Fiction by the phantom scribbler

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No Time Like the Present - pt.i

'The guy's done his homework, that's for sure!'
Leesa turned away briefly from the beat-em-up she was playing with Jefry.
'Whatcha talkin' 'bout, Lou?'
Louise flicked between two sheets of fax paper, intent on the details.
'He's set up the meet in the Basement. Eight o'clock tonight.' Leesa replied this time without turning.
'Big deal! So the guy knows where we hang out. The fuck does it matter? He pays, don't he? Fuck!…take that ya big shite!'
Louise shook her head. 'It just bugs me is all. I made sure that all the press releases said we went to the Pit. How the hell am I supposed to secure Jefry's sponsorship if anyone can find out that we prefer other clubs.
'But I like the Pit,' said Jefry, leaning back on his secondary hands as he delivered a final thrashing to Bubbles. 'There's tons of lassies there!' A lascivious grin crept onto his face. Leesa couldn't resist.
'Yeah? Can't be that many lasses there, otherwise why do you keep hitting on my clan boys all the time?' But Jefry was on form tonight.
'You know me honey…anything in a skirt!' he grinned, 'I can't help it if they keep throwing themselves at me.'
Leesa playfully punched Jefry's shoulder, strong enough to bruise most, but Jefry had made sure to buy a non-bruising skin for his assurance locker and it hadn't shown so much as a blemish since his LAD retrieval. Probably just as well, given the way he danced whenever they did go to the Pit.
Wish stepped through from the kitchen stirring a mug of hot chocolate. She took a sip as she sat on the lovely new Karma sofa. Slowly swallowed it down before speaking.
'What we should be asking is why he wants to meet in a club at all. And so late. You manage to get any gen on him?'
Louise consulted the second sheet. 'Uh…yeah, a little. Name's Simon Warren. SCL's about eight something. Works for one of SIC's smaller channels, an events promoter or something. Lives local, somewhere along the 'Shaws road I think.'
'Your source reliable?'
'Wee Stuart knows him. Our man's a small-time dealer on the side, just soft stuff. Bit of grey market dabbling. You know - the usual. Apparently he's a bit of a tit, but generally alright. Stu reckons we can trust him.'
Bubblegum nodded. It was always nice to have a wee bit of leverage information when dealing with someone new.
'You got anything else lined up for us, then?' asked Wish, still sipping her chocolate. Louise shook her head. 'Might as well make the meet then. You called yet?' Lou shook her head again.
'I thought I'd run it past you guys first. Y'know, since everyone was gonna be here tonight anyway.'
Leesa dropped the her game controller and stood up. 'Yeah, we came over 'cause we're supposed to be goin' out th'night, not for a job. C'mon - we've no' had a good girly night out in weeks. We can pick up a job tomorrow.'
This time it was Wish's turn to shake her head. 'We've got that photoshoot with Servitude tomorrow. We already missed the last shoot and they've threatened to cancel Lou's contract if we miss another.'
Jefry turned away from the screen, still a little reluctant to abandon the game. 'Yeah, and they're gonna put me on the cover. I love being on the cover.'
'There ya go!' Leesa wasn't about to give up on a chance to party. 'How the hell can we take a job on tonight when we've got a shoot tomorrow.
What if something happens?' She returned to Jefry's side and perched on his knee. 'Won't look so good if pretty boy here gets his face all messed up for the cover.' She pinched his face playfully and he responded by shoving her away. A good couple of feet away right enough, but Leesa was too busy giggling to worry about it.
A glance passed between Louise and Wish, a small smile playing on both their lips. Wish nodded and Louise shrugged.
'For one, we do have this guy on a promise that this is just gonna be a wee PR job. Shouldn't take more'n a coupla hours. And of course …. well, I wasn't gonna mention this again,' she said, casually standing and lifting her cigarettes from the counter, 'But we could kinda use the money. We still have to pay for your little…accident last week.'
'My little accid…?' Leesa began, but tailed off as she realised Louise was talking about. 'Oh, my wee accident.' She fiddled absently with one of her thinner dreads, making Jefry wince. 'Forgot about that. Still, looked good on Third Eye though.' She smiled weakly, but knew she'd lost. 'Ach, fair enough then. What time's the meet again?'

The Basement was a creaky little club a coupla blocks down from Lou and Wish's apartment. It was in a decent enough area, so it didn't see much trouble. And hidden close enough to a few important offices - a large 3rdEye studio and the famous King Street Body Art clinic among others - meant that a steady presence of high-SCL movers kept the instances of subversive activity fairly low. This effect was undoubtedly helped by the rumoured Dark Finder deployment zone said to be somewhere in the area. Naturally, a portion of the steady stream of wealthy operatives passing through the locale had found their way into the Basement at some point or another, and although not actually affiliated to the company in any way, it had become known among a small selection of ops as a place to go for some peace.
Lou had been coming since her days as a financeer, having been asked to meet one of her clients inside on occasion. It was one of those odd little places where, despite the smoky atmosphere, crap drinks and terrible decor, you just couldn't seem to stop yourself from coming back. Just one of those 'comfortable' little holes you're happy to be stuck in for a while. The tiny little dancefloor right up at the back of the place was usually well-populated, but Lou seldom bothered with that anymore. Leesa and Jefry would happily indulge though, although they were oddly subdued when dancing here. Not at all like the frantic slamming they excelled at when visiting the Pit. They seemed to appreciate that this place was somewhat sacrosanct …. somewhere to just chill out. As did everyone else who came here. It had become one of those great unspoken agreements, and over time this had become the reason for the Basement's popularity. Very few civilians even came in anymore, but no-one really bothered if they did, so long as they stuck to the rules.
Tonight the place was a bit on the quiet side. Louise led the way as the squad walked in, pausing for a chat with Suzanne at the coat-check and handing over a handful of unis to pay their entry. As they moved into the club proper they split up as usual; Leesa and Jefry heading straight for the bar, Wish stalking over towards the toilets and Louise stopping just inside the door. She watched the others make their way. Always the same, every time they came. Leesa was still fairly straight, so she'd probably remember to get a full round in. And given that Jefry was one of only a small handful of stormers to drink here, and somewhat unique even among them, they could generally be assured to be served quite quickly. Never by intimidation though - he was just well known in this place, and got on well with most of the staff. Luckily it was Alan and Scott behind the bar tonight, though - some of the female staff did their best to avoid Jefry. Or more accurately, Jefry's advances.
Looking round, Lou spotted a few familiar faces. She nodded to a group gathered around the old, beat-up sofa right at the back, just off to the left of the door in. She'd never worked with any of them - indeed, she suspected that none of them had ever worked together either, but they'd always kinda gravitate towards each other when they came in here. They were the regulars; the home crowd. They were an odd collection too - ops from all over the SCL range, and even a couple of civilians. For the most part, rank had no bearing in here - egos were checked at the door or subject to ridicule - but this group enjoyed a level of respect here unrelated to their standing in the outside world. Louise had never really been part of the group as such, but she did count a couple of their number as friends. That was what was special about them - between the dozen-or-so of them they seemed somehow to manage to get to know every new regular. And they'd spread themselves out right through the whole night, only a few ever being seen together after about 10-ish. 'Comfort and coke?' Wish appeared at her elbow, holding up a tumbler of dark nectar. Jefry and Bubblegum were just behind her, carrying-on with a couple of friends.
'Cheers!' Louise accepted the glass (such a great little luxury - real glasses!) and enjoyed the first cold sip.
'You see our guy, then?' Wish asked, sipping her own drink.
Louise shook her head. 'I haven't seen him yet, but Stuart reckons he's over near the booth.' She motioned over by the toilets with her head, and back towards the regulars with her hand. Small, practised motions learned from their time together in the squad. In this kind of job you could never really switch out off 'work mode'.
'You eager to get going then?'
Wish shrugged. 'Might as well. If we hang about those two will just end up getting wasted,' she said, nodding back towards the other two squad members. Her crisp accent, still strong even after a few years away from Keener, shaping each vowel and consonant cleanly. She could never be persuaded to talk about the time she spent as vassal for the solitary Necanthrope, but Louise knew it had affected her deeply. And it was odd the way her grammar would relax when they were off-duty. The accent would still be there, but there was a definite difference in the way she spoke.
'Okay then. Grab those two and we'll get this on the move.'

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