Chapter 32

"Break their legs!"A phrase that made it crystal clear: diplomacy was off the table.Through the strobe-lit red glow of the club, I spotted four Animals. Plus, someone was on the second floor. Great.Coming right at me was a two-meter-tall brick shithouse with a metal-and-plastic baseball bat, already winding up to swing. Muscles like boulders, veins bulging out like thick cords.No time to draw "Apparition." I'd stashed it too far away to keep it hidden. With my right hand, I grabbed the Kappa; with my left, a knife, activating Kerenzikov at the same time. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught another Animal tailing Lucy. Hit him with a contagion. Couldn't do more for her right now. I had my own problems. Big problems. Two meters and a hundred and twenty kilos of big, live muscle.Kappa was ready. First three smart rounds flew, but—The brute lunged forward, closing the distance in one burst. Not Sandevistan, but some kind of speed boost implant. In a split second, he was right there.I tried to dodge back and sideways.Blood sprayed from where the rounds hit his ugly mug. The bat connected. Crunch. Slow-motion agony. The bat had hit my right forearm near the elbow joint, breaking it clean. Instant new joint. Fired three more shots before my arm went limp.But I still had my left arm. I jabbed my opponent under the ribs with a tranquilizer needle, then switched to a diagonal grip on the knife and started jabbing toward his liver. Praying the blade could reach organs through all that meat.Trouble is, stabbing doesn't kill instantly. Especially not a slab of meat on combat stims. Two stabs in, I sprang backward, throwing a short-circuit on him.Kerenzikov wore off. His bat swung for my head. I ducked right, blocking with my cyberarm.The big guy hit hard. My arm whined. Pain shot up through my shoulder, but Vic's reinforced bones held. The bourbon-adrenaline cocktail in my veins dulled the pain. I didn't even feel the break. Arm was just dead.Gunfire cracked out from all around. Close-range, concentrated fire. Something hit my right shoulder. Whatever. Arm was useless anyway.I kept ducking and slipping out of range of the wounded beast. He was done. Not worth finishing off. If his wounds didn't kill him, the toxin and malware would. Threw a synapse burnout on for good measure.To my left, Panam was crouched low, firing a Nova revolver at something. Looked like she'd dropped the Animal that'd charged her.Civilians were scrambling all over the place. One of them must've started shooting too. No clue if they were aiming at the Animals or us. Screams, shots, chaos.Lucy?She was dodging two Animals, flipping back and slashing with her monowire. The wire sliced through their stim-filled biceps as she hacked them with malware.I locked onto her targets and hit each of them with a memory wipe.My big guy with the bat finally dropped. Dunno which hack or toxin finally did him in, but he face-planted to the floor. His bat clattered away.But no time to rest.From the second floor, another juiced-up Animal took aim. A shotgun—Crusher. He had backup in the form of three civilians wielding handguns. Second Amendment's alive and well! Plus, two more Animals burst out from a side room. One with a hammer, one with an axe.This was bad.We had to bail. I threw a knife at one of the armed civvies, feeling a graze across my thigh as I reached for Kenshin, retreating toward the exit. A little longer. If I could recharge Kerenzikov, I'd get us all out."Back! This way!" I shouted. "Move!"But we didn't make it.Nash was back.The Shiv materialized at the door, clutching an electromagnetic precision rifle. His eyes were still empty. His face spattered with blood. He'd already killed someone outside.And Nash started going off. At first, I felt a surge of relief. The Sandevistan was on, and he was landing headshots like he was in a CS tournament. First, the bruiser on the second floor got his brains splattered. Then, one of the trigger-happy patrons lost practically half his head.It looked like our problems were solved. We'd slip out under Nash's cover, smooth and easy, but of course not. No such luck. After emptying his rifle's magazine, this psycho lobbed three biogrenades into the room, in a nice wide spread right at our feet. Poison gas filled the air. Black spots swarmed before my eyes, my stomach churned, and my legs turned to jelly.And Nash kept shooting. But now, he was gunning down the unarmed, too. Shooting at anything that moved. It was clear by then—he wasn't an ally, just some psycho taking out anyone in his line of sight."Nash, what the f—" Panam began.I'd already triggered my Kerenzikov. Good thing, too, because now I was moving faster than him. I jumped on Panam, knocking her to the ground just as Nash's shots skimmed over our heads. At the same time, I threw a quick optics glitch and short-circuit his way, praying I wouldn't have to fry the bastard with special scripts.But Nash switched back to the other enemies, apparently with a goldfish memory. We dropped, he started firing at the Animals again. And the randoms too. Bang—another corpse.The club lights flickered in and out—Lucy's work, no doubt, to give us some cover. Every lamp went dark, then suddenly flared back to life. Some of them blew out in the sudden power surge, scattering sparks and shards of glass. My head spun from the poison gas. I jabbed an injector, pushing the last of the drug into my bloodstream. The nausea was hell, but I had to get up.The scripts were hitting Nash just then. He must've felt the netrunner attack, because the bastard... bolted. Rushed upstairs. Probably to set up an ambush.I staggered up, fighting the dizziness. The lights went dark, then flared again."Let's go! Outside!" Lucy's voice cut through.She helped me and Panam to our feet. We headed for the exit. Outside, I swung my pistol around, expecting Nash to jump out. But he wasn't there. His car was gone, too. He'd bailed.He'd left us a couple of gifts, though: the bouncer's corpse and some random bystander in a work jumpsuit. Both with twin bullet holes in the head.The sun was already rising. Morning had come to this city of sleepless nights. Police sirens wailed from every direction."Shit!""To the car..." Panam's voice was faint, not nearly forceful enough for the situation.I glanced over. She had just stepped out of the club, her road jacket open, and her entire bodysuit was soaked in blood. The fabric was torn in several places, ripped by bullets or buckshot. Through the holes, her tan skin and bloody wounds showed. Shit. Panam was barely walking."Lucy, grab her!" I shouted, scanning the area.My Kappa was somewhere back in the club. I knew from the financier's memory that he'd bought the gun off-market, so it wouldn't trace back to Arasaka. My right arm hung limp.Lucy was the least banged-up out of all of us. She'd taken a couple of small-caliber hits near her left shoulder blade, but her chrome held up. Kushinada picked up Panam and hurried to the Thorton. Panam was still conscious, but I wasn't sure for how long.With a metallic clang, Panam's revolver dropped from her hand."Attention!" A loudspeaker voice rang out. "This is the NCPD. Suspects, step away from the Thorton Mackinaw! I repeat…"A police barricade of three cars was already blocking one side of the road. Armed officers crouched behind them. Regular cops for now, but they were ready for a fight. Body armor, shotguns, rifles.I opened the Thorton's door, and Lucy loaded Panam into the driver's seat. Damn, so much blood…Keeping low, I ran around to the passenger side. They were already shooting. Forget warning shots; they were going for kills.I threw myself into the front seat, and Lucy climbed into the only back seat. Panam, of course, was behind the wheel. The Thorton roared to life, pushing aside parked cars. The shots peppered the car's armor, but the reinforced plating shrugged it off.Panam's car shot onto the road. She was just about to pass out. I desperately dug through my pockets with my cyberlimb for stimulants and finally pulled out a reanimation injector."Hold still, I'm giving you a shot."Panam didn't respond. I jammed the injector's needles into her side, just above her waist. Blood everywhere… her clothes under the jacket were soaked. I pushed down on the injector's plastic trigger. Panam jerked, licked her pale lips, and with a fierce grip on the wheel, managed to gasp."Better… phew! Dying behind the wheel's an honor for a nomad, but it's too soon for me. Still gotta kick Nash's ass for this mess. Alex, medkit's in the glovebox. Do something."I fumbled for anything to stop the bleeding as the chase went full throttle."Attention, all central city units. Code 56. Thorton Mackinaw with nomad tuning," crackled the police comms.Skyscrapers surrounded us on all sides, their neon signs brighter than the overcast sun. But the flashing lights of two cop cars on our tail shone brighter. A third was trying to block us from the front, but Panam swerved around it.I was searching for something, anything to stop her bleeding. Bandages? Not gonna cut it. A tourniquet? No. Hemostatic gel? Bingo.One of the cop cars behind us swerved suddenly, crashing into a lamp post. Lucy must've run a script on the driver. Good and bad news. Shaking off the cops was essential, but if we overdid it, they'd call in reinforcements."Attention, this is dispatch. Code 74. Suspect is a netrunner. Suspects are resisting."I released the blade on my index finger. The shining triangle sliced through the blood-soaked fabric on Panam's abdomen. Damn. It looked bad… I tore open the hemostatic gel packet with my teeth, and, left hand only, I began applying it as best as I could while we rattled along. The pale-blue gel foamed white on contact with the blood, creating a crust. Had to work fast. Despite the drugs I'd pumped into her, Panam's bleeding hadn't fully stopped. I could see a major wound in her right abdomen, oozing dark, venous blood. I slathered gel over it."Look out!"I didn't react fast enough to Panam's warning. The car swerved, and I slammed my head into the dashboard. Whatever. I was more worried that the hemostatic gel might not be enough.I straightened up.The Thornton shot out into the intersection. A patrol car was hurtling toward us from the right, clearly aiming to ram. It all happened way too fast. Neither Lucy nor I had time to run scripts.Panam yanked the wheel, shifting Thornton's trajectory. The hit wasn't broadside, but more of a glancing blow to the right corner. I got jerked back, then slammed against the ceiling. Shook me up good. But the combat vehicle held. The patrol car spun out, flipping over and skidding onto the sidewalk, mowing down two pedestrians."Gonk," Panam muttered, commenting on the cop's attempt to take on a war machine in a government-issued ride.We were breaking free. At least, it seemed that way.Two patrol cars were still on our tail. Lucy glanced back for a second, her eyes flickering, optic lens overlays lit up with hacking interfaces.One of the police cars suddenly jerked, slamming into the side of the other. A drop of bright-red blood trickled from the corner of Lucy's eye. Pushed herself too hard. Cutting off the hack, she pulled out an inhaler and took a long drag, eyes closing in bliss."Attention, suspects have evaded patrol units. Resume the search," blared the police dispatcher.Looked like we'd slipped them. We'd left downtown behind. But then, a heavy machine-gun burst rattled the car. Navigating through the skyscrapers, a helicopter had appeared behind us.I scanned the vehicle and the pilot. Damn. That ICE was serious."Lucy?" I asked.The girl just gave a tired shake of her head.Another burst hit the Thornton, sparking off the armored body. Even if that gun couldn't penetrate, we weren't losing the chopper while it was in the air."Turret… hook in and take it down…" Panam managed through her labored breathing.Damn. Maybe the turret had enough firepower, but no way the cops would let that slide. We'd end up having to tangle with MaxTac if we kept this up."Lucy, I've got some stims in my jacket pocket. I'm about to fry the pilot. Hit me up with one after."She reached into my pocket as I shifted to scanning mode. Got him. The pilot in a fully enclosed visor helmet.Soul Rip, Overheat, Soul Rip, Short Circuit.Each new attack would hit harder. Soul Rip weakens the ICE.Within seconds, the helicopter started to veer. It dropped sharply, barely missing a rooftop before its emergency autopilot kicked in. It slowed down, climbed, and headed back toward the city center. Nice.Panam steered off the main roads, weaving through Northside's dense, industrial sprawl. She cut her speed, snaking between factories and abandoned lots."Code Zero," came through on the police frequency. "Repeat, Code Zero. Investigative team en route to the club at the intersection of Corporation Street and the western Ring in the Business District."The aftereffects of using all these abilities were hitting hard. I felt a fresh wave of nausea. Lucy jabbed a quick stim into my neck on the move. Stung like hell. I felt a bit better, but everything still felt like it was teetering at "complete disaster."The car slowed to a stop between an industrial fence and the rusted body of an old Kavkaz truck."I'm… done…" Panam slurred, barely moving her lips. "Nodding off… If I wake up on this side, I'll be happy…"She didn't finish. Her head dropped forward onto her chest."Check her heart. I'll get autopilot running. We'll get her to a ripper," said Lucy, climbing forward at an angle to connect her personal port to the dashboard.I tried feeling for Panam's pulse with my cyberlimb. Damn. Couldn't quite feel it, and I was wrecked from everything. The booze, the bio-grenades, the wounds, the soul ripping. Useless. I leaned in, putting my ear to her chest. Couldn't tell anything. Just the smell of blood and hemostatic gel everywhere."I can't hear her heartbeat!" I shouted to Lucy. "Try yourself."Lucy had just finished with the port connection. She reached out and placed two fingers on Palmer's neck."Shit, we need a shot," she replied."I've never done this.""Neither have I. Here…" Lucy handed me an injector with a revival serum. "I'll pull her out."We both jumped out of the car. Lucy dragged Panam from the front seat while I looked at the long needle of the metallic syringe."V, here!"Lucy tore away the remnants of Panam's shirt—formerly green, now drenched in blood."Right here!" Lucy pointed to the left side of Panam's chest, just above a dark-green bra. "I'll do chest compressions. You inject. Then I'll go again. Go!"Lucy started chest compressions. I lined up the needle. Don't hit a bone. Just remember the stabbing drills from the sim."Now!"My Dynalar-Kendachi cyberlimb was made for stabbing moves. I felt sick and shaky, but my arm moved with precision. The jab was quick. Then Lucy went back to the compressions.One. Two. Three. Come on…"She's back!" Lucy said with relief.Panam jerked, drawing a deep, noisy breath, but didn't regain consciousness."Get her back in, Lucy. We're going to Vik's," I said, shrugging off my torn jacket and checking my "Apparition" in the holster.She nodded, exhausted. Lucy started to adjust her hair, then drew her hand back, now smeared with drying blood.Soon, I was in the driver's seat of the Thornton, steering one-handed down the empty streets. I called Victor."We're coming, Vik. It's urgent. We barely pulled her back from the brink. Me? I'm… all right. Actually, not really, but I can handle it. We'll be there soon. Help her. I'll cover the costs. What happened? The usual. Too many bullets, not enough blood. All right, see you soon."Fifteen minutes later, we hauled Panam through Misty's Esoterica shop and down to Vik's clinic. I shot him a quick message saying that Panam knew me by a different name, and to keep it that way for now.Then Lucy and I got back in the Thornton and… it was like our minds just blanked. We sat there. Silent, staring through the bullet-riddled windshield at the wall of the dead-end street where we'd parked."Hell of a day," I finally said.Lucy lit a cigarette. Her fingers were still stained with Panam's now-drying blood."Here," she handed me the cigarette and a chip.I took a drag, then slotted in the chip. Nice. Conversations and messages from Nash over the last couple of weeks."He wipes stuff every so often," Lucy explained. "So it's only a few weeks back. But there's a message chain with Linda Sherman. Even her email.""Perfect..." I muttered, barely audible, feeling the pain from my broken arm setting in. "Vik's busy. Let's just drop by another ripper and crash."I said it all, but didn't move. Just sat there, smoking slowly. All the images from tonight still wouldn't settle in my head. Cop named T.K. Malone, two asshole mercs in the car, Fujioka, alive and dead, his hypercar, his memories, shootout on the city's edge, the return, Panam and Nash at Afterlife, the 7th Hell, the bloodbath, helicopter, a shot to the heart. My brain just refused to process it all."Мы сидели и курили…" I quietly hummed "Сидели. Курили. Начинался новый день… Начинался новый день."