BEYOND THE PALE: ( The Outlander ) Read online

  There was the sound of a man making a commotion and shouting in the depot that he had just left. Isa began to jog along aware that the man had probably realised his coat was missing. He headed for a set of doors in one corner of the vast underground hanger but before he could make it. He felt his legs collapse from under him. A security guard had appeared from a small side office and had fired a stun shot into Isa’s leg. The man ran over and pulled Isa’s arms behind his back and secured them with a cable tie. He then pulled him to his feet and frog marched him into his small office.

  Isa chose not to answer the guard’s questions. He decided that he would wait till he was taken above ground and then attempt to escape. It appeared that this guard was tied down to this location and was waiting for an escort to come and collect Isa. They both waited and sure enough two security officers walked into the small room. One had a helmet and visor on and the other had a peaked cap pulled down hiding his face. The guard saw them only briefly before he realised that he had a problem, but one strike of an electric whip made him comfortably numb and unconscious. The two men took a brief look at Isa observing his tied hands and restrained position. They figured that he was not a problem and walked out of the office. Perhaps fifteen minutes had past before anyone returned. It was the man wearing the full face helmet and another wearing a similar face covering who joined him. This second man was obviously the supervisor of the first, and he soon took charge barking muffled questions at Isa. He was obviously a more serious threat than the security guard and was expecting an answer, and so Isa thought he might tell the truth.

  “I am from outside. I am trying to get into the citadel to find my brother.”

  “Who is your brother?” the leader barked through his closed helmet.

  “His name is River. He is Hopi like me. He is…” Isa was interrupted by the man interrogating him.

  “He is a complete pain in the arse. That is what your brother is!” and the leader turned to his subordinate and instructed, “Take this guy with you and put him into one of the boosted containers. We are taking him up with us.”

  Chapter Thirty Seven

  Isa was confused by the turn of events. He had been led on a long march around the perimeter of the large cargo bay by a guard with a drawn weapon. They were heading to a particular area in which manic activity was taking place. Here, there were many guys with helmets obscuring their faces operating mobile cargo lifters and small cranes. Many containers had their doors wide open and some were being emptied while others were being filled. One man was giving instructions to the others whilst simultaneously tapping in serials on a hand held device. He was obviously directing these local operations but otherwise appeared unremarkable. Isa’s guard spoke to him and passed on the instructions which he had been given by the boss-man back in the security guards office.

  “When you have filled the next container, put him inside too, he is going topside and make sure the boss gets the serial.”

  And as per instruction, Isa found himself locked inside a tightly packed thirty foot container with just enough room to sit down when the doors were sealed. There followed a lot of abrupt clunky movements which gave him concern that he might end up crushed by the heavy unsecured load that he shared this large metal can with. There was much movement to follow and then long periods of waiting. Isa wondered if they had forgotten about him. He was also honing his senses in preparation of seizing the first opportunity to escape.

  When the doors finally opened, he abandoned all thoughts of escape. The goal of his intended search in this metropolis was standing right in front of him with his arms outstretched in welcome. He looked very different to Isa. He was immaculately turned out in an expensive fashion suit and shoes. His hair was styled in a flamboyant cut that just seemed vain to Isa.

  “I cannot believe you found your way here,” said River looking incredulously at his brother.

  “I cannot believe I found you so quickly,” replied Isa.

  “You can thank my friend Ramesh for finding you. Apparently you had already got yourself into trouble and he saved your ass.”

  “Is he the man that imprisoned me in this metal can?”

  “No he is the man that heisted you along with some other fine cargo. I got here as quickly as I could once he had called me. Come with me, they need to reseal this and move it.”

  River placed his arm around his brother’s shoulder and walked him towards the vehicle park. He pointed out to Isa that he had never yet been allowed underground. “Do you know how long my boss has been refusing my request to take part on a freight hijack, and my brother beats me to it.”

  “You have a boss?” Isa was amused by the concept.

  “Yes although it is probably best that I don’t introduce you to him yet. He wouldn’t be happy to know that you were a witness to a heist. But otherwise your timing is good. I started renting an apartment this week. You can stay there but I will need to get you set up with an electronic identity and some cash. However you may need to work for the boss in order to get these…”

  Isa interrupted River, “I do not want any of these things you mention.”

  River gave Isa a penetrating stare, “Why are you here Isa?”

  Isa studied River as if examining how he was altered, “Why don’t you know?”

  River did know, “My pledge to meet you at lizard ridge; I didn’t make it, so you followed your promise to come here,” River was visibly touched by Isa’s loyalty. “I did not forget. I did try Isa, but I got into trouble and was no longer able to freely leave.”

  “If I can get in, we can get out. You are leaving with me this time. No arguments.”

  River was always impressed by Isa’s conviction and straightforward outlook, but on this occasion he felt that his brother’s simple outlander values were at best naïve.

  “I don’t know yet what you went through to get here, but I am telling brother, it will be much more difficult to go back by the same method you came here. We may not be able to get back underground.”

  “Will you come with me though?”

  “Yes brother. I will come with you. And it is so good to see you,” River had now made his pledge; he was committed to leave now.

  River took Isa to his rented apartment which was in East Filton. He drove him there in style in a plush executive sedan. Isa preferred to sit up front with his brother. He was not overly impressed with the car or by his surroundings on the journey from the transit port. The citadel seemed to hold no interest for him at all. He acted single minded in his desire to leave immediately or as soon as possible.

  River realised that he was running late and had to leave as soon as possible too. Earlier today he had collected the plush sedan from long term parking and was already due at the Mira Belle to collect Shondran. He was going to be chauffeuring him and the Mexican across the metropolis to a conference and leisure hotel where they would be spending the weekend. Shondran had already contacted his communicator twice on route and River had declined to take both calls. He figured the boss was probably getting a little anxious; after all he had been going on about this trip for the last fortnight.

  The timing couldn’t have been worse but River explained to Isa that he would only be gone for a few days, and that he would be sending a friend over today to babysit him in a manner. He explained to him that he was going to require a chaperone. With no identity implant, he wouldn’t be able to pay for anything, access any services, use a communicator, or even access entry to the apartment.

  Before he left, River tried to make Isa as comfortable as possible. He walked him around the apartment and showed him how to operate different appliances and facilities which were mostly new to him as well. He had only recently moved in, and moved out of the Mira Belle at the same time. He loved the privacy and security of having his own place. However there were other factors involved. River felt that he needed some space apart from Dakota. He had not given her the address of this apartment as he didn’t want her staying over. Although she
worked for Shondran, he was pretty certain that she had his best interests at heart. But that was the problem; she was a little too fond of him which made him increasingly uncomfortable as he knew he couldn’t reciprocate her affection.

  The surprise arrival of Isa changed this dynamic though. He realised that he needed Dakota’s help and he contacted her as he set off on route for the Mira Belle. She was pleased to get his call, and happier to get his address and access credentials. She told him she would head over later and meet his brother Isa.

  River realised that this was only a short term fix. He knew that Isa would require Tiberius’s false identity services. However, he knew that he would have to square Isa’s arrival with Shondran before Tiberius would ever oblige. And he could think of no way to run that by him. In fact River was nervous about Shondran even meeting Isa. It was possible that he would view his arrival during a freight hijacking as a major security threat.

  Meanwhile back in the apartment, Isa was literally climbing up the walls. He had no interest in using any electronic device, eating any processed food, and was so bored at not being allowed outside, that he had climbed out of the window on this fourth floor apartment and climbed up to the flat roof. There he felt much more relaxed and comfortable watching the outside world and street life below. Isa didn’t want to meet Shondran either, nor Dakota or anyone else at all. He was just impatient to start the return leg of his journey back to Avana with River in tow.

  Chapter Thirty Eight

  Ramon Cortez walked through the public restaurant of the Mira Belle careful not to spill the coffee he was carrying for his boss. He was a man of much smaller stature than many of Shondran's other bodyguards but he commanded respect among his peers for his quick thinking intellect and ruthlessness. He also had a ruthless loyalty to Shondran. He would kill or be killed for him. Despite this, he often felt sidelined by some of his other lieutenants who felt that they shared a cultural bond with their Navajo boss. He was actually jealous of their native ancestry. Being of Mexican ancestry, he liked to point out that there was a lot of Aztec blood in him, and that the ancestors of the Aztecs were related to those of the Navajos having both emerged from a mythical underground land called Atzlan. Despite this, nobody referred to him as an Aztec. Behind his back everyone just called him the Mexican.

  He found his boss packed and ready to leave and waiting outside his ground floor office with two other bodyguards. The change in his attire from casual to formal was drastic. He was attired in a business suit which looked expensive, and made him come across like a different person. Cortez was wearing his best suit as well because he would be accompanying him today.

  “River called and said he will be here with the sedan within 5 minutes,” Cortez's words were of little comfort to Shondran who always felt anxious whilst waiting to travel anywhere.

  “Did he say why he is late?”

  “Yeah, he apologised and said that he got held up by a security operation closing the district 17 turnpike when he was collecting the vehicle.”

  Shondran noted the excuse. He had already conducted his own search for River after he had been unable to contact his communicator twice earlier on. His personal data interface had identified that River had checked in this morning with gate security at the transit port in district 16. This excuse which he had just supplied to Cortez didn’t correlate with that. He didn’t appreciate any of his men switching off their communicators. He had even less tolerance for liars. And right now he was unhappy about being held up for 40 minutes when he just wanted to leave. He walked over to mirror and checked himself over once again to settle his angst and maintain his composure and control.

  The problem with being in charge was that everybody looked to you to solve their problems. You had power over other people; the power to instil fear, or the power to help. So once people were comfortable with you being in charge, they all sought some kind of help from you. Those that weren’t comfortable with you being in charge either didn’t know you, or hadn’t learnt to fear you. If you crossed paths with them they would invariably try and test you. So you had to take dominion over them, before they tried to destroy you. Once you had assumed control over them, they too would eventually come to you seeking your help against someone they feared less than you. It was a self perpetuating circle.

  Sometimes the burden of everybody looking to you for either help or direction seemed intolerable. However the discipline of tolerating it was character building and the reward was power.

  Shondran reminded himself of this as he adjusted his shirt collar in the mirror. He could also see Cortez and Bronson and Carter in the peripheral field of the mirror. Even now they were looking at him for some kind of direction like pet dogs wondering if he might be taking them out for a walk soon. They were all good loyal soldiers and reliable men but none of them were true enforcers. He remembered his friend Shaun who had acted as his enforcer. He was initially so loyal that it seemed logical to make him his right hand man. He had placed a lot of trust in him and could rely on him. He acted with full power of attorney and dispensed discipline, fear and justice on his behalf. Shaun was his confident and confessor. However as he placed more trust and authority in him, there was more than a degree of power exchange. It was inevitable that his friend would make a move against him. After all, Shaun was his confident and the only person who knew his weaknesses. He was the last man whom he had personally killed. He didn’t like anyone to refer to him or mention his name now, and he had learnt to never share power or trust an enforcer again. A leader had to be seen to enact his own justice and confide in no one. The real price of losing a confident was the burden of having to carry your own problems without being able to share them.

  That was except for his brethren in the Lodge. Over the years, they had proved to be trustworthy and loyal to each other. There were many amongst the other 32 men and women that you could feel safe confiding in. It didn’t mean that you needed to incriminate yourself by telling them specific secrets. However on a more general level, these were fellow leaders who also shared both the benefits and isolation of power. And there were no gangsters amongst them apart from a few senior law enforcers.

  He noticed Cortez and Carter taking the cases out to the front and realised that River must have arrived with the sedan. There was enough time for one call though, and engaging his communicator he placed a call to the CPS headquarters.

  “Commander Salford” came the reply from the direct extension.

  “Alex, how are you?” Shondran asked rhetorically but with warmth.

  “Barry, Is that you?”

  “Yes Alex, I just want to verify my man's story. Could you check something for me? I want to know if you had any security incidents closing the district 17 turnpike earlier today.”

  “I don’t think so but I can check that out for you and get back to you. Is everything else okay?”

  “Well now that you mention it, I have been getting a lot of interest from some of your uniformed officers recently making enquiries throughout downtown.”

  “Well that is unusual Security Operations and Organised Crime are intelligence gatherers, they don’t usually make face to face enquiries.”

  “They are not just SOOC, some officers displayed biomedical credentials on their warrants.”

  “Really that is unusual. They would be Psych-Ops medical officers. I will make some discreet enquiries and find out what’s their interest in your operation.”

  “Thank you Alex, you are always most helpful and I will let your commissioner know that when I see him today.”

  Shondran closed the call as he approached the parked sedan. The smoked glass hid the occupants, but there was no surprise to find Cortez in the back and River acting as chauffeur. He addressed them both as he got in.

  “Now I don’t want either of you two to embarrass me this weekend by acting like criminals. So don’t refer to me as Shondran, my name for this trip is Citizen Barry Hearne, but you can call me boss. I don’t want any talk about anythi
ng illegal or any mention of any of our business interests, club names, or anyone's names. As far as anyone needs to know, I am a businessman in the import-export context. I am allowed one bodyguard which will be you Ramon, and one chauffeur which is you, River. So act the parts gentlemen. You are going to be in the company of some very influential people. They will expect you to be discreet, quiet and in the background. Any questions?”

  Both Cortez and River looked to each other then pronouncedly shook their heads. Shondran nodded to River signalling him to set off. The coordinates to the Colorado Heights Leisure Resort had already been set and River acted the chauffeur for the first few minutes before allowing the auto-drive to kick in.

  Cortez was a quiet man, and generally would speak only when spoken to. Shondran had chosen him as his personal bodyguard on this trip because of these qualities and also because he could count on his loyalty. He had chosen River as chauffeur to act as his back up bodyguard. He had several reasons for doing so. He considered River as his most able personal bodyguard and had been pleased so far by his service in this respect. River was also an obvious choice for him because this was a legal venture, and he still considered River as not yet ready for any criminal activity or undertakings. River was a wild card whom he didn't really trust. He still couldn't make up his mind about his loyalty and trustworthiness, and he hoped that this weekend would help him evaluate and come to a decision on the matter. Right now he had a question for him, “So how come, we couldn’t contact you on your communicator earlier.”