Old Ties
He inhaled from a cigarette and breathed out the smoke in her
direction. Natalya Orumov was disgusted looking at him, at least
a hundred pounds overweight, practically see-through from never
leaving this dirty apartment. His fingers were yellowed from his
constant smoking, the burning ashes of his cigarette the only light
in the room. Her dark glasses had built in light modulation, and
even on the highest setting, she could only just make out him, and
a few shapes in the background.
"Dave..."
"Helix. We don't use real names here, Gen."
He was right. She had built an identity for the express purpose
of trading information on Armitage, her employer, for hard cash.
Things had gone perfectly, she was living two lives successfully.
She pulled out a computer disk, and passed it to Helix, as he insisted
on being called. He ran over it with his yellowed fingers, then
reached into the void behind him. His hand returned with an envelope.
He passed it to her. She unsealed it, and glanced inside.
"You don't trust me?"
She ran her fingers through her red hair, and told him, "Just
double checking. Be seeing you." She walked out of his apartment,
and breathed fresh air again. It had gone off smoothly, now back
to her apartment, back to Armitage. She hit the down button, and
the elevator doors opened.
Natalya Orumov hit the button for lobby, and watched the doors
start to close. When they stopped suddenly she looked up and the
withdrawing elevator doors revealed a man. He withdrew the cane
he had used to halt the doors, and proceeded to walk into the elevator.
He had a long black trench coat on, and a fedora style blue hat.
"Sorry for not holding it, I couldn't even see you coming."
"You probably didn't see this coming either," he said
unsheathing a knife and jabbing it up under her ribs and toward
her heart. The doors slid shut, and she was helpless. He pulled
out the knife quickly and kicked her to the ground. "That's
from Armitage, he knows you're skimming, and he knows about the
tip-off."
Her body lay dead, a red wig lying on the ground, her true brown
hair revealed. Resting on his cane, the man pulled out a small piece
of paper, and folded a small human figure, then laid it on its side.
The elevator doors opened, and he walked out. He heard the commotion
behind him, but he was gone before anyone knew he was there.
Outside on the curb, he saw a spinner pull up. His getaway car.
The back door opened, and he saw Harry Bryant. "Gaff, get in
the car."
"How'd you know I was here? How'd you get in my car?"
"How do you go in, kill a woman, walk out, and not worry about
police action? We're on a different level than those people. You
should know that by now," Bryant said.
Gaff walked into the car and closed the door. "I've got a
lot of contracts, Bryant. Don't expect me to just do anything for
you on demand, we've moved past that - at least I have."
"I don't know who he is, but the guy who contacted me has
guaranteed compensation, to the point where you won't need to do
this any more if you don't want to."
"What's the situation?"
"He wants Rick Deckard for some reason. I don't ask. You've
been keeping tabs on him since he quit, right? Like I asked you
to," Bryant said as the spinner left the ground and flew toward
Gaff's high-rise apartment.
"I know where his apartment is, what he does, where he eats,
everything. I've had my men watching him."
"Good. I've already got the instructions on how to bring him
in. I've spread some money around in the department, and gotten
access to an office to meet him in. My contact has gotten word that
six reps escaped from the Off-World colonies, the police don't even
know it, and they want Deck to kill them."
"I could handle it, I was just as good as him," Gaff
said trying to hide his indignation at being passed over for a job.
"The money better be good, this is my business, and I don't
like to be insulted."
"I thought you quit the business, Gaff. I know after '18 I
never thought I'd be sending out Rick Deckard to take out some Skinjobs.
Don't be insulted, you'll be getting well compensated for any hurt
feelings."
"What am I going to have to do?" Gaff asked, looking
out the window.
"First, you have to bring him in. We need to override any
memories he has of us quitting the force, so the techs are going
to insert some false memories. Then, plant him back on streets.
Approach him and convince him to come in for one last hunt. Escort
him to the police station, in a police spinner, then keep an eye
on him when he goes after the reps," Bryant explained.
"And the memories will work?"
"I've been promised they will. Don't worry about that, Gaff."
"One last thing. Why is Deckard so important, there's other
competent Blade Runners out there. We've got Holden, he's just as
good."
"I couldn't tell you that, they want him for some reason.
I don't know what it is. The only thing I know about this organization
is they have a vendetta against replicants, and are able to spread
a lot of money around."
The spinner pulled onto Gaff's roof. He walked out, and said, "I'll
have him for you tomorrow. The driver can take you home. You already
seem to have a business relationship."
Gaff watched the spinner pull up into the air, then pulled out
his phone. "Helton, I need Deckard here as soon as possible.
I told you trailing him would pay off sometime. That time is now."
Options
Option 1 - Deckard
on the streets
Option 2 - Something else
Pages in white continue the story. Pages
in yellow are yet to be written. Note that the unwritten
options are just suggestions for how the story might continue
- you can add something completely different if you like.
Each page in the story ends in a five letter
code. If you want to return to this page in the future, make
a note of the page code and you will then be able to change
your URL to take you straight back to that page.
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Date: 2002-10-13 22:00
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