Morena and the Matriarch Ch. 10

Chapter 10

Evasion, Escape and Karma in Spades

Alyssa finished packing in less than ten minutes. She didn't bother with Morena's bag -- she just shoved everything into her duffel and backpack. She'd sort it out later. Then she waited.

For all of about one minute.

Deciding it was stupid to hang around, she asked one of the staff which way Morena had gone and started following her. Whatever the President provided in the way of transportation, they'd be together and not waste time trying to hook up.

It must have looked odd to see a woman in deerskin with a bow slung on her back hurrying through the streets of the City, but Alyssa didn't care. She needed to catch up with Morena. Then she caught sight of one of the turquoise beads and thought, Oh fuck! Here we go...

* * * * * * * * * *

Morena had left to go find the President. She figured the best place to start looking would be the Council Chambers where they had just handed down the indictment. Next would be the President's office. Both were heavily guarded by people who were probably loyal to the Council. It was unlikely that the continuing feud between the Loyal Opposition and the Sycophants would leave the Council comfortable with armed guards who weren't thoroughly vetted. Hence, it was less likely that someone would try to kill Morena in those areas.

The problem was, they weren't in the same building. Not even close, by a matter of several long blocks. There were multiple paths, between street level and the various pedestrian walkways and the inner city tram, to get from any given Point A to any other Point B. Some were more dangerous than others. She felt the slight bulge of the body pistol she'd purchased earlier in it holster, hidden in her clothes. It certainly seemed like the right day to have made that purchase.

She managed to get to the Council HQ without picking up a tail, or so she thought. The problem was, Council HQ was swamped with media crews reporting on the indictment, and the last thing she needed was to be seen. Hiding in an alcove off the main foyer, she managed to get the attention of one of the guards.

"Is the President still in Chambers?" she asked quietly.

She was informed that the President and other members of the Committee, in order to avoid the media crush, had evacuated. When Morena asked to where, she was informed that it was classified. Frustrated, she eased her way back out of the Council building. She was going to try the President's office next, but realizing that Alyssa would be walking into a trap if she tried to follow, Morena decided it was breadcrumb time.

Dropping one at the intersection of the two walkways, she moved towards the President's office building, but slipped into a stairwell to a lower pedestrian level, dropping another bead. She hoped Alyssa was as good as she seemed. She made her way downstairs and just as she was exiting the stairwell into the Skywalk, she thought she saw the shadow of someone in a cloak descending the stairs behind her.

Not stopping to check it out, she dropped a bead and moved into the Skyway, hurrying to get lost in the crowd. When she'd gotten to the next building, she slowed up and studied the scene behind her by looking into the reflection in the building's glass doors. And there was someone in a dark cloak and slouch hat coming along the walkway. She hurried into the building and headed for the elevators, then realized she couldn't use them without losing Alyssa.

Damn! she thought as she scanned for other options. Not the stairwell, she thought. It's too confining and I may be heading into an associate of the asshole following me. She looked down a hallway and noticed a sign for a fire escape. That'll have to do, she decided. She dropped a bead and headed for the window giving access to the fire escape. She dropped another bead in front of the window and climbed out, heading down.

Suddenly the black cloaked figure dropped past her, by the simple expedient of holding on to the outer rail, dropping to the next level and catching himself at that level, then dropping and catching again. He swung in one level below and began climbing towards her. Morena drew the pistol and held it at her side, out of sight. Better he be close.

And he got close. He sprang at her and grabbed her by the throat, pushing her up against the wall, holding up a huge knife in his other hand.

"Time to die, you treasonous bitch," he told her.

The two shots were muffled by his body cavity. He looked surprised as Morena grabbed his knife hand with the one not holding the pistol and pushed the knife away. He sank to his knees bleeding out from two ragged holes in his upper back. Morena had pushed the pistol against his belly, tilted it up and fired, twice. The hollow point bullets ripped a huge wound channel through his vital organs and by the time he realized what had happened, he was lying in a pool of his own blood, dying.

To make sure, Morena stepped on his neck, put the pistol against his head and fired one more shot, splattering his brains all over the fire escape. Then she kept moving down. She had no idea if he was alone.

* * * * * * * * * *

Alyssa found the second bead heading into the stairwell. If Morena was trying to avoid being seen, going down to the Skywalk made more sense, so Alyssa checked it first and found the bead at the door to the walkway. Figuring she'd be trying to get lost in the crowd, especially if she was being followed, Alyssa moved into the flow heading across to the other building.

She was rewarded by finding the next bead, but short of the elevators or the stairwell. Looking around, the only other viable direction she could see was towards the fire escape window. So that's the direction she went. She was still ten feet from the window when she saw the glint of the bead.

When she got out onto the platform, she looked up to see if there were any advantage to getting more height above any pursuit and didn't see any. So she headed down and very quickly found the corpse with three bullet holes. Now she knew Morena was being followed. The question was whether the body in front of her was the only one? Looking down, she figured Morena had to be headed for street level and the milling throngs. So she started down as quickly as she could. Somewhere up ahead, her partner was in serious trouble.

* * * * * * * * * *

Morena wasn't looking behind her, so she didn't notice the couple emerge from the building across from her and start following her. She dropped a couple of beads as she went, hoping that casting them to the side would keep them from getting trampled by the people. Right now, her intent was to stay in the middle of this human shield and keep moving towards the President's office building.

At one point, she stopped to look in a window, to use its reflection to see if there were any pursuit. She wasn't sure, given the mass of people, so she decided to chance doubling back to see if anyone turned around to follow her. In fact, going back up another building's fire escape seemed like a good idea.

In fact, it wasn't. It removed her human shield and exposed her to the pursuit.

By the time she realized it, she was in trouble.

The couple following her was a man/woman team, and now they split up. The man continued forward through the mass of people, trying to reach the fire escape. The woman stopped on the opposite side of the street and turned into an alley, quickly climbing a utility pole to the roof. Her intent was obvious as she pulled a crossbow from under her cloak, and Morena was obligingly climbing into a clear shot.

The only good thing about it was, it allowed Alyssa -- in pursuit of Morena -- to see the situation developing. Deciding the woman climbing to the roof was the immediate threat, she ran to the utility pole and began climbing after her. She reached the roof in time to see the woman kneeling at the edge of the roof, behind the perforated parapet which ringed the building, nocking a bolt.

The archer was so intent on tracking Morena that she didn't notice Alyssa's stealthy approach from behind. Alyssa didn't have time to ready her own bow without alerting her quarry, so she opted for drawing a knife -- her firearms were in her duffel. She was almost to the woman when her boots crunched on some of the roof gravel, alerting the archer and causing her to stand and spin before she could shoot.

That split-second gave Alyssa the opportunity to lunge at the assassin and push the bow away, attempting to stab her at the same time. The woman was well-trained in self-defense and Alyssa had a fight on her hands. The assassin drew her own knife and the confrontation quickly devolved into wary circling as each feinted and jabbed, testing the other's abilities.

They continued to close, strike, parry, retreat, each trying to get an advantage over the other. Each managed to get minor cuts on the other until the assassin was finally successful with a leg sweep, taking Alyssa down. As the assassin reached for a pistol to end the fight, Alyssa scooped up a handful of gravel and dirt from the roof and flung it at the woman, bounding to her feet and charging the assassin while she was temporarily blinded.

Barreling into her, picking the assassin up and carrying her with her strength and her inertia, Alyssa and her foe crashed into the parapet. Alyssa quickly grabbed the assassin's head and slammed it into the concrete ledge, slightly stunning her. But she wasn't out and she wasn't done. She connected with Alyssa's jaw with a roundhouse punch that sent Alyssa backwards, losing her grip on the woman and dropping her to one knee.

Again, the assassin reached for her pistol and Alyssa -- in pure desperation -- snapped a kick at her head, pushing up off the ground with her hands. She connected, solidly.

The assassin staggered back, wobbly and disoriented. Alyssa wasn't going to waste any more time. She aimed another kick at the woman's head and she heard the neck bones crunch as the assassin stumbled backward and without a sound, went over the parapet, plummeting to the street below.

Alyssa quickly ran to the edge and looked first down and then over. Down was a body sprawled out on top of a parked vehicle four stories below. Over was Morena still climbing the fire escape and the man standing on the pavement, holding what appeared to be a blowgun to his lips and aiming at her.

Alyssa grabbed the assassin's crossbow and re-nocked the bolt. It was less than 25 yards to the man with the blowgun and no passersby in the way. Alyssa prayed that the sights on the bow were accurate -- after all, it belonged to a professional hit-woman. She took careful aim at his torso, just below his armpit, now exposed because he was holding up the blowgun. She slowly squeezed the trigger until the bowstrings snapped and the bolt flew... right into the man's head.

So the sights are a little high, she thought as she watched the man crumble. Well, I was shooting down rather than over, and gravity works...

The disturbed noises of the crowd below as the man fell with an arrow sprouting out of the side of his head got Morena's attention. Looking down at the man and then at the street and up at the roof of the building opposite, she saw Alyssa's unmistakable form, and heaved a huge sigh of relief. Not seeing any further pursuit, she decided to head back down and hook up with her savior.

Alyssa saw her start down and decided to do the same, intending to meet her at street level. She decided to take the time to dig the revolver and holster out of her duffel. Even though she left the crossbow behind, it took her a little longer getting back down the utility pole than up it, but eventually she made it and headed over to look for Morena. There was a sizable crowd around the dead guy, and she saw that Morena had moved away from the corpse, to the entrance of an alley just down the street.

As she started to move through the crowd, she saw a man's figure reach out of the shadows and grab Morena around the arms and across the mouth, pulling her into the alley.

Fuck! Alyssa swore to herself as she began pushing through the crowd and unslinging her bow as she muscled her way through. Goddess, I hope I'm not too late!

Reaching the alley, she charged in, nocking an arrow as she ran and looking for any sign of Morena.

There wasn't any. The alley was an empty dead end. Moving forward, Alyssa noted the big garbage bins on either side, and some rusty metal doors leading into the buildings on either side. She got to the end with still no sign, so she figured it had to be one of the doors. She'd have to go back and check each one to see if any had been used lately, or maybe there would be one of Morena's beads.

When she turned to head back, she saw another cloaked figure, this one female, step into the alley, cutting her off from the street. The woman had a small, personal energy shield, like a scaled-down version of the riot shields the police used. That kind of technology was expensive -- Matriarch kind of expensive. This was another pro. Alyssa drew her bow and took aim at the woman, looking for any exposed target.

There wasn't any. The woman knew what she was doing. Since she didn't draw a firearm, Alyssa presumed that like the others, hers was supposed to be a quiet kill. Don't attract attention -- crowds of witnesses are bad in front of a jury, Alyssa thought. Just my fucking luck.

She waited as the woman drew nearer. Somehow, she had to bait her into dropping her guard. So she targeted the shield generator on the woman's wrist, knowing it wouldn't do any good, and let loose her arrow.

As expected, it flew straight and true and bounced off the shield. Alyssa standing there with no arrow nocked was an invitation the assassin couldn't refuse. She began sprinting forward to close the distance between herself and her target before Alyssa could nock another arrow. Alyssa let her run, gauging the distance.

When the woman was fifteen feet away, Alyssa drew the revolver, aimed center-mass and fired, twice. The woman crumbled at her feet. She took careful aim and put a third bullet in the woman's head. Then she started to think about how she was going to either escape or explain the trail of bodies to the police.

"Alyssa!"

A man's voice rang out from the shadows. To Alyssa, it sounded vaguely familiar.

"Over here! By the garbage bin!" he called out.

Looking, and finally seeing, Alyssa smiled. Standing in a partially open doorway was Khalid, Steven's son.

"Get out of the fucking alley!" he called to her again.

Realizing she was being stupid, just standing there, she bolted for the door. Khalid held it open as she ran in, then closed and barred it behind her. She found herself standing in a small service entrance room with stairs leading up and down, and another door leading farther into the building. She also noticed one of Morena's beads near the stairs.

"Um, hello, Khalid?" she greeted him. "Did you see Morena go by?"

"And it's lovely to see you, too, you wonderful fuck," Khalid answered her with a little bit of petulance. "This way," he added pointing to the stairs going down.

Alyssa followed him down two flights to another steel door. Khalid knocked on it in a rapid-fire pattern and moments later it opened slightly. Seeing Khalid and Alyssa, Ely -- another of Steven's sons -- opened the door to allow them in, and once they crossed the threshold, he closed and secured it behind them.

"Come on," Khalid said, ducking his way under a bunch of steam pipes and mechanical gear, heading off into the building without a word. Alyssa followed. Finally, they came to a small room which was once a repair locker. It now had a couple of hammocks strung up from the piping, a small table with some chairs, a jerry-rigged kitchen with a microwave, fridge and hotplate... and Morena.

She was sitting at the table with Zefron, Steven's third son, drinking something from a cracked ceramic mug.

"Hi!" she greeted Alyssa. "Thanks for saving my ass back there!"

"A beautiful ass like yours deserves saving," Alyssa kidded her. "Are you alright?"

"I am now," she waved at Zefron and Khalid. "I take it you know these gentlemen?"

"In the Biblical sense, definitely," Alyssa smiled. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Saving your beautiful ass," Zefron smiled. "When he heard what was going down, Steven decided you needed some Guardian Angels, so he sent us to infiltrate the City and rescue you if you needed it. And boy, do you need it! I don't think it will be valid much longer, but there's a shoot-to-kill order out on you two. And the Major, and Madge. Apparently, the Matriarch doesn't like people testifying against her."

"We're supposed to get you to a safe house," Khalid added. "And let the Council know when you're in our protective custody. We've already got the Major and Madge. You two are way too mobile to make intercepting you easy. You two, and particularly Morena, rated a hit team of five of the Matriarch's best. Four are dead. That's a pretty good haul."

"What happened to the fifth one?" Alyssa asked.

"I suspect he's trying to figure a way out of the Districts before his bosses find out they failed," Zefron smiled. "Our problem right now is to move you and unfortunately, it won't be pretty. Actually, it doesn't look as bad as it's gonna smell."

"Don't tell me," Morena interjected. "The sewers, right?"

"Um... you just told us not to tell you," Khalid pointed out.

"Okay, never mind. Lead on. It won't be my first time in the bowels of the City." She stood up.

"Oh, and thanks for the tea," she added. "I don't suppose you have my stuff?" she asked Alyssa.

"It's all in the duffel, yours and mine," Alyssa told her. "Field expedient packing."

Morena nodded, then turned to follow the young men to their safe house.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Yes, Madame President, all four are currently safe," Ely was telling President Sarkov. "We have them in a safe house and await your decision. If we have not heard from you in two days, we are moving all of them out of the City, to a safe location in the Wilderlands." There was a pause as he listened to whatever she was telling him.

Alyssa looked around. Their "safe house" was more like a fortress. It occupied the third floor of what was now a rundown old warehouse, full of more dust and cobwebs than merchandise. The walls had all been reinforced with concrete block and steel plate, and most of the windows had been bricked up. The ones still operational had bullet-resistant glass installed. There was only one entrance, via a lift, and two exits -- the lift, and a "fire escape" tube which spiraled down to meet the sewers, where a boat was tied up.

Entrance via the escape tube was blocked by down-pointing hinged spikes, virtually impossible to get past coming up but spring loaded to move out of the way on the way down. At the bottom there was a steel lined "ready room" that led out into the sewers where a boat was tied. The room had backpacks and firearms prepped and ready to go in case of a need to escape.

The lift entrance itself was guarded by multiple remote-controlled machine guns and the ability to flood the foyer with gas -- lethal or not as the operator saw fit.

Inside, it was a luxury apartment with about eight bedrooms, each capable of sleeping four comfortably, a full kitchen and bath, several half-baths, a dining room, living room, separate entertainment room, conference room... Alyssa was very, very impressed.

"Then we will stand by," Ely told the President. "Have a great rest of the day, Madame President."

He rang off and turned to the women in his protective custody.