"Get
behind me!" Elaine ordered Lucas, keeping her eyes locked at the approaching
dog, a middle-sized wire terrier.
"But-" Lucas protested.
"BEHIND ME!" she grabbed his shirt and
shoved him behind her back into the wall, always maintaining eye contact.
She'd have to make her move soon, and she didn't want Lucas in the way.
The others were taking their cue from the leader.
Lucas glanced back at the two hitmen standing
in the alleyway. They had their hands in their pockets, jovially
talking to each other and laughing. "Waiting for the show."
he thought.
"Rrrrrrrr!" Elaine growled from deep within
her throat.
"Wha-?" Lucas thought.
"Rrrrr!" The leader replied. Elaine
could smell it: a male. She noticed a ragged collar on the dog also.
"Abandoned,
damn it!" she thought.
"RRRR!" Elaine growled louder, projecting
thoughts of dominance toward the pack leader.
The dog stopped growling and took a half
step back, ears twitching.
"RRRRRRRRAAAAAA!" Elaine barked, then suddenly
whirled around and glared back up the alleyway at the two hitmen.
The pack leader glanced where she was looking,
uttered a deep growl in its throat, then suddenly launched itself down
the alleyway, barking. The others immediately fell in behind their
leader, baying and howling in a mad scramble that threw loose papers into
the air.
The hitmen lost a few precious seconds
staring in unbelief at the sight of the dogs bearing down on them.
One fumbled for the gun he kept under his coat, but finally settled for
turning and following his parter in a mad dash down the street. The
dogs made a wide turn, knocking over a trashcan before disappearing from
sight. Their howls, and the screams of the hitmen, faded away into
the distance.
"What was THAT?" Lucas asked, astounded.
"Now THAT is a damn good pack!" Elaine
said, in a tone of voice that an admiral would use in complimenting
a captain for running a tight ship.
"I mean, what did you do?" Lucas demanded.
"I merely reasserted human authority over
that poor homeless dog." she replied.
"Poor homeless- That beast almost attacked
us!"
"Of course it would, the poor thing!
Didn't you notice the collar?"
"Well-" Lucas rubbed the back of his head.
"It was abandoned! Driven out from
its proper home! So were the others, I'm sure!" Elaine frowned angrily,
"Feral dogs indeed! Who thought of that wild story?"
"Umm, ahhh..."
"Let me guess!" she turned to face him,
"Your bio-monster obsessed editor, right?"
Lucas smiled sheepishly and nodded.
She looked at him critically, "Just how
much of his thinking does he do for you, Lucas?"
"Hey! That's-" he started, then stopped,
thoughts obviously racing through his mind.
She cut him off with a wave of her hand,
"Forget it! I was going to tell you something that was very personal
and very important to me. Only, I don't think you'd understand how
wonderful it really is, because that stupid editor of yours has poisoned
your mind already!" She whipped her forelock of hair out of her face, turned
on her heel, and started walking purposefully out the alley.
"Where are you going?" Lucas ran
up behind her.
"I'm going to find that pack, of course!"
"But it's dan-" Lucas started, only to
stop when Elaine stopped, whirled around, and looked at him, her eyes seeming
to burn through him.
"Ohhh! Okay!" Lucas threw up his hands,
"I won't push it! Besides, why are you going after this pack now?"
"Didn't you notice?"
"What?"
"The leader was the middle one in size,
which is very rare. I've GOT to find out what makes that pack tick!"
----------------------------
"Okay honey, breathe in, please" Dr. Reba
Pearce requested of the little girl.
She inhaled deeply, then coughed a little.
Dr. Pearce tried not to show her concern at the deep gurgling in the girl's
lungs.
"Have you been going to bed on time?" Dr.
Pearce asked her, grinning, "Too much TV?"
The girl smiled shyly and nodded.
"Dr. Pearce! Dr. Pearce!" a
nurse appeared at the door.
"I'm with a patient!" she replied irritably.
"We have a problem in the Emergency room!"
She sighed, "Can it wait?"
"Well, Dr. Torres is very insistent..."
"I'll wait." the girl replied in a soft
voice.
"No, you won't." Dr. Pearce picked up the
chart and scribbled on it, "I'm afraid you'll have to stay at the hospital
for a few more days, Carmelita."
"Ohhh!"
"But if you tell me the shows you watch
late at night, I'll get them taped and you can see them in the mornings,
okay? No more staying up late!"
"All right!" She made a face, "More
shots?"
"I'm afraid so. I hate them too!"
she added confidentially.
"You take them?"
"All the time!" she replied, "I'm a doctor,
after all!" "Even if I don't really NEED the immunity." she
thought privately to herself. She tweaked the girl's nose, "Get dressed
and lie down until I get back with the shots."
Once outside the room, Dr. Pearce pulled
out her short-range hospital cell-phone and punched in the "911" code for
the emergency room on-call doctor, "Pearce here." she said when Dr. Torres
answered the phone.
"Ah! Reba! I've got a real problem
here!"
"What?"
"I have two men with severe bites from
those feral dogs that have been running around."
"Sounds standard enough. Why bother
me about it?"
"Ummm, well, they happen to have guns..."
"Aha!" Cyber 5000 thought, grinning,
"And you want to transfer them to me, right?" she complained.
"If you could, really-" He pleaded, "I
mean, you're the expert in these sorts of characters."
"Ya owe me two night shifts already, Jorge!
You're adding a third?" she whined, thinking, "C'mon! Bite!
Bite! Bite!"
"I'll take tomorrow night for you!
I promise!"
"Yes!" she exulted, "Ohhh!
Okay!" she replied reluctantly, "Transfer them to me, patch the holes up,
put them on Rabies Series B and the usual gunshot of antibiotics, then
wheel them into the ward with the others under my charge."
"The antibiotics I understand, but Series
B???"
"Has anyone caught these animals?"
"Well, no."
"Series B is for when you don't know, Jorge.
You know that."
"Well, okay." he replied, "Thanks, Reba."
"I'm not letting you off tomorrow night,
Jorge! You know that!"
"I know!"
Cyber 5000 grinned as she put away the
phone. Series D could be taken orally and was just as effective,
but Series B was an older and cheaper medicine that required daily injections
over a 14 day period directly into the stomach using a needle as long as
a ruler and which felt as big as a pencil. Combined with the antibiotics
("just to be safe and sure"), those two wouldn't be able to eat or hold
a bowel movement for two weeks.
She whistled as she went to get the shots
ready for Carmelita. Her patients preferred taking their shots from
her than from an adult nurse.
--------------------------------
Police Chief Ryan glanced through the
rap sheet, "Interesting. She killed him with a blow to the spinal column?"
Henrique nodded, "The bastard never had a chance
to pull the trigger. Happened so fast, it froze the muscles in place. Must
have sounded like a gunshot, which is why the street urchins who reported
it thought she had been shot instead. The coroner is worried he'll have
to cut the fingers off to get the gun out of his hand."
"Bury him with it. Don't sugarcoat the way the asshole
lived," Ryan grumbled, "What's your take?"
"Justifiable defense of another person. Frank has
a gun, but couldn't reach it without getting shot first."
"You think she's the one who's cleaned that street
out?"
"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Henrique glanced through
the small window set in the door to the cell, heart skipping a beat despite
himself. The somber young woman was sitting on the bed, "She looks so petite.
Pretty too." "Too pretty for my own good." He thought, wondering
why the room had suddenly gotten a bit hot. "The Diorttis and I have talked
to her about her, ah, profession, but she's got family problems, it seems."
"Maybe. Maybe not." Ryan muttered. He looked up,
"But lucky for Frank, she didn't take your advice."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'll interrogate her, of course, then let her go."
Ryan shrugged, "There's no law against defending another, and the perp
was killed in the very act. Besides, the DA's going to have a hell of a
time trying to get a jury to convict someone who killed a threatening gunman
with her bare hands."
"Do you think the shakedown has something to do with
Cornazon?" Henrique asked.
"Without a doubt. Georges and Tomas on either side
of your beat heard about what was happening on that street through their
snitches. Things are getting hot now that Cornazon's been flushed."
Henrique just stood there and looked at his Police
Chief.
"What?" Ryan asked the obvious question.
"Is it true?" Henrique asked, "About the special
forces police unit?"
"Hell no!" Ryan faced him, "Henrique, you'd be the
first one I'd ask to join. Trust me."
Henrique paused for a moment, then asked, "So who
saved the girl?"
"Would you believe the woman in black leather?" Ryan
said truthfully.
Henrique looked at him for a moment longer, then
bent over and guffawed loudly, nearly knocking his boss over pounding him
on the back. He wiped at his eyes, "That's a good one! You'd make a great
straight man, chief! I think I'll take my break now! It's been a long night!"
"You do that!"
Ryan watched Henrique leave the basement detention
block, once again marvelling at the power of raw honesty. He then
nodded at the guard, who unlocked the door and let him in.
He regarded the girl for a few long moments as the
door was locked behind him. He reached into his pocket, pulled out
a Cuban cigar, bit the ends off, and began to fish for his lighter, "Mind
if we talk?" he asked her.
She shrugged, looking at the floor.
He grunted, pulled a chair up in front of her, sat
down with his back to the door, found his lighter, and lit the cigar. After
getting it started, he inhaled deeply, and started blowing smoke rings.
The girl smelled the smoke, looked up, and did a
double take the moment she saw the smoke rings.
"Hell!" Type 37 remarked, noting that he had gotten
her attention, "You don't believe I'd do THAT in front of a Fixed Idea,
would you? They'd burn down the compound trying to light up banana leaf
cigars!"
He leaned back and looked at her for a long moment,
having forced her into a small smile. He shook his head, "Damn 356,
you look so much like her, it hurts." He sighed, "She saved my life, you
know."
She started at the mention of "356" and bit her lip,
which did nothing to stop it from trembling a little.
"I'll always appreciate that. I still can't figure
out why she killed herself. Do you have any ideas?"
She shrugged and nodded, but still didn't say anything.
"Not very talkative, are you? Fine. I'm used to that."
He puffed his cigar some more, "Now legally, I'm supposed to let you go,
since what you did was justifiable defense. Morally, I ought to tie you
up with about 30 meters of battleship anchor chain and send you back to
the compound with a nice red bow tied around your pretty head. In
actuality, I'm going to do the legal thing, as well as make a report to
the compound detailing what you were doing and how you were captured. And
THAT is going to be messy."
She watched him blow some more smoke rings.
"Look," he waved his cigar at her, "You know the
plan. You were supposed to serve your time in the army, get honorably discharged,
then get hired into the police force to do legally what you've been doing
illegally for the last couple weeks. Protecting and helping people is in
your blood, although couldn't you have chosen something different to wear?
Skin-tight black leather? Mama called up and gave me hell the moment
it got out! Can you imagine how she's going to react when she finds
out that you were serving mankind as a prostitute? THAT wasn't exactly
the post-army career that father and mama had in mind for you, my dear
Cyber sister. Dammit, you know the Golden Rule: Don't make mama unhappy,
'cause if mama ain't happy, then ain't nobody happy!"
He sighed, watching as she dropped her head and tried
to hide behind the black bangs that fell across her face, "Have anything
to say?" he asked her gently.
She shook her head, not looking up.
"Hey sister, don't you want to go back home?" He
asked, "I'll put in a good word for you. Okay, maybe you're not on the
police payroll as planned, but you did good cleaning out the street and
rescuing that little girl. Maybe the training board will have pulled their
heads out of their asses by now and face the real world that I have to
work in all the time and cut you some slack. Certainly more than
they gave poor Six. I know Kayla can fix your records computer-wise. Then
you can come back here and work for me, for I sure can put a Cyber to good
use on the streets. How does that sound?"
She looked up, eyes welling, and shook her head in
dissent.
He sighed, "I'm probably going to regret this." He
muttered, "Are you planning to go back to the same street?" he asked her.
She nodded, looking a bit chagrined, as if she couldn't
help herself.
"This whole damn mess started when Cornazon grabbed
me, and it's turned into a family feud. Him or us. Six should be
here to finish the job, but she's down, so it's up to you. I expect
things to get very hot very soon. The dame in leather-" here, Ryan
rolled his eyes, "is being poo-pooed by everyone, but Cornazon's going
to believe his men. They'll put that up against what you did last
night, and they're going to come after you. Or I should say that
he's going to come after you."
Her eyebrows went up.
"Yes. You heard right. The word seems
to be out that working for the Big C is bad for your health, so to regain
status, he's got to go after you himself, with his lieutenants. Machismo
and all that. THAT'S when you can take them, and him, out.
Are you game?"
She nodded firmly, a look of determination on her
face.
He smiled, "I knew I could count on a Cyber in a
fight! Do that, and I'll try my best to get you Six's own bars. Should
stay in the batch anyhow. Think you can make her proud?"
She nodded, smiling wryly.
"Good. You'll be writing the book, so do your best.
I wish I could hug you, but we may be noticed. Drop by my house if you
need some sustenance or want that hug from me and the missus. Good luck,
sister."
She nodded again, smiling, her eyes welling again.
He smiled, blew her a kiss, then got up and rapped on the door.
"What is she going to do, Chief?" the guard asked
him after letting him out and closing the door behind him.
"Looks like she wants to stay on that street she's
protecting." Chief Ryan glanced through the paperwork attached to the rap
sheet and began to sign the release forms.
"I hope she survives." The guard glanced at her through
the window set into the door, "Doesn't look like much."
"What counts is not the size of the dog in the fight,
but the size of the fight in the dog."
"I'd say she was a fox." The guard grinned.
Chief Ryan said nothing, but grimaced when his back
was turned. Female Cybers took so much shit from male chauvinists, it was
a wonder one had not already punched the head off the shoulders of her
tormentor. All were usually assigned desk jobs in the armies they were
in, and got hit up constantly. Hopefully, he'd have that sort of crap rooted
out of his outfit before the first ones arrived, "I'll send somebody down
to spring her ASAP."
He walked up the stairs, feeling elated. True,
he had accomplished a lot with the normals on the police force, but just
having a Cyber in the city working with the police made him feel that a
real professional had just walked in, and that everything was going to
be fine.
He blinked when he walked around to the front desk
and saw a small crowd milling in front of it, "What is this?" he asked,
handing the rap sheet and forms to the desk sergeant.
"Hello, Chief Ryan." A man stepped forward, "I'm
Frank O'Reilly, proprietor of the Irish Mug."
"Ah! The one who was hit up for protection money
last night, only to be saved by a whore with a mean karate chop?" Chief
Ryan asked.
"Who insisted on the police being called!" Frank
shook his head, "You know she killed that bastard defending me! She should
be released!"
"Yeah!" a orange-blonde-headed boy piped up, "An'
she's nice too! A lot nicer than you think!"
Chief Ryan held his hands up when he saw that others
were going to spring to the girl's defense, "I've signed the release papers!
She'll be with you shortly after we file everything. In the meantime, if
I can have a word with all of you in private…" he beckoned to a room off
to the side.
"I think I should be in on this." Henrique stated.
He had been talking to them before Ryan's arrival, and had retreated when
his chief became the center of their attention..
"You're right." Ryan nodded, "Better introduce me
to them."
As Ryan was introduced to the collection of shopkeepers,
street urchins, and prostitutes, he became proud that 356 had made such
a loyal, if somewhat diverse, group of friends, "I take it you all are
concerned about Miss Scylla Charybdis, correct?" They all nodded,
"Well, you have good reason to be. Am I correct in assuming she has
been actively taking part in protecting you?"
They all nodded agreement, "Is she going to be okay?"
Mrs. Diortti asked, concern in her voice "They said she wasn't wounded!"
"And she wasn't." Ryan assured her, "She'd be in
the hospital, not here, if she was. However, she is in very grave
danger at this moment from Cornazon. She is all that stands between
you and him."
"What kind of danger?" Julian, one of the street
urchins, asked.
"I have every reason to believe that Cornazon is
going to personally attack her directly. He will probably make attempts
to hire more gunmen to do the job for him, but Miss Charybdis appears to
have established a reputation that no one wishes to challenge now. Machismo
requires that he do the job himself to regain the respect of his underlings
and competitors."
"So, she's gonna run?" Maureen asked.
"Scylla won't run!" Julian hotly shot that comment
at Maureen.
"Makes good sense to me." She replied, "People will
get hurt in the crossfire, right? That's us, people!"
"Ha! I'll sooner take my chances on our street
with Scylla on it, than in this station without her!" Mr. Diortti replied.
"Papa!" Mrs. Diortti said doubtfully.
"Bah! I'm tired of running and hiding!
Besides, if she stays in front of my shop, I'll see all the action!"
"And get some of the bullets, too! Scylla's
the damn bravest gal I've ever met," Maureen continued, glancing at Julian
in an attempt to mollify him, "But she cares too much for other people
to want to put them in danger."
"Well, she-" Ryan started, only to be interrupted
by Julian shouting, "SCYLLA!"
She had just stepped into the room, and looked somewhat
surprised at the crowd of people there. The group quickly surrounded
her, Frank being the first to give her a hug. Ryan couldn't make
out her voice, soft and low, against the general babble, but it was obvious
that the group was very happy to see her.
"Umm, Mr. Ryan..." Mrs. Diortti pulled away from
the group and approached him, "May I make a suggestion?"
"Of course, ma'am."
"Could you find a way to have someone assigned to
help Scylla for the next few days, until all this is over?"
"Such as?"
"Hmmm." Mrs. Diortti winked at him and glanced at
Henrique. Ryan followed her gaze, and nodded.
"I think that can be arranged." Ryan said,
winking back and smiling, "HENRIQUE!"
"Yes, sir!" Henrique pulled his eyes off Scylla onto
his boss.
"You're on special assignment with Miss Charybdis
until all this blows over!"
"Sir?" this came out in a squeaky tone that Ryan
had not thought possible out of the huge plainclothes detective.
Ryan noted Scylla's surprised, but happy, reaction,
"Falling
for a civil servant, eh? Makes perfect sense to me, too." he
thought. "You heard me!" he said, walking to the door and nodding
to everyone, "I'll take care of the roster. Nice to meet all of you."
He walked out the door and immediately noticed Raoul
Martes, the questionable lawyer, at the front desk, "Well, Raoul!
Come to spring your client?" he asked him cheerfully.
"Ahh, Chief Ryan! Good to meet you. Yes,
I'm here to obtain the release of my client. But I am puzzled."
"About what?"
"Everyone deserves a chance for bail, but isn't 100,000
a bit high?"
"Judge Megillo took great pleasure in setting that
figure himself." Ryan replied, "Take it up with him if you've got a problem
with it. We just enforce the law around here."
"Um, hmm! And what about the murderer of my
other client?" he asked, "What is her bail?"
"I just released her. Justifiable defense."
"Justifiable-! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!" Martes
shouted.
"Two witnesses say your client was guilty as hell!"
Ryan replied calmly, "That and a gun we can't pry out of his cold dead
fingers."
"I am going to complain to-" Martes started, when
his attention was diverted to the group that had come out of the side room
that Ryan had left. They had overhead his last few sentences.
He glared at Scylla.
Scylla noticed. She turned, only to have Mr.
Diortti put his hand on her forearm. They exchanged glances, then
Mr. Diortti walked over to the lawyer, "I would remind your employer,"
he said smoothly, with obvious pleasure, "of the story of the Macaque and
the Jaguar. He plays the monkey very well."
Ryan turned away to cough, trying his best not to
laugh. Mr. Diortti had referred to the old jungle fable of the macaque
who had tricked all the other animals into insulting the Jaguar, only to
be revealed as a coward when he refused to try when his turn came.
It was often quoted when talking about tribesmen who talked big, but were
the first to run when the fight came to them. Part of Cornazon's
charm with the populace was that he had been born and raised in the jungle,
not the city, and yet had risen to power despite his background.
The significance, and insult, of Mr. Diortti's remark would not be lost
on him.
Apparently, Scylla knew the story too, for she was
grinning when Mr. Diortti rejoined them. She nodded toward Ryan,
then turned and left the police station with her friends.
"Good luck, sister." Ryan thought, "I
gotta make that report to the Compound now. I wonder how THAT'S going
to go over."
------------------------
"I'm going to Meridiana."
Von Richter looked at Maria across the dinner table,
"You are going to WHAT?"
"I'm going to Meridiana." Maria replied in that
tone of voice that Von Richter knew also said, "And don't waste my time
or your breath to convince me otherwise."
Knowing that he would have better luck arguing for
the repeal of the Law of Gravity, Von Richter nevertheless pressed on,
"You're going after 356, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"She can come home anytime she wants to. She
knows that."
"For goodness sakes, Max! She's stealing sustenance
and selling her body to survive!"
"Not to mention wearing a leather catsuit and
rescuing little girls from gangsters." Von Richter thought, having
been secretly very proud of his wandering Cyber for that feat. Aloud,
he said, "She's a cyber, honey. There's no way you're going to drag
her back here. Besides, 37's report said that place is going to be
a warzone soon."
"I'm her mother, and she knows it. I'm counting
on that. As well as Kayla, Grizelda, and Quaren."
"Quaren!?!?" Von Richter gaped, "My dear, how
on earth did you convince Quaren to leave my door?"
"Well, at first she wouldn't. But I showed
her the report and she changed her mind."
"QUAREN!" Von Richter yelled, turning his head, "COME
IN HERE!"
The door opened and Quaren walked in, slid onto the
floor next to his chair, tucked her feet under her, and slipped her hands
onto his lap and took his gnarled ones in them, "Yes, Father?" she asked.
He patted her hands, pushing the memory of Cybersix
doing what she had just done out of his mind, "My dear, why are you leaving
me to go with your mother?"
"It's going to be dangerous in Meridiana. She
needs to be protected."
"And what about me?" he asked skeptically.
"The instructor corps for the last year class is
going to guard the main residence." she replied.
"The instructor corps for-" he started, "And who
the hell is going to teach the class while you are gone?"
"Oh, they're going to help." Quaren replied.
"520 Cybers to replace you?" he asked, exasperated.
"Well, either I go to get 356, or the 520 Cybers
go get her," Quaren remarked lightly, "I figure we'll save on gas if only
I go." she added as an afterthought.
Von Richter just sighed. Quaren got up when
Maria rose also. "Oh, I almost forgot," Quaren remarked, "We'll
need the limo."
Von Richter's head snapped up to rivet her with his
sharp gaze, "You put a scratch on it, and I'll-" he started warningly.
Quaren raised her hands, "I'll be careful with it!
I promise!"
"You do that!"
"And what about me?" Maria pouted, "Am I not more
important than that black limosine of yours?"
"She scratches that limo, she answers to me.
She lets you get a scratch, and the entire family's going to be after her
tail, not just me!"
"Yes Father!" Quaren replied, wondering, for a fleeting
moment, if it wasn't wiser to stay and send the instructor corps after
356.
