Chapter 8

The carton of soy-noodles hit the kitchen table with a wet thunk. Blitz grinned as he shucked his jacket and tossed it into the living room. "I got the 'Troll Party Platter.' I figured that would be able to take care of us all."

I made a face at the gallon-sized container already oozing grease onto the table. "You might want to put some napkins under it before that drek eats through the table."

"Yeah, sure," he said absent mindedly, looking around for paper towels.

"Third cabinet from the left," I said as I stood and moved to get some bowls and glasses out of the cupboard. "Food's here," I called into the living room where both Sugar and Diana were bent over a computer screen.

"Be there in a sec," came the muffled reply.

I shrugged and took my seat at the table again, digging into the mound of greasy soy-chicken and noodles. Once he properly ensured our meal wouldn't rot through the table, Blitz did the same.

"I have a question for you," he said between mouthfuls.

I didn't look up as I hungrily slurped down the noodles. "Shoot."

"So, that gun you have—what's the inscription mean?"

"'Eh?"

"You know. With this bullet, I thee wed."

"What do you think it means?" I asked cryptically.

"If I knew, I wouldn't be asking."

"Try to figure it out for yourself. If you come up with something entertaining enough by the time all of this is over, I'll tell you what it means."

He opened his mouth to protest but trailed off as Diana and Sugar walked into the room, Sugar with a bundle of papers under her arm.

"Thank the spirits," said Diana, "I'm starving."

"You weren't followed, were you?" Sugar asked as she sorted through the stack of papers in her arms.

"I don't see how," said Blitz. "After the meet we cruised around the city for two hours to make sure we didn't pick up a tail, and my bug scanners came up with zilch. Even Diana said nothing was following us on the astral."

"Yeah Sugar," I interjected. "You're being paranoid."

"I've managed to stay alive this long because of it, and I plan to continue, thank you very much."

Blitz looked to Diana for help, but the mage just shrugged and sat down at her place at the table.

I looked over to where Sugar still stood in the doorway. "You gonna eat, or you gonna stand there all night?"

"If you think you can handle a deck any faster, you're welcome to trade places. But until that time, shut the hell up, alright?" She scowled and shoved a portion of the papers toward me. "Here."

"What's this?"

"This is the information on Rei that Michelson sent us." She moved around the table, handing the others similar packets.

I was a bit put off by her tone, but I decided not to worry about it and instead leaned back in my chair, reading the information aloud. "Parents deceased, one sibling, a younger sister. Started at Washington University in the pre-med program, but changed to business administration two years into it. In five years she graduated with honors, was granted executive position at age twenty-two, and gained control of the company at twenty-four when her father died and left her all of her shares in the corporation. No criminal history—not that I expected any—and zilch in the way of social contacts. The only one listed here is an ex-boyfriend she dated in college."

"The perfect little corporate geek," Diana mumbled through her noodles.

"Check out the back section," Sugar said as she prepared her meal. "I did a little research on all the drek Ayanami is knee deep in."

I flipped to the back and began to read. A minute later, I gave a low whistle.

"Yeah, that's what I said too," Sugar agreed.

"What's that?" Diana asked around a mouthful of noodles.

"It's this whole drekstorm with the corporate council. Mitsuhama Computer Technologies claims that Ayanami stole prototype nanites designed to combat certain genetic diseases that gene therapy hasn't been able to counteract, and they then patented the technology before MCT had a chance to do it themselves. MCT didn't feel that they could prove anything until Ayanami came out with a new line of medical nanotechnology that was a direct ripoff of their tech. Ayanami pushed it into production ahead of schedule, and now Mitsuhama is scrambling to get everything together in order to press criminal charges and sue Ayanami for all they're worth."

Diana paled. "Nanotechnology? That . . . "

"Yeah, I know," I growled.

"Damn I hate it when I'm right."

"So wait," Blitz interjected, "What happened?"

Diana sighed. "It was a run we did a few years before Peaches retired. Rei hired us to infiltrate this medical research station and steal a prototype nanite designed to combat gentic diseases. We swiped the prototype and scragged their data files on the project. It would have taken years for them to catch up to where they were before."

"And they were damn pissed about it too," I interjected.

"Well, that sorts out all whys and whens, but it doesn't help us with the how," said Blitz. "Mainly how we're going to track down this little girl. Does anyone have any ideas?"

"Well," I said, flipping back to the first page of the packet, "I'm pretty sure that the easiest way to find her would be through ritual sorcery, but given what Michelson said, that's probably out of the picture."

Diana nodded. "If the corporation wasn't able to find a DNA sample, I'm pretty sure we won't be able to either. And without something to link her to, it would be like looking for a needle in a hay stack blind folded."

"So what about this sister of hers?" Blitz asked.

Sugar shook her head. "I don't think that is going to work either. Ayanami has her under close watch, and right now I don't think they would risk doing anything to her to draw Rei out. Rei probably knows as much, and isn't going to risk getting nabbed or flatlined just to talk to her sister." She started to say something else, but I cut her off before she had a chance.

"Okay, well what about friends or contacts?

Sugar scowled. "According to this, she hasn't spoken to the ex boyfriend for six years, and he lives in Columbus now. Michelson didn't give us anything else. Now if you'll let me finish—"

Blitz raised his hand. "Um, this may be a dumb question, but how do we even know she's still in the city? For all we know, she could have hopped a flight out three days ago."

Sugar huffed in annoyance and folded her arms over her chest.

Diana shook her head. "No, a direct flight out of Seattle would be too risky for her. I'm sure Michelson has dozens of eyes and ears trained at the airports. If she's even half as smart as she seems, she won't go within ten blocks of an airport."

"So what does that leave us?" I asked.

Diana leaned forward, slurping down the last of her noodles. "She has one of two options: she can either hop a freighter out of the docks, which is a risk in itself since you've got random customs inspections and all that drek, or she can try to find someone to smuggle her out of the country on an overland route."

"You mean in a T-bird."

"Got it in one. That's about the only way she can get out quickly and quietly."

"Now, you said Junket and Shadow were on a border run when they got scragged. Do you still know some of their smuggling contacts? Maybe they've heard something about it."

Diana made a face. "I don't know. I mean, I have some names, but they're old as hell. There's no guarantee they're within reach or even alive. I'll try to find them, but I can't guarantee anything."

"Well, does anyone else know anyone who could help?"

"I've got some buddies who might know," said Blitz. "I'll give them a ring—but don't expect a response very quickly. There's no telling what they're up to right now."

I sighed. "So really we've got a bunch of possibilities, but not a definite solution. We don't have the time to sift through all of this drek. We need a fast solution if we're going to nab her before she splits."

"I've got a way," Sugar offered coldly

"Why didn't you say anything before?" I asked.

"Because you wouldn't let me, you jackass."

I swallowed a retort. I'd known her for long enough to know we weren't going to get anywhere by arguing. "I'm sorry," I said slowly. "You can say it now."

"Good. Now if you had bothered to look at the medical history in the dossier, you'd know it says that Rei was diagnosed with Cistic Fibrosis at age three."

"Yeah, so how does that help us?"

"I don't see the correlation either," said Diana

Sugar gave an exasperated sigh. "It's a genetic disease."

The rest of us traded looks.

"I'm still not following you," said Blitz.

"Christ, do I have to spell it all out for you? Cystic Fibrosis is one of the diseases that gene therapy techniques haven't been able to fully eliminate. The average life expectancy of someone suffering from Cystic Fibrosis is thirty. Rei is twenty-nine right now. That's the reason Ayanami rushed into production of the nanites—because she's hovering around that threshold. If she doesn't get a cure soon, she's going to die."

"That's a real tear-jerker and all," Diana quipped, "but how does that help us?"

"The nanites haven't been out on the market for very long, and retailers haven't wanted to touch the stuff because of the stink with MCT. Ayanami hasn't been able to license sales through any other distributors."

I shook my head. "Now wait. That doesn't make sense. I mean, she's not about to die yet—at least not from the disease. She could get out of town now and then place an order for it when the licensing is all settled."

"That's just the thing," Sugar insisted. "The licensing isn't going to be settled for years. Ayanami will have to put a hold on production of it until the legal battle with MCT is over with, and even then it could be a while before production resumes. If she doesn't get a large enough supply now, the odds are she's going to die within a few years."

"But shouldn't she have been able to get a hold of it before?" Diana asked. "I mean, she owns the fragging company for spirits' sake."

"The nanites aren't an instant cure. They only combat the effects of the disease as long as they're in the person's system. She has to get a big enough supply to last her for a long while."

"Where are you going with all of this?" I asked.

"Well think about it. If no one else will sell the things, there is the only place she can get them. You scan?"

Suddenly it all clicked. A grin began to spread across my face. "Ayanami Inc."

"Bingo."