Shadowrun - 12 - Lone Wolf by Findley Nigel

Author:Findley, Nigel [Findley, Nigel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

18

Well, we all knew I’d do it eventually, didn’t we?

The sun’s coming up, a sullen glow to the east, off over the Barrens, and I’m cruising slowly north on Highway 5. My stolen Americar’s got a fairly sophisticated autopilot, the kind that’s supposed to be able to synch up so well with the traffic-control grids in the roads that it can follow a set course and not slam into anything on the way. Now’s as good a time as any for a test run. While keeping my eyes on the road and at least one hand within easy grabbing range of the wheel, I’m also trying to monitor the tech and place a phone call using the pocket secretary so considerately returned a few hours ago.

Placing a call through the cel system from a moving car is the best way to avoid anyone locating me. Sure, someone decked into the phone system might be able to figure out I’m heading north on Highway 5 near such-and-such exit. But with the morning rush-hour traffic starting to build around me, I figure the resolution of any locator circuit in the phone won't be good enough to select one car from many. (Frag, I wish I'd thought of this last night . . .)

That’s part of the reason. The other is that I’m heartily sick of public phones.

So who am I calling? Like I said, priyatel, we all knew I'd do it eventually. Place the call to the LTG number the elf gave me last night, I mean. The one to the blind relay that should get me in touch with the shadowrunner who calls himself Argent.

I chewed on it for most of the night, the advice I got from both Finnigan—a friend—and the elf biff—most definitely not a friend, but maybe not an enemy either. On reflection, I can see that the idea makes sense. Shadowrunners have resources that I don’t—not anymore, not now that I’m cut off from the Star. They’ve got freedom of action, and they’ve got no love or loyalty for any established organization— Lone Star, the Cutters, or Telestrian Industries Corporation. They’re used to navigating the nooks and crannies of society, staying out of the light, and keeping one step ahead of all the factions that’d like to see their guts ripped out. Sort of like me at the moment. But—

But shadowrunners are the bad guys, that’s what’s bothering me. And no one whose gone through any kind of police training can escape that line of thought. To a cop’s mind all people can be lumped into three simple categories: cops, civilians, and scumbags. A simple breakdown, with no exceptions. Oh sure, the “civilian” classification tends to drift a bit. When a cadet first leaves the Academy, all fired up and eager, naive and green, he might tend to rate civilians as right up there, almost as admirable and worthy of attention as cops. That doesn’t last long, though, and soon civilians drop way down the scale to rest only a few notches above scumbags.

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