I’m burning three hairs tonight. Things got messy. They tend to do when I am around. But that is my role, making sure the job gets done and everyone makes it out, even when the initial plan fails. Hell, even if there wasn’t a plan in the first place!
I have been working with a new team this time. Open meeting for a job. Discord got the message from a contact and brought me in. Did the job sound solid? - A new Johnson no one’s ever heard of and no further information at all… Fuck, no! But I hadn’t paid my rent yet, and not even enough money left on the cred stick to pay for dinner. I might have delivered a pizza if that would have made some decent money.
The meeting’s held at a bar called The Broken Neck, probably named after the electric guitar hanging over the entrance with it’s neck snapped in two.
As Discord enters the bar with caution - checking for vibrations, or whatever it is that he does with this weaponised tuning fork of his’- sword on my back, I just stride in as if I would own the place. There is no room for insecurities in my line of work.
The Johnson’s easy enough to spot, which always makes me feel a bit tense. Either he doesn’t know how to keep a low profile, or he doesn’t have to.
Not showing my discomfort I walk over to his table, past his bodyguards - giving them a nod. Discord sits down first, face to face with Mr. Johnson.
Then the door opens again and in walks a guy - another Elf. He must be around my age, I think, though it can be a bid hard to tell with us Elves. The guy strolls over to our table, both hands in the pockets of his pants that probably cost more than my whole wardrobe. “You sure you are right here?”, Discord asks as the elf sits down. “Well, this is about a job, right? That’s what I’m here for.”
And just when I think this can’t get worse, the door opens another time and in walks the ugliest, fattest Elf I have ever seen! Huffing and puffing, squeezing past tables, yet still pumping into people and furniture alike, he makes his way right over to us. What a disgrace to my species! I hate being reduced to a pretty face, but still, striving for some level of grace and beauty is an ingrained part of our people and heritage. At least it should be. But I guess no one told him that! Out of breath he flops down next to us, and the meeting begins.
The job is straight forward. A package will arrive at 23:45 at a warehouse three hours from here. At the latest it will leave the warehouse again at 00:15. We have to go there and get it, before it gets a chance to. We get a good description of the crate that we are supposed to pick up, but we don’t ask what’s in it. All we need to know is how many of us are needed to carry it, and probably Discord can do it on his own.
Luckily, the fat Elf who introduces himself as Hunt0rKill0r69 turns out to be our driver. Neither Discord, nor I have a car. I assume Romeo - our Richie Rich - does, but he probably doesn’t want to get his back seats dirty with us.
It is 20:30 when the meeting ends, so we have to leave quickly to get to the warehouse on time. What a team. Three Elves and an Orc. I wonder how Discord feels about that. But if he has any thoughts on it, he doesn’t share them with us.
While in the car we study the map of the warehouse that Mr. Johnson has organised for us. Discord calls his contact to find out a bit more about the place, but the guy says he needs at least until tomorrow to get the information. Useless. I too text Miri, just to make sure it isn’t one of theirs. Miri McCoy is family. And yes, by that I do mean the Irish Mafia. How did I get ties to the Irish Mafia? It’s a long story, so let me cut it short by starting with: the foster care system in this city sucks! So what does a 14-year old boy do without a home to return to? Roam the streets, get into fights, steal from Convenient stores and break into vending machines... I especially liked the one outside of the Irish Pup, that had actual dark Irish beer. It kept me fed and helped me not to care too much about the streets and the cold.
But, believe me, the owner of the vending machine did care! And one night she caught me right in the act, even though she probably would have preferred to be in bed for the past two hours. I was lucky as hell that Mrs McCoy is probably the kindest person in the whole world. Was, I should say. She passed away two years ago. I still miss her.
As a ‘punishment’ she gave me job at her Pub. I cleaned floors, carried boxed, waited tables and got paid. I also got to know her family. And with her family came The Family. I also got jobs with them. Sure, they still called me Long-Ear, Tree-hugger, Princess, but at least they paid well. And every now and again I even felt as if they were my family now.
Only after Mrs McCoy’s death, they too were all gone. All, but Miri. I think she’s only putting up with me because of her grandma, but that’s something, right? I guess most families work that way. But what do I know…
I didn’t hear back from Miri this time. I guess that’s fine. If it was theirs she would have taken the time to get back to me. And after all, how big are the chances?
With the little information we received, we created a plan. Discord was to sneak up the back side of the warehouse. We would park the car on the other side of the building, leaving Hunt0rKill0r there, ready to go, while Romeo and I would cause a distraction. But at first he and I were going to get close, so we could watch the unpacking of the lorry and get started as soon as we had eyes on our package. We thought about staging a fight at first, but then Romeo came up with the idea of hacking into the warehouse and taking over the conveyer band, making it go nuts. While mostly everyone would hurry inside to deal with the issue, I would quietly take out anyone left. Then Discord comes along to fetch the crate, and off we go.
I have worked with teams before who really do the leg-work, learn everything there is to know about the job, and then come up with a solid plan that even works out sometimes.
This run certainly did not go that way!
So we are all getting into position, Discord on the other side of the warehouse, Hunt0rKill0r69 in his car, just a few meters down the wall, and Romeo and I are sneaking up to the lorry-access were we expect the crate to be delivered any minute. Or at least, I am sneaking…
I am close enough already to overhear two guys next to the entrance talk about last nights game, as Romeo makes a racket behind me, that even the guards in the next warehouse must have heard. I sigh and get my SMG ready as one of them hisses: “Did you just hear that?”. I prepare myself for a fight, but we are saved by the sound of the lorry arriving. The guys get busy preparing, and I sigh again - in relieve this time. It’s not that I don’t think I could easily handle those two, but I don’t exactly enjoy killing innocent warehouse workers who are just doing their jobs.
A minute later the lorry is parked right where we expected it to be. Always nice when a part of the plan falls into place. They start unpacking, and there goes the rest of our plan.
For some reason all of us had expected there to be single crates and packages, that would neatly be unloaded one by one. No one of us had thought about the possibility of them being tied and packed into bigger units, that would make it necessary to unload them with a forklift. But exactly that’s what was happening. As we watched them take the first pallet inside to unwrap and sort it there, we quickly revised our plan. We were sure the crate was still in the car, since that pallet we’d seen being unloaded had included some very different boxes. So we needed to take the lorry! But also the driver hadn’t gotten out of the damn drivers cabin, so we had to get there faster than he could get spooked and decide to drive off. Also, suddenly the alarm went off, and - as I learned just a moment later - Discord had three security guards coming his way. Summed up, everything went south.
And this is when my role in a run really comes into play.
So immediately I step in front of the warehouse opening, next to the lorry to give Romeo cover, who heads for the divers cabin. A bullet flying past his head, he gets in with the diver.
For a moment I hope the guy in the car won’t draw a gun, because I don’t think Romeo had one ready. But instead of wondering about Romeo, I have to focus on the guy out here with me who I know has a gun! A submachine gun, to be more precise. I fire a burst at him, then another. “Don’t let Romeo drive off with the truck. We don’t know him.”, Discords words ring inside my ears. So I just get in as well.
I am fast. The well paid jobs of my teenage years afforded me a synaptic booster, and not just the cheap basic model. So before the security guard gets a chance to shoot at me, I jump into the back of the lorry and take cover. I fire another burst at the guard. This time he firs back. I dodge, and then end it with another set of bursts from my HK Urban Combat.
“Help over here!”, Discord yells inside my earbud.
I can’t make out exactly were he is, but there are two more security guards in my line of sight, over at Discords side of the building, quite far away, and not easy from my position, but still doable.
Also at this moment I heard the drivers door slam shut and someone running away, most likely the driver. I guess he did not have a gun. And somehow Romeo did not have to use his either. I kind of envy him for that.
While I am getting into a gunfight with the two guards, the lorry starts moving, making it even harder for them to hit me, despite one of them having taken some kind of combat drug right at the start of our encounter. Do these things even work that fast? I have never tried any.
While I’m taking cover behind some pallets, bullets flying by my ear, just for a moment I allow myself to think about Nathaniel. The way he feels, smells, tastes,…
But there is also no room for sentimentality in my line of work. Let alone a civilian boyfriend. So I get a grip and focus back on the fight.
In the end they both go down.
I am unharmed.
Discord also dealt with a guard successfully and managed to run back to where we had dropped him off. From there 69 picked him up again.
And right as we are leaving the premise an explosion goes off at another warehouse close by. It seems we are not the only team doing a job tonight, but then, in this city, there always seems to be some shit going down.
So a little later we all meet up a few streets over. I have had some time to find our cate and we can quickly unpack it, get it into our car, and bring it back to the Johnson in The Broken Neck.
We got our money, and I was finally able to transfer the credits for my rent on the way home. Just in time before this ass of a landlord tries to throw me out of my place again. I have never not paid at some point yet!
But, tonight I have killed three people, so I am burning three of my hair in a bowl with cheap incense and dried dead flowers in the early morning hours…
My mom taught me about our Elvish culture and heritage. Also about the Five Paths, but we didn’t follow any of them. Unscientific nonsense, I believe she called it. She still taught me about conservation of energy, that everything is connected, and that I need to honour life. That if I take one, I have to give something back. If I don’t, the universe will choose itself what it takes to make up for it.
I have had a lot to give back in recent years, so mostly I choose hair cut from my head, or sometimes just out of my hair brush… Yes, I have become neglectful. But if someone really deserves it, I might still give a drop of my blood.
So, is there going to be another run with this team? I guess not.
Discord of course I will meet again. He is my best chance of finally figuring out what happened to my mother. I dreamt about her again last night. She appeared outside my window as a still burning corps, like she is in most of my dreams.
Actually, it might do me some good to have a real person to talk to about all that shit now. Maybe not the nightmares, but you know, the rest of it.
The sun has finally come up. I guess I will go get some sleep now.