| From: | "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Beating the Streets |
| Date: | Sat, 4 Jan 1997 13:09:02 +0000 |
>>>>>[So he didn't listen first time around and we had to persuade him.
I think he's persuaded.
+++++begin trideo
Lynch's eyecam view, following Lilith into a small hardware store. He
closes the door behind them and pulls the security grille across behind
it. The storekeeper starts and glares at them as they approach.
"Hey, what are - oh, it's Agents Johnson and Johnson. Like I said, I
ain't got nothing for you. Kiss my butt and blow off-"
Lilith lays a sheet of paper on the counter in front of him. "Sorry,
Barney, we told you we meant business. Agent Lynch, observe I serve the
warrant for the search of these premises and note the time."
"Fourteen thirty-two." Lynch lights a cigarette.
"Pal, this is a non-smoking store and I think you better leave. As for
your warrant, you can wipe your hoops with it, I got friends in the
force who'll-"
Lilith leans over, grabs the man and heaves him over the counter: he
lands on a display case of power tools with a yell of pain and a crash
of breaking glass.
"Agent Lynch, the suspect slipped and fell while resisting arrest at
fourteen thirty-three."
"Noted." Lynch grinds out the cigarette.
"Okay. OKAY!" Barney struggles to free himself from the ruined display
case. "Now I'm pissed. You ever hear of NACLU? I got a lawyer makes them
look like fragging Nazis. I'm gonna sue your asses-"
Lilith kicks his ankle out from under him and he falls back onto the
floor; she narrows her eyes slightly and kicks at the case's corner and
its base splits open, half-a-dozen packages spilling out.
"Agent Lynch, suspect packages discovered when the suspect slipped and
fell." Pinning Barney with a foot on the spine, Lilith slashes one open
with her razors. "The package checked, contains a Fabrique Nationale Uzi
Three submachinegun and four loaded magazines of ammunition. Arrest the
suspect for possession of illegal weapons."
"Hey. HEY! Frag that! You don't have jurisdiction! You don't have-"
"Shut the fuck up, Barney, you're boring me. Agent Lynch, if he attempts
to rise, the suspect was shot dead while reaching for a weapon."
"With pleasure." The cursor of Lynch's smartlink settles on Barney's
forehead as he aims his old Python, thumbing back the hammer.
"You ain't Feds! Who the hell are you? What the frag are-"
"Shut up." Lynch says calmly, and reads off the modified Miranda as
Lilith wanders around the store, pulling out drawers and dumping goods
off the shelves: she finds more packages taped to the back of a drawer.
"Oh, damn right I want my lawyer! You're-"
"I said, Barney, exercise your right to be silent." Lynch sounds amused.
"No, Agent Lynch, Barney has the right to know." Lilith breaks off from
her prowl around the store to crouch by the fixer. "Barney, remember
that nasty man we told you about yesterday? We think you know something
you chose not to share, and we didn't like your dismissive attitude to
our request for assistance. We want you to be a good citizen and co-
operate. We didn't _want_ to do this. Well, actually, I didn't. Agent
Lynch has been looking forward to this all day.
"You see, Barney, Thunda's killed a couple of hundred people. And that
means that anyone helping him, knowing where he is, covering for him,
should do their civic duty and inform the authorities, or else they're
an accessory. And even bent cops who turn a blind eye and rake a
percentage while you're selling guns and chips and illegal decks,
fencing stolen goods, whatever, won't want to cover for you, because
that's just too much heat for them to handle."
Lilith rises, pulls an axe from a rack of tools, hefts it thoughtfully.
"The problem is, Barney, we don't want _you_." She brings the axe down
on a rotating display of pocketknives and it shears open, the fragments
falling to the floor. "What we wanted was a little co-operation. Since
we didn't get it, we're making an example of you to show what happens to
citizens who neglect their responsibilities. Sorry, but that's life,
_pour encourager les autres_, as Voltaire so wisely said."
"God damn! God damn! I told you already I don't know drek!"
Lilith tests the axe's edge with her thumb. "Where would I hide them?
Convenient, in view but portable. Ah, of course." She swings the axe
sideways into a stand of batteries behind the counter and they scatter:
picking several up, she smashes the flat of the axe down on one and it
cracks open, revealing not oozing electrolyte but a chip in a holder.
"Carrying so many brands was a little obvious. Agent Lynch, a
considerable stock of illegal chipware was discovered at fourteen forty,
in addition to sixty prohibited 'cop-killer' bullets at fourteen thirty-
eight."
"That fragging search is invalid! Or will be by the time my lawyer
finishes with-"
Lilith buries the axe in the floor by his head and Barney flinches,
"You're Barney Biggs, the Man With the Plan, the Man Who Can. In the
back office, as well as a couple of unconscious gorillas, you've got a
fair stash of mictrotronics. This is your neighbourhood, anyone wants
decker gear round here they buy from you. Care to explain how someone
good enough to give Matrix-jockeys from the FBI, the shadows and the
military fits is working out of here, seeding false trails, leaving
little messages, and somehow The Man Who Can never knew a fucking thing?
I don't think so, Barney."
"So if he's so good maybe he could-"
"So maybe nothing, Barney. You know something and you aren't telling us.
That makes you an accessory to over three hundred murders, Barney. You
think anyone's going to care that we were a little rough bringing you
in? Or even if Agent Lynch there shot you in the head during the arrest?
That's the nice thing about terrorism on this scale, Barney, Agent Lynch
gets to act according to his natural disposition, as long as he produces
results nobody asks questions."
Barney is sweating. "Look, I'm telling you, I don't know jack, okay?
Only the hotdogs and wilsons come through me, the real cowboys cook
their own or use real shadow sources. I don't know nothing about no
funny stuff in the Matrix! And I mean it, I'm gonna crucify your asses
for this shit, I -"
"You had bought some cops, but this is too expensive for them to cover,
and you don't have any money. Caught in possession of quantities of BTL
chipware; all assets frozen, all certified credit confiscated, all goods
and chattels seized. Ditto your lawyer, you can't pay his fees now. Any
of your credit in his possession is frozen, any certified he's got is
liable for confiscation, in case you tried to lodge some money with him
in advance."
Lilith smiles at the fixer. "Right now, you have three choices. One,
stay quiet, go to trial, try to face down this evidence with a public
defender, do ten to fifteen minimum, hard time, even if you plea-
bargained it. Two, talk to us. Three, try to stand up before I tell
Agent Lynch to relax."
"And what happens if I do Three?" Barney asks nervously.
"Then I make you terminally open-minded." replies Lynch.
"Now, now. Don't scare the man." Lilith sits on the counter amidst the
chaos and debris, her long legs swinging. "Make up your mind, Barney."
"I'm telling you the truth, man, I don't know drek! I really don't!"
"Then I think you'd better find out." Lilith shrugs one shoulder. "Agent
Lynch is very impatient to meet with Thunda. And I find it hard to
believe that you can't find, or persuade people to find, Matrix
rerouters configured for Shadowland access in your own backyard, or a
new arrival of Thunda's calibre, or half-a-dozen doppelgangers living in
the same house."
"You bust up my shop, you break a couple of my ribs, and you're asking
me to do your legwork for you?"
Lilith makes a credstick appear in her hand, walks it around her
fingers. "This should cover the damage and give you some bribe money to
spare. The same again, if we get good information from you. We want
Thunda, Barney. We want him very badly indeed."
"And the drek you found?"
She raises one arched eyebrow in surprise. "Barney, really. In the rush
to take down a mass murderer like Thunda, and in the celebrations
afterwards, is anyone going to have time to bother with a small-time
fixer and fence? We'll all be too busy to remember this little
conversation.
"But if he slips through our fingers again, if we can't find any good
leads, if we chase mirages, we're going to be in deep trouble. Breaking
up a guns-and-chips ring we tripped over during our investigation might
help us keep our jobs. You understand, Barney? We get him, this never
happened, it was just a convenient excuse to redecorate. We don't get
him, you're the meat we throw to keep the wolves at bay."
Barney thinks for a long moment.
"Okay. Okay, deal. You got a deal. Can you tell your attack dog there to
ease up?"
"Agent Lynch, help Barney to his feet. Gently." Lynch holsters the .357,
pulls Barney upright.
+++++end video
I still think he knows more than he's saying, but Lilith disagrees.
Either way, we're turning up the heat.
But I'll bet that any minute now, we find we're working the wrong damn
district.]<<<<<
-- Lynch <13:09:47/01-04-58>
