DIRE : SEED (The Dire Saga Book 2) (17 page)

“Ah, right, they’re the ones who hate metahumans.”

“Yeah. They’re fanatics. They catch wind of you in here, right near one of their big safehouses, it’s gonna be bad. As in they’ll come after us with everything they got, bad.”

Ah, bigotry. That perfect combination of fear and stupidity.

“Well. Their loss if they do.” No point in worrying about it, either. I had other things to tend to. I moved back to my supercomputer rig, and bounced a burner phone’s number through a labyrinthine series of anti-trace programs. Thus protected, I put my mask on and called our ‘client’.

He picked up on the second ring. “I’m going to assume that you’re one of three people.”

“YOU ASSUME CORRECTLY.”

An angry exhale. “Of course.”

“WE HAVE YOUR CARGO. WHERE DO YOU WISH IT DELIVERED?”

“Do not toy with me.”

“FUNNY, THAT SHOULD BE DIRE’S LINE.”

“You were paid for a task that you did not do, and did a task that I did not ask you to do.”

“YES. BECAUSE YOU LIED. THERE WAS NO CARGO TO BE HIJACKED, AT THE POINT YOU DESCRIBED. AND THERE WAS NO FINAL PAYMENT PLANNED.” That was the point that pissed me off the most. If he’d simply told us what we’d be doing ahead of time, I would have been okay with it. Hell, we could have done it better, thrown some good kayfabe in there, really made a show of it. But no, he’d used us as patsies.

Then again, Chaingang had been secretly working for the third party in this mess, so I could maybe see why he hadn’t told us the full plan. Still, that was no concern of mine. Money was my concern, here.

He’d been silent for a long minute. “WELL?” I demanded.

“If you have the cargo, you’ll be able to tell me what’s inside. I’m sure you’ve opened it.”

A beep from my computer. He’d started a trace. Tch, it had taken him
this
long? Amateur.

“LET US SAY IT IS A GOOD THING DIRE DOES NOT HAVE HAY FEVER.”

“Ah. My condolences.”

“NONE NECESSARY.”

“Yet.”

Yep, the pollen did something bad, all right. Thank heavens for my paranoia. “IN ANY CASE, THE PRICE FOR THIS CARGO HAS GONE UP.”

“Oh?”

Another beep. I surveyed my defenses and found them still sturdy, but that trace was persistent. He might be an amateur, but he had some smoking hardware. Shouldn’t have expected any less, really. Morgenstern was primarily a tech and heavy machinery corporation, they’d have cutting edge stuff.

“YES. QUADRUPLE THE ORIGINAL PRICE, DIRE THINKS. FOR TIME, EFFORT, AND YOUR TREACHERY.”

I’d collect Vorpal’s fee for her, and hold it in escrow until we managed to find her again. If we did.

“No.”

That threw me a bit. “NO? YOU DON’T WANT YOUR FLOWERS BACK?”

“I would like them back, but the person I represent takes a dim view on extortion. So let me make
you
a counteroffer.”

“GO ON.”

“I’ll give you a drop-off point. Leave them there and walk away. You’ve earned twenty-thousand apiece from our down payments, that’s fair for the job you undertook. Do this and we won’t bear a grudge—”

“HMHMHMHMHMH... HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!” More beeps as the trace closed in, but I didn’t care. “YOU WON’T BEAR A GRUDGE? YOU THINK DIRE IS IN THE LEAST CONCERNED ABOUT THAT? YOU BETRAYED HER TRUST. YOU SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT HER GRUDGES.”

“You are making a mistake. I represent a powerful client.”

“VERY WELL. IF YOU WILL NOT PAY, THERE IS ANOTHER PARTY WHO MIGHT.”

An intake of breath, and a choked name. “Vec-” He stopped himself, and for a moment the receiver was silent. “You wouldn’t. That’s madness.”

“MADNESS THAT PAYS, VERSUS MALICE THAT DOESN’T. MAKES THE CHOICE A BIT MORE PALATABLE, YES?”

“Look. I have another solution.”

A series of beeps. I eyed the defenses, and frowned. Two of my programs were choking— it was down to the last three. “YOU HAVE TWENTY SECONDS.”

“Destroy them!” He blurted. “Just get rid of them! Burn them, make sure you get all the spores, too. All that you can.”

I paused. This was unexpected.

“IS HE REALLY THAT BAD?”

“That bad— you don’t know. Oh god, you don’t know.” He whispered.

“TEN SECONDS.” Another program down, too.

His voice was serious again. “Doctor Dire, I promise you this. We will take any and all steps to prevent Vector from getting those flowers, including your destruction if necessary. Either give them to us, or destroy them yourself. You—”

“TIME’S UP.”

The second-to last program failed. I hung up, and threw the computer into a hard purge. The burner phone’s Grid profile ceased to exist, and I held my breath as the AR line of the trace coiled, flexed, then grounded out somewhere around Rhode Island.

Well.

That hadn’t gone as planned.

I pulled my mask off, and tucked the computer back into its hidden compartment.

I’d need a different approach if we wanted to get paid our ransom. But I had a name now, and another clue. Whoever this Vector was, Morgenstern Inc. feared him.

In any case, the matter wouldn’t be easily resolved, and that let me move on to my next task. I strolled out of the back rooms, tossing my mask from hand to hand. “Martin, are you good to drive?”

“Yeah. We going now?”

I checked the armor. It was almost done, just had the paint cycle left to go. “Sure. Dire will go get suited up. Pull the van around, and she’ll hop in. ”

Around the north end of Broadoak avenue I called for a halt. “SOMEWHERE AROUND HERE,” I rumbled.

“Neighborhood’s still shitty.”

Unsurprising, but still sad. He found a parking lot at the edge of the coast, near a marina that had seen better days. I clambered out, nightvision amped up, surveying the area for observers, and finding none. To the south the lights of Boardwalk’s marinas glittered softly along the water, and the Boardwalk itself was filled with its own cascades of light and colors of tourists and vacationers living it up. The eager pulse of party music pounded across the waves, and I wished them the joy of it.

To the north, the ruins of the old docks moldered, and dirty beach stretched into darkness— darkness that ended in a cluster of ruins out on a long pier, old skeletons of roller coasters and rotted clown faces against a low moon.

Funland.

“Place looks different, without the camp.” Martin said, whispering. I nodded, and turned my Mask’s volume as low as it could go. “READY?”

He held out his arms to me, and shut his eyes tight as I picked him up into a fireman’s carry. He was no weight at all to my armor, and the gravitics flew us silently across the water, arcing out into the ocean, and coming around low and fast until rotted wooden pilings and crumbling planks cropped up on my nightvision. “GOING UP,” I said, and he groaned as we ascended, darting past a half-intact Ferris wheel and over to the north end of the big pier.

As I went, a light glimmered at the edge of my vision, and I saw that we weren’t the first to arrive. A small electric lantern shed its glow, next to an old man in a wheelchair. Next to him, the armored and glowering form of Mags was just visible. Though I was still in the darkness, her head snapped toward me as I got within a few hundred yards. Some sort of metal-sense? I noted that for future conflicts.

I touched down, and set Martin to the ground, using my sensors to examine the area. Nothing and no one else, so I approached, letting my metal-shod feet clank thud against the planks. Some broke and cracked under my weight, but with the gravitics on, I didn’t fall. Martin, for his part, gave me a wide birth as he came in on my flank. And he was the first to speak, as he ran ahead.

“Hahahhaha! Sparky! M’man!”

A mane of white hair raised its head, as a brown-skinned face peered into the darkness. “Martin?”

And damn, it was good to hear that querulous, creaky old voice again. I sniffled, and felt a tear roll down my face. Thank heavens for my mask, it let me cry without shame. We’d been through so much together. And he hadn’t changed a bit.

Martin slowed when he approached the chair, and Mags tensed up.

“Shit, Sparky, call off the dog. Hey, is your ground up?”

Sparky shook his head, tapped a metal choker around his neck. “Don’t need that no more. Now c’mere, son!”

Martin crouched down, and I watched as the two folded into a hug. Martin was weeping too at this point, and I’m pretty sure Sparky’s eyes were moist in the lanternlight. Mags looked uncomfortable; she shifted her feet around, coughed, and moved her visor over to look directly at me.

“You might as well come out too before you drop the entire pier.”

“VERY WELL.”

Martin pulled back from Sparky, rubbed his face. Sparky’s eyes got bigger and bigger as my armored bulk stomped out of the darkness, red cape swaying around me as I pulled up, and surveyed the three of them.

“Long time no see, Dire lady. Looks like you got an upgrade.”

“MADE IT HERSELF.”

“Well, least it’s American-made. Not too many things are these days.”

“YOU HAVE AN UPGRADE TOO.” I indicated the broadcast torc he wore around his neck. It wasn’t as spiky as the version I’d made him, back in the day.

“Eh, I’ve still got that one, but one of the Brigade techs made me this one that ain’t so noticeable. They’re turnin’ me into a respectable citizen.” he cackled.

“Psh, like that’ll happen,” Martin said. “Got your hip flask on you?”

Sparky fished around in his wheelchair, and tossed it to Martin. “Careful with that. That was Roy’s.”

“Ah.”

We bowed our heads for a moment, remembering. When I looked up, I caught Mags staring at me, before she shifted her visor away, lips tight.

“THAT’S ABOUT THE HARDEST PART OF THIS PATH, REALLY.”

“Oh?” Sparky asked.

“COULDN’T GO TO HIS FUNERAL. CAN’T VISIT HIS GRAVE.”

It was too risky. The veteran’s cemetery was well-monitored, and the MRB was surely watching. I just couldn’t justify the risk, no matter how much I wanted to. Roy had been the closest thing I’d had to a father, really. Tears threatened again, but I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Dire,” Sparky whispered, and my audio sensors picked up the squeak of his wheelchair as he rolled it closer. “It ain’t too late. You can come in out of the cold. Give this up.”

“NO. NO SHE REALLY CANNOT.”

“A villain’s life ain’t no life at all. You saw what it does to people. You fought the worst of ’em. And now you want to throw that away? You want to go out there and fight my kids? Hells, Dire. You’re better than that. You could be a hero. The best of ’em...”

I considered him for a long moment, then turned to look at Martin. “AND WHAT OF MARTIN, IF DIRE SURRENDERS?”

“Hey. If you wanna...” Martin raised his hands. “I ain’t saying you should, but don’t let me hold you back if you want to. Your life, your choices. I’ll be fine on my own if I have to.”

It was tempting, I couldn’t deny it. But I’d considered it before, and always ground down to the same conclusion.

“NO.” I raised a hand, and clenched it. “HEROES ARE A NECESSARY PART OF THIS WORLD; IT IS TRUE. BUT THEY ARE NOT ENOUGH. THERE ARE PROBLEMS OUT THERE, SPARKY, PROBLEMS THAT HEROES CANNOT PUNCH OUT. PROBLEMS THAT NO AMOUNT OF FIGHTING WILL SOLVE. YOU AND THE REST OF THE WORLD NEED DIRE DOING WHAT SHE’S DOING, EVEN IF YOU CANNOT SEE IT YET.”

“And just what
are
you doing?” Mag asked. “Besides hurting my friends, I mean? Because I’m really not seeing it.”

“SIMPLE, CHILD,” I said, shifting my mask to look down upon her. “DIRE WILL FIX THE WORLD’S PROBLEMS.”

“Ha! Yeah, you and every politician out there.”

“UNLIKELY. POLITICIANS ARE CONSTRAINED BY BEING PART OF THE PROCESS, PAWNS UPON A BOARD, LIKE MOST OF THE REST OF THIS WORLD’S INHABITANTS.”

“Aren’t you one of those inhabitants? Calling yourself a pawn now?” She grinned. “You said it, I didn’t.”

“TRUE. BUT DO YOU KNOW THE FIRST STEP TO BECOMING A PLAYER, INSTEAD OF A PIECE?”

“No, but I’m sure you’ll shout it at me here in a second.”

Irritating. I continued anyway. “THE FIRST STEP IS TO LOOK AT THE BOARD.”

“Yep, called it.”

Sparky swatted at her. “Look at the board, hah? Never too good at chess. Poker’s more fun.” He frowned. “Lost so much money on that, back in the day. You wouldn’t believe how much Unstoppable cheated outta the regiment ’fore we caught on he was sharking us.”

“CHESS WORKS BETTER FOR THE ANALOGY,” I clarified. C’mon Sparky, focus. “BUT AT ANY RATE, LOOKING AT THE BOARD REQUIRES RESOURCES. SO DIRE’S GATHERING THOSE.”

“Stealing them, you mean,” Mags clarified.

“FROM THOSE WHO DESERVE IT OR CAN SPARE IT, YES. FROM OTHERS, OBTAINING THEM LEGALLY.”

“Yeah. We didn’t have a truce right now I’d take you to bits, lady.”

I narrowed my eyes, and turned to face Mags full on, stomping closer, step by step. Unhurried, I watched her back up a step, half-raise a hand. But Sparky caught her arm, shook his head.