Cool Pursuit: Chaos Core Book 2

by Lalonde, Randolph

  They took the lift down, its metal walls polished so well that Aldo could see his reflection in it. The dark armour always made him look like some kind of humanoid insect, and the faceplate made all the guards look the same other than their height, and in some cases, their sex.

  The doors opened and they followed Master Kort to the room at the end of the hall in the first subfloor. A waiting guard opened the door. “Good thing I’m used to waking up early,” said the prisoner inside, who was strapped into a reclined chair made of self-sterilizing plastic. “I don’t exactly know the day cycle of this planet yet, but it felt early.”

  “Talkative today, Boro?” Kort asked.

  The captive looked older than most of the people Aldo had known in his life. Most people didn’t allow themselves to physically age past thirty, paying for expensive medication that kept them rejuvenating at a nice rate, or stopped their apparent aging altogether in their twenties. Boro looked like he was in his mid-thirties, and if his file was correct, he actually was. Even still, he was a thickly built man, strong enough to manhandle two guards on each arm at the same time. Last time he decided to fight, it took the whole crowd at the Shuttered House to subdue him, and he was laughing as they brutally pinned him to the ground. A brawl was his idea of fun, and the only cybernetic part he had was a magnetic emitter in the bone of his middle finger, used to unscrew stubborn bolts and recover metallic objects.

  “All I have are your visits, they won’t let me have so much as a radio,” Boro replied with a wry grin. He was relaxed, and spoke in low tones. Aldo would never admit it, but he liked the man. “Lots of time to think. That reminds me, I was wondering; since you serve a Countess, are there really still Kings in more than name? Did some dukes and duchesses survive all those murdering machines?”

  “My Lady barely survived, but yes, there are many members of royal houses, though few used their titles before the Fall. Now they’re making a comeback, it makes it easier to put people in their places.”

  “Like she’s the Countess and you’re her official man-whore?” Boro laughed.

  Aldo watched Master Kort flinch at the jibe, his hand tightened into a fist. Surprisingly, he exhaled and unclenched, shaking his hand as though to loosen his fingers. “I think it’s time to get to work. How about answering my questions?”

  “I told you everything I know,” Boro said, shrugging but still in good humour. “Regular ports the Cool Angel visits, places Aspen liked, where we found her, and all the other info you were after. There’s no point to any of it, why would they go back to anywhere familiar when they know you’re looking?”

  “Our early checks have reported no sign of them,” Kort said. “But they couldn’t have gotten far. Where would she hide? Never mind all the places you know she’s been, what would she look for in a new hiding place? What kind of plan could she have?”

  “Hey, I was just getting to know her,” Boro said.

  Kort activated a holoprojector and an image of Boro and Aspen dancing closely together, very closely, appeared in front of him. “She doesn’t let people she barely knows that close.”

  Boro’s expression softened, he looked the image over as though he was trying to commit it to memory. “Better days,” he muttered. “We talked, we joked around for months. That one’s wiser than her years, a lot of layers to her. I think I only just started to know her.”

  “All right,” Kort said, deactivating the image. He summoned a control hologram beside the chair and activated a control hovering over Boro’s right arm. Boro immediately began screaming, his hand gripping the chair arm, the rest of his body tensing. Master Kort deactivated the control when Boro ran out of breath. “That was the chair sending false signals across the nerves in your arm. That sensation was the feeling of your arm burning. Just the skin, mind you, just the part that would feel it, because if I was really burning you, the pain would lessen as those nerves were cooked. Now, where do you think she’d go? We know she has money, it disappeared into the Interplanetary Credit Exchange shortly after she was paid. We know she has a fast ship, she stole one, and Larken is an excellent pilot, so any unmonitored port would be open to them.”

  “They’d stay away from law,” Boro said, panting. “The best way to do that is to find the places that were poor even before the Fall, places that would recover quick because there weren’t as many AI’s around to screw it all up.”

  “You’re not telling me anything new,” Master Kort said. “I’m going to access the major nerve bundles in your legs now.”

  “I told you, if this Larken is as smart as Aspen, then they’re hiding better than I could. I wouldn’t be able to find them.”

  “Not good enough,” Kort said, selecting an image of feet and shins being crushed then activating it.

  At first Boro writhed in silence, but as the machine simulated the slow crushing of all the bones in his feet and legs, the seal of his lips broke, and the room was filled with howls that made Aldo cringe. He could see his counterpart was cringing as well, and she was anything but squeamish.

  Boro passed out as the counter on the holographic display passed seventy-three seconds. Kort stopped the stimulation and pressed another control that sent a pulse of some kind that forced Boro to become fully alert again, gasping for air. “You are still keeping something from me,” Kort said. “I have all day, and this is a new toy. We’ve only scratched the surface of what it can do.”

  “I’m telling you that’s everything,” Boro said as he fought to catch his breath. “I’ve given you history, my best guesses, my gambling guesses, there’s no more to tell.”

  “The sales representative told me to use this one,” Master Kort said, bringing the image of a long barbed worm up in front of Boro. “It’s a parasite that has been found in fruit on Yirist, they call it the Oetni. It translates as gut climber. I was told that an enterprising doctor recorded all the sensations this fellow creates when it travels through the digestive system, growing exponentially until it reaches the end of the small intestine. That’s not very uncomfortable, but you see these barbs?” He pointed at the flexing barbs along the length of the worm’s body. “The worm turns around once it realizes it’s about to exit the small intestine, and digs in. Something about how it does that, and how it positions itself forces the bowels to flex, and try to pass it, which only makes the pain worse, only makes the tearing worse.”

  “You son of a bitch, I told you everything. I betrayed trust for you, you’ve got to see I’ve got nothing left.”

  “Let’s start this playback just as the worm is turning and starting to fight,” Master Kort said. “They provided scans to go along with the nervous system playback so you can watch what the worm would be doing inside you if it were real.” He activated the simulation, and Aldo desperately wanted to look away from the meter-long worm as it twitched away from the end of the small intestine interior and turned around, struggling to climb back up. Boro closed his eyes, ground his teeth and began to sweat.

  “Now the contest begins, the war between the worm and the patient’s intestine,” Kort said as the worm’s barbs dug in. “I forgot to mention that it took over four hours and twenty minutes for this patient to die.”

  Boro didn’t scream for nearly an hour, but after he started, he did not stop unless it was to catch a quick breath. His body shook, sweat dripped from him, and two hours in his bowels released. Somehow he did not pass out, but suffered for the duration of the simulation. Master Kort watched for the entire time, not goading, but observing the recreated scan and the reaction of his captive.

  “It was only a simulation,” he said as the playback stopped tricking Boro’s nervous system. “I’m going to find something to eat, then we’ll see what else is in the database.”

  “Aspen will want revenge on White, Captain White,” Boro said. “Anyone would. Follow him, watch where his money goes.”

  “Why would I watch his money?” Kort said, leaning forward with interest.

  “She set up a system of a
ccounts for him to launder money, to turn his take from bullion to guaranteed credit.”

  “What do you mean, guaranteed credit?” Kort said. “How will this help me find her?”

  “Don’t you royal types know anything?” Boro asked.

  Kort’s hand moved towards the glowing red holographic control.

  “Wait! Wait! Okay, Aspen created a bunch of accounts with non-human banks who don’t care where the money comes from, I think it was the Sti-Uls, the Nafalli Changers, and the ReMire Exchange. There were others, I’m sure. Once they shift it around, it’s too hard for any human bank to get access to transfer records, to track the money. Then, it goes to a more legitimate alien account that will allow her to buy guaranteed credit with ICE.”

  “The Interplanetary Credit Exchange,” Kort said.

  “Right, but this isn’t normal credit, it’s backed by real money, that’s why it’s called guaranteed credit and it’s considered high priority, spendable practically anywhere there’s an Exchange. Really good for buying more bullion, like plat or UCA credit. Even better, the crew would think it’s just normal credit, so he can spend as much as he wants and it’ll only look like he’s going further into debt when it’s really all pre-paid. If she wants revenge on him, she won’t go after him directly, she’ll take the money she helped him hide.”

  “If there’s any left.”

  “Captain White is hiding hundreds of millions from his crew, something she didn’t know, but I did. Me and his First Officer, and probably Sun, one of his Lieutenants. That’s probably why he gave us leave together, not just to sell Aspen out, but to get rid of everyone who knew except for his right hand man.”

  “I’m starting to like this Captain,” Kort said. “This is something. This is something we can follow. Thank you, we’ll catch her with this.” He turned to Aldo. “Inform the Broadsword that we’ll be under way in two hours. Contact the UCA and get the location of the Cool Angel from them, specifically request the location of Captain White as well.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Aldo replied.

  “Corrine, supervise the transportation of our guest here. I’m taking him and his special chair with us in case he’s still holding back.”

  “You’re a rare kind of asshole, Mister Kort,” Boro said.

  “That’s Master, to you,” Kort replied.

  For a moment the pair locked gazes, both stern, calm and steady. Aldo was sure Kort would hit a button that would send Boro on another painful journey, but he turned and left instead.

  17

  “I can’t believe you know where all his money is,” Nigel said. He listened quietly as Spin told him what she’d done for Captain White. There was no sign that he doubted any of it.

  “She knew I could turn stolen funds into legitimate looking money, it’s something that Larken and I used to do for the Countess’ more questionable gains when we got older. Boro knew about it, Sun knew about it. Other Lieutenants probably knew too, but I only set up accounts for the Captain and Sun. Boro let the Captain legitimize his pay for him when the money was marked.”

  “The longer I’m away from the Cool Angel, the more I hear, the more amazed I am that anyone trusted Captain White,” Nigel said. “I need payback on that waste of air.”

  “This is how we get it; I take all his money. It’s something Boro knew I could do, he even warned me to stop helping White as soon as I could so the Captain couldn’t use me as some kind of scapegoat. He said he liked having me around too much to watch me going out an airlock because I took the blame for some failed scheme.”

  “He more than liked having you around,” Nigel said quietly as he piloted the ship into the secure zone of the new Exo-Terran Commerce Centre. They had been in a holding pattern for nearly three hours, it was the busiest port on the planet, and the most well-armed. The private guards manned defence turrets that idly scanned the skies for threats. Their navigational network looked as well organized as the old systems that were run by artificial intelligences before they were driven mad by the virus. “When I saw you two getting close, it was like watching two of my favourite things combined. Like ice cream and pudding, or macaroni and cheese. I think I’m a little hungry. Anyway, you guys seemed right together.”

  “He was the best of us. We’ll do something for him, have a wake when we set up on a ship, a defensible ship,” Spin said. She could see that he was still torn up about Boro, that would last for months, years. Boro wasn’t as well loved as Larken was to her, but she felt his absence much more often than she would have expected. It was hard to think of him, grief and guilt pulled her down when she thought about him too much.

  “For him and Trevor. We’ll get spun on the best stuff we can find and sing some of those Irish songs Boro used to teach us,” Nigel said. He set the small ship down in the centre of their small secure bay. He locked the controls. “God, I miss him.”

  Spin wrapped her arms around him from behind and cradled his head against her chest. “I wish he was here too.”

  “My whole family is gone, Spin,” he whispered through tears.

  “I’ll stay with you,” she replied, kissing the top of his head and stroking his hair.

  He composed himself faster than she expected. “Okay, Boro would tell us to move on, take all of White’s money,” he said, wiping his eyes.

  “He would,” Spin agreed, releasing him and picking up her jacket.

  They left the ship and locked it behind, meeting a boxy collections robot on the way out of the simple fenced landing spot. Spin dropped a ten platinum strip on top of the droid and nodded at the accompanying guard. The spiked helm did not reveal the inhuman face behind, but it nodded, leading the way through the secure fencing. A series of squelches and hisses emitted from it, and her translator went to work. “Thank you for paying your balance up front. If your business with the Exchange is valuable enough, your docking fees will be refunded. You are allowed to carry any non-antimatter personal weaponry with you, but any non-self-defence violence will result in your termination. Theft, speaking against the Kobunt Government, public breeding, and destruction of property will also result in your termination. Do you understand?”

  “I understand,” Spin said.

  “I understand,” Nigel added, “but I’ve gotta ask; is public breeding really a problem you get here?”

  “We were visited by a clutch of Zilliosh two weeks ago and they held their mass bonding ceremony here. We thought it would be a wedding, we were woefully incorrect. It took nine days to clean and disinfect the food court.”

  “Wow,” Spin said. “Don’t worry, we’re not that close, and he has terrible luck finding bonding partners.”

  “It’s true. It hurts, but it’s true,” Nigel agreed.

  “I am sorry for your misfortune, please continue through the gate. May you have better luck in the future, just not here,” the guard said with a bow.

  Spin led the way through the gate and made sure that the security code to get back in was downloaded into her personal computer before the tall metal gates closed and latched. Without delay, she moved on towards a tall bunker down the grey street. Instead of hawkers, there were shops with bright signs lining the well-organized streets. The patrons kept to themselves, mostly in small groups, but the attitude was not overly subdued.

  “A million questions,” Nigel said. “But let’s start with this place looking like a military base. All the shops are stuck between big bunkers and hardened structures.”

  “It probably was one before off worlders settled here. The military were hit hardest by the Holocaust Virus, when the artificial intelligences were infected and went nuts, the soldiers were already surrounded.”

  “Yeah, so the-“

  Spin stopped him with a look. “So the glorious Kobunt Government sent people here to take control and tame this area.”

  “Ah, nice of them to to that.” He only waited a block before another question came bubbling to the surface. “Why not do the banking remotely?”

  “For th
e level of withdrawals I’m going to be making, and the account changes that’ll be done, I need to be in the Exchange building this time. Bioscans have to confirm that I’m Captain White’s wife,” Spin said. “According to the accounts I’m about to access. No one knows, it’s sort of a back door I left open for myself. They’re all joint accounts.”

  “And there’s no way he could know?” Nigel asked.

  “Unless he looked at the fine print while he was spending some of his money, which he probably didn’t do since he had the reward for turning me in anyway, then, no, it’s buried in the paperwork. All he sees when he accesses these online accounts is the name ‘White’, it doesn’t specify how many people with that name are on the accounts opening record.”

  “You’re a genius. An evil one, but definitely a genius,” Nigel said. His head turned with a jerk. “There’s a Spacerwares Arms and Defence here.”

  “Do you have a weapon?” Spin asked.

  “A little zap popper, but my real guns are probably still on the Cool Angel somewhere, or someone ran off with them when they left the ship.”

  Spin handed him her remaining UCA slips and platinum. “Okay, get us a pair of serious weapons. Handguns that can break down shields and burn through armour. If there’s anything left, spend it on personal shields we can hide.”

  “I know exactly what we need, if that’s a real store, like still hooked up to their parent stores, then they’ll have it.”

  “Remember, practical but deadly,” Spin said, hoping he could hear her through his excitement. “I’ll do the boring stuff, the Exchange is right there.”

  “In that bunker?” He asked, nodding at the bunker half a block away. The heavy polished double doors beckoned.

  “Yes, and just wait for me outside. They might not like you walking in with whatever you buy.”

  “True. Thank you, Spin.” He hugged her and ran towards the brightly lit storefront. He didn’t even notice the regular Spacerwares outlet right beside it.