Red On Red

Posted on Sat Mar 20th, 2021 @ 3:21am by Client The Narrator

Mission: Ring's Of Gold & Palladium
Location: Hole In The Wall Bar, Industrial Four, Rhea, Saturnian Confederacy Freeport
Timeline: A few hours after 'Sold For A High Elevation Of Legumes'

The bartender had runaway, so he just helped himself to a drink. Using the still smoking business end of his Tanhauser-12 to brush away the broken glassware, he set the bottle of Marcon Red down and poured himself a shot. Hell, he poured himself a double: he’d done a hard day’s work.

Turning on the bar stool, which squeaked on barely oiled bearings, he looked at the scene of devastation. Two probably near fatal’s in a booth, some moderate organic damage too wounded folk who had hobbled free of the bar, and of course his payday. Walter Whitman, AKA Ronny Biggs, AKA Francis Middlemann, AKA Vector Red Employee 55402-Kappa-19, was in pieces.

Foot over there.
Arm with a hand there.
Arm with another hand still attached to most of a torso still holding out the never-once-shot Glock Sandman.

He knelt down, prying the Sandman out of the still warm fingers. Looking over the compact slug thrower, he had to at least admit the build quality was good. Hacked print files for the weapon were common enough, from anything from ceramics to plastic to full-on military-grade composites. This one was a resin of some sort, probably ground-up insect shell for rigidity.

Had a pretty sheen to its casing in the light.

He pocketed it, it was a nice piece. Not quite in line with the Tanhauser-12 he carried, with its magnetic discharge slot giving it a long flat profile. Of course, once the monofilament cables went flying people stopped making funny faces at the weapon. One moment you’re holding a glass of faux Belter champagne, the next you notice the glass is on the floor and your stumps bleeding. Cut so clean you barely know you’ve been hit until your dead from blood loss.

Sitting back up he poured himself another drink, took a sip, and flicked his terminal to active.

Vector Red Indenture Compliance Contract #98797: Francis Middlemann.
Contract Level: Blue Vermillion.
Current Debt: 14.3Million Martian Marks.
Debt Status: Beyond Economic Recovery.
Debtor Status: Deceased (Logged via the Industrial Three MediDatabase, Rhea, Saturnian Confederacy).
Payment: Deposited with Swiss Banc, Luna. (t-minus 1 hour for time lag)

He smiled. ‘Indenture Compliance’ was just a fancy word for bounty hunter with a licence to kill, which was good because he liked the killing part. It was fun, and so few jobs had that sort of employee satisfaction as standard. His last job had had it, but that had had to go due to reasons beyond his control. A failure in insufficient planning. He'd bailed out, with a golden parachute of sorts, because he had a reputation as a man who got the job done.

And it was a reputation he liked to foster.

He was pouring himself another drink when his terminals jingled with another job alert.

Vector Red Indenture Compliance Contract #00000: Adrie Magana.
Contract Level: Black Manticore.
Current Debt: None Applicable, extrajudicial sanction provided by New York Central Circuit Court.
Debt Status: Sponsored Contract, TerraFirmware.
Debtor Status: Last verified location, Industrial Six, Rhea. Terminate with extreme prejudice.
Payment: 2.3 million UN Adjusted Dollars for a genetically verified corpse, 6.3 million UN Adjusted Dollars for live capture and holding for retrieval team.

Jensen, formally of the ProtoGen Security Office, formally of the United Nations Marine Corp, and formally of a great many correction facilities across the Sol System, smiled and swiped right on the contract.

He’d enjoy his drink, whilst the local law swept in to clean the place up and bask in the glow of a professional licenced corporate hitman, and then he’d go pick up whoever the fuck this Adrie Magana was. Because someone was paying top money, the sort of money that could get him back to Earth without going straight to a prison complex miles below ground, to bring her in hot or cold.

And Jensen liked a challenge.