To Snatch a Thief

CHAPTER ONE



Skye stared into the ice cold eyes of her enemy as she prepared herself for the attack. When he made his move it would be fast and she needed to be ready. A metre away, his long, muscled body, dressed in a black combat suit waited, relaxed, psyching her out.

She raised an eyebrow. He smirked. ‘Try and take me,’ he challenged. The thin line of silver studs that ran from his right eyebrow to his hairline glinted in the glare of the overhead lights.

When she feinted to the side, he shadowed her move. ‘Clumsy,’ he taunted. ‘You’ll have to do better than that.’

She rolled onto the balls of her feet, bounced; spun and kicked back. Her foot met fresh air. She hadn’t even seen him move. He was quick and dangerous but she wasn’t about to let him win. She lunged, jabbing both fists in a quick one two punch sequence. He blocked both with forearms like steel.

Irritation spiked. He wanted better. She’d give him better. Watch me. Sighing, she relaxed her shoulders, wandered two paces to the left, then reached up and pulled her hair free of its band, shaking it back from her face. Thick and wavy, it tumbled past her shoulders almost to her waist. For a split second his eyes followed the movement. She sprang, flinging herself low, intending to hit him below the knees, thereby taking his legs out from under him, but suddenly her own legs were above her head and she was staring at the gymnasium floor, then up at the ceiling as she landed, with a thud, on her back. There was pain in her shoulder. Too late she remembered to throw her arm out, judo-style, to break her fall. Well hell.

‘Try that again when you know how to pull it off,’ he remarked.

Angry, humiliated, she staggered to her feet. Hunter picked her up as her knees buckled, slung her over his shoulder and carried her to a workout bench, then plonked her down.

‘Watch!’ he commanded in that half irritated, half amused tone she loathed. ‘Watch, and learn. King.’ He crooked one finger and a boy pushed off from the wall where he’d been lounging, and took her place on the mat.

Skye rolled her sore shoulder knowing she’d have a hell of a bruise by morning, and accepted the inevitable. King was about to have the crap beaten out of him.

Since she’d been ordered to observe, she did just that. Lieutenant Hunter: an officer in the law enforcing arm of the Military & Civilian Combined Forces, mid-thirties, mixed-heritage, with dark hair tied back from his lean face in a sleek tail. He was a snatcher and therefore the enemy, and right now she hated his guts.

King was heavier: seventeen, same age as her, a repeat offender, also like her, with a square face and solid jaw and a nose that looked like he’d sparred a bit. His brown hair was cropped short above a wide forehead. The grin on his face never wavered as he circled Hunter’s motionless figure. Skye felt a stab of pity.

When he lunged, grabbed, Hunter flipped back, whirled and with an easy sweep of his legs took King’s out from under him.

King went down with a thud and an explosion of colourful swearing.

‘You fight like a bull. If the assailant had half my speed you’d be dead before you hit the ground. Both of you, sim room, ten minutes.’ Without another word, Hunter strode out, slamming the door behind him.

‘Well, that went well.’ King sat up; gingerly tested his tailbone. ‘You lasted longer than me at any rate.’ He flashed a grin and stood. ‘You okay?’

‘Never better.’ Fuming, she wandered to the windows and relieved some of her frustration by kicking the skirting board. ‘Smug, stone-faced, self-satisfied, son-of-a… sod. I’ll bring him down if it’s the last thing I do,’ she promised.

‘Son-of-a-sod?’ King came and stood beside her.

Skye shrugged, wincing as her shoulder screamed in protest. ‘Had to find another ess. He’s in a pisser of a mood tonight, more than usual.’

‘Word is he’s beating himself up about Corporal Blake; she was on his snatcher team. The memorial service is next week.’ King’s eyes went flat, his eyes blank. ‘Official line, she went down in the line of duty. Snatcher’s know the risks when they sign on, but…’ He moved a shoulder. ‘I done a load’ve bad shit, brawling and stuff when I’m juiced, but offing someone…nah, that sucks. Blake brought me in coupla times and was nicer than most.’ He sucked in a breath. ‘She was okay, you know.’

They stood in silence each lost in their own thoughts. Outside it looked cold, very cold. Winter 2089 was gearing up to be a shocker. It had been raining sleet all day and snow was forecast. Despite the triple glazed windows and the heat pumping out of the climate control units, Skye shivered. Beyond Combined Forces Re-Adjustment Centre walls, frozen commuters would be swarming around the teeming beehive that was London; heads bowed and breath steaming as they juggled for shuttles, dived up and down the tubes, or grabbed a hot meal from the licensed street hawkers making the most of the rush-hour trade. The mono-rails would be full to choking now as offices spewed out workers, and those who could afford private vehicles made for the park n rides.

She looked up. Overhead in the leaden sky, a never-ending stream of refuse trains trundled their way to the transit depots for off-planet disposal on Lunar I, while freight trams bulleted around the capital scurrying down streets like cockroaches down holes. Soon the dives and brothels of the western suburbs would be heaving with punters eager to use sex, drugs, or whatever else they could, to blank out the misery of their lives for a time, while over to the south east, theatres, clubs, smart restaurants and the like would be opening their doors to the wealthy. It had been a rich hunting ground - she’d supplemented her income there for the last six years. And in the middle of it all, thrusting like a dirty great sword out of the city’s heart stood the Parliament Tower. Its sides were smooth, black and polished like glass. Eighty floors of power, topped with a spear-point of gold.

‘Are you going to stick to this deal?’ she eventually asked.

Flicking his eyes to the red dot flashing above the door, King lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘You’ve got to be kidding. You know, as well as I do, what would happen to us out there once it got around.’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘Nah, I’m playing along with it for now to get the early release, but once I’m out, I’m gone. You?’

She’d struggled over this for days; ever since she’d been approached for the government’s new-fangled, use-a-thief-to-snatch-a-thief recruitment scheme. ‘I dunno, King,’ she said, choosing her words carefully. ‘I’m eighteen soon. I’ve got a record. Jobs are hard enough to find as it is and it’ll get worse as the northerners come in. But if I’m caught again I’m looking at a long stretch, and not in a place like this.’ She paused because he was eyeing her warily. ‘But you’re right. We don’t belong on their side of the line.’ For a second she felt a stab of regret. ‘Can a leopard change its spots?’ she wondered.

‘Huh?’

‘Nothing, just babbling.’

‘Leopards? Aren’t they extinct or something?’

She sighed, then smiled. ‘Yeah, a long time ago.’

‘Did Hunter say why he picked you?’

‘Kinda. Actually I think he just scrolled down the iRoll and picked a number at random.’

According to her micro-chip, she was Skye Forrester, chip number XRT double four three triple nine oh five two; female; birthed 2071. Description: Skin fair; hair chestnut brown; green eyes; five foot six inches; fifty five kilos. Recently it had been updated to say she was currently serving four months in CFCRAC for petty larceny - a fancy way of saying she was snatched picking some posh guy’s pocket.

‘What about you?’

Never serious for long, King licked a finger and smoothed it over his raised eyebrow. ‘I figured it was my superior gaming skills, my sparkling wit, and my ability to fart the national anthem.’

‘That’s just disgusting.’

‘Yeah, fun though. I could go a pizza.’

They started walking. ‘What sort of pizza?’

‘Some huge, greasy, double crust pizza, with soy pepperoni and dripping in fake cheese, and a big portion of deep fried mealies on the side.’

‘Swap the mealies for bugs; you get the assortment. The moment you pick it, you’ll be jumpin’ like a cricket.’ She sang the irritating jingle and made him laugh.

‘Yeah, solar.’ King draped an arm round Skye’s shoulders in a companionable way as they left the gym and started up the long corridor outside, their shoes squeaking on the polished floor. The building had once been a hotel, but had been re-vamped in the last decade or so as a re-adjustment facility for under-age offenders. Three storeys of lime green walls and high end security. Its homely decor and single occupancy bedrooms were supposed to make them feel all warm and fuzzy and turn from their lives of crime. Yeah, Skye thought, like that was going to happen. With little or no chance of getting a job outside, most of the kids there re-offended just to get back in.

They took the lift to the third level, set aside for recreation: already most of the gaming booths were occupied, screeching with the sounds of beeps and buzzes and electronic explosions as kids played out their fantasies.

‘Hey, King,’ a skinny lad in baggy khakis and bright orange kickers intercepted them as they wound through the war-zones to the simulator room. ‘Guess what? I just beat your best Hotshot score, level five.’ He stuck a cone of lime fizz in his mouth and sucked.

King slid his hands into his pockets, rocked back on his heels. Skye watched his eyes take on a competitive gleam. ‘No kidding. That’s solar, Davey. Really V.’ Casually, he smiled.

‘Hang around, I might have a game myself later.’ He continued walking and Skye feared Davey’s triumph was going to be short-lived. What was it with males and their egos?

Hunter was waiting at the sim console, one arm draped over the back of his chair, the other resting palm down on the controls. His head was down, his eyes lowered, studying his fingers which were tapping a rhythm over the display glass.

‘Skye, you first,’ he said, without looking up.

King rolled his eyes at her and sauntered to the observation area.

She stood where she was for a moment, one hand still holding the lift door ajar, afraid to have her escape route close behind her, and eyed the receptionist in the foyer.

Hunter’s disembodied voice came out of nowhere, like God. ‘Observe your surroundings. What do you see?’

‘Um, old bird in a retro twin set, motherly sort, non-threatening.’

The woman smiled a toothy welcome as she noticed Skye hovering, and pointed to a set of plush chairs. ‘Please take a seat.’ Her voice held a faint accent Skye couldn’t place.

‘Don’t take anything for granted,’ God advised, so she disengaged the safety clip on her weapon harness as she advanced. Her heart rate was up. If she fired now, she knew the tremor in her hand could be the difference between life and death – her own. She drew two steadying breaths, focussed. Behind her the lift doors closed then opened with a whoosh of compressed air. She spun, dropping low, her weapon already in her hand, her finger on the discharger. Two giggling children with rosy cheeks toddled out. ‘Discharge aborted!’ she yelled, then caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. She rolled, gripped the weapon two-handed and fired from the ground. The stream caught the receptionist full centre, throwing her back and flinging the GIG-95 she was pointing at Skye, out of her hand. ‘Gotcha, you bitch.’

Kneeling, Skye grinned over to where she knew Hunter was manning the simulator controls. ‘Hand to hand combat might not be my strong point, but you’ve got to admit I’m a damn good shot.’ She heard a ripple of applause from some other kids who’d come in to watch, and took a bow. The knife thrust in her back was a shock and stung like hell but the embarrassing childish giggles that accompanied it were worse. The simulation shimmered, the foyer scenario dissolved.

As Hunter stepped towards her he smirked. ‘Like I said, never take anything for granted. Go again.’