Ashes: Chapter 4

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	Ashes: Chapter 4
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The muffled purring of the car combined with Shadow's tiredness to send him to sleep. Car had seen this happen many times over the past few weeks and knew that he would want his bed when he woke up. Changing course, car drove off towards shadow's home in the corporate district, away from the bright lights and random violence of the areas outside corporate police control.

Shadow awoke with a start, his hand going to the mono-knife in its wrist sheath before he was even aware of his surroundings. The view from his right eye flickered and flared for a brief moment as it carried out a self-test before returning to normal mode.

"Sorry to wake you Shad, but you have a phone call," his car informed him. "I have checked the calling party's number, and they appear to be calling from a club called 'Paradise Island'. Do you want me to take it?"

"Paradise Island? Never heard of it. Might as well take it, now that I'm awake," said Shadow, relaxing again now that he knew there was no danger.

"Ok Shad, putting it through now," said car, linking the phone into the comms system she used to talk to Shadow.

"Shad? I need your help," blurted Cathy's voice from the speaker, "I think I'm being followed."

"Cathy? Calm down, I can hardly make out what you're saying. Who's following you?" Shadow's mind went into overdrive, wondering who could have Cathy this worked up. She was a better assassin than he, and yet she was calling him for help, what's could be happening?

"I don't know who, but I can make a good guess," said Cathy worriedly.

"You think Steel's after you? Frack! ..."

"Yeah, I'm worried too.."

"Frack! Ok, Ok, I'll come and get you, where are you?"

"I'm at Paradise Island on the strip, please hurry!"

"Ok Cath. I'll be there as soon as I can, sit tight and I'll be there before you know it."

Cutting the phone call, Shadow said "Car, give me all you got, I want to be there ten minutes ago. And give me a summary of that file on Steel that I fed into you."

His car spun in the road, tyres squealing, and accelerated away, back towards the strip. Car's usually light-hearted, feminine voice had turned flat and metallic as it usually did when she needed to use more processor time on driving.

"Passive restraint system engaged.
Engaging Transax Injection System
Injection System engaged."

Shadow felt the seat pressing harder against him as the extra acceleration from the injection system kicked in.

"Commencing readout of file Steel_Info:

Handle:	Steel
Age:	38
Rank:	All ranks revoked
Appearance:	6 feet 2 inches tall, short black hair, large build, afro-american ancestry.
Distinguishing Features:	Burnished steel cyberhand (right). Ritual scars on chest.
Classification:	Deadly. Terminate on contact
Relevant Information:	One of the best assassins the american guild has produced. Particularly adept at hand-to-hand combat, where his cyberhand is used to great effect. Guild champion (Americas Region) in Ninjitsu for seven consecutive years. Lost on countback this year, after the final was a draw. The winner was Catherine Anderson, newly transferred from Japan. Was the youngest non-japanese assassin to reach the inner-circle, a record recently broken by Catherine Anderson.
Personality	His yearly check-up revealed that he was deeply afraid that his age was corroding his skills, and more particularly that he was no longer 'the best'. Despite warnings he turned to cyberwear to improve his body. He became more and more irrational and violent, and the bodycount on operations he was involved in grew until it became unacceptable. He was warned about his behaviour, and ordered to have his cyberwear removed. When under sedation to be brought in for the operation he killed the three assassins escorting him and escaped. At this time he is considered very dangerous, and any sightings should be reported to the assassin's guild. If the opportunity presents itself, he should be terminated.

End of file."

Shadow's car screeched to a halt outside the club where a group of people was already beginning to gather. Jumping out of the car, Shadow ran over to the entrance and seeing the crumpled bodies pulled out his pistol, and brought the targeting option of his cybereye up.

Pushing through the small crowd he knelt down by the dead bouncers. Rolling over the top body he started at the sight of the smashed face. The whole face was pulped, the eye sockets pushed deep back into the head, no doubt sending fragments of bone into the brain. The other body's head was twisted round, the neck obviously broken. The only mark that shadow could see was a small blue bruise on the right side of the neck, in the gap between the neck muscles and the windpipe and over the break in the neck. A killing blow that powerful and accurate, combined with the simple brutality of the smashed face agreed with what he knew about Steel, brilliant but brutal.

"She was right," thought Shadow, "Frack! He'd better not have got to Cathy." Looking up, he noticed that people were quickly clearing the area, and he heard the word "Inquisitors" passing through the crowd. "That's all I need, bloody inquisitors snooping around, blaming me for these poor sods." Standing up he noticed the door to the office was sitting slightly off its hinges and went through.

Yustovich was lying just inside the door, holding one of his arms across his chest where his shirt was soaked in blood. As Shadow knelt down beside him Yustovich opened his eyes, and drew an obviously painful breath. Looking at his chest Shadow saw the sharp point of a rib sticking through the bloodstained

shirt. Yustovitch tried to say something but only succeeded in coughing up blood. With his good arm he pulled Shadow closer to his mouth and breathed "help her, I couldn't stop him."

"Where did she go," asked Shadow urgently, but a glance at Yustovitch's unseeing eyes showed him he would get no answer.Laying him gently down, Shadow scanned the room, his eyes lighting on the back door.

"You did well and you shall be remembered," he said, bowing to the lifeless body, before opening the back door and running out into the alley.

Created by: wraith on Sun 07 Mar 99

SEE ALSO:		<< Ashes: Chapter 3 \| Index \| Ashes: Chapter 5 >>
	Ashes: Prologue Ashes: Chapter 1 Ashes: Chapter 2 Ashes: Chapter 3

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