Shadowrun 01 - Never Deal With A Dragon (51 page)

"Whatever," the Dwarf shrugged. "Long as the suitboy don't see daylight, I get paid."

Hart activated her transceiver. "Tessien. He's in a dark helo moving south along the waterfront toward us. He's all yours."

The flight was short, barely a hedge hop, but that suited Sam fine. Less time to get cold feet. The copter swept in low over the United Oil perimeter fence and settled down softly in an open space near the wharf. There were no challenges, no alarms, no gunfire. Enterich's informants must have been right about Haesslich accepting delivery privately. It did fit the pattern of the Dragon wanting as few witnesses as possible. Even a circumstantial connection had been enough for him to order the murder of Hanae and Sam.

As soon as the craft's rotors slowed, Sam slipped into his long coat, hefted the case over one shoulder, and climbed out. Walking clear of the copter, he set his burden down and gazed around him. The area seemed deserted. Haesslich, in either Human or Dragon form, was nowhere in sight.

He waited. Behind him, the blades of the helicopter stopped turning, but the distant sound of a jet far overhead made him look up. Moving against the stars was a dark shape heading in from the Sound. As it drew nearer, he made out a long, sinuous body slung between a pair of large wings and knew it for a dracoform.

It was just offshore when Sam realized this could not be Haesslich. It was no Western Dragon, but a feathered serpent. A taloned hind limb unfolded down from its tucked position as the serpent swept toward him.

Suddenly, the serpent checked its approach and veered higher. Sam saw why as a dark shape, bulkier than the serpent, rose on great membranous wings. Even in the low light, Sam had no doubt that this second creature was a Western Dragon. It cut across the path of the first.

A hiss, a roar, the crash of massive bodies colliding, and they were past each other, a flurry of feathers tumbling in the wind of their passage. The serpent's flight became erratic, its wings beating irregularly. The Western Dragon banked wide and returned in a stooping dive. This time, Sam saw the talons score bloody furrows in the other's flank. The serpent screamed its agony and twisted, trying to avoid the jaws snapping at him.

As those jaws closed on the serpent's neck, the weakened beast responded by wrapping its own body around the Western Dragon. Both began to plummet from the sky. Ten meters from the ground, the Western Dragon broke free of the serpent's coils, wings beating furiously to stay in the air. The mortally wounded serpent continued its descent, then struck the concrete wharf with an earthshaking crash.

The other pounced on it, tearing with claws and ripping with jaws. "
Hart!
" the serpent cried out plaintively, just before the Western Dragon tore out its throat.

The victor raised his head, tongue slithering out to lick his muzzle clean. When a tentative pawing aroused no response from the serpent, the beast turned its back on the corpse and marched toward Sam.

"Haesslich," Sam said.

"
Good evening, manling
."

Pinned under the beast's fearsome stare, Sam began to wonder what had possessed him to attempt this. A Dragon was unpredictable, at least to Human logic. How could he expect it to yield to any pressure he might try to apply? "Why did you kill Tessien? I thought it was on your payroll."

Contempt swelled around Sam. "
It was, but I have no use for those who fail me. I have less for those who lie to me, as it did when first reporting your demise. It will, however, make a good meal
."

"It made a mistake, so you
killed
it? And now you're going to eat it?"

"
Of course. Its associate will meet a similar fate when she arrives with my delivery
."

"I won't let that happen."

"
But you can't stop it, manling
." The Dragon's amusement rolled across Sam. "
I thought you might be trouble when we first met, but such has not been the case. Your poking and prying into my business has been totally ineffectual. I need never have been concerned
."

Sam hated this arrogant beast, and wanted desperately to humble him. What Haesslich had done, what he planned to do, were wrong, but the Dragon seemed not to know it. Sam no longer had any doubts about what he must do. Tonight, the menace of Haesslich would be stopped.

"You should be concerned," he said. "I know that your operation at the arcology was set up without the approval or knowledge of your bosses at United Oil. They won't help you now. It's not in their interest to protect a murderer who uses their assets for his own purposes. Once the evidence becomes public, UniOil will be glad to see you get the full penalty under the law. Your arrogance seems to have no limit, Dragon, but people are not toys for your amusement nor will you get away with committing murder.

"I came here tonight to offer you a chance to surrender. Give yourself up to the police and stop the bloodshed. You might earn the court's mercy. But even if you don't turn yourself in voluntarily, you'll still be brought to trial."

"
Unlikely
," Haesslich responded, his amusement growing.

Exactly the answer Sam had expected. What he hadn't anticipated was the undertone in the Dragon's emotional broadcast.
Hunger
. His knees felt weak; he hadn't thought about being
eaten
. He felt his resolve waver, then he remembered Hanae and Begay. They were good people whose lives had been cut short at the whim of this beast. He knew very little about the others who had been killed that night in the Tir, but it still added up to too many deaths at Haesslich's orders. Tonight would be the end. Sam straightened to his full height, craning his neck to stare into the face of the Dragon. Haesslich's fangs glittered in the moonlight.

"Are you going to kill me now?" Sam asked, with a calm that surprised him. "I won't make much of a meal, but you'll choke on it."

Sam felt a peculiar vibration in the Dragon's emotional tone. He decided it must be the Dragon's laughter.

"
Your death is no longer necessary. I will have what I want when Hart brings it to me tonight. You and your threats have become meaningless, but your bluff amuses me
."

"You're wrong, Dragon. Your plan isn't concluded tonight, it's exposed." Sam flicked the replay switch. "Watch."

A ghostly image of the scene at Landing Pad 23 lit up the wall of a nearby structure. The Federated Boeing Commuter bearing Aztechnology markings was just landing.

Hart had felt Tessien's death. Hearing it call her name had chilled her to the bone, telling her it had never betrayed her, that her suspicions had been misplaced. Tears streaming from her eyes, she stood staring while Haesslich talked to Verner. She listened in shocked silence as the long-range pickup relayed every word. She shivered when Haesslich pronounced her death sentence.

"Looks like you're out of work, chummer," Greerson said, revealing that he had not really believed Hart's story about working for Crenshaw. The implications of Hart's failed duplicity seemed unimportant right now. Greerson crouched at her feet, assembling a sniper rifle. "But I've still got a contract on the kid. Don't suppose you'd like to put one on the wizworm? That launcher'll do him as easy as a helo. Once Verner's down, I'll be glad to open negotiations."

Hart was not much interested in death at the moment. "What's the point?"

"The point is business, Elf lady. Always business."

Hart stared at the wreck that had been Tessien, the only being she had come close to trusting in the last ten years. It was dead now. It had died calling for her, but she had failed it long before that with her groundless suspicions.

Tessien was dead. Anger roared through her, swelling into a rage. Was it Verner's fault? Should she detest him for being alive while Tessien was dead? Or should she turn her fury against Haesslich for ripping out the serpent's throat? Or should she despise herself for being the one to send Tessien in to get Sam, putting the serpent in the path of the murderous Haesslich?

Verner's portable trideo unit continued flickering its story on the wall. It showed Verner, who she had trailed all night and who could not possibly have been present, leading the raiders against Landing Pad 23. Crenshaw's trap had turned a snatch-and-run into an all-out battle. Images of death and destruction cast their reflections on man and Dragon. On the wall, Crenshaw battled with the doppelganger. Hart dropped a hand to Greerson's shoulder. "I think you'd better take a look."

Greerson slipped his goggles into place just in time to see the doppelganger tossing Crenshaw from the landing platform. "Oh, frag it!" He sat down and let out an explosive sigh. "There goes the paycheck." He started to break down the sniper rifle.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like, Elf lady? Packing up. This job's over." He stuffed the pieces of his weapon into his carryall. "Sure you don't want to hit the Dragon? Since I'm already here, I could give you a good price."

She shook her head.

"I'll throw in a professional discount."

"I think if it's to be done, it ought to be personal."

Greerson then shook his head and scratched at his beard. "Personal is bad business, Elf lady. Can I get out the way we got in?"

She nodded, turning her gaze back to the confrontation below them. She heard the rattle of his grapnel as he shook it loose and then she forgot him completely.

Haesslich didn't like what he saw at all. If he had noticed Sam's image on the screen, the confusion of the image was swept away by the Dragon's passion. His rage swelled until it was almost a palpable thing surrounding Sam. And yet all that wrath was simply for the failure of a plan. Again the arrogance of the beast confounded Sam.

As he watched the recording, the sight of his own image was a puzzle, though unimportant at the moment. He was seeing men die. Some died trying to do good; others died trying to do their duty. Shadowrunner or corporate, they were just as dead. He watched himself double-cross and abandon Sally and the others, realizing suddenly that the Sam Verner he was seeing must be some kind of disguise for Jacqueline. What should have been a lightning snatch, leaving the Renraku guards too surprised and outgunned to react, had been twisted into the orgy of death, destruction, and betrayal. Everything connected to Haesslich's plans, his petty attempts to increase his power, wealth, and influence, ended in death. But the only thing the Dragon saw was that he had been thwarted.

Haesslich's bitterness crackled in the air. Watching the beast scream its rage, Sam knew it would not suffer him to live much longer. The Dragon could not know that Sam had been betrayed by agents of yet another Dragon, nor would it care.

The Dragon arched its neck back and bellowed, flames flickering about its teeth in promise of a firestorm to come. Sam hoped it wouldn't be quicker than the jaws.
Death for death
, Lofwyr had said, but the Dragon hadn't quite meant it this way.
Dying is easy; it's the next part that gets tricky
, Dog had said. Well, the next part was in other hands. Haesslich would reap what he was about to sow.

A song began to run through Sam's head; it was sung by the quavering voice of Dog. What a crazy time to have a song stuck in his head. Wasn't his life supposed to be flashing before his eyes? Well, he had heard that crazy people felt no pain. He began to sing along.

Haesslich tilted his head down, lips curling back from his teeth. "
It's but a minor consolation to see your mind snap with fear before your body burns
."

"Come on, wizworm," Sam shouted giddily, his words seeming to keep time with the song. "Come and get me if you can."

As the Dragon unleashed his fiery breath, Sam staggered back, the blast wreathing him in flames. Sweat poured off, to be instantly evaporated away. Beneath his feet, the asphalt softened and bubbled. Within the fire, cocooned by the spell song, he was untouched.

With the Dragon's violence as their cue, Ghost and his tribesmen opened fire from their concealed positions. Haesslich roared, more in surprise than pain, venting flame into the sky. Uncoiling his powerful hind limbs, he launched himself into the night, giant wings spread and beating the air.

The Dragon rapidly gained altitude, escaping the tracers that sought him. Then, with a sudden wing over and a bellow, he dove toward the largest group of attackers.

The sight drove some of Ghost's tribesmen to flight, but the samurai leader remained steady, standing braced against the parapet. Even his loader fled, leaving the pack of belt-fed ammunition to lie at the Ghost's feet. The light metal box leapt from its cloth carry sack and danced on the rooftop as the belt uncoiled to feed the voracious appetite of the Vindicator minigun.

The Dragon dodged and rolled to avoid the stream of tracers seeking his hide, but each maneuver only forced him to spend more time trying to reach his attackers. Ghost swiveled the gyro-mount to follow each slip and jink, always pumping more slugs into the beast, who could not completely avoid the Indian's fire. Crisscrossed with wounds, chunks torn from his flesh, Haesslich pulled up into a stall, throwing off the deadly aim of the man on the roof.

Then Haesslich rolled into another dive, again surprising Ghost, whose tracers cut the night a full twenty meters from the beast. Wounded beyond endurance, the Dragon suddenly dropped from the air like a rock, straight into the dark waters of Puget Sound. The waters closed over him and Haesslich was gone.

Sam knelt in the asphalt, the heat spreading through the komex fabric of his jumpsuit. Spread around him, the tails of his long coat were scorched and blackened. By his side, the trideo unit was a slag heap.

Death for death
, Lofwyr had said. And the great golden Dragon's sentence had come to pass. Haesslich's death had paid for Hanae's, but that had not been what Sam had set out to do. He had wanted proper justice, but got revenge instead. Any attack on his person was the signal for Ghost and his tribesmen to open fire, springing an ambush Haesslich couldn't escape. The Dragon had brought death on himself by trying to kill Sam.
Death for death
. Sam had expected to die tonight, trading his own life so that the Dragon could be caught in one of his crimes. Wasn't it justice that a murderer be killed in an attempt at murder?