Chapter Thirty-Nine – Shots, Spots, Stretchers

Chapter Thirty-Nine – Shots, Spots, Stretchers

“I’m not paid enough for this.”

Jacob “Redundant” Smith, Private PMC Contractor, 2057

***

The ambulances arrived soon enough and parked themselves along one side of the road. It looked pretty organised, with the vans spinning around right away so that they were back-first to the mercs and PMCs that needed them.

Paramedics jumped out, followed by hovering drones that carried cameras for legal documentation, some remote controlled guns, and a small toolkit with medical supplies and whatever equipment the paramedics needed.

The vans were the bigger sort, with bunked gurneys so that each one could carry half a dozen patients at the same time.

I imagined that they’d all be filled up soon enough.

The mercs had stood down already, but now some of them were tossing guns and gear away as the medics arrived and started unfolding their gurneys to load up the worst and richest of the injured first.

I nodded along, happy to see that things were operating smoothly. It meant that I could refocus on Rac and her friends. “So,” I said.

Rac and her little gang of weirdos were still focused on me. Especially Coco. I’d thought she was pretty cool before, but now I wasn’t so sure. The woman definitely had that fan-girl vibe going on, and while that was fine, it was less fine when it was pointed my way. Rac, at least, looked better. Colour was returning to her cheeks and her eyes were sharp. It didn’t look like she was going to pass out anymore.

“Uh, I guess we should see about those prosthetics?” I said. “Oh, and you can meet Gomorrah. You remember her, right Rac?”

“Yeah,” Rac said. “She’s moving in under you.”

I nodded slowly, then decided to clarify the statement for the audience. “Yeah, she’s taking over some of the floors in the building under my, uh, house.”

It looked like Coco was vibrating a little as she turned towards Rac. “You know where she lives?” she asked.

Rac looked supremely uncomfortable, but also reluctant to answer. “I, uh, live with Lucy. That’s Ca– Stray Cat’s wife.”

“Girlfriend,” I pointed out. “For now.”

“You proposed?” Rac asked.

“Really, Cat?” Gomorrah asked as she came up behind me.

“What? No. I mean. I will. Eventually. I guess. If Lucy wants.”

Gomorrah gave me a very unimpressed look, which was impressive considering the full-face mask that was permanently stuck in disappointed glare. She did sigh after a moment. “Actually, that makes perfect sense. She would be the one to act on it.”

“What’s that mean?” I asked.

“Nevermind,” Gomorrah said. “I’m keeping my stones uncast here.”

“Changing the topic for a moment. How did you learn where the prosthetics were? Or did you just keep up with the others swarming the place?”

Garter spoke up at last. “We were here first,” he said. “Jerusalem was the one to track things down. It took tracking the goods moving around the city, then backtracking to local private military companies.”

“Why PMCs?” I asked.

“Because the trail was really well covered. It was professional work, and we know what mid-level mercenaries can do. This was better. So that left either full-on corpo black-ops, or well-paid PMCs. Or, I guess samurai, but the gig’s client was a samurai, so that wouldn’t make sense.”

“I’m following you so far,” I said.

“So, yeah, Jerusalem and I got a short-list of active PMCs in the region, then we worked our way back from there. Checked on the media feeds of some members. Mostly tedious shit, but we got a few suspicious hits after a few hours which led us to this place.” He gestured across the street to the warehouse the PMCs had been guarding. “After that, it was checking the cameras until we saw some suspicious vans pull in and unload the goods.”

I turned and stared at the warehouse across the street. The front of it was… kinda fucked, really. The amount of gunfire being let loose around here had done a number on the thin concrete walls, leaving it chipped and cracked all over. “So, they brought my shit here, huh?”

“Yeah,” Garter said. “I, uh, don’t imagine this means we’re the ones to fulfil the contr–” he cut off with a cough, and when I glanced back Rac was rubbing her elbow and Garter his lower ribs.

This narrative has been purloined without the author’s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“We’ll see about that,” I said noncommittally. It was one thing to pay up, it was another to pay up after I had to fly over and wreck shit with my mech. Plus now I was down a bunch of ammo and up a few scratches.

Something didn’t add up, though.

“Hey, Gom,” I said.