Scarlet Angel (15 page)

The two grabbed for the boy’s jacket and started
pulling. A moment later, the bloody garment lay on the floor.

Scarlett tugged up the boy’s shirt. Blood seeped
from the wound in his back.

Mondo took a step back. “Oh fuck, man. He’s gonna
die!”

“
He’s not gonna die. An ambulance
will be here any minute.”

Mondo continued to mumble about Bobby and dying.

Scarlett walked over to Mondo and grabbed his
throat. “Calm down, dumbass, and listen to me. He’s probably not
gonna die, this time. But if you come back here, to this store or
any other in the neighborhood and do
anything
other than buy
a pack of gum... Next time you all won’t be so lucky. You got
me?”

Mondo struggled to nod against her grip. Her grip
released and he collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath.

Scarlett walked over to the counter. She pointed to
the camera in the corner just as Ling hung up the phone. “That
work?”

Ling shook her head. “No. It’s supposed to scare
them away. But...” She held her hand out. “It doesn’t work.”

“
K. Good.” She looked over at the
two young men huddled together. “He’ll be fine.”

Scarlett moved to the door, stepping over Shane.

“
You a saint. They try t’kill you,
den you save his life? You just like a angel.”

“
Thanks, but I’m no angel. Look, I
gotta go.”

She rushed out the door and down the street, trying
to look casual.

* * *

Ling watched the red-haired woman disappear through
the doorway. The bell rang again as the door closed. She looked at
the boys on the floor in her shop and muttered to herself. “A
red-haired angel. A scarlet angel.”

Chapter 22
Coffee

Treating someone who prepares your food like crap is
a sure way to get some extra biological material with it.

* * *

The smell of fresh coffee drifted across the small
shop to Scarlett’s nose. She closed her eyes and took a deep
breath. “Ahh...”

A middle-aged woman in a dark blue suit yanked open
the door and shoved her way past. The woman huffed at Scarlett.

Sooorry lady. Pardon me if I haven’t had coffee in
almost six months. Stupid Neil.

Scarlett walked up and stood behind the
businesswoman. The executive’s tone was precise and sour. “Look.
You better not screw up my order. They screwed up my order
yesterday. I want a no-fat, half-caf, soy latte with no foam with
sugar-free hazelnut and
regular
toffee. Don’t give me that
sugar-free toffee flavor crap, it tastes like shit. But the
hazelnut is fine. Oh, and make it quick.”

The barista, a woman in her mid-twenties, replied
with a simple and polite ‘Yes Ma’am.’

The woman glanced down at the nearly empty tip jar
and its taped-on, handwritten sign. She mumbled under her breath.
“Psh. Get a real job.”

The barista’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink.
She handed the businesswoman back her eCash card and thanked her
for her business.

The obnoxious woman stepped aside to wait for her
order and Scarlett moved up to the counter. Pinned to the barista’s
chest was a simple white nametag. “I wouldn’t worry about her,
Julie. She’s just rude.”

“
Oh, no Ma’am. It’s all good. We
just want to make sure her order is just like she likes it. What
about you? What can I get you?”

“
How about just a medium white
chocolate mocha with a double shot and a bit of Amaretto and one of
those cinnamon things.”

“
Alrighty. That’s nine fifty-two.”
The woman answered then tapped the order into the register screen.
The readout read exactly as she’d announced.

“
You just gave me the total before
you entered it.” Scarlett handed over her eCash card.

Julie shrugged. “Yeah, I’ve always been good with
numbers. And code.”

“
How come you’re here? Why aren’t
you programming these machines instead of using one?”

She handed the card back. “Oh I used to. I actually
have three degrees in advanced programming. But, ah... My company
got downsized. Haven’t been able to find much beyond this since.
Oh, what’s your name?”

“
Scarlett. Well, good luck. I hope
you get something soon.”

The barista tapped the name into the machine and
smiled back. “Me too. Have a nice day.”

“
You too.”

Scarlett turned to see the fussy businesswoman
lecturing another barista on the preparation of her drink. She
chuckled to herself and wandered over to pick up one of the
available digital newspads. A couple minutes later, her coffee was
ready.

The brown high-back chair was low but comfortable.
She sank into the seat and set her drink on the side table. A
scroll through the news showed nothing surprising. Bored with the
borrowed newspad, she set it down and leaned back to enjoy the
coffee and just being out of Neil’s apartment.

She kept her eyes closed and listed to the chatter
of the other people in the shop. When she heard Julie say she was
heading outside for her break, Scarlett’s eyes shot open. A vague
idea formed in her mind.

Scarlett grabbed her drink and headed outside.
Around the back of the store, she found Julie engrossed in her own
commpad. She approached the younger woman, despite the odor of
rotting coffee grounds and other indiscernible garbage. “Julie,
mind if I ask you a question?”

The woman’s head shot up and she looked at Scarlett
with wide eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m on break. If you need
something, Daniel inside can help you out.”

“
Actually, I wanted to talk to
you.”

“
Umm... okay. I guess.”

Scarlett leaned against a yellow cement post just a
few feet from the painted door. Rivulets of a dark liquid with an
oily sheen ran beneath her feet. “You did say three programming
degrees, right?”

“
Yeah.”

“
That’s impressive.”

Julie held up her commpad. “Not impressive enough to
get a job, apparently. I was looking to see if anyone’s replied to
any of the twenty-seven resume submissions I made last week.”

“
And?”

“
Nothing. Not even a ‘thanks for
applying.’ You believe that?”

“
Wow. That’s harsh. But I wanted
to talk to you about that. Have you ever thought about doing any
freelance work?”

The woman cocked her head to the side. “Like
what?”

“
Well, like this.” She pulled out
her new commpad. “I just bought this. I’ve been out of touch for a
while, so I needed a new one. Kind of making a fresh start, you
know?”

“
K.”

“
I want to make it secure. I don’t
want anyone to be able to listen in or have access to my content if
they were to get a hold of this thing.”

Julie reached out for the device. “May I?”

“
Sure.”

She took the commpad and looked it over. “Well, this
is on CyberBell. Their standard signal is pretty good for
preventing casual eavesdropping. I mean, there’s some upgrading
that could tighten the signal security.”

The barista tapped the power button and the device
flashed to life. “Wow, you haven’t even registered it.”

Scarlett shook her head. “Nope.”

“
Well, there’s plenty that can be
done to lock out unwanted eyes. The touchscreen is sensitive enough
for print registration and you could have a custom retinal scanner
linked to the camera.”

“
You can do that?”

Julie powered the device off and handed it back.
“Sure. I mean, not here, but I could. But, why me? I’m nobody.
There’s plenty of security shops that could do that for you.”

Scarlett arched her eyebrows. “That’s precisely the
reason. You are not part of one of those companies. As you said...
because you’re a ‘nobody’.”

“
This isn’t anything illegal, is
it?”

“
No, nothing like
that.”

“
Um, okay then.”

“
Good. Um, how’s two
thousand?”

The younger woman’s eyes nearly bulged out of her
head. “Two thousand credits?”

“
Yep.”

“
That’s more than two weeks’
pay!”

Scarlett smiled and put her hand out. “Is that a
yes?”

Julie smiled too. She reached out and shook
Scarlett’s hand. “That’s a yes.”

“
Good, now how soon can you do
it?”

The barista looked at her watch. “Oh, shit. My break
was over three minutes ago. Um... I’ve got a couple more hours
here. Then I can do it.”

“
Good. I’ll be back at one-thirty
then.”

Julie nodded and dashed back into the coffee
shop.

Scarlett smiled. She strolled out of the alley to
find something to do for the next two hours.

Chapter 23
Jules

Einstein was right. Time can only flow forward. We
can never go back.

* * *

Scarlett walked around the commercial district for a
while. She finally settled on a bench in the park facing a large
grassy area surrounded by birch trees. Watching the people sitting
on blankets or tossing toys for their dogs relaxed her, it let her
feel normal just for a few minutes.
These people have no idea.
They live happy, carefree lives. I was one of them, once. Could I
be one again?
A beep from her commpad signaled the alarm she’d
set. She looked down at the device and was surprised by the
time.

“
Wow. Already...” She stood and
headed back to the coffee shop, back to Julie.

She waited outside the shop, a few feet from the
door and out of view from anyone inside.

The young barista stepped out and wrapped her apron
into a bundle. Her drooped shoulders and bags under her eyes showed
what the rest of her day had been like. She looked up one side of
the street and then the other. When her eyes fell on Scarlett, her
posture perked up and a flicker of light appeared in her gaze. “To
be honest, I was a little worried. Thought you might not come
back.”

“
Why? Did I come across like I was
jerking your chain?”

“
No, but that would be just my
luck.” Julie pointed down the street. “Let’s take an autobus to my
place. I’ve got everything I need on my system.”

“
Good. So, how long do you think
it’ll take?”

“
Not long. Maybe an hour or so.
Most of the code is ready. Just needs a tweak or two.”

They took a short autobus ride and got off in front
of a silver tower. Streaks of dust and exhaust soot covered the
sides of the building where a recent rain marred the uniform filth.
As they stepped off the bus, Julie stopped and looked up. “It’s not
much to look at but the rent is pretty good and the building is
safe.”

“
That’s what counts,
right?”

A brief ride in the elevator delivered them to the
seventeenth floor. Julie turned to the apartment right off the
lift. “Home sweet home. Make yourself comfortable an’ I’ll get to
work.”

Scarlett handed the younger woman her commpad.

Julie sat at a desk and several holoscreens
appeared. She typed at a virtual keyboard and swiped at the air.
Lines of white code scrolled through the air. “So, what I’m doing
is setting up a double firewall system with partition masking and
quantum cryptographic encryption.”

She looked up over her shoulder at Scarlett

“
Quantum encryption? You can do
that?” She stared back with wide eyes.

“
To be honest, I set it up about a
year ago. Ready for my next job, you know?”

“
Yeah. So, that’s, military grade,
right?”

The younger woman continued to type away. “Pretty
much.”

Scarlett turned around and scanned the room again. A
sink and several small appliances seemed to fight for space in one
cramped corner. A single twin bed sat shoved against another wall.
Other than the entrance, there were only two other doors. Scarlett
expected one led to a bathroom and the other a closet.

Dry-erase smart boards and sticky notes lined the
rest of the walls. Nearly every inch of paper and white board was
covered in algorithms and bits of code. “Wow. I can only understand
tiny bits of this but... some of it is really brilliant.”

“
What those? Not to brag, but I’m
probably one of the best in the region. But it takes me time to get
good code down. Some of the coders I’ve met spit out lines of
brilliant hack like they’re machines, pardon the pun. And it’s
stuff that makes me look like a third-grader. “

“
They’re hackers?” Scarlett sat
down on the edge of the bed. Several springs squeaked under her
weight.

“
Well... Hack is what we call
code, whether it’s a traditional hack or just a program. But most
of them do have major issues with authority figures. But they
prefer to be called Greys.”

“
Greys?”

“
I guess years ago, hackers fell
into three categories. Black hats were the bad guys, white hats the
good guys and the greys were anything in between. I think they
adopted the name out of their ambivalence and apathy to the rest of
the world”

Scarlett continued looking over the code plastered
to the walls. Her eyes stopped on something different. “Hey, Julie,
what’s this?” Scarlett stood and walked over to one of the smaller
white boards.

“
If you want, you can call me
Jules. Most of my friends do. Well, the few I have. Sorry, which
one?”