Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2) (12 page)

“And you weren’t allowed to tell Tom or anyone else who you really were.”

“No.”

“Because you’re a one of a kind super soldier with no parents.”

“Yes.”

“Did you love my son?”  The question caught Valerie by surprise.  This time she didn’t hold back the tears, but let them fall freely.

“Yes.  With all my heart.  I wanted to tell him, I really did.  I hated lying to him, but it was only a name.  I never, ever lied when I told him I loved him.

Renee sat there and Valerie felt like she was being weighed and measured.  With anyone else she would not care about the outcome.

“Get up, girl.”

“Eh?”

“Get off your knees and sit down properly.”  Valerie did as she was told.  “Better.  You know I lost my husband in an accident when Tom was only a teenager?”

“He told me.”

“What he didn’t tell you, as he never knew, his father was killed.  Like Tom, he was murdered for someone else’s greed and now they have taken my son and grandchildren.”  Valerie sat back.  Of all the things she thought would be said here and now, all the scenarios she played through countless times, this was not one of them.

“Are you going to keep going?”  Renee asked.  “Are you going to find who was responsible?”

“Yes.”  Valerie couldn’t help the cold from entering her voice.  The eternal freeze of deep space was back with every word.  “I’m going to hunt them, I’m going to find them and I’m going to kill them.  Anyone who profited from it.  Anyone who had a hand in it.  Anyone who turned a blind eye.  It’s what I do.”

“Good.”  Renee used an almost identical tone and gave herself a visible shake before asking more normally.  “Now, what did you want from me?”

“According to Aamir and Bjorn Pomykala, Tom had files on Sandy Shores.  Something they wanted but couldn’t find.  It can’t have been in the house or Tom’s office.  They would have found them or at the very least, evidence they were destroyed.  Did Tom give anything to you?  Ask you to hold onto anything?”

“No, I...” she sat back.  “That makes sense now.  After it all happened, the police searched this house and all the other Doherty properties.  They said they were looking for any connection Tom may have left with the Rebels.  Yet they never questioned any of us.  At least not seriously.  They were looking for those files and I think I may know where.”

“Where?” Valerie asked.

“When we were out looking at the designs for your coat, Tom took us to the St Lukes bank in San Isidro Square.  He opened a new safe deposit box there.”

“What did he put in it?  You didn’t recover it?”

“I completely forgot about it until now, so no, and I didn’t see him put anything in at the time.”

“Chances are they must have it by now.”  Valerie said dejectedly

“Maybe, maybe not.  He didn’t use his own name.  He opened it under Tom Zantolas.”

“He used my original cover identity?”

“Yes.”

Valerie thought furiously.  “Then it might still be there.  The Zantolas ID was picked because there are so many of them.  If you didn’t know where to start looking, you would drown in informational overload.  Tom, that was brilliant.”

“If he went back and put what you are looking for in.”

“True, but at least it’s something.  Speaking of safe deposit boxes.  Did you recover our family one?”

“Yes.  Everything came to me.  You had no relatives and both of you left everything to the children.  With nowhere for it to go, the executor ruled I would inherit.”

Valerie couldn’t help but smile slightly.  Renee was almost apologising and in all that happened, it really didn’t matter.

“Don’t worry about it, without Tom and the kids, I really didn’t have anyone aside from the Legion.  I think they have enough of a budget to get by.  Inside there was a wooden box.  Do you still have it?”

“Yes, of course.  It’s right here.”  Renee went over to one of the book shelves and sitting unnoticed, was a dark, handmade wooden box.  On its lid was carved Daphne & Bobbie.  Renee handed it to Valerie before sitting down again.  “It’s locked and I didn’t have the key.  I knew it wouldn’t be difficult to get someone to open it for me, but I never felt right about it and kept putting it off.  It’s been sitting up there untouched since it was given to me.”

Gently stroking the names on top, Valerie could feel the tears again.

“Tom bought this on our honeymoon.  He spent months learning to carve.  When each of the kids were born he added their names.”

“I’m glad you’re here to take it back, then.”

Valerie stood.  “Thank you, Renee.”

“You’re welcome, Eleanor.”  Standing Renee drew Valerie into hug, much to her surprise.  “Don’t be a stranger and if you need anything, call me.”

“I...  I can’t.  It’d put you in danger, but I’ll have a friend of mine set you up a secure mailbox.  It’ll always be empty and while it is, you’ll know I’m alive.  If there is anything in there...”

“I understand.  Make them pay.”

“Of that you can be certain.”  Stepping away from Renee, Valerie reactivated her com.  “Ready to walk me out of here?”

There was silence on the other side for quite a few seconds.

“What?  Yes!  Right, OK.  Let’s see.  Erm.  Ten Seconds.  On my count from three.”

Valerie nodded to her mother-in-law and slipped out the door on Hanna’s mark.

“Any kickback from the Dealers and Pimps?”  Valerie asked Cracker from the passenger seat, as he drove the car.

“No, Guv, they all got the message loud and clear.  My people pop in on them regularly, just as we’re doing today, to keep an eye on them.”  Valerie was riding with Cracker to see how he was managing.  It may not be a true example, he would be trying to look as good as possible, but she learnt a long time ago, how to spot the difference between a bit of polish and only doing it to impress the Boss.

“Who’s next?”

“Scott Hopwood.  Pimp in Rabea Street.  Keeps his girls and boys in pretty good shape, even before you got here.”

“I remember him.  Seemed to like what I proposed.”

“I’m pretty sure he took is as law, but yes, he agreed with it.  Likes to think he can get more by kindness than the stick.  Proved it too.  His Whores always have gotten some of the best prices.”

“If only everyone realised, if you give a little, you get more back in return.”

“Heh.  It’s not so easy when the local Boss taking a cut has expensive tastes and Ripper’s were very expensive.  Here we are.”  Cracker pulled the car up and parked at the side of the street, next to a very familiar residential permacrete building.  Unless there was a shop, bar or cafe in them, they were very difficult to tell apart.

The two of them got out and Cracker led them inside.  Once there, Valerie recognised it from the Graffiti on the walls.  It was another difference from Inferno.  Maybe the residents of the Zeus Ghettos were more artistic than those in Inferno.  Several stylised SH’s were spread around, denoting Hopwood’s territory.  She could also see where an R with a tear through it had been replaced with her M.  Willem, one of the street kids who hung around the Workshop, drew it for Valerie when she realised they needed one.  The Enforcers were happy to put up the tag while they made their rounds of the territory.

Hopwood’s Brothel was two flights up, where he owned the whole floor.  As they approached the landing, Valerie saw the door to the floor was open and no one guarding it.  Wanting to see how Cracker would react she didn’t say anything.  He did not disappoint and drew his pistol.

“Something’s not right.  There should be a guard there.”  He looked at her.

“I’m your Enforcer today,” she told him.  “Just do what you would normally do.”

“OK.  Draw your weapon, Guv, and be ready for trouble.”

“Not a problem,” she said and drew her guns.

Cracker led them in.  It was a wide corridor and some people were crowded round a doorway a few metres in.  Aged from eighteen to much older and, from the way they were dressed, Valerie guessed they were the Whores.  She also recognised a couple from her last visit, when she spoke to a few privately.

“What’s going on?”  Cracker asked calmly and holstered his pistol.  There did not seem any danger and Valerie did the same.

“He beat up Breena and shot Leigh,” one of the Whores said.

“Alright, get back to your rooms and let us through.  We’ll handle it,” he told them confidently.

Inside a man sat on a sofa, a bandage red with blood wrapped around his shoulder.  Two of the male Whores were tending to him.  Hopwood stepped out from a side door leading to a bedroom.

“What happened, Scott?”  Cracker asked him.

He looked at Valerie before answering.  She indicated with a nod of her head, he should answer her Chief Enforcer.

“Client got rough with Breena.  Leigh heard her screams all the way out at the stairwell door.  He tried to stop the guy, but the client got angry and pulled a gun.  Shot Leigh and legged it out of here.”

“Not before putting the boot into Breena a couple of more times.”  Leigh interjected from the sofa.

“Where were you?”  Cracker asked Hopwood.

He grimaced before answering.  “Two of the boys got into a massive argument at the other end of the floor.  I was dealing with them.  It was so loud I didn’t know what was happening, until it was all over and one of the girls came and got me.”

“Fair enough.  Was he a regular?”

“Yeah,” Leigh answered.  “Jeremy Gruter, but we can’t touch him.  He’s Privileged.  Likes to come down to the Ghetto and play in the dirt.”

“I know him.  Shit, I thought that prick was banned?”

“He was, but he threatened to have his mother, a Police Superintendent, come down here and bust us.”  Hopwood explained.  “Sorry, I had to lift it last month.”

Valerie stepped past Hopwood and into the room he came out of.  Breena lay on the bed, barely conscious.  She couldn’t have been more than eighteen or nineteen.  A girl of the same age was tending to her.  Valerie gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Let me see.”

The girl stepped back and Valerie could see the extent of the damage.  Breena’s face was smashed up pretty badly, with a broken nose and what looked like a broken jaw to go with it.  Both eyes were swollen well past the point they could be opened and from the way the she was struggling to breath, Valerie guessed she had some broken ribs.  Ever so gently, she ran her fingers over the girl’s stomach.

“I don’t think it punctured a lung,” she said out loud.  “But there is definitely some internal bleeding.”  It was then she noticed the girls arm was at a slightly strange angle.

Valerie moved it very carefully and Breena let out a cry of pain.  “Broken as well,” she looked at the girl tending Breena.  “What’s your name?”

“Constanze, Ma’am.”

“OK, Constanze.”  Valerie said, smiling gently.  “Here is what you are going to do.  Keep an eye on Breena and if anything changes, like her breathing, you call out to Hopwood.  Understand?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Good.  I’m going to get a doctor here for her.”  Nodding to Constanze, Valerie stepped back outside where they were still talking.

“I’ll get one of my guys to come and sit on your door until Leigh is fit again,” Cracker was saying.

“Thanks.  Can we-“

“When is the doctor getting here?”  Valerie interrupted and they all looked at her.

“Erm.  Sorry Guv,” Cracker said.  “We need to take them to him.  Doc Heenan doesn’t make house calls.”

“He does now,” Valerie said firmly.  “Hopwood.  Get over there and drag him back here.  If he gives you any shit, tell him it’ll be me he has to deal with.  Clear?”

“Got it.”  Hopwood nodded firmly and left straight away.

“Cracker.  I want this son of a bitch found.  Put the word out and make sure you call Hanna.  She’ll get the kids out onto the streets.  If the idiot is still in the Ghettos, I want to know about it.  When you talk to Hanna, tell her I want a file on Gruter.  She’ll know what I mean.”

“Yes, Guv.”  He stepped out of the room to use his com.

Looking at the two Whores tending Leigh she asked them.  “Doesn’t this place have a first aid kit of some sort?”

“No, Ma’am,” one answered.

Grimacing, Valerie shook her head.  “I normally would have one with me but not today.  Something else to add to the list.  First aid kits in all of the Enforcers vehicles.  Right.  Boil some water and get me any hard booze you’ve got around here.  Let’s see what we can do.”

It took fifteen minutes for Hopwood to return with a very flustered and put out doctor.  One look at Valerie’s face stilled any complaints.  Once she was happy he was hard at work, Valerie went looking for Cracker.

“Anything?” she asked.  He stood in the corridor after finishing his conversation.

“Maybe, his aircar has been spotted.  It’s parked only three streets out from here.”  An aircars security was too good to make stealing one an option, even in the Ghetto.

“Empty, I take it?”

“Yeah, we think so.”

“So where would he have gone?”

“Don’t know.  Two of my guys are already there and four more are minutes away.”

“Hopwood,” called Valerie loudly.  He stuck his head out of the door and she waved him over.  “What are Gruter’s habits?  What does he do after leaving here?” she asked him.

Scratching his head, Hopwood shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I’ve never really spoken to him except to ban him and then get threatened.”

“Was Breena his only girl?” Cracker asked.

“No,” Hopwood said thoughtfully.  “He mostly asked for either Breena or Constanze.  I’ll get her.”

He went back into the room and Cracker turned to Valerie, looking like he’d swallowed a lemon.

“What is it, Cracker?  There’s nothing wrong with asking questions when we have the time.”

“What are we going to do to him when we find him, Guv?  If he’s the son of a Superintendent, like he says, that’s trouble we can’t afford.”

“We can’t afford to have shits like that beat our people up either, without learning there are consequences.  The Privileged think they can just come down here and abuse those in the Ghettos and no one will stand up to them.”  Valerie said sternly.  “Today he’s going to find out there are some people who will fight back.  Don’t worry.  I know what I’m doing.  He won’t go crying to his mother.”

Constanze came out of the room with Hopwood looking a little frightened.

“Don’t worry, Constanze.  You’re not in any trouble.”  Valerie told her gently.  “Now, Gruter was one of your clients as well?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” the girl replied quietly.

“Did he ever mention where he would go after seeing you?”

“Yeah, he used to say he would go and get something to clear his head of the ‘Manual stench’.”

Valerie nodded and turned to Cracker.  “Any Dealers near the aircar?”

“You bet, Guv.  Rapaport’s place is right down an alley, across the road.”

“It’s a good bet that’s where he‘ll be.  Have your guys stake it out and wait for us to arrive before doing anything.  Gruter is going to get to deal with me.”  He activated his com and Valerie looked back at Constanze.

“Did Gruter ever hit you, Constanze?” she asked.

The Whore looked to her Pimp worriedly and Hopwood nodded encouragingly.  “Yes, Ma’am.  Never in the face.”  She rolled her dress up and her stomach was black, blue and yellow.  “These were from a couple of days ago.”

Valerie turned her hard gaze to Hopwood and he held up his hands.  “Honestly, I didn’t know.  Neither Breena or Constanze said anything to me.”

“It’s true, Ma’am,” Constanze interjected.  “We didn’t dare.  He said he would have us sent to the Rock if we said anything.”

The Rock, a top secret Pantheon prison.  Not even Valerie knew its location.  Gruesome stories surrounded it for centuries.  Given the lack of police attention to ninety-nine percent of the population of the Pantheon, unless they were directly affecting the Privileged, there weren’t many prisons. 

With a handful on each planet, they were highly secure facilities the government did not care about what happened inside.  People were sent in and left there with only regular shipments of food and water to sustain them.  The guards were all on the outside, none inside the walls.  People were released at the end of their sentence if they survived.  The Rock was rumoured to be the worst of them, no one returned from there.

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.” The girl begged with tears running down her cheeks.  Valerie put her arms around her shoulders.

“It’s OK, it’s not your fault,” she looked at Hopwood.  “I want regular checks of all of your people from now on.  This doesn’t happen again.”

“OK,” he nodded vigorously.  “You got it.”

Valerie released Constanze from the hug.  “Go and look after your friend.  If the doctor isn’t doing his job, you call me.  OK?”

“OK,” she sniffed.

“Let’s go, Cracker.  We’ve got someone to talk to, let me just borrow something from the good doctor first.”

It didn’t take long to get to Dealer Rapaport’s Den.  Two of Cracker’s Enforcers, Hayley and Gregor stood leaning against the wall next to the alley.

“I took a look inside while we waited.”  Hayley said as Valerie and Carter walked up.  “Gruter is inside and off his face on smack.”

“He didn’t see you?”  Valerie asked.

“Not a chance.”

“OK, good work.  You stay here.  Cracker and I’ll be back out in a minute.”

Together they went down the alley and in through the open door.  It led to some stairs taking them down into the basement of the building.  It was dark at the bottom with only a few lights working.

“I see it hasn’t changed from our last visit,” she commented.  A couple of people lay propped up against the corridor walls, completely oblivious.

A grey-haired woman came out of a room further down laughing.

“Can you believe that idiot?  He paid triple what anyone else would.”  She was talking to a tall, skinny man following her.  Looking up the corridor, her eyes widened when she spotted Valerie and Cracker.  “Oh, shit!”

“Hello, Rapaport.”  Valerie greeted her.  “I thought I told you to clean this place up.”

“Look, I’m trying.  As I told Anja, when she came by,” referring to one of the Enforcers.  “I just need more time.”