A Scuffle for a Wrinkle, pt 5 (conclusion)
a science fiction caper
RECAP! (previously on “Scuffle”…)
Part 1: Vonnel proposes to his crew of misfits a heist in which they swipe the most-advanced and sought-after gadget on the planet for a massive payday.
Part 2: they infiltrate the hotel and setup an ambush for the gentlemen carrying the device.
Part 3: they corner their mark, only to find out he doesn’t have the device anymore, much to his own chagrin. Vonnel’s oldest rival, Gracian, has it instead, but he’s missing a vital piece. And the chase begins!
Part 4: Vonnel and Jestu chase Gracian in a thrilling hov chase, through the city and up the side of a building. But Gracian uses the wrinkler to disappear again before they can apprehend him.
Part 5: Read the conclusion below!
A Scuffle for a Wrinkle, part V
Before Jestu could even ask how Vonnel proposed getting the hov off the roof, he was gone, racing for the edge. Vonnel leapt off the building and clicked on his boot’s magnetism with one hand while setting the glider under his feet with the other. The board grabbed his soles, and he soared across the sky. He hunched on the board, hair dancing in the wind, face as rigid and stolid as ever. He and the board sliced through the air, descending toward the lower buildings between he and his objective. The crisp air stung his face. First his ears and nose, followed by fingers and toes, tingled and went numb; the shrill whistle of air assailed his frozen ears.
He rounded the corner of a building, soaring past windows and workers staring and pointing, and came within sight of the estate. Less than a mile away, and clear sailing. He skimmed the rooftop of one building, snuck between two others, and nearly swallowed a sparrow. He could practically smell the grass now. He banked the final curve at eighty feet, around the circular face of a deep maroon high-rise, riding the length of the avenue bordering the estate. In the far corner of the property sat the spa, a prim little structure jutting from the shrubs and grasses.
A man limped up the avenue, back to Vonnel. His clothes were drenched, his hair limp silver strands clinging to his scalp. The figure of a man doggedly victorious; the figure of a man injured in escape by an unexpected rough tumble into a spa. A smile rose to Vonnel’s lips, willing his frozen mouth to curve.
Gracian did not so much as turn to face the whir behind him. Vonnel touched down seventy feet to the rear of his nemesis and drew his gun.
“Don’t take one more step if you value your life. Raise your hands where I can see them.”
Gracian halted and slowly lifted his arms above his head, without turning or altering his position. He chuckled. “Found me, old friend, did you? Very impressive.”
Vonnel advanced slowly, never losing aim. “Where is it, Gracian?”
Gracian laughed, and said in his rich, cheery drawl, “Are you still trying to win? It is truly pathetic. You never have before, why would your luck change now? Fortune is not so fickle.”
“Tell me where it is, or I will shoot you and take it from your person directly. I am not in the mood for idle games.”
“In my pant pocket, if you must know. But surely you know it can do you no good. The thing is defective. Really, you can have it. It was much ado over absolutely nothing.”
Gracian was playing his last card, hoping Vonnel was not aware of the necessity of the remote. Vonnel ignored him.
“Take off your pants.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Now. Do it.”
Gracian chuckled. “You do not want to see me in my skivvies, my good man. You’ll have nightmares for weeks. I’m not as young as I once was.”
“I have no doubt of it. Do it anyway.”
“Very well.” Gracian reached down, showed off his pearly whites to Vonnel, and slowly, deliberately unbuckled his pants and slid them down his legs, leaving nothing but his boxers and his shirt to cover his pale mottled skin. He tossed his pants onto the ground beside him. “Happy now?”
“Toss them at my feet.”
His hov turned into the avenue beyond Gracian, and rolled up to a halt. The door slid back; Jestu grinned. “Hot for him now, are you, Von?”
Vonnel scoffed. “Do you still want your reward?” He rifled through the pockets and removed the wrinkler without shifting his gaze from Gracian.
“Absotively posilutely!”
“Then shut your moth trap, and slide over.”
“Ain’t you gonna shoot him?”
“An unarmed old man in his sub-britches? What do you take me for?”
“For a second, I thought you were one of them street pervs!”
Vonnel slapped him and hopped behind the controls.
He punched the thrusters and laid on the throttle. They picked their way through town carefully, obeying all statutes and avoiding high-profile avenues. The desert never ranged more than a mile to the east. Vonnel felt more comfortable with the wide open spaces close.
Twenty minutes into the northern drive, Jestu broke the silence. “What’s going on?”
Vonnel had checked his mirrors with increasing frequency the last several minutes. He glanced into his rearview again, without moving his neck.
“He’s following us.”
“Who? Gracian?”
“No, Brausley.”
“Head Nerd Brausley? Are you serious? How’d he find us?”
“Does it matter? I think someone has been following us since we left his estate. This next street leads to the desert. Hold on.”
He banked the hov suddenly down an alley and roared for the sand. The car behind him followed suit, all pretense abandoned. Vonnel burst into the sand and began a wide arc leading him back north, mounting speed as he traveled. The black hover cart streaking after them gained.
Into the straightaway, parallel to the city by two miles, Vonnel started flicking switches on the panel.
“Hold on to your eyebrows."
He hit another switch, and the hov shot ahead, faster, faster, until the world became a blur and the rush in Vonnel's veins was nearly enough to pop his eyes from his skull. He heard a crack, like a twig being snapped, and several seconds later, another one. The world turned on end, and existence ceased to exist. Everything was relative: time, space, reality. A new ethereal dimension had unfolded its wings and rested before them.
After five minutes, they began decelerating, and within ten more minutes, they had resumed normal travel speed. Beside him, Jestu sat in shock, felt the gooseflesh running up and down his arm, and looked behind him with bulging eyes. A huge cloud of dust billowed from the direction they had come, like a massive sand storm brewing a catastrophe. Vonnel curved the hov back into the city.
#
Two days brought with it gray clouds and a blustery cold wind. Winter was infringing on early spring in Barsen, far from the mild, controlled climate of the city world. Vonnel and Jestu stepped in unison from the sleek azure hover cart and picked their way through the maze of hovs in the lot of the Creeping Range.
As Jestu placed his hand on the smooth surface of the door, both their faces bore defeat and resentment. They crossed the dark, seedy interior in file, sidestepping stools, drunks, and stoners to the back. The motley crew sitting at the table was glum. Not a smiling face among them, not a sparkling eye. Vonnel and Jestu each scraped back chairs.
Piro eyed them suspiciously, feet propped up on the table and crossed, lips hugging a six-inch long stogie. He puffed out a ball and grumbled, “Any more rigmarole whale-tage for us to sink our rotting, stinking teeth into? Eh? Or you had enough fun yanking our collars with that fourteen billion hase smoke you blow in our faces? Mule-pokin’ sons of…”
Piro trailed off, and Vonnel sat with his chin resting on his chest. Jestu cocked his head skywards, looking like he was about to cry. It was all Vonnel could do not to laugh. Jestu was so good at this.
Narin cleared his throat. “Wh…what h-happened, anyway? S-seemed to be going so w-well.” Giant black tears formed on his lids.
“Gracian Salkor.”
The name alone was sufficient. Groans issued from around the table.
Tannin spoke first, in a grating whine. “Why can’t we defeat him? We are a team, he is one person! What is so special about him?”
Vonnel shrugged, still avoiding eye contact. “He’s good, I guess. Better than us.”
Gregario started to cry, softly at first, then growing into a sob. “It my fault, ain’t it Captain? You can tell them. It all my fault. I scared him off.” His ample frame shook with another sob.
“Did we get anything? I mean, did he get away with everything, and we just got our thumbs up our hind-ends, or what?” Narin said.
“Of course we dint. And you wanna know why? Cause as long as we got Von, we ain’t ever gonna beat Gracian. Von is good-for-nuttin, ain’t ya, Von?” Piro's stogie stood almost straight up to his nose as he chomped down on it.
Vonnel ignored him.
“There is one thing we managed to grab,” he said. He reached into his pocket and produced a silver tube with a metallic black tip. They all recognized it as a key, and perked up.
“What’s that to?” Tannin whispered excitedly.
Vonnel jerked his head towards Gregario. “Accesses his new account. And the fourteen mil within.” A slight smile crept across his mouth.
Gregario quit crying and looked up in confusion. "I don't get it."
"Take it. It's yours. You're a millionaire now."
Tears streaked down Gregario's face. "No bustin'?"
"No busting."
Gregario began hopping up and down in his chair, flailing his arms about like a crazed windmill.
“Now wait just one graskin’ minute, you piece of tage. Did you get the wrinkler, or didn’t you? Cause there’s no way they be giving that airhead no fourteen coupla hases if you didn't; and if ya did, then I better be getting my share graskin’ soon, or I’m gonna pick the dinner from your intestines and flop them across the room. Don’t be playing games with my money, I ain’t laughing, not now nor ever.” Piro leaned forward in his seat, removed his stogie to enunciate certain words, then put it back for another drag.
Vonnel reached into his pocket and removed a pouch. He promptly dumped the contents onto the table. Three little cylindrical keys popped out and rested on the planks. “Have your pick, fellows. Jestu and I already grabbed ours, and you see Gregario enjoying his. The rest are yours, so go at it.”
Piro, Narin, and Tannin leapt up and grabbed theirs in unison, staring at their fortunes with bulging eyes.
“Now, I’ll be taking a small collection to reimburse my pilot, the one who dropped me off so I could glide to the hotel. What do you think, hundred thousand each? I think that should be adequate.” Each of them nodded their heads absently, except Piro, who was too busy inspecting his key.
“This better not be no joke, cause I weren’t kidding about what I said back there.”
Vonnel laughed, and Tannin, with a tinge of awe, said, “It’s not a joke. Look. They have our names etched in the sides. And our images! Only one place does that–Rarc Scobel and Co. Trusts and Vestings. Most prestigious holder in…. in the world!” He looked up at Vonnel, tears gleaming in his eyes.
Vonnel smiled in turn. “Our client only uses the best.”
“Know what I’m gonna get with my money?” Narin said with a twinkle in his eye. “A human suit custom made to look just like Gracian Salkor. So I can kick its scrawny white cheeks all over my brand new palace!”
Vonnel laughed, gave them a moment to bask in their reward, glanced around the room, and hunkered down close to the table. With a twinkle in his eyes, he whispered, “Who’s ready to make another ten mil?”
“Oh no! Not me boss! I'm out! Done! Finis!” Narin burst out.
Tannin mumbled and shook his head. “Uh-uh. Mmmmmmmmm. Uh-uh.”
Piro actually smiled and said, “Maybe you should quit while you're ahead. Not bound to last for long, you ol’ dog.” The smile looked strange, out-of-place, on his hardened face.
Vonnel turned to Jestu. “Looks like it’s just you and me, babe, here on out. Think we can handle it?”
Before he could answer, Gregario pouted. “You wouldn’t leave po’ Gregario behind, Captain? I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I could be… I could be your lackey!”
Vonnel laughed and clapped Gregario on the back. “We won’t ever let you go, as long as you want to stay. But things could get dangerous, you know. And you got all that money now. Don’t forget that.”
“Without you and the missions, how could I ever have gotten those men into that stall? I like your missions!”
Vonnel placed his arms about the shoulders of Gregario and Jestu. The three of them hunched their heads together, and Vonnel whispered, “Then listen to what I have in mind….”
END
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