Dirty Work: Volume 1

A Leader Of Men - 4

We walked down the corridor and Markro knocked on the door of the room I had been into last time, Chorus' quarters.

'Come on in,' she said from inside, and Markro pushed the door open.

Chorus was relaxing in a reclining chair with a glass of her pink liqueur, legs propped up next to her, hair fluctuating between orange and yellow. Sat on the sofa next to her was a man in his fifties, glasses shimmering and with little strands of white hair around the temples.

'Morning, Chorus. I hope business is well,' Markro said.

'As well as can be expected,' Chorus replied, a faint smile dancing on her lips. 'You're here for Spyder, I hear.'

'We certainly are,' Markro said, motioning for me to shut the door, which I did so obediently.

'Ah, Xayne. How nice to see you again. Once again, apologies for the incident last time,' Chorus said. I waved it off with a smile. In the pit of my stomach I felt a shudder. The last incident had been our first run-in with the Red Rose gang, and it seemed strangely like destiny that we should be here asking for their location when we first found them after I left here previously. Celestria always has a way of coming full circle.

'The reason we've come is related to that, Spyder,' Markro said. 'It's Red Rose.'

'Yes,' Spyder said, snuggling into his seat with a playful glee, 'they've been up to a little mischief since we found out about them, haven't they? Blew up a couple of buildings in Region 32, last I heard. Trying to go big but they'll never get there; they don't have the communication skills. Bunch of yobs at best.'

'A bunch of yobs that have grabbed one of our associates and are holding her for ransom.'

Spyder sat up in his seat, eyes widening. The smile that had danced on his lips before had now dropped off them onto the floor, waiting to be kicked under the chair. 'In exchange for the box?'

'According to the boss,' Markro replied.

Spyder sank back into his chair, hand going to his face to bridge his eyes. His glasses darkened and I could see his eyes flicking back and forth, as if looking through something in his mind. If there had been a screen in front of him, I would have said that he was reading through menus and opening videos, closing them down, going to other information pools and trying to correlate everything together.

'Grasslea not letting them have it?' Chorus asked. Her hair had changed to the bubblegum pink of her drink.

Markro shook his head solemnly. 'Told us to go and get her back, no questions asked. We just don't know where their main base of operations is. I thought the collector here might know something.'

We looked over at Spyder who was still sat there thinking and correlating. The whole room was quieter than a room after a shootout, when the last body has hit the floor. As the canister drops and rings off the ground, there is no clearer a sound, and it only reinforces the idea that there is nobody left alive but you, a single sound somehow louder than the quiet. Waiting for Spyder to get out of his mind with the information was like waiting for that canister to be ejected from the gun and ring out on the floor. It made me shiver though the room was warm.

'I think I know where they'll be,' he said. 'Pass me your Halo-Core.'

Markro took the device out and passed it over to Spyder, who proceeded to tap screens and projections, flicking across numbers and punching in letters.

'How much do I owe you?' Markro asked.

'Ten,' Spyder said without missing a beat. His eyes never left the projection before him.

Markro dug into his coat and fished out the appropriate finances, handing them to Chorus, who had her hand outstretched. 'It would actually cost more, but he owes me ten anyway so it'll do for that.'

'Aha!' Spyder suddenly exclaimed, swishing the air and spinning a projection around. He placed the Halo-Core on the small table we stood around. 'Here it is.'

A map showing large tower blocks and apartment complexes from the top down stared back at us.

'Where's this?' Markro asked.

'Region 18. It's the Black Milestone Area. Over here is Grange Acre, down there is Slatezone. Where they should be, if I'm not mistaken, is here.'

Spyder pointed to a cluster of small buildings about two streets down from a shopping complex.

'Save it to the Core,' Markro said. 'We need to get going.'

'Sure you don't want a drink first?' Chorus asked. Markro waved her question away and she nodded. She could see as well as I that Markro's face had turned darker, his eyebrows burrowing into the skin, his muscles ever so slightly tighter. I had been with him enough to know that he did this every time he thought there was a chance of not coming back alive. The amount of times I had seen him leave the club with that body language must have rubbed off on me, for I found myself with my hand balled into a fist.

'Don't kill yourself, Markro,' Spyder said cheerily. 'Or you, sir.'

'Xayne,' I said, following Markro to the door. We left without saying another word.