Chapter 21

The seedy hotel room stank. It stank like a mixture of cat piss and smoke, but still it was better than where I had been just a few hours before. After the escape from the meat wagon, we had dashed around the city, trying to lose the cops we knew would be on our tails. Once we were satisfied that we'd lost all pursuit, we parked and Blitz worked at tweaking our transponder code so we wouldn't light up the grid when Lonestar put out an APB on us. After that we headed into the outlying suburbs, trying to find a place to lay low. We chose this particular hotel not for its amenities, but because it was a no-questions-asked, cash up front business. At the moment, all five of us sat in various places around the cramped room, hemmed in by peeling wall paper and ragged carpet. Various stuffer wrappers lay on one of the narrow the beds, and every one of us cradled a bottle of water or two, trying replenish our bodies after the exertion of the last few days.

I sat on the edge of the other bed, massaging my wrist. Rei had bandaged it as well as she could, and the painkillers we'd picked up at the nearby Stuffershack kept the discomfort to a minimum. I looked around at the others like a guilty child.

"Look guys… I don't know if I said this before, but I'm sorry. I really screwed things up."

"You're damn right you did," Sugar said, shooting me a hateful stare. "You nearly got yourself scragged, and the rest of us along with you. If Rei hadn't followed your ass, we would all be sitting inside of an Ayanami holding cell."

"I didn't think—"

"Exactly!" she said, standing up from her place on the floor. "You didn't think. You never think these things through. Since this whole drekstorm started, you haven't listened to a damn thing anyone else said. The only time anything got through that thick skull of yours was when we were being shot at."

"Lay off of him," Diana said sternly. She looked much better since the previous night's ordeal, standing by the door, her arms folded over her chest. "If I remember correctly, you were wrong about a few things too. Or do I have to remind you how you wanted to ditch me and Blitz when you first met us?"

A momentary look of surprise coalesced on her face before she managed to wipe it away. "That was different. We hadn't seen each other in three years. How could I have known you were trustworthy?"

"But you were wrong, and that's my point. The fact is that all of us have been wrong about pretty much everything in this mess. There's no use in berating him about it when we've all done things wrong. Yeah, he was really wrong this time, but we're all alive in spite of it. We haven't been playing with a full deck of cards since this whole thing started. Michelson and Jesus have been keeping the aces in their pockets this whole time, and blaming one person isn't going to solve anything."

Blitz nodded. "Yeah, but now that we've found out what those two are holding, what are we going to do about it?"

"I promised Rei that I would make things right again," I said quietly, casting a sidelong glance at the executive where she sat in a chair next to the window. "That might not matter to the rest of you, but it sure as hell matters to me. It's a promise I intend to keep."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Sugar snapped.

"Well…what if we give him what he wants?"

"But, you just said—"

"I don't mean we actually do it. But we make him think he's getting what he wants."

All I got in response were silent stares.

"Blitz, you know people who can repair the van, right? And you could get a few road spike strips?"

"Well, yeah. The spike strips shouldn't be a problem, and I could probably do most of the work on the van myself."

"And you still have the video recordings we took when we met Michelson the first time, right?

"Yeah, but I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"What exactly are you proposing," Sugar asked, seeming to read my mind, "that we draw Michelson out by putting up Rei as bait?"

"I don't like that idea so much," Rei muttered.

"Don't worry. You'll be safe, I promise."

"He'll have backup," she said uncertainly. "It won't be easy. He's not stupid enough to put himself at risk unless he's got a clear tactical advantage. You'll need help."

I smiled for what felt like the first time in a long while. "Don't worry. I've got some people in mind."

"Whut da frag are you doing back here?" Viridian rasped in his bass voice. "I 'tought I told you to slot off."

"I've got an offer for you." I paused, looking around the decrepit flop house at the rest of the assembled Razors. "All of you."

"'Dat's whut you said last time."

"Yeah, but this time it's for real."

The troll levered himself up off of his couch, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "Why should I believe you?"

"Because my offer is to take down both Michelson and Jesus—the ones who have been playing us off of each other from the beginning."

"Whut do you need us for?" he asked distrustfully.

"I only have four people. Michelson has dozens. If we can draw him out, we'll need some help to level the playing field."

"'Dat's all fine and dandy, but whut's in it for us? My boys can't eat on sunshine and farts."

"Beyond the satisfaction of getting your revenge and kicking in a few heads in the process? Well, think about it. Ayanami is a small corporation, but it's still a corp. They'll be bringing with them corp vehicles, corp weapons, and corp gear. Whatever you can take from them is yours. I don't care about the 'ware. I just want to make those bastards pay."

He motioned the other gangers closer to him. They talked for what seemed like forever before the throng parted and they all turned their eyes back toward me. "Alright," said Viridian. "We'll do it. Whut do you want us to do?"

I allowed myself a smile and told him.