Rick Barnes pulled the collar of his coat up higher against his ears to keep out the cold. A light snow was falling and the winds were picking up blowing the cold wherever it wanted to. He could see his breath as a tiny cloud against the background of asphalt. The snow crunched under his feet as he trudged down the sidewalk.
He could hear several different Christmas carols from a few of the stores he was passing by. They were all decorated for the upcoming holiday.
Rick was tired of carols. He'd already lost Thanksgiving. And Christmas was around the corner. There was of course nothing for him to enjoy. Without his wife and daughter there was no cheer for him. Lately he was either angry or just depressed. He didn't think he could feel anything else, except maybe a growing hatred that had scared him at first. But now he was welcoming it.
Salvation Army bell ringers were out in full force and Rick focused on not making eye contact with them. His charitable side wasn't up to helping the needy. His thoughts weren't on anything at all. It was as though he were on autopilot. Just walking to the meeting place.
He didn't look at the window displays or the decorations. He tried not to bump into the hundreds of shoppers he passed. They were all busy in their own little worlds. Consumed with spending their money best on their loved ones.
At least they could do that.
They were oblivious to Rick's dilemma and he despised them for it.
Cars passed by splashing up the dirty snow slush. Rick sidestepped in time to avoid a particularly nasty one. The woman who had been behind him was not so lucky and she gasped as her suede boots were drenched in the half liquid.
Rick didn't stop to apologize. Normally he would have, but not today. He had a very brief window to meet the goons who would take him to Abernathy's so that he could fulfill his end of their slimy bargain.
Rick hated it. Every day he hated himself for what he had done. Stooping so low as to taking Alex's work and giving it to a terrorist so that his daughter remained alive and unharmed. But what else could he do? Unless he could hack into whatever controlled the bracelet and render it useless Penny was dead until Abernathy had what he wanted.
There was no way that was going to happen though. Not without giving Alex more details than he already had. She was too nosy as it was. All he'd said to her was that he needed her help for a reason that he could not explain. When she'd asked about Penny he'd only told her that she was safe.
Now Rick was on his way to go deliver the last piece. The control device that would make everything work. Alex's designs worked on a precision and without this tiny little circuit board Abernathy's new arm would be a useless decoration.
Rick was hopefully going to get Penny back today. If Abernathy could be trusted. That was all that mattered at the moment. Getting Penny out of harm so he could kick some ass and get Jess back as well.
That was the only reason he was playing nice.
He looked around a little bit his HUD identifying a few somewhat familiar faces and the coordinates of today's location.
It was always somewhere different. And Rick had to come alone, no back up to cause a stir.
So he kept up his end because he was backed into a wall. But he was going to take Abernathy down soon.
Someone looked at him closer and a flash of disgust in their eyes made Rick stiffen. He looked back at the man who quick walked as fast as he could in the crowd. Rick knew why.
Derek Smith. The journalist had found his fuel. Rick had gone and gotten drunk the night Abernathy had taken Penny from him. And as his ironic luck would have it the reporter caught a glimpse of the detective before the liquor had run through his system.
With Alex and Grant going forward with cybernetics the doubters were growing. And they lashed out against the two scientists and Rick every time they could.
Derek was among those who thought it was wrong and dangerous to fill a man with mechanical replacements. And they would probably never learn otherwise. So Rick accepted that the columnist would probably always have something against him.
It still didn't make it any less annoying.
He was almost to the spot they had told him to go.
Rick began looking for any tell tale signs that his escort was already there. Usually one person in the crowd would have that dead look in their eyes that only came with the NOD.
Rick didn't see the telltale signs and began to wonder. He scanned the crowd quickly searching for the NOD's radio signal.
His vision went bluish and he looked around slowly. A red flash caught his attention. A handsome young man in a black wool coat and red scarf stood stock still right by the giant Christmas tree in the center of the downtown area.
Rick slowly made his way towards him his vision returning to normal.
The man looked right at him and gave him a cold emotionless smile. Rick shuddered and approached without saying a word.
When he was close enough Rick merely nodded his head at the stranger. The man responded by nodding in return.
A few seconds passed by and Rick heard the buzz of the scanner used to make sure he wasn't bugged. As if it mattered.
When it grew quiet the man approached and took his arm roughly. Rick knew better than to fight and went along willingly.
They walked to an alley shrouded in darkness. Rick looked at it with disdain. He'd investigated a murder here several years ago. He remembered the poor woman who'd been raped and murdered and left like a piece of trash.
Rick hated murder. The taking of a life was a serious act. One that he had used on the wicked only when necessary.
The man suddenly stopped and Rick lost in the past kept moving. The man jerked him suddenly and Rick tripped on a slick patch of ice. He planted one foot on the ground as hard as he could reversed the motion of his body with a sudden jerk.
Someone chuckled from the darkness. Rick regained his balance and looked right at whoever had snickered. Two men stepped forward. They had no NODs in their necks. They were willing minions to Abernathy.
Rick glared at them fiercely. "I'm here to deliver the final piece." He growled. "We know that." One of them spat. Rick recognized him as the one who had taken a gun to his head when they'd wrenched him away from his daughter.
"Then let's go." Rick said straightening his shoulders.
They turned silently and led the way. The acquaintance followed behind keeping two blank eyes on the cyborg's back.
Rick kept quiet as they went into a parking garage.
A big red van with state license plates and a handicapped tag hanging from the rearview mirror sat near the exit. It had a few stickers from local organizations on it. 'Keep Tahoe Blue', 'Mix' cupcakes, and the local classic rock station 'KOZZ'.
Rick hated the drive up to the Galena Pines area. It was always elongated by taking a roundabout way of getting there. To ensure that they weren't being followed of course.
They slid open the van door and motioned for Rick to climb in first. He did so with a calculated jump from the ground and into the car. He was seated before the helpless man with the NOD was even inside. Rick looked at him and wished he could help, but at the moment he didn't have much of a chance of choice at the moment.
The other two climbed into the seats up front and the van rumbled. The engine coughed and wheezed a few times threatening to die before growling to life.
And soon the happy downtown of Reno was changing to the packed highway. It was Christmastime. The roads were full of people on their way to shop, parties, or family events.
The van made it's way slowly. They always drove bellow the speed limit. They didn't want to attract any attention.
As they made their way Rick tried to think of how he was going to get out of this. He highly doubted that Claw was going to just give him Penny and let them walk out the door. No. There would be a fight of course.
Rick just hoped that Penny wouldn't pay the price for that fight. It was inevitable that she would be the target and Rick would have to protect her as best as he could. If he had to, he'd give her his coat.
That would probably protect her from most of the attacks that would be aimed at her.
Probably. Nothing was ever for sure anymore.
The highway spread out and then suddenly changed as they got onto I-80. Which made Rick roll his eyes. Of course these morons would take I-80 and then go back to 395 and then head for Galena. They were headed west, Abernathy's mansion was south of the interstate.
Rick's grey eyes were dark and the blank eyed man looked into them curiously. Sometimes Rick wondered if the people could see or hear what was happening around them and just couldn't act on it. Like a puppet on a string.
The way the man looked at him was a little unnerving. As if he were looking right into Rick's soul.
The detective looked away and tried to relax. But there was no way he could. Tonight was the night. He was getting Penny back or Abernathy would be sorry. Rick felt the need to make him sorry either way. It was only proper retribution for what his enemy had inflicted upon him.
The van suddenly got off the highway near Cabella's and then back on in the other direction again.
This is ridiculous. I ain't so stupid as to make a mistake like callin' in back up now of all times. They treated him like a fool. He wasn't. He was just a man in a corner and the smallest of windows to get himself out of said corner.
The two up front were talking and Rick listened closely. No matter how quiet they talked he could hear them.
"I heard that our guy is close to finding that little wench of his." The familiar one said.
"Yeah. He's pretty sure that the girl and that FBI dog are somewhere in the Midwest."
Rick's blood ran cold. Abernathy's men were closing in on Jessica and Walter. His heart skipped a beat as he tried to act like he hadn't heard that. But he had, and it would definitely make a difference on how he behaved once he got to the mansion. Perhaps he wasn't ready to go in guns blazing.
He needed to ensure that his wife was just as safe as his daughter was.
Which could mean more hardship for them all.
He didn't know what to do really.
