Slab City Blues - The Collected Stories: All Five Stories in One Volume Read Online Free

patients died during treatment. As you know, de-Splicing is a lengthy and expensive process, taking several months. Dr Janus’s technique enables a subject to become fully human in a matter of hours. I have information that she is continuing to perform the procedure, quite illegally of course, and at an inflated price.”
    “MEC know about her?”
    “Oh yes. Of the forty MEC operatives on the Slab, twelve are engaged in surveillance of you. The remainder are attempting to locate Dr Janus. I estimate they will find her within eleven hours.”
    “I don’t get it. Joe’s the best, that Puma guy won’t even scratch him. They treat him like a god. Why throw it all away?”
    Something shifted in the wall of flesh, some small spasm of discomfort. “Do you remember the time before the war, Alex? Do you remember what it was to be a slave?”
    Memories clouding - pain and fear and hate. I shook them away. “Yeah, I remember.”
    “I too was once a slave, as Tyger Joe is a slave. What do all slaves dream of?”
    I pulled my gun from its holster, a standard issue Sig 4mm, checked the magazine and made sure I had my spares. “Twelve, huh?”
    “Yes. Comms indicate they’re getting desperate and will use extreme measures. MEC has already offered me a large sum to provide information. Naturally I refused.”
    “Well they don’t know you like we do. I’ll need you to jack into the security net and do the tactical. Like Langley, remember?”
    “Of course.”
    “So where do I find this Dr Janus?”
    *
    Quad Gamma of Yang Fifteen is mostly deserted in the early evening when the devout neo-Catholic locals troop off to mass leaving a perfect shoot-out set.
    “Ready?” Freak via the smart’s earpiece.
    I reached into my jacket, gripped the Sig. “Yup.”
    “Targets one, two and three directly behind you. One: red shirt. Two: blue raincoat. Three: suit and tie. Be advised: Jeds in the area.”
    “Got it.”
    I stopped abruptly and turned. They were good, barely a flicker. Red Shirt just kept walking. Blue Raincoat and Suit veered off to the right. They’d walk on by and let their colleagues take over the tail.
    There was a time when policemen had to give a warning before they shot someone, which is a pretty good idea when you think about it, ethically speaking.
    I put the Sig’s laser-dot over Red Shirt’s throat and pulled the trigger. A pre-programmed ten shot burst of 4mm caseless is usually pretty messy and Red Shirt was no exception. His head stayed on though, which is unusual.
    The few Jeds on the street vanished like ghosts. No screams or panic. Fucking Demons, shooting people again…
    I caught Blue Raincoat with the second burst and swept Suit into a shop window with the third.
    Freak in my ear: “Four at three o’clock. Reading weapons: H&K Mark Six tazers. They want you alive, Alex.”
    I took cover behind a newsstand, firing as they rounded the corner. I could tell they were professionals by the way they didn’t bother to pull their wounded into cover.
    “Three more on the rear flank.”
    Pivot and fire, Sig’s inhibited recoil feeling like a dentist’s drill, making them dance and spin and fall, provoking a fierce blaze of war nostalgia.
    “On the grocery roof, six o’clock.”
    Drop, tazer dart shatters on the pavement, pivot and fire, sniper spinning on the roof. Magazine fires empty and ejects. Slam in a new one. Scan for targets. Bodies, some wounded moaning, dropped weapons, and blood of course. Hey, even a sad sack like me is good at something.
    “Freak?”
    “That’s it.”
    “You said twelve. I count eleven.”
    “There’s nothing on the scope. You better get moving.”
    I ran to the Pipe and took the Grey line for the Extremity.
    *
    I checked my watch: 2030. Joe had about ten more hours before his heart went bust.
    “Alex, I’m reading an encrypted transmission from the Extremity to MEC Orbiting HQ on St Rowan. Running decryption now… It’s tough stuff, very expensive