Shadowrun: A simple run - 4

He hadn’t expected this. He really hadn’t.

Nas didn’t usually arrive this early...and he’d said he had biz to take care of anyway. Biz was something they both knew, and neither asked questions about the other’s.
Quickly, the beautiful young elven boy turned off the flow off hot water he stood under , his long, platinum hair plastered to his skull and back.

“Chava! Are you there?” The hammering on the metal door to his ancient Daimler Atego RV intensified to the point where he could feel the vibrations through the floor.

This irritated the young elf enormously. Nas had a tendency to forget his own strength, and though he really appreciated that on the occasions when they made love, his home was not as robust.
“I’m here, damnit! Stop hitting dents in my house!”

He muttered darkly under his breath and whipped the screens away, not bothering with a towel. It was nothing Nas hadn’t seen before after all. At 19 years old, Chava had just about finished growing. Standing exactly 5’9 tall, and weighing in at 150lb, he was small even for an elf. Aquamarine eyes flashed angrily as he tried to wipe the excess water off the downy, electric blue fur that covered his body. Chava was no ordinary elf. In street parlance, he was called a dark elf...but officially his kind were known as Night Ones. Naturally nocturnal, most of his kind found employment as Shadowrunners.

He padded over to the door in all his naked splendour.
“I gave you a key last week! Have you forgotten how to fragging use it?”
Still muttering under his breath, he jerked open the door.
“Nas...”
“Chava...”

Both of them stood rooted in shocked amazement, although for vastly different reasons. A woman was draped over his partner’s shoulder like a sack of rotten potatoes, and Chava’s practiced eye immediate;y identified her as a corp type.
“...it’s not what it looks like...” Nas started.
Chava clapped a hand over his mouth and giggled.
“That’s your idea of biz of the magical sort?” He grinned at Nas and placed his hands on his slender hips in mock severity.

The big elf shrugged, grinning back lasciviously, openly staring at him, and belatedly Chava remembered that he’d failed to cover up. He blushed and stood aside.
“C’mon in. I’m not getting paid enough to stand around letting random people get a peek of the goods. They wanna they gotta pay.”

Chava was, to put it bluntly, a whore, and though he also had a sideline in running the shadows, he still didn’t think of it as his main occupation, even though income from that sometimes exceeded what he made by fucking around.

He slammed the door shut behind Nas as the big elf entered and indicated he should deposited the unconscious woman on the couch next to the door. The RV was fairly spacious for its kind, but even so...it had just the one bed, and no slitch was ever going to get into that.

He watched as Nas laid her down, then headed to the back of the RV where the bedroom was located. He really needed some clothes on him, and before he could do that, he had to get dry. Nas made as if to follow him there but the young elf giggled and waggled his finger at him.
“Not now, Nas. Biz first. What’s up?”
That was a safe enough question. It invited only that information that was actually needed and nothing more. Nas though, had other ideas.

“Can’t I at least get a kiss first?” the big elf asked plaintively, and Chava grinned.
“If you ask very, very nicely. Just let me get dressed. There’s beer in the fridge. And I got you some salted pretzels. It’s in the locker above the stove. Help yourself.”

He headed into the bedroom and slid the screen shut, smiling at the thoroughly domestic sounds of his partner rummaging around in his cupboards and fridge, opening packages and cans. It was not something he’d often experienced, either in his childhood or his later life as a ‘runner.

As Nas consumed his snackfood, Chava rubbed himself dry. One of the disadvantages of being a Night One was that grooming took absolutely forever. Even longer than it took Nas to eat. On the days when Nas happened to be free and Chava had a client, the big elf helped him blow-dry his fur...accompanied by lots and lots of kissing and caressing. He shivered and dragged his mind back to the present. Nas had started talking, something about the slitch coming out of nowhere, and getting shot at and a car chase (so what else was new. He grinned.) and...

The plaswood panel slid back and Nas joined him. With his hunger momentarily stilled, the big elf was ready for his kiss, and Chava didn’t resist as he was hauled up into those powerful arms. For such a powerful creature, Nas could be surprisingly gentle.
He let Nas kiss him for a little while – it had been a while since they’d last seen each other, after all – but when he started losing sight of biz again, he punched his upper arm and grinned.

“Later. What’s the deal with sleeping beauty out there? Yes, yes, I heard the whole sorry tale...but you’re hardly an altruist, Nas. You don’t seriously expect me to believe that we’re helping her out of the kindness of our hearts do you?”

He tilted his head and focussed on his partner’s face. He looked entirely too smug for this to be an innocent endeavour...and he was proven right when Nas withdrew a platinum credstick from his racing suit. Silently, he handed it to Chava as a slow grin spread across his handsome face.
Chava looked at him askance, then thumbed the wheel, and whistled softly between his teeth.
“Nas...are you serious? A quarter mil...”

Nas nodded and motioned for him to be silent.
“I got it off her...”
Chava nodded.
“And for this, we’ll do anything we can to help. Okay. That sounds like a pretty fair deal to me. Surely her life is worth 250 thou...”
They grinned at each other, and Nas let him go to hide the credstick in the secret compartment inside another concealed smuggling hole.

“Alright. Let’s go see what we’ve got...”
He quickly put on a bathrobe and tied the sash that kept it closed before leading the way back to the front of the RV. Although not richly decorated, his home was nevertheless tasteful and classy.
The effect was lost on Nas though. He’d taken just one look at the decor and called him gay. Chava smiled. Case of the pot calling the kettle black in his opinion.

When he reached the woman, he quickly reviewed what Nas had told him. The only really useful fact was that she had no memory...and that some kind of spirit had found them soon after.
Behind him, Nas switched on the Trid and tuned in to a rerun of the first season of Karl Kombatmage. Chava sighed and turned his attention firmly to the woman.

She was dressed in corporate grey and black, but the material and cut...
In his line of work, dressing well was extremely important, so he’d developed a very keen sense of style and fashion. This...yes, no stitching. It was all magically woven. Only a handful of designers used this technique.

Quickly, he examined the label of her clothes and whistled. Norah Verrucho. She was a top of the line personal designer and image consultant, specialising in the corporate female. Whoever Sleeping Beauty was...she did not lack for money.

Next he turned his attention to her jewellery. Corporate slitch with a personal designer...she’d have custom jewellery, no doubt about it. That might give them a clue as to her identity. Jewellers loved to brag about who wore their stuff and they usually kept lists of which piece went to whom. Thieves had used this vanity to their advantage for centuries.

Carefully, he unbuttoned the top of her suit to reveal her neck...and stood frozen. Oh frag...
“...Nas.”
“Mpf?”
“Come look at this...”

His soft, awed tone of voice was enough for Nas to come immediately instead of arguing.
Chava pointed at the golden jewellery. A central golden band resembling a ring circled her neck completely, and from it radiated fine tendrils of a mix of white and yellow gold, meshed together into a lacy framework that was studded with hundreds of tiny diamonds interspersed with emeralds and sapphires. In the centre of the framework, a delicate network of fibre optics connected to a custom comlink. This too was made of precious metal and studded with tiny rubies. From the look of it, the ‘link was removable and could be fitted to a variety of different carrier necklaces. Custom ware like this did not come cheap.

“European design. I’m willing to bet it’s from the House of Caballe in Spain. Look...”
Chava traced a delicate finger down the jewel studded lacework of gold.

Nas stared at it, and at the rapturous look on Chava’s face, and turned up his nose.
“Very nice. So she’s a Spaniard?”

Chava stuck his tongue out at him.
“I have no idea. If you can afford something like this, you can afford to travel to buy it. It proves nothing. But...this kind of custom ware can usually be traced. I know someone who might find out...Nas! Paws off!” He slapped his partner’s hand away when he tried to take it off her.

“Ow! I was just looking! Do you know how much something like this could fetch?”
“Yes, I do. It’s also a once-off design with gods only know what kinds of electronics built into it. This kind of thing just might have a dead man switch, for all you know. Don’t be stupid, Nas. Leave it alone..and for frag’s sake leave it on her.”
“Fine. I was just looking. Have you accessed it yet?”

Chava bit his lip, and nodded slowly.
“Yes...and no.  I tried. I really did...but I can’t get in. It’s protected. This is one tough mother of a system...”
He sighed and thought about it for a second, absentmindedly nibbling on his lover lip.
“There might be something I can do...but I’ll need a good bit of time. You said that there was some sort of spirit after her?”

“Yeah. Less than a minute after she jumped onto me...”
Chava winced.
“Ouch. Alright. So she’s probably being tracked by ritual magic...” he rolled his eyes roguishly. “Have you by any chance seen what ritual magicians can do on Karl Kombatmage?”
Nas stared at him for a second, then sprang into action.
“Right. We’re out of here. Will you be able to...”
“Yes. Just drive carefully will you? I really need to concentrate and I can’t do that when you drive around like a maniac the way you usually do.”

Although his tone was severe and surly, the young elf’s eyes sparkled. “You know where the key card is. Get us out of here. I’ll work on her, see if I can get anything out of her.”

Nas nodded and made his way quickly to the command post once he had the slot card and seated himself in the comfy, padded seat.
“Okay. Um...so what exactly are you going to do? It’s...not going to involve anything...spectacular is it?” He inserted the card into the slot and pushed the old-fashioned starter button. The old V8 diesel rumbled lazily into life, filling the cabin with diesel clatter.
Nas raised an eyebrow and drew a breath to utter his dismay, but the young elf quelled him with a glare, as if daring him to say anything.

Chava had taken to biodiesel as a means to save a few nuyen...something Nas really didn’t understand. The RV was beautifully restored and nicely appointed...none of which was cheap. The young elf had jewellery and clothes enough to outfit an empress for a year...and yet he skimped on fuel and food...

The large elf wisely kept his mouth shut and slipped the ancient transmission into drive. From outside came the clatter of collapsing metal and the screech and scrape of something tearing loose as the RV crawled forward out of the position it had stood in for well over three decades.
Nas winced and Chava turned pale.

“Please tell me that wasn’t the still?” Nas groaned.
In their eagerness to get away, they’d both forgotten the makeshift still and barbeque that Chava had built. He made a mean vodka, better than any Russian could, as proclaimed by the local Vory, who occasionally bought a few bottles from him.

Chava nodded unhappily.
“It was. Drive, Nas.”

Nas drove, carefully manoeuvring the huge, silvery bulk of the RV out of Hagar’s yard and down the road, hoping that this would not be another disaster.