Streets of blood

31

Mohinder sat with four of his samurai in the dusty, cobweb-strung upstairs room. Rani was sure that she'd seen a couple of them on the streets before, but she’d never known their names until now.

The one-eyed man with the combat axe and the Bond and Carrington Elite, especially, had an unforgettably familiar face. The way the missing eye had been gouged out wasn’t a pretty sight. He shook with a fine tremor that suggested either brain damage or heavy drug use, but his speech was controlled and coherent enough.

The little Sicilian, Scirea, too; she had certainly seen him scurrying in the shadows. Cybereyes, hand razors, boosted reflexes, sure as hell. He had his bandolier of throwing knives, the bulge of a pistol in his pocket, and body armor, too. With all that she was sure he was probably worth what he was getting paid.

In addition to these two were an immense, bone-headed troll and a muscle-bound dwarf.

After the brief introduction, Mohinder quickly got down to business. “Tell us about the deal,” he said. His granite-faced expression told her not to waste their time and that she would pay for it with her life if it was a double-cross.

“I have friends who are trying to prevent someone being murdered, Saturday night or early Sunday morning. There was a low guffaw from the group.

“Sure do, baby. I thought that’s what we were being paid for, to dust someone.” The dwarf sniggered as he picked at his over-long fingernails with a knife.

“No. We need to stop the murder or catch the assassins. Hopefully both.”

“Sounds easy,” Scirea said. “All we got to do is sit tight and ambush them when they come”

Not as easy as that. We’re still trying to trace the woman who might be the killer’s target. That’s why it’s contingency payment. The basic five hundred hires you to sit tight for the whole weekend. Maybe we won’t find the woman in time. If not, you get good pay for doing nothing more than chewing the fat and playing poker for a few days. If we do find the one you need to protect, you get paid extra for that part of the run. Fifteen hundred apiece.”

“Fifteen hundred nuyen? Makes two thousand total?” Scirea was incredulous.

Well, knock me down with a cricket bat, he knows how to add, Rani thought, but kept the scorn off her face. It was true that she was the one calling the shots here, but that didn’t mean she had no need for a certain finesse. ‘My friends are rich people.”

“So why don’t they just hire security?”

“They have. At least, we have that ready if the target is somewhere like the West End. But a team like you is better suited to a job down here. You know this patch as well as I do, far better than any hired security goons. Plus, we got a little extra in the way of weapons and contacts, yeah? Down here you’re the best there is, everyone knows that.”

Scirea was smiling now, a grin that would have been equally at home on the face of a rabid werewolf. The deal made sense and the pay was good. It didn’t sound like a shag job. Besides who’d send an ugly little gopi to try to sucker hardened killers like them?

“Which reminds me, Mohinder,” Rani continued. “That bag you got looks good. You got something for me?”

He showed her the Uzi, the heavy Imperial pistol, the boxes of ammunition. The crossbow and the other bits and pieces didn’t count for a lot compared with the power of the automatic and the heavy pistol. “Eight.”

“What?” Rani lost her cool for a moment; Mohinder was pushing his luck. “Come on. For that price I could get a pair of Uzis and a fresh elf’s head into the bargain.” She knew that the haggling was going to be tough. In front of four of his own, Mohinder wouldn’t want to look bad by giving away too much. To make it worse, two more men arrived just then, one of them even smuggling in a grenade launcher, by the look of it. Rani consoled herself with the thought that even if she ended up having to pay through the nose for the hardware, she couldn’t complain about the meat and muscle here. Mohinder had pulled out all the stops.

After a heated debate they eventually settled on a price of sixty-five hundred nuyen, far more than the equipment was worth, but everyone was happy enough with the final deal. Rani gave Mohinder one of the scrambled telecom codes, showed him the one she’d kept for herself, and told him of the third, which Gemini had. When they heard that it was a noble lord on the other end of the third line, the whole group began to look at her with new respect. That she had just handed out more than ten thousand nuyen bought her even more. She stood up as tall as she could among the hulking bodies in the room.

“Okay, you guys just keep together. Like I say, it’s tomorrow we expect the drek to hit the fan. Now I’m out of here; I’ve got some other work to do.”

Just two more Mary Kellys on the list. She might get around to the first tonight, but it was getting a little late and Rani decided not to take any chances alone on the street, not even with a heavy pistol in her jacket and a Uzi in her carryall. It would have to wait until the morning.

The others had agonized long and hard over the question of where to stay once they got back in London. They needed total privacy and protection, but couldn’t risk having a security firm around while plotting their moves. Despite the certain knowledge that their enemies knew the exact location of Geraint’s flat, it seemed the only viable choice. He settled for the discreet security outside and the new bulletproof glass and security systems inside. Not much short of assault cannons could get to them now, and the licensed security mages outside gave them as much protection as anyone could hope for against subtler infiltrations. For good measure Serrin also placed watchers around the building.

By noon, the computers were overheating, the telecoms beeping, and the data downloading.

“Right. London Security is posted at the second-level targets, the possibles. We’re down to eleven left to trace and, ah”-Geraint paused as another download came up on the screens-“make that ten. Mary Christine Kelly of Acacia Avenue, Neasden, is currently visiting her aged mother in a charming suburban crumpler somewhere in deepest, darkest Kent. Anyway, she’s a nice person. Goes to church every week, member of the Universal Brotherhood, according to this, Well, well. I think we can knock her off the list.”

“A crumpler? What’s that?” Serrin wasn’t entirety familiar with the more arcane Britspeak.

“A place where old folks go to crumple quietly. Their sympathetic young relatives prefer them somewhere out of sight.”

“By God, Geraint, look at this stuff. Where do you get this kind of detailed information about people? It’s damn scary.” Francesca was astonished at the sheer depth of data she was trawling.

“Francesca, dearest, it’s not for nothing that I'm a nobleman with friends in government and the corps, that I’m familiar with common and semi-restricted databases, and also an occasional employer of security services. One of the mixed blessings of living in our over-regulated society is that so much information is stored somewhere or other on almost everybody. The government sells a lot of it to various commercial concerns to raise money for the Exchequer. For a fee, those same concerns will allow access to the information. You’d be surprised what all kinds of people know about you. For example, only this morning I learned about the plastic surgery you had at Guy’s. Frankly, I think your nose looked cute the way it was.” He smiled broadly at Francesca’s half-angry, half-startled look.

By tea time, they’d whittled the list of potential targets down to a much more manageable four. Three looked possible: two women with convictions for prostitution, and a tea-leaf reader from Tir Nan Og whose files referred to the high proportion of male clients among her clients.

“She’s way out in SX, though, pretty suburban. Really doesn’t seem the right district. You know, apart from Annie, these murders have all taken place in the right locations, more or less. Right districts, at the very least. None of these three would fit that pattern, but it’s the best we have. I’m going to run the semantics package on them to see what that does.”

“What?” Serrin hadn’t a clue to what command Geraint was planning to give the bewildering array of electronic hardware now.

“Francesca and I went back over the four murders and used a template system to compare everything we could find on the original Ripper killings. Fran did most of the work actually, bless her.” Serrin could sense her smile from where he was sitting, though she was facing the screens.

“We banged in all the known past history of the victims, place names, locations, all the incidental details. Then we compared it to other people with the same names in London. The four names came out as the likeliest possible targets by virtue of the factors we included in the analysis. They were all prostitutes, the districts they lived in and where they were killed were similar, and there were some odd curves thrown out. Like, the original Annie Chapman’s body was found in Hanbury Street, while Fran’s friend of the same name was found slain in her flat in Hanbury Court. part of a building of another name. That was weird.”

“It’s almost as if someone else did a similar comparison to choose the right victims.” Serrin was pondering what he’d just heard. “As if the women were selected by computer.”

“That occurred to me, too. If Transys is testing a personality chip with these killings, it wouldn’t be out of character for them at all. They’re famous for the meticulousness of their tests. But the one remaining problem is the Mary Kellys we’ll never be able to find.”

Francesca was bent over one of the multiple screen arrays, but she’d been listening. “The Squeeze download, such as it is, is a pure shambles. It’s almost impossible to keep tabs on people. There are five Mary Kellys there, but the data is all marked incomplete, too dated, too many unknowns. If they’re going to hit one of them, we’ll never be able to stop them.”

Serrin sat bolt upright. “But then, someone living in the Squeeze wouldn’t be the target! Think about it. Even if you had spies checking around in that place, it would be desperately hard to make sure your victim was in the right place at the right time, right?”

“He’s got something there,” Geraint conceded. “No one finds it easy to monitor what goes on in the Squeeze. After the genetic manipulation disaster that the corps tried when the Squeeze was first formed, the people there hate corporations of any stripe. A corporate spy would have a very short life span among them.”

“Don’t I know it,” Francesca sighed. “That’s why the data I’m getting from my British Industrial source is such drek. Even they can’t get more than fragmentary data, and they’re right on the spot.”

“So lets take a chance,” Geraint suggested. “Lets say that the difficulties inherent in the Squeeze mean they wouldn’t select a target there. That leaves us our two hookers and the tea-leaf reader. They're the only realistic targets we have left since Rani called. The last two East Enders don’t fit at all. We take the top probability target, stake it out, and leave my security people with the other two.”

“The police?” Serrin offered the suggestion, but only as a matter of formality.

“Waste of time. They’ll consider it a wild goose chase. Frankly, London Security will handle it better.”

“We could kidnap the three of them, as it were. Place them under our protection somewhere. Bring them here” Again. Serrin was fishing for solutions.

“No way. We want to get the killers, and that means we need to use the targets as bait. It sounds bloody cold and callous, but I’m also thinking about the four women they’ve already killed. They deserve their murderers being brought to justice. With the security we can provide, the trap will be a deadly one unless they bring a coach-load of troll samurai and enough mages to light up the whole of St. Paul’s for a week.”

By ten-thirty they’d been able to select the most likely target after all the additional data had been downloaded and analyzed by Francesca’s program. Gemini closed down the screens one by one.

“Well, Abbey Wood it is. Mary Nicola Kelly. The telecom trick was a nice touch. Fran. Well done”

“I'm surprised it was so easy to sell her the idea that shed won a random lottery prize.”

“Oh, but the way you told her to gather family or friends around was brilliant. She was obviously delighted. but they’ll get a very different visit from the one they’re expecting. I think we should bring them some champagne.”

The telecom beeped, bringing the call that would change everything.

Paying off the last of her Fenchurch Street contacts. Rani had gotten luckier than she could ever have believed possible. With all the excitement of the last few days, and especially the visit to Wales, she’d almost forgotten about him, but there he was, ducking away into New London Street.

Of all people. Pershinkin.

She trailed him cautiously to the derelict house. A pair of orks emerged soon afterward, smiling and stuffing wads of money into their pockets. Another pair of dupes, huh? This time, my friend, she promised herself, it’s going to be very different.

He was alone, she was determined, and he didn’t hear her until she had her knife around his throat from behind, He was kneeling, just about to finish packing his case. and he made the cardinal mistake of having his back to the doorway.

By God, man, over-confidence is a real failing. Rani thought grimly. And one you’re going to pay for dearly.

“Hello, scumbag.” she said. You spammed my family. My rakking family, you wanker.”

Pershinkin froze as he felt the cold metal cutting into his skin, hardly daring to breathe while his eyes flashed from side to side trying to get a glimpse of the woman hissing death into his right ear.

“The run out to Cambridge, remember? Poor lmran? 'Just get some suckers,’ wasn’t it? Well, looks to me like you’re the sucker now. Prepare to die, sleazeball.” Revenge was sweet but Rani had already waited so long for this moment that she wanted him to beg for his life first.

He obliged her. “Look, I didn’t know! I didn’t know! It wasn’t me! It was the people who hired me, I’m only the man in the middle,” he whined. “You gotta believe me.” He was scared now, very scared indeed.

“Won’t do you any good, ratface. You’re going to die anyway. Better say your prayers.”

“No! Wait!” he whimpered. “Look, the men who gave me the Job. I’ve got a meeting with them tomorrow night. I swear it. It’s true, it’s true! If I tell you where we’re to meet, you can show up instead. Was them who hired your family to get killed. What have I got against you? Why would I harm you?”

She hadn’t expected that. “Tell me where and when, you stinking slime. Now!”

He was too afraid to negotiate, his wits too scrambled to realize he couldn’t just give it all away. He stammered out the place and the time of the meeting in a voice wracked with sobs.

Then Rani tightened her grip on the knot of straggly hair at the back of his head and drew the blade in an arc across his throat from ear to ear. She didn’t give herself time to regret what she was doing. When she finally released her hold, the body slumped forward onto the grimy floor like a heavy sack of laundry.

She wouldn’t tell the others about this one. Not yet. It was family honor. She’d tell them after she’d dealt with Smith and Jones.

It was well past ten o’clock when Rani got back to the men. She’d found her Mary Kellys at last, and a complete waste of time they’d been, too.

Once in the musty-smelling upstairs room she dumped herself into the vacant chair next to Mohinder. The men were becoming restless now. Yes, they’d been paid well, whether or not they had to work this weekend or not, but the adrenaline was pumping. And a few other good chemicals, Rani judged, from the stimulant patches and broken vials she saw lying among the pizza boxes and burger bags littering the room.

“You look tired, little sister.” Mohinder grinned at her, knocking back another of an endless series of coffees. “Have a burger,” he said, handing her one. ‘Regal Burgers’ very best, with the chili and black bean sauce. Lovely grub.”

She declined the offer with a shudder. “Thanks anyway.”

“What you been up to?”

Rani sighed in apparent fatigue. “Hunting for someone called Mary Kelly. She’s the person we think is going to be killed, a prostitute. I been running around trying to find anyone who fits the picture.” She made herself Sound laconic and weary, not wanting to mention anything about Pershinkin. Mohinder might not be at all pleased about that.

“You don’t say?” Mohinder’s expression changed totally. “And you couldn’t find her?”

“Between me and my friends we’ve found scores of Mary Kellys, but they’re all dead ends. No one fits the bill.”

The samurai twisted in his chair and called to the men.

“Hey, Scirea! You know Typhoid?”

Scirea grinned. “Sure do. Crazy blooming decker. Bit of a trancer, head full of drek with too many rags she shot up and some of that tanking stuff. She used to work for me. Wasn’t bad when she was younger. Used to take payment in kind sometimes.”

The men around him sniggered unpleasantly. Rani realized they were talking about one of the women Scirea’s family pimped for. She was disgusted by them as they laughed again.

Meanwhile, though, Mohinder was tapping a number into his telecom. A vacant-faced girl appeared on the screen. She had hair dyed black, mascara that looked like she’d put it on with a spoon, black lipgloss, and an expression somewhere between hopelessness and complete despair.

Rani’s mind triggered a memory: the Toadslab restaurant. After she’d sold Mohinder the Predator. Her.

“Yeah” The woman’s voice was virtually robotic.

“Typhoid? What you doing right now?” Mohinder was grinning like a crocodile.

“Mohinder? Hey, guy, thanks for the little loan, y’know. Pay you back soon as I can.” Her expression, and all of her vacant hand-waving, did nothing to suggest that it would be too soon.

“Typhoid, baby, tell me something simple. What’s your real name? I mean, we all call you Typhoid Mary, but what’s the real thing?”

She was suspicious. Panda eyes narrowed sharply through her chemically assisted fog. “What you want to know for? You freelancing for the poll-tax hunters?”

“Come on, honey, you know me better than that. Tell you what, we’ll forget those few nuyen. Just speak your name to Mohinder.”

That persuaded her like nothing else ever could. She spoke the words slowly, in a childlike voice, as if remembering what she’d been called in a dim and distant past when someone actually cared about her.

“Kelly,” said Typhoid Mary. “Mary Jane Kelly.”

Geraint whooped in delight. “My God, even the second name is right. Mary Jane Kelly, a young hooker in Whitechapel. This is it! This is bloody it!”

Serrin and Francesca grinned back at him. All the tension of the day evaporated from the room like a puddle on a sunny day.

She isn’t in any register because of the tax evasion, and if she’s a decker she can make enough to stay out of sight and pay people to lie about her. This has to be the one. No time to run the analysis programs and we don’t have the additional data, but we’re ready now. They’re on their way to protect her, Rani says. Greatorex Street, Whitechapel. If they plan to kill her tomorrow, we’ll be there almost an hour in advance. Come on, people, this is it. At last.”