She turned angrily to grab her towel. I may as well have been asleep. She made it look natural but I still should have known better. I think Pagan started to move. Cat grabbed the huge pistol from under the towel. From sitting she rolled to her feet. She had the pistol in a two-handed stance and I found myself looking down the bore of a very large barrel.
It was a tunnel-rat pistol. Often they had to squeeze into small places, so they needed pistol-sized weapons with a lot of stopping power. It was an IMI Void Eagle chambered for caseless. 50-calibre rounds. She had a small microwave emitter fitted under the barrel designed to ‘cook’ a Berserk — mess it up just long enough to empty the magazine into it. You needed balls to hunt Them with just a pistol, even one this big.
We spread apart to make it difficult for her to target all of us. Even Morag. I was pleased that we’d worked together long enough that this was instinct. I was less pleased that the gun appeared to be pointing at me.
‘I’m pretty sure a round at this range will pop his skull off. All of you stop moving.’ As she talked she was looking quickly between all of us. She was just slightly too far away for me to try a disarm even with my enhanced reflexes. The more I was seeing of Cat, the more I was convinced that Morag had chosen well. Assuming she didn’t just shoot me. ‘Give me a good reason not to,’ she said. I couldn’t at that moment think of one.
‘You’re right. You don’t owe us shit; we owe you. So unless you want money we can’t offer you anything,’ I said.
Just for a moment her eyes flickered back to me. That was a mistake.
Morag and Mudge drew on her. Now she had two much smaller automatics pointed at her. When had Morag got so fast?
Cat just grinned wickedly. ‘Aim for the wounds, boys and girls, because that small-calibre shit is just going to be flattening itself against my armour while I kill Jakob here.’
‘Fucking army,’ Pagan said, shaking his dreadlocks despairingly. ‘I suppose having a drink and talking about this before we all decide to kill each other is out of the question.’
‘I’m still not hearing a good reason not to kill you,’ Cat said.
Some of the locals were taking an interest. This wasn’t good. Four obvious outsiders picking on someone who looked like she belonged. People were beginning to edge towards us. So far none of them had drawn guns.
‘You stuck up for us. You didn’t raid the node like you were ordered. You must have believed in what we were doing,’ Morag said. There was a kind of pleading in her voice. She really didn’t want this to turn bad. She wanted Cat on board. I was just very eager not to get shot.
‘Maybe. But tell me — do you ever think through your actions? The cost to other people.’
‘Now wait a minute. We risked a lot. We were trying to help,’ Pagan said. Now he was getting pissed off. He had a point. From our perspective the whole thing had been hard, dangerous and painful from start to finish.
I didn’t like how the crowd was getting larger and closer.
‘“We”? Think further out. I mean did you even get what you wanted?’ she asked. ‘Are you here to ask me to cause more mayhem with you?’
Mudge started grinning.
‘Right again,’ I said. ‘We didn’t think it through enough. We’re trying to make it better if we can. If that’s possible. Cat, you losing your job was pretty much the least of it.’ I could see her finger on the trigger. I wasn’t sure, but it looked like she was starting to squeeze it. ‘But things had to change, and I think you know that. In fact I know you know it because of the decisions you made on the day.’ She was just looking at me now. I couldn’t read her expression but hydrostatic shock from a ballistic injury hadn’t sent my head tumbling through the air, which was good. ‘We’re cunts, I’ll admit that…’
‘Good of you,’ she said through gritted teeth.
‘But we’re not the bad guys, and I think you know that. You can take it out on us if you want.’ She said nothing but a minute change in her expression suggested she was about to shoot me. I think we’d significantly underestimated how pissed off she was. ‘But you don’t have to!’ I added desperately.
‘Cat, please,’ Morag pleaded. I think that was probably more useful than my whole we-are-cunts speech.
‘If she shoots you, can I have your bike?’ Mudge asked.
‘Fuck you, journo, you’re next,’ Cat said, but I was sure I saw the trace of a smile.
‘You’re better off shooting the girl first — she’s faster.’
‘Mudge,’ I said exasperated, shaking my head. Pagan and Morag were both smiling.
‘What? I’m just saying. It’s tactical advice,’ Mudge said defensively.
‘All right. I’ll listen but I reserve the right to kill you later,’ Cat said.
‘I suspect there’s a queue,’ Pagan muttered, glancing around at the crowd.
‘Okay but before you do, you should know that this job looks like a one-way trip,’ I told her.
Mudge, who was still pointing his gun at Cat, turned to look at me. Pagan was shaking his head.
‘Good negotiating,’ Mudge said incredulously.
‘No, she needs to know,’ Morag told him.
Cat was looking between Morag and me.
‘At least you’re honest. I’m going to put my gun up and then you two put yours…’ Mudge and Morag were already holstering their weapons. ‘Never mind.’ Cat lowered the Void Eagle and let it hang at her side. The crowd seemed disappointed. I wondered how much blood in the water was enough for them.
‘Are you going to want more shooters?’ Cat asked.
‘Depends,’ I said. ‘We need reliable people who we can work with.’
‘That could be hard; you did just point out you’re a bunch of cunts.’
‘Jake was speaking for himself,’ Mudge said.
‘No, he was talking about you as well,’ Morag told him.
‘That hurts. There’s just no need for that.’
‘How do you guys get anything done?’ Cat asked.
‘We wait for a lull,’ Pagan told her.
‘Did you have anyone in mind?’ I asked.
I was exasperated and a little embarrassed about the banter. At the same time it was a good way to wind down the tension.
‘Maybe, but as well as a fuckload of money-’
‘You did hear him say that this was a one-way trip?’ Mudge asked.
‘Which none of you believe.’
‘I don’t know about that,’ I told her. It was true. I really didn’t fancy my chances on this one. I just didn’t see how we could pull it off and get away with it.
‘I’ll want something else,’ Cat told us.
Cat was enough of a pro to know that we couldn’t brief her until we were in a reasonably secure place. She also wouldn’t tell us what she wanted — for the same reasons, I guessed.
She agreed to act as a guide for us around the arms and tech bazaars, which were held in large caves or under colourfully dyed tents. Because we were outsiders we decided to stick together while we were buying what we needed. This meant that Cat, Mudge and I were bored stupid while the techno-geeks got their stuff, but once they’d done that we got to buy guns! And other gear we’d need as well. I was a little bothered by how enthusiastic Morag was about buying weapons.
It was past midnight by the time we left. We found a different place to camp from where we’d been the night before. We ate, shared some more sour mash and then got some sleep. I wondered to what degree we’d been watched and by whom.
The next few days were spent going through the gear. Where possible we’d bought three of everything. We’d managed to get most of what was on our list, though we’d made a few compromises. We checked everything for bugs and found a few, then stripped down and cleaned everything and tested it. I insisted that everyone familiarise themselves with and test-fire their own weapons. We’d bought enough ammunition to overthrow a small country.