The study was exactly as Smoke recalled with the exception of the levels of the liquor in the decanters, some were much lower while some seemed to have risen. Row and Marla stood around the green inverted table and smiled softly with forced glee as Smoke and Blue stepped into the room. Smoke and Blue stopped several paces before her parents. Mulholland turned and scowled at Smoke and Blue. “Alright, now that I know nobody is listening we can cut the shit. Blue, how are you here? And Mister Callahan, how are you alive?”
Smoke and Blue looked at each other and grinned, “Wow,” Blue said, “I thought it would take a lot longer to get a confession out of them.”
“What are you talking about?” Row asked as he pulled out a revolving pistol.
“Father,” Blue said with a smirk, “in all my years I’ve never seen you use a revolving pistol. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you hold one. You know who this man is, he’s a quick draw and accurate with his weapon. You know he’d put holes through all three of you before you’d ever have the courage to pull that trigger. Let’s face it, when I went for pistol training you said I was wasting my time.”
Smoke knew Blue was bluffing. Smoke was a great shot, but he wasn’t the best by any means, nor was he especially quick. Regardless he pulled out his revolving pistol and fired at Row Lang. He screamed in pain as his hand erupted into a spray of blood and fingers as the revolving pistol fell to the ground. Row clutched what remained of his hand and remaining fingers. “Alright,” Smoke said. “Sit.”
Marla, Mulholland and Row obeyed. “What are you going to do to us?” Marla asked.
“First off, there’s the issue of my reward,” Smoke said with a grin. He handed Blue the magic pouch he’d attached to his belt, “Blue, would you go pick up the revolving pistol and escort Marla to collect my reward? I’ll wait here and keep your dear parents company until you get back.”
Blue moved to the revolving pistol and picked it up. She grabbed a cloth from across the room and threw it to her father who wrapped it around his damaged hand. “Looks like my training has some uses after all,” she said with malice. She pointed the pistol to Marla, “Up, let’s get moving.”
Marla obeyed and Blue followed her out of the room. “What’s the point of all of this?” Row asked. “We were going to pay you anyway.”
“Oh I assumed as much,” Smoke said, “But it’s best to be sure. Anyway, this is not about the skins. This about who you are, what you know, and what you’ve taken from me.”
“You know we know about the engine,” Mulholland said angrily. “Blue would have told you about that.”
“It’s true she did, she also explained that you set me up to die.”
“So that’s what this is about?” Row asked. “Because we tried to get you killed?”
Smoke chuckled, “Oh hell no,” he said with amusement. “I couldn’t give two shits about that. Do you have any idea how many people want me dead? Of course you do, you’ve done your research on me. Trying to kill me doesn’t faze me at all. I don’t even care about the torture, it hurts and will hurt for a long time, but I already killed the men who did that. What I do care about is what you know about a certain company still strong in Red City and the person that I lost because you sent me on this hunt.”
“What are you talking about?” Mulholland asked.
“First off,” Smoke said as he sat in an easy chair across from Mulholland and Row. He threw the book of tower families between them. “You two are not native to this level. You’re from much higher in this tower; you’re from the tenth above. Felt like slumming it for a while? Doesn’t matter, what you do need to know is that I’m a bit of a history fanatic. I love learning about the past and the secrets it holds. I know you are a part of the engine, which means you are privy to the Ares Corporation and their dealings.”
“What are you talking about?” Row asked.
His eyes gave away everything Smoke needed to know. He knew about the Ares Corporation and everything they did. “The Ares Corporation began in the late nineteenth century as a part of the Legion of Twelve. The Ares Corporation was the head of law enforcement and military funding. They kept their part up while several companies in the legion went under. Eventually the Ares Corporation began its own superhuman law enforcement unit. Need I continue on the history of Ares Corp? No? Alright.” He took a pause to move to the liquor stand and poured himself a drink, all the while keeping a keen eye on Row and Mulholland.
“Anyway,” Smoke continued, “while I was in the engine their leader of this area tried to recruit me. She told me the history of the engine in the vaguest way possible. I don’t think she really knew who she was talking to. I put things together, sometimes it’s a leap of faith, but many times it’s nothing more than putting the pieces together, even if they seem unrelated. In this case I have to go back to the origin of the engine. People dug down into the ground to end a war. It’s not a far cry to realize it was the Ares Corporation that funded the engine and what it’s used for. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Ares Corp building had been built to withstand electromagnetic pulses. They’re setting themselves up to rule the world with their technology that’s safe from the pulses.”
“You’re going to try to take on the Ares Corporation?” Row asked while laughing.
“Not at all. I don’t need to. There’s nothing they can do or else they’d have done it already. They may be looking to take over the world, but the technology they’d spread could be a benefit to everyone. I would actually encourage everyone to accept it,” Smoke said as he watched Blue and Marla return with the magic sack. “Though my plans are not yours to hear - I just wanted you to know I know your actual family secret. You’re a part of the Ares Corp. Nothing too bad, I’m not even sure why that’s your big secret. But, if word got out that your secrets had been found you’d be labelled soft. A title and claim that could get you extradited from both the towers, and the knowledge of the engine could get you removed from the surface and the underground. You’d be pariahs everywhere you go. I’m not going to do anything with this information, because as I said before, I don’t have to.”
“Then what’s the point of all this?” Mulholland screamed.
“Because of Glass,” he said with a cold and angry voice. “You sent me to the engine, I escaped and they carved her up for me to find. I made a vow to her to kill all those who were a part of this, including all those in the engine. In the end, I’ll have to end myself as well considering it was my escape that caused it, but I think I have a lot of time before that happens. Any last words?”
The Lang family stared at Smoke and Blue with their mouths agape. Smoke and Blue looked at each other and open fire. The bodies of the Lang family jumped with each shot; and with each shot fired Smoke felt a little weight lift from his heart. Glass would be avenged, one body at a time.
The look on Blue’s face was one of retribution and horror. She had just killed her family, though it was a suiting vengeance for the life they’d pushed upon her. He’d have to make sure this didn’t become a habit for her, but there was more to take care of before then.
23
The third above was bare. No signs of anyone on the floor remained; no civilian or soldier occupied the hallways. Constance looked around but she didn’t know the Rocka family emblem. She’d seen a wide variety of symbols as she wandered. Stars of varying styles, a rain drop, a dog’s head and several other symbols greeted her.
It wasn’t long before she realized she was lost. The white walls, white doors and white floors made direction hard to pinpoint. There were little to no distinguishing features to the tower halls to the point where Constance realized she could have been going in circles and not known it. The only indicators that she wasn’t spinning around were the door symbols.
She didn’t think the soldiers had made it to this floor as of yet. It was possible the majority, if not all the tower soldiers had been sent to the second above to make their final stand against the underground army. They wouldn’t want the un
derground people to make it any higher; it would betray those who had paid for their safety.
After several hours of wandering and guessing as to which door held the Rocka family she decided to press a random bell. The sound chimed through the home for over five minutes before someone finally turned the bell off and slightly opened the door. “Please don’t hurt us.”
She was a small mousey woman looking to be in her last legs of life. Long strands of grey wispy hair fell down her face and swayed side to side as she moved. “I won’t hurt you,” Constance said, “I’m looking for a family; I don’t know their symbol so I don’t know which bell to press.”
“I heard about the fighting downstairs. I knew this day would come someday. I knew the underground would come to reclaim what they believe is theirs.”
The old woman seemed to be ignoring Constance. “Can you tell me where I can find the Rocka family?” she asked impatiently.
The old woman stopped in her steps and gave her a look of deep suspicion, “What do you want with the Rocka family?”
“I have some questions to ask them,” Constance said assertively. “Do you know where I can find them?”
The old woman nodded her head, “I’m their door servant, “I will fetch them right away. I hope you don’t mind if I place you in a small waiting room. It’s just to prevent people from wandering where they shouldn’t go.”
Constance nodded, “Yeah, that’s alright.”
The old woman took her by the hand and led her through the room. The old woman’s hands were soft and frail. Constance believed if she pressed too hard she’d shatter every bone the woman had in her hand. She soon brought her to a small empty room, not much bigger than a closet or a pantry. Constance agreed to play along and entered the small room.
Constance hoped she had at last found the people who had hired her parent’s killer, though a part of her hoped she hadn’t. The last thing she wanted was to have to shed any blood she didn’t have to, but if the Rocka family had been responsible for her parent’s deaths she’d finally be able to let that part of her past go. She doubted she’d ever find the hitman, that wasn’t a thought that bode well with her, but it was a reality she’d have to live with. If the Rocka family had been the people who had contracted a killer, she’d be getting answers first.
She stood in the small room for hours before the small mousey woman opened the door, “I apologize for the wait miss, things have been hectic here with the war going on below. My masters will see you now.”
Constance exited the room and followed the old woman, “Are you happy here?” Constance asked.
The old woman looked up at her with sorrowful eyes and said, “Of course I am. They took me in a long time ago; I’ve lived my whole life here and will likely die here.”
She chose to drop the subject. The old woman probably viewed her as a woman from the tower and didn’t want to be caught talking harsh words against her employers. The chamber the Rocka family had been sitting was larger than most rooms Constance had ever seen. A young man sat in a chair with a revolving pistol pointed at Constance. A young woman sat beside him dressed in similar attire as the woman she’d robbed from the first above had worn. She gave Constance a dirty look before looking to the man with the gun. An aged man and woman sat on a sofa comfortably. Both were dressed lavishly to show off their posh lifestyle.
“You have five seconds to explain what you’re doing here before I fill you with shots,“ the younger man said angrily.
Constance held her hands up in surrender, “My name is Constance Ibot and I have some questions for you. Your family has been accused of hiring a hitman to murder a family who had lived on the surface.”
The aged man sat straighter in his seat before waving to the young man, “Clarence, put that thing away before you hurt yourself.” Clarence looked at the aged man, who Constance assumed to be his father, with careful consideration and carefully placed the revolving pistol on the table in front of him. Constance made a mental note that the revolving pistol was within arm’s reach and could be quickly picked up in the event of trouble.
“You said your name was Ibot?” the aged man asked.
“That’s right,” Constance said as she stood straight.
“That’s a name I haven’t heard in many, many years; a dozen at least. What do you want with our family Miss Ibot?”
“I’ve been trying to find the killers of my family,” Constance said quickly, “and your family was accused of hiring the hand that pulled the trigger. I’m here because I want to know if it’s true. I want to know who wanted my parents dead.”
“And what do you plan to do with this knowledge?” the aged woman asked as she looked at the shortblade at Constance’s back, the old woman had forgotten to take it from her before entering. “Would you kill them?”
Constance shook her head, “No, the knowledge would be closure enough for me. There’s been too much bloodshed this past day. I’ve seen more than enough of it. Besides, I don’t have the stomach for killing.”
“I’m sorry,” the young woman said with a sour scowl. “We can’t help you.”
“Shut up Dorothy,” the aged man said before turning to Constance. “Please, take a seat. I have to explain everything before I get into the event of your parent’s death.”
Constance sat on a small stool and stared at the aged man, “Alright,” she said, “tell your story.”
The aged man took in a deep breath and let it out loudly through his nose, “My name is Harvey Rock., I hadn’t gone through proper introductions yet. I apologize for that. This is my wife Francine and my two children Clarence and Dorothy.
“I knew your family. Your father was a great man who was soon to figure out a way to bring many of the underground inhabitants to the surface. He was a brilliant doctor and botanist who specialized in mixing plants genes together. I don’t understand much of it so I couldn’t really tell you exactly what he had been doing. What I do know is he created a plant that grew quickly and could fill a stomach with little food. The underground would have been able to come to the surface and grow much more of the population we in the tower had fought so hard to keep small.
Your father was a humanitarian you see; he believed that all man should be equal and living on the surface. He was the first and probably the only man in the tower I’d ever seen who believed the towers and the underground should be abandoned and have every civilian living harmoniously together.”
“A philosophy that didn’t sit well with the people of the tower,” Constance said knowingly.
Harvey nodded his head, “Precisely. It wasn’t just my family that banished your family from the tower - everyone wanted them out. But then on the surface they began doing all these great things that would have similar results as when they were in the tower. They made life better for the people on the surface, this brought people from the underground to the surface. Tower’s Shadow was almost a ghost town before they arrived. Now, we wouldn’t have allowed the town to go into ruins, but it was at a manageable number. We had people to maintain the agriculture, people to serve food and drink to those who worked the forge or the fields. It was a small but functioning ecosystem. Then your parents came and brought them education and medicine. They brought them a better way of life that knocked our ecosystem that we had fought so hard to create and maintain off center. We had to do something.
It’s not uncommon for someone from the tower to get one of the dregs from the underground to do the dirty work for us. If they pointed a finger nobody would believe them. Or at least that’s what I thought. I mean, here you are.”
“I never found the hitman,” Constance said grumpily.
“Dear, what was the hitman’s name?” Harvey asked his wife.
She shook her head, “I don’t remember. It was a long time ago. It was an odd underground name. Not the sort that rolls off the tongue, but when you say it you want to wash your mouth.”
Constance figured she’d take a shot in the dark and name the only
hitman she’d known, “Fulcrum?”
Francine’s eyes opened wide and she smiled, “Yeah, that’s the name.”
Constance’s brow furrowed. He had been right next to her in the second below and she’d had no idea. She could have made an attempt at killing him, she may have even succeeded. She’d go searching for him - that was for sure. “So you killed my parents because they were helping people?”
Harvey nodded his head, “I did, and I’m not sorry. The world has a balance to it; the rich, the poor and those in the middle. It is important to keep all levels happy to maintain the balance.”
“Based on the war going on downstairs I’d say you’ve done a hell of a job,” Constance said with angry amusement. “Why did you want to keep the population small, you’ve captured my curiosity?”
“Simply put, small numbers are easier to manage. If you get too many people in one area, they all start to want more, typically because there isn’t enough to go around. Eventually an eager mind will begin to stir the masses with their ideas of equality or supremacy. All it takes after that is a single spark before the landscape becomes an inferno of emotions, shots and blood. Much like what we have going on here now. Hence why we did our best to keep the underground population as spread out as possible. We implemented crime syndicates, gangs and the whore houses to keep people on their toes and to discourage them from venturing.”
“You didn’t think they’d ever all work together.”
“There had been a lot of fighting between the center floors for a long time. Old wounds heal the slowest, if they ever heal at all. Someone was clever and brought all the right players together. I am certainly surprised at the outcome.”
“And you thought the system to be so perfect that you didn’t expect a revolution?”
“Revolutions happen, but do you know the reality of it?” Harvey asked with a crazed grin, “No matter the revolution or why it’s fought, there will always be those who are wealthy and there will always be those who are not. History shows this. History is constantly repeating itself and this revolution will not change a single thing in the long run. My family may or may not survive this attack. The distribution of the tower’s wealth my get spread out to everyone, but in a matter of time a small amount of people will once again own the majority of the skins and a large amount will have very little.”
The Engine What Runs the World Page 31