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| Ashes: Chapter 3 | ||
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| It was raining again, the wet pavements reflecting the garish neon signs of the
strip joints and topless bars that had populated this area for as long as she
could remember. She glanced nervously behind her, unable to shake the feeling
that she was being followed. She had been trying to lose the feeling all night, so
if there really was someone following her, they were very good.
She used to like weather like this, with the rain forcing people into large, shapeless overcoats, and the smog causing everyone to wear an air filter. It was the perfect weather for following someone: with a colour-changing jacket; a filter hiding your face; and occasional changes in posture and stride you could become just another face in the crowd, all but invisible to your quarry. But tonight she was the quarry, and she was worried. She turned again to have a look at the crowd thronging the pavement behind her, but as before she noticed nothing odd, no one that was always behind her. Switching to thermograph she tried to look for weapons, or other suspicious changes from the average temperature, but the rain was ruining the readings. It covered everyone in a cold blanket, hiding the true temperature from the sensors in her cybereye. In any case her cybereye always played up in high humidity, making the thermograph scan worse than useless. She turned back around and kept walking, trying to lose her pursuer in the thick crowd that always thronged this area at night, whatever the weather. That was one reason she had come here. The other reason she had come this way was to collect on a favour. The manager of 'Paradise Island' owed her a favour, which she had been keeping for a rainy day. Well, today was a monsoon. She had a final look round before entering Paradise Island, but again she could find no reason for her feeling of being followed. As she made to step through the doors into the dark interior, one of the overly muscled bouncers stepped out to block her path. Looking up and down the lithe figure in a soaking wet tracksuit he smiled to his partner on the door. "Sorry lady, I'm afraid this really isn't your kinda place," he smarmed, "but if you want to come back in a couple of hours when I get off, I'll take you somewher much better." "Look guys I'm just here to see the boss, so if you just get out the way..." she said, making to step round him. "Hey lady, I'm afraid I can't let you do that. He's a very busy man and we don't need no more dancers," he said, interposing himself between her and the entrance again. "It's been a bad day guys, so please get out my way before it gets any worse." She was trying very hard to remain calm, as breaking Yustovich's bouncers before asking for a favour probably wasn't a good move. The uglier of the two looked as if he was about to try and hit her, when a voice from inside laughed "I wouldn't try that Kang, she's liable to take your arm off. Besides, this is my good friend Cathy." The bouncer backed off and gave a small bow of apology and even managed to look slightly embarrased. She walked in and gave Yustovitch a small peck on the cheek, to which he replied with a huge bearhug that belied his advancing years. "What's my little Siberian tiger doing round here? Have you finally agreed to come and dance for me?" He laughed, sweeping his arm out in the general direction of the stage at the far end of the club, where women in flower garlands and not much else were currently performing to a crowd of three. "I'm worried Yusty, " she started, "I think someone's following me and I just can't shake them. I couldn't think where else to go..." Yustovitch interrupted her. "You know I'd do anything for you child, come into the office and tell me what I can do." Worriedly he thought to himself, "someone following her that she couldn't shake? Who the hell's after her, the devil himself?" He showed her through the door he had just exited, told the bouncers to close up, and followed her into his office. "I wont need to be in your way for long," she said nervously, "I just want to borrow your phone to give a friend a call. He'll come and get me and I can be out of your hair." He passed her over the phone, saying "I'm always delighted to see you Cathy, and you can stay as long as you want. If you need any help, you need but ask...I'm not as old as I look," he finished, picking up the baseball bat that was lying in the corner, and giving it a few practice swings. "Thanks," she replied, laying her hand gently on his for a moment. "If it would do any good I would take you up on your offer in a second, but I don't want to see you get hurt." She picked up the phone and quickly dialled a number, turning away from him slightly. "Shad? I need your help, I think I'm being followed ... I don't know who, but I can make a good guess ... Yeah, I'm worried too ... I'm at Paradise Island on the strip, please hurry!" As she finished her phone call she caught movement out the corner of her eye and spun round to look through the one-way mirror that showed the main door. She saw a tall, black clad figure catch an attempted throat-strike by Kang, at the same time as blocking a roundhouse kick by the other bouncer. The neon lights over the door glinted off the man's cyberhand as he squeezed Kang's hand tighter and tighter, ignoring Kang's ineffectual and increasingly desparate attempts to free his hand. At the same time, he kicked the other bouncer in the stomach. Then, as the bouncer folded from the first kick, he unleashed a viscious sidekick towards his falling head. The bouncer's head twisted round at an impossible angle and he fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. Turning to Kang, who by this time was kneeling on the floor in agony, he grabbed Kang's head with his free hand and calmly rammed it into his knee, then tossed the limp body on top of his partner's. Yustovitch suddenly looked young again. He reached under his desk and pulled out a sawn-off shotgun. Turning to Cathy he said "Go out the back way, I'll slow him down." She was about to say something, but the look in his eyes stopped her, and she turned to go. As she looked back before closing the back door she saw her old friend Yusty looking just as he had in South Am War 10 years ago. Strangely calm, he slid a 12-guage slug into the shotgun, pumped the action, then slid in another. Feeling her eyes on him, he turned and gave her is wolfish grin, before turning back and heading for the front door to the office. There were tears in her eyes as she ran down the alley behind the club. |
| SEE ALSO: | << Ashes: Chapter 2 | Index | Ashes: Chapter 4 >> | ||
|
Ashes: Prologue Ashes: Chapter 1 Ashes: Chapter 2 |
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