"Crimson Red P.C.B." Chapter 10 "Devil Redux" (Cyberpunk Fiction)

Police Drone Sirens scream through the street as Britney, Jarome, and Megana speed over one hundred kilometers per hour. Staying close to each other in a line, cut off cars and switched lanes into oncoming traffic just to pass in front of others. Low muffled roars from the motorcycle engines exhaust leave lines of smog drifting in the speed of the whipping wind and a hovering police drone soars over traffic keeping up with them. Entering an overpass and picking up speed the three paid mercenaries attempt to out maneuver a more advanced vehicle. It's no use, as they burn rubber to asphalt the flying drone stays right on their trail. Britney pulls her steering column to the left, breaks, and does a dangerous U- turn in a spot where the median lapsed and temped to make a distraction to let her two companions flee. Pulling out the cellphone The Cleaner had given her she dialed the pre-programmed speed dial number. Speeding away as the dial tones set in and her eyes glanced from the road in front of her to the Oviture Kinkade building in the distance. A loud boom rocked the city as the C-4 detonated and a fire ball bellowed out of the shattered glass of the distant tower. A few floors collapsing caused the tower to slump in on its self and crumble to the streets below. This immediately caused the police drone that was on top of Britney's location to turn back to the city and fly with even faster speeds to the place of emergency. She kicked her shift pedal back into first gear and made an effort to catch up with Jarome and Megana.

Eventually getting through the long stretch of highway and into a crowded junction Jarome waved them to move off the highway and down below to a large sprawl of streets. Graffiti covered walls and boarded up former businesses. The sort of area where people could be seen gathering around trash fires for warmth. Jerome led them to a neon sign covered establishment, a bar, a place they could lie low and contact Mr, Johnson and receive payment for the data they had stolen, and the destruction they had caused to his competitor.

Parking the bikes and walking into the surly unkempt establishment. Other bikers, junkies, and older bar fly, alcoholics seemed to be the majority of the patronage that night. Most of them didn't even bother lifting their heads to see the three of them walk in carrying assault riffles across their backs. Holding his shoulder and gritting his teeth as he pulled his ballistic plate off and examined where the seven.sixty-two caliber cracked the plate apart between his shoulder. The blood sticking to fabric peeling off his scrap wound.

“Bottle of Whiskey, three glasses, and please heat up this knife on your stove burner. “ Britney said to the Bar tender handing over a switch-blade and a few hundred dollar bills.

“OK, OK. Just keep the blood off my bar.” He said in response.

They each took a bar stool as the bar tender, An older gray haired man that looked like he had seen too many conflicts in his past given from the scars on his face, came back with a red glowing hot switch-blade and a sewing kit, A bottle of whiskey and a bucket of ice. Britney held the knife and waved it around in the air in a small circle waiting for the glow to go down, then plunging the knife into Jarome's shoulder to pull out tiny pieces of metal fragmentation. Wiping the blood away with a towel and pulling the sewing kit out to sew up his flesh. Jarome closed his eyes drinking the whiskey quickly in his glass in order to numb the overall pain of the surgery.

With most of the patronage minding their own business and most of them of a similar line of work as the runners. Megana scanned the room with her eyes and then watched to the television above the bar, then calling the bar tender over to either shut it off or switch the channel. She did not want anyone in the bar to recognize them even if they happen to be on the breaking news story about their heist. After all a building almost collapsed and several police officers lay slain today by them. The next step was to call Mr. Johnson and get paid. But for Megana the next steps of tracking down the ghoulish vampires would much more complicated. She only hoped that their actions today would one day be justified.

Catch up on previous chapters:

1. Chapter I
2. Chapter II
3. Chapter III
4. Chapter IV
5. Chapter V
6. Chapter VI
7. Chapter VII
8. Chapter VIII
9. Chapter IX