“I said you weren’t ready to do contracts on your own and specifically told you that I would let you know when. What happened today just proved my point, and I expect that you see that too. Imagine if Puck was a Fringer.”
“He wasn’t,” she said under her breath.
“You need to sit out for a bit until you start taking all of this seriously.”
Gus bit his lip and raised an eyebrow, grateful he wasn’t to blame for once.
“Oh come on! Sit out? I can’t be…”
“Not up for discussion!” Ripp yelled.
Johnny’s got quiet. A couple of runners stared then looked away and returned to their drinks after Gus shot them a glance.
“You could have been killed. Simple as that. You are sitting out until I say you’re ready.”
“Think that might be too much? She handled herself pretty well in the market today,” Gus said, thinking he had helped somehow.
“And where were you when all of this was going on?”
Gus looked hurt. “Doing my job.”
“She’s part of your job,” Ripp shot back.
Gus threw his hands up in defense. “Okay I get it, we both screwed up, but there’s something else eating you.”
Ripp stared past them, ignoring Gus.
Gus knew the expression on Ripp’s face all too well; focused, calculating, and ready for violence. He looked back over his shoulder to see what Ripp was staring at.
Tooth had charged through the swinging doors with his rad-gear still on, saw Ripp and started to head over.
“Oh, man,” Gus said to himself.
Tooth was strong, and stood almost a head taller than most people, which added to his presence. His face was dark and shadowed in all the right places, resembling a demon in the flesh.
“A rat,” Ripp whispered.
Johnny stopped Tooth dead in his tracks with a large triple-barreled shotgun. Tooth stopped out of respect but didn’t seem concerned at all about Johnny. He looked down at the shotgun with little regard then set his eyes back on Ripp.
“Tooth, you start something in my depot and I’ll make sure there ain’t nothing left for your boy to cry over. Clear?” Johnny barked. She followed Tooth’s gaze over to a guilty looking Gus and made her own face of disapproval.
Tooth’s and Ripp’s eyes locked on each other.
“Ith clear. Juth wanna talk to Ripp,” Tooth said as he slowly pushed the barrel of the gun to the side. He raised his hands showing Johnny that he wasn’t armed and smiled a smile that was as loaded as her gun was. Johnny let Tooth walk by, but kept her barrel aimed at his back.
“How do, Ripp?” Tooth asked with a gaping smile.
“Tooth.”
“Liddle gurly thook a theap thot at my boy. Here I wath thinkin’ you and me wath good?”
“We are good. Just a misunderstanding.”
Tooth squinted his eyes and twisted his head in agitation. He let out a deep breath as he tried to remain under control.
“No. I don’t think the mithunderthood.”
Ripp stood firmly. “The way I see it is that she just gave him a little taste of what he gave to her. Fair is fair right?”
“Fair ith fair and the Fringe ith home to balance,” Tooth said annoyed with the old ways. “I’m prepared to forgive the gun, but that Pigeon belonged to my boy. I bought eh for em with MY credith and I want it back.”
“Pigeon, huh?” Ripp glanced at Lilly, trying to make sense of the new information. “You bought it for him? He didn’t buy it from the score he stole from Lilly?”
Tooth smiled knowing he had the situation in his control now. “Yeth thur. I bought it with my crediths for him a couple of dayth ago.”
Lilly stared at the table listening and waiting for Ripp to stand up for her.
“Lilly, give back the Pigeon.”
Lilly shot up in her seat. “What?” she cried.
“Give him the Pigeon.”
“You can’t be serious? You know he’s lying!”
Tooth lost his composure and started to move towards Lilly.
Ripp stepped in front of Tooth. “Lilly. Now,” Ripp ordered as he kept his gaze focused on Tooth.
Johnny made her way through the crowd that had gathered behind Tooth.
“Thell your little flower, that the better watch who thee callin a liar.”
“Time’s up, Lil. Hand it over now,” Ripp said letting her know he was out of patience.
Lilly realized the whole situation was about to get out of control and she was to blame. She deleted her files, unlaced her new Pigeon and tossed it at Tooth.
“There’s a good lil’ flowuh,” Tooth hissed.
The silence in Johnny’s deepened, as Ripp got into Tooth’s face.
“You and me are good, Tooth. You got what you came for so, your boy and her are square, too, but if anything happens between you and her, you and me ain’t gonna be good.” Ripp moved closer. “I don’t care if Nun never gives me a contract again, I will kill you.”
Tooth grinned, and looked at the glass in front of Gus thinking of how he could push past Ripp, break it and slit her throat, but just as he was about to try, he stepped back with another idea.
“Take it eathy Ripp. Ith fine. You’re right. We are thquare. Thankth for your cooperathion.”
The tension was palpable as Tooth walked past Jonny and disappeared into the storage area.
Gus mouthed a sincere ‘Sorry’ to Johnny. She shot him back a, ‘don’t bring your baggage into my bar again’ look, and put her gun back behind the counter.
Lilly had never felt the gravity of the earth more than now.
“Sitting out,” Ripp said with a sideways glare.
Fourteen
The West Market area was off-limits to the citizens of Nucrea. Only very limited and heavily- supervised access was allowed, and that was only granted to the few scientists or industry leaders in the Council; even runners weren’t allowed. There have been many speculations as to why it was forbidden, the physical dangers were obvious, but there was also the growing suspicion that out there was something the Council didn’t want anyone to see.
The West Market wasn’t ever an actual market. It had been named that, early in the survival years, as part of a plan to restore the area. Huge craters, where bombs exploded long ago and deep fissures were scattered throughout the crumbled buildings and upturned streets. Most of the buildings and structures were beyond repair, and uninhabitable. Nothing grew, water turned poisonous on its own overnight. The ground was unstable and seemed to be devouring the city from below.
Here, the aftermath of a war fought over a century ago, was perfectly preserved. Every bomb crater, every burned building, and every bullet hole was still there, frozen in time. The destruction served as a reminder that a once powerful world had been reduced to nothing, because of the greed of a few.
The Council had given up on its restoration and attempts to settle the area. Plus Runners had cleaned out the area of anything useful long ago. There had only been a few short-lived industrial efforts and a prison, which, despite an enormous amount of materials and labor, remained unused. Mostly.
Kurth had always felt the area’s destructive power calling to him. As children, he and Chul had regularly escaped their wards and hungrily explored the seemingly endless playground of destruction.
He had plenty of minor injuries to remind him of broken walls and falling ceilings. There was one memory that stood out among the rest; the day that he and his brother had found a body. It was under a large metallic shield jammed into the ground, most likely as a result of an explosion. They struggled for an hour trying to pry it up thinking that there was some treasure buried beneath it.
Finally, they were able to use their weight and a lever to lift one of the corners enough to slide under. Kurth turned on his light and squeezed through the space.