Chapter 23

The wooden, somewhat rotting door of the run-down weapons shop slammed open. It cracked, yet held strong. The door had been there for a number of years and simply refused to fall into bad enough shape to be replaced. Tseng stormed inside the shop, Reno and Rude behind him. The shop counter was protected by a large mesh frame that had a small rectangular piece of it cut out on level with the counter edge, so that money could be passed through. The weapons themselves were then gathered by the shopkeeper and put into a small room to the left of the counter, he would then unlock the door to that room and lock the door from his side, so that the customer could collect the weapons. To some people this may seem slightly paranoid, but the shop owner had lost a leg a few years previously as a young man jumped over the counter and tried to steal the weapons stock behind him. He had succeeded in getting a few small guns, but only after shooting the shop owner in the leg numerous times, rendering it shattered and useless. The Sector Six hospital were unable to operate due to lack of equipment and so instead simply amputated the leg and offered the shop owner a replacement artificial limb. He had never been the same person again.

"You have some explaining to do, old man!" Tseng grabbed the mesh with both his hands and stared in anger at the composed shopkeeper.

"What about?" He asked calmly, a flicker of amusement on his face.

"Your plan failed. You told us that it would work! You said the people were too scared to resist!" Tseng growled, his teeth clenched, the embarrassment of being run out of sector seven fuelling his rage.

"I'm sorry to hear that." The shopkeeper could offer no explanation to this failure. If he, on one hand, told the Turks it was his own fault, and that his plan was flawed, they would make sure he suffered for it. On the other hand, if he told them it was their own fault, that'd be even worse. Instead he kept his features composed and gave a slight shrug to indicate his confusion. Hopefully they would simply see him as a senile and stupid old man. "I honestly thought it was foolproof."

"Obviously not!" Tseng growled back at him. He let go of the mesh, brushing himself off a little. Some dirt had settled on his uniform from the fighting that had broken out in sector 7. In reality, he could have easily disposed of many of those who assailed him, but he could not kill a law-abiding citizen without the President's permission. To do so would cost him more than he dared to think of. He was pleased to see the small flower he had picked up in the church was still attached to his uniform. "You're lucky, old man. You won't get any blame for this… as furious as I am, I can't blame you. We should not have relied on such an old and clearly senile-brained old man to formulate our plan."

The shopkeeper nodded with a small smile. He didn't feel insulted by Tseng's words, rather more relieved, and glad he had kept his mouth shut. He turned his back to the Turks and went back to the task of rearranging the shelves for the upcoming rifle convention being held in the shady Faintheart Inn. He knew the kinds of promiscuous activities that went on in such places and dispised the place because of it, but there was no where else in Sector 6 that the convention would be held, and the Governing Party of Sector 6 knew that the convention would generate a greater cash flow than would normally be seen in the barron months leading up to ALIEN Appreciation Week. He could still remember when that week had been home to what the older generation had called Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Not many remembered such things. The Government before ALIEN had eradicated Christmas over sixty years ago due to the sharp decline in Religious Belief and the growth of technology. There were not enough religious zealots to even form a protest against the action and it was widely accepted, and a relief that money could be saved during the winter months instead of splashing out on a holiday that wasn't generally believed in anymore.

"We can't report back to the President like this." Reno said grumpily, brushing his suit off in a similar fashion to Tseng, and cringing slightly when he felt Aeris's picture had been slightly bent.

"This never happened." Tseng replied "Nobody will inform Rufus of this… the Sector Seven residents are far too scared and simple-minded to even contemplate making contact with the Government. There are no monitoring devices near that bar, luckily, and the Guard outpost is stationed at such a point that they wouldn't be able to view the event."

"What about him?" Reno said quietly, motioning to the shopkeeper.

"He knows what will happen if he so much as says one word about any of this." Tseng said this loud enough so the shopkeeper could undoubtedly hear. The old man didn't stir from what he was doing for a second, but he heard.

"They'll move out of that sector now. They'll come here." Rude said, more as a statement than a fact. Reno and Tseng turned to him, questioning glances that bore a little surprise that he had spoken. "Well, they aren't going to go back the way they came. There is no way back for them. The only route they can come through is the route we have taken. They'll move quickly, if they're smart, before we have a chance to figure this out and set up a barricade. Of course, Sector Six is a dead-end to anyone with no knowledge of the systems of the slums. My guess is they're heading for the wire to the back of this shop, which can be climbed up and which leads directly to the upper plate… dangerously close to ALIEN headquarters."

Tseng and Reno stood still for a second, both surprised and impressed at Rude's thinking and calculation. Tseng nodded slowly. "Yes, yes you're right, of course. Can we get men here quickly enough to outnumber them?"

"No. It'd take at least an hour, maybe two, to authorise access to that amount of guards." Reno said, thinking of an alternative whilst speaking. He couldn't come up with anything.

"Well then… let's get the Guards from the outpost. We will gather around the wire." Tseng made to exit the weapons shop.

"Wait!" Reno called, shrugging. "Why not just wait at the Sector Six entrance?"

"They could find another way… I wouldn't put it past them. But their chief goal is the wire, therefore we shall block that way. If they don't turn up… we'll assign Guards to stand watch there and search them out ourselves." Tseng nodded, and briskly exited the weapons shop. Rude followed, and a weary Reno was the last to depart, leaving the old shopkeeper in some peace.