Never deal with a Dragon

55

When Sam rejoined Ghost and his tribesmen at the rendezvous point, he found that the fair Lady Tsung didn’t need rescuing after all. She was on the radio.

“Where are you?” Sam asked, not caring who heard the concern in his voice.

“Riding high,” she answered with a laugh. “Dodger rented us a chopper with a very cooperative pilot. We’ll be putting down near Hillary’s in about twenty minutes.”

“I’ll see that Cog has a car waiting,” Ghost cut in. “You’re all well?”

“Willy, Roadrunner, and Eagle Eyes have joined their ancestors.” Sally’s voice was sober now. “The rest of us are still walking. Wouldn’t hurt to have Cog put some med supplies in the car, though.”

“They’ll be waiting,” Ghost assured her.

“Wiz! See everyone soon.” She cut the connection.

Sam threw back his head and sighed. Sally’s safety lifted his worry about having to deal with Renraku again. The trideo Dodger had boosted from the arcology’s security cameras clearly showed Sam leading the raiders. He had no idea how Jaq had managed that trick, but what did it matter? As far as Renraku was concerned, it was Sam who had led the attack against Pad 23. Thanks to Jaq’s betrayal, his bridges had been well and truly burned behind him.

His status as an enemy of the corporation was now guaranteed, which meant he’d have been unable to negotiate Sally’s release. Freeing her would have required staging another raid and Sam thanked God it hadn’t been necessary. There’d already been too much damage done and too many lives lost.

Whatever the price, Sam knew he would have paid it, though. Sally and the others were his family now; his first loyalty was to them, He had left the corporate cocoon behind forever. When he opened his eyes Ghost was staring at him.

“How did you manage to get out of the dockyards, pale-face?”

“Hart helped me. don’t know why, but she did.”

“Then Haesslich must be dead.”

“We both saw him go down into the Sound. I didn’t see him come up. Did you?”

“We were too busy dodging UniOil heat to see much of anything beyond the way out.”

Sam was concerned by Ghost’s reserved tone. “Did you have trouble?”

“No.”

Ghost’s denial was refuted by the shouts of his tribals. Each vied with the others to recount the most hair-raising encounter of their escape, but all acknowledged that Ghost had been vital to their success. The uproar continued until Dodger showed up.

The Elf looked haggard, but was still smiling. He and Ghost gripped arms, patting each other on the shoulder. Pleasure lit their faces, but they said not a word. Then Dodger turned to Sam, gripping him by the shoulders and shaking him. Inu barked defensively until Sam shushed him.

“Sir Twist, I am pleased to see you still with us. Circumstances conspired to make a shambles of your plan, but ’twould seem that things have turned out well in the end. I prithee, though, ask me not to trespass in Renraku’s Matrix ever again.”

“I thought you would dare any system. What’s the matter? Your skills slipping?”

“ ’Tis not the loss of my prowess that I fear. ’Tis what lurks within that icy black pyramid.”

“And just what is that?”

“An artificial intelligence that is beyond their control.”

“What? Dodger, what are you talking about?”

Dodger told of his capture and the room of mirrors, his voice becoming hushed as he described the persona construct that echoed his own. Listening to the story of the Elf’s flight and escape, Sam would probably have dismissed the tale if it bad come from anyone else. It sounded like another Ghost in the Machine story.

“Are you sure it was real?” he asked.

“As real as anything is under the electron skies,” Dodger confirmed gravely.

“Well, it wasn’t good enough to hold the Dodger. You got out, didn’t you?”

“In that, you speak true.” The Elf’s mood shifted away from gloom, turning to positive pleasure when Sally led the surviving raiders into the room.

Sam caught her up in a whirling embrace white Inu danced around them barking. He kissed her, delighting in the warmth of her body. She returned his kiss as though it might be the last one she’d ever receive. When they broke their embrace, the tribesmen crowded around, eager to hear her tale. While she told it, Sam looked around for Ghost, but he had vanished like his namesake.

The raiders exchanged tales of their heroism, their shouted boasts and congratulations more an expression of relief that they had lived through another run in the shadows.

“Party’s on me,” Sally announced suddenly.

Amid the cheers, Dodger leaned over and whispered to Sam, “The lady’s victory parties are legend.”

“What victory? Death is no payment for death. It just extends the cycle.”

“Naetheless, Sir Twist, the sword of justice smote the guilty. The shades of Hanae, Josh Begay, and those benighted runners who worked for Hart understand the rightness of what has been done.”

“And that’s the victory?”

“Oh, no,” the Elf laughed, dragging Sam after the departing shadowrunners. “Our victory is the only real one. We survived.”

At the door of the building, Sam stopped, watching as Sally led the runners down the street in a ragged, rowdy parade. They were dirty and bloodied and had lost good friends, but they laughed. They were exuberant, elated at having defied death and won.

When several of the tribesmen started a chant, the sound echoed in his head, bringing back snatches of Dog’s song. He realized that the words were a hymn to life, a celebration of possibilities. The song filled him with a joy that he had been denying. Hours ago, he had stared into the jaws of death, yet he had not been dragged down into that darkness. He had survived to return to the shadows, where life poised on a razor edge.

He understood the runners’ exhilaration now. He was alive! Death and darkness hadn’t claimed him today, and that was more than enough cause for celebration. He felt free. His blood raced and he could no longer hold back. Capering away from Dodger, he spun up the street in a wild dance whose steps he invented as he went along. Inu raced around him, yapping his own excitement.

“Come on, Dodger,” Sam called. “It won’t do to disappoint the lady.”

“Nay. ’Twould never do,” Dodger replied, shaking his head. With a stretch of his long legs, the Elf passed Sam and started the race to catch up with Sally.

The dog, of course, won.