The Bridge Chronicles Trilogy

by Gary Ballard

  “You know good and damn well your chief instructed you to escort my entire party to this meeting in the Warehouse District. My entire party. That includes him and the wizard.” Mu sat in the car impassively, not wishing to get involved in the discussion. The trio had met Danton at one of the street side train stops a few miles from the Warehouse District, on one of the few trains Los Magos had managed to keep. The look on her face as the train stopped in front of her and the doors shooshed open to reveal Bridge, his illegal technomancer bodyguard and a notorious gang leader was priceless. Her eyes narrowed into a squint, but she pulled herself up into the car without comment. Once the train got rolling, however, the questions came at lightning speed.

  “All right, you got me there. My chief didn’t tell me who I was escorting, or why. So share. What is this big important meeting I’m taking you to, and who am I protecting you from?”

  “Anyone, really. I mean, there’s a ton of people with every interest in putting a cap in my ass and Stonewall over here is damn sure under the gun. El Diablos would love to put him down. In fact, I’d say that’s what most of this is about. Nacho has had a hard-on for Stonewall for years, and he’s only now gotten to the point where he could do anything about it. Of course, he has help, though he doesn’t really know what kind of help.” Danton’s arched eyebrow spoke to her confusion. “Don’t worry about it, you’ll hear all about it when everybody else does.”

  “And this meeting? What’s this all about? Who are we meeting?”

  “All the most important people. The leaders of the Families for one.” He raised a finger to the cop, as if shushing her. “You cannot go all gung-ho super cop up in this bitch, capiche? This is not an opportunity to further your career.”

  “What? Tell me one reason I shouldn’t bust everyone in the place.”

  “Just one reason? They’d kill you before you got your cuffs out. Do you think they are coming alone? Every delegation is allowed three bodyguards and they are honor-bound not to attack each other unless in mortal danger.”

  “Wait, three bodyguards?” She did the math in her head, her shoulders slumping with understanding. “I’m his bodyguard, aren’t I?” She pointed accusingly at Stonewall.

  Bridge smiled that smug, self-satisfied shit-eating grin again, causing the color to rise in Danton’s cheeks. “Now you’re starting to get it.”

  “Why not one of his Family?”

  “Because I didn’t wish to put them in any more danger,” Stonewall interrupted. “If this goes sideways, I want them as far away as possible.”

  “The other reason I don’t want you getting all arrest happy is that you’ll probably piss off your mayor.”

  “What’s the mayor got to do with it?”

  “You can ask him yourself when we get there.”

  “The mayor is going to be there,” she asked flatly. Bridge nodded. “THE mayor? Arturo Soto is going to be at this meeting?”

  Bridge nodded again more vigorously, grin growing even more irritatingly large. “You could say he’s the lynchpin of this whole thing. He’s the one that’s going to bless this peace accord.”

  “What peace accord is that?”

  to bles

  “All in good time.”

  She shot a look at Stonewall. “What is he talking about?”

  Stonewall shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine, mamacita. This is Bridge’s show.”

  “That still doesn’t explain why you chose me.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” Bridge began to duck his head, peering out both sides of the train. “But I figure we’re a few seconds away from finding out.” He cocked his head as if listening for something in the distance. “Hear that?”

  “What?”

  Bridge began making a circling motion with his index finger. “Chopper. You want to see if you can spot it for me with those magic eyes?”

  “What chopper are you talking about?” She squinted out the window. “That chopper?” She indicated a tiny light in the sky, probably a few miles downrange. “I see it. Who is that supposed to be?”

  “That, my dear Officer Danton, is what you called Special Squad. That is why I had you assigned to my protection. I was kind of hoping I was wrong, but sometimes people really don’t disappoint my expectations no matter how much I wish they would. You ready?”

  “Special Squad? What are you talking about?”

  “There’s a reason your chief was more than willing to assign a low-level CLED grunt to my guard detail. You see, your chief has every reason to want this whole meeting to fall apart. If just one of the leaders of the Families doesn’t manage to agree to this whole thing, he gets to keep doing what he’s doing, which by the way, is the systematic destruction of every one of the Families from the top down. He wants to break the backs of the Families, then he wants to bury them.”

  “Of course he does, he’s the chief of police and the Families are criminals.”

  “It ain’t that simple anymore, senorita,” Stonewall said. “The Families are a lot more than simple gangsters. We’re a community, a community of people with nowhere else to go, no one to turn to. The LGL, the corporations? They don’t want us, because we don’t conform. We ask for things like living wages and social services that don’t come with corporate strings. We want a government that isn’t subject to the profit motive.”

  “Don’t worry, Danton, I’m not blaming this all on your chief. After all, he takes his orders from higher up. I’d guess that your little freak friends in that chopper were really sent by the mayor. If we don’t make it to that meeting, he gets to claim that he tried to negotiate with the Families in good faith and they blew him off. Then he can turn the full force of the CLED on all of us. You think this war has been ugly so far? Wait ‘til he takes the kid gloves off. That little incident at the warehouse yesterd one ofay; that’ll be a small bonfire in comparison.”

  “I recognize those markings,” Danton said. “That is the Special Squad chopper I saw yesterday.”

  “Can you see how many freak jobs they got on there?”

  “Not yet. How’d they find us?”

  “You. That’s why I wanted you along. Mu?” Bridge motioned to the wizard, who snapped his fingers casually. Danton looked down at her chest, specifically at the CLED badge over her heart. It began to sparkle and glow, and the glowing motes of light flew from the fabric and began twisting in mid-air, forming an ephemeral rope that stretched in the air across the train car and through the window. The sparkly rope stretched from her chest to the oncoming chopper. “Every CLED badge has a tracker to, you know, make sure they can find you in case you get nicked. Or, in this case, if they need to find the people you’re with so they can whack them.”

  “And you wanted them to find you?”

  “Sure did. I figured they’d be coming after me anyway. If they didn’t, then my suspicions about the mayor wouldn’t pan out, which would be good. But if I dangled Stonewall and myself in his face, how could he resist taking us out? And if he went after us, he might just leave the others alone until the deal fell through. Now all we have to do is survive an assault by a hopped-up squad of super cyber cops.”

  “And what do you expect me to do?”

  “Decision time, Danton. You know me. I’m a shitheel, a liar, and a cheat. But I ain’t a killer, at least not without good reason. I ain’t being used as an assassination squad by the guy who’s supposed to uphold the law. You got two choices. You can help those bastards out there take us down. Make no mistake, they are not here to arrest us. They are here to kill us.” He let her dangle on that hook for a moment as the sound of the chopper blades grew louder and louder. “Or you can do what you were told to do and help protect us. We’re trying to stop this war, not escalate it. You want to save lives, to help people? What do you think is going to accomplish that, letting Soto turn this war into a herd-culling, or letting me work out a deal to stop this shit for good?”

  “DOWN!” Mu screamed. Bridge threw an arm over Danton, knocking her to
the ground. He half thanked the idiots flying the chopper for getting gun-happy. If that didn’t convince her, nothing would. The sound of the sky ripping open filled the car. Bullets riddled the train car’s left side from one end to the other, shattering glass and ripping through metal like it was tissue paper. Mu had done his job, though. The bullets bounced off one of his invisible shields, ricocheting throughout the train car with alarming volume. Bridge could see smoking shells hitting the ground.

  “What’s it going to be, Danton?”

  “When this is over, Bridge, I am going to kick a mudhole in your ass,” she replied through clenched teeth.

  “Fair enough,” he yelled back with a smile.

  The sound of something heavy hitting the roof shook them into action. Danton yanked her pistol from her jacket and fired six shots in quick succession through the roof. Bridge rolled off and moved into the corner of the car farthest away from the chopper.

  The sound of tearing metal shifted Bridge’s focus to the roof. Something had ripped through the metal, a long silvery talon of sorts that sliced a gash seven or eight feet long in the roof as if it were tissue paper. Four more talons entered the gash and began pulling apart the roof with little resistance. Something like a man swung into the open hole, hanging momentarily from the ceiling in an apparatus Bridge had trouble understanding. The man aimed two pistols from the hip in regular human arms that were flanked by four spindly metallic limbs sprouting from the man’s back. He wore a black uniform, the torso smoking from three bullet holes in the bullet proof vest. Mirrored glasses covered his eyes, and a wind-swept shock of black hair topped his head, a tiny trace of blood over his left eye indicating the only real damage Danton’s shots had done. He looked every bit like a human spider, the metallic limbs twitching spastically as they reached to find purpose on the train’s walls.

  Spider squeezed three quick shots from the pistols before Stonewall reacted, launching a cybernetically-enhanced kick that broke the cop’s left hand with a sickening crunch. Danton, having dodged the shots, put her last bullet through the pistol in Spider’s right hand, sending the weapon flying out the shattered window. She started to speak, screaming at the cybercop to stand down. His bottom right spider-leg shot out from his side, slicing Danton’s gun hand hard enough that she dropped her weapon, cutting off her command in mid-sentence. Stonewall barely evaded the bottom left spider-leg, but found himself too close to the freak show’s body. A headbutt sent the ex-footballer staggering away. Danton caught the spider-leg aiming to eviscerate Stonewall, leaving her exposed to the kick that sent her flying. With his top spider-legs leaving him hovering off the ground, he pistoned himself backwards to land at the front the car.

  Mu leapt into action, tossing a lightning bolt towards the nearest metallic leg. Spider’s body twitched violently as the electricity hit him, arcs of lightning coursing through his body and out of every limb, blasting what was left of the windows out of the car. Wind rushed through the perforated vehicle. Though visibly shaken, Spider remained conscious, bouncing himself off one wall and directly into Mu. The two slammed into the side of the car together, Spider’s metallic legs wrapping around the technomancer with a constricting grip, his right human arm locked onto Mu’s neck, attempting a one-armed sleeper hold on the most dangerous combatant. Stonewall ran towards the melee, but was stopped by another man dropping through the hole in the roof.

  “Shit,” Danton exhaled. The new entrant to the fray dressed in the same all-black uniform as Spider, but instead of a face, he wore a helmet covering his entire head with mirrored, emotionless steel. Interposilmeng himself between Stonewall and the Spider, he brandished two foot-long blades from his cybernetic arms. Stonewall pulled up, assessing his new opponent. Mask struck first, sweeping both blades towards the ex-footballer’s face.

  Stonewall dropped swiftly to the floor, sweeping Mask’s legs out from under him before landing a quick stamped foot on the cop’s face. The double tap of foot hitting metal and metal helmet hitting the floor rang through the car, but rather than daze the cop, he arched his back and leapt to his feet immediately. Stonewall, having reached the other side of Mask, backed slowly towards Mu and Spider, hoping to get a chance to free the wizard before being disemboweled by Mask’s talons. Danton aimed at kick at Mask’s back, but the cop dodged effortlessly, as if he’d seen the attack despite it being directly behind. A casual backhand opened a gash on Danton’s thigh and she fell to one knee. Mask spun, barely missing Danton’s ducked head with a slash.

  The attack had given Stonewall an opening. Bouncing off the wall, he landed a spinning left kick on Spider’s jaw, which cracked with another splintering sound, relaxing his grip on the technomancer. Mu pushed his hands out from his body, sending Spider flying across the car with an invisible force field.

  Bridge had meanwhile edged his way towards Danton’s gun, which had slid underneath a seat. He fired from the ground, three wild shots at the legs of Mask. One lucky bullet bored through the cop’s calf, knocking him over on his side. He fired five more quick shots into the mirrored no-face. All five bounced off, leaving behind deep, scorched indentations but causing no other visible damage. He staggered to his feet and shook his head, obviously dizzy but still conscious. As Bridge tried to squeeze off more shots, the gun’s hammer clicked on an empty magazine.

  Danton struck quickly, darting inside Mask’s swing range to land three vicious punches on the man’s rib cage. The last must have broken ribs, as a muffled “OOOOF!” was heard from behind the mask. Danton fell backwards to avoid a wild swing with right arm. In falling, her left leg slammed upwards into his side, landing right below the rib cage and driving upwards. That blow sent him to his knees, and blood began oozing out from the bottom edge of the silvery faceplate. Stifled, wet coughing could be heard. His broken ribs had likely punctured a lung, yet still he continued trying to fight. Danton struggled to her feet in a fighting stance, aimed one more kick for his ribs, then stamped on his back as he fell onto his stomach. With a knee in the small of his back, she grabbed him in a two-handed sleeper hold, squeezing so hard on his windpipe that her face grew red with the effort. Within minutes, his body twitched before slumping into unconsciousness. She released her hold, kneeling over him, panting.

  Stonewall had his hands full with Spider, who bounced from one side of the car to the other to avoid blows. Mu tracked the cybercop with his hands, a fireball waiting to be tossed, but the cop moved too fast for accurate targeting. Finally sensing his disadvantage, Spider skittered out of the hole in the roof, disappearing from view. Bridge turned his attention back to the chopper, which had hovered along beside the moving train the entire time. Danton turned her attention there as well, and a terrified look swept her face. “Fuck me,” she groaned. “They’ve got Goggles.”

  “Whatds. That b goggles?” Bridge asked.

  “GUN!” she screamed at the fixer. Realizing he still held the empty gun, he tossed it her way. She hobbled to the door, standing with her back out of the view of the windows and reloaded the pistol. “They are about two seconds from sending mini-missiles into this thing. Do not go near the windows.”

  “Spider’s going for the driver,” Stonewall shouted as he ran out the front door towards the lead car.

  Danton flipped around into the window, squeezing off six shots towards the chopper. Bridge heard the tinny whoosh of a missile being fired. He watched the vapor trail from the tiny rocket enter the car in slow motion and cringed in anticipation of the deadly explosion. But rather than being blown to bits, the rocket seemed to slide sideways, bouncing off an invisible barrier at an impossible 90 degree angle. The rocket continued on its course somehow, flying perfectly through the open front door.

  Bridge could see Stonewall running down the aisle of the car in front. He watched in awe as the rocket shot past the ex-footballer, singing his ears with the heat of its exhaust. Onward it flew, until it reached the other door. The explosion was massive, shuddering the entire train and blinding Bridge with or
ange light.

  Spots danced across his vision as he watched the front car buck upwards, thrown backwards by the explosion which altered its momentum. “MU!” Bridge screamed as he felt himself being thrown backwards. He landed hard, but not against the back wall of the train. Mu had somehow thrown a forcefield over everyone, including Stonewall, tossing them all together in a pile in the middle of the train car. The force bubble floated in mid-air, Mu levitating at its center, and Bridge had to grab hold of Mu’s legs to get any balance. The bubble was stuck against the back wall of their car, metal bending around it. Bridge could feel the car screeching to a halt, stress causing it to quake violently. Stonewall lay unconscious next to the motionless Mask. Danton had tumbled over onto Bridge’s legs, and was trying to right her balance as well.

  The chopper’s autocannon roared to life, tearing through what was left of the car to bounce harmlessly off of Mu’s bubble. “You all right there, Mu?”

  “I can hold it,” the technomancer said with only the slightest hint of strain.

  “Can you take that motherfucker out?”

  “Not without dropping this shield. Wait, yeah, come on you bastard, make that mistake. Shoot me with that missile, you fucker. Do it. DO IT!” Mu’s shouting couldn’t be heard outside the bubble, but the chopper’s passengers obliged him anyway. Another vapor trail exploded from the chopper’s cargo area and Mu smiled insanely. He brought his hands closer together, gripping the air gingerly as if it were his fingers grabbing the rocket. The missile seemed to waver, then did a complete 180, flipping around and returning to its origin.

  The chopper exploded in a shower of sparkling light, raining down embers and shrapnel. The debris lolled sickeningly over before falling from sight belon" colorw the elevated tracks. Another explosion accompanied its final crash to the ground.