Episode 105. Part 4
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On the other side of the van, Nika starts yelling at the deliverymen New Yorker-style.
Nika: What the hell’re you thinkin’, slammin’ on the brakes outa nowhere?
Arden realizes that the man on the pavement has been hit by the van, possibly at the same time he had hit it from the rear. He looks right and sees Rina riveted to the sidewalk, one hand clapped tight over her mouth and the other curled against her chest, her eyes big as saucers. Clearly she’s not functional. Nope. Not one bit.
Joyous.
Arden motions at the driver of the van with his gun to get out.
Arden: Quiet.
The driver stiffens and nods: don’t shoot me. Following Arden’s gestures he slides out of the driver’s seat onto the sidewalk. Arden leans over and punches Rina on her shoulder. Hard. It gets through her shock, she yelps, and rounds on him.
Arden: Take care of him. (Points gun at driver)
Rina: You—!
Arden: So I can see to the guy lyin’ in front of the truck.
Rina grabs the driver by the arm and falters, still stunned. Now what is she supposed to do with him?
Nika: (to other man in van) Come with me.
The man goes along readily, seeing as how Nika’s got a hard don’t-mess-with-me expression on her face.
Arden, meanwhile, has examined and rendered first aid to his patient. He’s still unconscious, but he’s stabilized. Arden realizes that the man on the ground had faked getting hit by the van to get it to stop, and things only took a turn for the worse when he had struck the van from the rear, causing the van to genuinely hit the victim.
Nika grabs her man by the arm and pulls him toward our van. Rina’s recovered enough to follow suit. When she meets Nika at the rear of the van, Nika orders Rina to get them inside and tie them up. Rina shoves the two in and gets to work with her duct tape: hands behind backs, ankles together, tape across the mouth and across the eyes, their ears plugged with chewing gum from her pocket stash and taped over for good measure. Adrenaline is making her shake as it recedes and she desperately wants to punch somebody. These guys aren’t going to be able to see or hear anything, or move around much. She checks that they can both breathe through their noses properly and waits in the van for the rest of her team.
Arden tells Nika to bring him his med bag. She grabs it from under his seat in our van and brings it to him.
Nika asks Arden how the injured man is. Arden says he’s got head trauma and needs to go to a hospital for a scan, if nothing else. As Arden treats his patient, Nika takes another good look at the man at her feet and she knows she’s met him before, back when she ran with the Independents during the War. His name escapes her, as does her exact memory of him…and if they don’t get a move on, his life is going to go the same way.
Nika: How bad off is he Arden?
Arden: He’s concussed, it might kill him or it might not.
Nika: Put him in the truck. He’s not gonna want to go to a hospital anyway. Get him into the truck.
The man at their feet stirs. Nika and Arden haul him up between them and start limping for the rear of the van. The man is groggy and mumbling.
Man: You gotta keep to the mission.
Nika: We’re gonna get you something for the—
Man: No, no, no…
Nika: We’re gonna get ya some help, come on.
The man digs his heels in and stops, still unsteady but determined.
Man: No. You gotta go.
Nika: I know what I gotta do.
Man: No, I’ll…. (quietly) Somebody will come pick me up. Just go.
Nika looks over at Arden.
Nika: (jerking her head toward our van): Get in.
Man: Follow the…follow the plan.
Arden: If you feel like you’re about to lose consciousness, use this.
Arden puts a stim-patch in the man’s hand and gets into the van. Nika boards the van on her side and Arden gets behind the wheel, starts the engine, puts the van into gear. Rina claws forward from the rear.
Rina: Wait a minute. You’re just leaving him there?
Arden: He told us to.
Rina lets go of Arden’s seat and pushes off for the rear again, raking her fingers through her hair in frustration. Damn him, he would tell Nika and Arden to leave him behind.
Rina: (to herself) I’m gonna kill him. I swear to God, I’m gonna kill him.
Arden: Kill who?
Nika: Rina, do you know him?
Rina: (still to herself) I’m gonna kill him.
Arden: Who?
Rina: Later. Do the job.
Arden: Who’s ‘Later’?
Rina: (upset) Fuck you, Arden.
Nika: Just drive, Arden.
Rina: Just do the job.
We pull away from the curb. A glance in the rearview shows a policeman taking our mystery man in hand, helping him.
Nika: I did as I was told.
Rina: Yes, you did.
Arden: Okay, well…
Rina: I’m gonna kill him.
Arden: It looks like he’s going to be okay, there’s a cop taking care of him.
Rina: You are a font of confidence, Arden.
Arden drives. Rina paces. Nika thinks.
Nika: I don’t know who he is but I think I’ve met him before.
Rina checks the men tied up in the back. They’re still with us, still breathing. Still trussed up like turkeys.
Nika: I need you to pull to the side.
Arden pulls over at the next convenient alley. Nika grabs her comm and jumps out, gets on the horn to our ship. She tells Christian to get Nguyen or someone on the line.
Christian: Everything going according to plan?
Nika: Somthin’ like that. Get me the radio.
Christian: What do you want?
Nika: I want Nguyen or whoever’s answerin’ the phone for him.
Christian: Hold on a second.
Nika puts her head back inside.
Nika: Rina. Get them out of here. We’re droppin’ them off in the alley.
Rina gets them out of there. Nika ducks back outside. Nguyen answers on the comm.
Nguyen: This is the Chef.
Nika: Colonel, we’ve got big problems. I think your guy just got picked up in the middle of downtown.
Nguyen: Right.
Nika: Send somebody for him. He’s got a concussion. He’s gonna need some help.
Nguyen: All right.
Nika: We are still on target and hopefully on time.
Nguyen: Complete the mission.
Nika: Acknowledged.
Nika gets back in the van after Rina’s finished ditching our prisoners behind a dumpster. We drive on to our objective. As we approach the gate, we double-check our weapons and their placement. Arden remarks that we should have taken the deliverymen’s papers off them before dumping them in the alley: their papers would be guaranteed to pass. Nika acknowledges her brain-fart and we hope for the best out of our forged ones.
The guard at the gate holds up his hand and we crawl to a stop. He asks to see our badges. We hold them up and they scan just fine. The guard says our truck has some problems, seeing the damage done by our fender bender. Arden says we had a bump, but since he was told the delivery was important, he went ahead with the trip. The guard lets us through. We follow the map to the proper loading dock and back our truck to the ramp.
And that’s where our cunning plan goes a little tricky—we’re supposed to stick around after the chemical’s introduced to verify it behaves as it’s supposed to. And blow the place sky high with the RPG if it balks. How we’re to do that without getting blown up ourselves…that’s the trick.
We get to the dock and someone immediately walks over to the driver window and asks about our cargo.
Worker: This the Paxilon?
Arden: Yes it is. Sign right here.
Nika: (leaning forward) Could you give us a minute here to take a look at our truck before we leave?
Worker: (signing the invoice) Uh, yeah. You better look at that.
Since there’s a plume of steam issuing from under the hood, Rina jumps out and opens it up.
Worker: She gonna need any help with that?
Arden: Unn, no. She’s pretty good with her hands.
Worker: I’m gonna get a…you had a bump?
Arden: Yeah.
Worker: I’m gonna get a scanner over here to make sure we don’t have any leaks.
Nika: Aw, nah. You’re stuff’s fine. We didn’t hit it that hard. It was a little teeny bender.
Arden: I’ve already contacted the shop and they told me to deliver the stuff and come back.
Worker: All right. You just keep it there. I’ll go get a scanner and I’ll get it off there.
Nika and Arden watch the worker runs the scanner—a sniffer actually—looking for any leaks of a chemical nature.
Meanwhile, Rina’s going over our engine and she announces we’ve holed our radiator. She pulls out her last stick of engineer’s gum and chews it soft, then using her folding knife as a spatula, she plugs the hole from the outside. She burns her fingers doing it.
---OCC---
Maer: Ow…!
Terri: (alarmed) What’d you do?
Steve: (likewise) Did you hurt yourself?
Maer: The fucker’s hot!
Terri: What?
Then we realize we’ve gotten our wires crossed: The players think Maer’s cut herself for-real. Or inexplicably burned herself on her McDonald’s Diet Coke. And Maer thinks they’re playing along with her. LOLs ensue about failed alertness rolls, method acting and McDonald’s coffee from Albuquerque and we get back to the game.
---OCC---
Rina flaps her burnt hand and gets on her back to check the undercarriage for damage. Brakes, brake lines, transmission and lines…the works. These trucks are huge and heavy, and damaging these babies takes some doing…which we’ve done. Even so, Rina’s looking it over and thinking it’s all fixable. Added bonus: As a reason to linger to verify the sabotage, nothing could be more perfect. Arden exits the truck and hunkers on the ground next to Rina.
Arden: (scratchy whisper) Go slow.
Rina: (whispers back) Not a problem. There’s a lotta fuckin’ damage here…
The worker with the scanner announces the results—we’re all good. If it weren’t for the fact we’re running late, he’d be a lot more friendly. Others start to off-load the canisters. The canisters are carefully loaded onto a Tinker Toy-esque contraption that trundles them through pipe systems and then into a mixing chamber and so on. Arden follows in the canisters footsteps, eyeing their progress from the loading dock and the factory floor. Just taking it all in. And waiting for some sign the reaction’s taking hold. Not knowing when exactly this will happen makes us a touch nervous.
Nika: Rina? Are you almost ready?
Rina: (crawling out from under) Five minutes ago.
The loading of the canisters is agonizingly slow, the workers moving zombie-like in their slowness. The tasks here must be mind-numbingly dull, if the workers’ speed is any indication. Arden reckons that once the chemical hits the mixing chamber, it shouldn’t take long for it to blow. Assuming conditions like pressure, speed and the like are optimal. Arden snoops discreetly, staying out of people’s way.
Back at the truck, Nika and Rina make ready to leave.
Rina: Hey, boss. You wanna get in the driver’s seat and turn her over? Crank it.
Nika: Yeah, I’ll crank it for ya.
Nika gets in the truck, goes to the back and double-checks the RPG, out of sight. She cracks the rear doors a scant inch, then gets back in the driver’s seat. Outside, Rina’s doing a good imitation of a shade-tree mechanic.
Rina: Give her some juice. Give her some juice, willya? Check the clutch.
What the hell is a clutch? When nothing happens Rina rolls out from under the truck and climbs up into the passenger seat. Nika is the only one with the skill to handle the RPG. She goes into the back and takes it up as Rina mans the front, tapping gauges and flipping switches. Arden loiters and watches the chemicals mix. Rina opens the door, puts a foot on the ground and yells over her shoulder.
Rina: Arden, c’mon we gotta go, we gotta ‘nuther delivery to make!
Arden: (walking over) I know, I’ll be there in a minute.
Rina: You can sightsee later. Jeez, c’mon!
Arden keeps an eye on the process behind him, looking over his shoulder as he makes his way slowly to the truck. Rina slides over to the passenger seat when Arden finally climbs in.
Rina: (maintaining the ruse) Damn, that is the last time I’m gonna ask the boss to pair me with you!
Arden: (settling into place) Nika, you may need to—
Nika: I’m on it, I’m on it.
Arden: Rina, get in the back and help her.
Rina moves to the back. Nika is lying on the floor with the RPG and it’s aimed out the crack in the door. Up front, Arden goes through the pre-drive sequence, checking all the gauges, levers, switches…buying time, time to verify the reaction….
Rina: My grandmother moves faster than you. Jeez Louise!
Arden: (over Rina’s griping) Say ‘when’. Say ‘when’.
Nika lines up the crosshairs on their target. Rina deciphers Arden’s cue and grabs the comm to call Nguyen.
Rina: Christian, you there? Pick up. Get the big guy on the horn.
Nika gets ready to shoot but before she can do anything a high-pitched metallic groan sounds over the area. In her crosshairs, Nika sees the mixer bend and warp alarmingly.
Nika: Uhhhhnnn, go, go, GO! GO NOW!
Everything starts happening very fast. Arden peels out of there. Rina hangs on against the accel. Nika braces herself on the floor of the van. Tires squeal. Rubber burns.
Rina: (yelling into the comm) Christian, is he on yet?
Nika: Go faster, faster, GO FASTER!
Christian: Just a minute…
The plant behind us explodes.
The blast buffets us and we rattle around in the van. Nika manages to take her finger off the trigger. She starts dismantling the RPG and stowing the pieces.
Arden drives like a fiend through the buffeting, racing the fire licking at our heels, and blasts through the gates of the factory yard. Rina hauls herself off the floor and straps into the passenger seat, yells to Arden with a grin:
Rina: That’s the last time I’m letting you eat burritos for lunch. Swear to God!
In the back, Nika closes the lid on the RPG and locks the box. Arden gains the streets of the surrounding town and starts looking for a place to ditch the van. We see a sign directing us to a bus station and Nika tells Arden to park a block away. We find a spot and cut the engine. A big mushroom cloud rises in the distance. Rina is still clutching the comm and thumbs it live again.
Rina: Yo, Chris. Wake up! Tell him it’s done. We’re outa here. Bye.
She switches off the comm and strips out of her Blue Sun coveralls, just as the others are doing. Beneath the coveralls, she’s wearing street clothes. She checks the interior one last time for any evidence we were in it and finding none, hits the sidewalk. Nika orders her to rig the RPG to blow up the van, with a 15-minute delay to give us time to get away. Rina MacGyvers it and walks away from the van with Arden and Nika….just another industrial pedestrian in just another industrial town.
Job done.
We’re welcomed by the Resistance back at the yard, given praise for pulling the caper off, given pats on the back. Mystery Man is not there. He didn’t come back with the others. No one knows where he is. Nguyen’s got watchers at all the area hospitals and the reports are coming back a neg. He hasn’t shown up at any of them. Nguyen confirms it.
Nika: That’s good.
Arden: No. Bad.
Nika: No, that’s good.
Rina: (backing her up) That’s good.
Nguyen: Well, not so. He was picked up by the police. And he’s not shown up, he hasn’t checked in…with us.
Nika: He hasn’t checked in at all?
Nguyen: No. Which means they have him, but…
Nika: Still may not be problematic.
Nguyen: Well. He may be tied to what happened here. But that’s the risk that we take.
Rina: (sighing) Check the police logs.
Arden: Check the police logs? How?
Rina: Police scanners. Buy one at Radio Shack.
There’s a lot of scanner traffic—it’s a pretty big city—and they’re glutted with the news of the explosion. Nothing in the traffic has anything to say about our Mystery Man. There is word, however, about us. Specifically, the vehicle we’d used. There’s a BOLO on it. There is another report of a small explosion occurring soon after the first, but is of lesser import, there being only one vehicle destroyed with some collateral damage. There is an investigation going on.
Arden suggests to Nguyen that he call the precinct where the Mystery Man was injured.
Nguyen: Why would we do that?
Arden: Say that your cousin went out for a walk and he’s missing and you’re worried about him, he forgot to take his medicine—something bad enough to get them looking for him. Just an idea. If you don’t think it’s worth it, fine.
Nguyen sighs.
Nguyen: (quietly) This is what we do. At the end of the day, you’ve got to be willing for this to happen. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open, but we’re not going to go looking for him, because we might expose him—
Nika: If he hadn’t been so damned stubborn, he’d’ve been in the truck with us.
Nguyen: Or expose the team. It’s not just one person.
Rina: And you thought I was stubborn.
Nika shakes her head.
Nika: …I know that guy…..
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