Black Market Merchant

Chapter 122: Sightings
When Jackson and Rodney left from meeting with Martinez, they immediately parted ways. Neither of the two had much in common and nor did they want to. Waiting outside for the two men were Rodney’s two dogs, Cooper and Zeus, and Jerry. Unlike the two lieutenants, Jerry and the two big dogs got along famously. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that they were always being left alone outside together. Which was normal for the dogs, but a sad reality for Jerry.

”Come on boys!” Rodney called to the two dogs. ”We got to hunt down another one.”

Zeus let out a heavy snort from his muzzle and got up from his spot, curled up at Jerry’s side. Cooper was sitting upright on the other side of Jerry, being petted. Then hearing his masters call, Cooper licked Jerry’s hand as if to say goodbye.

Jackson watched the two dogs leave his subordinate and shook his head. ”You know those dogs eat people, right? How can you, one of the wimpiest guys I know, handle being friendly with them?”

Jerry stood up from the banks faded red carpet floor and patted the back of his pants. ”I don’t know. Guess they know I can’t fight them, and if I could, I wouldn’t. I’ve seen them rip many a man’s face off to eat it and they were stronger than me in every way.”

”Well in any case, the boss wants us to spy on Queen and find her weaknesses. Know anyone that might take us wherever she’s at?” Jackson asked as the two of them started down the stairs towards the Banks main exit.

”I know where she’s at. Saul mentioned it once when he was talking to Golem. Apparently, Saul’s MFA tabloid had tracked her to the old dam.” Jerry replied. ”But if you still need a guy to bring along, I know of one. He’s normally a gate guard and practically a nobody, but I saw him leading Queen and some others around here once.”

”Hmm, alright. It might be good to bring him with us. Once I get some armed gangsters together, we’ll get the guy and see what we can find. Go ahead and find him.” Jackson replied.

”Got it Boss.” Jerry said nodding and then the two split up.

Twenty minutes later the two met up at the compound walls east exit. Jackson had with him four gangsters armed with assault rifles. The rifles they carried resembled their ancestor, the M4 Carbine; but the design was now far sleeker and more streamlined to where it appeared to be all made of one 3D printed piece. They used the same caliber ammunition, 5.56mm, but were no longer gas powered and were now electrically charged. The only additional notable changes were that the barrel was now 508mm long and its effective range was doubled to 1000m compared to the old M4 Carbine. Jerry had only shown up with the guy he mentioned before.

”Alright, let’s get going. Jerry, lead the way and you, what’s your name?” Jackson asked the man.

”Thompson.” The tall guy replied nervously.

”Well Thompson, we are going to meet up with an acquaintance of yours. Queen should be happy to see you again, I’m sure.” Jackson said patting the tall man’s shoulder as he passed by to leave the compound.

Thompson swallowed nervously and nodded in reply. Thinking to himself nervously he wondered if he was in trouble. ”Are we going to go fight her? Was this because I let her and those people in here and now, they are going to teach me some horrible lesson out of this?! Why don’t I think these things through!”

Thoughts like these bounced around in the tall man’s head as they headed for the dam. It wasn’t until they reached sight of the dam that he inwardly felt relieved once he heard Jackson’s next order.

”Hold up guys.” Jackson said holding up a hand. He suspiciously eyed the piles of cars at the entrance and the covers on the inside of the barbed wire fences. ”That place looks fortified somewhat and we’re not here to fight. Let’s check out the rest of the area before we try talking with Queen.”

The seven men first circled around to the north side of the dams fenced in area, sticking close to the abandoned buildings. There was a decent amount of open uphill ground between them and the fences and there was no telling if anyone might be patrolling the area. Seeing all this, Jackson started to feel concerned.

”Queen did mention to me that she wanted me to work for her. Seeing all this being built up makes me wonder if her words were not empty at all.” Jackson thought to himself.

They had now reached the lakeside, north of the fence and hadn’t seen any way in. The fence had appeared to be still in defendable condition. They were about to circle back when Jerry suddenly called out. ”Boss! Look across the water. What are those machines? They are huge!”

”Machines?” Jackson replied curiously. He came over to where Jerry was standing on a large rock overlooking the lake. Then following Jerry’s outstretched hand, he saw the machines; tall, black with yellow stripes. ”Those are Mineral Mover Mechs! We got to find out what Queen is up to. She might be more dangerous than we or the boss knew. Let hurry and see if there is a way inside on the south side. No one is to shoot first! If we start something those mechs will tear us apart!”

…

Hanna and the other girls were having a wonderful walk through the town towards the dam. The sun’s brilliant rays were warm being unhindered in the cloudless sky, and the wind was coolly blowing off the river nearby. Being near midday, the streets were not that crowded with people, as most were now eating or taking naps. The town actually felt sleepy and calm around this time, which would continue to be even more so apparent with summer heat approaching.

Clair had a nearly perfect memory of the route Benny had taken them on before. Also, out of all the girls, Clair was the only one looking out for dangerous looking people. The other girls were all obliviously chatting away and laughing. Clair always thought of herself as the big sister of these thoughtless children, who couldn’t survive without her attentiveness.

Even though everything had gone completely normal during the walk, Clair felt like someone was watching her. However, whenever she stole a glance behind them, she saw no one suspicious. Either it was just an empty road or different people every time walking the other way. She started to wonder if she was imagining it, but like her mother told her; ’A girl must always stay suspicious.’

After an hour of casual walking, they came within sight of the last docks and a broad view of the dam. The four girls, that hadn’t come this way before, were impressed seeing the dam from up close. Despite living in the town all their short lives, they had never come out this far from home to see how big it truly was.

”How are we going to get up there?! It’s practically in the sky!” Rosy shouted craning her neck upward to look at the massive wall.

”We walk silly. It’s not in the sky at all and behind it is the most water you will have ever seen!” Rachel replied excitedly. ”The view is even more spectacular up there though. I bet you can see your house from there.”

”I-It better not be scary.” Jillian stammered. ”If It is, we are going back right away.”

”Don’t worry Jillian.” Hanna replied. ”It’s not all that bad and you can look at other things there too. Aunt Lisa has a lot going on over there.”

”Hmm, if you say so.” Jillian replied clutching her arms closer and eyeing the tall structure ahead.

The group of girls followed Clair away from the river that they had been going alongside most of the time and turned inwardly towards the buildings. The buildings quickly turned into storage units and the road steepened greatly. The littlest two girls were struggling to keep up, but the older girls were patiently waited for them to follow along. Once reaching the top everyone sat down to take a quick break.

The dam was slightly obscured by the fence and some rocks. So, the girls didn’t have much to look at, making the break a short one. They were too curious to start waiting now.

”How are we getting in? I am assuming that we are going in there.” Jillian asked looking at the fence and metal blockade.

”Yes, we are.” Hanna answered. ”We just need to call over to Aunt Lisa and hope she hears us.”

”There’s no way to knock or something less embarrassing?” Jillian asked.

”I don’t think so?” Hanna replied. ”I know where the door is, but not how to open it.”

”Well, I guess that all we can do then.” Rachel said being the first to get up from the break. ”Come on then. It might be fun.”

The rest of the girls followed her lead, and all were soon standing in front of the door. ”What do we yell?” Clair pointed out. ”We can just start screaming random stuff.”

”Well, let’s just yell Lisa, until someone come to the door.” Hanna suggested.

”Alright. On the count of three.” Clair said holding up three fingers. ”One, two, three!”

All the girls shouted as loudly as they could Lisa’s name in unison three times. So far no one had come to the door yet. They were about to shout again when suddenly, a male voice called to them from behind. Startled they all turned to see seven grown men standing right behind them.

”Well, hello there.” A nicely dressed man with a grey streak in his hair said to them. ”Who is this Lisa and is this the way in?”

Clair immediately stepped defensively in front of the two littlest girls. ”Who are you!” She squeaked.

”Oh, relax little girl. We mean no harm. We are just here to speak with Queen, but we don’t know how to get in to do so. We saw you all here and though you might know.” The man replied giving a grin.

It was then Hanna recognized the man and two others behind him. ”A-are you Jackson?” She asked the man timidly.

The nicely dressed man raised an eyebrow slightly surprised hearing his name. ”Yes. Have we met?” Jackson replied looking at the muddy red headed girl. ”Oh, I do recall you. You were with Queen that time she killed two of my men. This is good. At least now I know we are in the right place.”

”Leave them alone!” A shout suddenly came out from behind the gangsters.

The gangsters turned around to see several young boys shakily holding sticks and rocks. The girls peered around the gangsters to look as well. It was Derrick, Chase, Bill, Henry, Sorra, Malik and Fred.

”Y-you guys better leave them alone o-or else!” Derrick nervously shouted pulling his arm back to throw a rock.

Seeing the young boys, the gangsters chuckled. Kids with rocks and stick were no threat against their guns. ”Should we get some target practice in boss?” One of the gangsters asked shouldering his rifle.

”No! If they are here to see Queen and you idiots kill them then things will not work out well. Remember those machines?” Jackson growled and pushed down the man gun barrel.

There was a ruckus and a metal screech coming from behind the girls. Everyone looked its direction and saw Lisa standing in the doorway. She took one glance at the situation and immediately put on a scowl.

”What is going on here? You better not have hurt them!” Lisa shouted.

”Come on Jackson. I’ll just take off an arm or leg.” The man retorted ignoring Lisa’s word and raised his gun again. He was now pointing right at Derrick.