by RJ Johnson
“It doesn’t make you a bad person Meade,” she whispered. “I swear to you, we’ll get her back alive and safe. You promised to help clear my father’s name and you’ve already done more than anyone could ever ask of you. I swear that I will help you make this right and we will rescue your friend.”
Meade smiled and nodded gratefully, “So what are we waiting for? We know what Laszlo wants, and when he calls, we need to be ready. If we’re going to survive the next twenty four hours, we need to decode that data stream.”
Meade stood and strode purposefully for the door, putting his jacket on while he moved.
“Hey, wait!” Sarah said, scrambling off the bed, “You got a plan?”
“Plans are dangerous,” Meade said, “They can go wrong. I’ve got a strategy for getting Emeline back.”
“What do we need to do?”
“Let’s go get a drink,” Meade said mysteriously, and he moved out of Sarah’s apartment, leaving her behind.
“Wait for me!” She got up off the bed and chased Meade down the hall. It was good to feel like he was walking with purpose again, if they were gonna survive this, they’d need it.
Chapter Eleven
After they breakfasted on some leftover Coalition protein bars, Meade and Sarah found themselves outside Laszlo’s Lady Luck Casino.
“You think he’s keeping Em in there?” Sarah asked. This was the first thing she had said after they left her place.
“I don’t know,” Meade said, watching the miners filing in and out of the casino. There was no indication of a Coalition troop presence, and without getting inside Laszlo’s inner sanctum again, Meade didn’t like his odds of finding Emeline inside. “I don’t think so, but I do think there’s someone in there who can help us find her.”
“Good, what about getting Laszlo’s DNA key?” Sarah asked. Meade smiled.
“My hope is to kill two birds with one stone here.”
Meade opened his ArmBar and used its surveillance tech to scan the faces of everyone moving in and out of the casino. Spotting his target, he grinned and pinged her ArmBar.
The tall redhead about to walk into the casino paused and checked the message that just appeared on her ArmBar. Seeing the message from Meade, she looked up with a slight smile on her face. She moved to the side of the casino where Meade and Sarah met her.
“James Meade, I did not think I’d get to see your face again,” Roxanne said, her voice low and throaty. Sarah bridled next to him.
“I’ve been busy.”
“So I hear,” Roxanne said, running her finger down his jacket. “You’re quite the celebrity on the wireless these days.”
“I’m afraid they’ve got me wrong,” Meade said, smiling at her touch, “They got me confused with someone else.”
“I know,” Roxanne said casually.
Meade was surprised, and Sarah couldn’t mask her surprise either.
“How do you know?” Sarah demanded.
“I’m the best madam in this two bit town. You think I don’t know who all the major dealers of Gap and Flash are?” Roxanne flashed her perfect white teeth at Meade. “Please…”
“Think you might be up to help prove my innocence?” Meade asked.
Roxanne shrugged, “Properly motivated, I’m willing to do just about anything.”
“I’ll bet,” Sarah said under her breath.
Meade shot her a look, “I need you to bring Russo out the back, somewhere where we won’t be noticed.”
“Are you going to kill him?” Roxanne asked. It took a moment for Meade to realize she was serious. He shook his head.
“We want to have a conversation,” he said diplomatically.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Roxanne replied, amused.
Meade shrugged and Sarah slapped his arm. She looked at Roxanne, “No, we’re not going to kill him. We need the DNA decoder he uses to run Laszlo’s casino.”
Roxanne chuckled, “You don’t do things by half, do you Meade? First you piss off one of the most dangerous warlords in New Plymouth and then you attempt steal his empire?”
He grinned, “Call me ambitious. Think you can get him out here for me?”
“It’s dangerous. If I’m caught, I’m a dead woman,” Roxanne said casually. “That makes the favor expensive.”
Meade looked at Sarah and shrugged, “I’m down broke and busted.”
Sarah grumbled and opened up her ArmBar and threw Roxanne some credits. Roxanne stood there, doing nothing. Meade nudged Sarah again with his elbow and she sighed. She tossed another set of credits her way.
Roxanne examined the credit balance. She smiled, satisfied.
“Give me ten minutes and meet me next to the casino’s rear entrance.”
“Be careful Roxy,” Meade said.
“What fun would that be?” she said mysteriously, disappearing inside the casino.
Meade nodded to Sarah and motioned towards the alleyway. They moved into the corridor and towards the rear entrance of the casino.
They didn’t have to wait long until the rear door of the entrance opened. Meade and Sarah ducked behind some boxes and watched the portly Russo file out of the door with Roxanne right behind him.
“…no idea how long I’ve waited for you to come to your senses,” Russo said, excited. “You’re the only woman who’s ever denied me, and your reluctance makes it all the better.”
“Easy there boy, keep that energy handy. I’ll be disappointed if you ended up a two pump chump and our time wasted,” Roxanne said, looking around the alley for Meade and Sarah.
Russo was oblivious. He was already unbuckling his belt, letting his pants fall to the ground in anticipation. He ran his hands up and down Roxanne’s body and settled his meaty mitts on her shoulders, tearing at the spaghetti straps holding up her shirt.
“Any time with you would not be wasted. You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever… awk!”
Russo jerked back in pain as ten thousand volts shot through his system. His eyes rolled back up into his head and Meade grabbed the hefty man before he fell to the ground.
“Thanks Roxy,” Meade said, as he motioned to Russo’s feet, “You happen to know a place where we can have a private conversation with him?”
Roxanne shrugged and pointed across the street to a dilapidated warehouse, “Laszlo stores his extra liquor and other random fixtures for his casino in there. No one ever goes in.”
“Thanks Roxy,” Meade said, tipping his hat to her, smiling. “You’re a true lady.”
“Anytime Cowboy,” she purred. “Next time, you and I ought to have some fun.”
Sarah cleared her throat, clearly impatient with Roxanne’s flirting. Meade touched the brim of his hat towards Roxanne, who giggled, winked and withdrew back into the casino.
“Grab his shoulders,” Sarah said, struggling with Russo’s feet and he moved to follow her orders. They heaved the huge Russo, dragging him unceremoniously across the street and towards the door of the warehouse.
A passing elderly couple looked on with mild interest at Meade and Sarah hauling the hefty Russo through the streets, Meade pushed the brim of his hat up and smiled weakly at them.
“Too much fun in the casino,” He readjusted Russo’s weight, “Come along dear, I’d hate for Uncle Joey to get sick all over these nice people.”
The retired man clutched his wife as she shrank back in fear from them. They gave them a wide berth as they passed on the boardwalk. Meade held his breath, watching them pass, and thinking at any second they’d recognize his face from the wireless.
“Have a good eversol, ma’am, sir,” Meade tipped his hat to the both of them as they moved down the boardwalk and away from them both.
Sarah watched them go and she tugged at Meade with Russo, “We got to get off the street.”
Meade nodded and the hefted Russo back up and quickly moved towards the warehouse across the street. Sarah and Meade dragged Russo close to the door and she fumbled with the lock on the door. Sa
rah moved towards her ArmBar, and began typing quickly so she could hack the lock.
“Here let me,” Meade said impatiently, and kicked the door in. It swung in, hanging delicately off the hinges.
“That’s a good way to let every MP within a three klick radius know we’re here,” Sarah said, the sarcasm dripping off her voice.
“It’s better than leaving our asses hanging out for anyone to spot us doing criminal-like things. And for once, they’d be right.” Meade said. He lifted Russo’s body and dragged him through the empty doorway. Sarah followed quickly and moved to shut the door, but not before casting one last look at anyone who might have seen them.
“Over here,” he called out. He dragged Russo’s heavy body over to a chair that was overturned on the ground next to him. Sarah moved to quickly turn it right side up, and Meade pushed Russo into a sitting position in the chair.
“Grab that cord over there,” Meade said, pointing to a nearly empty spool of optical cable. The fiberglass optical cable was strong stuff and Russo would have a tough time breaking out of it. They wrapped Russo up, securing him to the chair.
“Now what?” Sarah asked Meade, after catching her breath.
“Now, we wake him up and ask some questions,” Meade leaned in and grimaced. “And we hope to God that we’re not wrong thinking he has some.”
“If we are?” Sarah asked.
Meade looked back at her and didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. He knew what was at stake, and no matter what the man knew, Russo WOULD help them find and rescue Emeline.
Meade would see to that.
Chapter Twelve
Sarah stood next to Meade who was opposite the sleeping Russo. He nodded to Sarah and she withdrew a tiny medkit from her belt, opening it. She withdrew a tiny capsule and broke it in half. She waved it underneath his nose and Russo awoke with a start.
“Welcome back,” Meade said.
Russo’s eyes slowly came into focus and he struggled against the bonds holding him. “Who…? What happened?” He glanced up to see Meade standing in front of him and he laughed. “You!?”
“Me,” Meade confirmed. “I’m glad I don’t need to reintroduce myself.”
“Easy when you’re a walking, talking dead man,” Russo sneered.
Meade’s eyes narrowed, “You’re certainly confident for a man in your position…”
Russo laughed, “You have no idea what you’ve begun. Kidnapping me changes nothing. You think I’ll talk to you?” he struggled against the cables binding him again. “Whatever you can think up to torture me with, I assure you, Laszlo would do so much worse if I were to tell you anything.”
“Laszlo’s not here right now though, is he?” Meade said, the threat hanging in between them. “I don’t know why you’re getting so ornery, I haven’t even asked you anything yet.”
“You don’t need to,” Russo spat at Meade. “I won’t help you.”
“You will,” Meade said, looming over Russo. “Believe me, you will.”
Russo chuckled again, but this time his laugh was much less confident, “I don’t think…”
“No, you don’t think.” Meade said lazily. He moved closer to Russo and got within inches of the fat man’s eyes, staring into them.
“I want to know why Laszlo attacked that ship.”
Russo didn’t react, he only stared at Meade’s face.
“I want to know what’s so damn valuable on this data stream that’s got everyone so excited to capture me.”
Russo laughed, “It’s not enough that you stole from a Warlord? You think just anyone can get away with doing something like that without repercussions?”
“I figured I’d get dinged if he caught on, but sic’ing the whole damn Coalition security force after me…” Meade drew back, “that qualifies as an overreaction in my book over some missing data.”
“You know exactly what his plans are, otherwise you wouldn’t have taken it,” Russo snorted. “Pathetic.”
Meade moved and dragged a chair over in front of Russo and sat. He took his hat off and wiped his brow. It was hot in the warehouse.
“Hot in here ain’t it?” Meade commented.
“I seen worse,” Russo said.
“Haven’t we all…” Meade said, his voice trailing off.
He looked at the workbench behind him. There, he spotted a portaweld (a thin pencil like portable welder that shipbuilders used to stitch hard to reach welding points) and he moved to pick it up, flipping it casually in his hand as he walked back towards Russo.
Meade began to flick the ignition switch on and off. Each time a click echoed through the room, he was rewarded with a tiny (yet intensely hot) blue flame.
Russo shifted in his seat nervously while Meade stared at him flicking the portaweld on and off.
“See now, I wish I could believe the Coalition was labeling me as some titan of the Gap trade because I pissed off the wrong guy. But, I tend to think a little bigger than that,” Meade leaned forward and scooted his chair closer to Russo, “And you know what? I believe you know exactly why I’m being framed. Clearly Laszlo trusts you enough with his money and casino, I’m fairly certain that confidence extends to whatever other irons Laszlo has in the fire.”
Russo became visibly nervous as sweat began to pour down his brow. “I don’t…”
Meade put a finger to his lips to shush Russo while he continued to click the portaweld on and off. “See Russo, my point is, I think you’ve got all the answers I need, but you have some sort of misplaced loyalty to the man. I don’t know how he bought that loyalty, through money, or pain…” Meade glanced at Russo’s face, who was still staring at the portaweld in Meade’s hands.
“What are you going to do with that?” Russo asked. Meade leaned even closer and held the small flame in front of his eyes.
“Have you ever smelled burning flesh before?” Meade asked. Russo shook his head quickly, his eyes, wide.
“See in the Noctis Valley where I grew up, we had to learn how to be tough, quick, and without a lot of the luxuries that most second and third gen colonists like yourself take for granted,” Meade began, staring into Russo’s eyes that were darting between Meade and the portaweld. “One time though, my father did some work for a newly immigrated colonist who was only able to pay him in livestock – this was before the quarantine you understand.”
Meade leaned back smiling at the memory, “It was beautiful. We had live red meat to eat and sell. First time I’d had something besides that SUMP bullshit my whole life. It was an incredible few weeks.”
Meade’s voice lowered and he leaned forward again, “One thing I’ll never forget though, was how the meat smelled when we cooked it. I was young and couldn’t believe I’d ever smell anything so good again. You ever have bar-be-que?” Meade asked.
Russo shook his head.
“If you ever get a chance…” Meade smiled broadly, deep in the memory, “The best however, was a pig we roasted one night. That was some of the best real meat I’ve ever eaten in my life.”
Russo coughed, staring at the portaweld, “Is there a point?”
“Next day after our pig roast,” Meade continued, ignoring Russo’s interruption, “it got out to a few of the, let’s say, less than desirable citizens in E-block that we had real meat. They came, looking to take it, and anything else of value we might have.
“My father though, he was tough, I learned a lot from him. He did things to those men who came for our stuff. Things I had no idea my father was even capable of.” Meade raised his head and looked into Russo’s eyes.
“One of the raiders nearly got the drop on him there at the end, but my dad was so quick, he was able to drop back and somehow ended up throwing that Runabout into the fire. His flesh burned and I could smell it. I could smell the Runabout’s flesh peeling off his bone… God that smell…” Meade wiped his face and looked at Russo, “It smelled exactly like that pig we roasted the night before.”
Meade stared at the portaweld’s
flame. “I couldn’t eat another piece after that,” he whispered.
Meade leaped forward and clutched Russo’s face with his hand, placing the portaweld right next to his right eye, “I don’t want to smell burning flesh again, but, I learned something else that day, and that’s you do whatever it takes to protect your family.”
He threw Russo still tied to his chair, down to the ground and stood above him holding the portaweld. “Captain Gonzalez is my family! Emeline is my family! And I will do what I need to, to protect them and that includes setting your fat ass on fire! Now tell me why Laszlo ordered the attack on the Madera!”
“I don’t know!” Russo shrieked. “The ship wasn’t supposed to crash! It was supposed to be an easy smash and grab job!”
“What’s on the data stream?” Meade demanded, Sarah rushed forward to grab his arm, but he pushed her off, “What is so important on it that you have to ruin my life?”
“I don’t know!” Russo begged, staring at the portaweld in Meade’s hands, “I swear to you! Laszlo’s played this one incredibly close to the chest. He asked me to discretely find some National Directive men for a job. I did what he asked.”
“He didn’t tell you what they were for?” Meade asked, still holding the portaweld near the fat man’s face.
“It’s not smart to ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to,” Russo said desperately. “I didn’t even know about the attack on the Madera until the crash was all over the wireless.”
“You expect me to believe you didn’t know what Laszlo wanted from the Madera?”
“I don’t know!” Russo pleaded, “A few days after the crash, two men came into the casino with an entanglement drive for Laszlo, but he hustled them back into his private office before I could hear anything else.”
Meade shook his head, “I believe an enterprising young man like you would have ways of finding out what was happening under his nose, especially if his boss didn’t want him to know what was going on.”
Russo’s eyes darted from left to right. Meade grinned and looked at him. “Ya know Russo, the best part of being a poker player is being able to hone one’s skills in knowing when someone’s trying to bluff you. And you my friend, are hiding something big. I want to know why Laszlo attacked the Madera, and I want to know what’s so damn valuable on this data stream.”