Earthbound (The Reach, Book 1) (23 page)

“Where’d you learn the tech?”

“Hung out with some hackers.  Did favours for them, got favours in return.  Had them show me the basics and figured out the rest myself.”

There was a sound down the corridor and Ursie held up a hand to Knile, indicating that he should stop.  A man in a grey maintenance uniform appeared toting a toolkit.  He stopped a little way along and shoved a key into a door, hocking noisily as he went inside.  The door slammed shut behind him and the corridor was quiet again.

“Okay, go,” Ursie said.

“Already done,” Knile said, and the door clicked open as Knile pulled the handle.  “After you.”

Inside was a narrow passageway that led away into darkness.  Knile carefully closed the door and then activated the LED flashlight on his belt.  There was a steel ladder leading upward not far away.

“Going up,” he said cheerily.  He strode over to the ladder and swung himself onto it, climbing a few steps before looking back at Ursie.  “Are you okay with heights?”

“Kinda,” she said unconvincingly.

“Don’t worry about it,” Knile said.  “This ladder is nothing.”

They moved up the ladder and into a tight shaft.  The flashlight bounced as Knile moved around, sending shadows cavorting about the tight space.  He realised that this was probably making
life difficult for Ursie following behind, and as he looked down he could see her
fumbling one hand after the next as she white-knuckled the rungs.  The shaft opened up again into a wider space as they reached the next level, but to Ursie’s dismay he continued up the ladder.

“This will actually work out okay for us,” Knile said.  “This shaft comes out not far from the destination I had in mind.”

“How far up does it go?” Ursie said, but it was evident from her tone of voice that there was another more pressing question in her mind:
How soon can we get off?

“A couple more levels.  Nothing too crazy.”

They passed into another shaft and then another after that, their boots echoing and scraping in the confined space.  As they were about to reach the next level there was suddenly another noise – a metallic scratching sound, and Knile came to an abrupt stop.

“
Pshhh,
” Knile hissed, and Ursie froze.  A moment later a light came on in the level below them, splashing them with white fluorescence like a spotlight on a couple of burglars making their escape.  There was the sound of footsteps and a heavy thump, like something large being dumped on a table, and then the visitor seemed to pause.

Knile looked beneath his legs and locked eyes with Ursie staring up at him.  They were concealed somewhat within the shaft, but the slightest noise would likely give them away.

They waited breathlessly for whoever it was to make their next move.  After several excruciating seconds there was more noise as tools were rummaged through and something was dragged across wood, and then the footsteps resumed.  The sound receded and then the light clicked off as the visitor left, plunging the shaft into gloom again.

“Damn,” Ursie breathed.  “Close.”

“Yeah, probably just a maintenance guy, but we don’t want to run across anyone who could raise the alarm right now.”

They continued to climb, and a few minutes later they had made it to the desired location
.  Knile gripped
Ursie’s arm and helped her up the last few rungs, and as she planted her feet she sighed shakily.

“Not so bad,” Knile grinned.

“Yeah.  Not so bad.”

They found themselves in a room with copper pipes coated in sweat running up the wall, and a dripping sound echoed dully from an adjoining area.  It was humid and uncomfortably warm and there was a decidedly musty odour in the air.

“Plant room,” Knile informed her.  “The place we’re looking for isn’t far from here.”

They exited cautiously, keeping an eye out for more maintenance staff as they followed another series of corridors.  Soon they could hear voices up ahead and slowed as Knile took stock of the situation.

The voices were gruff and raucous, a group of men sharing a few jokes by the sounds of it.  Knile checked his wristwatch before leaning around the corner to see what lay in the next corridor.

“What is it?” Ursie whispered.

“I’m not sure what time these guys clock off,” Knile said.  “And I don’t really have time to wait.  We’ll head in around the back.  They won’t notice us if we’re quiet.”

Knile followed the corridor with Ursie close behind, and they came to the rear of the room from which the workers’ voices emanated.  They were so close that Knile and Ursie could see their shadows through the open doorway.

“And so she goes down on me, right?” one of the men was saying in a brash tone of voice.  “And my
wife is asleep in the next room” – he said amid more gouts of laughter – “and then she asks if I mind if she takes her false teeth out!”

The man continued with his delightful anecdote amid the cheers and guffaws of his captive audience.  The intruders crept about in silence only a few metres away.  Knile collected a pair of grey coveralls and measured them against himself briefly, then did the same with Ursie.  There was nothing that looked as though it would fit her particularly well, so he simply chose the smallest size available.  He then
grasped two climbing harnesses and a handful of metal clips that were on one of the shelves, then pointed to the exit to indicate they should leave.

The two of them slunk back out the way they had come as another of the workmen launched into a new story.  Knile winced as his boots squeaked on the concrete, but he needn’t have worried – the men were oblivious to their presence, caught up in laughter and stories.

Knile and Ursie continued through homogenous, grey-walled corridors on a path that snaked and twisted back and forth
.  Eventually he stopped at what
looked like a dead end, but which in fact contained a barely visible security door recessed into the wall.

“What are we doing?” she said.

“Time for a wardrobe change,” he replied, slipping the coveralls on over his clothes and pulling at the zipper in one long fluid movement.

“Really?” Ursie said, looking disdainfully at her woefully oversized coveralls.  “Is that necessary?”

“Only if you want to look like a maintenance guy and not like some trespasser going places they shouldn’t.”

She rolled her eyes but acquiesced, pulling the garment over her shoulders with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.  She watched Knile step into one of the harnesses and pull the straps tight around his midsection.  Then he began to fiddle with one of the metal clips he’d taken from the storeroom.

“What’s that?” Ursie said.  The sleeves of her coveralls extended well past her hands, the ends of them drooping as if she were some prankster about to go around pretending to be a ghost and scaring little kids.

“This is a carabiner,” Knile said.  “A very necessary part of our swag of climbing gear.”

“Climbing?” Ursie said worriedly, tugging at her sleeve to free her hand.  “What are we climbing now?”

“It’s probably better if I just show you.”

Ursie groaned.  “This just sounds better and better every second.  I guess I should have told you I don’t like hanging off tall
, precarious things.”

“Well,
the good news is, we’re not going up straight away,” Knile said, placing his fingers on the handle of the door behind him.  “First we’re going
out
.”

20

Alton stood quietly before the five men, a polite little smile on his face as they watched him warily. They were dressed in black two-
piece suits with single-breasted jackets and plain cotton shirts that were open at the collar.  Five more men stood behind Alton with the same air of respect and the same attire, forming
a loose ring around both him and Tucker.

This must have been one of the more opulent apartments in Juncture Nine, Alton decided.  The carpet was really quite lovely, he thought, clean and plush and well maintained, qualities that were hard to come by out in Link.  The furniture was respectable, the easy chairs and matching sofa a rich, dark brown, and tasteful canvases hung on the wall, abstract depictions whose dark tones accentuated the rest of the decor.  A large glass frame in the far wall looked out upo
n the ever-gloomy confines of Juncture Nine.

Alton regarded each man before him in turn.  They were rough sorts, no doubt about it.  There was a certain glint in their eyes, a steel that could only come from many hard years working the streets.  He imagined that every single one of them had done bad things in their time – broken the bones of debtors who had been late on their payments, carried out hits at the whim of their bosses.  They were thieves, murderers, men without conscience.

Those jackets that hung from their shoulders did not sit well, Alton decided, not a single one.  At first he hadn’t been sure what irked him about their appearance so much, but then he realised that was it.  They did not belong in such clothes, he thought.  Wearing the suits went against their nature.  It amounted to a poor attempt at respectability, and in the end only cheapened their appearance instead of enhancing it.  They looked foolishly out of place, like chimpanzees in tuxedos.

He’d hoped for better, but he supposed he would have to settle for the tools that were at his disposal.

“Where is he?” Alton asked no one in particular.

The men in suits glanced at each other uncertainly.

“He’ll be along when he’s ready,” one of them said.

Alton sighed and inclined his head toward Tucker beside him.

“Is no one punctual anymore?” he said with resignation.

“Good help is hard to find, boss,” Tucker said.

Alton lifted his holophone and checked it impatiently.

“Time is wasting away,” he said.

“He’ll be along soon,” the man in the suit insisted.

“Well, he’ll just have to catch up when he arrives,” Alton said.  “I’ve waited long enough.”

The men in suits looked at each other again, alarmed at this break in protocol.

“We aren’t the decision-makers,” another man said.  “You have to wait.”

“So,” Alton began, ignoring the man’s protest.  Despite their rough demeanours, he could see the respect in these men’s eyes and knew that his reputation preceded him, that they wouldn’t dare to interrupt.  “There’s a very lucrative deal on offer for those of you who are looking to
make a smal
l fortune in creds.  It’s a one-
time offer, twenty-four hours of work with a nice little bonus for anyone who successfully locates the target.”

“What about for the ones who don’t find him?” one of the men said.

“You still get paid, you just don’t get the bonus.”  Alton glanced around the circle to make sure they were all following, then went on.  “You all know me.  Even though this is the first time most of you have seen me in the flesh, you’re aware of my reputation.  You know that I’m a businessman and that my word is my bond.  If you agree to work for me, you can rest assured that you will be paid.  I will hold up my end of the bargain.”  He levelled his index finger at the men.  “You can also rest assured that I will not tolerate indolence or apathy.  If you agree to my ter
ms, I expect you to give me one
hundred percent.  There is no room for anything less in this operation.”

“What’s involved?” one of the men said.  “Are we going after one of the Enforcers?”

“No, nothing like that.  Listen carefully.”  He looked around at each of the men pointedly.  “I’m in search of a passkey that will take me off-world.  Now, normally the identity of those who have been issued such a thing is unknown.  The supply of passkeys is a highly secretive process where the identity of the bearers is known only by the Consortium and the bearers themselves.

“However, on this occasion I have received information from an intermediary.  A friend, if you will.  This friend has supplied me with the identity of one of these passkey recipients.  I know the man’s name and what he looks like, and I plan to intercept him before he can reach the Wire and take his place on the railcar.”

“What good will that do?” one of the men said.  “The passkey won’t have your name on it.  It won’t work.”

“Leave those finer points to myself and Mr. Tucker here,” Alton said, gesturing to the bald man beside him.  “Your job is really quite simple – search your assigned zone and apprehend the mark.  Kill him if you have to, just make sure you get the passkey.  Then you call it in and we do the rest.”

“Why don’t we keep an eye on the main elevators?” one of the men said.  “Just snag him on his way up?”

“No, we can’t do that.  The Enforcers are after him.  He’ll be trying to find an alternate route from what I’ve been told.”

One of the men scratched the three-
day growth on his cheek.  “How the hell are we supposed to find him before the Enforcers?  They have like… hundreds of men.”

Alton shrugged.  “You know the Reach better than I.  You live here, don’t you?”  The man nodded.  “Would it be fair to say that the Enforcers aren’t well liked in these parts?  That they aren’t welcomed by the people who live here, and that they lack penetration because of it?”