Omniopolis

Sometimes it feels like there’s only the City. I’ve lived here for a good few years now, and I don’t really remember what it’s like outside. I know there’s still parks, mountains, forests… shit, I haven’t even seen my folks in half a decade. Some days I forget people have families.  I should go visit, but there’s always something. Last month I was short on cash. Month before that, I had a huge job lined up, couldn’t take the time. Makes me wonder where the money from those “huge jobs” Richard is always sending me on goes. ‘Course, this scotch might be part of the answer to that one…
Fuck me, is it raining again? Did it even stop? Eh, not like the weather’s much nicer here with the sun out. Can’t hardly see it most of the day anyway. I think my coat’s still damp from yesterday… Fifteen minutes more and I gotta get going. Rick’ll be pissed if I miss this one. I really need to start asking that guy where he digs these cases up. Half the time it just blows up in my face and he’s coming back the next day, wringing his hands, saying how sorry he is it’ll never happen again you’re my oldest friend- just shut the fuck up.
If I knew anyone else worth knowing in this place, I’d have dumped him years ago. I guess I should get out more. The clubs, though. Can’t stand those places. Swear someone’s gonna slip me something everywhere I go and I’m gonna wake up without my favorite organs. Maybe my eye is old enough I’d get to keep that… Fuck it, anything to get another contact. I swear, if I see that suit-wearing fuck one more time I’m jumping off a bridge. Or pushing him, I’m flexible.
Yeah, that’s it. I still got a good wad of cash, I don’t need his job. I’ll just call it off, find something else. There’s always something out there for me to do, I can stop relying on his ass. I’ll call him up now…
Rick? Yeah, about that job… fuck it. Just… fuck it. I’m still bruised from the last shit-kicking you got me into. No, I don’t—fuck off, man. Look, you- no, you said that last time. Yeah, that too. No, I’m fucking done. Yeah, I’m sure, “I’ll never get another second of your time” after this. Your time was really, really fucking valuable to me. I’m really gonna miss those big jobs, man. That last one, hell, I’ll cry if I don’t get a chance to pull off a job like that again. Really, I will. Can’t hear the tears yet? Eh, fuck it. I’ll not be seeing you. Yeah. Yeah, hate you too, buddy. Bye.
Shit, I feel way better now. Where was I? Oh yeah, scotch. I think. Eh, wherever I was, scotch is probably where I was going. Going… oh right, going to see my folks. Well, not this month, dumbass. You just blew off your only real work. Might as well see what’s cracking downtown… Fuck, it really is pouring out there. Thank god for flasks. Alright, let’s see what’s what.
“The Alibi.” That’s a comforting name for a place. Might as well dive in. If they’ve got some cheesy fucker drink with a pun for a name I’m drinking it on principle. Fuck, I forgot how crowded these places are. Can’t see shit. Can’t hear shit. Can, in fact, smell shit. Figures. Okay, that looks mostly barlike, let’s see what they have. That is not English. Not even close to English. Fuck, three languages not enough for this city? You want me to pick up- well, pick up whatever the hell that is, too? Nope, balls to it. I can figure something out.
Hey, lady? Ma’am? Can I get a gin and tonic? No? A bomb? Sure, I’m up for it. Uh… I don’t know what’s in… any… of those. No, thank you, just pick your favorite. I’m sure I’ll like it. Thanks.
Well, it doesn’t smell bad. Bye, kidneys, sorry you’re getting cut out by thugs later probably. Damn. Daaaaamn. That went down too smooth. I’m getting another. Need a good walking-around drink, though.
Ma’am? Yeah, another of those and… whatever he’s having. Yeah, sounds good. Thanks.
Alright. One more for luck, and… good god, this tastes like a gutter. Eh, I’ve had worse. Let’s see who’s out and about. Yeah, this place isn’t seedy enough to get work in. Let’s take a walk further downtown, look for trouble for a while.
Still raining. Still. I need a damn vacation.

Chapter One
Mike Chamberlain wasn’t quite stumbling, not yet. He slid to a stop leaning against a corner to get his bearing. He knew a lot of people in this neighborhood, there had to be one who’d give him some work. Ma Fraser usually had some iron in the fire that needed tending, he’d start there. She lived a few blocks away, up in a not-quite-cheap apartment block. It wasn’t too long before he was walking up to the barred door. His head was much clearer, not only thanks to his somewhat unnatural liver, and he buzzed her apartment number. After a second there was a click and a questioning grunt at the other end of the line, and he announced his name.
A thick Scots brogue greeted him: “You’re here rather late, lad. Why d’you want t’bother Ma?”
“I heard there was a problem, I just wanted to offer some help” Mike was testing his luck, but Ma always seemed to have something to sort out. Whenever Sean was that gruff answering the door, there was always something up.
“Alright, Mike. Come on up an’ see her. She’ll be in a mood, mind you.”
The stairs were noticeably grimier than he remembered from last time he’d been here. The fleur-de-lis patterning on the wall was faded and sooty, the air smoky. The hall was almost reverently quiet on his way to Ma’s door, an effect Frank felt was spoiled by her door being midway down the hall instead of wreathed in light at the very end. The door was opening before his fist could even move to knock. Behind it was about fifty kilos too much of bearded redhead dressed in comically blasé office wear. Sean ushered him in silently, the hand on his back guiding him to the corner of the room with Ma Fraser.
The diminutive matron turned from gazing out the window to fix Frank with a glare. She reminded him of his grandmother. He’d never heard of grandma running a gang, but you never knew with her. He hadn’t known she could code until it was too late… But Ma was already speaking:
“How’d you know?” She came at him fast, he had no idea someone that old could move like that; “It’s not been five hours, who let you know?” The whole almost five feet of her was somehow staring down at him.
“Ma, hang on, I was just bluffing!” He tried to look as contrite as could be. “I just figured, an operation like yours, there’d always be something you’d need. I didn’t know there was, y’know, a thing going down.”
She backed off a fraction and gave him a scowling beckon. He followed her to her sitting room and accepted the inevitable cup of tea that Patrick pushed into his hands. There were a few minutes of silence: it was never wise to get between Ma and her Earl Grey. She spent a long moment contemplating the cup in her hand with a grim set to her brow. Finally, she spoke:
“Very well, Michael. I know Sean thinks well of you, so I’ll give you a measure of my trust. Ensure it settles heavy in your heart.” Mike managed what he hoped was a sincere nod before she continued: “My warehouse in Port was ransacked today. Whoever did it didn’t announce who they were, and the only thing they had to say seems to have been measurable by caliber. My little James was down there today, and now my little James is missing his face.”
She didn’t choke up. In fact, her expression hadn’t changed at all, and her eyes hadn’t moved from her cup since she had begun speaking. Still, Mike could tell how hard her nephew’s death must have hit her. Patrick had already knelt down next to her chair to give her a supporting embrace. Mike bit back the questions he would normally run through now, all those prying inquiries about what may have been stolen, who she might have angered recently. Ma was always known to be in charge of her affairs. She would tell him when she was ready. A moment later she pushed Patrick away and continued:
“Remember the trust I’m giving you when I say this next part, I’ll know very well if you betray me on this: James was there to move some military limbs, we lost several million worth of high-quality DoD tech today. I know it wasn’t pattern analysis; I’ve carefully used the same couriers in the same way for years. I’ve been sending James there for random tasks for even longer. Someone has betrayed me. And were I a lesser woman, I’d be unable to face who that must have been. Only three people knew about this. One’s dead, and two are my own sons.”
At this, she glanced at Patrick before averting her eyes as if afraid to meet his. Both her sons had their eyes cast down, the shame they felt rolling off them like a physical force. Mike sat for a moment, working through the event step by step. Eventually he felt he needed to break the silence.
“Ma, I know your background checks are legendary, but maybe you missed something? The couriers could have turned without you knowing, or maybe someone’s been riding the shipment from the start, or there was a beacon, or—“
Ma cut him off with a voice barely above a hoarse whisper: “Don’t you think I planned for that? The couriers didn’t know anything unusual was in this shipment, and trust me, if they had tampered with the cases you would have felt the blast from where you live. I’ve run cargoes so dangerous they’d have called out the military if they knew anything about it, don’t think I can’t hide a few crates. And don’t even think I don’t know how to scan for beacons, boy.”
Mike was about to raise another point when she cut him off again: “What, you think the contact sold me out? You think he’d even have anything to gain? I’ve been playing this game since before you were born. I know how to protect my cargo from the people who ask me to move it better than anything else. And I’ll answer a question you weren’t even thinking of yet: yes, it was James who died; he didn’t somehow invent a body double and shoot them in the face. He’s dead.”
Mike was silent for a moment. He had to say it, it was the only thing left. “Ma… are you trying to say—“
Her voice was croaking, almost inaudible: “Say one of my sons did it? The boys I’ve raised from birth? The boys I trust everything to? The thought crossed my mind, horrid as it may be. I told them, and then I begged them to just kill me and be done with it were it to be true. I sat here for hours almost hoping a barrel would be pressed against my head. I refuse to believe my own sons would do such a thing and force me to suffer through it, and consider this the last time you’ll ever so much as hint at a failing in their honor.”
Mike heard a small sniff and glanced over at Sean. The massive man was still standing in his accustomed attentive pose, but his face was shining with two lines of shining tears, mirrored in the less composed face of his younger brother. Ma still had yet to shed a single tear. Mike cast about desperately in himself for something to say, there was hardly a soul alive who had met Ma that didn’t love the old woman, and to see her like this was a lot more discomfort than he felt he’d signed up for that evening.
“Ma, I know you’re the best at what you do, but we’ve got to assume you overlooked something. That’s what I’m here for, remember? I can look into it. Fresh pair of eyes, and all that.”
“Can’t call it a pair if they don’t match, you know…” The sound of even the smallest amount of humor from Ma was comforting. Mike absently scratched around his artificial amber-colored eye as he continued:
“Well, you know brown was always too boring for me, I had to get stabbed before HMO would let me get a new one.” That drew a small snort from Sean, and Ma had lost some of the harshness in her expression. Mike continued: “But we all make mistakes from time to time, I remember you yourself reminding me to never assume all my conjectures were correct. I’ll go take a peek at it, see if I can’t find something new. Free of charge.”
“Free?” Ma managed half a smile, “Well, aren’t you the polite little boy…”
“Okay, yes, I might have blown Rick off. I could use the work, but you know how much it’d pain me to try and charge you for this.”
She drew in a deep breath and held it for a moment before letting out a controlled sigh. “Michael, you know full well that I am a businesswoman, and I won’t stoop to taking advantage of your generosity. I assume you’ll be content with the rate we hired you at last time, bonuses for discretion and all?”
He nodded and made words of thanks, standing and surrendering his half-drank tea to Patrick so he could escape before the situation drowned him in more dramatics. Ma stayed seated, with Patrick kneeling down again to try to comfort her. Sean, meanwhile, followed him out to the main room. He shut the door behind him with a gentle click.
“Mike…” The big guy turned around, eyes downcast, “I’m not gonna try and say anything more. I know you listen.” He rubbed his eyes with his palms and went to lean on the windowsill. “We have a mate looking at data trails already. This Damien guy, Damien Albrecht. He’s only been with us a few months, but Boyd said he did good work for him for years. I know you won’t like him, but you gotta deal.
“Fuck.”