by Brian Parker
Time for a new phone.
“I’m sorry, Teagan,” I finally remembered to say.
“What am I supposed to do, Zach? They’ll probably suspend my classes and accuse me of murder like they did you—” Her hand flew up to her mouth. “Oh my gosh. My mom is going to kill me!”
“Let’s take it one day at a time. First, we need to find a safe place to stay for the night. Tomorrow night, I’m going to the clone factory to investigate. I’m going to get to this fucker. I promise.”
“Where are we going?” Sadie asked from directly behind me.
“We’re going to disappear in Easytown.”
“Are you sure?” the older woman pressed. “There are so many cameras down there, they’ll see us and then kill us like they did that female cop.”
“That’s just along Jubilee Lane. There’s a whole lot of Easytown that people don’t know about.”
We drove in silence for a while until we reached the edge of Easytown. Teagan’s hand tightened on my leg as we passed the first sex club.
“Nervous?” I asked.
She nodded. “I’ve never actually been in Easytown before. It’s too dangerous for a woman.”
I snorted. “It’s got nothing to do with your sex. This place is just as deadly for a male—if you don’t know what you’re doing. You’re in luck though, because I know what I’m doing.”
I was being cocky. That sort of attitude was what got you killed in Easytown as a cop. I needed to reign it back in. I wasn’t down here alone, I had two women that I cared for who were depending on me to keep them safe in the armpit of humanity.
The Jeep’s tires bounced over ruts in the hastily-laid asphalt as I turned off The Lane down a side street. The denizens of Easytown, the ones who didn’t typically venture to the main thoroughfare except to rob the tourists, watched us from dirty, cracked windows or popped their heads out of wherever they’d lain for the night.
The girls were getting nervous with the attention that the Jeep brought.
“It’s okay,” I stated. “I’ll pay a guy at the motel to watch the car. We should be fine.”
“Should be?” Teagan repeated. “Five minutes ago, you said you knew what you were doing. I’ve got my purse; we could get some cash here in Easytown, then go to a nicer part of town, or even the next town over. We really don’t need to be down here.”
I dropped my hand to hers, which was still on my leg, and massaged it gently. “It’s okay. This is our best bet to stay undetected now that they know about you… Ah, there he is.”
“Who?” Sadie asked.
“Tyrone. It’s cool. Just sit back and don’t say a damn thing.”
I unholstered my Sig Sauer and placed it on my lap, barrel facing out and pulled up to the man I’d indicated, rolling the window down.
“Zach, my man. What can I do for you—and your ladies—tonight?” the fence asked.
“I need another throwaway. The cops tracked the last one.”
He held up his hands and said, “Hey man, that ain’t my fault! When I sold you that, it was off the registers.”
“I know. They tracked it.” Tyrone didn’t need to know anything beyond his small part. “They tracked the phone after a couple of days of use. I need a new one.”
He eyed the ladies in the car. “Sure, I can give you one. Give me ten minutes with one of your girls and it’s on me.”
“I’m not some goddamned pimp, Tyrone. These ladies aren’t for sale. I need another phone.”
“You got the old one?”
I reached over to the console and searched for the old throwaway without taking my eyes off Tyrone. I needed his assistance, but I didn’t trust him—especially now that he’d shown interest in the women.
Teagan leaned forward and pushed the phone under my searching fingers. I passed it to him.
He reached into his pocket and I picked the pistol up, jamming it through the open window.
“Whoa, man!” he shouted, pulling his hand from his pocket and putting it up in the air with his other one. “See, it’s just a screwdriver.”
He held a small flat-tipped screwdriver between the fingers of the hand he’d slipped into his pocket. I relaxed and pulled the Sig Sauer back inside the Jeep.
“Jumpy fucker, aren’t you?” Tyrone mumbled as he popped the back of the phone off with the screwdriver and then pried out the integrated communications chip. I watched as he dropped it to the pavement and ground it under his boot.
“There, now that one’s gone. Time for a new one.”
“What’s your price this time?” I asked.
His eyes wandered over to Teagan, visually undressing her. “You sure neither of these ladies are for sale? You don’t need both.”
“Back off. They’re mine.”
“What the fuck?” Sadie objected from the back seat. I held up my hand to silence her. I knew she didn’t like being described that way, but it was the only way to get Tyrone to drop it. On the streets of Easytown, friends, girlfriends, even wives were easily traded for favors and drugs. I needed to get the point across to him that the women were not part of the equation.
“Alright, man. I’m just making sure. A man could use a fine lady like that down here.”
“I’m sure you would use them,” I replied coldly. “How much for a new chip?”
“A thousand.”
“You charged me three hundred for the old chip and a phone.”
“Inflation, Zach. You’re a hot commodity right now. If I was a less-loyal friend, then I’d turn you in for the two hundred and fifty thousand going around the streets right now.”
“That’s all I’m worth?” I laughed. Chris’ sources had been right. I couldn’t stay in Easytown now that I knew everybody was in on it.
“Apparently,” Tyrone answered, his eyes narrowing. “And that redhead in the back seat is worth five hundred—”
I slammed the Jeep into drive and shot forward. “Get down!” I shouted.
Chunks of concrete flew off the buildings on either side as my friend Tyrone fired at us. I took the first turn and sped down an even shittier street than the one we’d been on before.
“I thought you knew what you were doing,” Sadie shouted from the floorboard.
“I do. That’s why we got the hell out of there.”
Several men ran into the street, leveling weapons at us. I knew that asshole did something inside his pocket besides just getting the screwdriver.
The men blocking our way expected the Jeep to stop, like all autodrive cars did when there was an obstacle in the way. Too bad for them, I’d turned off the nav system to avoid detection from the police. I gunned the engine. Picking up speed, the Jeep plowed into the men, knocking them over like bowling pins. I grimaced and held on tightly to the steering wheel as the Jeep’s passenger side tires chewed through one of them and threw us around the interior.
The car fishtailed and threatened to overturn, but held on somehow. I caught a glimpse of a hulking beast coming out of the alley that startled me. A man, easily close to seven feet tall, wearing mismatched armor of some type stomped forward. I could hear the clump of his feet with each step through the Jeep’s windows. Arcing electrical wires, some of them emitting sparks from their ends, sprouted from his head and fell around his face.
I realized this was the same creature that the tweaker thought was the octopus god-thing. A goddamned cyborg.
It raised an arm and I jammed the gas pedal to the floor. Several thin, half-inch long holes appeared in the windshield and one of the disk projectiles embedded into the dash. I heard the high-pitched reports from the weapon and the sound of an air compressor refilling a tank.
Then we were running free to the next intersection. I took the turn and made it back to Jubilee Lane and jerked the steering wheel hard to take the ramp to the highway.
“At least we know for sure that there’s a price on our heads now,” I muttered, slowing the Jeep to the pace of all the other cars.
“What was
that thing?” Teagan asked, running her fingers lightly over the holes in the windshield.
The places where the disks went through the glass were clean, not the typical messy spider-webbing that a bullet would produce. It reminded me of a hot knife sliding through butter.
“It was a cyborg,” I responded, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “And it’s not our problem right now. We need to get someplace safe before we can begin worrying about that.”
“Where are we going?” Sadie asked.
“We need gas and then I’ve got an idea of a place to go. It’s over in Slidell…” I trailed off.
“Slidell? Who do you know out in Slidell?” Teagan asked.
“Avery.”
“Are you shitting me? That cop you were dating who threw you to the curb because she couldn’t handle your personality quirks?”
“Yeah,” I acknowledged. “She’s a good person, Teagan, regardless of our past. She wouldn’t allow herself to get caught up in all the political bullshit and corruption going around.”
“Will she let us stay there?” Sadie asked. “Your last suggestion for help didn’t turn out so well.”
“That’s the better question,” I muttered, ignoring the jab she’d thrown at me.
TWENTY-THREE: MONDAY
I made the familiar trek down Avery’s brick walkway, stepping around the loose paver that had conspired with my drunkenness to make that night a complete disaster. I grimaced as I remembered broken pieces of the event. It seemed like so long ago, but in reality, it’d only been a week and a half.
Time flies when you’re having fun, I mused.
It was late—once again. I was sure that the time of day would piss her off, probably even more than me asking for help. I reached out to ring the doorbell and paused. The plastic button felt rough under my finger, like it was purposely designed to be unwelcoming.
We’d parted on such bad terms. As I stood there with my finger on the button, I no longer thought this was as good an idea as it had seemed back in New Orleans. Actually, it had seemed like a terrible idea there, too. One born of desperation.
Avery was a state cop. Was I putting us at risk by going to her house?
A small, brown finger settled over mine and pushed down, ringing the doorbell. Teagan smiled back at me.
“We’re not going to do anything except raise suspicions standing out here in the dark.”
“You’re right,” I replied. “I was just thinking that maybe this wasn’t the best idea.”
“I know you were. That’s why I took the decision away from you.”
“That’s not really you’re place—”
“Don’t start, Zach. I may be all twisted up inside about you, but I’m still a smart and independent woman. You don’t get to tell me where my place is when it comes to saving my own life.”
I liked the fiery attitude. It was just one of the many things I admired about her.
“You’re right. Sorry.”
“Yeah, what do—” the intercom crackled. “Dammit, Zach. What are you doing here? I’m calling the local police department.”
“Wait!” Teagan answered, pushing me aside. “We’re in trouble and we need your help.”
“Who are you?” Avery asked. “Hold on. Have the redhead come closer to the camera.”
Sadie stepped up onto the townhome’s small porch and smiled. “Uh, hello,” she said with a little wave.
“You’re the clone that they found dead yesterday,” Avery accused.
“Guilty—sort of. I am the person who gave the interview to the television station, but I’m not the one that the mayor had killed.”
“What? Oh, hold on.”
Avery’s voice retreated from the microphone and after a few seconds, we heard the chain fall away from the door, then the deadbolt twist open. The door swung inward and my former lover stood there in pajama pants and a tank top that did nothing to hide her assets as her arms pressed them together.
My eyes were immediately drawn away from her ample breasts to the pistol she held clasped in both hands near her navel.
“Whoa, Avery!” I said, raising my hands above my head. “We’re not here to start any trouble.”
“You’re not? Is that the same thing you said to that poor woman right before you shot her in the head?”
“He didn’t do it,” Teagan cut in, stepping close to me. “They released vid evidence today showing that the original feed was doctored.”
Avery shifted one foot backward, keeping her body squared up toward us as she assessed the situation.
“I didn’t see that,” she admitted. Her eyes narrowed. “Who are you, anyways?”
“Oh, sorry. I’m Teagan Thibodeaux. This is Kelsey Bloomfield.” She paused after using Sadie’s real name and then lowered her hands slightly. “You can keep us under guard, I don’t care—but we need to get off this porch before Mayor Cantrell’s goons see us.”
“What’s the Mayor of New Orleans got to do with a fugitive cop and two women ringing my doorbell in the middle of the night?”
“Can we please come inside, Avery?” I pleaded. “We’ll tell you our story and you can decide if you want to help us.”
I could see that she was considering it. “Give me your weapons, Zach.”
“Avery, I’m not—”
“Then go someplace else.”
I frowned. This wasn’t going like I thought it would. I thought that once Avery saw Sadie alive, it would have changed things, but she hadn’t seen the report exonerating me from Sandra’s murder so she wasn’t open to helping.
“Zach, please.” Teagan said. “You know the longer we stay out here, the more likely somebody will see us. The vid of the undoctored footage didn’t get nearly as much airtime as the original cop killer vid. There are probably a lot of people who haven’t seen it and still think you killed that woman.”
All it took was one call to the police with my name attached to it and Cantrell’s computer programs would pick it up. He’d have people here within an hour.
“Fine,” I relented. “Here’s my pistol.”
I pulled the Sig Sauer from its shoulder holster, careful to keep my fingers away from the grip. Once it cleared the leather, I grasped the barrel with my opposite hand and passed it over to Avery.
“The laser pistol too,” she directed.
I lifted my suit jacket to expose my belt line and spun slowly, showing her that the paddle holster wasn’t on my hip.
“It’s out of juice, so I left it in the car.”
“Lift up your pant legs too, Zach.”
I complied. “I don’t use an ankle holster, you know that.”
“I also didn’t think you made a habit of getting yourself in this much shit.” She looked over at the women. “You two have anything?”
“Nope, I don’t have a weapon,” Sadie replied.
“Nothing,” Teagan affirmed.
“Alright, you three. Come inside, sit on the couch and don’t make any sudden movements.”
We followed her directions and filed dutifully into the townhouse. Once we were all lined up on the couch, Avery sat across from us.
“Okay,” she said. “Tell me what’s really going on.”
I brushed my teeth with my finger. Avery had graciously allowed us to stay the night once we told her the entire story. She even let me have my gun back.
A soft knock on the bathroom door made me turn slightly. “Come in,” I said, expecting it to be Teagan.
I was surprised when my host slipped through the door.
“I… Uh, I didn’t expect to see you again tonight,” I stammered.
“It’s okay. You’re safe,” she assuaged my doubt. “I’m not coming in here to try to seduce you or whatever stupid fantasy you have going on in your head right now.”
“That’s not what I was thinking.”
“Mmm hmm…” she demurred, sitting on the toilet lid as I rinsed my mouth out. “What’s with you and the girl?”
“Teagan?”
“Yeah. The way she’s guarding you is cute.”
“Guarding me? I don’t know what you mean.”
“That girl has got you marked as hers and isn’t afraid to let anyone know it. And a few of the glances I saw you give her makes me think that you two are a thing—much more than you led me to believe when we were seeing each other. How long have you two been together?”
“You mean, were Teagan and I together when you and I were… Well, when we were doing whatever we were doing?”
“Casual sex,” she clarified.
“I thought it was a lot more than that.”
“You thought wrong.”
“No. Teagan and I were just friends until a couple of days ago.”
“Alright,” she said, straightening her back and cupping her breasts. “I thought maybe the girls had lost some of their power over the years.”
“Haha, funny,” I replied, without laughing.
“We had a good time together, Zach, but we both know that it wasn’t going anywhere. I couldn’t handle your constant bullshit. Take this case for instance. You’re a fugitive from the law one day, exonerated the next, but now you have a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar price on your head. That’s way too much for me to handle.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Teagan seems like a nice kid. But at the end of the day, she’s still a kid. You can’t treat her the way you treat everyone in your life. If you do, you’ll ruin her.”
“I—”
“Zach, it’s me. We know each other, intimately. I know it’s only a matter of time before you fuck up, whether it’s with alcohol or with pissing off the wrong ganger. Hell, her apartment’s already been destroyed and you’ve only been dating for a couple of days.”
“That wasn’t my fault.”
“It never is,” Avery sighed. “I know you don’t mean for things to happen, but they do. Trouble seems to follow you around. Think about that before this girl becomes head over heels for you and you break her heart—or she gets killed because of you.”