Poddar looked glum from under the doorway canopy. “It’s rained almost every day since I got here. Is it always like this?”
“Yeah, you’d think the labcoats at Environmental would be able to do something about it, but that would be too much to ask. They give you a lot of blab about recycling the outside climate, but I figure it’s just to keep the residents depressed and drinking booze.” I chuckled around my gasper. “That’s my excuse, anyway.”
We walked under the covered sidewalk to avoid being soaked. I looked at Poddar. “So you’re coming in from another Haven? We don’t get a lot of outsiders here. You didn’t have the same problem?”
Poddar frowned as if trying to remember. I figured it was more like trying to decide what to tell me.
“I was raised in India, in one of the sanctuary cities outside the main Haven. I was never fortunate enough to win the entrance lottery, so this is the first Haven that I’ve been inside. I hear that many other Havens have to ration their water supply, so I guess you should be grateful.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, with so much of the city’s energy diverted to the shield that separates us from the Outside, I guess it’s a wonder that anything works right.”
He frowned and looked around. “I didn’t expect it to be like — this.”
I grinned. “Welcome to New Haven, kid. Not exactly the utopia you imagined, right? Things tend to go to ground pretty quickly when you cram a bunch of humans in an artificial construct, even if it is to survive the Cataclysm.”
The disappointment was clear on Poddar’s face. “We were always told that the Havens were the model of citizenship. That they were conceived with idea of rising above the self-destructive mindset that nearly destroyed us in the first place.”
I blew a stream of gasper smoke into the rain. “Yeah. Go figure.”
My office was crammed alongside so many others on a narrow avenue in the Flats. The neighborhood was a mass of old and decrepit office buildings, crumbling hotels and tenements. Once it was the heart of the city before businesses moved Uptown. The buildings were abandoned or turned to public housing units, and you know the rest of the story.
Low income and a hike in questionable activity. Hop pushers, cell dealers, boozehounds, goons, and pro skirts.
Just the type of place for a loser like me.
The storm cleared away the regular crowd of goons, but there were always a few rubes around who didn't know to come in out of the rain. I was so jazzed on the new gig I didn’t eyeball the zones before making my exit. That mistake was made evident when a saccharine voice indicated that we had company.
“Going somewhere, Troubleshooter?”
The only reason I didn’t turn around throwing lead is because I knew he already had a bead on me. When you’re hunted by professional triggermen as much as I’d been lately, you realize there are two types: The ones who want to smoke you, and the ones who want to talk before they smoke you. When I casually turned around I instantly recognized this particular conversational triggerman. I should have known by the almost overbearing scent of flowers that saturated the air even in the rain.
It was Danny the Daisy.
An android chauffeur held an umbrella so that Danny’s glad rags didn’t get soiled. As always he was dressed to the nines, this time in a pink flogger over a bright yellow silk shirt and a red bowtie, topped off by a red bowler hat. One hand was lightly placed on his hip.
The other aimed a diamond-coated pistol. I wasn’t sure if he meant to kill me with the heater or his brutal color coordination. All in all, he looked about as threatening as cotton candy.
Of course I knew that the only rubes that thought to get over on Danny were pushing daisies themselves. Poddar’s hand strayed toward the inside of his flogger, but I shook my head. No point in getting both of us plugged. I didn’t like the idea of dying in the rain. It just seemed… uncomfortable.
“Smart move, Troubleshooter.” Danny licked his glitter-coated lips. “If I wanted to kill you then you wouldn’t have seen me until you were dead.”
The bad part about that statement was that he was right.
I pushed my Bogart back and spread out my arms. “So you’re not here to tag me then, Danny — that it? I don’t recollect anything about a reward for me being bagged. So what’s your grift?”
He adjusted the tilt of his daisy-embroidered bowler before answering. “Just a warning. You probably know that you have a substantial contract out on your head right now. Don’t kid yourself — I aim to collect.”
He pursed his lips. “But there is that work you did for my niece. The Red-Eyed Killer, remember? I owe you for that. So to even the score I won’t kill you — this time. Consider this a Get Out of Death Free card. You get a chance to breeze or get yourself clipped by another triggerman, whatever’s your pleasure.”
The pistol sparkled in the rain as it made appropriate whirly gestures. “But the next time I clap eyes on you… ” he smiled and batted his thick false eyelashes. “You’re mine like fine wine.” The pistol disappeared in his jacket as he blew a kiss our direction. “Come, Jeffery.”
Jeffery shadowed the Daisy with his protective umbrella. They sidled away with their noses high and slid into a bright red floater, one of the darb newer models that look like gleaming insects. I had just enough time enough to see the hot pink interior before the doors slid shut with a hiss and the floater immediately shot toward the skylights.
Poddar cut a sidelong glance my way. “What was that all about?”
“Poddar my boy, you just met Danny the Daisy. One of the deadliest Nimrods in New Haven.”
“A triggerman? Why do they call him the Daisy?”
“Because he clipped the lug who called him the Fairy.”
“You shouldn’t have stopped me. I wouldn’t have thought you’d be afraid of someone like that clown.”
“Wasn’t really him I was worried about.” I jerked my head toward the rooftops. A silhouetted figure lurked almost invisible in the shadows. At that range, the laser sight from the mech rifle was just visible. When he saw that we spotted him, he turned and vanished completely.
“Danny might be a nance, but he’s no square. Not by a long shot. That unseen triggerman would be Silent Ray. The Daisy’s partner, though not too many know it. If you had tried anything, he’d have filled you with more holes than a cheese grater. So do us a favor and follow my lead from now on, pipe that?”
I took another look around, but the only thing that wanted to hose me down was the weather. I tilted the Bogart back over my eyes. “Now that I got another lease on life, let’s scatter while we got the chance.” Poddar had no choice but to follow as I turned the corner to the garage. The holoband on my wrist activated the sensors, raising the rusted doors.
Maxine waited for me inside.
Like most wheelers, my beetle-black ride is cast after that bygone era of antique automobiles. The retro Duesenberg Ghost design calls to mind the sleek, sexy dreams of a bygone age. Designers in those days had a view of the future. They knew that style never goes out of style.
Of course under the classic shell is a Tesla-powered thrill machine with more bite than a shark attack. The high hats might go for skimmers or floaters, but with the hike in energy cells more folks than ever had to downgrade to wheelers. Me, I prefer the feel of the road. It’s hard to get out of a jam when you’re suspended in the air.
Maxine’s Tesla reactors hummed to life when I hit the thumbscanner. Poddar slid in the passenger seat.
“Where to, Mr. Trubble?” Maxine’s voice was as sexy as her design. Sexy enough to make me want to take her out to one of the ritzier joints and get cozy. If she wasn’t an automated response system, that is.
“Take the scenic route, sweetheart. I need to exercise the ol’ thought muscles.”