Chapter 9: 9

'Cas! CAS! Wake up dammit you've been out for ages.'

Krieger woke to the sound of Ronson shouting directly in to her brain. She sniffled and yawned as she rubbed her eyes in an attempt to come back in to the world of the living. Krieger remembered she was currently in a safe house atop a building in the warehouse district with a pretty good view down the main street. The safe houses provided for the Hunters on the Chase were never luxurious; containing a single bed, toilet, shower, kettle and a basic first aid kit that hopefully hadn't been used by somebody else beforehand.

'Are we moving?' Krieger yawned out as she stretched out her arms and legs before she stood up.

'Yeah we're moving. There's been movement up the road from you I suggest you go check it out.'

'Ugh, no rest for the wicked.' Krieger said aloud. She pulled on her boots and slung her double holster round her shoulders; checking her guns were secure then carefully set about securing her sword back on to her belt. Happy everything was in place; she grabbed her cropped jacket and slid it on before slamming her hand on the doors security system which opened with a slick swooshing sound. Night-time New Edo greeted her with a slight chill in the breeze that cut through the usual balmy, warm evenings and carried the smell of the dusty roads and takeaways with it.

'Jesus Christ I could go for a kebab right now.' Krieger announced with a slight eye roll as the smell of food found its way in to her nostrils.

'Shut up you got work to do you can get a kebab later you fat cow.' Ronson retorted. 'Ah shit I want a kebab now.'

Krieger just cackled to herself as she casually made her way over the rooftops in the direction of where Ronson said where he had spotted some goings on. She had updated her ocular HUD before the Chase had started and it was working beautifully giving her all the information she needed without having to look down at her holowatch all the time. Her last HUD wasn't nearly as sleek or efficient or pretty for that fact plus it had a habit of crashing so she barely used it. On her new update she could customize the text size and colour just by thinking about changing it. She had it set to a nice, calming, slightly dark mauve colour; the current time and date visible in the upper left corner of her vision and a little sat nav arrow in the bottom left giving her directions on where to go and approximate distance.

'Cas get a move on. It's Daisuke making all the noise down there.'

'Shit.' Krieger hissed aloud. She picked up the pace, bounding her way over the rooftops with an attempt at some kind of athletic grace with the occasional stumble here and there.

'What's Akiyama up to? He finally come down from his perch?' Krieger panted as she asked Ronson. She slowed down a bit just to take a moment to get her bearings and decide the best route to take.

'He's chasing someone but I can't get an ID confirmed, they're moving too fast.'

'Fuck sake.' Krieger huffed. She started running again in hopes of finding a fire escape or a down pipe to shimmy down to ground level. She would have jumped straight down but knowing her luck right now, her nanomachines would decide to screw up mid-fall so they would not be at the full potential; meaning she would not be able to take the impact. She had learnt that from previous Chases, almost like her nanomachines knew her every move was being broadcasted to millions of people and would spectacularly fail just to show her up.

Krieger peered over the ledge of a building she was on, about three stories up. As luck would have it there were several balconies that she could jump down on. With haste, she carefully dropped down to each balcony; safely reaching ground level only to start running as soon as her feet landed; or at least something close to running as she hated it with a passion. Out of the corner of her eye she saw what looked like a man wearing a dark coloured hoodie pelting along the road that led out to the far end of the warehouse district. He was closely followed by what was obviously Akiyama who had his right hand outstretched with his gun ready to fire. The running men disappeared out of sight. Krieger ran as fast as she could in order to keep up, hoping that Akiyama wouldn't get a hit on the guy he was chasing. She was steadily catching up but slowed down as soon as she heard Akiyama's gun going off and the running man skid to the ground face first.

'AH FUCK!' Krieger shouted as she kicked the ground, dust flying up from the road. She casually walked over to Akiyama who had stooped down and rolled the body on to its back, snatching the hood from over the head. He smiled and chuckled as he began fiddling with his holowatch; a picture popping up in the watches haze taken from his ocular camera. Akiyama was still cackling as Krieger finally stood beside him trying to catch her breath. She heard the hovering of one of the Chase drones overhead; its camera pointed down capturing what had happened in the dim street light.

'Dude what was that all about?' Krieger panted Akiyama as she rested her hands on her knees for a moment, having a look at the body at her feet. 'Who's this guy? I haven't heard a confirmed Chase death.'

'Just a job I took last week, Reggie Severin. His old boss found him stealing documents and selling them to rival companies for a shit ton of money. And he was boning his wife .' Akiyama started. 'Lucky for me as it turned out he'd escaped to New Edo to lay low for a bit.'

Akiyama had taken the ocular photo as proof to send to his employer that the hit had been carried out.

'Well you know what that means now mate?' Krieger said.

'Yep. Disqualified.' Akiyama just laughed. 'I was hoping to win the Chase this year and hopefully catch this guy after, but with you and Frank being as mad as ever and you getting that kill within the first ten seconds... Yeah wasn't gonna happen.'

'Better get some money somehow I guess.'

'Yeah eight mil for this dipshit, I got lucky that he was here during the Chase. He just wandered in to my space first.' Akiyama nudged his toe against the body as Krieger let out a low whistle. 'My cousin's gonna be pissed but I'll give her a cut, keep her quiet.'

'You've already turned off your neural comms huh?'

'Yep.'

Krieger chuckled at the thought of Akiyama's head being filled with shouting and screaming from Keiko, but he had done the right thing by turning off his comms to save himself the onslaught. He could deal with that when he got back to Chase HQ where not only would he get a grilling from his cousin, but he would also be bombarded with questions by the shows hosts. Krieger understood his reasoning though, Akiyama never really travelled around during the Chase actively hunting; usually leaving the detective work up to Keiko and only going where she thought he'd most likely find a convict. Akiyama wasn't a particularly imposing man nor was he overly muscly. Just a regular looking bloke. He definitely wasn't the type of guy to go on wild goose chases and tire himself out.

'And it looks like Akiyama has deliberately retired himself from this years chase by means of disqualification for killing a non-convict! This is the first time this has ever happened in the history of the Chase."

Footage from the drone hovering over Akiyama, Krieger and the now dead body of Severin filled the holoscreen of the Osiris with a blinding red ticker running across the bottom reading "BREAKING NEWS; HUNTER AKIYAMA DISQUALIFIED!"

'Well I suppose I better get my guys in and shift this body.' Akiyama mumbled.

'Dude, the Police not even gonna come for you? I mean you did just kill a non-convict on live television?'

'I'm paid up for this month.' Akiyama grinned. 'Besides this guy had a pretty extensive rap sheet.'

'Fair enough. Anyway I'm going, might as well do something productive.' Krieger said to Akiyama. They fist bumped each other.

'Be seeing you dude.'

'Be seeing you Krieger. Give 'em hell.'

Krieger smiled and gave Akiyama a relaxed salute as she wandered off back down the streets to the centre of town. The closer she got to where all the bars and clubs were, the more she could hear people cheering and shouting. The odd person would wander over to Krieger and give her a handshake or cheer her on as she made her way through the somewhat busy streets. The clock in the upper left corner of her ocular HUD read nearly quarter past ten at night which confused Krieger as she thought it was much later, it felt later anyway to her. Knowing that the night was nowhere in full swing yet, she decided to pop in at Bab's place and see what was happening. There was also a slim chance that she would come across one of the other Hunters or maybe one of the cons. Whilst they had the habit of hiding away from people some preferred to hide in plain sight amongst the crowds; which also made it easier for them to pickpocket and shoplift, especially when they were hungry. It was either that or raid some bins.

The walk to Bab's place was fairly short, Krieger would have got there quicker if she hadn't been stopped a few times by the occasional fan for a selfie or a handshake or getting distracted by the drone that was following her. There were loads of people hanging around outside the bar, some of them greeting Krieger or giving her shoulder a quick shake. She soon made her way in to be greeted by the smell of cigarettes and booze. It was busy, busier than normal obviously with a lot of off-world visitors; those who had never been to a drag club in their life stood out like a sore thumb. Krieger was hoping to just walk in and go straight to bar and get a drink but the resident DJ Clarke instantly noticed her and cut the music.

'Everyone, please welcome our favourite hunter Captain Krieger!' Clarke cheerfully yelled in to a microphone. Everybody stopped what they were doing and turned around to look at Krieger who just stood looking slightly sheepish and waving slightly.

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'Gee thanks Clarke.' She thought. Soon enough the music had come back on and everybody went back to what they were doing. She managed to get to the bar easily though; the crowd parted like the Red Sea did for Moses so she strolled right through and leant her arm on the counter. A glass half filled with amber liquid magically appeared in front of her.

'I was wondering when you'd show up hun.'

Bab's grinned from behind the bar. She was in full drag tonight, not in her overly glamourous outfits which she reserved for performing but one of her slightly muted ensembles; a low cut leopard print top with a glittery black blazer with the sleeves rolled up, black leather miniskirt, large bejewelled earrings and matching necklace in rich gold and sapphire, all topped off with black and leopard print heels and a staggeringly voluminous auburn wig, styled in an intricate but classic updo. She looked like she was channelling Bet Lynch from Coronation Street.

'Yeah well I'm here now. What's the crack?'

'Nothing much really, already taken double the money that what we usually do on a school night.'

'Any news from the street?' Krieger asked as she took a sip of the drink Bab's had slid over to her. It was her usual, double brandy no ice.

'Nothing yet. It's been eerily quiet.'

Krieger sighed and took a large gulp of her brandy, mopping up a drop that had escaped from the side of her mouth with her thumb. She then reached in to her pocket and pulled out her cigarettes and offered one to Babs before lighting her own, then holding the flame of her lighter to Bab's. Now she looked like Bet Lynch.

'I got my kids keeping an eye out though on the high street, when they can at least they've been busy again from all the tourists.' Bab's added as she took a drag of her smoke.

Bab's owned and ran most of the brothels in the centre of town; catering for all tastes, straight, gay, trans and everything in between. She looked after her employees who she called her "kids" with a vicious ferocity that almost matched Krieger's violent tendencies. Her kids were under the employ of other brothel owners, but when Bab's started making a name and reputation for herself on how she actually cared for the people who worked for her then they all started flocking to her. It made Bab's incredibly unpopular with the other brothel owners who lost all their workers, but then again they were greedy abusers and they deserved what Bab's had dished out to them when they came after her.

Krieger carried on sipping at her Brandy, saying hi to some of the drag queen waitresses who were walking past carrying trays of drinks. She glanced up at the holoscreens randomly dotted about the club that were muted; obviously with music blaring out through the club's speakers instead. GNES was on every single screen, with some of the club's patrons fixated on the footage. Thankfully subtitles were showing up on the screens.

'Where is that, it looks familiar?' Krieger pointed at one of the screens above the bar. Bab's turned around to have a look.

'It kinda looks like it's the south side of the pier near the docks.'

The screen was somewhat dark. It was night time but the street lights illuminated the area enough for the drone that was hovering about capturing footage to make what was going on a bit more visible. There were people running down the street alongside the harbour, it was hard to tell how many but one was definitely chasing the others. As soon as Frank's name appeared on screen, Krieger was pouring the rest of her drink down her neck as quick as she could with the eyes of everyone else in the club fixed firmly on her, waiting to see what she was going to do.

Krieger slammed her glass down on the counter and spun around to find the crowd had yet again parted for her to leave.

'Thanks Bab's, keep my seat warm.'

She ran out to cheers of "good luck!" and "go get 'em!" She would have stopped to say goodbye properly but she didn't have the time and charged out of the club at full speed. The south side of the harbour wasn't that far if she really pushed herself but she absolutely detested running. But there was a huge cash prize waiting for her if she got the most kills but better than that, she could possibly steal a kill off Frank if she got there in time. That spurred her on more than anything. Krieger ran as fast as she could through the dusty, neon lit streets toward the harbour; the smell of the sea becoming more prominent the closer she got. She was getting fed up of running full pelt but carried on regardless even though she was getting sweaty to the point where she could feel it dripping down her back. She could hear noises now along the boardwalk near the beach further on from the harbour. 

Krieger soon came to an abrupt halt when she heard a single gunshot, followed closely by another two in quick succession. She quickly messed about with her holowatch to bring up a live feed of GNES beamed directly to her optical HUD. It showed what looked like Frank, standing over a now dead body waving his arms around and wooping at the top of his voice; the drone that was following him had captured everything. Krieger nearly broke her teeth from clenching them together so tightly out of sheer anger; Frank's name appeared on the Chase leader board with one confirmed kill. What made it worse for Krieger was the fact that it had happened literally just a few hundred yards away from where she was stood.

GNES started replaying Franks kill in slow motion. He'd managed to shoot the serial murderer and rapist Simon Funar in the back, twice but must have missed a third shot. The footage kept repeating as the hosts analysed the kill in great detail, with Funar juddering as the first shot his in his right shoulder and the second just below his right shoulder blade but closer to his spine. Funar's body gave way under its own weight and he collapsed to the ground; blood now starting to seep in to a stonewash denim jacket he was wearing.

Krieger cut off her GNES feed. She hadn't heard from Ronson in a while so she assumed he was probably getting his head down for a few hours. He would most likely be woken by all the hubbub back at the Chase HQ at some point and he'd get in touch with her. Krieger decided she wasn't going to hang around anywhere near Frank in case he found her and started to gloat about his kill. There were now three cons left to find and three hunters left to find them. Krieger told herself she had to step her game up. She wanted to win this stupid contest badly and she wasn't going to let Frank win this year. She turned around and quickly made her way back down to the main street with yet another Chase camera drone following her every move. She'd maybe get some chips and curry sauce on her way then shimmy back up to the safe house she was in earlier and relax for a bit until Ronson started talking in to her brain again. Either that or she'd end up in Bab's place again for another drink.

Krieger decided to call in to the Paradise Chippy at the end of the main street and ordered medium chips and curry and a can of fizzy Vimto from Eddie who owned the place. He was from the same county in England as Krieger and Ronson who were possibly his best customers. Every Friday without fail and when they weren't off planet, they would be in there at six o'clock to get a chippy tea. Chips, mushy peas, curry sauce, gravy and a few steak and kidney puddings; sometimes battered cod when they had it in. Earth fish weren't in abundance yet on New Edo so they rotated cod and haddock whenever they could get it in. Oh and a few cans of Vimto and Dandelion and Burdock. A chippy tea washed down with pop was the best way to ready yourself for a night of drinking.

'On the house Krieger.' Eddie said as he pushed the tray containing her chips and curry in across the counter.

'Dude you sure?' Krieger questioned Eddie who just nodded at her.

'I'll get loads of custom from you just being seen walking out of here, yeah it's on the house.'

'Cheers. I'll be off, give my love to Jane and Lucy I'll check in with yous later.'

'Will do, take care.'

Krieger didn't have time to stay and chat, she just wanted to eat her food and go back to sleep for a few hours before she got back to it. She picked away at her chips slathered in the curry sauce and nearly finished them all along with her Vimto when Ronson started chattering in her head.

'Cas! Mate you gotta get round to the car park at the side of the Solaris club like quick smart. Freddie is tailing a guy right now, there's a bit of a crowd outside.'

Krieger groaned loudly then shoved her chip box and can in to the nearest rubbish bin that was nearly overflowing then set off running back down the main street for what seemed to her for the billionth time that night. She could cut through one of the side streets and get to the Solaris quicker instead of taking the long way round. Krieger charged her way through some of the crowds that were gathering outside the pubs and clubs and still made it to the car park in one piece without being stopped for photos and autographs. She carried on running; several cars and vans surrounded by groups of young people all hanging around drinking and blasting music.

Then an almighty pain hit her, square in the face. Krieger had run up the pavement at the side of the Solaris heading further in to the car park when a massive metal bin lid came out of nowhere and she ran; full pelt, straight in to it. She skidded backwards with the force and landed flat on her back, the impact of the bin lid directly to her face caused her ocular HUD to fritz out then reboot. She soon felt the weight of a body on top of her which was banging down the bin lid repeatedly against her head. The shouts and grunts coming from whoever was smashing this large knobbly disc of galvanised metal against her face was obviously female.

'Toles.' Krieger spluttered out. She'd had enough of running around and being constantly hit in the face; she could feel blood trickling out from her nose now and spreading across her face as she tried to shield herself from the blows. It took a lot to injure her body and skin what with the composition being modified through her nanomachines but it would only last for so long before it all gave way and would need time to repair.

Krieger grabbed the edges of the bin lid as it came down toward her. Using her strength, she quickly managed to wrestle the woman off her and sent her hurtling out on to her back. The woman swiftly regained her composure and shot back round the corner in to a deep set delivery doorway. Krieger got up and wiped her nose on the back of her jacket sleeve and went straight for the con known as Andrea Toles; recalling what it had said on her rap sheet. Twenty eight years old, Canadian. Tried and sent down for the murders of three men in the new galaxy, two of which she had married beforehand and for a further two murders back on Earth. Middle class family upbringing, only child, University graduate in Chemical Engineering and a brown belt in Karate.

'Finally a challenge.' Krieger muttered.

As if on cue a sword swung past her and clanged against the wall beside her. The bitch was armed. A camera drone had been following her around for most of the evening, she was gonna give everyone watching a show.

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