The Erkennen Job

by Chris Pourteau

  “You’re sure this is him?”

  In answer, Darrow pressed the door latch down. This one was unlocked too. Yeah, it was too easy. Way too easy. But here we were, and Tony expected results … and soon.

  “All right, here’s how we’ll play it,” I said. “I’ll go up top through the vents and—”

  Darrow pushed every pound of her slight weight against the heavy door. It swung open, the scarred metal screaming.

  “Marshals Service! Everyone stay right where you are!”

  Cursing, I brought up my own artillery to cover her as she moved in.

  Six pairs of surprised eyes turned to look at us. Four more of the Ghosts with new shoes and newer weapons. One doughy, bespectacled type who looked like he really needed to take a dump. And one very well-dressed corporate elite type. He looked familiar, even in the half-light.

  One of the fake Resistance types started to reach for her weapon.

  “Uh-uh,” I said, motioning with my .38. “Slowly, butt first. I want them all lined up on the table over there. All of you.”

  The elite type smiled wide. “Welcome, Mr. Fischer. We’ve been waiting for you.”

  It’s when he spoke that I recognized him. The mid-European accent sold it.

  “Ra’uf Erkennen.” Those puzzle pieces in the back of my head? They were gyrating like one of Minnie’s girls after ten minutes.

  The head of the Erkennen Faction made a slight bow. “And you must be the maverick marshal,” he said to Darrow. “My dear, you have no idea how much trouble you’ve caused me.”

  “Not as much as you’re gonna get,” I said. “Now, you stooges, I told you already—put your stunners on the table.”

  “Do nothing of the kind,” Erkennen said. Not that he’d needed to. They hadn’t moved. “Fischer, put down your weapons. You too, my dear.”

  Darrow scoffed and tightened her grip on her stunner. Points for moxie.

  “You have two choices,” Erkennen said. “Drop your weapons or drop with them.”

  I’ve never been good at math, but I didn’t need to be. There were five stunners pointed at us, and I knew, with my luck, they’d work like a charm. Darrow had hers and I had my .38, but I had zero confidence in the stunner in my other hand, even if it was new tech. Especially because it was new tech. Even if it did work, that was five shots to three in the first round of fire. We might get a couple of them but we were definitely going down.

  “Darrow, do it,” I said.

  “Like hell!”

  Erkennen exhaled boredom. “Shoot her.”

  “Wait! Darrow…” I nodded at her and caught her attention. My eye darted to her beltline. “No sense dying sooner than we have to. Do it.”

  She thought about it a moment longer, but she’d caught the hint I’d tossed her way. “Fine.” Squatting straight down, she placed her stunner on the ground.

  Smart girl.

  I did likewise.

  “Very good.” Turning to the dumpy guy, Erkennen said, “How close are you to finishing the composition matrix?”

  Dumpy guy shrugged, nervous. Had to be Blalock. Who else? “It’s almost finished. The algorithm subroutines are populating the pattern, and once they’re finished, the final formula—”

  “I don’t need the geek details,” Erkennen groused. “Get it done.”

  “What’s this all about?” I asked, playing dumb. I was good at that. I took a couple of steps forward, like from curiosity. “What’s this mega-extra smoky hemp for? You gonna get everyone in the solar system high so you can take over?”

  Erkennen gave me the strangest look. “What?”

  “It’s called Molecularly Enhanced Synthetic Hemp,” Professor Geek corrected.

  I motioned to him. “Whatever—the new drug he’s making. How does it help you take over the Company?”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Darrow getting fascinated. Here’s the bigger picture you were unaware of, Marshal.

  “You think we’re making a drug here?” Erkennen laughed out loud. “Is that what Tony thinks? We’re gonna smoke him out, eh?” The guffaws from his men filled the room, trying to please the boss. Even Blalock snickered, the brainy little shit.

  “Hemp isn’t typically a drug,” Darrow said. “Same plant as marijuana but different purpose. It’s typically used to make clothing.”

  “Very good, my dear,” Erkennen said, pleased. “She’s smarter than you and Tony put together, Fischer.”

  And that’s when those magnetic puzzle pieces snapped together with seamless edges. I knew I had to stop this conversation right now, at least for the moment.

  I stared straight at the head of the Erkennen Faction and marched across the space separating us. His goons brought up their guns, but their boss waved them off. I think he wanted me in his face. And to be in mine. As far as he knew, I was unarmed.

  “Whatever this new tech is, you’ve got zero chance going up against Tony Taulke,” I said. I was close enough to spit on Erkennen. I needed him angry. “Tony will grind you and your whole faction into the ground! That new wife of yours? Just wait till you’re spaced. A kind word from Tony and—”

  Erkennen stepped back to get strength behind it and cracked me against the side of the head with the butt of his Mark II. I went down harder than I had to and stayed there, shaking my head to make it look good.

  “Say something else about her, Fischer,” Erkennen growled. “I wanted to keep you alive long enough so you’d understand exactly what’s going to happen to Tony Taulke. But maybe I can forego that bit of personal satisfaction.”

  I motioned with my hand like I’d had enough. Standing up slowly, rubbing my temple, I leaned against the wall and fake-breathed hard. “So, if it’s not a drug strain, what is it he’s making?” I asked again.

  Erkennen jutted his head. “Tell him, Mason. He can take the secret with him into space.”

  Professor Geek stood up. He was proud of his creation. He wanted to give it its due. “Molecularly Enhanced Synthetic Hemp—or MESH—is a new kind of scalable cloth capable of absorbing and dissipating any catalyst used to ignite and direct electromagnetic current.”

  Blalock confirmed what I’d already guessed. Everything was crystal clear—what the tech actually was, why Erkennen had hidden it from the other factions, and how MESH, all by itself, could make Ra’uf Erkennen head of the entire Syndicate Corporation.

  MESH wasn’t a drug.

  MESH was a shield.

  A molecular shield that could be woven right into a person’s clothing. A shield that protected against stunners and their ability to kill by capturing and amplifying a person’s EM field to shock them to death. Those that wore it were protected. Those that didn’t were just as vulnerable as ever.

  “The faux-Ghosts in the corridor outside the marshal’s post,” I said, connecting the dots. “They were wearing a prototype? That’s why my stunner wouldn’t work on them.”

  Erkennen smiled. “Oh, and about that. I have to compliment you and the marshal for the show you put on. I couldn’t have planned it better myself. The footage of Tony Taulke’s main man and a renegade marshal gunning down Ghosts? All the rage in the Basement. Perfect recruiting material for the Resistance. And while Tony’s stamping down that little grassfire, I’ll move on SynCorp HQ. By the time the Taulkes or any of the other factions can react, I’ll control the station.”

  The image of Erkennen mooks dressed in MESH-laden uniforms gunning down Taulke operatives filled my head. They’d be invincible with the new tech. While the other factions would steal it soon enough and make their own shielded clothing, that wouldn’t happen in time to save Tony. Or keep Ra’uf Erkennen from taking over SynCorp.

  “Humanity’s just getting back on its feet!” Darrow said. “We’re not even two generations out from damned-near extinction! And you’d risk turning all that inside-out for power?”

  “Stick to your duties, my dear,” Erkennen said. “Let the big boys do the big thinking.”

  “Yeah, Dar
row,” I added. “He’s a smart guy. He’s thought of everything.”

  Erkennen gave me a look. My words sounded right, but their smartassery was wanting. “And for all the dirty jobs you pulled for Tony?” He brought up his stunner. “On behalf of the other four factions, I’m about to pay you off.”

  I stood my ground. “Before you do—one more question.”

  “Make it quick.”

  “Can the Mark IIs get past the MESH?”

  “Of course,” Erkennen allowed. “But since we’re the only ones that have both, it doesn’t really matter.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say that,” I said, nodding to the spot where I’d taken the dive earlier. “See that?”

  Erkennen peered closely. When he saw the feeder where I’d put it on the floor, its red transmission light shining, his face went pale. His little scheme had just gone out live to anyone tuned in to The Real Story. As had the secret of the MESH and the new Mark II stunner. Every member of all Five Factions would now be seeking both techs in earnest.

  I flashed him a toothy grin. “Now guess who’s got a fire to stamp out?”

  “Why, you sonofa—”

  “Darrow, now!”

  I saw the blur of her body duck and roll as I launched myself backward. The mooks in blue were caught flatfooted. Erkennen’s shot hit the wall behind my empty air. Darrow lobbed the flash grenade from behind her back straight at Blalock.

  I almost didn’t clamp my eyes shut in time. The air brightened like a sunburst. Grunts and cursing followed. I grabbed up my Mark II from the floor and started firing.

  Punk! Punk!

  Two fake Ghosts became real ones.

  Darrow angled at a third, still dazed by the grenade. With a lithe efficiency I took half a second to admire, she rolled to one of the newly minted corpses, snagged his stunner, and shot the third man dead.

  Erkennen was no lightweight. Blinking furiously, he was back on his feet and sweeping his own stunner around the room, firing randomly. I ducked and scooped up the .38 and turned on him. Two shots later, he was short a kneecap and screaming on the ground.

  I took a moment to enjoy his pain, and that was a rookie mistake. I felt the threat long before I saw it: the last of the hired help, his Mark II aimed point-blank at me, ready to give me the shock of my life. Slow motion took over, and I could feel the cold stroke of death’s fingers on the back of my neck.

  Punk!

  His body convulsed, his stunner shot went wide, and he fell lifeless to the floor with the others. I caught Darrow’s eye and nodded my thanks. First time I’ve ever had use for a badger.

  That just left Blalock. The flash grenade had caught him full-on. He was just stirring, moaning.

  “Watch him,” I said to Darrow, pointing at Ra’uf Erkennen. He was inventing all kinds of four-letter combinations with my name sprinkled on top. “Put a tourniquet above his knee, if you can find something to use. I don’t want him dying just yet.” And I wanted to keep her busy. I had business to attend to.

  Walking over to the feeder, I crushed it under my boot. Its work was done. Erkennen’s plot to overthrow Tony had gone out live to anyone watching The Real Story, which had lived up to its name today, boy-o.

  I turned to Blalock. “Is this everything?” I asked, pointing at his work station. “The formula, how to make it—all that?”

  He was still blinking, still getting his bearings.

  “Blalock!”

  Startled, he tried to crawl through the wall. “Yes! Everything is there. The molecular formula, the thresholds for performance, the—”

  He saw me pointing the Mark II at his head.

  “Wait! You don’t need to kill me! I was only—”

  “—following orders, yeah, I know.”

  “Fischer! You can’t murder him in cold blood!”

  “I have my orders, too,” I said. But I hesitated, and that’s not like me. I think something inside me didn’t want to disappoint Darrow. I liked her. Admired her, even. And she had just saved my life.

  “Please!” Blalock cried. “I can help Tony Taulke! I can—”

  “Geeks are a dime a dozen these days,” I said, remembering my contract. “Which makes your example all the more necessary.”

  “Please!”

  I pulled the trigger and Blalock’s body stiffened, electrocuted by his own EM field. I heard Darrow gasp behind me.

  “Goddamnit, Fischer,” Darrow shouted, getting to her feet. “I’m arresting you for the…”

  She trailed off when she saw me pointing the Mark II her way. Her eyes darted to her own weapon laying on the floor. She’d put it down to tend to Erkennen. Too far out of reach.

  “Do it then,” she said. “Just do it.”

  “I’m not gonna kill you, Darrow,” I said. “I told you earlier.”

  She stared straight down the barrel of my fancy new stunner. “Then what?”

  I thumbed the setting down. Technically, a stunner could be true to its name—it didn’t have to be lethal. In my business, it was hardly ever used that way. “Sweet dreams,” I said.

  “Fischer—”

  I pulled the trigger but was a hair too slow to help ease Darrow to the ground. She collapsed, but not too hard. I took a moment to wonder what her future might be with the Service, since she’d disobeyed orders from the top. They wouldn’t kill her now, they didn’t need to, and her mug had been all over The Real Story. Too high profile to get rid of, at least right off the bat. If they spaced her, it’d be after the hubbub from the livecast died down.

  Ra’uf Erkennen had begun to move, gasping with every stretch of his limbs. He was reaching for Darrow’s weapon. I kicked it away.

  “Congratulations on ruining your faction, Ra’uf,” I said. “Tony’s going to absorb the Erkennens like a bad stain.”

  “Fuck you,” he said through clenched teeth. “Taulke is still finished. Wait till Gregor hears what you’ve done here. He’ll—”

  “Your brother Gregor? If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll play ball with Tony. Maybe the Taulkes will even let the Erkennens live.” As I moved to stand over him, Erkennen had to crane his neck. “Well, all but one.”

  The fear in his eyes, then. It seemed foreign. He’d been the big cheese for so long, giving orders and being obeyed. Now, he was just another rat about to be shot like the vermin he was.

  “Last words?” I asked, bringing the .38 up. I’m nothing if not a traditionalist.

  “Fuck you.”

  “Good as any, I guess.”

  I plugged him right between the eyes, the blast echoing around the metal walls.

  As he slumped, I took stock of the room. Four dead mooks, one dead geek, one dead faction leader too big for his britches, and one sleeping marshal. After she woke up, I knew Darrow would feel compelled to make an official report. Images of Ra’uf Erkennen’s third eye would be all over the Basement before lunar sunrise, I figured. And most everyone would see it as justice served after that little confession he’d broadcast. Maybe even Darrow would come to see it that way in time. If she lived long enough.

  I grabbed Blalock’s padd full of the greatest invention since the stunner itself and headed for the door. Tony would be happy. Before stepping through, I turned and regarded Darrow one last time. Even unconscious, her fierce beauty I’d noted earlier, bolstered now by seeing firsthand her strength of dedication to right for right’s sake, impressed itself on me. Part of me hated leaving her to her fate.

  “See you around, kid. Good luck with the law.”

  The Favor

  “Hey, Stacks, how’s life in the killing business?” Tony asked as I walked into his office.

  “Tolerable,” I answered, like always. It was our old way of greeting one another after a job.

  I sat down and smiled. He must be happy, since he’s calling me by my preferred handle. I hate Eugene. Tony happy? Everybody happy.

  “Nice work out there,” he said in a rare show of genuine appreciation. “And good work keeping your face
off-camera.”

  “Thanks. I see Gregor Erkennen got out in front of the bad news.”

  Tony chuckled. Gregor had wasted no time disavowing his older brother after hearing Ra’uf confess. According to Gregor, the elder Erkennen and his super-scientist had pursued the MESH tech all on their own, outside normal Company protocols. Gregor’s story explained both why Ra’uf had hid MESH’s development in Darkside from his own brother and why the Erkennen Faction had originally reported Blalock’s actions as corporate espionage. There’d been a power play within the faction too, discovered by Gregor after Blalock had disappeared. And Ra’uf had lost.

  “You sure the Brothers Erkennen weren’t in on it together?”

  “I’m sure.”

  He said it in a way that raised my eyebrows. “Wait a minute. Wait a minute.”

  Tony waited.

  “Was Gregor Erkennen your little bird on the inside?”

  Tony’s face was uncharacteristically unexpressive. “Doesn’t really matter now, does it?” Like usual, he kept his hole cards to himself. Tony doesn’t like sharing secrets he doesn’t have to, not even with me.

  “Well, that opportunistic little…” I marveled at the human capacity for betrayal. “What about the MESH? What happens to it?”

  “Gregor will have a distribution plan to me by Monday.”

  “Distribution plan?”

  “Protection against stunners is an advantage,” Tony said. Then, after a beat: “Unless everyone has it.”

  My eyebrows went up again. “So you’re giving it to all the factions?”

  “Along with the Mark IIs,” he said. “My people are looking into how to upgrade the MESH to protect against the new stunner.”

  So Gregor Erkennen had uncovered his brother’s plans after what looked like simple espionage by a wayward employee, plotted with Tony to get Ra’uf out of the way, and was now in charge of the family business. And set to make a huge personal profit when the other four factions ponied up for the new tech.

  “Keeping the balance by keeping everyone without an advantage over the others,” I said, impressed. “Mutually assured protection.”

  “Something like that.”

  “And you get to be the Company hero by handing everyone access to the new tech.”