Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2) (21 page)

Hanna shook her head and she climbed back to her feet, more than a little unsteady.  “No, I think you said something like, ‘jumping out at him being alarming,’ and that’s exactly what I didn’t do.”

“Yeah, and this worked out so much better.”

“No one’s dead, are they?”

“Not yet anyway,” Deni said darkly.

Rubbing her aching head, Hanna saw Yamaguchi was quietly fuming where he stood with Deni’s gun pointed at him.  “Lower your gun, Deni.”

“You’re kidding.”

“You said it yourself.  He’s not going to listen if we’re pointing guns at him.”

Deni didn’t hide her reluctance, but did lower her gun to her side.

“Look, Mr Yamaguchi, I’m sorry to sneak up on you like this and we’re not here to hurt you.”  He looked back at her, still angry and more than a little suspicious.  “I’m Hanna and this is Deni.  We work with Milicevic.  You would have received a message from me telling you Rapaport was trying to take over.”

“I did,” Yamaguchi said.  The calmness of his voice at odds with the rest of him.  “Where’s Milicevic?”

“She’s, erm, off planet.  Won’t be back for a while and any message will take days-.”

“Weeks,” Deni interjected.

“Right, yes, sorry, weeks to get to her.”

“Why are you here?”

“We think it’s not in your interests for Rapaport to succeed.  You’re here because Milicevic’s rates are the lowest in Zeus.  You’ll be out of pocket if you stay and, I don’t know her plans, but I would put a lot of sovs on Rapaport’s cut being lot more than you want to pay.”

“So?” he shrugged.  “I’ll move on.”

“How many times can you do that, Mr Yamaguchi?  This is your fifth in two years,” his eyes widened and feet shifted, he didn’t think anyone knew that.  “You’re an excellent Thief, Mr Yamaguchi, far better than I can ever be.  My talent is Hacking and I know for sure that I’m the best in the system.  After you came to us, Milicevic had me track your movements for the last five years.  The Bosses wouldn’t like someone moving about to get the best deal off them.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“No, that’s not what we do.  Milicevic taught us better than that.  We don’t threaten, we make promises and I promise you, the Bosses will never hear it from us, even indirectly.  They will find out though, you’re not nearly as covered as you think.  They’ll probably feel like you’re taking the piss, playing them off against one another like that, and be pretty annoyed.”

“What are you offering?”

“If you help us retake our territory, I’ll clean up your back trail and ensure you can operate here indefinitely free of charge.  The only condition will be one hundred percent loyalty to the gang in any disputes.”

“Am I meant to take your word for you being as good as you say?”

“Erm,” she didn’t know what to say to that.  She thought her knowledge of his life was going to be good enough.

“He’s got a point, Hanna,” Deni interjected.

“Yeah, but what can I do right here and now?”

“What about that footage you told me about?  Do you have it with you?”

“Oooohhh.  Good thinking, hang on.” Hanna pulled out her Quartz and started to type furiously.

“What footage?” Yamaguchi asked suspiciously.

“Something Hanna recorded after Milicevic accepted your entry to the territory.”  Deni told him.  “You didn’t think we’d let you run around without finding out how good you were, did you?”

“Got it,” Hanna said triumphantly.  “Here, I’ll put it up on your VI screen.”

All three turned and watched the recording play through.  Yamaguchi’s face got whiter and whiter the more he watched.

“That’s the Casaletto estate.  Where did you get that?” he demanded.

“Milicevic wanted to know how good you were,” Hanna said with a shrug.  “I tracked you to their Family home and Hacked the security system.  I was only watching.  I didn’t help.  There was no need, you’re really good.  Even Milicevic was impressed and that doesn’t happen very often.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Not for her,” Deni said.  “When she says she’s the best Hacker in the system, she’s right.”

“So, are you in or out?” Hanna asked.

“What if I’m out?  What then?”

“We walk away,” Hanna said to him.  “You’ll never see or hear from us again.”

“Probably because we’ll be dead.” Deni muttered and Hanna shot her a look.

“Indefinite zero rates?”

Hanna nodded.  “That’s the deal.”

“You girls want a beer?”

“I’m sure Deni will,” Hanna said and smiled.  “I’ll take some of that apple juice if it’s OK?” she pointed to the bottle lying unnoticed on the floor next to the split shopping bag.

“Hah, apple juice and beer it is,” he replied and laughed.

Yamaguchi gathered up his shopping with Hanna’s help and handed out the drinks, before inviting them to sit at his kitchen table.

“Who else knows about me?” he asked.

“Milicevic, us and Cracker,” Deni answered.  “That’s why you were our first stop.  You’re likely to want to help and Rapaport doesn’t know even know you’re in the territory.”

“What about Cracker?  He wouldn’t stand for this.  He likes Milicevic and you girls.”

“You know him?” Hanna asked.

Yamaguchi leaned back in his chair and took a sip of beer.  “We go way back.  Used to run together as kids.  He’s the one who suggested I meet with Milicevic.  Why isn’t he here?”

Hanna glanced at Deni.

“What?” Yamaguchi asked.

“I’m sorry, Mr Yamaguchi.  We think he’s dead.  We know he went to Anja’s flat this morning and he hasn’t left.  Anja was there at the same time as him before leaving to attack the Workshop.”

“Damn...  He was a good guy to have in your corner.  In this business, you kind of expect to lose friends, but it never makes it any easier.”  He raised his glass.  “To Cracker, he’ll be missed.”

The girls raised their glasses in salute with him.  The three sat in silence for a while, lost in their own thoughts.

“So, is it just the two of you then and what are you up against?”

“You want to take that out now, Mr Yamaguchi?” Deni said with a sad smile.

“Hades, no!  I’m in.  I want to talk to this Anja personally.  They must have suckered Cracker, he wouldn’t go down easy.”

“You can’t miss her, Mr Yamaguchi.  Slim, shorter than me and bright pink hair, kind of wavy across the top of her head.”  Hanna tried to imitate it with her own much longer hair, but it just fell back into its usual mess.

“I’ll keep an eye out for her.  You can both stop with this whole Mr Yamaguchi business.  I appreciate the respect, but let’s just make it Yama OK?  It’ll save us a lot of time.”

“OK, Yama,” Hanna said with a smile.  “In answer to your question, Rapaport has two local Enforcers that we know about.  One of them, Anja, worked directly for us.  She knows all of our backup plans.  You’re just about the only thing she doesn’t know.  She may have convinced others to join her but we don’t know.  We also saw twenty, what looked like, hired guns from out of town.”

“What else doesn’t she know?” he asked pointedly.

“She thinks we’re locked in the rear of the Workshop, cut off from everyone.  We got out and I still have limited access to my Rig.”

“And?”

Hanna looked at Deni, who raised her eyebrows.  There was no way they could tell him everything.  She drummed her fingers on the table before making a decision.

“And, I can track coms.  It’s how I knew you were at the Casaletto estate and Cracker’s location.  We’ve never told anyone that,” she looked him as firmly as she could in the eyes.  “The rest I’m not going to tell you.”

He stared back for what seemed like a very long time before nodding.  “Fair enough.  Do you have a plan?”

“We need to round up as many allies as we can,” Deni said.  “While we do that, can you scout out what Rapaport’s hired guns are doing?  Call in their locations with whatever images you can get.”

“Why can’t miss super Hacker track them?”

“I don’t know who they are and there are no cameras in the Ghetto to get a look at them.” Hanna answered.  “I can only access my main system intermittently so not to drain the power.  I’d rather do it in one go than piecemeal.  Rapaport, her Enforcer Orrick and Anja, are already locked into my datapad.  I can also track anyone else in the gang.”

“Pull them up now,” Deni suggested.  “If any of them are with Rapaport or the others, we know they’re either working with them or captured.”

“Or dead,” Yama pointed out.

“Or dead,” Deni agreed quietly.

“I can do that,” Hanna placed her Quartz on the table and projected a map of the local area above it.  “OK, Hopwood and his Enforcer Leigh are way over here and not moving.  Shit, I’ve got a message from him.  It’s three hours old and I missed it.  He’s hold up and unsurprisingly wants to know where Milicevic is.  I’ll tell him-“

“Hang on, Hanna,” Deni interrupted.  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  See where everyone else is first.  Then we can plan when we know everything.”

“You’re right,” Hanna pointed to the map.  “Here’s Hayley, she’s got Flint, Calcutta, Barber and Layman with her.  Let me see if we can listen in.”

“Listen in?” Yama asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry.  It’s not something I can do with everyone.  Their wristcomps have my software on them.  That gives me remote access to their microphones.”  Selecting Hayley’s feed; Hanna played it on the Quartz’s speakers.  There was only silence.

“Something wrong?” Deni asked.

“No,” Hanna shook her head.  “The system’s fine.  No one’s saying anything though.”

“That won’t help.” Yama said and Hanna resisted saying something pointed back to him.

“Send her an encrypted text message,” Deni suggested.  “See what she says when she thinks we can’t hear her.”

“Nice, I like it.  I’m telling her we’re alive and asking if she’s safe.  There it goes.”  They waited with bated breath.

“Guys!” Hayley’s voice shouted out from the Quartz.  “I’ve just got a message from Hanna.”

“What does it say?” a man asked.

“That’s Flint,” Deni said for Yama’s benefit.

“She and Deni are alive and she’s asking if I’m safe.” Hayley answered.

“Why hasn’t she called any of us?” a woman asked.

“Calcutta,” Hanna told Yama.

“She doesn’t say,” Hayley said.

“Probably doesn’t know who to trust,” another woman said.

“Barber,” Hanna said.

“After that bitch Anja turned,” Barber continued.  “She’s got to be running scared.”

“How are we going to convince her we’re not with Rapaport?” a second man asked.

“And that’s Layman,” Deni said.

“I don’t know,” Hayley said.  “I’m sending her a note back to say I’m safe, but what I want to know is, where’s Milicevic?  She should have been in there hours ago and wiped the floor with these fuckers!”

“I’d say we can trust them,” Deni said.

“I agree,” Hanna nodded.  “I’m calling Hayley directly now.”

“I’m getting a call, this can’t be a co-incidence,” Hayley told the others before answering.  “Hello?”

“Hayley, it’s Hanna.  I’m with Deni and...” she looked over to Yama who shook his head.  “A friend who can help.  Is anyone with you?” she didn’t want them to know she could access their coms like that.

“Barber, Flint, Layman and Calcutta and we got the aircar out.”

“You’ve got the aircar?”  Hanna said.  “Fantastic.  Do you know about anyone else?”

“Dead,” was the simple reply.

Hanna looked at the fourteen other locations marked on the map hovering in front of her.

“You sure?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’re sure,” came the deadpan response.  “Ambushes mostly.  Anja told them where we lived.”

“I’m sorry, I know they were your friends.”

“Yeah, well.  We’ll grieve later.  After I’ve shoved my Thermal up Rapaport’s cunt!  Unless Milicevic does it sooner.  Where the fuck is she?”

“Out of the system.”

“What?  You’re fucking kidding.”

“No, I really wish I was.  She won’t be back for a while.”  If ever, Hanna thought in the privacy of her own mind, then squashed it firmly.  Whatever happened to Valerie, they would find out after they got the gang back under control.  “We’re going after Rapaport without her and doing it tonight.  Are you guys in?  I can understand if you’re not.  No one would blame you.”

The silence from the other side was deafening.  With Hayley on speaker, Hanna had to turn off the spy program or it would get too confusing.  She was sorely tempted to switch it back on but held back.  If ever there was a time for privacy, it was when someone decided to commit suicide or not.

Time dragged out and it was a struggle for Hanna to hold her nerve.  Yama was relaxed, but Deni was practically vibrating in her chair.

“Yeah, we’re in,” Hayley said, putting the girls out of their misery.  “Do you have a plan?”