Makeda Red

by Jennifer Brozek

  Imre stumbled to a stop, leaves kicking up, his hands up as she pointed the pistol at him. “Wait, no. You’ve got to help me. I know what you are. You’re a shadowrunner. You told me. I want to hire you.”

  Makeda narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t tell you anything.” What was his angle? All around them, the forest was still empty of people. She’d be able to hear them for a long time to come, but Imre was the only one to follow her and Tojo. That made him dangerous.

  Imre nodded so hard his hair flopped in his face. “You did. Where do I work?”

  “Hanover Casino. VIP services.” She looked for the trick.

  “Right. I never told you that. I only told you that I was a working man. I never said where or what I did.” Imre kept his hands up. “You know that because of what you can do. I want to hire you to get me away from here.”

  Makeda thought back to the previous conversations with the man. Flicking through her memories, it was Galen who had told her what Imre did for a living. Then she’d made the amateurish mistake of saying she knew where he worked. Stupid slip.

  If she were the murdering-in-cold-blood kind of runner, the man—handsome or not—would be dead. Makeda shook her head. “No. I already have a job. Move on.”

  “I’ll pay you 100,000 nuyen. Certified. Right here, right now.” He jabbed at his duster pocket with his chin. “I’ve got money. I’ve been trying to get free for years. You’re my best hope now. Please. I’m begging you. Please.”

  Makeda couldn’t decide if this was another one of Herr Schmidt’s plans or not. Or if it was an assassin’s ploy to make her trust him. Then again, 100,000 nuyen was nothing to sneeze at. “Tojo, do you know this man?”

  Tojo stepped around Makeda and looked at Imre. “No.”

  “You didn’t make a deal with him? You’ve never seen him before?” Makeda kept her finger off the trigger, looking for a reason to not kill Imre. Beyond the fact that weapon’s fire was a sure way to get people’s attention, she hated killing. Especially in cold blood. She couldn’t trust Tojo to put a sleep patch on him or to not get himself hurt or taken prisoner in the process.

  “I swear. I’ve never done anything with him. But I did see him in the bar. Once. He was drinking with a pretty brunette woman. His hair kinda sticks out.” Tojo watched her and the gun, his eyes wide and frightened.

  “You don’t understand,” Imre begged. “Once you work for the casino, that’s it. You’re theirs for life. Especially VIP services. They’ll kill you before they let you go. You know too much about their operations and too much about the whales—their tastes, their schedules, all of it. I had my arm broken the first time I went looking for another job. The second time was worse. I was told if there was a third time, that was it for me. Please. I have money. I even have a safe place to go. I just don’t know how to get there from here.”

  Tojo reached a hand out to Makeda, but was smart enough not to touch her. “They saw me with you. They had to have called it in. Saeder-Krupp will be looking for two people. Not three. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have him with us?” He glanced at Imre. “He says he has money and wants to hire you. Also, we kinda need to hurry.”

  Makeda frowned at Tojo. “You want him with us?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t see why not. We’re all running away.”

  She glanced between the two men and sighed. Tojo had shown some savvy moments and an ability to adapt. Also, he had a point. They did need to hurry. Makeda gestured to Imre with the pistol. “Which pocket?”

  Imre blinked at her. “What?”

  “Which pocket is your nuyen in?” Makeda motioned for Tojo to move back.

  “My left one.”

  “Then use your left hand to get it out.”

  It was awkward, but Imre dug into his inner duster pocket and pulled out a certified credstick with two fingers. It was the discreet black matte and had platinum bands on it. He looked at the display. “That’s the wrong one.”

  “How much is on that one?”

  Imre grimaced. “Two-fifty.”

  “Two hundred and fifty thousand?” Makeda gave him a slow smile. 250,000 nuyen was worth a bit of risk and danger.

  Imre nodded.

  Makeda gestured to Tojo. “Toss it to him. That should be enough to cover my fee, keep the three of us hidden, and get us to where we need to go. All that takes money.” When Imre hesitated, she shook her head. “Not a negotiation. You need us more than we need you. You’ll still have the hundred thousand. I’m sure that’ll take you far wherever it is you’re going.”

  He tossed the credstick to Tojo. “Eventually? Morocco. But Spain is where I need to go next.”

  Makeda felt her cheek twitch, and she gripped the pistol tighter. Spain was where she and Tojo needed to go. It could be coincidence. It could be more. Spain was a good jumping off point for a lot of the world. Light security in and out. Main international airport. No extradition treaty. There were a lot of reasons to move through Spain. Clenching her jaw to keep from asking about Spain, she watched Imre. He watched her as carefully has she watched him.

  Tojo caught the credstick and handed it to her. The display showed ¥250,000. That would do. “Turn around.”

  Imre hesitated, fear crossing his face for the briefest of moments before disappearing again. “You’re not going to shoot me in the back, are you?”

  Makeda snorted. “Not yet. I am going to pat you down though. Understand?”

  “So ka.” He turned around and put his hands on the top of his head, palms down. “You have my permission. I have a small utility knife at my belt.”

  Makeda walked up behind him and put the pistol against his back. She kept her finger off the trigger but said, “I have enhanced reflexes and my finger on the trigger. Twitch at all, and I will shoot you. It’ll happen even before I realize it. If you want to live, you’ll stay very, very still.”

  Beginning with his left side, she moved her hand around his neck and over his chest. In the pocket, she counted two more credstick- sized items, and his inner pocket held a datapad. Makeda found the multi-tool at his waist. She repeated the motion on the right side after shifting the pistol to her left hand. This time, she found a handkerchief, corp scrip, and smart glasses in his pockets. She slid her hand over the flat of his back, down to his rear and to the inside of his thighs. She had to push his duster out of the way to make sure he didn’t have any other weapons.

  As she was finishing up, Imre murmured low, “This was not how I’d imagined you first touching me. It’s not unpleasant, but it could’ve been so much more.”

  Makeda smirked. “The day isn’t over yet.” Stepping back with the Walther still leveled at him, she raised her voice. “Turn off your comms, datapad, and smart glasses. Anything that could ping out your location. Sleep mode, private mode, or all the way off.”

  “Can I turn around?”

  She stepped back to Tojo’s side. “Yes.”

  “You’ll help me?” Imre fiddled with his smart glasses before returning them to an inner pocket. He repeated the motion with his datapad. “Get me to where I need to go?”

  Makeda looked at Tojo again. He was the client. “Your choice.

  You’re paying.”

  Tojo didn’t look at her as he turned off his datapad and AR glasses. “Yeah. That’s fine.”

  She gave Imre a considering look. “I can get you a flight to Spain once we reach my contacts. It’ll be expensive, but doable.” The sounds of people faded, but the crisscrossing pattern of the drones and helicopters had not. “Either way, we need to make it to a cave, and quick.”

  Makeda put the pistol away and zipped up her jacket. “Welcome aboard. Keep up. This first part is going to suck.”

  She knew she was going to have to keep a close eye on Imre. But for now, he seemed to be exactly what he said he was: a wage slave looking for a way out. Unlike many, he’d had the smarts to make plans and could adapt. Mostly because he’d been exposed to some powerful people who didn’t have to play by the rules
. Sounded like a shadowrunner in the making to her.

  All of this was just conjecture, of course. Makeda recognized the wishful thinking and admitted it to herself. Either way, she was looking forward to finding out the truth.

  Imre lowered his hands and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” He buttoned the top couple of buttons on his duster and moved up next to her. “The plan?”

  She looked through the trees toward the sloping rock. “We go up. You see anything that looks like an opening, you let me know. You see anyone following, you let me know. You see anything that makes you blink twice…”

  “I…” Imre glanced at Tojo. “We let you know.” “Exactly.”

  The three of them moved through the trees as one, with Makeda in the lead. All of them were fit, but Tojo kept slipping and stumbling, unused to the extended physical exertion. As the trees thinned, the fog rolled in. It wasn’t cold, but it obscured the view. Every time the sound of something flying came near, all of them hurried their steps. They climbed upward. Even Makeda panted for breath.

  Tojo tripped on a rock and fell hard. He stifled his cry of pain. Makeda returned to him. His pants were ripped, and one knee bled. Not a lot. Enough to speak of the stinging pain he must be in. She moved him to one of the few trees that grew on the trail. “Hold on.”

  He did as he was told. She examined his knee, manipulating it. Nothing broken. Imre handed her his handkerchief. She cleaned the scrape while Tojo grimaced. “Put weight on it.”

  Tojo did as told but slid a bit on the slick rock. He steadied himself and nodded. “I’m good.”

  Makeda realized the problem was Tojo’s shoes. He had smooth- soled shoes designed more for a dance floor than hiking in the mountains. There was nothing to do about that now. Without being asked, Imre stepped to his side and helped him. Something about Imre’s smooth confidence rang alarm bells in Makeda’s mind, but she couldn’t put her finger on what bothered her.

  “Step like this…” Imre showed Tojo how to test his footing and keep his balance.

  It was exactly what Makeda had been about to do. “Been hiking long?” She tried to keep her voice light and devoid of her sudden suspicion.

  Imre kept his arm out for Tojo to clutch at when things got unstable. “When the client, who has never gone skiing, decides he wants to learn how but doesn’t want to go alone, it’s up to VIP services to make sure they have a good time and come home safe.”

  It was an answer. Just not an answer to the question Makeda asked. She wondered if that was on purpose, or if he’d been trained to answer the question he thought the client was actually asking. It was an interesting trait in someone who’d catered to the rich and famous. It was also something she did all the time.

  Maybe he’d like to run the shadows once he was used to being out from under the company’s thumb. A man had to eat, and he needed to work to get the nuyen to do that. No matter how much he had stashed up for his escape, it wouldn’t last forever. She wondered what he’d do then. She wondered if he’d even thought that far ahead. Possible. After all, he had to anticipate his client’s needs.

  They all looked up as the sound of a drone got closer.

  “Imre, help him move faster.” Makeda scanned the tree- and rock-filled hillside. Less trees. More bushes. Nothing stuck out. There was no convenient hole to hide in. They’d have to get over the ridge and into the clear to see what was on the other side. Thank goodness for the obscuring fog. The only other thing in their favor was the fact that no one was specifically looking for them—yet.

  Or maybe they were. She made an abrupt halt. The men stopped short of ramming into her. “Imre, you still wearing your Party Train band?”

  He shook his head as he pulled up the sleeve of his shirt to show his bare wrist. There was a large bruise under his thumb joint. “No.”

  “How’d you get it off?”

  “I beat on it with a piece of the marble counter that broke in the crash.”

  Makeda eyed him. “How’d you know you needed to get it off?” This time, she didn’t hide her suspicion.

  Imre raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. “How do you think we know where our whales are in the casino? The less they have to think about money, the more they lose. We know everywhere they go because their band gets them into the VIP areas. Their stats tell us exactly what they want when they get there.” He glanced behind and looked through the trees. “Look, you’re free to interrogate me all you want, but you’re the one who said we needed to find a cave. I’m not sure why, but we should move.”

  He had a point. “It’ll mask our heat signatures. And you’re right.

  We can talk later.”

  Makeda started up again, scrambling over rocks and using the bushes for leverage. She found what looked to be some sort of small animal path worn in the dirt. She followed it, concentrating on keeping the three of them moving at a good clip—never mind how much panting she was already doing. Despite the fog giving an eerie feeling to their flight, she was thankful for its ability to hide them from possible—probable—searchers.

  They walked and climbed in silence for a good twenty, twenty-five minutes before Tojo asked, panting, “What is a whale? I mean, I know what a whale is, but I don’t know what you mean when you say it.”

  “Big spender in the casino. Rich people who don’t care how much they lose. Whales. They get whatever they want. We make losing money a pleasure.”

  Makeda smiled at Imre’s words for two reasons: First, he unconsciously used the word “we.” Being part of the casino was ingrained in his head. It spoke to the truth of his story. Second, she’d played the whale once in a casino run. It had been a lot of fun. Someday, she’d do it again. Casinos really did everything they could to keep their big spenders happy.

  Her smile faded as she clambered up to the top of the ridge, gasping for air. Nothing but mountains, trees, and the valley lay before her. Hell of a place for a city girl. No wonder she didn’t have Matrix access.

  Scrabbling down the other side in a half-walk, half-stumble, she looked back to see how Tojo and Imre were doing. Tojo looked scared to death, but he was following Imre’s lead. If the mint-haired German hadn’t been here, that would be her right now. She turned back around, trusting the men to follow. This side of the mountain held more promise of a place to hide.

  Makeda found the hole, hidden by a thin layer of snow, as her foot broke through the ice.

  Falling about two meters and crashing to the rocky floor below, she landed on one foot and her butt. Makeda curled into a ball to minimize the damage as she rolled a meter to the side and bumped against a wall of dirt and rock. A quick assessment said that she was alive and mostly unharmed.

  Flicking her vision to thermal, she gave the hole a once over to make sure she hadn’t fallen into an animal’s lair. Did the bears in Switzerland hibernate? Were there even bears in Switzerland? Makeda had no idea. To her relief, there were no living animals in sight. The hole was more of a cave or tunnel at about two meters high, two meters wide, and five meters long.

  Outside, she heard both Imre and Tojo calling her name as they scrambled down to reach her. Looking up, she couldn’t see their heat signatures through the earth, and that was what she’d been looking for.

  “I’m fine,” she called. “Be quiet!” Makeda pulled herself to her feet and walked to the opening. Imre and Tojo looked in at her. “I found our hidey-hole for the moment. Come on down. Not quite sure how we’ll get back out, but I’m sure we’ll manage.”

  She gave them a confident smile in the face of adversity. They weren’t as far away as she wanted them to be, but this would do. It was cold outside, and it would only get colder as the afternoon became evening.

  Imre helped lower Tojo down. Makeda stood back as he dropped, ready to catch him if he stumbled on his hurt knee. Tojo winced a bit and hopped on one foot. Then he waved her off.

  Imre dropped through the hole and stayed crouched as he looked around. “We alone?”

  Makeda rolled her
eyes. “Nope. There’s a bear over there in the corner. I thought we could kill it for its fur and meat.”

  He stood. “Sorry. I deserved that. I couldn’t see.” He pulled out his smart glasses, then gave the cave a quick look over.

  “This will do until morning.” Makeda nodded to where Tojo now sat. “We’ll stay on that end of the cave, away from the opening. It’ll keep us warmer and hide us from the eyes in the sky.”

  Imre nodded and joined Tojo. Makeda eyed the hole. There was no way to close it up. She shrugged and turned her back on it. That was one problem she couldn’t solve. Time to move on to the next one.

  9

  The problem with waiting is the fact that it takes a while and time slows to a crawl. Once Makeda got everyone down and hidden, there wasn’t much to do except talk. After a couple aborted conversation attempts by Tojo, everyone lapsed into a distracted silence.

  Makeda considered their situation. No backup. No contact with the Matrix. They were going to miss the Lucern connection—most likely. She had an extra passenger. She had no idea where they actually were, but she knew it was someplace between Bern and Lucern. Closer to Bern. Either way, it was going to be a few klicks walk in the correct direction over mountains and through the forest. That was going to take more time than she wanted it to. More time than she had.

  But all was not lost. They were well hidden, the cave was much warmer than in the open, and it provided shelter from the wind and any other inclement weather. They had light from the cave entrance, but that would not last. She would watch the sun go down and figure out which way they needed to go when she decided it was time to leave.

  She considered her clients and wondered when the last time either of them had spent a night in the complete darkness of the wilderness. Never mind that it’d been many months for her.

  Tojo. He was far out of his depth, but he trusted her to get him to where he needed to go. For now, he was content to sit with his back to the earthen wall and rest his arms on his knees. He was awake, staring at the wall opposite him, his face devoid of emotion. She could see he was tired, but he still seemed optimistic despite his small injuries.