by Jack Truxton
“As much as I want to …” I let out a hiss of an angry sigh and forced myself to unclench my fists. “We have to be smart. We can’t start anything out in the open. I doubt people here like Mario, but I bet he’s got most of them under his thumb, and that isn’t even worrying about the local cops.” Shaking my head, I got my rational brain in gear. “Give them a few minutes, let the ‘work day’ start, then we’ll go see the boss.”
Annie nodded, her tail relaxing from angry poof mode. “While it isn’t what Krusader Kat would do, it does make sense.” She flashed her cute fangs in a smile. “And I trust you. You lead, I’ll follow!”
We sat back down, making short work of the rest of our food. Romine and his entourage marched up the steps to his offices, the door opened for them by two more of the Tracksuit Brigade. After a few more minutes, just for good measure, I nodded to Annie and got back up, shouldering my backpack as I dug out my battered wallet. Flipping a few bills down on the table to pay for the bill, I added a generous tip.
Hey, it was Mauve and Puke’s money, not mine, and the Doughnut Emperor staff here deserved the cash for putting up with us for a few hours.
Taking Annie’s hand, I led us toward the door. Annie kept pace, blue eyes staring up at me as she forced her tail and ears to relax. “So, uh, how exactly are we going to see him?” Her voice was in that bare whisper that, with my enhanced ears, cut clear through the background noise.
“That part’s simple enough,” I said, lowering my voice to match hers as we pushed out onto the street. The bustle of modern life was coming on strong now as the sun beat down through the morning haze. “It’s obvious Mr. Romine wants his money, so I’m just going to march in and ask to talk to him about that. From there, well, things start to get a bit fuzzy, but hey, I’m a pro at improvisation.”
“You know I totally believe in you, Jake, but that sounds suspiciously like we don’t really have a plan at all.” I stopped to look back at her as we got to the edge of the sidewalk, but she continued on before I could say anything. “Very cagey! The bad guys can’t predict what you’ll do that way!”
Blinking a few times, I let out a chuckle. “Well, that’s a very optimistic way to look at it.” I let out a puff of a breath, psyching myself up as I turned back to Romine’s brownstone. “Okay, let’s do this.”
With that, we crossed the busy street, slipping through the honking, shouting traffic and up into the building. It might have been my imagination, but the people walking the streets seemed to give Romine’s building a wide berth, making us the lone figures to walk up the stairs. As if we were being expected, the doors opened for us much as they did for Mr. Romine, a mustard yellow tracksuiter giving us the hairy eyeball. I remembered this bit of treatment from the last time I had to have a ‘loan refinancing’ with Romine, so I just led us into the lobby, catching a face full of full-blast air conditioning.
The décor of the place matched the certain yearning grasp for culture that shone through Romine’s choice of clothing and car. The walls were painted a pristine white, while the floor had faux-marble tiles. Greek columns were evenly spaced around the room, out of place given the sleek modern desk of a secretarial assistant, this one human, by the twin elevators, especially with their gaudy gold paint job. It had all the class of a cheap casino, and was even less welcoming, especially with the two guards flanking the secretary’s desk.
While Colonel Mustard didn’t block our way, he grunted after us, making us pause in our tracks. “Hey!” he grunted, his bald head trickling with sweat despite the near-freezing temperature in the lobby. “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”
Annie froze for a moment, and I swore she was about to go for the frying pan, but I squeezed her hand to calm her. Turning towards Mustard, I hooked the thumb of my free hand in my pocket as I flashed a smile at the goon.
“Pretty sure you do,” I answered him. “I’m Jake St. Clare, and I think you’ll find that Mr. Romine would really like to see me now.”
13
The mirror-walled elevator was half-filled by Colonel Mustard’s bald beefiness, while Annie and I made due with the other. As I had suspected, the moment I dropped my name, there was a lot of harrumphing as the secretary, the only one in the front hall with a lick of sense, checked upstairs. Once she had calmed the goons down, we were informed that Mr. Romine wished to see me right away.
It looked like the ‘take me to your leader’ ploy really would work after all.
What was more interesting was that Mustard was giving us a surprisingly wide berth, well, as wide as he could with the limited space of the elevator. He kept an eye on us like we were aliens who were about to eat his flesh, one hand always hovering near his gun bulge. I scratched the back of my head a few times, while Annie’s ears quirked forward inquisitively.
“Excuse me, sir,” she asked sweetly. “Are you okay? I’m a nurse Kat, you see, and I can’t but help to notice that your sweating profusely and your heart rate is quite high for an elevator ride.” She cast a glance towards the floor, her tail starting to twitch anxiously as her ears flattened. “Is there something wrong with the lift? Has it been acting up? Milk and cream, is it about to give out and crash all the way back down?”
Mustard shook his head in confusion, some of that fear melting under her disarming charm. “Wait, no, the lift’s fine, and I’m okay, just …” He shut his mouth and wiped the sheen off his bald head. “Nothin’. Just … be quiet until I drop you off at Mr. Romine. I don’t want no trouble.”
That’s when it clicked.
“You heard something from your co-workers, didn’t you?” I said, trying to sound as calm and polite as I could. Sure, this guy was a crook, but I didn’t come here to hurt people I didn’t want to. “About us, right?”
Mustard clammed up at that, trying to look tough and professional, but I kept looking at him curiously, and Annie gave him the cute cat look that could melt the coldest heart. Under that intense pressure, he eventually let out a pent-up sigh and glanced at us sidelong, keeping his voice low as if we were being eavesdropped on.
Which we probably were. I know if I were a crime boss, no matter how penny-ante, I’d put surveillance devices everywhere I could stick them. No employee bathroom would be safe on my evil overlord watch!
“Yeah, St. Clare, that’s exactly it. Luiz and Johnny didn’t come back from cashing out your place last night.” Mustard shook his head a little. “And Johnny’s cousin’s sister-in-law is my niece, and she told me the story that he told his mother, which … well, you get how the grapevine works.” Shivering a bit, he straightened out his tracksuit jacket as the elevator began to slow. “So, yeah, I know that you two whipped the butts of two scary dudes with guns. Makes a man in my business worried.”
I’d have to remember in the future that word of mouth was potent. Glad to hear that Johnny at least was more of a talker than I asked him to be, I nodded at Mustard. “Then do the smart thing, man. When you get downstairs, take the day off. I’m not here to make trouble, but I think we both know your boss isn’t exactly a nice guy.”
The lift dinged and came to a shuddering halt. Mustard was regarding me seriously, mulling over my words, just as Annie nodded vigorously. “Please, sir. You don’t seem like a bad person, or else you wouldn’t have told us that, and you sound like you have a family. Do the right thing!”
I honestly didn’t think he’d really go for it. Sure, he had a bit of the fear of, well, us in him, but come on. Certainly, he had done some really nasty business for Romine in the past, hadn’t he? What was maybe having to rough up some guy and his Kat?
But maybe Mustard was smarter than the rest, or maybe he really did care about the family he might leave behind. Glancing from Annie to me, he grunted and nodded. “Yeah, I had a runny nose this morning anyway. Think I’ve got a fever coming on.” The doors slid open, and he pointed a thick finger down a hallway ahead. “Mr. Romine’s office is straight ahead. He’s waitin’ for you.”
I returned his nod a
nd offered him a hand. “Thanks, man.” Annie mimed my offer, sticking out her hand as well. Again, surprise surprise, Mustard took both our hands, gave them a shake, then shooed us out the door, probably so he could get the hell out of here as quickly as possible.
Annie beamed at me, her tail swishing happily as we turned to look down the ostentatiously decorated hallway. “What a nice man, Jake! I’m so happy I won’t have to hit him with my pan!”
I grinned as I tucked my hands casually into my jacket pockets. “I’m glad to see you’re adjusting to this quickly.” Nodding towards the paneled wood door waiting for us, I added, “Time for our appointment.”
Annie saluted me and fell into line, staying right on my heels. As I said, ostentatious was the right word for the hall, but you could also add tacky, gaudy, and a few other choice adjectives. It had inch thick red shag carpeting, and the walls were painted a cream color that did not mix with the carpet or the mirrored ceilings. Maybe it was my newly enhanced senses, but the assault to my sense of decorating was even worse than the other times I had been here. If I didn’t already have a reason to have words with Romine, this building was like a crime against good taste in and of itself.
In the moments it took us to get the office door, it was already opened from the inside, so we walked right on in. I had heard that the best way to take control of a situation in a strange place was to stay confident and look like you owned the place, so I went with that, leaning on the confidence the adventures of the past couple of days had engendered in me. I’m not sure if it worked, but it didn’t hurt, as our straightforward entrance drew the eyes of everyone in Mario Romine’s office.
Flanking the door were the two tracksuiters that had escorted Romine into the building, the one to the right dressed in salmon (yeah, that is a real color) and the one to the left in a yellow that was probably actually lemon, but I wanted to call piss. Neither was particularly pleasing, not in the least, and they both looked dumber and bigger than the rest of them. If I was an expert on biodesign, and I was, they were both abusing neo-roids, illegal genemods that did wonders for testosterone and muscle mass at the cost of, well, just about everything else.
Past those two walking sides of beef, the office itself was a roomy affair that screamed more ‘showy rich guy’ than ‘reputable businessman.’ From the glass bookshelves with an array of clearly never opened books, to the fake bearskin rug on the floor, to the leopard print cozy chairs in front of the real wood desk that was probably carved from an entire oak based on its extravagant size, it was all conspicuous excess and wasted wealth.
Behind that mammoth desk, Mario looked up at me, leaning forward in his huge leather chair that resembled a throne. His fat mitts, oversized gold rings on half his fingers, were folded on the desk and I could feel his eyes on me, even though they were concealed behind his smartshades. The microcamera in the center of the frames transmitted to him and anyone he was connected to, the glasses themselves allowing data to be fed to him. My best guess was that it was his Kat that was connected to his shades, standing slightly behind and to one side of him, her almond eyes quickly darting down to stare at the tablet in her hands.
“Jakey, my boy,” Romine said, a grin curling his jowls, “the news said you’d given up the ghost when Katsukami went all 9/11.” A thin black eyebrow curled above his shades as that grin turned into a smirk. “You are alive, ain'tcha? You’re not a ghost, are you?”
Annie had shrunk back just a bit behind me as I stepped forward into the room. I squeezed her hand reassuringly before letting it go, and I could feel her stance straighten as her confidence took over. Glancing over at the business Kat, who still had her head down with her fingers tapping at the tablet, I turned my full attention on Mario.
“Alive and pretty pissed that you decided to ransack my apartment while the body was still warm, Mr. Romine,” I countered. “I’m guessing you’re wondering about what happened to Luiz and Johnny?”
Romine shrugged slightly. “I know a lot of people in this neighborhood, in this city, so I hear when things happen, even if some smartass thinks he’s scared people into keeping their mouths shut.” That smirk grew as his head swiveled to his two guards. “Bimmy and Jimmy here happen to be scarier than some scrawny college kid and a widdle kitty kat.”
The Steroid Twins chortled as if that were the funniest joke in the world, while I could hear a growl building up in Annie’s throat. Me, I played it cool, though I couldn’t help but notice Mario’s Wonder Kat flinch a bit instinctually before cutting through the goon laughter with a surprisingly clear and confident voice.
“Master Romine, sir, should I bring up Mr. St. Clare’s records? Considering the resources lost already in attempting to collect, such as the loss in labor, perhaps a settlement can be worked out.” The Kat tapped at her tablet, but before she could do more, Mario shot her an evil glare.
“Nyala, if I’m not mistaken, I didn’t make you the boss, did I?” Malice was rife in his voice, and I almost vaulted the table to kick him in his stupid teeth right away.
“No, Master,” she mewled, her tail dropping right to submissive mode as her ears flattened. “Not at all, but it’s my duty to maximize your profits and—”
“Don’t you worry your pretty head about it,” Romine said with a guffaw, waving at her dismissively. “And maybe you do have a point. Gimme Jakey’s records.”
Annie pressed herself against my back, eyes darting between Bimmy and Jimmy. Whispering in that super-low voice that I realized more and more no one could hear but Wonder Kats and yours truly, she hissed, “Should I hit them with my pan, Jake?”
I raised a hand to her. As much as I would have loved to jump ahead to the punching, just swinging wildly was stupid. With the addition of neo-roids to the mix, we would have to swing smartly. I started to assess the situation, trying to think of the best way to approach a fight with the two goons. Neo-roids made you strong, tough, volatile, but they also made you slow on your fet and dumb as rocks. We could probably exploit that, but first, I was going to try to do this peacefully.
Just because these guys were violent assholes didn’t mean I had to be, at least not until I was provoked.
“Look, Mr. Romine,” I said, keeping my confident expression, “while I didn’t appreciate wanting to steal my stuff, I can look past that. You thought I was dead, I owed you money, even if it was way more money than I should have, fine. Water under the bridge. But I came here to clear all this up.”
Mario grunted as he looked over my data, his sausage fingers drumming, his head turning slightly back and forth in the way that most people did when reading data off smartglasses. “And just how are you going to do that? Ain’t gonna lie, kid, I’ve still got tens of thousands of bucks invested in you, still racking up interest, and that’s … hold on.” Nyala had never stopped tapping at her tablet, and Romine nodded slightly. “Make that nearly a hundred thousand now, countin’ lost labor from the guys you beat up.” He grinned like the fat greedy pig he was. “You know how expensive good help is these days, right?”
I shook my head. “That’s bullshit, actually, the same bullshit you’ve pulled on thousands of people. How many folks have you literally stolen everything from, sucking away all their money after you make them a bad deal when they’re desperate?”
Annie’s growl was growing even as Nyala’s attitude turned fearful, her ears flattening. Mario seemed not to care or notice. “That’s business, Jakey. I have money when people don’t, and it’s not my fault they don’t spend my loans wisely. Smart guy like you has to understand that.”
“Well, that’s ending today,” I said calmly. “You’re going to forget about that loan of mine, you’re going to forget about me, and while you’re at it, you’re going to hand over custody of Nyala there over to me.”
That little spark of something came back into the business Kat’s eyes, but Romine just started laughing. “Holy shit, kid, that’s fucking rich! You march into my place of business and demand that kinda shit? Yo
u’re crazy!”
“You might think I’m talking from a position of weakness,” I corrected, “but if you really did talk to the guys you sent to my place, you’ll know that we dealt with them handily.” When Romine still kept laughing, I added, “And you should really consider the fact that Annie here took out one of your guys. She’s a Nurse Kat, you know, and I’m sure you know what this means.”
I don’t think Romine got it, but Nyala did. The cinnamon-haired Kat’s eyes widened slightly, her ears perking as her tail started to twitch. She tapped furiously at her tablet for a moment before Mario finally caught up with my implication.
Or did he? I couldn’t be sure, but he didn’t stop his chortles until Nyala had started typing …
“You did something to your Kat then?” Romine asked, his fat fingers starting to drum the table. “Something that let her whack a human, which they ain’t supposed to do.” He paused a moment, Nyala’s fingers still tapping at her tablet as he did so. Finally, he added, “Right, you borrowed from me for college. Some fancy biodesign thing, yeah? Maybe you do have something I want, Jakey.”
I crossed my arms and frowned. “One person in this room past Annie and me is smart.” And it wasn’t Mario Romine. “But I was more trying to remind you that a Wonder Kat off her limiters is stronger, faster, and a hell of a lot smarter than these goons of yours. Trust me, what I have I certainly will not sell to someone like you, but—”
The Abyssinian’s tail shook in fear, her ears fully back as she frantically typed at her tablet, but whatever she was sending to her boss, I think he ignored as he rose to his feet abruptly, cutting me off by saying, “Good thing I wasn’t gonna ask. Boys, shake these two losers down.”
And that’s when all hell broke loose.
14
“Romine, you greedy asshole,” I growled as I spun toward Bimmy and Jimmy, pulling Annie behind me in the process. “Just know that what’s about to happen is something you brought on yourself.”