Chapter #16A Premiere by: Seuzz   "What's with all the crazy questions," Liu demands.
You are very careful not to clench your fists as you lean over him, because if you do you might use them. "You will respect my rank, you fucking ex-jeep," you snarl at him, "and you will answer my questions without backtalk or questions of your own! Where is Stanfill?"
Liu whitens. "Fuck if I know! Somewhere on the streets of London!"
"He's supposed to be— We'll start at the beginning. When did you hear from him?"
"I didn't," says Liu. "Carrero did. Stanfill called him, saying he was stranded out of him arena and could someone pick him up. So Carrero went to get him."
"Where was he?"
"Hoxton, close to Yam, I think. Like I said, I didn't talk to him."
"What exactly did you hear? Carrero's cell rings, he answers—" You stab a finger at him. "You're supposed to be able to pull this shit up with perfect recall."
Liu grimaces. "Is this another remedial drill? Alright, alright!" He sighs at your glare, and closes his eyes.
"We're playing poker, him and me and Gallion," he says. "His phone rings, he answers, he says, Yeah? The fuck? You're supposed to be at— Knotts will have that King you're so proud of, you know that? Fine, but I want twelve hours of Chiyoko action from you for this. Then he shuffles his hand into the deck. Laughs, kind of, then says, That fucker, I'm sitting here with three ladies, and I get to be the fucking jack-in-the-box when Stanfill pushes the button."
He draws in a short breath before continuing: "I say, You weren't holding any three ladies, and Gallion says, That was Stanfill? and Carrero nods. Gallion says, The fuck is he pushing the button for, and Carrero says, He got swept outside his arena without fare and needs a lift back here. Then I say, Fuck him, he's supposed to improv in a situation like that, let him dip a pocketbook or something. And for a moment I think Carrero is gonna sit back down. But then he says, No, Knotts will yell at us if we fuck up by not picking him up, and all the trouble will be on his head anyway." Liu cocks his head. "Did Carrero read the scene right?"
"Just go on."
"Okay, so Gallion and I just shrug. I ask Carrero where he has to go, and he says, Hoxton. That's why I think Stanfill was close to Yam. Then he left."
"How long ago was this?"
"Thirty minutes."
"Lemme see your cell," you say, and Liu hands it over. You call Stanfill's number. Then you call Carrero's.
Neither picks up. Liu's face clouds. You call Gallion. He answers, and you tell him to come to Liu's apartment. He tells you the same story, almost word for word, that Liu did.
So you call Knotts. And after what she says, you sweep up them, along with White and Stoddard—thankfully not AWOL like Carrero—and haul everyone back to Diana.
* * * * *
"They look scared," Muniz says as he drops a heavy manila envelope onto Knotts' desk. Two cell phones spill out of it.
"As scared as you?" you grin. Muniz flashes an incisor at you. "Oh, c'mon," you laugh. "Don't tell me you wouldn't want Cupcake's autograph, even if it was burned onto your ass."
Knotts scoops the phones into a box with the others: the personal cell phones of all the Diana infiltration operatives. "They should be scared," she says. "They should be as scared as me. Now you three go back in there, and pretend you're trying real hard not to shit yourselves."
So you and Cox and Muniz go into Dey's office, to take up the chairs near the head of the conference table. Of the four players already there, Liu looks the calmest; but then, he always does. Stoddard wears a frown of concern. White is hunched over. And Gallion—
Knotts should be happy with his demeanor, for he looks like he's barely hanging onto his shit. His eyes dart about, pleading for attention and reassurance. He doesn't get either one. You make a mental note to remind him that his burn tattoo doesn't have a range limit: If he tries to run, Diana will smoke him without hesitating.
After five minutes of agony, Knotts sweeps briskly in and takes the chair at the front. "Hermod will have new cell phones here by five. Until further notice you are to give out your new numbers to no one but each other, to me, and to Julian Dey. You will use them to communicate only in an emergency. And as a precaution against your having to use them in an emergency, from this moment on you will be partnered with each other. You and your partner will stay in the same flat. You will come into Diana together. You will not venture out separately. If you have to make a food run, both of you will go. Under no circumstances, no matter who you hear from or what emergency they tell you about— Under no circumstances are you to go out by yourself, even to meet another crew member. Not even if it's me calling for help. Not even if it's Dey."
"Can we separate while we're backstage?" Liu asks.
"You don't have to go to the toilet together," you tell him, and Knotts nods. "As long as we're inside Diana we're okay, right?"
"We'll assume so," she says. "For now."
Those last two words set Gallion off. "The fuck is going on," he explodes, and probably—surely!—he doesn't mean for it to come out as a whine. "You pull us in here, you take our cells away, you talk as if Carrero and Stanfill are—" He swallows.
"They are," Knotts says in a very neutral tone. "Along with Chernov. This is as official as it gets, lads. We're sitting in the middle of a fucking premiere. Hollywood has finally turned a spotlight on us."
That was the conclusion she'd reached with you and the other senior members earlier, but it still makes your heart thump to hear it declared so bluntly. The other ranks meet it with different degrees of consternation. Stoddard and White seem to freeze. Liu blinks. But Gallion's eyes go wide and his mouth falls open. "That's— What's the fucking point of hiding out here, then? What's to stop them from blasting their way—?"
"Keep your shit together," Cox growls. "Nothing's going to happen if you follow protocol."
"You've been briefed on all this, Gallion," you say. "The celebrities don't like publicity. This is a big building, and no one's going to storm it. And if you've been following protocol, they won't have been able to track you between here and the Barracks."
"We're closing the Barracks anyway," Knotts says. "White and Stoddard will bunk here. The others will flop with a Duke."
"But if they found us through our cell phones," Gallion protests, "why can't they find us at—"
"I'm getting to that," Knotts says, and there's an edge in her voice. "I've just told you the new protocols. You buddy up, you stay close to home, you don't use your phones except to call each other. The reason we're doing this—" She takes a deep breath.
"Stanfill was lured from his biff's flat early this morning," she says when she resumes. "We don't know how the trap was baited, but his zampo saw him leaving at four in the morning in the company of a girl. The zampo tried following, but got cut off and lost sight of his man."
"He was cut off by three robot-driven street sweepers that appeared out of nowhere at that ungodly hour," you tell the others. "Classic Crazy Ivan maneuver."
"His zampo then got a text from Stanfill, saying he'd be going straight to his biff's job and would be home for lunch," Knotts continues. "But he didn't show at his station, and he didn't show at his flat at noon. But at a little after two, he called Carrero and asked to be rescued because he'd wandered out of his arena. Carrero went to get him. Forty minutes later Carrero called me."
You glance at Liu and Gallion, to see how they'll react to this next bit.
"He said he'd made Greystoke in front Yam's headquarters, and asked for advice and help. I asked what he was doing at Yam. Carerro said that he and Gallion had been playing Hide and Tag on the streets."
Gallion's lips peel back.
"I told them to keep their heads down," Knotts says, "and told him Muniz would be along to take charge. But before Muniz could leave, Kipper called me from the Barracks with another story, the story about Carrero going to retrieve Stanfill and leaving Gallion behind. So Kipper brought you four back here." She leans back. "But Carrero is still missing, even after we tried calling him back."
Muniz now takes over. From a folder he takes a large glossy photograph and slides it into the middle of the table. "That's Cupcake. One of his skills is perfect vocal mimicry. Our assumption is that he used a telephone call to lure Stanfill from the flat by pretending to be one of us. Another celebrity or one of their starfucker friends collected him, and Crazy Ivan covered the snatch. With Stanfill's cell and voice, Cupcake then collected Carrero, and then with his cell and voice tried to collect Muniz. As for Chernov—"
He stops as the door opens. Everyone looks over.
"You all remember Chiyoko," Knotts says of the newcomer. "Though you might not recognize him. Technically, he's a few days short of earning his fifth card. But since we're now short-handed, I'm bumping him up. Guys, this is our new player. Say hi to Steven Patterson."  You have the following choice: 1. Continue |
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