression on his face, “I have been searching so hard for you.”

“Well you won’t find me
looking through my film and music collection, and next time you come looking
for me, try to leave my front door still on its hinges.”

“That wasn’t me. You
seem to be in some trouble here.”

“I know. Perhaps this
is a dangerous time to be socializing, but it is great to see you again my
friend.”

“I haven’t come to
socialize River; I have come to help you.”

“Help me how?”

“I can help you escape
from New Denver through the tunnels. If you can gain access to the tunnels, I
can map you a route out and open an exit hatch.”

“Listen we cannot talk
here. Come with me. We have to get away from here.”

Anton followed River
out of the building and into a waiting vehicle outside. River sat up front with
the driver who was a girl wearing only her underwear. She looked beat up and he
recognised her as the girl whom he had passed earlier on the stairs. Anton sat
in the back with another native who seemed to be another outlander like his
friend.

River spoke to the
young woman, “I need to speak with Ramesh.” 

“Shondran told me that
he willingly gave you up. He also said that he has got him under surveillance,”
stated Dakota.

“We will go and see my
father. He will have access to Ramesh,” said River as he input a destination
address into the navigation console. The Pinto pulled away and headed in the
direction of District 19.