Silence (8 page)

“
I’m not speaking for Ghost
at the moment,” Indigo responded icily. “I have a different
employer. Like your usuals, except… connected.”

Sheikoh’s smile dribbled from his
face, and he narrowed his eyes. What was going on here? Was his
contact really Indigo? Was this for real?

He really wasn’t betting on
it.

“
Cut the act, mate. What’s
your game?” asked Sheikoh.

“
I’m telling you the
truth,” Indigo spat. “The one pulling the strings here is more
powerful than you want to go up against. A Celestial.”

“
So…
we’re magical, super-powerful Celestial, lightning bolts from their
fingers, laser eyes, and all that, huh?” Sheikoh asked
dismissively. “Come on, mate. Even
you
can come up with something
better than this.”

Indigo furiously opened his mouth, but
Sheikoh wasn’t done.  

“
The Dekla thing was real
overkill,” Sheikoh continued. “Still… if you can afford to dress a
dude up like that, then my advice is to ditch the current outfit
and go shopping.”

Sheikoh gestured at Indigo’s faded,
over-sized jeans and the tee shirt under his grey jacket that had
obviously started out white, but was now discolored a yellow
color.

“
I don’t
know anyone named Dekla!” Indigo shouted with frustration. A few
heads turned back their way so the ganglord lowered his voice.
“Just shut up for a
minute
and let me talk!”

Sheikoh crossed his arms and began
tapping his foot with exaggerated impatience.

“
Okay,” Indigo began,
rubbing the back of his head. “So… um… it started like this. A
couple of days ago, Ghost sent me… wait… never mind, that isn’t
really important. Well-

Rolling his eyes, Sheikoh cut over
Indigo’s eloquent speech.

“
Seriously, are you even
trying?
” Sheikoh asked
sarcastically. “How about you tell me why this ‘Celestial’ would
send
Dekla
if he
was going to end up sending
you
the next day?”

“
I told
you; I don’t know anyone named Dekla!”
Indigo hissed.

Then his face went thoughtful.
 

“
Honestly, I’m not totally
sure what we’re into right now, but you’re already in the heavy.
The Celestial sent me to take out a couple of assassins that’re on
your tail,” Indigo told Sheikoh seriously.

“
Well… Thanks, mate, really
considerate of you, offering to save my life.” Sheikoh rolled his
eyes. “But if that’s all, I guess I’ll be seeing you.”
  

“
Prince
of
hell
,
just gimme a
second
,” Indigo cursed, reaching deep into his baggy, jean pocket,
just like Dekla had.

The next second, Sheikoh had his
pistol pressed against Indigo’s ribcage. He hesitated, held back by
the memory of Dekla, and then inwardly cursed himself, waiting for
Indigo to smash him aside, and kill him. But it didn’t happen.
Indigo’d gone immobile. And, if there hadn’t been a Dekla, the
ganglord would have a brand-new plasma wound sizzling in his chest.
Then Sheikoh realized, that Indigo was much too good to have to
search his pocket for a weapon. If Indigo had been going for a
weapon, it would’ve come out almost as fast as
Sheikoh’s.

“
I’m not going to attack
you,” Indigo promised slowly and distinctly.

“
Fair enough,” Sheikoh
responded lightly, tucking his pistol away. He waved a hand,
gesturing they should continue.

Indigo’s jaw dropped with indignation.
Like Sheikoh’s apparent naivety was a personal insult. Then his
expression smoothed itself out, and he went back to pawing through
his pockets.   

“
So why
did this ‘
Celestial’
send you of all people?” Sheikoh asked
skeptically. He believed that the ganglord didn’t intend on
shooting him. That didn’t translate to believing his story. Sheikoh
was going to need proof for something like this.  

“
I don’t know,” Indigo
muttered back, still forearm deep in his pants. “Trust me, I
wouldn’t be here if i had a choice.”

“
Come
on
,” Sheikoh sighed, exasperated. “
You’re
smart enough to know I
wouldn’t take you at your word. A
Celestial
has gotta have a bit more
sense than that
.
”

“
Apparently not,” Indigo
leveled a sharp grin at Sheikoh.

Sheikoh pretended to think for a
moment. “Remember that one time, a while ago? That time you were
outsmarted by a thirteen-year-old…?”

Indigo’s face went dark with
rage.

“
What was his name...”
Sheikoh wondered thoughtfully. “Oh! yeah! Me!”

He grinned at Indigo who was literally
shaking with fury. Then the ganglord begin stringing curses
together in ways that Sheikoh had never heard in his life.
Sheikoh’s eyes widened, he hadn’t known that Indigo was this
creative.

“
Prince
of
hell!
I
thought you were called Silence! You should be called
never-shuts-the-hell-up!” the dark ganglord finished, out of
breath.

“
Yeah,
well, where’d
Indigo
come from? The color of your nipples?” responded
Sheikoh.

“
You want these guys to
kill you? Fine by me!” spat Indigo. “There isn’t any payout worth
dealing with a piece of gutter-trash like you! I’ll just turn
around and walk away right now!”

Sheikoh narrowed his eyes at the
panting ganglord. His hand tightened around the hilt of his
pistol.

“
So what are you saying,
mate?” Sheikoh asked darkly. “We back to here?”

“
Dumbass!” Indigo spat,
pointing to the square behind him. “If you’d been listening, I
already told you this part! You were followed here!”

“
If you think that I’m
turning my back to look for…” Sheikoh began furiously, but Indigo
took a long step forward, and Sheikoh’s objection died, mid-speech.
Where Indigo stood, Sheikoh could easily search the square without
losing sight of the ganglord.

Sheikoh scanned the crowds and quickly
spotted the odd group out. There were four of them. They were
dressed in tight suits, overcoat and everything, standing around
stiffly. They were pretty far away, but Sheikoh could tell that
their faces were hard and set. Dangerous faces. And from the
awkward way they moved, Sheikoh was certain that there were weapons
shoved in their tight belts. He could almost feel them pressed into
his own gut.

After a moment, one of them, a
blonde-haired man, shot a quick glance his way, and then
immediately averted his eyes. It looked like Indigo was being for
real.

What..?

Maybe…

Could these men possibly be
Sheikoh's contacts? They were undoubtedly East Side. Like Dekla.
Maybe Indigo was lying, but the paper
had
said contact. As in one.
Singular.

Like Indigo.

Sheikoh shot a glance at the ganglord.
He was still rummaging through his baggy pockets the back ones now.
Sheikoh shook his head, and glanced back at the men. It didn’t
matter how this looked. These were probably Indigo’s guys too. It
would be beyond stupid to trust Indigo. Suicidal. There was no way
siding with a ganglord was anywhere near Sheikoh’s best
interests.

“
Hah!” Indigo exclaimed,
startling Sheikoh. "Found it!"

Heart racing, Sheikoh swung around.
Indigo was holding something in his oversized hand. A
business-card-sized piece paper, blank white. Indigo proffered it
to him, and Sheikoh suddenly realized that it wasn’t blank at all;
its center was emblazoned with a fingerprint-sized circle. Sheikoh
leaned over and eyed it. It seemed made up of painstakingly
detailed, minute runes. They looked like the letters of some kind
of alien alphabet. It sat there, silent and ominous.

Sheikoh knew exactly what it was
supposed to be; a pentacle, the work of a Celestial. Presumably
Indigo’s. People said that the Celestial’s magic powered TVs,
phones, computer, that the magnificently robed upper class of the
upper class sold their souls in exchange for infinite possibility.
But Indigo’s claim was impossible. There was no way-

“
Touch the circle,” Indigo
told him simply. “And you’ll understand.”

Sheikoh warily glanced at the
ganglord, making no move to touch the card. Indigo rolled his eyes
and pressed a dark index fingers onto the still-darker circle. For
a second, Indigo’s eyes drifted out of focus and his features
slackened. Nothing else. Sheikoh didn’t see any signs of
magic.

He watched for a second, wary and
almost jumped when Indigo’s face twitched back into expression. The
ganglord shook himself quickly and then leveled a challenging glare
at Sheikoh.

“
Now you,” Indigo ordered
with a feral spark in his eyes.

“
It’s cool, you go again,”
Sheikoh responded, flashing an uneasy smile.

“
It’s okay if you’re
scared,” Indigo shot back. “I wasn’t, but that’s just
me.”

Indigo flicked the crumpled rectangle
of paper out at Sheikoh.  Sheikoh stared at the black pentacle
in its center for a second. It looked like a mocking eye, staring
him down. He tentatively reached out and touched the circle of
runes.

Indigo, the warrior statue, the
shifty-eyed group of four, the East Siders riding their
Swifthooves, everything around him drained away to an empty, black
nothingness. The ground fell from beneath his feet, but he didn’t
fall with it. He just floated there in the dark.

A booming, double-timbre voice rippled
through his thoughts. Sheikoh couldn't be sure whether it was a
man's or a woman's. It almost seemed to be both at the same
time.

“
Silence, this is your
newest employer. Follow Indigo; he knows better than to touch you.
Tomorrow we will meet. Face to face.”

Then it was over, just like that.
Sheikoh, bemused, was left staring at Indigo surrounded by Myzeik
Square ordinary bustle. Like nothing out of the ordinary had ever
happened here. Indigo chortled at his overwhelmed
expression.

"So you're saying that you're really
working for a Celestial..?" Sheikoh murmured, half to himself.
“Guess I’m going to get used to this.”

“
Naw. The Celestial just
did that for me. I told him you wouldn’t believe me,” Indigo
responded, grinning sadistically. “Your fault for not taking me at
my word.”

“
I’ll come meet your
Celestial, but first thing’s first, huh?” Sheikoh asked the bigger
man. Then he stepped towards the labyrinth that followed a
vine-drenched, brick walkway. Indigo bared his teeth and nodded in
understanding. They disappeared into the east side
streets.

Behind them, the men
followed.

Chapter 4

Ambushing the
Ambush

He and Indigo walked purposefully
between buildings of Coral Grey. Sheikoh who was slightly ahead,
made sure to keep the ganglord firmly in his peripheral vision.
Even if Indigo was probably telling most of the truth… hopefully,
that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try a cheap shot for old times’
sake.  Sheikoh’d busted Indigo up all those years ago. Sheikoh
couldn’t help but smile. He lowered his face, but Indigo still
picked up on it.

“
Wanna take our friends
back to that factory? It’s obviously lucky place for ya, Silence,”
Indigo whispered out of the corner of his mouth, eyes dancing with
danger and excitement. “It’s not too far.”

Sheikoh couldn’t help but like Indigo
a little bit more for bringing that back up. There didn't seem to
be any trace of rancor in the ganglord's tone. Despite that, he
knew better than to trust Indigo. He wasn’t going to let the
ganglord choose their ambush spots anytime soon.

“
I’d rather not cross the
gate. Too much could go wrong on the way. I was thinking just
bringing them down to that construction sight. It’s only about two
blocks down from here. Just duck and roll off,” Sheikoh explained
tersely.

Indigo nodded his assent. The
ganglord’s face was sharp and drawn. It was the expression of a man
readying himself to kill. And as much as it freaked him out,
Sheikoh was right there with him.

Sheikoh shivered. He was treading the
secrets and implications well enough, but he was moving blind and
desperate for some truth. He wanted to get the fight over with
already and figure who exactly was playing him like a puppet. He
needed to be in control. Sheikoh sighed. Just ride things out until
they started to make sense again, looked like that was the game
plan. As always.

But before he went off to risk his
life, he had to make sure that Dorothi would be okay. Life was
getting real complicated real fast, and he had to take care of
things before they spiraled out of his grip. Sheikoh slid a hand
into his pocket and pressed a button on his Trinity XI. He
whispered a silent prayer. He hoped that Dorothi would be okay,
that she would stay in their safehouse. He had enough to deal with
without her getting taken hostage or whatever.