The morning and following day passed like a dream. Now it was night, my time again, and I was alive. I had survived the dream, and the damp darkness helped keep me grounded in reality. Dreams and nightmares were a million years away, but I still had a feeling of foreboding.
The partitions and pillars of the half-submerged parking structure had been bleached by years of acid rain and the slowly rising tide of the reservoir. I use the word reservoir loosely, since it’s little more than a big puddle that’s encroaching on Baker block.
At one time, gangs held this area and used it for bloodsports so the ground is used to bloodshed. We took it over and use it for much more civilized activities that come with business: negotiations, interrogations, and the occasional execution. It’s also used for interviews since it’s a good place to dispose of the bodies.Kemper nodded to let me know his men are ready and I felt a dozen pairs of eyes on me. Eight blindfolded men stood in front of me looking nervous as I walked over and they seemed to twitch with the sound of my shoes. It’s probably better that they didn’t see the Kemper’s hit team standing behind them. Chaz vouched for two of the recruits, one came through Ruez, and three are ones that I’ve looked into myself. The other two are complete outsiders and wildcards. I usually check that sort last.
“Gentlemen, thanks for coming. You are here to see if you pass the interview to join a well paying organization. I encourage you to speak up if you do not want to participate.”
No response.
“Very well. First of all, we are not a SLA Industries subsidiary. We are not Dark Night, or one of the other soft companies. If you work for any of these organizations please let me know now so that you can be dismissed. We don’t hire moonlighters.”
Nervous laughter, but no real response. Usually no one speaks up at this point and this wasn’t any different. They know they’re in it deep and we’ll have to ferret them out. Usually at least one is an operative, possibly chipped. He’s usually a big guy trained to kill without a weapon. I’ve heard it called “Kick Murder”, but they seem to bleed and die screaming the same as any other hotshot.
I started with the one of the men Chaz knows and nodded to the crew. One of the hit squad led him to the edge of the water and stood behind him, leveling a pistol at the base of his skull. A red dot rose from the nape of the neck and stopped in the center of the head. I wondered if it was the cold wind or some sort of sixth sense that made the man shiver. He had a reason to be afraid.
Gibson is one of the Trade’s interrogators and always comes to these events. He’s the sort of person that enjoys watching a fresh amputee lie in a street screaming until an ambulance arrives. He licked his lips and opened the padded briefcase with excitement.
Unsnapping a vinyl sheath, he pulled what looked like a flattened black traffic cone with a handle out and plugged it in to the briefcase. As he raised it to the man’s head, the hitman adjusted his grip on the pistol and braced with the other hand. For a moment, Gibson’s eyes showed a gleam, but it vanished.“He’s clean”. There was a definite tone of disappointment in his voice.
We went through the rest of Chaz’s, Ruez’s, and my recruits without problems and Gibson seemed to be growing irritable. Not enough bloodshed for him yet? The two I didn’t know about were next and I selected the bigger of the two for the first check. Meanwhile the seven men who checked out stood in a group, still blindfolded and silent. The lone man seemed scared and was hyperventilating, like he was being singled out. If one was a Kick Murder Slop, it was probably the big guy, he was entirely too calm. With hand signals I told the killer to get ready. He braced himself a few further steps back and placed the red dot on the man’s neck as before. A couple other members of the hit team fanned out behind me.
There was no reaction from the man until Gibson raised the unit to his head. Before it beeped active, the man moved quicker than I thought possible. He snapped off the mask and spun towards him, grabbing his arm. Kemper’s man fired point blank into the man’s face and a meaty spray caught showered his face. His body crumpled to his knees then fell to rest on its side. The gunshot seemed impossibly loud and made me wince as it echoed around the concrete arena. The blindfolded men threw themselves to the ground and the hit team moved to surround them. The killer stepped up and put four more slugs into the body.
“Fuckin SLOP!” the he said and kicked the body into the water.
My stomach wrenched, but I managed to hold it. I prayed that the other one wasn’t a Slop since I didn’t think I could handle another one. I swallowed hard and motioned for the other man to be brought over. Gibson carefully put the scanner near the man’s head and grimaced. I was probably visibly shaking.
“Fuck! He’s clean!” he snapped, then turned and began to pack the equipment away. He probably had a major hard on from being so close to getting killed. He reminds me of one of Koslov’s team of butchers. He absent-mindedly wiped the gore from his face with a handkerchief.
I talked to the rest of the men to get a feel for the kind of people they were, and surprisingly all but two seemed to be ok. That last man turned out to be a delivery driver who worked for a fast food restaurant, and he was way out of his league. He was shakier than McNabb had been and I didn’t need more liability. I discarded him without a thought and the he was placed in the back of the truck where the rejects would wait under guard. I’d place the recruits with the other two truck teams for a while and we’d all go out together. That way I could see if they could do the job or not and make further roster corrections. I patted the rear door of the reject taxi and they pulled the door down. The two I didn’t want would be deposited somewhere in downtown and knew enough to not mention us. Just in case, I had their addresses and names (they checked out) and they knew it. Both had children and didn’t want us to visit. I leave it up to the escort if they see another day.
Maab walked up to me as I watched the men pull off the hoods and the hit squad packed their equipment up.
“So that’s how it’s done?” She asked with a cocked head.
“Yeah, that’s how it’s done.”
“I was here when I got recruited?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm,” she said looking around. I was curious what was going through her head. I knew she’d tell me.
“What?”
“I was just wondering about those two guys who didn’t work out. What happens to them?”
“It doesn’t concern you, so let it go.” I could see where this might be heading and I didn’t want to answer stupid questions. My mouth still tasted like bile and my stomach was still trembling. I fished in my pocket for gum or some kind of mint, but came up empty.
“So if someone doesn’t pass your ‘interview’ they’re dead?”
“I didn’t say that. It’s none of your business, so drop it.”
“But if I hadn't, I’d get what they’re getting right? I’d be dead too?”
That was enough. Her voice was echoing enough as it is but as her questions had continued, the pitch has raised. Now some of the hit team and new recruits were looking over.“Look, It’s a hard world ok? If we find someone that can jeopardize us, we eliminate them. Fact of Life, DEAL WITH IT!”
Her face clouded for a second and I thought I saw something else, something genuine behind it. It might have been a glimpse of the real her and her real feelings, but it was gone before I was sure. She turned away and went back to the truck. I turned to face Kemper as he walked up. He was grinning broadly and wiping the sweat from his face using his ballistic mask.
“Lady trouble, Mason?”
“No, just my little girl is growing up.”
I forced myself to laugh with him, but was fairly irritated. I doubt it showed, but I intended to have a discussion with her later about it. I don’t like to be challenged in front of others by a subordinate and couldn’t let it go.
“So, what do you think about the newbies?” I asked him.
“A few of ‘em could probably use some time with my team, you know to break ‘em in. Mostly they’re ok. What do you think?”
“Since they’re still alive, that says something. Most of them will work out, but we should be able to weed out the dumb ones so they can work for you.”
He grinned and shook his head before walking away. As he turned, he gave me the one finger salute. I smiled and went back to the truck. Jaeger would be happy about the five new guys I got for him. He owed me and I would make sure he didn’t forget it. Now that he was out of the way, I could concentrate on what really mattered.
It was time to take care of my business.
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