Blaze took the package from Smoke and began to inspect it. He soon opened the corner and looked at the corners to several dozen sheets of paper. Blaze finished his drink, opened the package and pulled the first sheet of paper out. He cocked his head to one side as Smoke watched him silently read. He was almost disappointed when Blaze didn’t mouth along to the words as some people did. A smile began to spread along Blaze’s lips as he placed the papers face down in front of himself. “What’s that all about?” Smoke asked.
Blaze gave Smoke a single amused huff, “Nothn y’ cn d abou tit.”
“Seriously?” Smoke said as he began to feel annoyed and a little angry. “I get a package from the fourth below to the fifth and then a package from the fifth to here and nobody wants to tell me a single fucking thing. Come on Blaze, I think I’m owed that much.”
Blaze shook his head, “Ne Sm’k, y’ me bra bu I cnnt t’ll y’.”
“Why though?” Smoke demanded.
Blaze hung his head, “Y’ wount lk tit. Y’d tr ‘t sta tit.”
“That doesn’t fill me full of any sort comfort Blaze,” Smoke said as he took another drink from his glass. “What’s to stop me from taking this over and doing everything I can to stop it?”
“I’d sht y’,” Blaze said with an upset face, “R smbdy’d sht y’.”
“Really,” Smoke said in disbelief. “I have a hard time believing you of all people would shoot me.”
“Tings ave gn ‘t fr. Thrs na stpn tit.”
Smoke couldn’t imagine what had started to go through so many motions that it couldn’t be stopped. What surprised him even more so was the fact that he hadn’t seen it. It would have to be one of those things under his nose that he didn’t think anything of. He began to rack his brain and wonder what it could be. When nothing came to him he sank back into his stool and took another sip of the mulch liquor.
“If there’s no stopping it, then it shouldn’t make a difference if you tell me,” Smoke said.
“Dn tk tit s hrd,” Blaze said as he slapped Smoke on the shoulder, obviously trying to calm him. “I mk shr y’ na lef dow her.”
“I appreciate that buddy,” Smoke said with a frown. “Still; I can’t believe nobody is going to fill me in on wha-... What do you mean by get left down here?”
“Wn sy,” Blaze said.
Smoke gave Blaze a sour look, “Tell me what’s going on!”
“y’ll-”
“Try and stop it, I know,” Smoke said with a huff, cutting off Blaze.
The two continued to sit in silence. Smoke was getting irritated at the fact that everyone seemed to know something he didn’t, and worse yet they were actively keeping it from him. If it was something so big he knew there would be no way he could stop it. He trusted Blaze though, at least enough to know he wasn’t lying; he knew the man would be straight with him. If he thought it would be something Smoke would be adverse to so far as to sacrifice his own life to stop he’d have to trust him. Besides, he already had something of great importance to deal with.
“S’ wha bro y’ t’ th six b’low?”
Smoke battled with himself for a moment, he was giving too much away to too many people. Though, Blaze could easily help him in the case Blue had been captured by a slaver. He reached into his pocket and brought out the image of Blue. “I’m on a missing person’s case. I’m trying to track down this girl here.”
“Prett,” Blaze said. “Cld ge a goo pri fro hr,”
“She’s not for selling,” Smoke said angrily.
“I no Smk,” Blaze said apologetically. It was obvious the Nagara meant it as a joke, but Smoke wasn’t in the mood for slaver jokes.
“I know it’s a longshot,” Smoke said as he put the image away, “but have you seen her by any chance?”
Blaze shook his head, “Na.”
“If you do see her by any chance, especially in one of those slave cages could you get her for me? She was last seen going to the seventh below and I’m concerned.”
Blaze gave Smoke a suspicious look. He didn’t seem to believe that things were from the goodness of his heart, “I wan haft th skns.”
Smoke hadn’t told him how much he’d be receiving before, “Alright,” Smoke agreed, “It’ll only be a few hundred. I think half is a fair.”
The two men gave each other a slight nod to seal the deal and Smoke took another drink from his glass, finishing it off. He looked within the glass and wanted more of the good tasting mulch liquor. His taste buds must have forgotten the second above whiskey, underground liquor tasted good again.
“I’ll see you later Blaze,” Smoke said as he stood from his seat and feeling thankful he had been wrong before. He had been able to have a drink with his old friend.
Blaze slapped Smoke on the back and smiled, “Stll goo?”
Smoke nodded with a forced smile, “Yeah buddy, still good.”
He went to place a few skins on the bar to pay for his drink when Blaze stopped him. “Son m’,” he said with a grin.
Smoke placed his hand on the Nagara’s shoulder and thanked him before walking out the door. As he walked out he was once again met by the busy crowd mixed with the smells of sweat and high emotions. He took in a deep breath and proceeded to fight his way through the crowd to find the lift to the seventh below. That was where Fulcrum said Blue had been going.
As he passed the slave carts he kept an open eye to see if Blue had been in any of them. With each cage he passed he felt more and more relieved. If she wasn’t in any of the cages it was possible she may be in the lower levels as he suspected. There was still the possibility she had been bought by someone, though that didn’t seem as likely.
When a potential slave was taken they would be put through a series of tortuous situations causing them to become meek and bringing them to accept slavery as the better option. He highly doubted Blue had been in that sort of situation. The training took months, sometimes years to fully wash a person of their former lives. Blaze would have seen her if she had been in the program. The few hundred he’d be getting paid also ensured Blaze would spring her just in case he had been lying. It’d be more than he’d get if he sold her.
Smoke considered staying an extra day on the sixth below. Just to give Blaze a chance to bring her out. He decided against it though. It would give Blaze the impression Smoke didn’t trust him. That wasn’t something conducive to his trade as an investigator. He needed people to trust him and to know that he trusted them. That’s how things worked, a mutual shared trust and respect which allowed for favours and information to be shared quickly and easily.
The lift was set up just on the outskirts of the town. The man who stood with the lift was a large man with a massive bushy beard. His long hair hung down half way down his back. As Smoke approached him he gave him a welcoming and friendly smile with kind eyes. “Hello there,” he said cheerfully.
“Hi,” Smoke said absently, his mind still wandering and wondering.
“Looking to go down to the seventh below?” he asked. It was a rhetorical question.
“Just wondering when you’re going next,” Smoke said, deciding to give the big friendly man some of his attention.
“I’m headed down in a few hours. Is there anything you would like to do in the meantime?”
Smoke didn’t have to think on this one, “Yeah,” he said with an almost smile, “I can make sure to be back here before you decide to go down. I’ve just got to make sure I have a ride back when I’m ready to come back up.”
The lift driver gave him a confused look but then shrugged and went back to his work, “Come back when you’re ready. I’ll wait for you.”
“It’s appreciated,” Smoke said before turning back towards the town. This time he’d try and avoid the town all together until he made it back to the lift to the fifth below. He’d hoped Zombie hadn’t left quite yet. If she had he’d have to wait until he made his way back up. That wouldn’t be the best idea with Blue tagging alongside.
As he a
pproached he could see Zombie working on the lift. Her shirt, arms, hair and face covered in grease. The look was oddly attractive on top of her look of concentration, something about a woman capable of working on machinery with her hands was something he hadn’t thought he’d find expressly attractive. He had been wrong.
When Zombie had noticed him she gave him a wide joyous smile, “I figured you’d be back sooner than later. Get what you came here for?”
“I’ve got to go lower still,” Smoke said. “Figured I’d take you up on that drink. I have a few hours to kill.”
She gave him a pleasant smile, “Alright, just let me get cleaned up and we’ll head to the town.”
Smoke shrugged, “Alright.”
She moved to the back of the lift and began dunking her hands into a large washbasin and splashing her face with the water. He couldn’t help watching as the streams of water poured from her face and down her neck to between her breasts. The entire washing ritual was a little arousing, that may have been her plan all along. He’d have to do what he could to prevent anything but drinks from happening. He could see himself being swayed by her seduction and being dragged away into a series of sexual mistakes. He had committed himself to Glass once again. This was not going to change. Not this time.
She had removed her shirt in front of him. He turned away as soon as she gripped the bottom edge of her shirt. “Oh come on, they’re just breasts, nothing to be embarrassed over,” Zombie said with a little bit of playfulness in her voice.
“It’s not that,” Smoke said scrambling to think of something to say. “It would have just been rude to watch on.” A poor excuse, but it was the best he had.
Zombie didn’t seem to mind his embarrassment and continued cleaning herself. Once she had changed into the clean shirt she had saved by the washbasin she said he could turn around. She was clean of all grease now with the exception of a few streaks on her pants.
“Let’s go get a drink,” Smoke said trying to keep a straight face.
Zombie followed alongside him as they went back into the town. Smoke continued through the crowd while doing his best to not lose the woman. It would take a long time to re-find her again with all the people. Zombie somehow managed to keep up with him and entered the tavern just after him.
This was a different tavern than before. It was set up as a very low-brow place. The tables and chairs were covered in a fine layer of dust. The barkeep was a tall, greasy looking man much like the tavern owner he shook down on the first below. Smoke almost laughed, though only a little longer than a week had passed since the days on the first below it seemed like he had been on the trail for over a month.
He and Zombie took a chair at the table that seemed to have the least amount of dust. “So I have to ask,” Smoke said. “When you were cleaning, did you just happen to have that shirt and washbasin just lying there?”
Zombie snickered, “I did. I put them there before I started working on the lift. I’m not going to go into town covered in grease from head to toe. I may be new to the lift driver job but I know what I’m doing.”
The barkeep came to the table and placed two large mugs of ale before they had even ordered. “Thanks,” Smoke said in a tone between the lines of sarcasm and gratefulness.
He took a sip of the ale and placed the mug back down. “Not your first drink today I take it,” Zombie said, the smile never leaving her face.
“What makes you say that?” Smoke asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You didn’t grimace at the taste of the awful ale they have here,” she said with a laugh. “Only someone with alcohol in their system already can handle the taste.
“I met with one of the Nagara earlier,” he said.
“Why’s that?” she asked. “I thought you didn’t like the slave trade.”
“It wasn’t as a buyer,” Smoke admitted. “I was as a delivery boy. It’s not my chosen profession but it was what I had to do in order to make it to your lift.”
Zombie nodded knowingly and took a drink from her mug. She wiped away some of the liquid from her top lip and said, “Yeah I get that. The Worms can be a bit of a pain to deal with. It’s really just a matter of doing what they say when they say it and they won’t try looking for someone to replace you.”
“They do seem to think they’re more powerful than they actually are.”
Zombie agreed and said, “But they did drive the Nagara out of their floor.”
“They did,” Smoke said in response, “but that said, if the Cartel wanted the fifth below, the Worms wouldn’t have anywhere to go. They’d be dead before any of them had been given a chance to make it to your lift.”
“You know the Cartel?” Zombie asked in surprise.
Smoke took another long drink from his mug of ale before saying, “Technically I’m the new boss of the Cartel.”
Zombie’s eyes widened. This was the first time he had seen her smile disappear as it transformed into a look of absolute fear. “What do you mean you’re the new boss?”
Smoke took in a deep breath and sighed loudly, “I killed the last boss. Since I was his son I was automatically given the reigns and now I’m the new boss. I don’t want the title but I had to leave a friend of mine with them… it was the best way to keep her safe while I continued down the levels. I need to remain as hidden as I can while I continue downward and I can’t do that with another person with me.”
“Wouldn’t leaving her up there just mean you’re leaving her with a collection of thieves and killers?”
“I had the same thought,” Smoke admitted, “but the second in command and the bodyguard are loyalists. They adhere to the code and laws of the Cartel, that’s why my father had managed to stay alive as long as he did. Cobble may be a greedy, money-hungry bastard who wants nothing more than to lead the Cartel, and once I get back I’m going to give it to him, but for now he’s going to obey the laws.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m a private investigator. I’m on a case I doubt you’d be able to help with. You see too many faces for her to stand out.”
“Fair,” Zombie said. “Not like it’s my business anyway. I mean, you’re only here to make sure you can get back up to the fifth.”
“That’s mostly true yeah,” Smoke said honestly. “Though if I’m being honest I do actually enjoy talking to you.”
“Bullshit.”
“Truth,” Smoke said trying to be reassuring. “Just like you’re only here because you’re looking to get sex’d.”
“So what if I am?” Zombie asked in a standoffish manor.
“There’s nothing wrong with it. Lift drivers can get almost any human they want for sex.”
“And I want you,” Zombie said without her kind smile.
Smoke nodded knowingly, she had tried the meek and mild tactic to try and seduce him. It had almost worked, but when she saw that it wouldn’t get her anywhere now she’d refuse him passage until she got her way.
“Look,” Smoke said trying to play damage control, “It’s not that I don’t think you’re attractive. In fact under different circumstances I’d be all over you at the drop of a hat. This time though I have a woman waiting for me and I don’t want this hanging over my head.”
Zombie’s face soured before it lightened up a little. “Monogamy, who needs it,” she said trying to supress a little laugh. “Alright Smoke, I understand. Who am I to ruin something just for my own meager satisfaction? When you get back I’ll take you.”
Smoke nodded gratefully and finished his mug of ale, “I’ll have someone with me when I get back. She’s my mark.”
“I’ll do my best to not get jealous,” Zombie said, this time not hiding her amusement.
Smoke laughed to be polite. He didn’t think it was humorous in any way but it was the least he could do to make sure he had guaranteed passage. They gave each other a farewell nod and Smoke continued his way towards the lift to the seventh below.
11
Constance followed Cobble thr
ough the streets of the forth below towards a large meeting hall. She had expected a large group of people to be arriving and was shocked when Cobble had told her only two others would be among them within the hall. The building which had been chosen was nothing more than to make the meeting seem more official to the others than anything else.
The inside of the meeting hall was well decorated with a large chandelier above a large round table looking to be made of real lumber though she highly doubted it. Over a dozen metal chairs with cushions attached to the seat and backrest circled the table with plenty of space between them. Constance figured she could have put another four or five chairs and still be given enough room for comfort.
At the back of the hall a table sat with a spread of food and drink that made Constance’s mouth water upon noticing. She hadn’t been hard up on food or drink since being in the fourth below, but the thought of food enticed her. It wasn’t hunger; it was the fact that food was laid out on the table for anyone to have.
Cobble rounded the table and placed sheets of onionskin paper in front of four of the chairs; those were the itineraries for the meeting as well as the plan. In the days since learning of the plan she had come to grips with what was happening. It wasn’t exactly hard to deal with. It had been the thought of her whole world changing, the world changing for everyone that had shaken her enough to require time to think.
“So, when will the other two be joining us?” Constance asked.
Cobble had been a great help in making sure things went according to plan. She didn’t have any say as to what was going on as of yet due to coming in so late in the game, though he had explained everything to her and explained her role in everything. She assumed Smoke would have been in the same position; maybe would have tried to stop it, but being from the underground it was hard to say just how Smoke would handle things.
Cobble had told her that though she was the acting leader of the fourth below Cartel she would be the acting representative of the surface. The surface was a place of high importance to the underground and Cobble must have felt the surface deserved a representative; even if it had been last minute. The surface was a place the underground had no qualms with and they’d do their best to leave the surfacers out of the bloodshed.
The Engine What Runs the World Page 14