| |
The next day saw O'Hanlan discharged, feeling a little
happier with the 2 cards he had managed to stash despite the interfering
kid. One of them was usable and had a decent sum of creds available. He met
up with Millburger and they headed into the zone on patrol following up drug
leads. Eventually they found Jimmy's apartment where they found his mother
dead of an overdose; sad but they found a Blissful Blossum connection and
followed it up. This was leading nowhere when control came in to say they
had traced the man seen with Carlotta the kid's mother. His name was Ramirez
Gento, minor rap sheet including drug dealing, car theft and possession all
minor shit. He was known to hang out at a biker bar uptown.
On the way O'Hanlan remembered that this particular bar used to be a biker
bar but had been taken over by the Voodoo boys, a small but vicious gang
of Jamaican boosters who were heavily into drugs and voodoo mysticism. The
pair were on their guard as they entered the bar which was heaving with people,
bottles and cans crashed against the cage that surrounded the stage on which
performed 'Ritual' a minor chromatic rock band. The air was filled with smoke
from legal and not so legal substances. Numerous minor infractions and broken
laws crossed the pairs path but they were not here for that and began scanning
the crowd for signs of their target.
O'Hanlan spotted him after a while seated in a corner at a table with 3 Voodoo
boys, as they approached the group they noticed that there were guns and
drugs amidst the booze on the tabletop; cash was changing hands.
"Ramirez Gento? Your wanted for questioning down at the station" announced
Millburger using his most Authoritative tone "Lets go"
The Jamaicans at the table made motions towards their weapons and for a moment
there was silence, but then Ramirez shook his head and rose from the table.
"You will take care of the rest of the business won't you boys, I've got
to accompany these fine upstanding officers of the law and help them with
their inquiries."
The Voodoo boys grunted, laughed and went back to their discussion. The three
left the bar, with Ramirez making wizecracks all the way to the station such
as "What, no transport? Did you lose your patrol car boys?" "I just don't
know what the force is coming to these days.
The questioning proved quite fruitless and Gento's story that he had picked
up this hooker from the mall coffee bar, screwed her, paid and left. Millburger
had to restrain himself several times as the greasy spic made pointed jibes
at the dead woman and the two cops. Eventually after letting him cool his
heels in a cell they had to release him.
"His time will come" growled Matt and O'Hanlan nodded.
They went back on patrol and headed into the zone to catch up with one of
O'Hanlan's drug dealer contacts at the Tropicana bar. Half way down 33rd
and Madison a car accelerated behind them and two automatic weapons opened
fire on the cops. A split second before the gunfire both cops dived for cover;
O'Hanlan through a doorway and Millburger through a window. This time their
survival instincts saved them from anything worse than a flesh wound but
officer Millburger was pissed. "No way are they getting away with that" he
grated, leaping out through the same smashed window. Landing with a roll
he came up firing at the rapidly receding cars rear tires. One tire blew
out and the car skidded to a halt at the end of the street, at which point
O'Hanlan popped around the doorway to give covering fire. the cops keen eyes
identified the shooters as members of the Iron sights gang, four of them
armed with pistols and SMG but worse of all an AK assault rifle; the distinctive
roar of which now ripped into the night.
Matt was up and running for the opposite side of the street as the perps
took cover behind their vehicle shooting at the running cop. Just before
reaching cover Matt felt several shooting pains as three 7.62mm slugs ripped
through his body armour seriously injuring him as he collapsed in the cover
of a doorway on the other side of the street.
"Shit, fragging mother fuckers. I'm getting better bodyarmour this is shit,
I can't take much more of this crap" screamed Millburger over the comm
system.
"You should have stayed on this side, didn't you realise they had an assault
rifle? You know our armour isn't rated against assault weaponry." yelled
O'Hanlan over the sounds of his own return fire.
Both cops began trying to target the fuel tank on the sedan with explosive
shells until both Millburger and O'Hanlan took several more minor injuries
when Matt began to lose consciousness. He took a bead on the assault gunner
as the booster reloaded and blew his head apart before collapsing in the
doorway. He just had time to see the car explode spectacularly as Miles finally
hit the target. the remaining boosters were scattered like dolls two bodies
hitting the tarmac with a wet smack accompanied by the noisy clatter of their
hardware.
All was quiet except for the crackling of the fire. "Officer down control,
need medivac ASAP" O'Hanlan reported as he moved out to check the corpses.
Other scavengers were moving in on the kills as well though. From several
doorways and sewer outlets came dark figures dressed in rags, they approached
the burning corpses with caution, wary of the active cop searching the two
bodies blown furthest from the car. Miles looked up and watched as several
fought over the bodies, at first he thought they were after only the equipment
they carried but several moved in on the burning car and waited with knives;
hungry expressions on their faces were reflected in the firelight.
After the partners left the infirmary Millburger went to break the news of
Jimmy's mothers death. A police shrink owed him a favour so he took her along
and together they explained to the kid what had happened. He took it rather
well although the shrink thought that he may well be in denial and would
need some sort of stable support. Miles was torn by the kid's plight, he
was a plucky little boy and he deserved better. O'Hanlan warned him off the
idea that was obviously forming but Miles went ahead anyway and adopted Jimmy
despite his financial situation. Jimmy was overjoyed and they left him to
fall into a peaceful sleep as the sedatives took effect.
Back into the zone the pair of cops were still not fully healed, both suffered
the after effects of recent injuries. After a few minor encounters they made
it to the Tropicana and O'Hanlan discussed things with his contact. The result
was that dealers were generally upset at the drug related murders because
it was hurting trade but Small Dave a big time dealer seemed to be doing
well much the same as Jimmy Fingers; the other main dealer in the area. The
cops decided to pay Small Dave a visit at one of his hangouts and see whether
they could glean any leads from him.
Standing outside 'Rakers', a large bar frequented by all types in the zone
centre the cops looked around and began to approach.
"Hey shit head, you two are the fuckers that flatlined Karl and his bros
aren't you" shouted a rough looking booster with the Iron Sights colours
on his armour jack. "OK boys lets rip these pigs a new arsehole"
A group of 6 boosters began drawing weapons and approaching the pair.
Millburger spoke in desperation with a confidence that he didn't really
feel.
"Look boys I don't know what happened to your punk friends but we have business
inside this bar so we don't have time to arrest you now so crawl back under
your stone and we will let you live"
Millburger stared into the leaders eyes, the ganger wavered and noticed that
the cop behind the speaker already had his gun out pointed at him. The booster
was not high enough to ignore the fear creeping into his system. "Frag it,
these two look different in the light, not the ones we want. We got business
downtown with those berry wearing punks anyway, let's go"
The small crowd that were watching the event unfold viewed the two cops with
a slightly elevated respect that was grated to the winners of a facedown
with the Iron Sights gang. They moved aside as the pair walked beneath the
stuttering neon sign that hung across the entrance and entered the large
club. The place seemed to be only half full but it was early yet and the
partners sat down with a drink; waiting. Within the hour Small Dave entered
preceded by 2 large bodyguards, he was indeed small; a four-foot nothing
dwarf with attitude. Dave was smartly dressed in a suit, which cost both
the cops monthly salaries combined. He pulled the large cigar from his mouth
and blew a large smoke ring before being seated at a nearby table.
The partners walked over and after starring out the bodyguard. Big Dave waved
them to sit down. Matt outlined the situation and barely managed to keep
the contempt for the scum he was talking to out of his voice; the dealer
feigned not to notice and agreed that the situation was unfortunate but he
was obtaining large quantities of Blossum at knockdown prices. Dave was not
impressed with Millburger's barely disguised threats and offered a counter
proposal where Dave would meet with the 'new suppliers' in the zone tomorrow
night to pick up some product, after he leaves if would be unfortunate if
someone busted the joint etc. Then of course the cops wouldn't want all those
drugs lying around to fall into the wrong hands so Dave could return and
pick up any remains; everyone's happy.
Matt wasn't happy but had little option, O'Hanlan of course saw an opportunity
to make some cash and gain a valuable contact. The cops left and prepared
for the next days assault. The days rest did them well despite having an
early evening start, it was raining when surveillance unit 3 called in that
the car they had requested an aerial tail on had arrived at its destination.
Matt and Miles moved in and got there in time to see Small Dave leave in
his limo; a guard in combat fatigues removed his helmet to scratch his head
before moving back inside the building. Millburger moved to the front and
O'Hanlan ran around the back to cover any rear escape attempts. Matt kicked
the door in to discover an empty room, on hearing movement he yelled "This
is the police, drop your weapons and come out with your hands up"
He was answered by a burst of SMG fire through the doorway.
"This is you last chance!" he yelled and prepared to roll through the doorway
and come up fighting. As Millburger tensed a burst of gunfire blasted through
the wall where he was standing stitching his torso armour as he executed
his dive and roll. The armour failed to absorb some of the hits and Matt
was amazed that he had taken several flesh wounds; cop killers he thought
as he rose to one knee. This guard was using armour piercing rounds, Matt
leapt forward smashing a kick to the guys abdomen which flung him into the
wall, a hook kick to the leg sent the guard sprawling and a punch to the
perps chin finished him off. The guard slid down the wall unconscious. Matt
heard O'Hanlan subvocalise that he was nearing the rear of the house as he
checked the slightly open door to the next obviously large room. He dived
in and jumped behind a desk which gave momentary shelter from a couple of
3 round bursts, there were two assailants in here with probable SMG's. Trusting
to his armour Millburger leapt over the desk, ran across the room and jumped
forward to grapple the closest guard; taking several non serious wounds in
the process. The struggle did not last long as the second guard barely had
time to run to his friends assistance before Matt had smashed his knee and
disarmed him. The second guards knife scored a furrow in the cops body armour
before he lay unconscious as well.
Meanwhile O'Hanlan had spotted someone making for the rear exit and was sneaking
up on them when he was attacked by 5 large dogs who caused him no end of
trouble, one nearly ripped his throat out before being 'put down'. By the
time Miles had dealt with the canine threat the remaining guard had drew
a bead on him with a shotgun; he blasted as the cop dived behind some crates
for cover. Splinters of wood and pellets bounced off or lodged in O'Hanlan's
body armour as he ran along the side of the yard in and out of cover. The
guard momentarily lost sight of Miles as he dived among some crates before
bursting out over a box beside the guard. Before he could bring his shotgun
to bear, O'Hanlan's heavy pistol blossomed causing half the guards unarmoured
face to disappear as the shell exited the skull.
|
|
|
