Freezing Shadows, Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Road Trip

A delivery was waiting for us the next morning. A supply of capsule rounds for each of us, filled with the KE IV mix of concentrated insecticides. Basically, they were so nasty that just touching the stuff was like acid to bugs. Didn’t have enough rounds to go wild, but they’d help, in case we came across any of these giant bugs that were supposed to be in the area.

Getting to Yakima meant crossing the border into tribal lands. Fortunately, the border was pretty porous, especially in the areas of Redmond or Puyallup, which people in the sprawl called the Barrens. We decided to roll through Puyallup. Sure, it added time to our ride, but there was the Barens, and then there was the Barrens. Redmond had a well-deserved reputation for being the nastier of the two. Only partly because half of it was radioactive, thanks to the Crash.

A lot of things got royally fucked when that shitstorm happened. Everyone was so used to computer controls that when a megavirus ripped through the networks like they owed it money, people didn’t know what to do. So, while the guys at the nuclear plant in Renton were trying to keep the reactor from melting down because the computer controls got deleted, they were interrupted by a passenger plane falling out of the sky, directly on their heads. Suffice to say, property values plummeted, and only the desperate, and the crazy lived there, now, which made it dangerous for people to move through the area without paying for protection.

So, we went through Puyallup, before looping down, around through Graham, on the FAN side of the border. Then, down the old WA-7 to Morton, before hitting what used to be US-12 to take us through the mountains. I was in the ‘cockpit’ of my armed and armored Tsarina, with Shadowgirl in front of me. Babydoll and Twilight were in her van with the drones, and Berzerker and Sexkitten were in the ‘Beast’, as most of us called the thing. Thankfully, Babydoll’s drones had made repairs on the thing while we slept off the aftermath of our fights, so all good there.

As we drove, we went over the intel Alicia had sent us. First was a dossier on Tyler, including pictures. Normal-looking kid, left home about a week ago. Probably only been at the compound a few days. Which was why she was hopeful that he could be rescued, rather than just found.

The intel on the Brotherhood, though, was troubling. What she had looked good, but none of us were happy. There were too many holes in the information. All of it was too perfect. Too clean. It made my skin itch, because I knew things were going to be bad.

“How are things on the Matrix front, Twilight? Find their systems, yet?”

“Hmph. Yes, and no. Yes, I found the public-facing system. However, it is literally just a matrix site, hosted on a public server in Yakima proper. I tried tracing the logs, to see where the admins and such were logging in from, and they all came back to the public access node in a coffee shop in the middle of town. All of them.”

“In other words, the site is a smokescreen, and there’s no outward facing site for their ‘retreat’?”

“Exactly. I’ve gone looking in the Matrix for that area, and there’s nothing. Literally, no node, no connections. If there’s even a network out there, it is completely self-contained. And even for personal devices, reception is going to be shit up in that area of the mountain. If there was a fire or something, you’d have to hope that someone had a satellite connection on their commlink in order to call for help, or send people down the mountain to bring up the emergency crews.”

Shadowgirl cut in, “Well, the public site lists the retreat as a ‘technology-free spiritual getaway, to put aside the false connections of modern society’. They might have actually gone full neo-luddite out there.”

“Possible,” Babydoll allowed, “but even then, you’d usually see other signs. They’re up on the side of the mountain. Can’t really use that for farming, and what surveillance images we have show plenty of cars there. And the one interview someone from the Brotherhood gave to the local press, they didn’t come off as one of the anti-tech types. Something is definitely up, there.”

“What about the compound itself?” Berzerker asked. “Anything we know about it yet?”

Twilight sent images to each of our HUDs. “The ‘compound’ is actually a series of buildings built onto the side of the mountain. Three groupings. The first is for the security guards, and is closest to the gate for the access road. Guards are supposedly there to keep random people from just wandering in or endangering the residents. Don’t know how many in total, or what their shifts are, but the gatehouse is usually manned, so that will be something we have to deal with.

“Second grouping is Technical staff, a bit further up the mountain. Couple houses, and facilities for their motor pool. Nothing fancy, just a few work trucks, vans, and vehicles of any guests. The mechanics, cooks, and the like live in those houses. Again, unknown number.”

“We’re going to have to do recon before going in,” Shadowgirl said. “There’s too much unknown, here.”

“My blimp drones will help, some, but I don’t know how much better they’ll be than these shots,” Babydoll chimed in. “Still, it will give us eyes in the sky, at least. And if someone can get one of my drones or a commlink to a dataport inside the compound, then we’ll be able to see any local network they might have.”

“If they have one,” Berzerker said.

“I can almost guarantee they do,” Twilight replied. “The compound isn’t connected to the outside Matrix, but there are too many signs of modern convenience for them to be completely unwired. Anyways, third grouping, and the main one.”

The images focused on the two large buildings at the top of the access road. One was a very nice house. Not quite a mansion, but definitely more than your typical two bed, two bath affair. The other building, though, was much larger, and just had the feeling of a college dorm from the look of things.

“The house is where the leader, Zaydon Olsen, lives. Supposedly, he was a member of the Mormon church, before there was some sort of theological split between him, and the elders of his church. No details available. Zaydon and his three wives (Tancy, Mareth, and Rixa) moved to Yakima, where they started this branch of the Brotherhood of Unity.

“Alicia wasn’t kidding about the Brotherhood’s reach, by the way. They’re showing up worldwide. Confirmed branches in North America, Europe, southern Africa, New Korea, and Australia. Oddly enough, Ola Serin and Ola Tarin, what used to be Oregon and Ireland, have repeatedly rebuffed them.”

“There could be some magic fuckery involved, then,” I said. “Most of the higher-ups in Ola Serin, before the change in government, were said to be powerful magicians. Rumors of the same in Ola Tarin. Wouldn’t surprise me if they caught wind of something the others didn’t.”

“Something to consider when we’re scouting,” Twilight agreed. “The other building up at the top is the dormitory for people on the retreat. There are supposedly a few meeting halls, training rooms, and the like, underground. Only, there were never any contractors brought up for the renovations. Looks like a lot of the dirt and stone removed was used to make walls that marks the property line, but no one knows who actually built it.”

“That’s not suspicious at all,” I quipped. “Let me guess, any locals that started looking into things had accidents, or otherwise decided it wasn’t worth their time?”

“Indeed. As well as having several ‘campaign contributions’ to different politicians. This group has deep pockets, and finding out where the money comes from is not high on anyone’s agenda, it seems.”

“Switching gears, what about these giant bugs that are supposed to be in the area? Anything about them?”

“Seems to be like some sort of local cryptid, going by what reports I can find. But it only started about a year ago, about six months after this retreat got started, and the descriptions are fairly consistent, so there might be something there. Everything I’ve found describes them as ants, scaled up to human size. They don’t seem to have any weakness to the cold, though.”

“Yeah, that has to be related. So, something is going down at this spiritual retreat. Sounds like we need to find out what, if we’re going to find Tyler and get him out of there. Ideas?”

“Might be nothing,” Sexkitten said, “but one of my contacts is a gang leader, from the Devastation Angels. Female (or mostly female) go-gang, but there’s different groups under the same name. One of their groups is based in Pasco, but they range up towards Yakima, as well. When we figured out we’d be coming this way, I asked her if she could put me in touch with them, and they gave me a comcode to use. Supposedly, they’ve got a few people down that way right now.”

“Probably better than asking in town, if there isn’t a local fixer or the like we can trust. If this not-a-cult is keeping people from looking into their affairs, then they probably have informants in the town. Need to find someone who can give us some decent info, without letting the Brotherhood know we’re looking into them.”

“I’ll put a call in, then, and see if we can set up a meet. If things go south, they might be good for a couple extra guns on our side. Oh, and don’t stare too hard at them. They like to take in girls who have been changed by magic in some way. Not the pretty way, like with catgirls or elves, understand, but the more ‘mutant’ way.”

The rest of the drive was uneventful, with no trouble on the road. Sure, there were bouts of traffic, but no go-gangs causing trouble or random checkpoints by the highway patrol. Nice and simple driving. Oddly peaceful, compared to navigating the sprawl.

As we were nearing Yakima, Sexkitten got a reply from the Devastation Angels. One of their members, going by the name of DeeDee, called. When she found out we were asking about the Brotherhood, she got really interested, really fast. But not in the ‘gonna tip off the goons’ way. DeeDee suggested a meet, so that we could maybe work together, or at least keep out of each other’s way. Seeing no reason not to, we agreed.

Sure, just randomly trusting a friend of a friend on a run wasn’t always the best call. But if these gals were going to be hitting the compound anyway, it made sense to work together, rather than separately. If they weren’t on the level, then at least their guns would be where we could see them, instead of hidden away. And if they were on the level? Well, another gun on side meant more bullets downrange, and more targets for the other side to pick from, which was a bonus in my book.

So long as they weren’t after Tyler, then we didn’t really much care what they wanted or who they were there for. Hell, as long as they weren’t going after kids, I’d probably help load up whatever they were after as a way to build bridges and get new friends. Could never have too many people on your side when things came down to it.

At any rate, that’s why, just after lunch, we pulled into what used to be a bar, at some point, but had fallen on hard times after the Crash. Now, it served as a meeting place and a spot to crash for different gangers. I spotted at least four different gang signs as we pulled in, including one from the Blacksuns, which one of my contacts belonged to. Perhaps this was basically neutral ground, or belonged to whoever was crashing there at the moment?

At any rate, there were three bikes outside as we pulled up. All three were more of the ‘chopper’ style. Rugged machines that could be easily worked on in the field. Might not be as sleek or fast as the ‘crotch rocket’ style, but if you were spending hours a day driving on open road, it was probably easier on your backside. Or, at the very least, it left you less likely to launch over the handlebars if you stopped too fast.

Iceblade’s Judge Intentions Test: 13d6 = 5 Hits, 1 Miss

DeeDee’s Opposed Test: 12d6 = 4 Hits, 2 Miss

With the bikes were three women. Slim elf with obvious cybereyes, tall human with cybereyes and two chrome arms on display, and a big troll gal with a datajack on her temple, all dressed in gang leathers, and sporting a fair assortment of guns (even a cannon slung over the troll’s back!), but also melee weapons. As we got out of our rides, I noticed that all six turned to me and Shadowgirl, like they were doing a threat assessment. My Shark recognized them as fellow predators, and they recognized me as one, too. Considering Berzerker was there, with her assault rifle slung over one shoulder grenade launcher over the other, and they didn’t even spare her a glance? That was interesting.

Iceblade’s Assensing check: 4d6 = 2 Hits, 1 Miss

A quick peek into the astral told me that all three were magic. Not Magicians, though. Couldn’t tell what the elf was, but the human and troll? They both looked like, well, giant preying mantises on the astral. Spirits of some kind. Either a possession, or maybe free spirits? Whatever I was expecting, it wasn’t that.

The human, who looked to be in charge, stepped forward. Probably made her DeeDee. Or DD, going by her chest. Either way, she was not quite frowning as she looked us over. “Well, now, Honeypot didn’t tell me there’d be a wizboy with you. This shit just got interesting.”