‘I’m off now,’ Charlie told Gwen, straightening her virus mask as she exited the coffee shop.
Charlie glanced over her shoulder as she headed out into blazing Vegas heat. Swapping shoes and grabbing the gun meant she only got to see the 15:15 bus as it rolled away from the stop outside Shoe Right. But there were a couple of taxis on the rank, so she grabbed one of those.
The driver had gone half a mile when Gwen called.
‘He left a minute or so after you,’ she told Charlie. ‘He got into a beige BMW with a black rear spoiler. But I watched him drive out the back of the mall and turn on to the highway, so he can’t have been following you.’
‘Cool beans,’ Charlie said. ‘Sorry to waste your time, Gwen. I’ll see you Friday.’
But I know that face from somewhere. It’s gonna bug me till I work it out …
62 LIVING HIGH
Charlie told the taxi to drop her behind a stationery store at the rear of the mall where she’d parked the Porsche.
‘You know it’s closed?’ the driver asked as Charlie handed over three hundred bucks and told him to keep the change. ‘Sure to have zombies out here.’
‘I’m good,’ Charlie said. ‘I’m meeting someone around the corner.’
Charlie could have got the taxi to drop her in front of the mall, but she wanted to be sure no one was eyeballing the Porsche. After jogging up six flights, Charlie strode on to the rooftop deck of a parking lot. The only cars up here belonged to dead people who’d lived in an adjoining apartment block. A few were burnt out, while the rest had been ransacked.
She kept her handbag’s flap open so she could grab the gun. When she reached the middle of the parking structure, she could see Harry’s orange Porsche at ground level.
The stationery and pet stores at the back of the mall had gone bust, but the street-level parking was moderately busy, serving a food market, a discount designer-clothing store and a recently opened branch of Leo’s Quarantine Supplies.
From the far end of the parking structure, Charlie got a vista down a line of parking bays running past the mall’s shuttered cinema. In the first row was a camel-coloured BMW with a plastic spoiler, like the one Gwen had described.
The discovery was annoying, but at the same time Charlie was pleased to have outsmarted him. Whoever he was …
The BMW was several hundred feet away and reflections on the windshield made it impossible to see inside. But Charlie reckoned the spot had been carefully chosen, enabling the driver to see anyone getting into the Porsche, and easily pull out on to the exit road to follow.
At least I’m not paranoid. He didn’t follow the taxi so he must have known where I was going. I could jump in another taxi and arrange for Harry to pick me up somewhere, but I should try finding out who he is while I have the upper hand …
The deserted multistorey parking lot gave Charlie a view of the outdoor mall’s layout. She was glad she’d switched to comfy sneakers as she took a lengthy detour in the afternoon heat back round the stationery store, switching to a jog when she spotted a trio of zombies living out of a camper behind the pet store.
A right turn by the supermarket took her into the alleyway with the boarded-up cinema in front. Charlie now approached the parked BMW from the rear, shielding behind a couple of strength-modded construction workers walking the same way.
The BMW was old, with a dented rear fender. The bright red child seat visible through the back window jarred with Charlie’s mental image of a bad guy, but a few steps later she recognised the woman in the passenger seat, and things fell into place.
Charlie felt more confident as she jogged up behind the car and tapped her pistol on the glass in the passenger door. Juno and her friend both jumped.
‘Why are you tailing me?’ Charlie asked angrily.
Juno looked different. After three years, it was no surprise she looked older and she had the kind of build that was always going to pile on weight. But glazed eyes and rigidity in the facial muscles hinted that Juno had taken one of the milder z-mods.
It matched the gaze Charlie saw in her coffee shop on the man who now sat in the driver’s seat. He was Juno’s cousin, Mikey. Charlie had met him a couple of times at her apartment, but his hair had been in an Afro.
‘You dumped your phone and vanished on me,’ Juno said as Charlie lowered the gun into her bag.
‘Why make it easy for the cops to find me?’ Charlie asked.
‘I thought we were besties,’ Juno said.
‘You were doing lab work behind my back and mixing with a bunch of Seth’s friends who I didn’t like,’ Charlie said. ‘Frankly, I didn’t trust you any more.’
Juno sounded cross. ‘I made you my baby’s godmother. And I was left with nothing when you burnt the RV and robbed the equipment.’
‘I’m not here to rake the past,’ Charlie said. ‘Tell me why you’re following me around.’
Mikey leaned forward and tried to sound authoritative. ‘Why don’t you ladies chill? Charlie, please get in my car.’
Charlie thought for a second. She had the gun and four-year-old Patrick was asleep in the back. The vibe was messed up, but she wasn’t intimidated.
‘If this car moves one inch, I’ll shoot you both in the backs,’ Charlie said firmly.
‘I got no beef with yous, Charlie,’ Mikey said as he pressed the button to unlock.
Charlie got in the back and felt a wave of affection as she looked at her sleeping godson.
Juno had designed her son using a mix of her own and her old boyfriend Seth’s DNA, along with a bunch of mods that would ensure he was clever and strong, with a powerful immune system. She’d also followed a fashion that Charlie found creepy, combining his parents’ dark skin with striking blue eyes that would never occur naturally.
‘I’ve missed him growing up,’ Charlie said, keeping her tone bright, but concerned by Patrick’s filthy clothes and a urine smell.
‘The noisy prick’s best when he’s sleeping,’ Mikey said.
‘Are you still with Seth?’ Charlie asked.
‘Your sister killed Seth,’ Juno said acidly.
‘Fawn?’ Charlie said, shuddering at the name. ‘Are you mixed up with her?’
‘Me and the Sethster set up a lab for Juno to work in,’ Mikey explained. ‘Seth borrowed money from some Janssen associates to buy new lab equipment. Then he lost a bunch gambling and when you don’t pay the Janssens back …’
Juno looked upset as Mikey made a throat-cutting gesture.
‘You know Fawn’s nothing to do with me,’ Charlie said, ‘but I’d heard the Janssens muscled in on modding labs when z-mods killed most of the narcotics trade.’
Juno sucked air between her teeth before telling the story. ‘In olden days, you paid a lab for a z-mod. Zombie staggered around for a year or two, until they picked up an infection or something. They’d die blissfully happy, barely aware they’re covered in tumours and caked in their own shit.
‘Now the cops send zombies to a reversal clinic to set their DNA back to normal. But there’s no psychiatric care. Going back to normal emotions feels like hell once you’ve lived high. They get depressed, steal a bunch of money and use it to buy the latest z-mod. The government reversing zombie mods just generates repeat business for the modders.
‘And the Janssens own the cops in this town, like they’ve always done. So, if you wanna run a lab in Vegas, you pay tax to the Janssens. Else cops be tearing down your lab.’
‘Fawn runs everything now,’ Mikey added. ‘Old man Jay is dead, along with JJ and his older brother.’
‘Life expectancy plummets if you rub Fawn Janssen the wrong way,’ Juno noted. ‘Your sis is queen of the Vegas underworld.’
‘I’d heard she’d been busy,’ Charlie said warily. ‘It’s why I live out of town. I use precautions when I travel and nobody knows my real address. It’s also why I don’t appreciate people following me.’
‘Why your sister got no love for you?’ Mikey interrupted.
> ‘I offended Fawn by being born, and it’s been downhill ever since,’ Charlie sighed. ‘I guess some people are just born bad.’
‘Bad to the bone,’ Juno agreed. ‘Sadistic.’
Talk of Fawn reminded Charlie of a childhood she preferred to forget. She changed the subject.
‘So, how’d you find me?’
‘Cole spotted you,’ Juno said.
‘Cole who?’ Charlie asked.
‘He was at OIL with us, but I mostly got to know him after you left,’ Juno explained. ‘Told me you were reopening a coffee shop under some fake name. Cole helped his uncle do painting and electrical work for you.’
‘What was your plan?’ Charlie asked. ‘Kidnap me? Follow me home and rob me?’
‘We’re reasonable people,’ Mikey said unconvincingly. ‘You and Juno were tight for a long time. Patrick is your godson and we need help.’
‘So why the cloak and dagger? Why not just come by and say, Hey, Charlie, long time no see.’
‘We were about to,’ Juno said, ‘but we had to be careful. Fawn’s your sister. For all we knew you’re back on terms with her.’
Charlie wasn’t convinced, but knew she’d learn nothing useful by calling them liars.
‘So how can I help you?’ Charlie asked, hiding her suspicions.
‘We’re riding a downward spiral,’ Juno admitted. ‘You and Mango taught me good and I ran a tight lab, until Seth gambled the money we needed to pay off the Janssens. I brokered a deal with some guys in LA to produce a batch of fighting-dog embryos. The plan was to do that and sell our lab equipment. We’d have had enough money to pay our debts and make a fresh start in California. But the cops raided my lab before I completed the work.
‘We owe Janssen associates four-point-something million and we burnt through the deposit the guys in California paid us,’ Mikey said, sounding super anxious. ‘The only way we get out of this mess alive is if we can access a decent lab, finish the job and get paid.’
‘I’ve got the embryos in the trunk,’ Juno explained. ‘You’d save our asses if you let me use your lab. We’d be out of your hair in a day if you helped.’
‘I’ve seen videos of nightmare dogs fighting,’ Charlie said, shaking her head. ‘It’s barbaric.’
‘I know it’s no picnic,’ Juno snapped. ‘But is your godson getting orphaned any better?’
‘Nobody gets in my lab,’ Charlie said. ‘I have money set aside. What if I gave you some cash, so you could make a fresh start somewhere out of state?’
‘Fawn’s merciless – they’d always be looking for us,’ Juno pleaded. ‘I know we had our differences towards the end, Charlie. But we were good buddies. We had fun, back in the day.’
Charlie was torn. She did have fond memories of Juno. They’d been especially close the first year after she’d been released from White Boulder, when Harry had stopped talking to her. But Charlie didn’t accept that they’d spent two days following her around just to ask for help.
Plus, they both had zombie mods going on. It was one of the milder ones, but Charlie suspected that Seth gambling and getting killed, the lab getting seized by cops and the angry California dog fighters were all linked with Juno and Mikey living in a permanently high state that made it near impossible to judge risks and make good decisions.
But then there was Patrick. If it wasn’t for the four-year-old, Charlie would have bounced already.
‘Here’s the only deal on the table,’ Charlie said quietly. ‘I’m not getting involved with fighting dog breeders, or your debt with the Janssens. I’ll give you a million dollars. It’s no fortune these days, but it’s enough to get you out of Nevada and cover rent and bills till you’re back on your feet.’
Juno and Mikey looked at one another.
‘I’ll do all the work myself,’ Juno begged. ‘Just one night in your lab.’
‘This isn’t a negotiation,’ Charlie said. ‘Take it or leave it.’
‘Do you have the money on you?’ Mikey asked.
Charlie laughed. ‘Sure, Mikey. I always keep a million in my purse … It’ll take a day to get cash together, maybe two. Where are you staying?’
‘We’re flat broke,’ Juno admitted. ‘We slept in the car last night.’
‘Has he eaten?’ Charlie said, looking towards Patrick.
‘There’s space food, but the little prick’s fussy,’ Mikey said.
Charlie reached into her bag and peeled eighty thousand out of the hundred she’d taken at the coffee shop.
‘There’s a motel called The Paddler on East Harmon, by the Old Rock Casino,’ Charlie said. ‘I’ve used it for meetings. It looks dingy from outside, but the rooms are clean. They take cash up front, no ID, no questions asked, and there’s a laundromat and a diner on the same block.’
‘We can’t be seen,’ Juno said. ‘Fawn’s got people looking for us.’
‘If you can follow me around town all day, you can wash your kid’s clothes and buy him a decent meal,’ Charlie snarled, and she pushed the bundle of five- and ten-thousand-dollar bills into Juno’s palm.
Juno had always fussed over her nails, and it saddened Charlie to see them all chewed and broken. It was like her old friend’s brain was running different software.
‘You’re a good girl, Charlie,’ Mikey said.
‘Someone will bring the money to you at The Paddler as soon as I can get it,’ Charlie said as she opened the car door. ‘If I catch you tailing me, or I get one sniff of anything else I don’t like, the money is cancelled. Godson or no godson.’
Charlie felt awful about little Patrick as she gently kissed his food-crusted cheek. Then she jumped out of the car, keeping one hand on the pistol as she jogged towards the Porsche.
63 MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
Charlie didn’t trust Juno and Mikey, but felt more disappointed in herself. If those two half-off-their-head losers can track me down and figure out I’m running a lab, then anyone can.
Don’t I take every reasonable precaution?
None of my clients in Vegas knows where I live, but you only need to make one slip. Just a matter of time before I’m robbed, or blackmailed. I wish I could stop. But we used most of Harry’s money to buy the house and inflation has wiped out the rest. Ed’s home-schooling and medical bills cost a fortune. Both cars will need new battery packs soon … And an imported Porsche battery pack won’t come cheap, if you can get hold of one at all …
To be extra safe, Charlie drove the Porsche out of the city, parked behind the restrooms of a long-abandoned gas station and switched to an old Chevrolet she kept there for an emergency.
She had to sponge six weeks’ worth of desert grit off the Chevy’s windows and, while the battery had been left plugged into a solar generator, the charge meter at the socket reckoned the car was only good for thirty miles.
Those gauges always underestimate by a few miles. I should just make it home …
There was a maraca sound as Charlie grabbed the driver’s door handle. She screamed and stumbled back as a rattlesnake sprang from behind the front tire. She grabbed the gun out of her purse, but the snake decided Charlie was more of a threat than a meal and flung itself energetically over the hot sand.
Charlie scrambled breathlessly into the car and listened to her heart drum. The air-con wasn’t running, so it was unbelievably hot, but when she switched it on full blast, the dash flashed red lights like a downtown casino and the range meter dropped to fifteen miles.
‘Today sucks,’ Charlie screamed, pounding on the steering wheel as she switched the cooling off again. ‘Screw it. Screw everything!’
She wanted to cry, but the thought of Harry and Ed waiting for her at home helped her keep it together.
I’ll soak in the bath. I’m having wine with dinner. And Harry will hold me in his arms. I’ll pretend I’m impressed by whatever veggies he’s brought home and moan about my day. And things will be OK, because I love that boy.
The world is screwed, but if he’s around I can take it.
The last stretch home was barren two-lane highway, rising into the mountains. Charlie kept the speed low to conserve the dodgy battery. Every couple of miles, someone swung into the opposite lane to overtake, including a Nye County Police cruiser. She felt sure it was going to pull her over, because she was driving so slow.
Charlie’s mood lightened when she came round a corner and exited left. Almost home. Get the sneakers off my feet. Harry will laugh when I tell him about the rattlesnake. But don’t mention snakes in front of Ed … What’s that at the top of the road?
Charlie pulled to the side of the track as an ambulance came the other way. There were four cop cars and a pair of police drones in the sky.
Have they busted my lab? But it’s Nye County cars, not FBI or GMEA. Who was in the ambulance? Should I turn and run? But I won’t get far and it’s been on the news that there’s a big gang of zombies robbing … Oh shit. I bet that’s what it is.
A police SUV blocked the gate, so Charlie pulled off track and saw Harry and a police officer come striding down to meet her.
Charlie recognised Officer Martinez. He’d gone to school with Rosie and Vern’s kids and she’d met him at their Christmas party. He was the local patrol officer, though out here local meant eight thousand square miles of desert.
‘What happened?’ Charlie asked. ‘Who was in that ambulance?’
‘Zombie attack,’ Harry said. ‘We held ’em off at the gate, mostly thanks to Rosie’s sniper skills. Ed’s badly shaken. Vern started having chest pains after it happened. He wanted to go check on his cows, but the medic insisted on taking him to hospital to run tests.’
‘We’ve seen this in a couple of places recently,’ Martinez explained. ‘Packs of thirty or forty zombies. They’re well armed and coerced by superheroes.’
‘Christ,’ Charlie said tearfully. She moved closer to Harry and gave him a hug.
‘The zombies attacked the Sanchez place up the hill at the same time,’ Harry said as he engulfed her. ‘Nobody was home, but their truck was stolen and the place is trashed.’
KILLER T Page 30