Balance of Power (Battleborn c23), page 37
She stood up in the middle of the corridor with her legs planted firmly apart. She activated the Chinese language module in her memory implant. "I want to see Phil."
The lopsided man took a few steps toward her. "I know you."
"I know you, too. Will you let me by now?"
He took his time stepping aside. As Kareena passed him, he grinned suggestively. "If Phil's not here, you're welcome to come back to my place. We could have a good time then." He grabbed his crotch, as if it needed any more hints to make his intentions clear. Kareena had to exert maximum effort to keep herself from shooting him on the spot. He was not her tormentor. Her tormentor was dead. She had killed him. This was another Slag who had done nothing to her, despite the lewd offer. Hastily she marched on, leaving the two slum dwellers behind.
With no further delays, she reached the entrance to Phil's dwelling. She knocked firmly on the steel gate with its peeling paint residue. "Phil. This is Kareena Toran. If you're in there, please open up!"
She heard muffled footsteps on the other side. In each case, someone was present. A latch was pushed squeakily aside. But instead of the passage, only a small flap opened at the level of Kareena's chest.
"Phil doesn't live here anymore," a croaking voice announced.
Kareena was taken aback. "Can you tell me where I can find him?"
She bent down and peered through the crack.
A pair of narrow eyes gawked back. "You're the corporate woman he was traveling with, nah?"
"Yes," Kareena confirmed. "Last year. On Aurora."
The nondescript person behind the door thought for a moment. "Phil and Lyda moved away. They're over at the air processing plants now." A circuitous description of how to get there followed. Kareena recorded the explanations to be on the safe side, so she wouldn't have to remember everything.
"Thank you," she said goodbye to the stranger. Then the flap was closed and Kareena was alone again.
She compared the stranger's information with the overview map of Sector Eight in her memory. She could not follow all the explanations, but she would find the central air conditioners. She would have to go from there. She set out on her way.
Aside from the usual obstacles due to bricked up passages and other uncharted conversions, she found her destination fairly quickly. Here the neighborhood was not quite as run down as around Phil's old neighborhood. There were stores and restaurants, or at least what people in Hades thought they were, and most people were going about their more or less mundane activities. The dull pounding and rumbling of the processing plants formed an omnipresent acoustical background, forcing everyone present to raise their voices if they wanted to make themselves understood. Children ran around. Whether for play or because they were fleeing from the victims of their latest theft, it was impossible to tell.
Kareena followed the sketch she had made and indeed found the narrow passageway that had been described to her. She knocked on the plastic door at the end of the short tunnel.
It took only a few moments before she heard a familiar voice. "On my way. One moment!"
A latch creaked, then the door was opened a crack. A narrow section of Phil's crooked face came into view.
His expression immediately brightened as he recognized her. "Kareena! What are you doing here? Oh, I'm forgetting my manners. Come in!"
The door closed again, the locking chain was removed, then it opened fully. Standing full life-size was her Slag friend. He looked good, at least by his standards. A clean jumpsuit hid his hunched figure reasonably effectively. The rash on his skin was far less pronounced than when they first met.
"Hello Phil. Sorry about the surprise visit!"
He waved his hands enthusiastically. "Don't be. You're always welcome here. Come on in!"
The room she entered was filled with a jumbled mess of electronic and optronic equipment, at least half of it with open housings from which cables and circuit boards spilled out. Kareena spotted a pile of compact ComLinks neatly lined up on a workbench.
"A new job?"
Phil stood in the middle of the room. "I've started my own business. With the money you sent me after our adventure, I opened a small shop."
"Impressive. Do I want to know what exactly you offer here?"
The Slag grinned sheepishly. "Only if you didn't come here looking for hacked ComLinks." He raised an index finger in her direction. "To which I would point out that you are not entirely innocent. You were so fascinated on Aurora with how I cracked Hato's ComLink, I figured there was money to be made in that."
"It's all right, Phil," she reassured him. "I'm not here to shut down your business, I'm here because I need your help."
Phil spread his hands invitingly. "Whatever I can do to help."
"That's a pretty reckless promise. Do you remember where you ended up the last time I asked you to do something?"
"As if I could ever forget. Our trip was the absolute highlight of my life. And I have no regrets. You can see where it got me. So what is it this time?"
"Actually, it's just a little something. You don't even have to leave Hades for it."
He noticed her start to fidget. "Kareena, what's wrong?"
"Actually, I wanted to keep you out of this. But I can't get anywhere on my own, and you're one of the few people I trust anymore." She looked him firmly in the eye. "I need to see Zhǎnglǎo. Can you take me to him?"
Phil's horror was unmistakable. "Zhǎnglǎo? What do you want with him?"
"The less you know, the better for you. Do you have any idea how I can get to him? If not, I won't bother you any further with it and I'll just leave."
"No, stay. I can make a contact. But I can't guarantee your safety. The Hónglóng are a really nasty bunch."
"I'm not asking you to. Just show me the way. I'll do the rest myself."
He furrowed his eyebrows. "You're not planning to arrest him or anything, are you?"
Kareena laughed in a put-upon way. "Certainly not. I just want to talk to him. I need some information. Nothing else."
"All right, then. I hope you know what you're doing."
Kareena hoped so, too. However, she had considerable doubts.
"I'll see about finding my acquaintance first thing in the morning," the Slag continued.
"It’s not possible today?" Kareena was aware that she was asking quite a lot.
Phil faltered. Then he shrugged. "I can't promise anything, but we can try."
He picked up one of the ComLinks and punched in an address.
"What do you want?" a gruff voice sounded. Kareena's translation program responded with a brief delay to the slurred pronunciation.
"Hi, Chako," Phil replied in fluent Chinese. "I have someone here who wants to talk to Zhǎnglǎo. Can you set up a meeting?"
"What do any of your ray rats want with the boss?"
"None of mine," Phil corrected, "an out-of-towner."
"Tell him who I am!" urged Kareena.
The Slag did as he was told. "Her name is Kareena Toran. She works for Cynarian."
"Cynarian?" Chako laughed. "Are you kidding me?"
Kareena asked Phil with a gesture to give her the ComLink.
"No, Chako. Phil is not messing with you," she explained in a firm voice. "Please tell Zhǎnglǎo that Kareena Toran wants to meet with him, and as soon as possible. He can determine the place. I bow to his conditions. Let him decide for himself whether he agrees to the meeting or not!"
"I will arrange it," the gangster answered a bit more cautiously. Kareena ended the conversation.
She took a deep breath. "I guess there's no turning back now."
Phil settled laboriously on a stool. "You must be in really deep shit if you're turning yourself over to Zhǎnglǎo."
If he had known that the Triad boss had sent an assassin after her a few months ago, he would probably declare her completely insane. Possibly rightly so.
She nodded. "You could certainly assume that. But it's better if you little as possible. I'm probably already putting you in danger with this request."
The Slag waved it off. "We survived Aurora. Then we'll survive this, too."
Kareena fervently hoped he was right.
"How are Lyda and the children?" she asked.
He looked up at her. "The children are fine. They are with their aunt right now. Lyda's not doing so well. She's sick." Worry lines furrowed his brow.
"If there's anything I can do, let me know, Phil! I can get some medicine."
"Thanks, but she's in good hands. Thanks to your payment and what I make here, we can take care of her to some extent."
"Still, if you need something you can't get here in Hades, let me know! I insist."
Phil was just starting to thank her for the offer when his ComLink spoke up. Chako's voice rang out, "He wants to meet her. Take her to Wong's Emporium!"
Before they could say anything back, the conversation ended.
"Now then," Kareena straightened, "let's not keep the high lord waiting any longer."
Phil stood up and pulled a stained coat over his overalls.
"You don't have to come with me," Kareena explained. "It's enough to put myself in danger."
The Slag looked at her and buttoned his coat. "Let's go!"
Gratefully, she nodded to him. Then they set off.
The meeting place was quite a distance from Phil's workshop. Transportation tubes did not exist this deep in Hades, so they took a battery-powered rickshaw cab. The Slag's driving style was nerve wracking. After only a few minutes, Kareena stopped counting the near misses and concentrated entirely on clinging to the frame of the vehicle. She was deeply relieved when they reached their destination in one piece. Wong's Emporium was a circular plaza, with seven levels of galleries rising above it, lined with sleazy stores, gambling dens, and other questionable establishments. Half-naked whores unabashedly courted the favors of their suitors, more or less skillfully concealing the deformities of their radiation-infested bodies with the few rags they wore. Junkies of all kinds were hardwired to chemical drug dispensers or computer simulations that let them escape their daily suffering in virtual worlds. Kareena was still taking in all the alien impressions when a squad of three gunmen approached her. The Omega-class mutant with the arm-length vibroblade in his hand towered over his two companions by a head's length. Judging by the narrow eyes, he was from the Combine. Beside him marched a nondescript Chinese man. Kareena had seen him before, when she had first met Phil. Now she also remembered how she knew the name Chako. Phil had driven him out of Doc Stargazer's old clinic back then. The leader of the thugs, however, far outshone her two companions. She wore rather scanty clothing. Underneath, however, only sporadic bare skin appeared. Most of her body was bare metal, including half her skull. A cyborg. Until now, even Kareena had yet to come face to face with such an extreme form.
"Weapons?" the woman barked at her in a booming voice.
Kareena pulled the electropistol out from under her jacket and held it out to the cyborg. Instead of her, Chako took the gun and put it in his belt.
"Come with me!"
The trio took Kareena in the middle.
"Not you!" she snapped at Phil, who was about to join.
Kareena nodded at him. "It's okay."
"I'll wait for you here," the Slag promised.
The Omega shoved Kareena forward rudely. She swallowed her protest and started moving. The cyborg woman led her to one of the brothels. The prostitutes in the narrow hallway respectfully made way. Kareena made an effort to keep physical contact with the largely unclothed women to a minimum. Her ComLink reported that it had lost contact with the outside world. Jamming. That was to be expected.
The room they went into smelled of sweat and sex. The sheets of the bed were rumpled and stained.
"Strip!" the cyborg woman ordered.
Kareena looked to Chako and the Omega.
The leader of the two grinned at Kareena through fully chromed teeth. "You're embarrassed, aren't you? I don't care. You want to go to the boss. Then you play by his rules. Let's go!"
Kareena took a deep breath. Then she began to undress. Every piece of her clothing was intensely examined by the thugs and scanned with Chemsniffers. When she was wearing only her underwear, Kareena paused. She inwardly breathed a sigh of relief when no request came to continue. Instead, the woman took charge of her and inspected Kareena's body. The plastic-covered fingers of the artificial arms felt strangely rough. Kareena gritted her teeth and pumped another dose of psychotropic drugs into her blood to counter the rising panic attack.
"You can get dressed again," the leader of the trio informed her when the strip search was complete. Kareena did not hesitate to comply with the request.
"Wait here!"
The cyborg and Chako left the room. Except for Kareena, only the combat mutant remained. He posted himself next to the door and stared silently ahead. Kareena looked around but found no place where she would have wanted to sit. So, she remained standing.
The minutes passed. The activities in the neighboring rooms could be heard through the plastic walls. From somewhere, in addition to the usual rhythmic moaning, a bloodcurdling scream could be heard, as if someone was suffering in agony. The Omega took no notice of it, or at least did not let on if he did. Kareena could only hope that the sounds of pain were part of some perverse role-playing game and not authentic.
More than half an hour passed before Chako returned and told Kareena to follow him. The Omega took his place behind her and they marched off. They left the brothel through a storage room, walked through a maze of narrow corridors filled with boxes, old furniture and other junk, and finally arrived at a dining room. It must have belonged to a restaurant, but only one of the ten or so tables was occupied. A single man sat there, eating a plate of noodles without haste, deftly bringing them to his mouth with two chopsticks. Next to the table, arms folded, stood a brawny Chinese man in an expensive suit. The cyborg woman had posted herself at the opposite end of the room. Chako and the Omega took up positions behind Kareena. No one had to point out that she was dead on the spot should she make even one suspicious move.
"Come closer!" The eating man beckoned her with a curt gesture.
Kareena walked toward him. When she got to within ten feet of him, the bodyguard in the suit gestured with his hand that it was close enough. Immediately, Kareena stopped.
She eyed the seated man. She had seen him before, in the assassin's memories that Dan Aden's brain scan had unearthed. He had grown older, thick bags hanging under his eyes. The two thin strips of beard that reached from his upper lip to his chest had grayed. But there remained no doubt that Kareena was standing before the man who had ordered her death.
After a few more bites, Zhǎnglǎo put the chopsticks aside, carefully dabbed his mouth with a napkin, and looked up at Kareena.
"You're either stupid or brave or a little of both," he stated matter-of-factly. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't have you killed on the spot!"
Kareena concentrated. Now it was a matter of weighing every word carefully if she wanted to preserve at least a small chance of surviving this day. "That depends on what answers you have to my questions."
He furrowed his brow. "What, as to whether to have you killed?"
"Yes."
"Well, those seem like interesting questions. I'm listening."
Kareena took a deep breath. It was all or nothing now. "I assume you hired the assassin who killed my parents."
"Your parents were not the target."
"I know. I'll take your answer as a 'yes' for now. The question I have for you is: who made the contact between the client, Dr. Elisa Naratova, and you?"
Zhǎnglǎo frowned. "Out of curiosity, why is that relevant?"
"Trying to kill me was just one small component in a much larger game. I want to find out who the players are. Naratova wasn't one of them. She's just a pawn, just like my parents were and I almost became. If you tell me whether Naratova contacted you through intermediaries, it can help me."
Zhǎnglǎo cocked his head a little to one side. In any case, she had his undivided attention, whether that was a good thing or not. "Who were these middlemen supposed to be?"
"For example, Chang Wuaxing, a high-ranking member of the Cynarian Corporation's intelligence service. He is said to have connections with the Hónglóng Triad."
The gangster shook his head. "You Westerners are a racist bunch! You really think all Chinese are in cahoots, whether they're corporate bosses or eking out an existence here in Hades. As if we all do nothing all day but plot together, from the smallest gutter punk to the highest top executive."
"That means Chang Wuaxing has nothing to do with this?"
"What if he had?"
Kareena shrugged. "Then you should probably have me killed. Because that would mean he was the man I blame for my parents' deaths."
Zhǎnglǎo put his finger to his mouth and looked at Kareena intently. "Do I understand it correctly that you suspect this Chang Wuaxing of having hired me to kill you? And now you ask me if that is true?"
"That's right."
He laughed out loud. "I have come across quite a few things, but no one has ever approached me with such a request. You are indeed stupid and brave at the same time, Kareena Toran. All right, then. Let's assume that I don't have you killed. Do you then assume that this Chang Wuaxing was not involved in the assassination job?"
"That would indeed put my suspicions in a different direction."
Zhǎnglǎo raised his index finger. "And Chang Wuaxing would be off the hook. Your conclusions are not logical."
"If Chang Wuaxing is behind all this, he wouldn't be satisfied with me not suspecting him anymore. The risk that I might still get on his trail later is too high. He would order me to die here and now."
"Seems like an interesting man. Maybe I should get to know him. But I find you even more interesting. So, the answer to your question is whether or not I will have you killed."
"That's right."
