When they reached the van, and Addie looked over the center console at Glitch, clearly hesitating, the netjacker took off her plundered visor and wrinkled her brow. “What is it?”
“I, um…” Addie mimicked her friend, sliding the visor off her head, rubbing her face against the sleeve of her jacket, before continuing, “I want to rush home to take care of my dad’s situation, and, of course, I want you to come with me, but I can’t keep this from you.”
“What?” Glitch leaned forward.
“When they took my dad, I tried to call you. Of course, I got freaked out when your PAI was offline, so I reached out to Beef—”
Glitch’s eyes flew wide. “Oh my God! Beef! What is it, Ads?”
“They tried to take him—” Addie hastily held up her hands, interrupting her story to add, “First of all, he’s going to be okay.” Glitch visibly relaxed, but her knee began to bounce up and down, and Addie knew she wanted to run to Beef, wherever he was. “He’s in the clinic; he took out the goons Dawkins sent, but they hurt him.”
Glitch touched the back of her head. “I need my PAI, but they pulled it back at my place. Can—”
“I’ll message him, sis.” Addie smiled. “Do you want to go to him now? I can handle my dad’s situation—”
“No! Let’s get your dad squared away and then we can go to Beef. I’m too wrecked to find my way—not without a PAI to pay cabs and whatnot.”
“I can get you a—”
“Just drive, sis. Get us to your place.” She drummed her fingers on the case she’d taken. “I could factory reset that goon’s PAI—put it in my head, but it just creeps me out. We don’t have any sanispray, do we?”
Addie shook her head. “Just that stuff Beef got to erase DNA traces.”
“Uh, not putting that in my brain.” She laughed. “Sounds like a recipe for a chemical lobotomy.”
“Yeah.” Addie mentally nudged JJ to get the van moving. “Anyway, I’ll message Beef right now.” She glanced at Glitch and smiled. “Thank you.”
“For? You rescued me!”
“I mean, for sticking with me. And…” Addie hesitated and then, after a brief pause, shrugged. “For not betraying me. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but for a minute there…” She trailed off.
Glitch reached over the console. “Oh shit, Ads! I had most of the stuff. You must have been panicked when you couldn’t get ahold of me! Listen, I’m telling you right here and now: I don’t play like that. I would never betray a friend.”
Addie smiled. “Same.”
“Yeah, I know.” Glitch winked one of her pink-irised eyes. “Why do you think I like working with you?”
When they approached the warehouse, the strange van was still parked outside the fence. Addie flashed her lights at it a couple time then pulled into the lot. By the time she and Glitch were climbing out onto the black-sludge of melted ice and tire particles, the older guy with the goatee was walking into the lot, hands stuffed into his coat pockets. “I’m assuming—” he started to say, but Glitch cut him off.
“That’s usually a big mistake.”
He frowned at her, then turned his attention to Addie. “You coming in here all cool, I guess you worked things out with my employer?”
Addie shrugged. “You could say that.”
He frowned, glancing at the warehouse—the first sign of nervousness Addie had seen him exhibit. “Listen, we’ve got orders to—”
Addie cut him off. “Orders from whom?”
“From our employer.”
“Something tells me you’re not having much luck getting ahold of her,” Glitch said, leaning on the van’s front fender.
“Who’s your friend?” Goatee asked Addie.
“Listen, um, sir,” Addie said, sighing. “I’m too tired to do this dance. Your employer is gone. Like, permanently. You won’t be hearing from her. She won’t be paying you. I’ll transfer five k into a bit-vault of your choosing if you’ll just get your goons and get lost.”
“No can do. I have a contract to fulfill. Orders were—”
“You’re not listening, chum,” Glitch said, tapping her temple. “Your contract is null and void, and my girl here is trying to be nice. Unless you and your entire team want to die over this voided contract, I suggest you take her offer.”
Goatee scowled and stepped to the side, looking past Addie toward Glitch. “You threatening me, girl?”
Glitch shrugged. “Just warning.”
Addie tamped her hand in the air. “Let’s hit the brakes, yeah? There’s no need for any more violence tonight.” She looked pointedly into the man’s eyes. “I’ve had my fill. Seriously. Your contract is over. Take a minute or two to confirm if you want, but I’m going in there, and my dad better still be lying on that couch with your goon watching over him, nice and pleasant.”
As she started for the warehouse door, the guy said, “Wait…”
Addie looked at him, but his eyes had gone distant. Someone was filling him in. Maybe he had his own version of Glitch sitting in that van trying to get ahold of Dawkins. After a moment, he shook his head. “Never mind. Make it ten k and we’ll forget this happened.”
“How about we make it no-k?” Glitch asked, sauntering over to Addie’s side.
“Five k to sit on a guy for a few hours seems fair.” Addie let the words hang in the air for a couple of seconds, then clicked her tongue and shrugged. “But I’ll send you seven. Flick me the address.” With that, she turned and went into the warehouse. By the time she got to the catwalk, the guy she’d seen on the surveillance footage was coming down with a big black duffel over his shoulder.
She stepped in front of him and nodded at his bag. “Anything in there that shouldn’t be?”
He glowered at her, most of his face obscured by bulbous red goggles. “Just my gear.”
“You leave any cams behind?” Glitch asked. “If I find any…”
“Nothing. I look like an amateur? Now get out of my way.”
Addie stepped to the side, and he pounded down the stairs, his steps ringing through the metal scaffolding. Addie stood there and watched until she saw his shadow slip out the door and heard it slam behind him.
Glitch snorted. “I mean, yeah, you kinda do, buddy.”
Addie giggled, hurrying up the steps to the office, relieved that things had gone exactly as Glitch had predicted. When she stood in her dad’s little living area and saw him lying on the couch, snoring softly, a shuddering sob escaped her as a million kilograms of tension fell away from her shoulders. Glitch was quick to grab onto her, squeezing gently, as Addie slowly collected herself. “Thanks,” she whispered.
“Stop thanking me. Go on now, check on him so we can get to Beef.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Addie nodded and hurried over to her dad. He looked perfectly comfortable. She felt his wrists where he’d been bound, but the indentations from the shrink-cords weren’t raw or irritated. It seemed he hadn’t done any struggling, and Addie could see why: he was out of it. She tried to rouse him, tapping his cheek, whispering in his ear, “Daddy? Wake up for a minute.”
He mumbled and grumbled, and then rolled to his side, looking away from her.
“He’s big-time drugged,” Glitch said. “Gonna feel either great or have a hangover from hell when he wakes up—depends on what drugs they used.”
“I wish I knew if he knew. Like, did they tranq him from a distance? Did they grab him first? I don’t see any bruises or anything.”
“We should’ve asked that guy, I guess.”
“Come on.” Addie started for the door, and Glitch followed. “JJ, leave a message for my dad. Tell him to contact me as soon as he’s up.”
“Done.”
Outside, Addie pushed the exterior door shut, frowning. “I guess we need new locks.”
“Nah, sis. You won’t ever get locks good enough to stop a motivated team. The best you can do is set up some security measures that’ll slow them down enough for you to respond…if you’re home.” She nudged Addie. “I can help you later if you want.”
Addie nodded. “Yeah. I just hate that my dad got involved, you know? I guess I should have foreseen this.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
Addie climbed into the van, and when Glitch got in, started it moving. After they’d driven for a few blocks, she said, “Beef’s gonna need a new hand.”
“What? They took his hand?”
Addie snorted, clicking her tongue. “Speaking of being drugged up, the big guy was laughing about it—crowing about how he made them pay, you know?” Glitch didn’t respond, but she had a distant look in her eyes, clearly having some big thoughts of her own. “It sucks that caring about people opens you up for more hurt, doesn’t it?”
Glitch darted a glance at her, blinking rapidly. “That transparent?”
“Well, I wouldn’t see it if I weren’t having the same kinds of thoughts. It’s better than being alone, though, right? Better than just having passing relationships with people.”
Glitch nodded, sniffing. “Yeah. A few months back, a crew I worked with a few times got wiped out. Maybe you heard? It was down by the District Sixteen checkpoint? They were caught by Boxer corpo-sec trying to lift a Gel-Tech transport?”
Addie nodded. “Yeah, I heard. Seven dead?”
“Yeah. Three were my friends, but…” She shrugged. “I heard the news, took a minute to think about the last time I worked with them, then I got back to my code—I don’t even remember what I was working on. The point is…”
When she trailed off, Addie guessed, “You realized you weren’t very close?”
“Yeah. I haven’t been close to anyone in a long time, Ads. Beef is…different. I thought I’d just have a little fun with the big meat-brain on the crew, you know? But he’s…”
“Deeper than you thought?” Addie snorted a soft laugh. “Yeah, I’m guilty of the same kind of thinking.”
“It’s so easy to see a…a type, you know? It’s easy to see a type and think you know all there is to know about them.” Glitch chuckled softly. “I thought you were a total glitz-brain when we met.”
“A glitz-brain? I don’t even wear makeup half the time! You’re way more into looking cool than I am!”
“Yeah, but you’re, like, all pretty and sweet, and those big damn doe-eyes of yours…” Glitch shrugged. “I got it wrong, okay? Sue me. I still can’t believe you took out that entire crew tonight. God, I want to ask what you did to that queen bitch, but… I don’t want to. You know?”
Addie’s smile fell away, and she nodded. “Yeah, it’s okay. Not something I want to think about, anyway.”
Glitch wiped her nose on her sleeve and shook her head, switching gears. “How’s your chest?”
Addie prodded the bruised flesh around her collarbone and on her sternum. “Sore. I’ll be fine.”
They were quiet, lost in their own thoughts for a while. When they were about halfway to Addie’s old neighborhood, her AUI pinged with a new message. It was from her dad. After reading it, she started to giggle and looked at Glitch. “My dad says he had his first good nap in ages. He doesn’t know how to explain it, but his back feels better than it has in years.”
Glitch cocked her head to the side, arching an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
Addie nodded. “He says he’s sorry he missed dinner with me.”
“Oh my gosh. That poor man! You’d better order him some food.”
“Yeah. I’m doing it now.”
When they reached Doc Peters’s clinic, Beef was already in a recovery bed. Peters let them in, grousing about his full waiting room despite the late hour. As soon as she saw Beef, though, Glitch rushed to his side, cutting the doc off with her enthusiasm. Addie and Peters watched her hug the barrel-chested man, gripping his wrist near the bandaged stump and showering his huge bald head with kisses.
“She really likes him, huh?” Peters whispered.
Addie nodded. “I do too, so don’t get cute, Doc Peters.”
He shook his head, reaching up to adjust his multi-lens operating specs. “I won’t. Beef’s a strange character, but I always felt like, as far as enforcers for bloodthirsty gangs go, he was an okay guy. I kind of miss him in that regard. The new guy…” He trailed off, shaking his head. When Addie raised an eyebrow, he added, “It’s nothing. Just not Beef, you know? Anyway, I’ve got too many patients to stand around chatting.”
As the doctor left, Addie walked over to Beef’s bed, trying not to make eye contact with the large, angry-looking woman in the bed beside his. When she saw his face up close—purple with bruises, eyes swollen to narrow slits, half a dozen glued-shut cuts—she said, “What’s the deal, Beef? No new hand yet? Trying to slack off?”
“Ah, get out of here,” he mumbled through thick lips.
Addie leaned forward and kissed the hot flesh of his forehead. “You had me worried, big guy.”
“Damn. Seems like you always get all mushy when I get messed up.” He turned his swollen face toward Glitch. “Watch out, babe. She’s trying to steal your man—”
“Don’t tease her!” Glitch put her free hand over his mouth for emphasis. “You don’t know what she’s been through tonight. You weren’t the only one those bastards came after.”
He tried to arch his eyebrows, but his face was too swollen, and the expression made Addie laugh. “Stop it!”
“They tried to ice you, too, Ads?”
She shook her head. “They tried to make slaves of us.” She nodded to Glitch. “But we were trickier than they bargained for.”
“Not me—” Glitch started to say, but Beef cut her off.
“Hell yes! My girls! Hah! Those dirty corpo-rat fucks! Picked the wrong crew to tangle with tonight.” He was practically yelling by the end of his little tirade, and the woman behind Addie huffed and tried to shush him.
Beef struggled against Glitch and Addie’s restraining efforts, trying to sit up while he growled at the woman, “You shush me? I don’t think so! You better shush, lady!”
Addie pushed against him, moving to block his view of the woman. “Come on, Beef. You want to get sedated?”
Glitch tugged his injured arm. “Stop it, sweet-roll!”
Addie giggled, but Beef responded to the endearment; with a groan and a sigh, he flopped back onto his pillows. “Forget it. Crazy broad; she was talking to herself for the last hour, anyway.” He tilted his face toward Glitch, clearly trying to see better through his swollen eyes. “Did they hurt you?”
“No, I’m fine. Just a slap or two.”
“They fuckin’ what?” Again, he tried to get up. “I’ll kill—”
Addie leaned close, hissing, “Already handled, big guy. Now—settle—down.” She pushed on his shoulder, and he relented.
“Come on. Get me checked out of here. Doc ain’t got any hands I want, anyway.”
“Nice try, sugar,” Glitch replied. “The doc told us you can’t leave for a while. The nanites he gave you are still struggling to contain your internal bleeding.”
He grumbled, but his slitted eyes were looking heavy, and as Glitch continued to stroke his hot, clammy forehead, they closed all the way. Addie watched his face for a while, stealing glances at Glitch. She really did look smitten with him. After Beef started to rumble a deep, low snore, she whispered, “You want to stay with him?”
Glitch shook her head, still staring at Beef’s bruised, swollen face. “I want to get my PAI and my deck, then I’ll come back. He’s right, though. We should take him somewhere else—someplace he can get some proper augs.”
They’d already talked about getting Beef some better chrome for the “big job.” That was how they’d been referring to Tony’s situation, though Glitch and Beef were still in the dark about what it all entailed. Addie was, too, for that matter, other than at least knowing the who and why of it all. “We can go to Doc Katz. I trust her.”
“The lady whose daughter we picked up?”
Addie nodded. “She can get what he needs, and she won’t keep any records.”
Glitch smoothed her hand over Beef’s brow one last time, then pushed away from his bed. “That’s settled, then. Can you drop me home? I’ll come back here and message you when he’s ready to move.”
“Yeah, let’s go.” Addie gave Beef’s swollen face a final look, then walked out of the recovery room. The drive from the clinic to Glitch’s place was short. Even so, by the time she hugged her friend goodbye and made her promise to share her location and check in with her in the morning, it was after midnight when Addie started home.
Something was going on near the NGT building, and the corpo-sec drones were lighting up the sky for blocks, closing off traffic on dozens of roads. Naturally, that funneled cars and trucks into Addie’s path, so her trip home, which should have taken a bit more than twenty minutes, was a two and a half hour ordeal. When she rolled into the warehouse parking lot and stumbled out of the driver’s seat, she was exhausted, irritable, and more than ready for a long shower and a much longer sleep.
Then, the message icon for the encrypted address she shared with Tony flashed, and all her exhaustion fell away.
She slipped into the warehouse, hurried through the dimly lit stacks of goods for her dad’s business, and then closed herself away inside the little apartment she and Tony had made. As soon as she collapsed onto the couch, she read his message:
Ads,
Things are moving faster than I thought they would. Eric and Jen messed up, and it looks like our window is opening up next Friday. Can you be ready? If you can make your way to District One before then with the gear Glitch needs, let me know. Otherwise, I’ll have to find a way to stall.
I can’t wait to see you.
-T
“Oh my gosh, JJ!” Addie wanted to tell someone, and JJ was the only “person” she had available at the moment.
“What is it, Addie?”
“It’s finally happening. We’re going to see him soon. Here, take a message for Glitch. We need to start preparing.”