The Debt Collectors War

Chapter 94

Ellie let the militia go. She told them to wait until after she’d gone to leave themselves, to let her get well away, and then to pack up what they needed and leave as well. To run, and hide, and hide sensibly, starting new lives, staying away from old friends, not even speaking to anyone they knew. They had a few hours to get a head-start, before the debt-recovery corporation came after them, but she thought most of them would probably get away.

She hoped they would, anyway, after she’d gone to the trouble of sparing them.

She spoke to them first. She warned them this was their last and only chance. That she was being generous, and the recovery corporation would not be. She warned them not to double-cross her, because she’d find out, and it would make no real difference to anything and just get them caught. She warned them there would be a lot of surveillance in the sky over this area very soon, and a lot of sigint tracking, and that any phone calls or any travel towards Los Angeles would be noticed fairly quickly. She said they could try if they wanted to, of course, try and pass on warnings to the rest of their group, but it wasn’t worth it. They’d be caught. So instead, take this second chance, and live. Let everything go. Give up the fight, abandon the cause, and just go somewhere and rest. Otherwise the corporation would track them down, and imprison them, and all of this would be wasted effort.

They listened as she spoke, and she almost thought most of them had paid attention. She would know for sure in a few days.

She made her speech, then told Terry to keep them all inside the compound until she was gone, and then she and Sameh went back outside, and found Joe standing beside his SUV, guarding two militia members who had tried to run away at the very beginning of the firefight.

Ellie was a little surprised, until she realized she’d forgotten to tell Joe what to do if any militia came his way. It was probably something she ought to have thought of. She’d left the gates open so she and Sameh could retreat, but also so the militia could flee, because there wasn’t any point continuing to fight someone who already wanted to run away. But she’d forgotten to tell Joe that, so he had stopped the militia who were leaving. And in hindsight, Ellie thought, it was probably best he had. It meant these two weren’t running off somewhere to make phone calls to Los Angeles.

Joe looked relieved, as Ellie and Sameh emerged. He’d been worried for them, Ellie thought, and about how long they’d been inside the compound. She was actually touched that he’d cared.

“How did it go?” he said, and Ellie just nodded.

She wasn’t ready to talk very much, or say anything else.

She was exhausted. She was physically tired, from wearing heavy armor, and mentally worn out from thinking too hard. She opened the back of the SUV, and sat down. In a moment, she would start taking off her tac armor, and wiping off the sweat that always accumulated underneath. In a moment. But first she just needed to sit down.

She sat, and felt a little better. Joe was still watching her, concerned.

“We’re fine,” she said. “It all went fine. Watch the gate, would you?”

Joe nodded, and did.

Ellie looked at the militia prisoners. “Go back inside. Talk to Terry. Don’t do anything stupid until you have.”

They just looked at her.

“Get up,” she said. “Go. Run away. We’re done. Terry will explain.”

The two militia members walked back into the compound.

Ellie sat for a moment, thinking. The sun was warm on her face. She put her submachine gun down behind her. She took off her gloves, and idly wiped at the blood which had smeared onto one when she’d hit the man earlier. She tugged the comm earpiece away from her head.

“We’re going to Los Angeles,” she said to Joe. “Want to come with us?”

He shrugged. He kept watching the gate, like she’d told him.

“I’m offering you a job,” she said. “Probably one that will pay more than enough to get your parents house sorted out. Or more.”

Joe turned and looked at her.

“The same job as this,” Ellie said. “The same big deal. But in Los Angeles, now. Want to come?”

Joe nodded.

“Good,” Ellie said. She looked towards the compound. The two militia members had gone inside, and no-one else had come out. The road was empty. The countryside was deserted.

It was a pleasant, sunny day, and peaceful, except for a hint of smoke in the air.

She unfastened the side of her body armor, so the breeze could work its way inside. She unzipped the front of the inner armor, too, and pulled it loose from herself, enough to let air in. She felt herself start to cool down.

She felt odd. She felt contented. She just wanted to sit in the sun.

She always got a little too relaxed and happy, after combat.

“We should go,” Sameh said, still looking at the compound. “Before you get too comfortable. We did just kill a lot of their friends. Someone might be upset.”

Ellie nodded, and did her armor back up, and said, “Hug me first.”

Sameh did, quickly, still watchful. She hugged Ellie for a moment, then said, “Come on.”

They all got back in the SUV.

“What’s the plan?” Sameh said.

“Back across the wall, back to Vancouver, then down to Los Angeles. Find the kid before he does something stupid.”

“Do you think we will?” Sameh said. “Find the kid?”

Ellie shrugged. “Probably. It shouldn’t be too hard.”

Sameh nodded.

“Not that it really matters though,” Ellie said. “We do. We don’t. Whichever it is. I got Naomi back, which was the point.”

Sameh leaned forward and kissed Ellie, and that seemed to be that.

Ellie would try. She would do her best for the Shanghai heir, as she’d promised. She’d do her best, and probably succeed, but it wasn’t as important now if she failed. She’d got Naomi back, and she had Sameh too, and that was all that really mattered. All the rest, the guilt and discomfort with killing and everything else, those would fade in time. She was what she was, and the world was the world, and she hadn’t made it into what it became.

She had Sameh, and that was enough.

She had Sameh, and she had her life, and those together were more than enough for her to be happy.