Brain Storm (US Edition) (29 page)

"Who is this guy?" Carla asked still standing by Sara.

"He's a gun trafficker I cultivated into an informant when I was at ECSIS. He had been supplying arms to a small bunch of losers who thought they could play at being terrorists. They had the usual ideals, you know, redistribution of the confederation's wealth, a less
centralized government with more power going back to the individual assemblies of each of the Member States."

"Is he really the sort of person we want to get involved with?" Carla sounded less than sure that it was.

"In our present situation we don't have much choice," Sara explained. "Anyone who is completely law abiding would never help a pair of fugitive killers."

"I guess you have a point," Carla still didn't sound convinced.

"It will be all right trust me. This guy can get us the things I need to get us inside Omnitech. Without his help we might as well just turn ourselves in right now. I did this guy a favor letting him act as an informant instead of arresting him." She had even put work his way buying weapons from him for operations that were entirely unofficial and couldn't be traced back to the division or ECSIS proper. "He owes me and now he gets the chance to return the favor."

The sun rose higher. The sky was noticeably brighter and there was more traffic and more people out on the streets. Carla had returned to her position on the top of the rubbish container and now had her head back against the brick wall of the building behind her. Her eyes were closed. Her rhythmic breathing threatened to lull Sara into a sleep of her own. But she fought it off and remained alert. There could still be a long way to go before she had the luxury of enough time to sleep herself. The entrance to the subway had been opened up and Sara had to keep watch on every person moving in or out.

As the number of people on the streets got to be more and more numerous so did the number of funny looks the two women got. So far they hadn't been passed by any police or security patrols but as the day wore on that prospect became more and more likely.

Beside the restaurant there was a store selling a variety of executive gadgets. A dancing monkey in a
suit, which doubled as a portable data-pad holder/charger, was flaunting itself in the window half hidden from view by a news-stand selling people the latest updates. A man dressed in a suit, uncannily similar to the monkeys, stopped by the stand and inserted his news-pad and charge card. Once he had the latest reports on file he carried on and went down the steps into the subway. He would be reading the latest news on the ride to work. Sara ached to go over there and get herself a copy of the news just to see how prominently she and Carla were featured. But she didn't have access to a news-pad unless she stole one and she didn't have a charge card or any credits unless she stole them as well. The lack of funds could pose a problem when she tried to get her contact to help them. People had a nasty habit of forgetting they owed favors when it came time to pay up.

Sara was watching an old lady struggling to get a small suitcase up the final few steps out of the subway when she saw her contact sauntering up the steps. He didn't give the woman a second glance as he pushed his way past her and joined the flow of people.

Sara left Carla where she was and took herself out of the alley. Jimmy Jaret, Double J or Dee-Jay to those people who knew where his money came from, looked almost indistinguishable from the rest of the well dressed men on the street. These weren't the wealthiest inhabitants of the area, they would all be chauffeur driven everywhere in their luxury cars, but they were so much better off than even the most successful people in the poor sectors it just wasn't funny. Most of those people were only walking because it wasn't economical for them to use their private cars on such short journeys. Despite only having a small and slender build Jaret walked with an arrogant gait, forcing his way through the river of people not once did he step aside to go around someone or to let anyone else pass him.

Sara crossed the street by rushing out behind a long black car with mirrored windows. She followed along behind Jaret gradually closing the gap between them until she was so close he should have been able to feel her breath on the back of his neck.

She put a hand over his shoulder and moved even closer so that she had him in half an embrace. "Hey, Dee-Jay, long time no see."

Jaret tensed under her and flicked his head to the side to see who she was. His eyes were only a couple of
centimeters from her face. He didn't so much relax when he saw who it was as sag.

"Come along with me nice and friendly," Sara said before he could speak. "We don't want any trouble because we both know I could snap your scrawny neck in a second."

She escorted him back to the alley where she had left Carla. The other woman was still asleep although she had slipped sideways so that she was lying on top of the rubbish container instead of being propped up on the wall.

Sara reached a hand up and brushed it over the sleeping woman's cheek. "Time to wake up," she said quietly.

Jaret looked like he would like to comment on seeing this different side to Sara. She glared at him and put her hand on Carla's arm shaking her gently. This time the younger woman stirred slowly coming awake and pushing into an upright posture.

"This is your contact," she said looking Jaret up and down.

"It is," Sara replied. "I'd introduce you but despite how he dresses he isn't the sort of person  you really want to know."

"This stuff doesn't come cheap, you know. I'm gonna lose a lot of cash if I let you have it gratis."

Sara had explained what she wanted from Jaret but she hadn't explained why, if he didn't know already there was no point in her putting further obstacles in her way. Now they were closeted inside one of his 'safe houses' getting down to the finer points of their negotiation. They had taken a back way up to avoid the weapons detectors downstairs. Jaret probably had an arrangement with the guys on watch to allow him to move freely with whatever he wanted, but the less people who saw Sara and Carla the better. The younger woman was tucked away in the bedroom catching another nap while the other two got down to business.

"After everything I've done for you in the past this is a small price to pay."

"Not in any fantasy could that be considered a small price," Jaret retorted. "But then again you have done a lot for me." He paused and leaned back in his seat resting his hands in his lap. "The thing is you did those things for me back when you were one of the 'good guys'. The way I hear it you and the skirt are in a world of trouble. Both of you are wanted for murder, you know?" he said with a mocking tone in his voice.

Sara rolled her eyes, she should have known that Jaret would be aware of their predicament. "Whatever charges they've cooked up, we didn't do it."

Jaret shook his head nonchalantly. "I don't care. The reason I mention it is that as a wanted criminal you aren't going to be much help to me in the future."

"You owe me."

Jaret shrugged. "Maybe, thing is you can't take that help back now. As it is you have nothing to offer me." He looked her up and down his eyes unashamedly lingering where a true gentleman would know not to stare. "I presume you won't
have access to enough credits to pay so unless you're prepared to offer me something else of equal value . . ."

He let the insinuation hang in the air between them.
Sara glared at him and he just looked back at her arching his eyebrows. Jaret tilted his head to the side as if to say; 'Well?'

Sara kept her eyes on him and then removing the glare she hardened her eyes and slowly moved herself out of her seat. A small smile tugged at the corners of Jaret's mouth as Sara made her gradual approach. She slid first her right arm and then her left out of her jacket. Keeping her legs straight she bent at the middle facing away from Jaret and placed the jacket back where she had been sitting. The jacket was no longer being weighed down by the weapons she had had in the pockets, they were now on the other side of the room on a low table with an assortment of other weapons. She straightened back up and turned to face Jaret.

The arms dealer had slumped down lower in the seat and his fingers were working furiously at the belt around his waist. He took time out from his fumbling to stare eagerly back at Sara. His eyes never made it all the way up to her face. In another few steps she had reached him. He looked back down and finally got the belt undone. He was much faster getting the button and zipper unfastened on his trousers. Lifting himself off the seat he got his trousers down around his ankles then sat back down in just his underwear. When that was done he regarded Sara expectantly.

A grin spread fully over his face when Sara crouched down just in front of him. She lowered her hand to his boxer shorts and leaned over him. She moved her mouth close to the side of his face.

"No. Chance. In. Hell."

Jaret yelped in pain as her hand squeezed and twisted. He tried to fight her off but she slapped him down. She tightened her grip further and gave another twist. Jaret was in too much pain to fight back now. Instead he went limp, fully, and just lay there like a liquid while she continued to speak into his ear.

"Now then, you
are
going to help us aren't you?"

The only response was an unintelligible squeak. Sara increased the pressure. Jaret couldn't get in a breath to answer but he started nodding his head vigorously.

"Good lad. Get your clothes back on and we can get to work."

Jaret coughed when Sara released her hold. He leaned forwards to pull his trousers back up. "Just let me get in contact with a few people and I'll see what I can sort out."

Sara shook her head and stepped between Jaret and the communications unit. "I think not."

What, you don't trust me?" Jaret might have been trying for mock indignation but his voice still just sounded pained.

"Exactly. Now go and tell Carla that we're going." Jaret headed for the bedroom.

"And if I hear that you've been doing anything ungentlemanly in front of her you'll
lose them completely."

Jaret didn't acknowledge her. Sara cast a glance at the communications unit behind her. "What sort of scrambler do you have on this?"

Jaret was just at the door, his hand was poised on the handle. "Nothing special. I don't use this place often enough to warrant anything more advanced than a standard unit. I modified it so that it's at level four instead of a three but it's still only a standard design."

ECSIS had decryption units that routinely decoded anything on a scrambled channel up to a level six, given a few minutes they would be through any standard scramble up to level ten. Only levels above that or on based on a non-standard scrambling system could last out for any time longer than that. Sara had wanted to get in contact with Ash to try to offer him some explanation of what was going on. She doubted he would believe her enough not to demand she turn herself in but she might have been able to get him looking in Omnitech's direction. She couldn't risk making contact yet though because they would have her location almost as soon as the connection went through.

They were in a private garage that Jaret owned as a partner to the apartment where Sara had
persuaded
him to provide them with assistance. It wasn't an overly large space but it was where Jaret kept his samples. He had several other warehouses and storage facilities where the bulk of his wares would be stored. The garage had a private entrance through a short tunnel from the basement of the apartment block. It was just as well because the inside of the vehicle door was covered in an assortment of rifles held in plane by hooks through their trigger guards and under their barrels. Even if it had been possible to raise that door without disturbing any of the weaponry doing so would reveal the equipment to all and sundry who just happened to be in the apartment block's parking garage and would have landed Jaret in a world of trouble.

Sara was busy examining the pieces Jaret had all ready handed her, making sure they were all functioning and that if the weapons had any idiosyncrasies that she knew about them and could compensate accordingly. There was only so much she could do without test firing them but what she could do she did. The intrusion equipment was easier to check. Jaret had hooked a small electronic jamming device up to a portable computer terminal similar to the system Carla had had in her apartment to test
its frequency and signal strength.

The orange light on the miniature drying device blinked off. Sara opened the door and pulled out the thin strips that looked like the shed skins of a pair of hands. They were actually gloves she could wear over her own hand and that had been imprinted on the outside with the details taken from the insides of the gloves she had removed from the bodies of the guards during their escape. Only two of the gloves she had taken had enough of an imprint for the scanner to read and duplicate them. Whether the two gloves it had been able to copy had enough of a print to fool a scanner wouldn't be known until she had to use them. She didn't even know if the people she had taken the gloves from would have clearance where she was heading but it couldn't hurt to try. Actually if they caught her trying to use them on the scanners it could hurt a lot, but she didn't want to dwell on pessimistic thoughts.