Crack in the Kill Code (AmpCore #2)

27 - Freaks, Mutants, Monsters

"Do I even want to know what you did to that creep?" Kirk said, though he struggled to fight down a smile. Nevay got results – there was no disputing that.

She grinned devilishly. "Probably not. Some things the virgin mind isn't equipped for."

"Bite me."

"Maybe one day."

"Would you two put a bloody sock in it?" Doser grumbled as the cruiser slid to a halt at the roadside. "We're here."

Kirk shot Nevay a withering glance, before turning his attention back to Hadrian. He opened the door of the cruiser and stepped out into a retail park just outside the corporate cordon of the dock districts. The place was busy right now in the early evening, broad store-fronts spilling light into the car park clogged with vehicles. People scurried this way and that, flooding in and out of SafeSupply supermarkets, Ness-Net tech emporiums, Real-Raid kiosks, Skiltron and Ardenne hardware stores, Shelf-Life show rooms and more.

In some sense, it was a nice change, being somewhere with a bit of normal life to it. On the other hand, though, it meant that the creeping chaos was digging deeper into Hadrian. He checked his gun-holster was secure and looked around for their destination amongst the throng.

"Over there," Nevay said, giving him a tap on the arm and pointing. Looking, he saw the low, red-pink sign: RIPROAR BAR AND GRILL. At a glance it looked like a friendly enough place, all bright lights and smoke from extractor fans, people visible through the windows sitting at tables. Not exactly the sort of place he'd expected to end up.

"You sure that's it?" Kirk asked, giving her a sidelong glance.

She shrugged. "That's what Scay said. Don't think the little bitch was in a lying mood."

"Let's go," Doser said as he ambled round from the other side of the cruiser, fiddling with the strap of his gun holster. "I'm hungry."

"Are we really here to eat?"

"You want to announce to everyone what we're up to?" The detective shot him a scathing look. "C'mon, Balfour. We go in, get a bite to eat, blend in with the clientele, and once everybody's forgotten that we're there, then we go looking."

"Look, I'm just gonna say it," Nevay said as they walked towards the diner. "Whatever we're chasing – whatever's going on with little Treysi – it doesn't look like we're on the trail of that Lurker."

"We don't know that for sure," Doser replied, but Kirk shook his head bleakly.

"No, she's right," he muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "The notes I have on that thing, this doesn't fit with anything. They were designed to go straight to the deepest, high security areas and extract or kill a target. They're not spies. They're not going to fuck about with this kind of thing."

"Then what are we chasing?"

"Treysi Cabrera." Kirk shrugged. "For now that'll have to do."

Doser shouldered the door of the diner open and led them in. No one challenged his big frame, a few locals stepping back askance as they entered. The smell of the food washed over Kirk and he felt himself instantly salivating. Maybe getting something to eat wasn't such a bad idea. The place took its cues from East-Lantic style, all square booths and couches instead of chairs, with a long bar area lined with stools just in front of the kitchen.

They found a table towards the back, but Kirk was only half paying attention keeping his eyes open for what they were really after. It didn't take long to spot it, a glittering oblong advert screen off to the right of the diner's kitchen area. He didn't recognise the corporation, which made sense. Scay's info had said the thing was a front. It seemed to be extolling the virtues of some obscure microprocessor for optimising your quarterly accounts – hardly the sort of thing that a denizen of Hadrian's dockside districts would have much use for.