Most travel in the wasted land is on foot.
Riding beasts attracts predators and vehicles are unreasonably expensive.
Tiber Fane set out on foot after whoever had stolen the pastry.
It was a cold day with ash flurries that limited visibility enough to make him nervous.
He pulled his scarf over his mouth and nose.
Normally he would just shelter somewhere from the storm but he had to keep moving if he was to have any chance of catching the motorcycle.
If he was lucky, the ash would make it so hard to drive that his prey would walk the bike or pull over long enough for him to catch up.
After an hour or so the storm let up enough for him to see the motorcycle parked outside what looked to have once been a diner.
He moved carefully to the back door.
No one could have seen him approach. With so much ash in the air he wouldn’t even have to rely on his stealth suit.
There was a lock on the door but breaking and entering was an almost insultingly casual use of his skills. Once inside, he started clearing the rooms one by one, weapon in hand.
A soft voice spoke out from somewhere in the darkness “What are the odds?”
He would know that voice anywhere. It had the power to strip him of his carefully cultivated detachment.
She stepped out from behind the salad bar, a broad grin on her face.
“Needed shelter from the storm?” she teased.
He approached carefully, like he might spook her - be he knew better.
There was a break room with a couch. Lucky again.
Life is an exercise in assumption of risk.
This was clearly a terrible idea but he weighed the risks against an hour or so of feeling like the world wasn’t an irredeemable hellscape.
He chose to share some time with her in that diner break room. It was too urgent to be called intimate but it was something he needed more than he could admit to himself or anyone.
He was convinced he loved her once. They met on a job. She was another pro. They called her “Shadow”. If she didn’t want to be seen she could be invisible.
“The water here is good. I wouldn’t drink it, but a quick camp shower?”
Tiber chuckled. “Was that a hint?”
He allowed himself a lingering last look.
She was the most impure pure he had ever met.
He sighed and raised his autopistol.
“Well fuck,” she muttered.
She gestured to her clothes and he waved her toward them with the gun.
As she put them back on, he asked, “Where is it?”
She smiled again and all of a sudden something clicked.
“What did you do?” he demanded.
Zipping up her bodysuit she answered “A drone on the roof. Gave it a twenty minute timer to give the storm time to chill. It’s gone now. Headed back home.”
So much for his contented glow. No time to bask.
The two just stared at each other for a long minute.
Tiber broke the deadlock.
The seriousness of the situation set in. She softened.
“So this isn’t about whatever they stole?”
“Kugel. No. Not anymore.”
She put on her motorcycle helmet.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. We were working for someone who calls himself the Gourmet. I’m not sure how he knew what you friend had or why he wanted it but he paid well to have it. I can give you the location of the place where I was hired but that’s all I know.”
Tiber knew her well enough to know that she was telling the truth.
“You didn’t know.” he answered.
She handed him a slip of paper and headed into the night.
He allowed himself to wonder idly if he would ever see her again then got back to work.
He knew where the Kugel was headed.
To be continued..... (Story by Mike Nystul)