In the days after I put Emily on the case, I started to breathe a little easier. Sure... I was still more mixed up than Joe Meach after he stood next to that statue case in that lightning storm - but knowing that I'd be getting the inside scoop on the way things were playing out made me feel like I could get back to something a little closer to my normal rhythm. It might sound cold - but Lotta pushing up daises didn't mean I still didn't have bills to pay.
I got a few more calls from Junior, but they were getting less frequent as the days went on. It goes without saying that "Growing Up Handsome" wasn't the top thing on his mind anymore - and god only knew if any funding would come through now, anyway. I just filed that one away in development hell for the time being and moved on. I was also doing a pretty good job of dodging Director Lad's calls. Poor kid. It was going break his heart when he found out that I had to back-burner "Engine Joe" for about the twentieth time.
I had a couple of reminders, too, from the Security Office that they still wanted me to come downtown to give that statement. I'd been doing my best to put that off until Em made contact with me, but - as the days starting ticking off - I figured it had to be starting look pretty suspicious. After a week of nothing, I figured I'd just have to bite the bullet and go in blind. I'd just stick to the same story I gave in my office, and play dumb if anything started to go off script.
Lucky for me, though, nothing did. I wound up giving my statement to some stylus-pushing desk jockey who looked like he had as much interest in my story as a Naltorian hearing yesterday's headlines. Twice I had to tell the guy that there was no "U" in "Handsome".
I wrapped up inside of about a half hour and, with that behind me, I was feeling about on top of the world. I made my way down the front steps of the Security Office and back onto the pavement and was just about to light up a celebratory trigar, when my Omnicom buzzed.
"Hello?"
"Nihil... it's me."
"Emily? What the sprock, Em? It's been a week. You're supposed to ke..."
"Listen..." she interrupted, " I don't have a lot of time. My shuttle's leaving in ten minutes."
"Your shuttle? Emily what's going on? Where are you?"
"Grand Central Space Port, but that's not important. Listen... you haven't talked to anyone else from the Security Office, have you?"
"What? Yeah... actually I did. I just got out of giving my statement. I couldn't wait around anymore, so I just parroted the same spiel I gave Matlock."
"Fine, keep it that way. Listen... this thing is bigger than you think. This isn't just some tarted-up mob princess getting knocked off."
"Emily, what are you talking about? Listen you've got to come in now... meet me at my off..."
"No time. I'm going to Earth.
"Earth? Are you still following Matlock?"
"Matlock? No... I stopped following him four days ago."
"What? Who are you following now?"
"You let me worry about that, OK? The less you know right now, the safer you'll be."
"Safer? Em... seriously... slow down... what in god's name are you talking about?"
"I have to go. Listen... as soon as you get the chance, you need to get to the West Side. There is a place in the 240's called Greenbucks - a cheese shop..."
"A cheese sh... what?"
"Ask for Eddie Stilton. He'll fill you in.
"Eddie Stilton? Blue Cheese Lad? That guy's like eighty years old. What's he got to do with..."
"Just stop asking questions, OK? Talk to Eddie. I told him you'd be in touch. And whatever you do... do not talk to..."
I never heard the last part of Emily's call because just as I came around the corner - totally oblivious to anything but the craziness Em was spewing - I slammed smack into some girl walking the other way.
"Hey!"
"Oh, my god... I am so sorry," I said, scrambling to help her pick up her things, "I was talking on my com... and I wasn't looking where I was going... I just..."
All of a sudden I stopped short. At that moment, you could have knocked me over with a bowl of Rann Antar's feathers.
It was the girl I had seen at the seaside that morning. It was the girl with the sword.
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Still half in shock - as much from even seeing this girl again, as from realizing what a looker she was up close - I stood up and handed her the handbag she dropped.
"I... I'm just sorry... here you go."
"No problem," she said with the barest hint of a smile, taking my stupor for embarrassment, I guess, "I was late for work anyway. Another minute's not going to make a difference."
I looked in her eyes for any glimmer of recognition, but she wasn't reacting at all. Maybe I had been too far away that morning for her to get a good look at my mug, or maybe she had been too caught up in her routine to even pay attention. Either way, at least I had one less person to worry about tying me back to Lotta. Good thing, too, because I was in no shape right then to start making up new stories.
I got to admit, I was a little flummoxed by how gorgeous this gal was. She was a tiny little thing with skin the color of one of Cafe Cramer's chai lattes, and beautiful eyes like a twin pair of Winathian almonds. Her straight black hair fell over shoulders that you could tell had been toned to precision. I was guessing that little demo I'd seen on the beach was just the tip of the iceberg of the hours of practice this girl had logged.
I could have looked at this beauty all day - and probably would have - if she didn't speak up after a second or two of me gawking at her.
"Well... thank you... and be careful where you're going, OK?"
She smiled and started walking away.
"Wait... I..."
"Yes?" turning back around.
"I... uh..."
"Yes?"
"Can I... can I make it up to you, somehow?"
"Hmm? Oh, that's not necessary... it was just a small accident."
Cripes, what a mess I was. Here I was - in the middle of the biggest crisis of my life: Security Office bearing down on one side... Emily going nuts on the other... a missing dead girl right in the middle - and all I could think about was keeping this graceful little creature in front of me for as long as I could. I'm really a sap when it comes to a pretty face, I got to tell you.
I listened to the hackneyed words coming out of my mouth almost like somebody else was saying them. Once again that Nihil mouth was moving faster than its brain.
"I know, but could I... could I maybe buy you a cup of coffee?"
"Are you serious?" she laughed with a confused grin as she walked back toward me. "Do you always hit on girls you run over?"
"Only the ones that are running late."
"Late... oh, god... I am late... I'm sorry, Mr..."
"Nihil."
"Nihil... wait, Exnihil... the holo producer?"
"Yeah... why? What have you heard?" I smiled, trying badly to be charming.
"Listen... Mr. Nihil... I really do have to go, right now... but... um... this is really weird, but... OK, sure, why not... I'll get a cup of coffee with you. I usually go to Cafe Cramer after work, anyway. You want to just meet me over there, tonight?"
"Absolutely. I'll be there. What time do you get off?"
"Nine o'clock."
"All right, nine it is."
"OK, then." She smiled and nodded, giving a quick wave before starting away in a hurry back down the street.
"Oh... wait!" I called after her, "I don't even know your name..."
She laughed and called back, "I'm sorry... My Whee Fem."
My Whee Fem.
I started to smile as I continued to watch her trot away. This day was looking up. Before my smile even had time to fully form, though, I saw her take a left turn. She bounded up the same Security Office steps that I had just gone down not more than five minutes before. She worked at the Security Office?
Grife... I could just not catch a break.
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Guy meets girl... girl agrees to a date... girl turns out to be a flatfoot who'd just as soon slap a pair of cuffs on you as look at you. Under any other circumstances that last bit might actually be sort of fun - but not when you're the guy who's about one piece of evidence away from being the prime suspect in a murder case.
I padded away from the Security Office as the old noodle started spinning again. I was thinking I should maybe just blow off the whole thing and leave My Whee sitting by her lonesome later that night. The last thing I needed was to slip up and spill anything else that might get back to Matlock. On the other hand, though... who knew? Maybe chatting up My Whee might be just the thing I needed to get some inside skinny on where the Security Office really was with the Lotta case.
God knows I needed some news. My last best hope with Emily Sivana had just hopped a shuttle - bound for god knew where on Earth. Yeesh... what a nutty dame. I should have known that once she got on the trail of something big, she'd start tracing it back harder than a Kwai pathfinder. She'd been underground for a week without a word, then suddenly pops up with a lead to Eddie Stilton - the old "Blue Cheese Lad" from the Primary Color Gang.
Emily... what were you getting yourself into?
I started running down the list of folks I needed to keep tabs on. Junior... Tamper... Emily... Matlock... and now Eddie. My dance card was getting fuller than a contestant's at a Jandan shurg-off.
I tried the reconnect on my Omnicom back to Emily for about the twentieth time, but it still was coming back as unavailable. Her shuttle must have already flown and - if her bird was taking the express route - there wasn't any way I could get her until she passed through the solar radiation belt.
Well... if Eddie was all I had to go on, I figured it was better to meet him as soon as possible. I couldn't imagine how he could possibly be mixed up in all this. Sure... Eddie Stilton had been a crook and a half back his heyday, but he done his time years ago and was now a respectable Legion World citizen. If Emily said he had some info, though, I'd better beat feet and find out. The West Side was a bit of a hike from downtown, so I figured I'd save myself some shoe leather and make my way down to the nearest Nova Express station.
I was about three blocks away when I realized I was being followed.
I'd just pulled up my Com to try pinging Em again, when I caught their reflection in the screen. Two hulking guys were lurking behind me about a half block back, looking like a pair of gorillas from a Silver Age sci-fi cover. Could be I was reading it wrong and these heavies were just out for a midday stroll - in their matching trench coats with their hands bulging their pockets out - but "better paranoid then dead" is a motto that's always served me well. I started picking up my step.
As I starting walking faster, I shot a quick glance over my shoulder. Sure enough... the brothers simian picked up their pace, too. I knew this wasn't going to end well if I kept on heading to the station, so as soon as I reached the corner, I bolted to the right. Even as I started running, I heard their heavy footsteps following suit. I darted into an alleyway, hoping they hadn't turned the corner yet.
Wrong call.
I found myself face to face with the alley wall. Crap! I spun around, but it was too late. Tweedle dumb and dumber were already at the alley entrance blocking my way. A second later I heard the sound of a hover transport rounding the corner, as well. It pulled up behind the two and came to a stop. I gritted my teeth and was about to make a hopeless lunge into the two of them just swinging my fists, when one of the two spoke.
"Just take it easy, huh, Mistuh Nee-hill? Dis ain't what cha think. Da boss just says it's time you two had a chat."
"Oh, is that what he says? Well, you just tell your boss - whoever he is - that I've got nothing to say. Now, back off!"
"Yeah... he said you was gonna say dat. C'mon... Mistuh Nee-Hill. Don't make dis hard, kay? I just got my coat pressed. Just get in the transport and we'll all have a nice little ride, huh?"
"You're crazy if you think I'm getting in that transport. You just tell your boss I said... this!"
Against any better judgment, I jumped toward the one guy who was talking, and threw a punch as hard as I could toward his face. I must have slipped, though, because my fist connected squarely with his ear as I fell to the ground.
"Aggghhh! Grife! What cha do that for? Grife, dat hurts! Rocco... just get dis guy into the car, will ya?"
"Sure ting, Al."
Lumbering thug number two reached down and picked me up by the back of my collar like I was nothing more than a Venusian Sneep.
"Come on, you."
I spit at him.
"Aw, cripes! Fine! Da boss said not to do dis, ya little runt... so just considuh dis one from me."
I don't remember exactly how hard his fist connected with my cheek, but I'd guess somewhere in the neighborhood of "hard enough to crack a fusion power sphere," because... the second it hit... all my lights went right out.
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I floated for god knows how long in a blackness that made midnight on Kathoon make seem like the kind of place where you'd reach for your sunglasses. I'm not sure how long I was out but - after a while - the dawn started to crack, as I came around.
I was still groggy as hell but, little by little, I started to sense that I was lying down on something soft, with classical music playing softly in the background. What was going on? I forced the old eyelids open like a post-crisis Kryptonian trying to push a planet, and tried to sit up.
"Ugh!"
I grunted, my consciousness coming back around and - along with it - the throbbing echo of that back alley thug's fist. Raising my hand to my face, I cradling my aching cheek-bone as I squeezed the fog out of my head and looked around.
Where the hell was I?
The first thing that hit me was how expensive everything in this joint looked. Every single object around me - from the velvet covered chaise I was laying on... to the leather library chairs flanking the oversized globe across the room... to the antique oak and mahogany woodwork in every last baseboard, wainscot, banister, molding, and any other corner or crevice - looked liked it cost about my salary for a year.
The whole room was bathed in a warm yellow fourth-dimensional light that seemed to come from both nowhere and everywhere at once. It gave the whole place the feel of being the most elegant - but inviting - room you'd ever been in. Whoever owned this joint was stacked and - given who the players were in my little drama - I had a pretty good idea who it was. The voice from across the room at the bar confirmed it.
"Ah! Mr. Nihil..." Tamper Lad called across the room, "... welcome back to the land of the living!"
Yep, sure enough. I had been waiting weeks for the other shoe to drop with Tamper Lad, but I hadn't counted on it dropping into my face.
"Whu...? What's going on?" I mumbled, swinging my legs around to the floor. I knew Tamper had my number regarding the whole Lotta business, but I figured that he had nothing on me that I didn't have on him. I decided to just play dumb for the time being until he said his piece.
"Apologies... I'm certain you're a bit disoriented after your little nap. You're in my establishment, the Evil Genius Supper Club. Don't let the name alarm you, though, it's merely an affectation... my actual intelligence is rated far above 'genius'. I notice you're admiring the room. This is the Balduurian Library, a room - I must admit - is a bit of a point of pride for me. Feel free to..."
"Ugh..." I rubbed my cheek in pain, already tired of this. "Can the grand tour, already, huh? What the hell is going on here?"
Tamper Lad grinned, pouring a small amount of brandy into a snifter.
"Right to the point, is it, Mr. Nihil? Very good... I admire a man of action. I would have expected nothing less from your reputation. I apologize for all the theatrics... I couldn't very well have sent you an embossed invitation, you know. Let me stress that I cannot apologize enough for the actions of my men. They were expressly instructed that no harm should come to you, but... the heat of the moment, and all that. Hmm... that eye does not look good, though, does it? I'm afraid our chef has already begun preparing the evening's dinner, so I don't think I would have any raw meat available to help... but, could I offer you a drink? How do they put it in those holos you enjoy so much... 'What's your poison?'... ha! I believe you are martini man, correct? Will Khundish vodka do... I have a nice 3002..."
"Just save it, all right? I don't want a drink, I don't want a tour, I don't really care what you think you're up to... you tell your thugs if I ever see them again, they better be wearing inertron vests."
Tamper Lad swirled the brandy around the glass, coating the sides, and clucked his tongue.
"Tt...tt...tt... now, Mr. Nihil. It won't do to have you issuing threats against my men. Those in my employ are amongst the finest of gentlemen, if perhaps a bit exuberant regarding their duties. In any case, I had formed a rather positive opinion of you, thus far. Let's not sully that with such talk, shall we?"
"Fine... whatever... so let's just get to it, then. What the hell did you drag me to your little den of overly-decorated delights for?"
"'What for,' indeed. That is the question, isn't it, Mr. Nihil?" Tamper regarded me for a moment, then narrowed his eyes. "To begin with... I'm afraid you have me at a bit of a disadvantage - not a position I'm particularly fond of, you must realize. Shall we dispense with the pretense? Let us say that it is not unknown to me that this past Klordny, you had occasion to meet with an acquaintance of mine... a young lady by the name of Carlotta Handsome?"
I played coy. "What... that sister of Junior's? Yeah, I met her... at the Beacon Restaurant that night."
Tamper Lad walked toward me, pulling a chair close to the chaise where I was sitting. He frowned and sat down.
"Mr. Nihil. I'm afraid I really don't have time to engage in games of amateur cat and mouse. I already know that you were due to meet her at about three AM that evening at her room in Zaryan's Palace. She told me as much herself... an arrangement regarding her family history, and a potential business venture for an exposé, correct?"
He wanted to start laying out cards? Well, I had a few trumps of my own. I was pretty sure that even though I had seen him in the Casino, he hadn't caught sight of me. I figured he had to be just fishing at this point, so I decided to see how much he really knew.
"Fraid not. That was the plan, but I never made it Zaryan's that night. And since Lotta turned up missing the next day, it doesn't seem like it's too likely that 'arrangement' is going to be anything more than a dead project."
Tamper Lad sighed and leaned slightly backward, removing his Omnicom from his breast-pocket. He tapped the screen and replaced it.
"I must admit, I'm disappointed, Mr. Nihil. Lies do not befit men such as we." The door to the Library opened, as a man walked in. "I believe you've met the most recent addition to my legal staff. Mr. Quislet... would you be so kind as to prepare our guest a martini... vodka... stirred, not shaken."
"Sure thing, Tamper. Hiya, Ex."
Kid Quislet smiled an apologetic smile at me as he walked past us toward the bar. So that was how Tamper was playing it, huh? Blackmail. He had Kid Quislet under his thumb, too - maybe playing on his gambling problem - and had squeezed out the fact that he had seen me at the Casino that night. Fine... two could play that game. I bit back.
"All right, Tamper... you want to start reciting history lessons? How about the fact that I know that you met with her, too, the same night?"
"Indeed... anyone who cared to take a look at my official itinerary would learn as much. The difference between our meetings, however, is that following my discussion with Ms. Handsome, she joined me for a short time in the Casino... departing in full sight of several thousand witnesses, while I remained for the remainder of the evening. That, I'm pleased to say, made for a very brief interview with the Security Office after which, I assure you, no return visits will be forthcoming. Are you in a position to say the same?"
I sat, looking at him without saying a word. He nodded slightly and continued.
"Hmm... yes... I thought as much. So. Here is where we stand as I see it, Mr. Nihil. I will tell you that Carlotta Handsome and I were in the midst of a very delicate negotiation - the details of which I had been planning for several years. That evening at Zaryan's was to have been the final meeting between she and I in this matter and... I don't mind telling you... I had invested a rather large sum of money in the outcome. Prior to her upholding her end of the bargain, however... she went 'missing'. The only person that I know had seen her after me... was you. So, you'll forgive me if I'm too direct in my next question but... did you kill her?"
"What? You're off your rocker, Tamper! Sure... I saw Lotta at the hotel that night, but the only reason I was even there is that I was working on a holo deal with Junior Handsome, but I found out it was Lotta that was holding the purse strings."
"Junior Handsome... ugh... do not mention that oaf to me. If it hadn't been for his foolishness, I wouldn't even be in this predicament. Let's be frank, Mr. Nihil, shall we? I am fully aware of the details of what Carlotta was going to tell you that evening regarding her family, but I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in that nonsense. Let the dead marry the dead, and all that. That is your business and I assure you, nothing we discuss here will interfere with your plans."
I was starting to get the feeling that this whole conversation was going off script. Tamper Lad sure wasn't acting like someone who had anything to hide, at least from me. I gave him a serious nod, as though his assurance to me was just what I was looking for before hearing more. He nodded back and continued.
"Good. We understand one another. Quite honestly... I don't care one whit whether you killed the woman or not. To be honest, Carlotta was an insufferable minx and it was only a matter of time before someone did, but... the fact remains that dead... missing... or whatever... my business with her remains unfinished. I do not take the loss of that amount of money lightly... nor the loss of what it was to have brought me."
"I'm sorry you got stiffed... but how does involve me?"
"Come now, Mr. Nihil, surely you must realize the position in which I find myself? Carlotta or no... this transaction must be completed. It seems I find myself in the unique position of being the one individual separating you from a very long appointment with the Security Office. From this moment on - until I receive what is rightfully mine - you are going to be serving in the same role as the missing woman. You are going to be my new 'partner'."
"Partner in what?"
Tamper grinned and leaned in toward me.
"You are a worldly man, Mr. Nihil, I'm certain. Tell me... what do you know of... The Middle Finger of Ekron?"
Before I could say a word, Kid Quislet appeared at my side, handing me the martini he had been preparing.
I swallowed it back in one toss.
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I might have thought this guy was off his rocker before, but this all but sealed the deal. Kid Quislet, seeing my skepticism, shot me a quick look - as if to say, 'just let him go on'. The Kid and I were going to have to have a long talk as soon as I got out of here. Tamper Lad grinned at me, swirling his brandy around in his glass as he continued.
"Ah... I see that I have caught your interest. Yes, Mr. Nihil, I speak of a fabled treasure - spoken of for years in hushed tones, rumored at times to be nothing more than a myth."
"But you know different, huh?"
"Indeed I do. I'm certain that a man of your caliber and profession must have heard some astounding tales in his day, but none - I assure you - as astounding as the tale that I am about to relate. Tell me... what do you know of the Khanate of Carthac?"
"Barbarians or something, right?"
"A dismissive word, to be certain, but not entirely untrue. Prior to their latter-day incarnation as the religious zealots known as the 'Khanate of Sol Invictus', the former Khanate of Carthac was the most feared and aggressive of all the so-called 'Barbarian Hordes'. Their prowess and ferocity were legendary - leaving thousands of conquered cultures in their wake."
"Yeah, they were pretty tough."
" 'Pretty tough'? Mr. Nihil... they were ruthless! They pillaged, raped, and plundered with nary a thought to the cultures they overran. It was not until the rise of the half-Khund leader known as Dominus that the Khanate took on a more organized, militaristic bent and thought was given to more than simply their short term needs. It was Dominus who implemented the policy of tribute - leaving conquered cultures intact, but demanding that each pay yearly tribute to the Khanate. It was - in this way - that the Khanate of Carthac was able to ensure that their coffers remained full, and that expansion of their empire could continue unabated. Precious metals, fine silks, rare gems - all manner of wealth was soon flowing in as the spoils of war."
"Not a bad haul."
"To put it lightly. One of the worlds conquered under this new regime was the ancient world of Ekron. You may have heard legends of this world... the creation of rare objects of power whose very origins stretch back into antiquity. Let me assure you, Mr. Nihil, these tales are not merely legend... they are a matter of fact. Not schoolbook history, of course... not the type of thing you would read in the Encyclopedia Galactica... but history nonetheless.
"The Ekronians, no strangers to those who would attempt to wrest control of their secrets, devised a plan to minimize the tribute they would pay to the Khanate, while still giving the appearance of fealty. Each year, they would send as tribute a small piece of a structure they had named 'The Rainbow Man of Ekron'. The first year they sent a small piece called the Topaz Toe; the second - the Sapphire Sole; the third - Aquamarine Ankle. Each piece of this immense structure was - by itself - worth more than the entire value of some worlds, so the Khanate was more than willing to accept it... never realizing that what they were receiving were merely elements of something far greater.
"So it continued for years... until the late 2990's. With the growing influence of the religious cult of the 'Black Sun' within the Barbarian territory, it is fair to say that the attentions of Dominus became less focused on the finer details of the various tributes as they had once been. Emboldened by decreasing security, rogue band of pirates began to stage raids on errant convoys passing near the edges of the Khanate Territories. It was one such convoy that carried the yearly tribute from Ekron... that year, the Malachite Middle Finger."
"The pirates had no more interest in the Middle Finger than any other piece of booty they might have raided. To them it was merely another shiny trinket to be bartered on the black market. Suffice to say, the trail of the treasure from that point enters into several years of obscurity. Little realizing the value of what they held, the Middle Finger traded hands several times in the ensuring decade. Had it not been for the legends that persisted in the lower dregs of the underworld, one might have feared that this treasure was lost to the ages - the only piece of the Ekronian Rainbow Man still 'in the wild' so to speak.
"In 2995 it surfaced in Paris... in 2997 in Istanbul... then, for years... nothing. You must realize the allure of such a rarity to a man such as I. The value of such a thing - while immeasurable - was always, to me, merely a secondary aspect... it was the possession of the thing that fueled my imagination. Several times throughout the years I caught wind of the Finger surfacing, only to find naught but worthless baubles. It was not until the turn of the century, through the exploits of a dear acquaintance of mine, one Colonel Wellesley that my hunt began to bear fruit.
"While on an adventure quite unrelated to this current pursuit, the Colonel happened to meet a dealer in antiquities who told him the origin of a battle that had been raging for several years throughout the underworld, all centered around a criminal moniker which - I assure you, not coincidentally - shared its name with this very singular object of my pursuit. It had somehow come into the possession - quite by accident - of a small-time swindler from the Planet Kisom by the name of Shoc Kerr. By this time, the Finger had acquired a coat of black enamel to hide its true nature, resembling nothing so much as merely a fairly interesting objet d'art. Not realizing what the object was - Kerr was, nevertheless, inspired enough by its appearance to adopt the symbolism into his own criminal pursuits, operating from that point on under the nom-de-crime of 'Middlefinger'.
"Yes, Mr. Nihil... I see by your expression that you disbelieve me, but it is true... the entire Middlefinger criminal legacy was born out of nothing more than a charlatan's momentary fancy for a small statue he had stolen! Kerr, himself, was not to be long for this world, however. He came into conflict shortly thereafter with the Handsome cartel - an unhappy turn of events that resulted first in his death, and then the passing of both the Middlefinger name - and the object itself - into the possession of the cartel head, Large Handsome.
"As I'm certain you are well aware, the 'Middlefinger' criminal legacy continues to this day - with felon after felon murdering the previous bearer of the name and assuming the mantle for himself. What has not changed hands among that community, however... is the object itself. Following the death of Large Handsome, the Finger became the property of his brother Molock, and the following Molock's own demise, that of his daughter, Carlotta.
"My hunt well could have ended with the aforementioned young lady... had it not been for the petty internal monetary struggles between she and her brother - your small-minded associate, Junior Handsome. Following their father's death, Carlotta kept close watch over the family's fortunes, keeping her brother on what amounted to little more than a weekly allowance. Of course, such an arrangement could hardly have satisfied the appetites of one such as Junior, who surreptitiously began to sell off various family possessions to supplement his own finances.
"Unbeknownst to him, however, I had already entered into negotiations with his sister for the purchase of a certain statuette. Of course, the woman had no idea why I was so interested in what she viewed as simply another piece of art, but the very fact of my interest caused her to set what she viewed as an exorbitant price. Feigning the attitude of a simple collector, I had negotiated a price which - while still meeting the demands of her greed - was far below what I would have been willing to pay.
"And this... I'm sorry to say, is where my tale goes horribly awry, The night of Carlotta's 'disappearance' I arrived at her hotel in good faith, the agreed upon sum having already been deposited in her account but, as you would have surmised... her portion of the arrangement was nowhere to be found. It seems that Junior Handsome had already brokered a deal through Spiffany Jewelers - not more than a day prior - to sell the object to a private collector for a rather tidy sum. It had already been delivered to the Jewelers, and shipped to the planet Earth via shuttle.
"You can well imagine my displeasure, Mr. Nihil... to be so close to the object that I had sought for years... only to have it stolen out from under me by such incompetence and ignorance a day before I was to hold it in my hands."
"Yeah... I guess not everybody can be a genius."
"You would do well to hold your tongue, Mr. Nihil... I assure you this is but a momentary setback in what will result in the Finger being mine. Even as we speak, the shuttle rests in orbit around the planet, held in customs for a period of one month before being released. For certain legal reasons, it is not possible for me to travel to the planet Earth under the present political climate. It was, to that end, that I... well, let us just say I 'insisted'... that Ms. Handsome was to serve as my authorized envoy, intercepting the shipment upon arrival and ensuring that particular crate was returned to Legion World under my rightful ownership."
"But... then... Lotta pulled a disappearing act."
"In so many words, yes. Now - as I have previously stated - the incidentals of Ms. Handsome's fate truly don't concern me. If she is dead... well... honestly, that is more your concern, and I leave you well to it. But - and here is where we may be of mutual service to one another - it could be arranged that her 'disappearance' becomes quite a bit less of your concern in the days going forward."
"You can smooth it over with the Security Office, you're saying."
"Not me, personally, you understand. But, it is not unheard of that certain pieces of evidence often go missing during such complex investigations."
"And in return, I go to Earth and make a stink about the shipment. It gets sent back to Legion World, and you get your dingus."
"We understand one another wonderfully well, Mr. Nihil."
"And what about this guy?" I nodded toward Kid Quislet, who had been sitting quietly throughout.
"Mr. Quislet is to be your companion for the journey to Earth. He will ensure the full legality of the arrangement and serve to protect my investments - both of them, as it were."
"Me and the dingus."
"You and the 'dingus', as you so eloquently put it."
"And what if I say no?"
"That would be a rather unfortunate decision for you to make, although a certain detective named Matlock would be only too happy to hear it."
"Yeah... I get it. Fine... say I do make the trip, how do I know you're on the level?"
"That is already underway. I believe you have a meeting later this evening with a young lady... a 'My Whee Fem,' is it?"
"Wha... How do you kn...?"
"Please, Mr. Nihil. Would you really have assumed that the Office of Security is that secure? I have my moles in all avenues of Legion World. Let us just say that keeping that meeting will do great efforts toward you realizing that you will be well taken care of in this matter."
"I guess you got it all figured, eh, Tamper?"
Tamper Lad took a small sip of his brandy.
"That is why they call it 'genius', Mr. Nihil."
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Tamper Lad spent the next hour or so filling me in on the finer details of our little arrangement. He laid out when I was leaving; who I was supposed to be meeting on Earth; what to do if anything started going funny, but - the whole time he was talking - all I kept thinking about was the camelephant in the room... Kid Quislet.
If there was one thing I couldn't stand, it was a rat.
I get that things get rough... I do. Hell, I wrote the book on hard times. A guy gets in trouble he's willing to do a lot of things to make sure his head stays above water. But no matter how bad it gets, the one thing a stand-up guy never does is to start dragging other people down with him. Kid Quislet had crossed that line, and about ten others. Because of his loose lips, Tamper had me over a barrel. I guess they don't call lawyers, "mouthpieces," for nothing.
I played it cool, though. I let Tamper finish his spiel, just nodding the whole time like some comic book writer being told his story was being put on hold for a company-wide crossover. I thought the whole thing sounded absolutely crazy... but what choice did I have? If didn't play nice with Tamper and his crazy scheme, pretty soon I'd be taking a long Security Office-guided tour off a very short pier.
Tamper wrapped up, telling us to lay low for a couple weeks and he'd be in touch when we were going to leave. Then he called in his two goons from earlier to "escort" me and Kid Quislet out of the Supper Club through the back door so we wouldn't be seen. I gotta admit, as much as my old mug was still hurting from that one gorilla’s fist, it gave me a bit of pleasure to see the other one with his ear bandaged up. I might be short, but never let 'em tell you I'm not scrappy.
They waltzed Kid Quis and I out the back into an alley that opened back out onto the street. Shooting us a threating glare, they shut the door behind us, leaving the two of us standing by our lonesome.
It took about two seconds before Kid Quis started making with the gabbing.
"Well... I guess this is goodbye for now, Ex..." he started saying, "...I'm sorry that you got dragged into all thi..."
I didn't even let him get the words out before making my move. I lunged for his lapels and went to slam him up against the alley wall. I must have misjudged the angle, though, because he slipped his arms under mine and busted out of my hold like it was nothing. I laid in to him.
"You're sorry, huh?! Well... 'sorry' don't begin to make up for this! You couldn't just keep your trap shut, could you? You had to give Tamper Lad a sprocking day planner of every Tom, Dick and Harry you ever ran into!"
"Ex, you don't understand..."
"Don't under... why, you...!" I cocked back my fist to take slug at his sorry kisser but, as I lunged forward to connect, he threw his arm up, deflecting my punch. The only thing my fist wound up connecting with was the wall.
"Grife!"
"Oh my god... Ex! Are you OK?"
I held my hand underneath my arm. I could tell it wasn't broken, but it hurt like hell. Add another thing to the list of body parts that were getting a beating today.
"Fancy moves for a suit, Kid! They teach you that in law school?"
"I used to do some boxing back in the day... just muscle memory, I guess. Listen, Ex... I am sorry you got roped into this, but you really don't understand."
"Oh, yeah? Maybe you better start spilling, then. That's your specialty, ain't it?"
Kid Quislet looked at me with what almost seemed like pity in his eyes. He paused a moment like he was thinking, then seem to deflate a little as he let out a sigh. He nodded, but then silently pointed - first to his ear, then to the door that we just got ejected from. Yeah... of course. We couldn't talk here - Tamper had made it pretty clear he had eyes and ears everywhere. Kid Quislet started walking out of the alleyway, making like he wanted me to follow him. Cooling off a little, a swallowed a bit of my prideand let him lead on.
He led me up a couple blocks toward the nearest Nova Express station. Yeah, that made sense, I suppose. Nova had a lot of problems in the past with their internal coms getting disrupted by all the Omnicom traffic so, a couple years back, they started sending out disrupter pulses around their stations, making sure the only broadcasts that could clear were their own. It made the whole area an outside-com dead zone - perfect for anybody looking to have a private chat without any prying ears.
I didn't know what Kid Quis was planning on laying on me, but - whatever it was - he must have had a pretty good reason for not wanting Tamper to find out.
Turns out it was the best reason of all.
We rolled into the station as Kid Quislet started scouting out the departure waiting rooms for one that was empty. He spied one and pulled me in, hitting the auto-door close button behind us.
He wasted no time. With a hurried look on his face, he leaned in close and started laying out a story that I swear I wouldn't have seen coming even if it had been decked out with all the flags of the United Planets.
"All right, Ex... You seem like a nice guy so I'm going give you the straight story, OK? I'm risking a lot by even doing this, so I'm only going to go through this one time. If anybody calls you on it, I'll deny it until the day I die and leave you hanging, you understand?"
"Seems you've done a pretty fair job of that already."
"Just hear me out, OK? That night you saw me at Zaryan's Casino... that night that Handsome girl went missing? Well... I feel like you already figured as much out, but... I'd been there the whole night, OK? I never went with Quislet Esq. and the other guys to the Vudoo Lounge that night for Klordny."
"Yeah," I nodded. "Yeah... I had that pegged from the second I saw you. I seen enough guys get that look you had in your eyes to know when I'm looking at a guy with a gambling problem. How deep you in for? Is that how Tamper looped you into this... blackmail?"
Kid Quislet smiled and shot a quick look around. He leaned in a bit closer and continued. "That's just it, Ex... I don't have a gambling problem, at all. I don't even like casinos. The whole thing is just an act."
My face must have screwed up tighter than a lug wrench on Nullport because the Kid let out a quick laugh. He smiled and continued.
"I know, I know... this is probably going to be the craziest thing you hear all day and - trust me - after that 'Ekron' nonsense with Tamper Lad, that's saying something, but... I feel like if this is going to work, you've got to know. The truth is... I'm undercover. Quislet Esq.'s boys are working together with the Security Ofiice to bust Tamper Lad's organization wide open. I'm a mole."
"A mole? You're a mole? You seriously expect me to believe that? Buddy, I'm in the holo business. I know when somebody's acting, and... that night at Zaryan's... that was the real thing. Cut the crap, huh? What the hell is going on here?"
"I swear, Ex... I'm completely on the level. The Security Office has been working for years to try to get an inside man into Tamper's organization. When it came to light that there were crooked officers inside the Office on Tamper's payroll, they knew it was time to take a more aggressive approach. It couldn't be somebody inside the Office, of course... Tamper Lad would get word of that right away. It had to be a civilian."
I shook my head. "So why you?"
"The Office figured the best way in was using somebody in Quislet Esq.'s Firm. Tamper has nothing if not legal troubles... you heard him say that he's not even allowed to go to Earth anymore. The Office figured that an attorney with money troubles would be a piece of bait Tamper couldn't resist. On the one hand, it would be easy picking for him... the Office has been dealing Tamper long enough to know that a key part of his M.O. is blackmail. On the other hand, once somebody did get in, who better than somebody intimately familiar with the law to make sure that everything was above board and that they could make a clean case?"
"And, so... what? They just put you out there to start playing the slots? Start racking up enough debt that Tamper gets wind of it and just hope he acts on it? That seems like a pretty big gamble... no pun intended."
The Kid grinned again. "It's a little more involved than that, but we don't really have time to go into all the niceties of the operation right now, but - long story short - you're in the middle of a sting operation."
This was too much for me to process. My head was swimming faster than a Devilfish and I didn't even know what to ask next. I wound up just making a blind stab at the part of the whole thing closest to me.
"And... and Lotta? How does she fit into this?"
"Lotta Handsome? You got me, Ex. I never even met the girl. I've been trying to bait Tamper Lad for a while, but it wasn't until she went missing that he finally made his move. With her out the picture I guess he needed somebody to see through this whole Ekron deal - somebody that he didn't have any real connection to if the deal wound up going south, I suppose. He approached me two days after Klordny saying that if I took this job on - and provided all assurances to Quislet Esq.'s Firm that it was on the up and up - that he could make my 'debt' disappear. I was in."
"Except for one little detail, right? Me."
"Ex, you've got to believe me when I tell you that part was just an honest mistake. I had no idea that he was looking for you - or that either of you were mixed up in this Handsome thing. When he was laying out the deal for me, I mentioned that I saw him at Zaryan's on Klordny, and accidentally mentioned that I'd seen you, too. As soon as I said it, though, his eyes lit up and I knew I made a mistake. I'm so sorry."
"Well, 'sorry' don't exactly keep me out of cuffs though, does it, Kid?"
"Tamper Lad said he was taking care of that for you, though. I won't do anything to mess that part up for you. You've got my word that I won't mention a single word of that conversation to the Security Office. Let them ferret out their own moles, right? I never even heard that conversation tonight, OK?"
"Why on earth would you do that? That seems a little shady for somebody supposed to be working for Johnny Q. Law."
Kid Quis shrugged. "I don't know. The fact is - I like you, Ex. You've always been square with me, you know? You cut me in on that whole 'Primary Color Gang' holo deal a few years ago, and that really helped me get a leg up in the Firm. I know you're in a rough spot right now, but I don't believe for a second that you could have done anything to that girl. Who knows if anything even happened to her, right? She might have just run out on her own. I mean... you didn't kill her, right?"
"That's what everybody keeps telling me."
"Fine. That's good enough for me. Whatever went on with you and her, that's none of my business. You'll be all right, you'll see... and, once we get done with this Tamper Lad business, so will I. You've got nothing to worry about."
I looked at Kid Quislet. He was absolutely right - even after everything with Tamper Lad, this was the craziest thing I'd heard all day.
But - as I'd find out just a couple hours later - the day was still young.
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I hopped next train uptown, leaving Kid Quislet at the station. There'd be plenty of time over the next few weeks - before we headed to Earth - where I'd be able to drill him for more details about this whole Security Office thing, but right now I didn't think the old melon could take any more twists.
Kid Quis was a mole... or so he said. I gotta admit, I thought the whole story had more holes than a Vrygan's travel itinerary, but I was in no mood to sort it all out right then. I'd been beat up, knocked out, lied to, blackmailed, and had my fist become best friends with a brick wall. I was tired, dirty, and in too much pain to keep going like this for much longer. What I needed right now was my own place - and a little while to think.
I made it back uptown on the train, and somehow stumbled my painful way over to my flat. I scanned my keychip, as the door shushed open and I was greeted with the sound of my room-com beeping. Not now - whoever it was would just have to wait.
"Room-com disconnect. Send all calls to messaging."
The beeping stopped. With a groan, I stripped off my jacket and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Cripes... that thug had given me quite a shiner. I raised my hand to my cheek to rub it, and saw how cut up my hand looked in the reflection. Oh well, at least I was a matched set.
With an achy effort, I stripped off the rest of my clothes and climbed into the sonic-shower. I punched up my preferences as the sound waves started pouring over me in a warm relaxing rush. Oh, yeah... I needed this.
What a day.
Twenty-four hours before I would of thought my biggest trouble was going to be dodging the Security Office long enough for Emily to come up with something solid enough for me to skate out on the whole thing permanently. Now she'd flown the coop, and was trucking off on a shuttle for god only knew where on Earth, without me having the slightest clue what she was up to.
The only guy I knew for certain might have had some connection to the whole Lotta business - Tamper Lad - turns out to think that I'm the one who did her in... but doesn't even care if I did. Instead, he just wants to use my own bad spot to blackmail me into acting as his personal delivery boy - tracking down some jewel that half the galaxy doesn't even think exists.
Meanwhile - I got this lawyer, Kid Quislet, telling me to just go along with this crazy scheme 'cause it's all part of this big sting that the Security Office has rigged up to nail Tamper to the wall. And the best part - this legal eagle says that he's really a double agent, playing at being a gambling fiend to trick Tamper into letting him in on it.
To top it all off, the one good thing that does happen to me today - meeting that cute little gal, My Whee Fem - turns south when I find out that she works at the Security Office, too. But I can't just skip out on meeting her because then Tamper tells me that she's got some info that's gonna be the key to solving all my worries about being a suspect.
Everybody's got info, it seems.
Everybody but me - the guy that keeps getting bounced around more than that delivery boy who accidentally grabbed the wrong bottle at the robo-gladiator match. If only Emily could have kept me in the loop, I wouldn't have felt like I was just falling without a net. If only she would have given me something to...
Crap.
Blue Cheese Lad! Emily said I was supposed to head up to the West Side to talk with Eddie Stilton - but then, right after, I got jumped by those two gorillas of Tamper's.
I jumped out of the shower and looked at the clock. Eight at night. I was supposed to meet My Whee at nine at Cafe Cramer. There was no way I could make it all the way up to Stilton's joint, and still make it back in time for that. Oh well, Eddie... it looked like your cheese would just have to keep aging for a little while longer. Given the choice between spending the evening with an eighty year old ex-con who might have a tip for me, and a beautiful young gal who I knew would, my decision was easier than that of a Daxamite at a filling station figuring out if he should go with unleaded.
I wrapped up my hand in a plasti-bandage, threw on a fresh set of clothes, and started beating feet down to Cafe Cramer.
Cafe Cramer's always has such a warm look about it - a nice glow that sort of sets it off from the other buildings around it - like it's saying, "Yeah... we know you're having a rough one. Come on in, have a cup, and forget all about it." Right about then, that's just what I needed to hear.
I walked across the street, as the patrons inside started getting clearer through the plate-polymer window up front. It took a moment, but I spied My Whee sitting on a small couch over by the side wall. She was sitting sort of curled up, with her legs underneath her, looking like she was deep into something she was reading on her Omni-pad. She looked just as beautiful as she had earlier outside the Security Office - even more so, if that was possible, sitting there all relaxed with her guard down.
Man. In another life... in another time... this was exactly the type of girl that I'd go for, but - right now - things were so messed up I didn't even know why I had asked her to come. Old habits, I suppose. But when Tamper Lad had said that I absolutely should keep this meeting - that she would have info about the Lotta case that would help me out - well... I'm not one to talk about things like fate, but, on the other hand, I'm not one to spit in its face, either.
I took a deep breath, and opened the door as the chimes jingled.
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I smiled at My Whee Fem, pulling an easy chair up closer to the couch she was sitting on. She looked up from her Omnipad, a little confused.
"I'm sor... oh... Mr. Nihil! Oh, I am so sorry... I completely forgot that I was supposed to meet you tonight."
"Aw, that's all right..." I grinned, my heart sinking a bit, but playing it off with a joke, "I forgot about it, too. I just accidentally walked in this joint thinking it was the off-track betting parlor for the Kangabronc races. I was just about to ask what a pretty girl like you was doing in a place like this."
She sat up, closing down her pad. That relaxed attitude that I noticed through the window was fading fast as she started putting on her public face. "I am sorry, though. I've just had the most insane day, and I wasn't... oh, god... your face!"
I sort of half-chuckled, as she did a double take at my black eye. "Now, that's what every guy wants to hear."
She laughed a little self-consciously, putting her hand to her mouth. Damn, this gal was cute.
"I didn't mean..."
"I'm just giving you the business, kid... you can probably tell I had a pretty interesting day, myself."
"Are you OK? Does it hurt... what happened?"
"It's nothing... I just got hit by a stray cross beam saving a bunch of orphans out of a burning building. All in day's work, you know." When I said the word, "orphans," I could have sworn I saw her tense up a bit, but - before I had a chance to say anything else - one of Cramer's barrista girls sidled up beside us with an order-scanner.
"Hello, sir... what can I get started for you?"
"Start...? Oh... just a cup of drip. Black."
The barrista tapped in my order and walked away, as My Whee smiled slightly at me, "Cup of drip? That sounds like something they say in one of those holos you make. You don't go out for coffee much, do you?"
"Yeah, no... well... once in while, you know. I just..." I started fumbling a little over my words. It's not usually like me to get like that, but there was something about My Whee that put me a little off balance.
"Relax... I'm just giving you the business, 'kid'."
Nice.
This girl had my number. She smiled at me and went on, "Seriously though, what did happen to your eye?"
"The eye? Aw... don't fret it. I just took a bad step in my flat. It looks a lot worse than it is. You should see the door. Sorry to hear that you had a bum day, too, though. Everything OK?"
"Ugh," she shook her head, and briefly rubbed her temples, "Just work stuff."
"You work over at the Security Office, right?"
"Yeah, how did you... ? Oh, of course... you ran me over there today."
"How else was I gonna meet you? So, what happened... bad guy get away or something?"
She let out a disgusted breath. "Let's hope not. It's really just impossible is the thing, though. I know I filed it exactly to protocol."
"Sorry... you lost me, there."
"I don't even know why I'm telling you this - it's just boring office routine - but, I'm an Evidence Handler at the Security Office. There was just some information that one of the detectives has been holding on - a backtrace on an Omnicom for this missing persons case. Well, it finally came in last night, but he was already gone for the day, so I just filed it on the overnight. When I went to retrieve it this morning, though... nothing! No file, no receipt invoice, not even a sequencing gap where it would have been. It's like it didn't even come in."
I leaned back in my chair, still listening to My Whee but my mind - of course - racing back to Tamper Lad. So that's how he was playing it. He knew - even before he talked to me - exactly what he'd need to do to get me to play along. That's why he waited so long to make his move. He wanted to intercept the backtrace and have it in his palm before he nabbed me.
There was no way he could have known that I would accidentally run into the very person that was supposed to be handling that evidence, though.
Was there?
No... now I was just being paranoid. Me running into My Whee had to have been a coincidence that Tamper just exploited for the maximum theatric effect. He was playing a great game of 3-D chess, but I was just his pawn.
I figured I'd better be up front as soon as possible if I ever stood a chance of seeing My Whee again. I cleared my throat and asked, "So, uh... this 'missing person'... it wouldn't happen to be a gal named Lotta Handsome, would it?"
"Wh... how did you..."
"I was working a holo deal with her brother, and I saw her the night she went missing. That detective friend of yours - Matlock I'm guessing, right? He came by to ask me a couple questions right after, and he mentioned that whole Omnicom thing."
"Ah... then you know how long he's been waiting on this. Did you know her well?"
"No, I just met her that night, but she..."
"I'm sorry... could you hold that thought for just one second?" She reached down to her own Omnicom that was buzzing with a new message. She looked down to read it, then pursed her lips. "I'm sorry, Mr. Nihil... it looks like we'll have to get that coffee some other time. I'm getting called into something over on the West Side."
"No problem, I get it. A badge's job is never done. Hey, wait a minute, though... I've got to head over to the West Side tonight, myself." I figured if I was gonna get stiffed on the date, I might as well just head over to Eddie Stilton's that same night, and maybe squeeze out a few more minutes with My Whee in the bargain. "You want to split a ride?"
"Thank you... but I have my own hover right around the corner. I could give you a ride if you like, though."
"Hey, that'd be great, thanks. So... what's the big rumpus tonight that's got the Security Office calling all cars?"
My Whee stood up, packing up her Omnipad. "I'm not sure... there weren't a lot of details in the message but, apparently there's been some sort of accident. They've already taken the man to Medicus, but they've locked down the site. It's one of the old members of the Primary Color Gang. Have you ever heard of the Blue Cheese Lad... Eddie Stilton?"
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I watched My Whee Fem sitting silently behind the controls as she barreled her hovercraft toward Eddie Stilton's place.
I wanted to say something to her - but the determined look on her face as she drove through the night made me think that she was deep in thought. I figured I should let her break the silence if she wanted. Fact of the matter was, right about then, my own mind was swimming faster than a Tritonian merman.
Why hadn't I listened to Emily? She had told me that Eddie was the one guy in this whole mess that could of helped me, but I'd thought it was more important to see My Whee - and now it might be too late. The old guy was laid up in Medicus and, with him, any chance I had to meet him in private. Sure, I could always pay a visit to him at the hospital, but I barely knew the guy, and that might look fishy. Little did I realize at that time, though, that it would be a long time before Eddie would be in any shape to talk to anybody.
We drove for maybe about ten minutes without saying a word before, finally, it got to be too much for me. I cleared my throat. My Whee looked over at me in the passenger seat and, for half a second, it was like she was seeing me for the first time.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Nihil... just lost in thought."
"Nah... that's all right. You can cut the 'Mr. Nihil' stuff if you want, though. You can just call me Ex."
"Certainly... Ex... I'm sorry if I'm being rude, it's just... well, I just haven't thought about that name in a very long time."
"Who's that... Eddie Stilton? Did you know him?"
"Yes... well... no... not really. I've never spoken to him. He probably doesn't even remember me... but I remember him. He was one of the men who worked for my father when I was a child."
"What... here on Legion World?"
She sighed wearily, like she was suddenly hit by a wave of sadness. I saw her eyes dart up to the rear projection screen like she was meeting her own gaze. After a moment, she looked back at me and I almost thought she was about to cry. She took a breath and continued.
"No... I'm not from Legion World. I was born on Earth. I came here after my parents were... after they died."
"Oh, hey... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."
"No, no, it's all right. I can talk about it... I want to. It was all a very long time ago, anyway. I was only five years when I came to the Legion World Orphanage. I don't even really remember much of my time on Earth."
"You said that Stilton used to work for your dad? Sorry if I'm out of line but, what exactly did your dad do? I thought that up until he got out of prison about five years back, Eddie Stilton was a crook. Did he used to be legit back in the day?"
"No. This was before his time with the Primary Color Gang but, trust me, he wasn't doing anything different when he worked with my father. I... I'm sorry, this is very strange to talk about this after so long, but... I'm actually the daughter of My Yeol Min."
At that name my jaw dropped open wider than a Bismollian tunneling out of a super-stalag.
Nowadays, you only hear that name pop up in those lurid late night docu-holos about "true-crime," but - at one time - the name, "My Yeol Min" was almost synonymous with the Terran underworld. He was a vicious crime lord out of the Sino-Koreapolis district of Earth and - at the peak of his power - it was said that the Chinese Tong, the Japanese Yakuza and the Korean Kkangpae had all been consolidated under his single rule.
There had been other crime lords that had risen through the ranks, but none with the level of blood thirst that My Yeol Min was known for. It was said that he had a standing offer of one million credits to any member of his organization that could not only personally kill a rival cartel boss... but who could also deliver him their severed head.
With that kind of power, it was only a matter of time before a rival family would be looking to knock you down off that throne and steal your crown. Sure enough, My Yeol Min met with the same end that he sent so many others to before.
It had been a young upstart member of rival gang - someone looking to make a name for himself in a big way. Although it was never proven, it was said that there must have been a traitor inside of My Yeol's organization... someone who had allowed this man access to My Yeol's private quarters. No name for the traitor was ever ferreted out but - somehow - this man had been allowed to infiltrate the sanctuary and had beheaded both My Yeol Min and his wife as they slept.
By the next morning, there wasn't a single member of the underworld that didn't know... and fear... the name of the assassin. It was a junior member of a fledgling crime family named... Molock Handsome.
Suddenly the world felt very small.
My Whee must have seen me sitting there, mouth open like a Vornian Maw, because she continued on.
"I take it by your expression that you must be familiar with my family's history? It's true - I'm a Legion World Security Officer who was born into a notorious crime family. There were a lot of people who would have paid a lot of money for that information a long time ago, but I think that's long gone. I was taken off-planet very quickly after my parents' death and hidden in the Legion World Orphanage where I grew up... just another forgotten little girl."
"But, aren't you still afraid someone will find out? I mean, why would you tell me this?"
"I stopped being afraid a long time ago, Ex. I learned the hard way that if I wanted to survive in this world - and not be a prisoner to my past - I had to take control."
I remembered the way I had seen her on the beach that morning, swinging that sword. Girl had a point... there wasn't nobody with half a brain that would try to go up against that. I nodded as she continued.
"But, all of that is ancient history. At least... I thought it was until a couple weeks back when I heard that Lotta Handsome had gone missing. Just because I've made my peace with the past doesn't mean that I don't still harbor resentment toward that family. Molock Handsome died a long time ago, it's true, but every time I would see Junior Handsome's name in the paper... or Lotta's... I would think of how he just got away with it. I don't know... maybe things have a way of coming back around. All I know is that here I am - handling evidence about a missing girl - and all I can think is how little I would feel if it turned out that she was dead."
At the word, "dead," I felt myself jump a little. If only My Whee knew the real story... that Lotta was dead and that I had seen her that night - done in the exact same way as My's father. What the sprock had I gotten into?
I cleared my throat and tried to be a voice of reason.
"Aw, come on... you don't mean that."
"Don't I?" She exhaled audibly. "Yeah... I guess I don't know what I mean. I'm sorry I told you all this. You must think I'm an insane person."
"Don't fret it, My... I know it's got to be hard thinking about all that."
"And now, Eddie Stilton on top of all this. Just too many old ghosts, I guess"
"Come on, now," I reached out and put my hand on her shoulder, "you don't even know what happened to Eddie. Maybe he just slipped and fell."
"Well... I guess we're about to find out."
She started slowing down the hovercraft, as we pulled around the corner into a scene that looked like something out a Braal-Imsk War docu-holo. The whole front of Stilton's building was sealed off with electro-tape and there were more flashing lights than the inside of a 20th century Coluan skull-ship.
My Whee put the vehicle into park-mode as a rapping came on the driver side polymer-window. She lowered the window and asked up, "What have we got?"
"It's pretty bad, Fem..." the voice from outside came, "...the whole joint is tore up. Stilton's already gone to Medicus, but it doesn't look good. He's lost a lot of blood. It looks like he'd been lying there for hours before anybody found him. I need you to get up there right away before anybody else starts touching things."
"Right away, Detective." she quickly climbed out, turning around to say goodbye to me, "I'm sorry, Ex, you'll have to catch another ride from here... I'll call you as soon as I can."
"Ex...?" The detective from outside lowered his head to peer inside the hover, as My Whee ran off toward the door of Stilton's place. "Well, well... Mr. Nihil... just the guy I've been looking for!"
You always did have a way of hitting a guy when he was least expecting it, Matt.
I climbed out of the hover, gearing up to meet you for round two.
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I watched My Whee disappear into the front door of Eddie Stilton's place, then turned to face you.
I gotta admit, Matt, it struck me a little odd that you'd call the gal who'd lost the evidence for your case a "sweet kid," but - if this day had taught me one thing - I wasn't taking anything for granted.
"I wouldn't know, Detective Matlock. I only just met her today. We were just grabbing a cup of coffee together when she told me she had to dart over here. I was heading this way anyway, so I just hitched a ride over."
"Is that right? Just met her... and already she slugged you? You've certainly got a way with women, Mr. Nihil."
As usual, I had no idea what you were talking about - but I was getting pretty used to that fact. Conversations with you always seemed to have more angles than a stack of tesseracts.
"I'm sorry... who slugged who?"
"Ah... I'm just kidding you," you pointed up to your eye, "It's just the shiner... how'd you pick up that beauty?"
"Old war wound... acts up around cops."
"Come on, now... there's no call for that. I'm just giving you a hard time. My Whee Fem, though - you ought to be careful with that one - she's a tough cookie. I should know, my wife is the exact same way. The stories I could tell you about Mrs. Matlo..."
"Another time, perhaps."
"Of course, of course... I'm sorry... I know you're a busy man. So, what brings you to this end of town so late?"
"Just meeting a backer later on at the Beacon," I lied.
"Always living the life, eh, Mr. Nihil? Who is it this time?"
"Sorry, I can't really discuss deals that are still ongoing."
"I understand... I understand completely. It is funny that I should run into you tonight, though. You see... I've got a bit of a problem and you're just the guy that I think can help me out."
"I already gave my statement about the Handsome case at the station this morning."
"Good... that's good. But this isn't really about the Handsome case... it's about this craziness going on right here," you shot a thumb back toward the cordoned off building. "It's about Eddie Stilton."
"So, what happened to the guy?"
"Now, Mr. Nihil... I can't really discuss cases that are still ongoing." You winked. I was really getting to dislike you.
"Well, I don't know how I can help you. I don't even know Eddie Stilton."
"Well... now that's not entirely true, though. If I'm not mistaken, the two of you worked together... on that... uh..." you paused, flipping open your Omnipad, "... on that Primary Color Gang documentary a few years back, isn't that right?"
I sighed. Nothing got by you.
"Well, I wouldn't say we worked together. He was one of the guys who was interviewed - but I didn't meet him personally."
"Is that a fact? Well... that's all right. It's not really Stilton I'm interested in - it's more what happened to him."
"Which you can't discuss."
"That's right. But... I wonder, Mr. Nihil... would you mind doing me a favor?"
I exhaled impatiently. "What do you need?"
"Oh, thank you... this will only take a minute... but it would really be a big help to me. Could you..." you reached into your trench coat, "... could you just hold this stylus for a second?"
I reached out and took the stylus. "Yeah... and...?"
"All right... now just... just come at me with it. No... hold it up like this... over your head, and sort of... yeah... just pretend you're bringing it down. No... no, higher... and sort of bring it down like this... like you're going for my neck."
I followed your lead - not liking where this was going at all.
"Exactly!" You snapped your fingers and took a step back, looking like the parakat that ate the elvabird. "I knew it... sinister!"
"What in god's name are you talking about?"
"A leftie! I was thinking that the cut looked strange. There was no way it could have happened accidentally, but the angle looked off-kilter - down and to the right. Whoever had a go at Stilton had to have been left-handed!"
I literally felt the color draining out of my face. I didn't know what kind of game you were playing, but it sure as hell wasn't moopsball. So... Stilton had been cut in the throat. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that you already knew how the attack happened, so this little demo had to have been just for my benefit.
Did you know about Lotta? And why this whole cat and mouse routine? I had the feeling you could see through me like a Bgtzlian shower curtain. I finally lost it.
"All right, Matlock, " I said, throwing down the stylus, "I've had just about enough of this. If you've got something to say to me, just go ahead and..."
"Detective Matlock!" A voice suddenly called across the street, as we both looked over at the rumpled guy beating feet our way. I saw you roll your eyes.
"On your toes, Mr. Nihil," you said, leaning into me, "This guy's from the LMB Enquirer - Phil Marlowe. Guy's been bugging me non-stop for two weeks now about some crazy... oh, hey! Mr. Marlowe! How you doing, pal? How's the fourth estate... you keeping the lawn all groomed?"
"Knock it off, Matlock. Did you follow up with the rehab?"
"Good to see you, too, Mr. Marlowe. I don't know if you know Mr. Nihil?"
Marlowe looked at me briefly and - not even acknowledging me - turned back to you. "Did you?"
"Marlowe... if you can't tell," you pointed back to the scene at Stilton's, "I'm a little busy right now. I already told you, you've got to talk to Vice."
"Yeah... and Vice said I needed to go through Investigations. I'm tired of getting the run around, Matt! They're not going to release the names of their patients without an official Security Office order."
"Well, that's got to be a tough break, isn't it? Why can't you just leave that poor girl alone, Marlowe? Is this how your brother got his Pulitzer? Harassing celebrities about their problems?"
"I'm not my brother... and regardless of what they say, that girl is not in that hospital!"
"I tell you what, Marlowe... you see this guy here? This is Mr. Exnihil - he's a famous holo producer. He knows all the big shots. Why don't you talk to him for a little while? You guys should have a lot in common, you're both in the 'fiction' business. Excuse me, gentlemen... I've got some real crimes to solve."
"This isn't over, Matlock!" Marlowe called after you, but you were already on your way toward Stilton's door. He turned to me with a grunt, "So, what's your story, bub?"
"Me? Just the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess. So who's this dame you're so hepped up about?"
Marlowe pulled out a pack of trigarrettes and lit one up.
"Hmph. Just a story I'm chasing down. She's not an actress or anything... just one of those high society gals. Supposedly - the night after Klordny - she checked herself into a rehab clinic out on the Outer Rim, but I have it on good authority that she never showed up there. She went missing en route... but nobody's talking."
"Anybody I might have heard of?"
"Maybe. You ever hear of the Venusian heiress... Angora Swetters?"
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I listened to Marlowe laying out his conspiracy theory about Swetters' disappearing act but - I'll be honest - with everything that I was going through right then, my brain was already auto-filing that one under "N"... for "not my problem".
I had seen Swetters that night at Zaryan's, hanging off of Tamper Lad's arm like a high-priced Spiffany Christmas ornament. Sure, I'd only caught a quick glance of her - but she didn't seem like somebody ready to check into rehab. Then again, what did I know? I've been in the holo business long enough to know - if you've got enough dough - it's as easy to hide an addiction as it is to predict a heat wave on Mercury.
I'd seen a lot of good talent over the years wasting away into the bottom of a bottle. Some of 'em do try to clean up - but just as many keep spiraling down so far you can't even see 'em anymore. Maybe Swetters did head off to the hospital that day, but got cold feet at the door. Who knows? I'd bet credits to doughnuts that Marlowe would find his headline - but it was more likely to be about another lost weekend for that girl than a conspiracy.
After a few minutes gabbing with Marlowe, I figured I'd better split the scene. I had told My Whee that I had other business in this part of town, and if I was still hanging around when she got out of Stilton's it would look fishy. I wished Marlowe good luck and good chasing, and started making my way back to my flat, my head still spinning over what had happened to Eddie.
I couldn't believe it. Who would want to have a go at a guy that old? And the way they did it - slicing his neck - it was just too much like what I had seen with Lotta to be a coincidence.
I thought about what My Whee had said about Stilton - about how he used to be one of her father's crew back in the day. My Yeol Min... Lotta Handsome... Eddie Stilton... all of them mixed up in this cartel business - and all of them winding up with a knife to the throat. Was this some sort of mafia vengeance code or something?
What was I looking at here?
My Yeol was twenty years dead. If you believed the hype, Stilton had been legit ever since he got out of prison. And Lotta? As far as I knew, she had never even been a part of all this... she just had the bad luck to have been born the daughter of a hood. If these things were connected... if this was a mafia thing... it had to go deep. Something like this had to be years in the making.
I shook my head. Listen to me... I was starting to sound like Marlowe.
No... no, this wasn't a conspiracy. It was just some rich dame who had crossed one too many people, a random robbery gone wrong on some over the hill business owner, and a late night spook story I'd heard from a gal whose every word I'd been hanging on. Put it all together and it just added up to me having about the worst luck this side of a Ranzz twin... but not a conspiracy.
And I would have gone right on thinking that way... if I hadn't been dumb enough to answer that damned com.
I scanned the keychip to my flat and collapsed onto my bed.
"Holo-news on," I called out, as the set came to life.
"...dition, at this time. Again, if you're just joining us, we have been speaking with Medicus-2 physician, Doctor One, who informs us that local businessman Eddie Stilton - formerly known as the Blue Cheese Kid - remains unresponsive, in critical but stable condition following a viscous assault at his Upper West Si..."
"Holo-news off."
I'd had enough violence for one day. I rolled over and had just about started drifting off to sleep, when I remembered that I'd switched the room-com to messaging earlier. If there was any more bad news waiting I figured I'd better face it head on.
"Room com messaging off. Playback all messages."
"No messages pending. Twenty-two missed calls"
Twenty-two calls - but no messages? Somebody must have wanted to talk to me pretty bad. Before I could even start thinking about it though, the room-com starting beeping again.
"Room com connect. Exnihil, here. Talk to me."
A couple seconds passed, then a voice spoke quietly.
"Are you alone?"
"Emily?! Is that you?"
"Are you alone?" she repeated.
"Yeah, yeah... I'm alone. Where are you? We got cut off earlier, but I figured your shuttle wouldn't clear the radiation belt until tomorr..."
"I'm not on the shuttle anymore... it was too dangerous. I stowed in one of the jettison mail pods en-route to Europa. I'll reroute tomorrow. Where have you been, Nihil? I've been trying to get you for two hours now."
"Wh... what? Europa? Emily, what the sprock is going on?"
"Just cut the 'what's going on' routine, OK? I don't have a lot time - I'm hopping my signal right now to avoid any backtraces, but it's only good for about five minutes. Did you talk to Eddie Stilton?"
"I... uh... no..."
"Grife, Nihil! I told you to do one thing! Do you think this is a game? What the bloody nass have you been doing all day?"
"I don't begin to know how to answer that, Em. Look... there was some kind of attack on Stilton. He wound up in Medicus with his throat slit before I could talk to him."
"Damn it. He said they were after him, but I just told him he was being paranoid."
"They? Who 'they'?"
"Never mind that. Listen... here's what you need to..."
"Emily, stop! Seriously... this is my life we're talking about here. I asked you to follow Matlock to get me some info on who he was talking to and - the next thing I know - you're halfway across the galaxy, and I'm mixed up in another stabbing. I need some answers, and I need them now. Just what was Stilton supposed to tell me?"
"I don't know."
"What?"
"Fine. I'm going to keep this quick, all right? I tailed Matlock for a few days and - within that time - he went to Stilton's place three times. I figured that if this detective was so hot on this one ex-con, it was either because he was a suspect... or an informant. Eddie Stilton's eighty years old - I'll give you one guess which it was."
"Stilton was a stoolie?"
"One of Matlock's go-to guys. After Matlock left the third time, I paid Stilton a visit and put the fear of god into him."
"You beat up an old man?!"
"Grife, Nihil... give me some credit. Of course not... but I did intimidate him enough that he started spilling his story. Ever since he got out of prison, he's been living a double life. On the one side he still talks to his old cronies, but - on the other - he's been feeding that info right to the Security Office. He knew that Matlock liked you for the Handsome case, but he also told me that he knew you were innocent."
"How could he know that?"
"He wouldn't tell me... no matter how hard I pushed him. He was afraid, Nihil - really afraid, and with good reason, I guess, from what you said happened. He told me he would only talk about it directly to you."
"That doesn't make any sense, Em. He doesn't even know me... why would he care what happens to me?"
"Trust me, Nihil, I wonder the same thing myself... all the time. He did give me another lead, though. He said if I wanted the truth - 'the real truth,' he called it - that I should talk to an old crony of his, a guy by the name of The Red Fist. You know him?"
"Yeah... well.. of him. He's another one of the old Primary Color Gang."
"Exactly. That's why I'm going to Earth - to track down this Fist guy. Apparently, he's a boxer now. He's got this big match coming up in about a month in the Sino-Koreapolis district...
"I'm sorry," I interrupted, "...the where? Say that again."
"Sino-Koreapolis? Does that mean something to you?"
"It's just a weird coincidence, is all. I was just talking today to a girl who was born there."
"Nihil... so help me... if you say the name, 'My Whee Fem'... "
"Wh... why?"
"You are a sprocking idiot! What did I say on my last call? I said, 'Whatever you do, do NOT talk to My Whee Fem!!!"
"You got cut off, Em! I never heard the name."
"Grife! So what did she tell you?"
"Well for one thing... the evidence she was handling in my case - that backtrace on Lotta's com - has gone missing."
"Really?"
"Yeah... but I already knew about that part, because Tamper Lad told me he was having one of his plants in the Security Office clear it out."
"Tamper Lad? Why in god's name would he do that?"
"He wants to hold it over my head as blackmail. He's trying to force me to act as a courier to retrieve some artifact for him... the Middle Finger of Ekron."
"The what?"
"But all that is just part of a sting operation that the Security Office is setting Tamper up for. One of their civilian agents - this lawyer, Kid Quislet - is working undercover to bust him when we go to retrieve it."
"Stop. Please... just stop. Are you listening to yourself? Can we pretend... just for a minute... that for some bizarre reason I actually give a damn about your sorry excuse for a life? Nihil... can't you tell when you're being lied to?"
"What... which one? Who's lying? Tamper? Kid Quislet? My Whee?"
"Grife, Nihil! ALL THREE OF THEM!!!"
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Emily's words hung in the air like a gang of Kryptonian criminals jeering at me from the Phantom Zone. I sat in stunned silence, trying to gather my thoughts.
"I... no... no, you're wrong, Em. You've got to be. Tamper, I can see - I mean, 'double cross' is that guy's middle name. Kid Quis? Sure, OK, I admit it... his story did seem like it had been out in the sun too long. But... My Whee? No... no, I don't buy it, Em. She's just a sweet kid who..."
"A sweet kid? Open your eyes, Nihil. Your 'sweet kid' was meeting with Matlock at least twice a day for an hour at a time, the whole time I was tailing him."
"She's an evidence handler - she works with the guy. Like I said, she was supposed to process the backtrace for him."
"All the more reason you shouldn't trust her. Come on, stop being such a sap. If that's all she was doing, why would Matlock be chatting her up for that long? You know it doesn't add up. Matlock's got it in for you - you know that. Out of nowhere, this girl he works with, who - out of all the badges in the Security Office - just happens to be the one handling the evidence in the Lotta case, starts talking to you? You don't think that's a little convenient? How did you wind up meeting her?"
"I accidentally ran into her outside of the Security Office."
"Amazing... and tell me... was that the first time you ever saw this girl?"
"No, I... I saw her the morning after Klordny. On the beach a liitle ways down from the casino. I didn't think she saw me, though."
"No... you're right. Cute little ninja girl who... you know... trains non-stop to counter all enemies - whose discipline demands that she be completely aware of her surroundings. Yeah... she probably just overlooked the creepy guy walking all alone on the boardwalk at four in the morning."
"All right, Em, enough. I get it. I'm an idiot."
"Glad to finally hear we finally agree on something. Seriously, Nihil... I'm just trying to keep you safe here. You've got to trust me. I'm going to reach Earth in a couple days; I'm going to find this Red Fist guy; and I'm going to get to the bottom of this whole thing."
"I know. I do trust you."
"Good. You just lay low for a couple days, OK? Try to keep Tamper at bay - but don't do anything stupid. Be careful with that Kid Quislet guy, too. I don't know what his story is. Maybe he is a mole like he says, but - even if he is on the level, the last thing you need is another Security Office entanglement. And whatever you do, just keep away from that Fem girl, OK?"
"Yeah, I got it."
"All right. If you want to do something useful, try to find out what Stilton was so hot to tell you. From what you said, I imagine it's going to be a while before he's able to tell you himself, but maybe you could dig something up. You've got a lot of contacts in the entertainment world. Some of them have to be a little crooked, right?"
"Yeah, I'll see what I can do. Emily... thank you."
"You want to thank me - just stop acting like you want to get caught. Crap... the signal hop is giving out. OK, Nihil... I've got to go. Just take ca..."
The room com crackled as the line went dead.
Emily was right. I had been acting like a grade-A sap - letting every Thom, Dirk and Shikari spin me around like I was a planetary chance machine. It was time I started to take charge of my destiny here. It was one thing to sit back and let Emily run point in tracking down the "red" piece of this puzzle, but I had almost had the "blue" in my sight, and I'd just let it slip away.
It was time to fix that mistake.
I rolled into the my office at Exnihil Productions the next morning, surprising my secretary who was sitting behind her desk, filing her nails.
"Boss! What are you doing in this early? You never get in before ten."
"I've got a lot of work today," I said, tossing my coat on the rack.
"You've got a lot of work every day, but I've just never seen you do any of... oh, my God! Boss! What happened to your eye? Did you get in a fight?"
"Never mind that... I need you to take down a few things. You ready? All right... first thing... get me Director Lad on the com - I'm going to need a few names. Then, I need you to call down to the LMB Enquirer, ask for a guy named Marlowe. Let him know that I think I can help him out - but that I'm going to need something in return. Tell him I need every last reference to either 'The Blue Cheese Kid' or 'Eddie Stilton' that's run in the last twenty years. Then, I need you to pull all the holo tapes from that Primary Color Gang documentary we made a few years back - not just the final cut, I'm going to need all the deleted footage, too. Send it down to the screening room... and, Effie... put on a pot of Kono. I'm gonna be a while."
"Boss... what's this all about?"
"Just trying to solve a puzzle, Effie darling... but first, I need to find out where the edge pieces go."
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"... had the Orrery surrounded. It was all I could do to keep the Secondary Color Squad in formation. The Green Extreme were flanking the west side, while the Orange Agents were charging the front... but that's when Phineas really started to..."
"Stop... Skip to scene 22, mark 7... Play."
I sighed as the scene on the holo screen changed from the Bluetooth Kid to the Gay Green Giant.
Ten days.
For ten days, I'd been heading to my screening room trying to weed through all this junk, and I was still about as close to finding a clue as a Teallian looking for a place to be alone. I took another sip of Kono as the holo continued.
"... larger then I'd ever grown before. The Yellow Kid just looked at me and - bless his heart - said, "Do you think you can do it, Bob?" Well... I didn't miss a beat. I kissed him on the top of his adorable little bald head and said, "Billy... I was born to do it." I flew out of the air lock and..."
"Stop... Skip to scene 31, mark 2... Play."
I rubbed my eyes. I was getting nowhere fast.
"... ackout joined. I'm from a different time, I suppose. These days, it's all 'punch this' and 'destroy that'. Once that detestable Kid Blackout arrived, there was really no place for a 'Red Gentleman', was there? These days? Well... I do admit there is the occasional trip to the museum, but - I assure you - I haven't the slightest notion about any missing painti..."
"Stop. Just... stop."
I stood up as the holo-screen went black. What was I even looking for here?
"Random... 15 second interval... Play."
I paced around the room, letting the holo just run random snippets. Anything had to better then the method I'd been using.
"... never really got over Blue Boy. That lady loved him, and she always blamed the Primary Color Gang for his death. I can't say it was much of surprise to us when she showed up a little later calling herself 'Lady Dismal'. She atta..."
Eddie Stilton had wanted to tell me something. Something so important he was willing to put his life on the line to make sure I heard it. But it was ten days since the attack and he still hadn't regained consciousness. Anything I was going to get out of him was sitting right here with me in this room.
"... think I'd be sitting 'ere in prison today, if it 'adn't been for that soddin' Sketch Lad? 'S'right, mate - the old powers never came back after 'e drained 'em. No way they would a caught ol' Red Roger if I'd been at me full..."
I hoped at least Emily was having better luck with the Red Fist than I was here - but I had no way of knowing. Ever since her last call, her com line had just gone silent. Part of me thought she might be in trouble, but the other part - the part that actually had, you know, met Emily - knew she was just fine. If I knew her at all, by this point she'd probably just about infiltrated the whole Chinese underworld and was keeping com-silent to not blow her cover.
"... to Shanghalla where Big Blue Mean Mutha and the Red Menace were laid to rest, their noble sacrifice to save the life of Faraway Lad remembered forever. Sadly, it would not be the last time a member of the Primary Co..."
The one bit of luck in all of this is that I had been able to secure the files from the Enquirer. I'd remembered a rumor that, years ago, there had been some drug scandal with a big name actor on the holo-vid program, "Metropolis Place" that I heard had been hushed up. I knew that Director Lad had worked on that show early in his career - back when he was still just Assistant Director Lad - and that he might know the names of the people involved. Sure enough, Sudro got back to me with pay dirt. A couple com-calls later, and I had the rival studio head eating out of my hand. I told him he had nothing to worry about - I wouldn't squawk - provided, of course, that he'd slip me the name of the Outer Rim Clinic doctor who'd been paid off. He was only too glad to oblige.
"... don't believe that nonsense, do you? That whole thing is just a wild story dreamed up by the fringe press. For the last time, there is not now - nor has there ever been - some sort of secret branch of the PCG called 'The Deep Purple'. I just ca..."
Turns out that a little bit of info goes a long way. Once I had the doc's name in hand, I gave old Phil Marlowe a buzz. Well... I don't know what he found out about the Swetters business, but it must have been something pretty darned juicy, because - the next thing I knew - I was getting piles of old Primary Color Gang stories from the Enquirer. I didn't know what I'd find in there, but I figured that sooner or later, between watching these holos and looking through all the Enquirer stuff, something would have to jump out. Like I said before, though... ten days.
"... been a contender, I really do. There's a lot of people who thought he might of had a shot at the title. But, once the commission found out he took a dive, well... it was over, really. That's when he turned to crime. It was the boss's daugh..."
And it was ten days, too, since I had seen My Whee. She called me the day after that mess at Stilton's, but - after everything Emily had said - there was no way I was taking that call... or the one after that... or the one the next day. After that, the calls dried up. I admit it - I felt like sort of a heel about the whole thing. The girl had opened up some, been straight with me about her family - that can't have been easy - and I then I just gave her the brush off. But what choice did I have? The way Emily had laid it out, it really seemed like My could have been setting me up. I just couldn't take that chance.
"... wasn't with the Gang very long, but the Red Rascal will always be a hero to us. The way he died - trying to rescue that little old lady's social security check... sniff... I'm sorry... I get a little upset when I think about how they said it was a muggin..."
Besides - I was thinking - it wasn't as though My Whee even... and then I paused. What was that clip saying? I stopped in my tracks and called out to the player.
"Reverse order... Previous clip plus one... Replay last five seconds."
"...really. That's when he turned to crime. It was the boss's daugh..."
It was Eddie Stilton... but he was talking about the Red Fist. What clip was this? I punched up the info on the control console. It was deleted footage that didn't make it into the final cut of the documentary. It looked like the editors had flagged it as "libel". This I had to hear.
"Current clip... Play in full."
Eddie's face appeared up on the holo screen, looking pretty pained, like whatever he was talking about was hard for him. He cleared his throat and started talking.
"It's true... not a lot of people know that. We were never in the Primary Color Gang together, but it was actually me who told Billy... the Yellow Kid, that is... about the Red Fist. I don't know... maybe it was sort of my way for making up for what happened to him. I always felt like... well... sorry, this is a little hard..."
I heard the interviewer's voice in the background quietly saying, "That's OK, Mr. Stilton... take your time." Eddie continued.
"The Red Fist wasn't always a hood, you know? Before he got booted out of the Association, he was a real up and coming fighter. He went undefeated in his first twenty fights. I think he coulda been a contender, I really do. There's a lot of people who thought he might of had a shot at the title. But, once the commission found out he took a dive... well... it was over, really. That's when he turned to crime. It was the boss's daughter who did him in.
"You see, Red had a real thing for the ladies... and them for him. When he met the boss's daughter, though - well, that was it. I don't know how it happened, but those two... well, anybody with half a brain coulda seen they were in love. Problem was her dad - my boss at the time. If he found out, there was no way he was gonna let that fly. A guy like that letting his daughter run around with some palooka? Not gonna happen.
"I knew it was just a matter of time before the boss got wind of it, so I figured if maybe I wised him to it, it might - I don't know - show I was loyal or something. That whole mob thing gets you a little crazy with the loyalty business. Well... he goes nuts. He sends a couple of his boys around to tell Red two things: One - it's over with the girl - immediately. He was never gonna see her again. And two - to really put the grind to him - his career was over, one way or another. The next fight, Red had only had one choice to make - either he takes a dive to the mat... or a blaster to the brain.
"What was the guy gonna do? He took the dive, sure. But - a guy like Red - he just couldn't make it look good enough. They knew. Right away, they knew, and before the week was out the commission had stripped him of his license. I sort of lost track of the guy after that, heard he was doing some 'enforcing' work for one of the smaller players, or something. But one thing was sure, as long as the boss was kicking, he'd never box again.
"Well, life has a funny way of turning out sometimes, you know? Just a couple years later the boss did wind up getting knocked off, himself. It was around that time that I first hooked up with the Yellow Kid. What a different kind of guy he was. I had some crazy times with the Primary Colors, I can tell you that - running around, pulling all those capers - really a nice change after all the mob stuff I'd been mixed up in. But, then I got pinched and... oh, wait... I already told you that story. What was I... oh, yeah... the Red Fist.
"So I was sitting in the big house, just waiting out my sentence and, you know, all that time really gets a guy to thinking. I was just looking back, thinking about all the folks I'd done wrong by over the years. And I think about Red. I know the boss would have found out sooner or later but, fact is, it was me that squealed. It's not a proud feeling knowing that somebody else had to go down just so you could go up.
"So, the next time the Yellow Kid came to see me... what's that? Oh yeah... he'd do that all the time. One of the most wanted crooks in the galaxy, and he'd just put on a fake mustache or whatever, and walk right into the jail. The Yellow Kid was one of a kind. So, anyway, YK tells me how Red Roger got pinched after he lost his powers and how he was in the market for a new "red". Well, with everything I'd been thinking about, I told Billy that maybe he could do a lot worse then to ask around about a guy named the Red Fist.
"A couple months go by, and then I hear this big holo-story about how the Primary Color Gang took the LMB head on, even destroyed their whole Headquarters. They're going through the names - YK and Kid Blackout, and the Gay Green Giant and Big Blue Mutha, and then, right at the end... The Red Fist. Good for him, you know? Guy's been through so much, losing everything he had, having to pull punk jobs that were way below him... and for what? Because he had the bad luck to fall in love with a girl.
"I always wondered - you know, now that it's all said and done - now that her dad is dead and buried - I always wondered whether the Red Fist ever looked her up again.
"I imagine it's gotta be the hardest thing in the world to stay away from the love of your life... especially when that love is a gal like Lotta Handsome."
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The clip wound down as the holo screen went black.
Lotta Handsome.
No matter how many twists and turns this thing threw at me, it all just kept coming back to that dame. I didn't know for sure that what I just watched was what Eddie Stilton had been wanting to tell me that day, but - three weeks from the night I had found Lotta dead - it was the closest thing to a lead I had.
I stood up and shut down the holo console. So... what did I have?
It seems that old Lotta had a secret love back in the day that turned out not to be so secret. She fell for some palooka named the Red Fist, but daddy didn't approve. Rat fink of the year, Eddie Stilton had sung like a space-roc to his boss Molock Handsome about the whole thing, and that was all she wrote for Lotta and Red. But... wait a minute... how did Eddie wind up working for Molock in the first place? If what My Whee Fem had told me was true - and no guarantees there - Stilton used to work for her dad, My Yeol Min - the guy that Molock had killed. Unless... unless the traitor inside of My Yeol's organization, the guy who gave Molock a free pass on the hit, had been none other than Stilton himself!
I shook my head. Oh, Eddie... you were a fickle boy. He'd talked a good game in that holo clip about feeling guilty about selling out Red - but it was nothing new with that guy, was it? Credits to doughnuts, Stilton had sold out My Yeol Min to Molock Handsome, just the same as he did with Red. And here it was - probably a decade on - and he was still playing the part of a squealer. Only the sides had changed. Emily said he was one of Matlock's go-to stoolies for inside skinny on the underworld. That guy had spent a lifetime bending whichever way the wind blew. The only surprising thing was that it took eighty years before somebody got the bright idea to take a knife to his throat.
But who? It can't have been a coincidence that what happened to Eddie was just the adventure comics digest version of what had happened to Lotta. Somebody in this town was running around trying to settle old business - trying to rack up heads like pool balls. The only reason Stilton was still breathing over in Medicus is that - for some reason - they didn't finish the job. The docs might have been doing their best to patch up old Eddie, but - if I was a betting man - I'd say it was only a matter of time before whoever put him in the hospital would be back... to put him in the grave.
The smart money seemed to be on the Red Fist. From what I'd just heard, he had all the right reasons. Sure... Molock Handsome had put the screws to Red, but it was Stilton that even gave him the idea to go to the hardware store. Red lost his love, his career, and any hope he had in this life - all because of Stilton. Sounded like motive enough to me. But... why go after Lotta, too? As long as Molock had been alive, Red couldn't go near her, and - by the time the old man kicked it - Red was already in jail. But he'd been out a couple years now... even started boxing again on the smaller, non-Association circuit. He was nowhere near the fighter he'd been in his day, but he was building enough of a following that the fight Emily had talked about - the one in a few weeks on Earth - was getting a lot of buzz. 'The Return of the Fist,' they were calling it.
Would he really throw that away - the chance to maybe get back some of what he'd lost - just to settle the old score? Who knows? You'd like to think that people are predictable - that there are rules and such that they follow, like a game of cards or something. But even the best card player knows that you might as well throw the rulebook out the window when there's a wild card in the deck. And, in this game, no card was wilder... than love.
It had been a long time since Red had been with Lotta. A lot of years had passed, and it sure didn't look like Lotta had been waiting around. A reputation's one thing - a lot of that could just be people talking - but, I was pretty sure from the message I had heard on her Com that she'd been playing around with Tamper Lad. Who knew how many other 'business associates' she had. Maybe I had the wrong idea at the Beacon about what she'd been playing with me, but the very fact that I'd thought it meant that I probably wasn't the first guy who'd made that mistake. Maybe it had been too much for Red... maybe he couldn't stand the idea of his one and only messing around with anybody else, and maybe - now that he had the chance - he decided to finally do something about it.
That was a lot of maybes - but right then, it seemed to make more sense than anything else I'd been hearing these past few weeks. If it was the Fist behind these slashing, then Emily might flying right into the belly of the ultra-energy beast. I knew that girl could hold her own - but how good could an archer be when the target was right on top of her?
Right about then - my mind already spinning out a hundred different scenarios, all of which wound up with Emily on the wrong end of that killer's blade - the door to the screening room suddenly popped open. I jumped.
"Grife, Effie... you scared me. I told you to call down first if you needed anyth..."
"I'm sorry, boss," Effie interrupted, "I told her you were busy, but she wouldn't take no for an answer."
"What? Who?"
"Me."
My Whee Fem stepped into the room, as Effie turned back around, leaving us alone.
"My..."
"Just don't, OK? I only came here to tell you..." she looked around the screening room. "Ex... what's going on here?"
I looked around at the stacks of holos and piles of old news stories. It did look like I was starting up competition for the Talus junkyard. "I'm just... I'm cleaning out some old inventory clips."
She let out a short breath. "Hmm... yeah... looks really important. So... is that why you're not taking calls?"
She stood there, arms crossed, waiting for me to say something. I had been all set to put on the tough guy act, to start in with the flip patter, but - I don't know - looking at her then, I just didn't have it in me. I met her eyes and, for half a second, they softened. What was I doing here? I started to doubt what I'd been thinking about her over the past ten days. Emily had made a good case, but - face to face with My - it just didn't seem to scan. I cleared my throat, and was about to say something, but then she spoke again.
"Look... I just came by to tell you that Detective Matlock is holding a press conference this afternoon."
Matlock.
That cut it. At the sound of your name, Matt, I felt my guard go back up, as all the distrust just flooded back in, like the ocean filling in the gap behind a sinking Atlantis. Before I could even think, the words started out on ther own.
"Is that a fact? What.. he announcing that you've been named as his new partner or something?"
"What? Ex, what is this even about? You're acting so different. I thought you and I hit it off the other night. I know I had to run, but I really was having a good time. You made me laugh, you know? That's not really something I do a lot. And then, in the hover ride, I... well, I never open up like that with somebody I just met. I thought... I don't know... I thought..."
"I guess you thought wrong, sister."
At that comment, My Whee's eyes went cold as inertron. Any hint of the connection we might have had suddenly drained away, as - right before my eyes - the relaxed warmth I'd seen in the girl reading on the couch in Cafe Cramer, suddenly transformed into the cool focus of the girl with the sword on the beach.
"You didn't let me finish... Mr. Nihil.
"I was about to say... I thought you might like to know it's been three weeks since Lotta Handsome went missing. There's hasn't been much progress tracking her down, so your friend Junior filed a motion with the court. He must have some friends in high places, because they issued the death certificate this morning.
"That's right, Mr. Nihil... as of nine AM this morning, the Security Office is no longer looking for Lotta Handsome... we're looking for her killer."
-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
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-------------------- See Here for the latest update on the 2013 Chicago Gathering (now including tentative attendance list)
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