Chapter Twenty One

Gabriela kept her head down, hiding her face under the hood of her jacket. The patrons swayed back and forth as the tram zipped them through the city. It flashed past them in a blur. She blended in with working men and women, as well as the street punks and vagrants that frequently used the public transportation. No one paid her any mind.

“I cannot stress how reckless this is.” Soma whispered into her ear.

“Then don’t.” Gabriela looked around, trying to identify anyone who could be security. She looked for the unmistakable bulge of a side arm tucked under a dress shirt, or the lingering inquisitive stare. But from what she could tell, this cart was free of security. Only the watchful eye of the cameras bolted to the tram’s bulkhead kept watch over her.

The tram ride was the first moment Gabriela had to stop and think since the ordeal had begun, and her “mancer” was not as forthcoming with information.

“How about you start telling me who you are and what’s going on?”

“I told you, my name is Soma, I am a mancer who was hired to help you.”

The same line he had used before. “Who hired you?”

“This isn't the time, Gabriela.”

“This is the perfect time, asshole. We got nine minutes until we arrive at our destination, and if the tram stop is full of security, then I can at least know why I am being arrested.”

“I don’t know,” Soma’s disembodied voice admitted.

“You don’t know who your employer is, or why Cy-Teck is after me?” Gabriela gripped the hand bar and turned her back to the rest of the patrons.

“Either. In Ether space anyone can literally be anyone they want to be. Everyone operates in anonymity.”

“So, you blindly just take jobs?” Gabriela had a hunch he was lying. No one goes as far as he had just for a contract. If he were to be caught, execution was his best bet, worse if a corporation got a hold of him.

“Is it any different than you and your company taking contracts?” Soma spat back.

“Yes. What I do is legal.”

“Why, because the contract is legal? How many citizens do you think you have arrested because the corporations paid a contract for you to do so? Do you examine all the evidence and deliberate?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” She hissed. “The system put in place by the UN charter guarantees every citizen receives a fair trial.”

“And you don’t think power, wealth, and influence change the outcome of the system?”

“I am not so naive to think that the system is free of corruption.”

“Then how can you trust in a system that you, yourself, have agreed is not wholly trust worthy?”

“What the fuck is your point?” Gabriela shouted.

A few of the tram riders looked up, the look of concern was etched just under their blank stares. Gabriela smiled in way of an apology, before she pulled her hood further over her face. She watched the Upper City fly past.

“Are you some kind of idealist? Looking at the world as a moral wrong to be righted?”

“No. I am a pragmatist. And my point,” Soma said coolly. “Is that the only difference between what I do and what you do, is I cut out the middle man.”

Gabriela shook her head. “This conversation is pointless.”

“I think you and I have finally found common ground. Just remember, Gabriela; you are a job to me. One that I can walk away from at any time.”

Gabriela ground her teeth. Soma had found the most direct route to her apartment that didn’t involve transferring transit lines. It took them to the outskirts of the city, along the river and dam that pumped in the energy that the city needed.

The tram turned away from the river and headed back into the city. She had three minutes until the tram stopped, which she spent in quiet contemplation. Gabriela worried that Cy-Tech wasn’t there to apprehend her, but to liberate her. She didn’t trust Soma, and the idea he was duping her into being compliant with her own kidnapping wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility.

“Where are you right now?”

“Right beside you.”

Gabriela looked over at the empty space next to her. “I mean physically.”

There was a moment before he responded. “Pacific Hive.”

“The states? How the hell are you going to help me from there?”

“Gabriela, you need to understand that I am not telling you everything, not because I don’t want to, but because I can’t. Not yet anyways.”

“That’s convenient.” The tram slowed to a stop before the doors opened and the passengers began to file off. Gabriela peaked around the bulkhead, scanning the stop for trouble, but it seemed normal.

“You need to trust me until then.” Soma said as Gabriela jumped down from the tram dock. The train was already moving again before she made it to the streets.

“That’s the problem, Soma. I don’t trust you.” Gabriela tucked her hands into her pockets and kept her eyes low. The cameras around the city scanned for facial recognition, as well as fingerprints and retinal. If she glanced in the wrong direction, or held up her hand too long, then the Taurus AI would flag her.

She knew she had to do something about her face. Gabriela considered heading to the lower city and finding a less than reputable flesh salon to give her a new look under the table. But until that could happen, she had to rely on keeping her hood up and her eyes down.

The doorman, Frank, didn’t look up from his vid paper when she entered. A good sign.

“Evening, Frank.” She mumbled as she hit the buttons on the elevator.

“Even miss Fohren. I read in the papers you won the lottery!” The older gentlemen flicked the translucent paper, the GIFs playing across the paper froze from the impact, before they continued again. “Could not believe my eyes when I read the article.”

“I still can’t believe it.” Gabriela chuckled a little, trying to sound as natural as possible as she waited for the elevator.

“Frank?” Gabriela turned away from the elevator doors.

“Hmmm?” Frank's dark eyes peaked over his paper.

“Has anyone been here, looking for me?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, miss Forhen, but there has been no one looking in on you today, except this morning, that Brian fellow you are always with. Are you expecting someone else?”

The elevator doors opened and she stepped in. “No, I was just wondering. Have a good night, Frank.”

“You too, Miss Forhen.” Frank mumbled as he lost himself in the vid paper.

Her apartment was empty, and was just the way she had left it in the morning. She quickly stripped from her clothes, tossing them to the side as she made her way to her closet. She chose a purple top that strapped up the side, and dark pants. She kicked her shoes away and replaced them with boots with a low heel. She pulled the ratcheting straps tight before she made her way to the bathroom.

She pushed at the tiles on the bathroom floor until she found the one she wanted. It was loose and she could easily move it to the side. She reached into the dark hole and pulled out a small package wrapped in plastic. Inside was a passport and a cred chip.

“There is someone at the door.” Soma warned.

Gabriela cursed and turned the light in the bathroom off just as her front door slowly opened. She ducked behind the door frame, crouching in the shadows as she watched the intruder enter.

Geraldo slipped in through the front door before he slowly closed it behind him. Gabriela watched as he stood there, surveying the room around him. The thought of complicit kidnapping was becoming more and more unreasonable to her as she watched her one-time partner shuffle through her belongings.

He got to her bed and thumbed through the pages of her books before he carefully placed each item back the way he had found them. This wasn’t a man who was looking for her whereabouts. He never called out for her, never announced himself. This was a man looking for something. This was a man looking for leverage.

She watched as he moved past the kitchenet, slowly sorting through the array of trash on the counter before he moved on to the living space. He knelt at her bunk and opened the drawers and carefully riffled through her clothes before he closed them again.

Geraldo let out a loud sigh and stood up before he leaned over the bunk and picked up a book. He slowly turned the pages before he tipped the book over and shook it, checking to see if anything fell out before he gently placed it back. He checked each book in the same manner before he turned his attention to her mattress.

Gabriela slowly moved forward as Geraldo inched around the frame of her bed.

“Gabriela, what are you doing?” Soma demanded. “Stop!”

Gabreila slowly picked up a lamp and made her way across the living space.

Geraldo stood up, holding the one thing Gabriela couldn't leave without. A 3d picture of her holding her daughter and a tuft of her hair. It was the only thing of her daughter that she had left.

“Gotch ya.” Geraldo said smugly, just before Gabriela brought the lamp down on the back of his head.