My second story for this website, any reviews are welcome. Hope you enjoy.
Sweet Caroline, Part I
Over and over, it played in his mind. Too many times. The blade in the dark, those eyes, merciless, uncaring. "Allister!" Her weak cry, but he could do nothing, as he shook amidst the shadows. Coward. He had failed. Not once, but eternally, in this vivid nightmare. Her blood flowed over and over, yet he did nothing. So much blood was spilled. Those eyes, they begin to laugh. He couldn't bear it. I will save you next time sister…' But her cry was already muted. Then it restarts, and he fails, over, and over, unable to save her.
Allister was jolted awake, vaguely aware of reality. Allister was the kind of man some may have called handsome if he had taken even the slightest bit of pride in his appearance. He sported a mullet, dyed a rather unflattering blue, and wore a faded yellow t-shirt, once emblazoned with a cartoon hero, now almost entirely grey. Blinking, he looked up into the eyes of a young woman, the one who had woken him.
His twin sister. Despite both being twenty-one, she was his polar opposite. Much more reserved, her hair was cut short and tidy. A white choker round her neck, she wore a loose but by no means ugly floral dress.
The woman nudged her brother. "What is it Belle?" He mumbled. "I was sleeping, I think."
She grunted, holding up a hand-held screen. "A message? From who?" Belle shook her head. She pressed a few buttons. Familiar music began to play. "Really? I told you I'm taking a break from bounty work."
Belle grunted again, an annoyed gurgle. Allister sat up straight, rubbing his eyes. Wow, he didn't know how long he had been out but he still felt rotten. Like his brain had been pickled. The screen was shoved in his face, and he reluctantly took it. As he watched, the figures from 'Bigshot', the bounty-hunter info-show, moved across the screen, babbling about some kind of opera singer. Allister's eyes suddenly widened. Had he read that right?
He looked at his sister. She nodded, holding up three fingers. "Thirty million…" Allister's incredulous voice. A greedy smile slowly panned across face. "Thanks for waking me sis. Looks like the ol' Inspector's back in action." Belle grinned. She couldn't help but be entertained by her brother's acting. He never was the serious type.
Carolyn Cao's voice rang through the theatre like birdsong, fitting for the 'Songstress of Tharsis'. Her voice shaking the hearts of all listening, it was a haunting voice, the words of a language long dead. She moved slowly across the stage, rarely making eye contact, but when she did, her eyes shone with piercing intensity, tears rolling down her cheeks. The tune was at times almost non-existent, yet this only made the feeling of the song more real. With a last, long drawn out breath, the final note was sung.
She stood still in the spotlight of the hall, long robes of red and black unmoving. Head bowed, eyes closed. A silence, before a tremendous applause. She was barely sixteen, yet she was regarded as one of the most talented women on Mars.
Carolyn Cao didn't relax until she reached her dressing room. She let out a long sigh. Her hands were shaking, in fact she could feel the discomfort in her entire body. As she leant back in her chair, looking for any distraction, her desktop dinged. A short message, in a dead language. Latin. 'Faciam hodie. Et cogitavit de deferri debet.' Do it today. You will be collected at the planned destination.
She blinked. Already? Carolyn breathed heavily, but this time there was a hint of elation. Finally, today would be the day to change things. After all the lies, the betrayal. She would be free. Could she do it? She fingered the cold steel by her side.
There came a knock at the door. "My beautiful songstress. May I enter? I have brought a visitor."
She knew who the visitor was. Knew his face, his carnal desire. Yes, she could do this, she would no longer stand it. "Come right in sir!" She replied sweetly.
Mars, the red planet. A barren wasteland, where the two cities that survived were built into craters, and provided with artificial atmospheres, carefully regulated and contained to keep out the deadly Martian air. Allister and Belle had landed in their ship, the 'Jammer', in Tharsis. The larger of the two cities and home of the Red Dragon Syndicate.
"So what's the plan of attack Sis? Talk to me, what do we do know?" Belle rolled her eyes, and brought over the small laptop. "Ur." She grunted.
All the information that the bounty-hunter show 'Bigshot' had provided was recorded in an ordered list on a hand-held screen Belle carried with her. When Belle had made Allister watch the program earlier, he had been too tired to take in most of the information. Allister eyed Belle's list. "That's my Sis. Now let's see. Xiahou Cao. The man works for the syndicate, has a large stake in a major music hall. Wonder what he did?" Belle passed Allister a pile of photos. The top photo was the mug shot of the man, Xiahou Cao. Another picture of a teenager, Carolyn Cao, both with the bounty sum beneath it. Allister had already seen the man's photo, but not the girl.
"Wait, we have to catch the kid to? Do we still get the bounty if we miss her?"
Belle shook her head. Allister sighed. "Don't like getting involved with kids." He kept reading.
"The girl's a singer at the syndicate's music hall… Don't tell me this is just a big fuss to protect their precious celebrity?"
Belle shrugged. She lay back, her brother staring out the window of the 'Jammer' in annoyance. "What do I think? I think it more trouble than it's worth. But it's also good money." Allister announced.
Belle continued to lie back, practically ignoring him. "So I'm going ok. You happy?"
"Gurg." Belle made a noise at the back of her throat. "Glad to hear it. Then it's settled. Let's go for a walk shall we?"
Allister threw on a purple jacket, as faded as his shirt, and a fedora with a bullet hole in it. "Lucky Jacket. Check. Mostly lucky hat. Check." He threw Belle an odd looking revolver. "And lucky gun. Check."
Belle had lost her dress, replacing it with loose shorts and a pale singlet. "Gah." She grunted.
"Yeah, let's go."
Despite the regulated atmosphere, the heat of the blazing Martian sun was still ever present. The twins had split up, to cover ground more quickly. They each carried a backpack, filled with a variety of odds and ends they used for their job. Allister spun something akin to a walking cane as he went, that would have been odd if his attire looked anything near normal.
The theatre seemed a good start. Allister walked through the streets of Tharsis, filled with beggars, shoppers, automobiles, and far too many shops all vying for room. It didn't escape his notice that the vast portion of signs were in Mandarin, or Cantonese, and there seemed to be a trend in population characteristics. Only the high rises and key business buildings appeared "western". Not that that meant anything on a planet that wasn't earth. He wondered how much of business was legitimate, and how much was the syndicate. It was impossible to know anymore. After about a half-hour trek, he reached his destination. An old building, Asian-style, probably Chinese. The Large sign above the building entrance displayed its name in over a dozen languages, "Hall of the Myna".
Allister wandered in, a lone receptionist filling in various bits of paper work. She looked up. "Theatres closed. Sorry."
"No, I was wondering if you knew anything about…" A shout, feminine and angry, and a woman, late twenties perhaps, wandered out in a rage. Her clothes were revealing, and Allister couldn't help feeling uncomfortable.
"Miss Valentine, I'm sorry, but we honestly can't help! I told you exactly what we told the police. She's gone, and there's nothing we can do about it." A man in a suit scowled as he spoke.
Allister's ear's pricked up as he overheard the conversation, flicking a switch on his staff.
The woman, Valentine apparently, sighed. "Whatever. I honestly can't be bothered with you anymore. Spike can keep looking if he wants." She seemed to be talking to herself now.
Allister eyed Valentine, watching her putting on a pair of tinted sunglasses and lighting a cigarette, before walking off. Another bounty-hunter?
Belle had been wandering through the streets with less of a goal then her twin brother. She had been carrying around the palm-sized screen with the photo of Xiahou and Carolyn Cao, and although everyone recognized them, no-one seemed to be particularly helpful. Regarding Carolyn, no-one knew anything beyond her singing career. As much as Carolyn was a celebrity, it seemed she had kept much to herself. Xiahou was another story. Apparently the ISSP had reported that he had been killed in a brutal accent at the theatre. Some said it was the syndicate's doing. Other's said a deal gone badly, or simply suicide. Belle hoped Allister could confirm something when he returned.
It seemed that Belle was not going to gain any more information, when a busker gave her a quizzical look and replied. "What did you ask? You wouldn't happen to be a friend of the lanky chap with the wild-hair would you? Here just a few minutes ago, asking the same questions."
Belle typed on the flip down keyboard, letters replacing the photo on her hand-held screen. 'Where did he go?'
The man took a second, staring at the little screen. "Uh, didn't say exactly. Headed west. You might run into him if you hurry."
Belle smiled, and nodded her thanks, running off west, where the busker had indicated.
"What do you want, Kid?" Valentine looked down at Allister disdainfully.
"I'm going to put it straight. You're a bounty-hunter as well." Valentine's eyes narrowed. "What if I am? Wait, as well?"
"I was hoping you would share information you might have on the targets. In return, I'll give you all the information I have." Allister grinned. "Deal?"
"How do you even know I'm after the same targets as you, Kid?"
"There ain't no other bounties worth your while in this city at the moment. Also, I doubt your little speech earlier was part of your holiday." He spun his staff, and flicked a switch. A crackle, and a recording of the shouting between Valentine and the man at the Theatre could be heard.
Valentine seemed to stare at Allister for a long time. "You little sneak."
"I'll pay you every bit of cash on me as well."
Valentine's eyes twitched. She was tempted. Very tempted. "Fine. I'll tell you what I know, for what you know, your money, and finally... you also have to delete that recording."
"Done deal malady." Allister smiled. He flicked a switch, another crackle. "So what you got, my girl?"
Valentine's fists visibly clenched at the jibe. "Xiahou Cao was found dead beside some other high ranking ISSP yesterday. But everyone round here knows. I haven't found anything else. Planning to ditch the job. What about you?" She grinned a nasty grin. She was going to get the better of this kid.
"Same." Allister admitted. He didn't say he hadn't even found out about Xiahou's murder.
"What? What!" Of course, Valentine thought. Only logical. Why else would he try to make such a deal, unless he too needed information? Wait. "The money. You said you would give me…"
"Oh that? None on me."
Valentine stared, eyes bulging. "You mean…"
"Null. Naught. Nill. Nothing. As in no I cannot provide you with said bonus."
A heavy kick, and Allister wheeled backwards. "You are so much worse than any kid I've had to put up with." Valentine muttered. She left Allister there on the ground, as she sauntered away. I think I quite like her. Allister thought to himself.
It had taken a while, asking passer-by's about the wild-haired man, but she finally found him. "Hmmm? Yeah, I know the guy, he's just over there." The vendor pointed over his shoulder, at a slender man sauntering down the sidewalk, shoulders hunched, hands in his pockets. Wild hair was an understatement, it was a full blown afro, a hairdo that made Allister's blue mullet and bullet shot fedora seem bland. There was no question that this was the man. That this was another bounty-hunter. Hopefully he had had more luck with tracking the target than Belle. Hopefully he would be willing to share what he knew.
She ran to catch up to him, tapping him on the back. He turned lazily, looking down at her. He was considerably taller than her. "Hmm? What do you want, miss? I'm busy."
She looked up at him sweetly, and held up her screen. "Where is Carolyn Cao. Why is Xiahou dead?" As the wild-haired man looked at it, his eyes widened. "You don't look like the ISSP. I don't want to hit a girl right now, so let's pretend you didn't ask that."
Something cold and hard pressed into the man's side. Still smiling, Belle typed again, new word's scrolling across the screen. "This is a gun. What do you know?"
"I'm not sure I should tell a little girl!" He shouted, simultaneously spinning and knocking the gun and the hand-held screen from Belle's hands. "Really now, I don't want to do this."
A heavy punch as Belle's fist smacked into the man's chest. "If that's how it is…" The wild-haired man gasped.
He faced his smaller opponent reluctantly. "Who are you exactly? Another bounty-hunter? A friend of Carolyn's? Syndicate?"
Belle was silent for a long while, her hand-held screen out of reach. "Hunter." The word resonated, an eerie mechanical ring to it.
"Your voice…"
Belle snarled, or rather gurgled amongst the occasional static crackle in her throat. "Gaarrrgh!" Belle dived for the revolver that the man had knocked from her hands, her opponent following suit. But the shock of the strange voice had slowed his reactions, and Belle's hands fell on the weapon. She raised it, and fired. The wild-haired man stared at Belle, before collapsing to the ground.
A crackle at the man's belt. "Spike, Spike, are you there? Have you found anything? Spike?"
The wild-haired man known as Spike did not move, as Belle carefully broke the transmitter.
See you later, Space Cowboy