45 - Rabe, Jean & Helfers, John by Aftershock (2013)

Author:Aftershock (2013)
Format: epub
Published: 2013-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

19

4:43:01 p.m.

The Nightsky slipped through the streets of Ballard like a gray wraith, the blocky Typhoons following on its flanks. Inside, Roland watched beads of sweat form on Hiyakawa’s forehead as he concentrated on the spell he was maintaining.

After they had left the troll politician fuming in his plush apartment, Roland had requested that the shaman summon another city spirit and request that it search the area to find the pollen trail and lead them to its source. Hiyakawa had also wanted to keep an eye on the spirit as it looked. As he was doing so, the sec chiefs commlink hummed, indicating an incoming call.

“This is Roland, go.”

“Chief, get ready to be happy. ” Morgan’s jolly voice said in his mind. “Tell him, Trevor.”

“Hey boss, while I was in that apartment building’s sec system, I ‘borrowed’ the last twenty-four hours of camera footage on the garage door, and this is what I found. ”

A window opened and showed three still shots from a security camera. The first was a familiar, battered Ares Roadmaster entering the underground garage. The second showed the same Ares, now being towed by a heavy-duty GMC 4201 that had been converted into a wrecker. The last shot was of a clean and shiny Ford-Canada Bison RV, complete with license plate. The time stamp in the bottom right hand corner showed that the two vehicles had come and gone about twelve hours apart.

“Now, these are the only two vans or RVs that have entered or left the premises in the past twelve hours. I’ll bet my next paycheck that our runners—and the cargo—are on that Bison. ”

“Trevor, if you’re right, you’re getting Morgan’s job.” Roland had cut his connection over his lieutenant’s squawk of outrage and nodded to the shaman. “I’ve got something better than the pollen for your spirit to track.” He linked into the flatscreen monitor in the backseat of the limo and showed the Bison. “Have it look for this vehicle, as fast as it can, starting with the downtown area first.”

That had turned out to be very fast indeed. The spirit had easily outpaced the Nightsky, disappearing into the urban sprawl in a twinkling. Hiyakawa had suggested cruising Highway 5, which bisected Seattle proper from the University to downtown, figuring the runners wouldn’t want to set the deal up too close to where their safe house had been. Meanwhile, the shaman would maintain a view one hundred meters above them, so that he could see the spirit as soon as it came back.

Roland had set it up, informing the Typhoon drivers of the plan, and they had settled in for the most nerve-wracking twenty minutes of their lives. As the Nightsky slipped in and out of the late afternoon traffic, he tried not to think about the precious time slipping away. But the readout in the corner of his vision wouldn’t let him. Nineteen hours and six minutes left until his corp and his world crumbled underneath his feet. That is not going to happen on my watch, not without one fraggin’ huge fight.

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