The journey to Alexandria took about twenty-five minutes, the tilt-wing flying low over the fields that lay between Port Said and Alexandria, forming a triangle with Cairo. The Nile delta made the land fertile, and it looked like every possible area of land was irrigated and turned over for food production – unsurprising when so much of the rest of the land was a barren and rocky wasteland. The fields were primitive, still mostly managed by hand rather than with drones or automated combines, and that in turn meant the farmers were pretty much diurnal. If wasn't long after dusk, but most of the workers had left for the day and the remaining few were working in the yards and facilities that managed each massive farm and were easily avoided as Marius snaked back and forth.
They swung to the south of Alexandria itself, landing on the edge of some fields just long enough for Shimazu to drop out of the side door and crouch in the edge of a ditch, hair and clothes blown wild by the massive down-draft from the rotors. He'd packed a bag of clothes and grabbed a cred-stick, which Hunter had transferred a bunch of Nuyen onto, but other than his sword he was travelling light. It was only an hour-long walk to the city, and he was very unlikely to meet much in the way of wild critters in the heavily farmed areas – the most dangerous predator he was likely to run into was his fellow metahumans. Even if he ran into a bunch of gangers with pop-guns, his speed was likely to make that an encounter that didn't end well with the muggers…
Marius lifted away smoothly and headed out towards the Med, aiming for the island of Navayia and the smuggler stop based on the eastern side. The first five hundred and fifty clicks were over open water, and other than the steady procession of ships heading towards the northern end of the Suez, it was pretty quiet. Only the last two hundred kilometres bought them close to the scattered islands and rocky outcroppings that littered the Aegean Sea.
"Navayia base, this is Kai in the New Fish. We're headed your way, just want to know if you have room for us and some fuel?"
"Recognition code?" The voice was female, but had a hard edge to it.
"Code? Um, Shit… hang on." Kai called out to the rest of the team while he had the commlink muted. "Anyone know the code?" Hunter shook his head and started to jack in, but Marius jumped onto the frequency before he'd got the cable in place, and in a confident voice broadcast to the smuggler base.
"Minos-Papprika-229-Vaggelis-Chatzis."
"How did you remember that, Marius?" Kai asked, trying to keep his voice light and sounding unimpressed.
"How do you not?" came the quick reply, causing the rest of the team to grin at Kai. He turned his attention back to the radio as the female voice continued.
"Code accepted. What do you need?"
"We're heading your way, going to be there in about two hours. Just wondering if we can arrange a gas and go. Just need to land long enough to fill the tanks, drain the bladder and be on our way."
"Sure, we got gas in stock, and there's room to land that fat ass chopper of yours – just."
"Ahh, we're not in that any more. Got something more sporty, and a bit smaller. Do we need to call again before we come in?"
"If it's gonna be about two hours, then null sweat. Just stick her down and smile for Leonidas."
"Roger that, see you in two hours." He terminated the call, and switched back to the general team frequency. "Leonidas?"
"The cyclops, Kai. Her bodyguard."
"Oh, right, yeah – I remember now. Ok, well, we got clearance to land, fill the tanks and stretch our legs. They could stand to work on their customer service though…" Looking around the troop compartment, it looked like his humour fell flat, so he let it drop. "Once we've topped off the tanks there, we need to work out our route to Constantinople though, and where we're going to park. Any ideas?"
"Well, the international airport is to the north west of the main city, probably about thirty-five clicks out. Quite busy, but there are some cargo facilities there and local air-cabs and such like. So that's a possibility." Hunter scrolled down on his map a little, then updated the displays in the rear. "Or we have this – used to be the city's main airport until about 1990 or something – pre-crash anyway. But it was all hemmed in, so they built the new one to the north. But this got re-opened and used for freight transfers and local deliveries in the late thirties, and has grown busier since then – but not any bigger. Still surrounded by housing and industry. So that's a possibility. And if they're no good…" He panned over the straights and a fair way east to display a third airport. "We got this one on the eastern banks. Local passenger and freight terminal, though there's not so much traffic listed. Lots of stuff behind corporate firewalls, and all of them appear to be Muslim-country based."
"I do not advise this location. We will be very noticeable, and probably quite unwelcome."
"Gimme a minute, I got an idea." Aswon patched his commlink through to the tilt-wing's systems and made a call to Sofi, his friend from Lionheart Security. The call connected, rang a few times and then went live – but without anyone saying anything. At least, not anyone directly – as he listened, he could hear the sound of an angry mob, chanting and shouting in the background, punctuated with a few shouts of 'get back'. Moments later he heard a gunshot, a single shot from a small weapon, and Aswon imagined someone aiming a pistol into the air and firing a warning shot. A moment later, he heard Sofi.
"What?"
"Sofi, Aswon – listen, you're in the middle of something, and this can wait. We're coming to town, be there later. I'll call you back when you're not dealing with a situation. Bye." He didn't wait for Sofi to respond, figuring he needed to concentrate and manage the situation – and he quickly ended the call. "Sofi sounded like he was in the middle of a riot, so I said I'll call him back. But perhaps he can hook us up with somewhere."
"Ahh, that reminds me actually. I need to make a call, if you're all done?" Aswon nodded, and Kai jacked into the circuit, trying to call his friend Praneeth Al Maktoum, a shipping container engineer down in Abu Dhabi. Once again the phone rang and rang, not going to voicemail, but not being answered. After thirty rings, he gave up and sent a message, giving brief details of the raid on the freighter they'd seen while closing on Port Said.
By the time he was done, Hunter had put a message up on the screens saying he was logging a flight plan into Constantinople, having found a number of companies at the freight terminal that seemed to offer an easy way into the city. Kai wasn't sure what he meant, but was happy to leave it with him, for the moment, and sat back to wonder about Praneeth and why he wasn't picking up. A moment later though, Hunter called back over the comm.
"You know, we've actually got just enough fuel in the tanks now they're expanded to make it back to the ranch in one hop. Just. And we could let Shimazu know to head straight there."
"What about the ID, though?" Kai asked.
"We could just get Milo to courier it. Use any of the big shippers, and just move it like normal certified cargo… sure it'll cost us, but less than if we use the fuel on flying."
"We could, but I think I'd rather pick up in person. And I'm pretty sure that Milo would prefer a face to face meeting and payment, and not have the hassle."
"Sure, but I just wanted to let you know there's alternatives. I'll get back to this paperwork then…" Hunter sounded a little peeved that he had to continue filing bogus flight plans, insurance details, air-worthiness certificates, licences and the other sea of paperwork that needed to be completed to make them 'legit'.
They arrived at the Navayia base just after 21:00, landing to the north of the buildings that made up the smuggler stop. There were no other aircraft in sight, and just one boat down at the dock, a sleek looking powerboat that was maybe seven or eight metres long. As they came into land, they saw the massive Cyclops come out, shielding his single eye against the sand thrown up by the downwash.
Refuelling was accomplished quickly and efficiently, with Leonidas presenting a battered cred-reader terminal to Kai to transfer funds from, sucking seven thousand three hundred Nuyen from their certified credstick and placing it on the base's. Once they were all back on board, Marius lifted them off smoothly and they headed north, flying straight across Turkey in a more or less directly line. They'd discussed flying up the Aegean and around the coastal waters - it was slightly longer than heading directly over Turkey, but had a much lower chance of tripping any alarms or being caught on any sensors, and if they stayed out in International waters, it could avoid trouble. It was a fair bit longer though, and much as Marius didn't like or enjoy being around magic, he had to admit that Tads' spirits did an excellent job of concealing the craft, and when coupled with his own skill at flying through terrain and avoiding sensor emplacements, there was very little chance of them being caught.
Far to the south, Shimazu had arrived into the centre of town, dusty and a little dirty after his hike. He found a nice hotel, the four star 'Lighthouse' complex, and wandered in to see if they had any rooms free. His ID ran through the check in process, swallowing a deposit from his credstick and then encoding his room details onto his stick. The check in desk staff froze as his ID flashed up a warning tag though, and they gestured for the night manager to come out of the rear office.
A plump man with neatly trimmed beard in a spotless suit opened the door and glided over to the desk, approaching with a smile of welcome, and a sincere-sounding greeting. As they reached the desk, the staff member pointed wordlessly at the screen, where the highlighted tag flashed.
"Ahh, I see you have a… a sword, sir? No doubt it will not fit into the safe located in your room, but we do have a larger secure storage facility. Would you care to check in the item with us for safe keeping?"
"No, thank you. It must remain with me, it's a religious constraint. I have a permit?"
"Of course, sir, and that's all valid and no problem. May I respectfully request that the…item be kept concealed then? Purely to avoid any concerns from the other guests?"
"Of course. I will keep it hidden, nobody should know I have it."
"Thank you, sir. If you do need any assistance with this, or any other matter, please feel free to ask. Our staff are always happy to assist."
With a smile and a nod of thanks, Shimazu headed for the lifts and headed up to the tenth floor and to his room. It was a large and fairly luxurious affair, with a decadently comfortable-looking king-sized bed, large trideo unit set on the wall opposite and quality furniture scattered around the rest of the room artfully. Turning all the lights on, he flicked the trideo onto the news channels, stashed his luggage and then headed to the massive walk-in shower, spending a good fifteen minutes soaking under the hot water. Refreshed and wrapped in a huge bathrobe, he flopped onto the bed and pulled over the communications panel, bringing up the hotel room service menu and scrolling through until he found what he was looking for. Moments later, he confirmed his order for the tomahawk steak, the most expensive food item on the menu, ordered some drinks and sides to go with it, and settled back on the bed to surf through the channels to find something to watch.
Barely fifteen minutes later there was a knock at the door, the comms panel lighting up to show him a member of the hotel staff pushing a trolley laden down with supplies. He hit the accept button and the powered door slid open quietly, allowing them to enter. The staff member worked quickly and politely, enquiring as to where Shimazu would like his food, if everything was to his satisfaction and if there was anything else he needed. Once Shimazu had checked the food and slotted his ID to confirm acceptance and add on a tip, the man left the suite, leaving Shimazu with a mountain of food and drink.
A wry grin formed on his face, and he set up his commlink on the side of the bed, pointing down at him and the trolley laden down with culinary delights, set a timer and then started to tuck into his food. As he was cutting the first mouthful of his steak and shovelling it into his mouth, he heard the noise from the commlink as it took a picture, then forwarded it on to Kai without comment.
"Son of a bitch!" A thousand kilometres north, Kai checked his link when it buzzed, and saw the resplendent form of Shimazu stretched out on a huge bed eating what looked like a ludicrously expensive meal surrounded by luxurious soft furnishings. A few of the others quirked an eyebrow at him, so he shared the picture round to them, then sat back and frowned as his knees brushed against Aswon's in the seat next to him and his whole body trembled from the engine vibrations.
He was distracted, though, when Hunter called from the front.
"Kai – I've got us a contact at the freight terminal – on the line now, he's a guy called Pasha Khan. Wants to talk about prices and stuff. Sounds like that's your bag."
"Ok, patch him through." There was a noticeable click and hiss of static, then the line cleared and Kai could make out a little background noise. "Hello, this is Kai?"
"Ahh, hello, welcome, hello. I am Pasha, yes? Your friend says need to land here, to visit our lovely city. But your company has no facilities? In this you have luck, yes? Pasha has facilities, available to you for a price. Very reasonable price, very nice. Pasha will take care of you, see to your needs."
"Ok, that sounds fine. We'll be coming in to land in the next hour or two, and probably need to just park up our aircraft for a day or two, get some fuel."
"Of course, Pasha can help with this. Pasha can smooth things out, make it all easy. For parking, Pasha can make permits and no questions for…. One thousand five hundred per day. Paid in advance."
"Alright. We'll see you when we land then." Kai closed the call, passing it back to Hunter who looked back from the cockpit with an expression of surprise.
"You were supposed to haggle with him!" He turned back and took the call off hold, then started to pass on the flight details and ETA to the freight operative so he could clear them with the local tower, getting all the paperwork and permits squared away.
Their journey was smooth – the spirit's concealment and natural stealth of the vehicle got them to the point where Hunter had inserted a legitimate flight plan, and then they dropped out of stealth mode and became a regular flight, transponder blinking away and painting them on every sensor sweep for fifty kilometres as they lined up for a direct approach to the airport. The air traffic controllers were lax, far more laid back than at their last stop – but then with barely a handful of flights an hour, they could afford to be. The runway was still paved and well-lit though, and Marius once again could land in standard flying mode, letting the tilt-wing roll down the runway and follow the taxi-way to the indicated warehouse for 'Turkish Freight International LLC'.
Waiting in a car was their contact, Pasha – who turned out to be a middle-aged, swarthy man wearing a neat blue suit and a stripy tie. A large bushy moustache hid his top lip entirely, framing his huge nose which rose up out of the hairy jungle like a volcanic peak. Thinning on top, his ears looked to have as much hair as the side of his head, and dark eyes stared out of sunken eye-sockets, flicking back and forth quickly as the tilt-wing rolled to a stop. Kai jumped down from the plane, accompanied by Aswon in Shimazu's absence, heading over to negotiate.
"Hello friends, welcome to our lovely city. I am sorry to rush you, but I must complete the paperwork, so perhaps I can take payment for the berth, to make sure all is safe and secure?" Aswon fixed him with a somewhat incredulous stare, but Kai pulled out his credstick and slotted it, authorising the money for the two nights berthing.
"There we go, all sorted. Now, can we arrange some fuel?"
"Pasha can help, only the finest goods and facilities for my new friends!" He called back towards the hanger, and a few moments later a fuel truck appeared as the doors opened, heading over towards them. As they hooked up, the cred-reader came out once more, debiting their stick for the fuel burnt from the island base in the Aegean.
"And I think we might need some wheels as well – is there anything we rent around here? We might need a large SUV or something like that to get us all in?"
"Ahh, you are in luck! Pasha knows a man, has a fine, fine vehicle we can rent. Very comfy, quite large. Only… five hundred a day." Kai nodded and pulled out his stick again, while Aswon just watched in amazement, wondering what was wrong with his team leader, and why he was agreeing to pay what seemed like an outrageous amount of money for a questionable vehicle.
The vehicle arrived soon after, not long after they had been refuelled, and turned out to be an elderly mini-bus, basic and well worn, though at least clean and operationally sound. As they were checking the vehicle over, Aswon suddenly tensed up and looked around him quickly.
"You feel that?"
"Feel what?" Hunter asked, waving the wand of the bug-detector around the vehicle carefully.
"Feels like magic building up." Aswon went glassy-eyed as he dropped into astral and looked around, examining the area very carefully. "Yeah, there's some kind of mana effect here… crap! Tracking ritual!"
"Everyone, back in the tilt-wing!" Tads called, sliding open the door on the side and poking her head out of the masking ward, looking around to see if she could spot the ritual spotter that would indicate the tracking was complete or in the middle of sending some kind of magical attack. The city felt pretty typical – which in a magical sense meant awful – as the pollution and emotions of a million people twisted and warped the mana-sphere around the area. Aswon paused for a moment by the doorway, reaching out into astral again and concentrating hard.
"It feels familiar in some way – just can't put my finger on it."
"Me too – and the same. Feels like I should know what it is – but I don't recognise it. And I don't think it's worth the risk. Come on, in you get!" She moved back out of the way and watched as Aswon slid through the ward, the weave of mana welcoming his astral form through it, moving over and through his body as it recognised him.
"It's stopped – just as I entered the ward. I mean it could be a co-incidence, but I don't think so. That's got to have pissed them off…" Aswon grinned, his large fangs glinting in the dull lights from the hangers and city beyond the airport. "I'm going to test…" he slid back out of the ward, and then looked around him, taking his time. "It's gone – and that probably means they've failed. If that's a ritual group, they'll be dealing with the backlash of their search now, and wondering what happened. I think I'm going to stay out in the bus, catch an hour's kip and then have a look around again.
"Be careful, Aswon!"
"Oh I will, Tads. But I reckon an hour's sleep and I'll check, then maybe have another hour, check again. I should be ok. And if they do try again, we might find out a little more about who or what it is."
It went quiet, the team bedding down for the night in the tilt-wing or mini-bus. With Shimazu gone and Aswon outside, it at least made some more space in the aircraft for the rest to stretch out a bit, but while Kai tried to settle, all he could see in his head was Shimazu stretched out on the massive bed in the hotel…
He'd just managed to drift off to sleep when his phone rang. The screen lit up, showing the time as two minutes after two, and the caller ID said 'BOSS'. He couldn't work out who he'd entered into his address book with that name, so as he blearily stabbed the accept button he lifted the phone to his ear.
"Nadia?"
"What?" a random male voice asked in confusion
"What…" Kai blinked, then checked the display again. "Sorry, my mistake, who is this?"
"I represent our mutual employer."
"You're going to have to narrow it down a bit."
"A very powerful individual, not someone to take lightly or to insult." The voice responded.
"You're gonna have to narrow it down more than that." Kai grinned, wondering what the answer would be.
"You refuelled at his vineyard a while back."
"Ahh, one moment." Kai reached over and shook Marius awake. "Got someone on the phone saying we refuelled at his bosses' vineyard?"
"Vineyard? Eastern Turkey, a good while back then, is the only place that fits. Which would make it Kurdish PKK controlled, and we suspect belonging to Aden. Why?" Kai ignored Marius for the moment, moving back to his call.
"Right, with you now. So how is he?"
"Never mind that. I have instructions for you. You are to obtain a small device. I will send specifications through to you. When you get the device made, you must deliver it to where you last encountered our employer. The time is unspecified for the moment, but we will be in touch again soon to confirm the device has been constructed." Kai's phone vibrated as it started to receive a data package, containing some design drawings and construction schematics for what looked like a small piece of jewellery.
"And who's paying for this device?"
"You are." The call ended as the other man hung up, leaving Kai holding the phone to his ear for a moment.
"Well…shit." He checked the display again, and found that although his phone had displayed the word 'boss' no number was stored against it, and in fact no number was registered as having called him. Clearly, someone was screwing with his phone, dicking around with the matrix connection and records, settings and configuration, and was leading him a merry chase. Just when things were going so smoothly, it looked like life was going to get interesting again. Anyone that hadn't spent time with Kai would have been surprised to see him lie back and settle down to sleep remarkably quickly, as potential chaotic storm clouds gathered on the horizon…
In the morning, after checking with Aswon that no more tracking attempts had been made (they hadn't), he told the team about the call early that morning.
"So, I've got this schematic thing through, along with a list of the metal doodads it needs to be made of. Sending it over now." Each of the others checked their displays, and then leant in closer to examine the small device shown. It was a cylindrical shape, perhaps fifty millimetres long, with several arms or supports sticking out, but with a hollow window on each side. It was unlike anything they'd seen before, and there was no clue as to what it was for. The text file listed the metals required as being mostly rhenium and tantalum, some alloyed together, some made purely out of one or the other material.
"So what are they? Are they even real metals? They sound made up."
"Oh, they're real alright, Kai. They're what's known as refractory metals – they're in the same family as tungsten for starters. As a group, they're very resistant to both wear and heat, and have really high melting points."
"How high?"
"More than three thousand degrees Celsius. They're also pretty dense. Tungsten is often used for the penetrator part of armour piercing bullets and ammunition for instance, or the shaped charge part of something like a APFSDS shot."
"Bless you."
"Armour piercing, fin stabilised discarding sabot, you heathen. Massive anti-armour rounds. The explosives create a shock wave that turns the tungsten rod in the middle into a molten lance that can burn through massive chunks of armour, then spray all inside the vehicle once its penetrated, doing very bad things to the crew and equipment inside."
"Oh, ok. But this doesn't look like a bullet or ammunition. So what's it for?"
"Not the faintest idea." Hunter shook his head and looked at the schematic again, then tapped in a query on his deck. After a moment he jacked in, impatient with waiting for a response and the idea of having to type his requests when he could just think them instead. "Ok, bit more information - rhenium metals are highly ductile when annealed and can be bent and rolled up. Rhenium blocks are resistant to alkali, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, dilute nitric acid and aqua regia at standard temperature and pressure. Commercial rhenium is generally powdered and can be pressed or sintered into a high-density solid in vacuum or hydrogen, with a density of more than 90% of the metal state. The global annual production of rhenium ranges from forty to fifty metric tonnes, mainly in Western South America, some parts of the UCAS, and Poland. About 70% of the world's rhenium is used to make superalloy parts for jet engines. Another major use of rhenium is in platinum-rhenium catalysts, which can be used to produce lead-free, high-octane gasoline."
"So is it something to mess up another oil refinery, do you think? Maybe he's working with Maersk or something, against Saeder-Krupp. What about the other stuff?"
"Tantalum can be drawn into thin foil due to its moderate hardness and ductility. Tantalum has a very small coefficient of thermal expansion. Tantalum has excellent chemical properties and is highly resistant to corrosion. It does not react to hydrochloric acid, concentrated nitric acid and "aqua regia" under both cold and hot conditions. Tantalum can be used to make evaporating vessels, as well as electrodes, rectifiers, and electrolytic capacitors for electron tubes. Tantalum is used medically to make thin slices or threads to repair damaged tissue. Tantalum is made into capacitors for use in military equipment. Half of the world's tantalum output is used to make tantalum capacitors."
"So I bet they're both pretty expensive and probably quite difficult to get hold of in volume. At least from the size of this thing, we shouldn't need a great deal of it." Aswon noted.
"I'm looking at prices now – oh, that's… good I suppose. "Hunter's voice trailed off for a moment as he double checked his data. "Sorry – was a bit surprised. Both of them can be purchased for about three grand a kilo, so while not cheap, we're not talking super expensive. But neither of them are permit restricted in most of the world. So if we find a metal broker we can just buy the stuff without too much of a problem."
"So we can buy the stuff, probably for less than a few grand. But I would imagine that machining it would be a bitch, given how hard and resistant it is. And we have no idea what it's wanted for?"
"Guess so, Aswon. Hmm." Kai turned the image ninety degrees to the right, and then looked at it for a moment. "Sort of looks like the bubble bit in a spirit level. I mean, not that close, but it sort of reminds me of that a bit. I wonder if it's to contain something? You say this stuff is hard, and resistant to heat? So it's gonna be a good armoured shell to put something else inside?"
"Yeah. The shape would support that too – the cylinder is pretty dense, so you're going to need to hit that pretty hard to break it. So – are we going to get this made?"
"Yeah – at some point soon. Not sure what it's for, but it's going to be interesting to find out! But, in the meantime – are we off to go and see Milo, Marius?"
"Yes. It is only a few kilometres from here, so as long as the vehicle does not cause trouble, it should not take long. I have contacted him and made him aware of our visit."
"Ok – let's go then! You guys coming?" Kai looked around, but found that Hunter, Tads and Aswon were all quite happy to stay at the bird, training or practicing as required. He and Marius grabbed some gear and boarded the mini-van, heading to the edge of the airport and working their way through the inspection and clearance at the customs gate before heading out into the town. Traffic seemed a lot heavier than they remembered, and it looked like it was going to take a while to battle their way through the streets to get to Milo's apartment.
Down in Alexandria, Shimazu had a leisurely breakfast, another shower and then headed through the manic streets to the university, heading up to Dr Mohammed's cramped and stuffy office. His former tutor was waiting for him, two cups of thick and sweet coffee waiting on the stained and cluttered desk. They chatted for a few minutes while they sipped at their drinks, getting some gentle chatter out of the way before Shimazu got into the reason for his visit – explaining that he'd been through a somewhat traumatic experience, and now seemed to be having issues with the dark, and feelings of alienation, both of which were likely to cause him significant issues in his chosen line of work.
Professor Wael Mohammed had been around the block – quite apart from his decades of experience in the study and teaching of psychology, he'd also consulted with a number of police and military forces, working to solve some fairly heinous crimes. He'd pegged Shimazu as a 'character' when he'd come for training earlier in the year, and knew that there was more to the Japanese man who suddenly appeared in his accelerated study course with little warning than for most of the other students. He was also a kind and empathic man, and as he listened he could pick up the fear, uncertainty and doubt that underlay Shimazu's voice, could hear the struggle to keep his focus and discipline in place.
They agreed to spend the day working on the issue, with the Professor calling on some colleagues and teaching assistants to cover his lectures and classes. Shimazu relaxed back into the chair at his bidding, and the Professor explained the steps he planned to take, slowly calming Shimazu down and placing him in a light trance, disassociating his memories from his emotions so that he could discuss the events that had taken place dispassionately and clearly.
Hitting the controls on the desk, the window blinds swung shut, and the room plunged into darkness, apart from a single light that sat next to the Professor.
"Listen to my voice, and watch the lamp. The lamp is your centre, your focus. The lamp burns bright. The lamp is constant. The lamp is warm. The lamp has energy. Wherever you are, the lamp will be there, guiding you, lighting your way. Focus on the light, and listen to my voice, relax your body, and watch the lamp. Good. Let your eyes relax. Let the light from the lamp wash over you, flow into you. Bathe you. Let the light fill your vision. Take a deep breath. Good…"
Slowly Shimazu relaxed, entering a meditative state as the Professor monitored him carefully. When he was fully relaxed, the Professor asked him to relay his story, describing what had happened. Shimazu started with the strange message and the set of co-ordinates, that had led them to the dusty and windswept t-junction in Sioux lands, and the meeting with some very strange, powerful and dangerous individuals. He left nothing out, spared no detail, and recalled everything he had seen, felt and thought during the events that had taken place. Other than his voice, there was no noise save for the scratching of a stylus as the Professor made old fashioned notes on some plasti-paper, furiously transcribing information as he kept up with the shocking story.
Back in Constantinople, they arrived at the run-down apartment in the back street, knocking on the unremarkable door and were let into the cluttered and old-fashioned kitchen by Milo himself. Once he'd checked behind them and closed the door, sealing it shut with a couple of heavy duty bolts, he guided them into the work room, squeezing around the full body scanner and extensive workstation and matrix gear that he needed to ply his trade. Sitting on the desk was a fairly unremarkable cred-stick, a couple of tiny gouges visible in the plastic case, along with one stain and a few flecks of paint, making it look decades old rather than brand new.
"I used the information I had from before, along with some updates that Marius provided. You're covered as Natjav Dariimaa, a Mongolian national and member of the Olympic athletic team. Your chosen sport is archery, and there's permits for carrying projectile weapons and laser sighting equipment for a few jurisdictions on there that were easy enough to get hold of. According to the info linked to the stick, you're in training, moving around the world and seeking out master archers and learning new techniques to try and improve your standing in the international competition scene – I figured this would help with the travel side of things."
"Excellent work, Milo – thank you." Kai went to pick the stick up, but Milo slid it back away from him, then pulled over a cred-reader instead. "Of course, sorry." Kai dug out his stick and slotted it, then swiped his thumb over the fingerprint reader to authorise it, watching tens of thousands of Nuyen melt away into Milo's account. When the light flashed green, Milo slid the new ID over to him, letting him pick it up and recover his cred-stick from the device.
"Good work Milo, thank you. Always nice to work with a professional," Marius shot a glare at Kai, who mumbled his agreement.
"So, are you staying in town?"
"Not planning on it. I was thinking about heading over to see a man I know, see if he has any cargo that needs shifting east – but we are heading back to our base for a break. We have been on operations for pretty much all the time since we last saw you, working our way around the world."
"Well, I won't keep you, then – good luck!" Milo stood and moved to the door, unbolting it and checking the exterior before he let them leave, Kai with a wave and Marius with a firm handshake. They'd not been inside that long, so they didn't even have to chase any kids away from the minivan, and Marius soon had them turned around and headed away from Milo while he placed a quick call to confirm that Andre was about. He picked up quickly, his voice non-committal.
"Hello?"
"Andre, Marius. We are in town, just picked something up. I am only a few kilometres from you. Wondered if you were ok with a visit to discuss business and see if there are any opportunities?"
"Marius! Of course, come on over. Oh – if you've not long arrived, just be warned. Parking is a nightmare at the moment, and the traffic is bad."
"No problem, we are on the way, then." Marius turned onto the main road and started to head further into the centre of the city to meet his friend, wondering why he'd warned him about the traffic – it was the city centre after all, and always busy...
As they got to the end of the side street, they ran into a line of traffic, backed up nose to tail all the way along the road, some of the drivers occasionally sounding their horns in frustration. Marius managed to get turned around, and tried a different route, but found the same thing on the second road. He pulled up his commlink and tried the map application, but that just showed the city as a massive blob of red indicating heavy traffic, and by the time they'd tried their third road, he'd pretty much resigned himself to sitting in the jam. They had more than enough time for idle speculation between them as to what was the cause, with Kai betting on a major accident at a junction, and Marius siding with Lionheart security checkpoints.
The traffic wasn't just heavy – or even epic. It had progressed well into the 'legendary' status, and Kai's opinion started to tip towards Marius as they spotted a number of vendors working the queue. Whatever this was, it happened often enough that people were now making a living walking down the streets with a tray of goods held in front of them, suspended by a long strap around the neck, offering bottled drinks and snacks to the drivers caught up in the traffic.
It was just over seven kilometres from Milo's house to Andre's – but that still took them more than ninety minutes to drive. Every street they passed was packed, and tempers frayed quickly when someone pushed their way into the queue or didn't instantly move up to push into a space. Lots of people were walking, carrying heavy loads in backpacks or balanced precariously on bikes and mopeds, trying to thread their way through the packed streets. As they got close, they found that parking was indeed awful, with every part of the road seemingly jammed full of traffic.
"If we're not going to be more than twenty minutes, you could just stop the car and leave it in the road – I don't think anyone would notice…" Kai suggested, only half joking. Marius suddenly spotted an opening, where he could slide into a driveway and get mostly parked, without blocking the road entirely, and gunned the engine, sliding in and ignoring the honks and shouts of people as he threw on the brakes and got out of the vehicle. He and Kai walked the two blocks to Andre's, getting some funny looks from the locals, but otherwise not encountering any trouble. When they arrived, it appeared to be a shop selling second-hand furniture, with a huge pile of aged, decrepit and very out of style junk piled up high in the front windows.
Pushing inside, the light level dropped dramatically, very little daylight making it past the barricade of furniture and piles of Soviet inspired housewares that cluttered the interior. Andre greeted Marius with a hug though, circling around from behind the counter. Dressed in loose-fitting clothing of a local style, he appeared to have the start of a beer gut, but was still a fairly squat and powerful looking man. His features were vaguely Slavic or Russian, dense curly black hair that looked like wire bristles and a broad florid face. He beckoned them through the bead curtain leading out of the shop front into the rear warehouse – and a very different world.
Sunlight filtered down through skylights set into the roof, illuminating an Aladdin's cave of treasures, and Kai's gaze was drawn all over the shelves as he spotted things of interest. Fine painted China sets with some chips in the plates, a silver tea-service with a broken handle, tables with ornate wood carvings and a leg chewed badly by some kind of dog or possibly direwolf. Everywhere he looked there were things that set off his 'valuables' radar, until he examined them properly and found the missing, damaged or broken parts that rendered them almost valueless. Kai wandered around for a minute, looking at the shelves and piles of gear, getting a feel for the place – Andre clearly moved a lot of stock, and if these items had been in better condition, they would have been worth a small fortune – so he wondered if this was someone who just kept getting unlucky with his acquisitions – or if this was what he had left after selling the good stuff? By the time he'd circled back to the others, they'd finished catching up on gossip, and Marius had explained their stay in the city.
"So Mr. Andre. First thing I'd like to know is… could you handle these for us?" Kai opened his jacket and pulled out the sheaf of shares and bonds they'd acquired from the steel mill in Turkey. Marius snorted in surprise, but didn't say anything, and Andre reached over to take the pile, examining them closely. A moment later he pulled out a pad and started to tap away, checking some data online. "If you can, then what do you think we can get for them?" Kai watched as Andre double checked something, then rose and headed to a door leading off to the outside yard. When he came back a moment later, one hand was behind his back though – at least until he reached Kai, when with a flourish he pulled out a twin pack of toilet paper and plonked it down in front of him.
"There, I give you fair value for your shares."
"You're joking, right?" Kai spluttered. Andre considered, then reached over and tore open the packet, pulling one of the rolls over to stack on top of the share certificates.
"Now I give you a fair price then."
"Oh, Aswon and Tads are going to give me SUCH a hard time for this…" Andre's face suddenly burst into a grin, and he rocked back in his chair, letting out a loud belly laugh. "Ahh, I see. Not entirely serious. Very funny."
"You should have seen your face! Oh, oh my." Andre wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye, and then reached over again, beckoning Kai to pass the toilet roll over. "Now, seriously – they are worth something, but not much. The steelworks has not been performing well it seems. I would estimate about five, maybe six thousand for these. Not much chance of more."
"And what about your fee?"
"For Marius and his crew? No charge, my friend. Not with what has gone between us." Marius toasted him with his coffee cup, and Andre mirrored the move. "If you want to leave them with me, I can arrange to get them moved on. I presume no trails or records leading back to you?" When they both nodded, Andre sighed a little. "Of course. It may take a little while to arrange. Will you be here long?"
"We are only in town today, maybe tomorrow. But I trust you, Andre. You can always just transfer the money over whenever. We are not in a rush. Not after waiting this long to get rid of them." He glared at Kai a little, but didn't hold out any hope for actually having an effect upon him. "But, we are heading east, back to our home. So if there is anything you need moving over that way, we would be happy to discuss work and mutual benefits with you?"
"East, you say? Well, hah…" Andre grimaced, then leant back in his chair, sipping at his coffee for a moment as he thought. "I do have something I need moving east – but not actually that far. Believe it or not, I have a job on the east bank. But it's a large cargo, too large for a car. And getting across the city is so difficult at the moment. Trying to get a couple of pallets past the inspectors is almost impossible."
"We did notice the traffic was awful. What is going on. It is much worse than the last time we were here?"
Andre took another big sip of his coffee and then started to tell them about recent events in the city. In the eight months since they had left, the violence between the Muslim and Christian factions had escalated in a series of tit-for-tat retaliations that had become increasingly brutal and violent. No more peaceful demonstrations, it was now arson and car-bombs that were the order of the day. The north bridge which had been damaged and heavily congested due to the contraflow in place during their last visit had been bombed again, dropping the entire western span into the Straights, causing a major obstruction and threat to shipping as well as forcing all of the traffic down towards the remaining bridge with the inevitable effect on traffic such a detour would cause. To compound this, Lionheart had security checkpoints on the ends of the bridge and now had to check all vehicles – another bomb that could take out the remaining bridge would cause chaos, splitting the city in half and denying easy access from one side to the other. Worse, both sides had their own brands of fundamentalists that would actively seek that out, so the threat could come from either side.
Of course, being a free city, some of the population had adapted and were striving to overcome. The traffic jam guys were one example, taking their stores mobile to feed and hydrate people stuck for multiple hours in the awful traffic. Another were the horde of people that had sprung up on the waterfront running taxi services from one shore to the other in all manner of vessels, ranging from little wooden dinghies powered by a strong back and pair of oars, to small vehicle ferries that docked wherever they could, running half a dozen cars or trucks across. Unfortunately many of them were not particularly seaworthy, or well-piloted, and a number of issues had occurred in the last month, stretching the security forces even thinner.
Andre enquired as to how Marius was intending to move the cargo, bearing in mind all the restrictions in place for the movement of goods and the searches that would take place. Marius pulled out his pocket secretary and showed him a few pictures of the tilt-wing, and gave a brief and understated description of the level of stealth that was possible – including the fact that they had a mage that was also able to assist.
"So my friends – that sounds good – but also bad. Marius, I tell you this so you know what you face. The shipment is alcohol. Lots and lots of it. Over five hundred litres of the finest quality booze, to be delivered to a secret drinking den deep in the Muslim sector. These are the kinds of people that take their faith seriously, and will stone you to death for carrying such cargo to them. But, also people that take a dim view of magic too. Being caught with both would be very unpleasant. I understand if you do not wish to do this."
"It will be fine, Andre. No problem. We specialise in this kind of thing. Is that not correct, Kai?"
"Hmm? Oh yes. No problem. A few spirits, and some fancy flying, a quick touchdown in a park or a backlot somewhere, and we'll be away like thieves in the night." Andre gave him a sharp look. "Well, like ghosts." That didn't help much either… "Ok – like really sneaky deliverymen that leave a card that says 'while you were out we tried to deliver'. Andre finally looked mollified, and started to bring up the details for where his shipment was located, and where it needed to be transported to, then squirted all the information over to Marius.
"So – the city. Is it going to get better do you think? Is there an end in sight for all this violence?" Andre shook his head at Kai.
"I don't think so. Not unless something comes in from outside that threatens the city and all the people. I think it's going to get far worse…"
They left shortly afterwards, and found the journey back to the airport was just as excruciating as the journey into the city centre had been. At least they were forewarned about conditions, and had both made use of the facilities before they left, but the three and a half hour journey to cover the fifteen kilometres left them both feeling frustrated and annoyed. At least, back at the aircraft Hunter, Tads and Aswon reported that it had been a quiet day, with nothing of interest to report.
They settled down to dinner, getting some local restaurant to deliver to the security gate to at least have some hot fresh food that had been cooked in a kitchen bigger than a toolbox, settling down for a buffet spread out over cargo containers and packing crates in the cramped interior of the tilt-wing.
Far to the south, Shimazu sat back in a comfortable chair in the air-conditioned restaurant, wiping his lips to get rid of a tiny sliver of fresh cream from the dessert course, while across the table the Professor sat back nursing a brandy with a contented look upon his face.
"Are you sure about the meal?"
"Quite sure – Kai gave me plenty of money, and it's my treat. Well, his treat. It's the least I could do to thank you."
"You're quite welcome. I think we've made very good progress today. Very good indeed. Though I have to say I think if it was anyone but yourself, I would be still questioning your story." He waved a hand as Shimazu shifted in his seat. "Don't worry – I said anyone but. And I do believe you. And I think we could still do with some more work. Unfortunately, I don't think I could spend an entire day to address this. Perhaps a few hours, but my commitments…"
"I understand, Professor, and I'm very grateful. If you can spare an hour or two a day for a few days, I would appreciate it. And if there's anything I can do to help of course, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm going to spend some time meditating and trying to reflect on what we've discussed. Is there anywhere at the University I could do this – somewhere near you?"
"I'm sure I can find an office or classroom that isn't being used somewhere. No problem. There's also someone I'd like to get hold of and see if I can bring them in to discuss the more magical nature of the situation – this is beyond my understanding of the metaphysics, and I would rather find out what the nature of this threat is so we can best deal with it."
"Whatever you say, Professor."
Shimazu paid the bill, including a tip for the waiter and swiped the credstick provided by Kai with a smile, then grabbed his 'to-go' order and escorted the professor from the room and back to his car. Far to the north Kai picked at a slightly soggy and sweaty kebab wrapped in some limp bread, and couldn't get over a weird feeling that life for some reason, just wasn't fair…
