Dirty Work: Volume 2

Story Four - The Highest Bidder - 5

The truck finally came to a stop after two or three hours. I had tried to sleep during that time, nothing else to do, but failed. Senses were too highly strung.

The back of the truck opened up I watched from a spy hole inside another box, a hand clamped over my mouth. The twins took the box and left. Everything went quiet.

I slipped out of the box and made my way to the edge. I could see them moving away down a long tunnel. Only then did I realise that we were down into the tunnels underneath Celestria. The twins hauled the crate through a small doorway and disappeared from view.

'Hey!'

I spun and found the third delivery woman, the one that had never spoken, standing by the cab. My head was stuck around the edge of the truck.

'Hello,' I said. 'I'm sorry, where am I?'

'Stay right there!' She pulled her gun and trained her red dot on me.

'Whoa, please. Lady. Don't hurt me.' Slowly I raised my hands and stepped down out of the truck. 'I climbed in when it was parked. I hadn't anywhere to sleep, you know? Please. Just don't shoot me.'

She stepped closer, her other hand taking out her Halo-Core. I couldn't let her call in for backup.

I threw myself forward. She didn't have time to fire. I slammed into her and both gun and Halo-Core dropped from her hands. We tousled for a few seconds before I managed to get to a pressure point on her neck and her eyes rolled up.

I dragged her into the back of the truck and bound and gagged her with some rope they'd shoved in for a disguise just in case. I loaded her into the box I had hitched a ride in and collected her gun and Halo-Core. On the core, after swiping through a few menus, I found an entry pass that was sure to come in useful. I scampered after the twins. I quickly remembered what I was wearing and ripped the museum logo patch off my shirt.

Slinking through the maze of tunnels I followed my senses. Soon I was in the bowels of a large building, old furniture lying abandoned. Made of wood.

There was some security, but they had guts the size of small planets, and eyes on their doughnuts of a similar proportion. Slipping past them in the shadows was simply a matter of timing, and I'd had some practice in my time.

I followed the trail of noise. I climbed up a flight of stairs and came out in what looked like a mansion. I could hear lots of people talking down the other end of the hallway. Piped chamber music was coming through speakers high above my head. If there's anywhere I didn't belong, it was somewhere playing chamber music.

'Excuse me, sir.' Someone tapped me on the shoulder and spun me round. A security guard that didn't look like he'd been raiding the burger joints, just my luck. 'Can I see some identification?'

'Oh, I'm sorry. I'm helping out down below, and my colleague dropped her Halo-Core when she was helping to move stuff in here. Here, you can see for yourself.' I showed him the ID on the core, and he scanned it with his own.

'She won't be up here,' he said. 'She doesn't have clearance.'

'Well I saw her head up here. She was with two twins, I forget their names, helping to transport a crate of paintings. Perhaps if I could just go and find them and give it to her, I'll get on out of your way.'

The guard looked me over suspiciously, then nodded. 'Be quick. The auction is about to begin, and you don't have clearance yourself.'

I gave him a swift salute and turned on my heels.

Heading through the doors at the far end of the hallway and found myself in a large room with a stage at the front. Men and women and all manner of species in black suits and ties were sat murmuring to one another, all sat at tables with glasses of bubbly. Everything was official, and yet it still felt grimy. There was a film of ill-will that clung to the air like pollen, and you could taste it when you drew a breath.

I moved against the wall and folded my arms, fading into the furniture of the place. If anyone looked over, I was another security guard hiding out of the way but making sure the auction, as the other guard had told me, would go smoothly.

The lights suddenly dimmed over the audience. The stage was lit with a dozen spotlights. A bald man, save for a crescent of hair around the back of his skull, came onto the stage. He pushed a pair of glasses up on his nose and raised his hands for quiet.

'Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming. I know many of you have come a great distance for this evening, and many of you have pressing issues to attend to, so I suggest we get going with the auction as soon as we can. If there's no problem, can we please have the first lot brought in?'

All eyes turned to a man wheeling a large glass case onto the stage, inside which was a gold-gilded frame. The painting in question was an abstract watercolour of the Celestrian Thames coursing through a dazzling array of lights, viewed from a platform high above, capturing the glamour of the city in all its splendour.

'Lot number one. A Jundra Three-Four Sellinton entitled 'Spotlights'. Three feet by three fifty-seven, painted right at the beginning of Sellinton's career. Nothing quite like it. I'll start the bidding off at a 10,000 Zale.'

Hands were raised and the bidding started. One end of the hall had it, before someone else fired in. It was a close contest between the two of them, and the painting eventually sold for 45,700 Zale. A fortune. And this, I guessed, was one of the smaller lots.

The painting was moved away, and a second brought on stage. I stood there, taking it all in, not sure what I should do about it. What could I do? I was a one-man army without backup. I didn't even know where I was.

The decision, thankfully, was made for me. The doors at the far end of the room opened quietly and three men with 45 Betas entered. They swept the room and one spotted me against the wall. I turned to leave by the door I had come through, only to find two large men headed towards me from that direction as well.

Pincered.