Chapter 10
Evasion, Escape and Karma in Spades
Alyssa finished packing in less than ten minutes. She didn't bother with Morena's bag -- she just shoved everything into her duffel and backpack. She'd sort it out later. Then she waited.
For all of about one minute.
Deciding it was stupid to hang around, she asked one of the staff which way Morena had gone and started following her. Whatever the President provided in the way of transportation, they'd be together and not waste time trying to hook up.
It must have looked odd to see a woman in deerskin with a bow slung on her back hurrying through the streets of the City, but Alyssa didn't care. She needed to catch up with Morena. Then she caught sight of one of the turquoise beads and thought,
Oh fuck! Here we go...
* * * * * * * * * *
Morena had left to go find the President. She figured the best place to start looking would be the Council Chambers where they had just handed down the indictment. Next would be the President's office. Both were heavily guarded by people who were probably loyal to the Council. It was unlikely that the continuing feud between the Loyal Opposition and the Sycophants would leave the Council comfortable with armed guards who weren't thoroughly vetted. Hence, it was less likely that someone would try to kill Morena in those areas.
The problem was, they weren't in the same building. Not even close, by a matter of several long blocks. There were multiple paths, between street level and the various pedestrian walkways and the inner city tram, to get from any given Point A to any other Point B. Some were more dangerous than others. She felt the slight bulge of the body pistol she'd purchased earlier in it holster, hidden in her clothes. It certainly seemed like the right day to have made that purchase.
She managed to get to the Council HQ without picking up a tail, or so she thought. The problem was, Council HQ was swamped with media crews reporting on the indictment, and the last thing she needed was to be seen. Hiding in an alcove off the main foyer, she managed to get the attention of one of the guards.
"Is the President still in Chambers?" she asked quietly.
She was informed that the President and other members of the Committee, in order to avoid the media crush, had evacuated. When Morena asked to where, she was informed that it was classified. Frustrated, she eased her way back out of the Council building. She was going to try the President's office next, but realizing that Alyssa would be walking into a trap if she tried to follow, Morena decided it was breadcrumb time.
Dropping one at the intersection of the two walkways, she moved towards the President's office building, but slipped into a stairwell to a lower pedestrian level, dropping another bead. She hoped Alyssa was as good as she seemed. She made her way downstairs and just as she was exiting the stairwell into the Skywalk, she thought she saw the shadow of someone in a cloak descending the stairs behind her.
Not stopping to check it out, she dropped a bead and moved into the Skyway, hurrying to get lost in the crowd. When she'd gotten to the next building, she slowed up and studied the scene behind her by looking into the reflection in the building's glass doors. And there
was
someone in a dark cloak and slouch hat coming along the walkway. She hurried into the building and headed for the elevators, then realized she couldn't use them without losing Alyssa.
Damn!
she thought as she scanned for other options.
Not the stairwell,
she thought.
It's too confining and I may be heading into an associate of the asshole following me.
She looked down a hallway and noticed a sign for a fire escape.
That'll have to do,
she decided. She dropped a bead and headed for the window giving access to the fire escape. She dropped another bead in front of the window and climbed out, heading down.
Suddenly the black cloaked figure dropped past her, by the simple expedient of holding on to the outer rail, dropping to the next level and catching himself at that level, then dropping and catching again. He swung in one level below and began climbing towards her. Morena drew the pistol and held it at her side, out of sight. Better he be close.
And he got close. He sprang at her and grabbed her by the throat, pushing her up against the wall, holding up a huge knife in his other hand.
"Time to die, you treasonous bitch," he told her.
The two shots were muffled by his body cavity. He looked surprised as Morena grabbed his knife hand with the one not holding the pistol and pushed the knife away. He sank to his knees bleeding out from two ragged holes in his upper back. Morena had pushed the pistol against his belly, tilted it up and fired, twice. The hollow point bullets ripped a huge wound channel through his vital organs and by the time he realized what had happened, he was lying in a pool of his own blood, dying.
To make sure, Morena stepped on his neck, put the pistol against his head and fired one more shot, splattering his brains all over the fire escape. Then she kept moving down. She had no idea if he was alone.
* * * * * * * * * *
Alyssa found the second bead heading into the stairwell. If Morena was trying to avoid being seen, going down to the Skywalk made more sense, so Alyssa checked it first and found the bead at the door to the walkway. Figuring she'd be trying to get lost in the crowd, especially if she was being followed, Alyssa moved into the flow heading across to the other building.
She was rewarded by finding the next bead, but short of the elevators or the stairwell. Looking around, the only other viable direction she could see was towards the fire escape window. So that's the direction she went. She was still ten feet from the window when she saw the glint of the bead.
When she got out onto the platform, she looked up to see if there were any advantage to getting more height above any pursuit and didn't see any. So she headed down and very quickly found the corpse with three bullet holes. Now she knew Morena was being followed. The question was whether the body in front of her was the only one? Looking down, she figured Morena had to be headed for street level and the milling throngs. So she started down as quickly as she could. Somewhere up ahead, her partner was in serious trouble.