(eng) Niall Teasdale - Ultrahumans 04 by Frostburn

Author:Frostburn [Frostburn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Part Four: Devil’s Due

San Francisco, CA, 11th December, 2014.

Christmas was a-coming. Well, it was a couple of weeks away, but well into December as it was, Rachel Halford figured some decorations were in order. It would brighten up her dingy little third-storey apartment on the outskirts of the Tenderloin district and make her feel more like celebrating.

In truth, her life had taken something of an upturn in the last couple of months and Rachel had things to celebrate this year. The band she sang in was starting to get gigs. There were mutterings of a recording deal. Okay, so tomorrow night’s gig at a biker bar was not what you would call ‘the big time,’ but it fitted their image and the patrons at the place had actually asked for them to come back, apparently. Was that building a fan base? Rachel might have hoped for slightly less testosterone and beer in her fans, but there was that thing about gift horses and mouths.

Rachel was busy stringing fairy lights around her lounge window when she heard the voice behind her and almost fell off her footstool. ‘Hello, Ray,’ it said, ‘long time, no see.’

A chill of fear ran up Rachel’s spine and she climbed down with exaggerated slowness before turning around. ‘Simon. Hi. I, uh…’ There he was, standing in her apartment in a pair of scruffy jeans, a band T-shirt, and a winter jacket that looked new. He was supposed to be–

‘Wasn’t expecting to see me here? Hadn’t heard I got out? Maybe you were wondering how I got in? You have to learn to lock your windows. This isn’t a safe neighbourhood.’

Did he know? Did Simon Taverner, aka Beatdown, know who had sold him out to Lament three years ago? Did he hold grudges that long? Who was she kidding? ‘It’s… nice to see you, Simon. I, uh, didn’t know you were out, no. We were all pretty shocked when you were–’

‘Sold out to my bitch of a sister? You should pay more attention to the newspapers, Ray. “Beatdown in Bank Terror.” It’s not exactly a great headline, but they don’t need much when the byline is that I put Lament in the hospital.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Why’d you do it, Ray? The band needed money, I got it, you dropped a dime to the Stars.’

‘I didn’t–’

‘Don’t. Just… don’t. I know it was you. You were the only one who knew about my… exotic talents. I was going straight, Ray. Just that one job. One job to set us up. Then I could’ve made music, like I want to.’

‘You put two security guards in the hospital,’ Rachel responded. She was not getting out of this and she was the kind of girl who got her digs in while she could. ‘One of them will never walk again. You call that going straight, Simon? You think you’d have stopped? No one else does. You’ve been pulling petty crimes for years, you–’

Sound hit her like a sledgehammer, driving her back into the window.

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