Babylon Terminal Read online

  “How goes it, Monk?” she asked evenly.

  “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “That was gonna be my next question.”

  “I’m off the clock.”

  “Well be a good little bunny and hop back on it for me then.” Eddie’s weapon of choice, a samurai sword, was strapped to her back, but she also had .45s holstered on both hips, and a series of throwing knives fitted into slits along her left arm, from her shoulder to just above her elbow. She’d always had a flair for the dramatic, but ironically enough, she was as lethal without her weapons as she was with them. I’d seen her kill with her bare hands more than once. “They want to see you at HQ. Cap’s having himself a fucking aneurism.”

  “You some sort of message delivery girl now?”

  Her topaz eyes turned even colder. “Tell you what, you see a girl anywhere around here, you slap her cute little bottom and send her home to her momma, motherfucker.”

  “Figure of speech,” I said, taking a final drag on my cigarette before flicking it into the darkness. “Relax.”

  “You know me, Monk, relaxing ain’t really my thing.” Except for around her eyes, she wore no makeup, and other than her tattoos and a battle scar along her chin, her complexion was almost unnaturally smooth. “Like I said, they want you back at HQ.”

  “Why?”

  “Don’t waste my time. It does a number on what little patience I have to begin with, and makes me very angry.”

  “I’m not on the job. My time’s my own.”

  “You gonna give me a hard time on this?” She sighed and shook her head. “Seriously, that’s how you want to play it?”

  I stood my ground.

  “Saw your wheels from the road, followed the bodies right to you.” Falcon Eddie cocked her head toward the bar. “Hell of a mess in there.”

  “These things happen.”

  “Gotta love the badge. Gives us permission to do anything we want. Almost.”

  “I told you, I’m not on the job.”

  “What are you doing out here then?”

  I held her stare and went quiet again.

  “You’ve never even been out this way, have you?” she pressed.

  “None of my runners have ever made it this far.”

  Her eyes sparkled with amusement and a touch of respect. “Did you really think HQ wouldn’t find out what was going on?”

  “Eddie, look—”

  “Julia’s a runner,” she said. “It’s already been decided.”

  I rubbed the back of my neck, but it did little to relieve my rising tension. I’d hoped for more time. “She’s not a runner. She’s just—”

  “She’s a runner. And unless you come back to HQ with me, so are you.”

  “I need to find her and bring her home, all right? She’s not running. She’s confused, she’s—”

  “I understand she’s your wife, okay?” Falcon Eddie pushed away from my car but was careful not to come too close. “I get it. You’re in a shitty position. Cap ordered me to bring you back so we can all chalk this up to a simple misunderstanding. After all, it’s not just some runner, it’s your wife. You lost your head, got a little nuts is all. Come back with me now and all is forgiven.”

  “I’m asking you to cut me a break, Eddie. One professional to another, I’m asking. Tell them you couldn’t find me. Tell them I was already into the outlands.”

  “You think that’d stop me?” she chuckled. “You think they’d believe that would stop me? Would it stop you? Is it stopping you?”

  “I’m asking for a favor, all right? I’ll pay it back however you see fit.”

  “Come on, you know how this works.”

  “I need some time. Give me one more night.”

  “Can’t do it,” she said. No hesitation; no thought. “If they run, we hunt them down. We bring them back. Dead or alive, but we bring them back. If they tell me to go get another Dreamcatcher that’s lost his or her way and bring him or her home, that’s what I do. Same as you would. Same as any of us would.”

  All I could think about were the countless faces that had looked at me the same way I was looking at her, the pleading voices asking for a chance, a break, a moment in time, The smallest scrap of mercy I might be able to throw their way. And as they’d seen in me, I saw no hope in her. It was just a job. We did what we did because that’s what we’d been led to believe was what we were supposed to do. It was who we were. Our kind was necessary because we kept order, and our actions allowed the world to continue to exist as it was supposed to, or as we’d been taught it was supposed to. There were rules, and those rules had to be followed. If the rules were bent or broken, we were told, there would be nothing but chaos. But what was there now? If the world was already in flames, what was a little more gasoline on the fire? Could one be more damned, more doomed, more broken, more forgotten, more marginalized to the outskirts of existence? The reality was, we’d all been dropped into a meat grinder and told, regardless of the consequences, that if we questioned it in any way, we were attempting to destroy the natural order of things. We weren’t simply criminals, we were heretics. And in the light or the dark, it didn’t much matter, because heretics were for burning. Made no difference who lit the match or gave the order, that’s the way things were, the way they’d always been and always would be. You did what you were told.

  “Julia’s not running,” I said. “And neither am I.”

  “Do you think I’m gonna stand out here all night and discuss this with you?” She walked along the side of the car, parallel to me. “HQ already has a major root growing up their collective asses over the whole Frisco Sean and Matt the Cat bullshit. Can’t be letting runners slip free. Doesn’t matter who they are, you know that. You got any idea how much shit Dingo took for losing them?”

  “I can imagine.”

  “Then you understand my position here.”

  “I’m asking you to understand mine,” I said, but I was already trying to figure out how I was going to get away from her. Reasoning was obviously out, and that left force, which was a bad idea no matter how I came at it.

  “Dingo’s deep in the shit. They’re gonna assign Julia to him, and if he drops the ball on this one, they already told him, don’t bother coming back. They’ll just send someone else for him and her, and it’ll be a BBD job.”

  Bring Back Dead, the kind of job where the runner was to be executed upon being located. No exceptions, no excuses. If they were BBD, they were to be killed without question or hesitation. No chance to come in alive.

  “Is Dingo already on the clock?” I asked.

  “Soon,” Eddie said with a coy look. “I may have convinced Cap to wait to send him out until I brought you back and we found out exactly what was going on.”

  Eddie didn’t know it, but that one show of respect on her part had bought me exactly what I needed. Time. None of it mattered if I went back with her, though, so I had to find a way to separate myself from her, and quickly, because if I could, her actions had bought me at least another night or two before they sent Dingo after us both. “You didn’t have to do that,” I said. “Thanks.”

  “You’re right, I didn’t. To be honest, I never really liked you—don’t take it personally, I don’t fucking like anybody—but I always respected you. You’re good. Not as good as me, of course, but real good. I figured you at least deserved that much.”

  I moved closer. “I’d feel a hell of a lot better if they’d let me go after her.”

  “You know they’d never let you take this one.”

  Working the only angle I had, I said, “No, but they’d let you.”

  Falcon Eddie furrowed her brow. “I told you they already assigned it to Dingo.”

  “Dingo’s an incompetent ass. If he fucks it up like he fucked up his last job—”

  “In all fairness, he may not be our level, but it is the only one he’s ever blown.”

  “If he loses Julia too, they both die. If you got the job, I know you’d fin
d her, and I know you could bring her back alive.”

  “You want me to ask for the job, is that it?”

  “They’ll give it to you if you do.”

  “Done,” she said, face expressionless. “If it’ll get your ass in gear and back to HQ, I give you my word. Now let’s move. They’re not gonna wait forever, and they’ll only keep Dingo on a short leash so long.” She jerked her thumb at the huge silver chopper she always rode, which was parked on the other side of my car. “Take that bucket of shit you call a car. I’ll follow you.”

  Though I was still trying to think a few moves ahead, I started toward the car slowly, so I could easily close the gap between us as I passed by her.

  “One more little technicality,” she said. “For your safety, and of course, mine.”

  I already knew what was coming.

  “Gonna need you to turn your weapons over to me. Just until we get back. They’ll be returned to you once we get to HQ.”

  “That’s not necessary.”

  “It is if I say it is. And I do.”

  “Fine,” I said through a heavy sigh. I reached down, unstrapped the shotgun from my leg and held it out for her.

  Falcon Eddie took it and slung it over her shoulder. “Keep going.”

  I gave her my best questioning look.

  “You expect me to believe that’s all you’re packing?”

  “Not everybody’s the walking arsenal you are.”

  “Come on, let’s go. Hand it over.”

  With another dramatic sigh I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out my revolver. Fumbling it, I dropped it to the ground between us, doing my best to make it appear as if I’d done so accidentally. Eddie didn’t look like she’d bought it, but I kept playing my part anyway, and crouched down to get it.

  The moment I touched the gun she stepped on my hand, pinning it to the ground with the heel of her boot. “I’ll get it,” she said. “Get in your car.”

  She stepped back, freeing my hand, and in one quick and fluid motion, I scooped up a handful of dirt, rose to my feet and threw it in her face.

  As she staggered back a bit to avoid it, I swung at her hard as I could.

  With ease, Eddie blocked my punches, knocking them away with speed and precision, even as she blinked and shook her head, still partially blinded from the dirt. I kept coming regardless, throwing combinations. None landed but they backed her up.

  I was so focused on breaking through her hand blocks that I never saw the leg kick coming. It caught me on the side of my knee, nearly buckled it and sent daggers of pain up into my thigh and waist. Knocked off balance, I stumbled to the side, caught myself before I fell, then planted my foot, spun, and launched an elbow back at her. It connected with the bridge of her nose with a loud crack, and I heard her grunt.

  In the mayhem, the shotgun had fallen from her shoulder and landed nearby. But the pistol was closer, so I turned and scrambled for it.

  I got less than a step before she grabbed me by the back of my coat and yanked me toward her, slamming her other forearm into my neck as she did so.

  The force of the blow snapped my head back, but before I could react, she spun me around so that I was facing her, brought a knee up into my stomach and followed it up with a quick combination of punches to my jaw.

  My legs checked out and down I went, collapsing into a puddle on my back. Head spinning and jaw aching, I rolled away as she stomped a boot heel where my throat had been a second before. On my side, I swung my leg hard, catching the back of her knee and buckling it. But as she dropped to her knees, she twisted at the waist and threw an elbow that smashed into my mouth and returned me to my back. I tasted blood and coughed, spraying crimson up into the darkness.

  Eddie leaned closer and threw a hook into my side, below the rib cage. The blow knocked most of the wind out of me, but I crawled away as best I could.

  “Stupid sonofabitch,” she muttered, rising to her feet. “Are you out of your fucking mind?” She wiped her eyes, then checked her nose, which was bleeding from both nostrils. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you right now!”

  With the world still tilting and blurred, I forced myself to my hands and knees. When I tried to respond, I gagged on a mouthful of blood and spat it out into the mud along with one of my bottom teeth. A long drool of blood and spittle dangled from my quickly swelling bottom lip. I tried to speak again, and this time managed, “I have to get to her, Eddie, I—”

  “Get in the fucking car!”

  “I have to find her, I—”

  Next thing I knew she’d grabbed hold of me and pulled me to my feet. After slapping me across the face, she came back around with a backhand and slapped me again. Then shaking me like a rag doll, she pivoted and hip-tossed me.

  I left my feet, crashed onto the hood of my car and lay there a moment, the black sky above me moving and swirling as a new series of pains stabbed at my temples and along my spine.

  “Get in the fucking car, Monk,” Eddie growled, chest heaving. “I’m not gonna tell you again, I’m just gonna end you. Right here, right now.”

  Despite the pain and the tricks my equilibrium was playing on me, I rolled off the hood and toppled to the ground with a grunt. Struggling, I reached up, grabbed the side mirror for leverage, and pulled myself to my feet. Steadying my stance as best I could, I spat out another streamer of blood.

  “Don’t do it,” she warned.

  I charged her again.

  Eddie moved laterally, sliding to the side with the grace of a matador, then brought her leg up and kicked me dead in the center of the chest with her shin. Because I was charging, I ran right into it, and it sent me tumbling backward, somersaulting away and into the side of the car.

  I rolled over, and with great effort, got back to my feet. I wasn’t entirely sure where the hell I was, but once I’d located her, I raised my fists and staggered toward her a third time.

  “Don’t make me do this, Monk,” she said, squaring her stance.

  “You’re gonna have to kill me,” I slurred, slobbering more blood from my mouth.

  Falcon Eddie reached behind her, slowly slid her sword free, and held it out in front of her, the tip of the long blade leveled at me. “So be it.”

  I was in a tremendous amount of pain, was having trouble drawing a full breath and hobbled from the kick to my knee, but my head was starting to clear somewhat, along with my vision. Still, it was difficult to gauge precise distances in the mounting darkness. I circled her slowly, trying to settle on a plan of attack. She stood her ground, motionless, like she’d frozen in position. I was prepared to die if I had to, and figured I was probably only moments away from it anyway. The odds of me taking her out were nearly nonexistent—and we both knew it—but I had no other options. If I went back to HQ with her, Julia was gone and gone for good. Dead or alive, she was gone. And so was I. Better to go out swinging than to shuffle obediently back to my superiors and leave Julia’s fate in someone else’s hands.

  My shotgun was quite a distance behind her now, but the pistol was still lying in the dirt a few feet away. I wasn’t sure if I could get to it in time but I had to try.

  “You won’t make it,” she said.

  I bolted for the pistol.

  In an instant, she was between me and the weapon, the sword still level and aimed at me. And then, for reasons I’ll never understand, something changed in her eyes, and she stood down, relaxing her stance and lowering the sword to her side.

  I rubbed my eyes and focused on her again, unable to believe what I’d just seen. But there she was; staring at me through the night with what I realized was pity.

  After a lengthy silence she said, “You love her that much?”

  “She’s all I got, Eddie. She’s everything.”

  “What’s it like?”

  I wasn’t sure what she meant.

  “Love,” she said. “What’s it like?”

  I wondered if she saw pity in my eyes as well. “You’ve never felt it for
anyone?”

  She wiped a fresh trickle of blood from her nose, then shook her head in the negative. “Tell me. What’s it like?”

  I thought about it a moment. “Like dreaming. Like God dreaming.”

  A hint of a smile slipped across her face. There, then gone.

  One of us was about to die, so we stood there a while with each other, amidst the quiet of a darkness neither of us truly understood or likely ever would, in a parking lot of dirt along the side of a deserted highway to nowhere, and everywhere.

  “Listen to you, all poetic and shit,” she finally said. “Romantic as that is, I still can’t let you go. You know that, Monk, even better than I do.”

  I told her I did, and that there were no hard feelings.

  Then I rushed her one final time.

  This time I got close enough to get my hands on her, and I used my weight to gain enough leverage to force her back a few steps. Clutching each other, we wrestled for position, stumbling about together as I slid my hands up and onto her throat. But she managed to hook my leg with her foot and execute a judo toss that flipped me into the air. I crashed to the ground, landing flat on my back with tremendous force and a certainty that everything inside me had shattered.

  I tried to get up but couldn’t draw breath, so I began to squirm and writhe about until I’d forced myself onto my side, and then up and onto my knees. As a rush of breath returned to my lungs, I began to rise to my feet once again, but Eddie stepped in, hit me with a three-punch combination, then finished the job with a vicious spinning heel kick that evidently caught me on the side of the head.

  The next thing I remembered was crawling out of unconsciousness and feeling sick to my stomach. A sense of panic and a rush of emotion surged through me as I realized I’d been knocked out and was just then coming to and unaware of exactly what had happened. Lying in the mud, I struggled back to my hands and knees, but was so dizzy I couldn’t come anywhere near standing. I was done. It was over.