I don't own anybody.
I fought hard against the smile spreading over my face, finally succeeding, as I sped down the road on my motorcycle. I'd finally gotten the chance I'd been waiting for! After having to bear all those simple spying missions, I'd finally been assigned to do something worthwhile; get rid of some nosy, do-gooder freak calling himself Eyes Only. Whatever. The important thing was that this was going to take cunning, and careful strategy, in other words, the test of what I could do that I'd been waiting for, and I couldn't wait to get started.
This Eyes Only guy had been getting on Manticore nerves for a while, so our people had been able to find out his name, Logan Cale, where he lived, and some background information. Stupid guy should have known that no hack is untraceable to everybody. Makes my job a hell of a lot easier knowing his files though, so I'm not complaining. What I'd been assigned to do was make enough social contact that my being around him went unnoticed, then kill him however struck my fancy, so long as nobody linked it to Eyes Only's sudden disappearance, or me. Shouldn't be too hard. His files said he was divorced, and that he'd been neglected as a child, even though he was loaded. He'd done nothing of consequence his first few years after college, gotten married to a drunkard, gotten divorced, and then had seen the light or whatever, and now believed that his purpose was to help all of the poor, pathetic people in this whole god-forsaken country. If I make myself look pathetic, and 'just happen' to run into him, he'll reach out to me, and then it'll just be a matter of time. He lives somewhere in Seattle now, but did have the sense to hide, so, Seattle here I come.
I arrive in Seattle around noon and jeez, talk about your fixer upper. Going slowly down the streets, I pass run down buildings, sleezy clubs, homeless people in cardboard boxes, and a lot of dirt. Not exactly impressive. I stop at one of the buildings. There's a bunch of people who look about my age coming in and out of it on bikes, all carrying packs. I was given civilian clothes for this mission, but no funds, and I'm going to run out of rations soon. (sigh) A job is gonna waste a lot of time, but there isn't any other choice. I park my motorcycle and head in.
The place is another fixer-upper building. The paint is fading and peeling, and the whole place smells musty and sweaty. One guy in the corner keeps handing out packages to everyone else. I paste a hopefully winning smile on my face and stride over. Time to start blending in.
"Do you have any jobs, sir?" Might as well get to the point.
"Get out, this is pri…you just called me sir." The guy sounded amazed. I was applying for work under an imbecile.
"Yes sir." The guy blinked, then seemed to finally understand what I was asking, and frowned a little.
"You know your way around Seattle?" Well, I'd memorized the road maps. I nodded. The guy still looked cranky, but he reached into his desk and pulled out an application form.
"Fill this out." Then he started yelling out names and addresses to the rest of the people, who'd all used the excuse to take a break. I filled out the form, inventing my own previous job and history. Pasting another smile on my face, I worked my way back through the workers, who were still just standing around, and handed it back to the cranky guy, who said his name was Normal Ronald. He scanned through it, still frowning, then eyed me up and down.
"Alright…" he glanced back at the page, "Max, you can't be any worse then the rest of these bums. You're hired." My smile became a real one, it was weird, but I actually felt proud of getting a job as a measly messenger. I put that thought away for later study, and trotted off after the girl who'd been assigned to 'show me the ropes'.
The girl didn't talk to me until we were out of Normal's sight, then turned to me with a broad smile.
"Hey, sugga! Name of Original Cindy, put er there." She slapped my hand.
"I'm Max" I smiled back, something about this girl made me take a liking to her. She pointed out a spare bike to me and kept up a constant chatter as we wove down the streets.
Through the rest of the afternoon, she did almost nothing, often actually ignoring her boss. I was shocked, but it seemed to be what everyone did, and all Normal ever did in response was issue a bunch of threats. That surprised me even more, if I'd ever dared ignore Lydecker, he'd have had me knocked unconscious. Normal let his workers run wild. All of the workers were nice to me though, and Original Cindy actually let me come home with her and move into the extra room. I guess I don't understand outsiders as much as I thought I did.
It's dark outside now, and Original Cindy's fallen asleep, I need to get some fresh air, organize my thoughts. I'm gonna go for a run in the park. The city's a lot calmer now, almost nobody's out, and the ones who are are probably too drunk to see straight. I reach the park I passed with OC on one of the few runs we actually did. There's something about trees that always clear my head. I start walking through them.
I'm so lost in my thoughts that I don't notice the extra shadow against a tree until it turns to face me. I freeze. I know that face. I'd had to memorize it before I left Manticore. That face was Logan Cale's.