house, leaving three bodies behind him. Crossing to the little door,
he found it locked. Having the most up-to-date equipment, he simply
inserted his uni-key and the door opened. Alfie stepped into the
-Emerald Palace with a knife in his hand.
\ No newline at end of file
+Emerald Palace with a knife in his hand.
+
+==== Alfie: Continued ====
+
+The hallway was empty and poorly lighted. No one was supposed to use
+this area at night except in emergencies. Alfie moved along, a
+darkness among other shadows. There were occasional doors. He tried
+all of them. Only one was unlocked. A janitor's closet. A set of deep
+green scrubs hung in the back and a robocleaner took up the front
+portion. Alfie pulled the cleaner out and put on the scrubs. They were
+a little large but not bad. A pair of earphones were in the pocket and
+he stuck them in his ears.
+
+He pushed the cleaner ahead of him to the brightly lighted
+intersection ahead. No one was in sight, but he hadn't gone more than
+a hundred meters before a pair of nurses came rushing toward him.
+Every muscle tensed up, but Alfie's expression of boredom didn't
+change. He had turned the earphones on when he saw the nurses and the
+sound was audible for several meters around him. The nurses ran past
+him without a glance.
+
+A schematic of the Palace showed in his vision as he navigated the
+corridors, and he eventually found the clinic. He didn't know which
+room was Harlan's until he saw the guards outside. "Crap!" He thought.
+"These people are totally paranoid."
+
+He walked right past the guards who were holding a conversation, but
+eyeing everyone in sight. Including Alfie. As he was turning onto the
+next corridor, Alfie heard the guards demand identification. Glancing
+back, he saw the person standing there was Santorini. They wanted id
+from the Boss himself?
+
+He wandered along corridors thinking, until he realized that he was
+coming around to Harlan's room again. A person in dark blue scrubs was
+walking toward him. She had on a badge with her picture and name. He
+stepped aside so that she could pass. So now all he had to do was find
+someone who looked like him and grabbed their scrubs and badge.
+
+It took over an hour, but he finally came to a stairwell and found
+three guys playing craps. He hunkered down in between them, looking at
+their badges and faces.
+
+"Hey. Can I play?" he asked in a whiny voice.
+
+"Got any money?" one of the three replied.
+
+"Yeah. Just cashed my paycheck."
+
+"Okay." said another.
+
+As he sat down, Alfie pulled his knife. Only one of them gave him any
+trouble. And that was just for a few seconds. Then the stairwell was
+quiet again.
+
+Dressed in the dark blue scrubs with the badge, he walked up to the
+guards in front of Harlan's room.
+
+"I need to check his heart. I got a consult." he said to them.
+
+The two men looked at each other. "We didn't hear about no consult."
+
+"Yeah. They just sent it." He held up a fax.
+
+"Let's see your id."
+
+Alfie obligingly handed them the badge.
+
+"Okay." They passed him through.
+
+Alfie opened the door to the room and discovered that the famous thief
+wasn't alone. A pretty young woman sat in a chair next to the bed. She
+looked up sharply.
+
+"Who are you?" she asked.
+
+"Cardiologist Miller." he replied. "I'm here to do a consult."
+
+She glanced at the door and then back at him. "Okay." she said.
+
+He approached the bed, looking down at Harlan. He'd talked to the kid
+a few times. He even liked him a bit. But business was business.
+
+Distant shouts could be heard outside the room. Getting closer.
+
+Alfie pulled out his knife, glancing at the door. When he turned back,
+Harlan was looking at him. "Alfie? What the..." Alfie brought the
+knife down in a sweeping motion.
+
+And then the girl was all over him. She came over the bed like a big
+catlizard, landing on his chest and throwing the two of them to the
+floor. She had a gun in her hand which was pointed unwaveringly at his
+nose.
+
+Alfie dropped the knife and raised his hands carefully. "I give up."
+he whined.
+
+The guards burst into the room, jarring the girl. Alfie had half a
+second to run, but his attempt was thwarted. He looked down at the
+hand clasped around his wrist and then followed the arm up to Harlan's
+stony eyes. He raised his hands again. Harlan had a trickle of blood
+running down his neck.
+
+==== Harlan: Thief ====
+
+The next few days were spent either walking in the halls or sleeping.
+His doctor told him he needed the sleep as much as the exercise to
+heal. Santorini came by after interviewing Alfie Gallagher. They got
+very little from the would-be assassin. All he knew was that Cassidy
+told him to get rid of Harlan. He couldn't even confirm that the
+orders came from the head of the Syndicate, Chas Hawkins. Cassidy
+talked to him alone each time. No witnesses to what he said. It was a
+dead end unless they could get their hands on Cassidy.
+
+But Cassidy lived in the big house and rarely left. When he did, he
+was surrounded with his bodyguards. If they tried to grab him while he
+was out, they were likely to take heavy casualties. It wasn't worth it
+at this point.
+
+Santorini was still enthusiastic about Harlan's idea for the Obsidian
+Stronghold, as they'd renamed Hideout 12. They were working on the
+place, having set security in place. But not too much security. A good
+spy could get through and see that they were lining the rooms and
+corridors with shelves and specially designed holders for weapons and
+ammunition. The obvious conclusion would be that the Resistance was
+moving out of its antique armory into a new one.
+
+The security detail had scared off one spy already. The Resistance had
+a large supply of weapons. If the Syndicate could get their hands on
+them, they'd be able to take over Crater City. Indeed, they'd be able
+to take over most of Agalder, including the desert gangs.
+
+Santorini intended to dangle this priceless plum in front of the
+Syndicate until they went for it. Destroying the Syndicate would cut
+the crime rate in Crater City in half - at least. And it would make
+the revolution, when it came, that much easier.
\ No newline at end of file
projects / universe.git / commitdiff