After Claudia's hasty departure from the kitchen, Parker dumped the tomatoes and the cheese into the bowl with the lettuce. She suspected that there was more to Claudia's shady past than she had told...but Parker wasn't going to ask any more tonight. Besides, she certainly hadn't given Claudia many details about her own past. She mixed the ingredients in the bowl thoroughly, then left it sitting on the counter. She walked down the hall to the guest bedroom and knocked softly.
"Claudia?," she called quietly, "The salad is ready."
Parker went back to the kitchen and took two bottles of salad dressing from the refrigerator...Ranch and Thousand Island. When she turned again, Claudia was entering the kitchen. Her face was pale...it still held a stricken look that could've been doubt or regret... Parker wasn't sure which. She took two plates from the cabinet and grabbed some forks, then sat down on a barstool next to where Claudia was sitting.
"I have to go back to San Antonio tomorrow," she said, thinking to lighten the mood some, "you wanna come?"
Claudia nodded, "I meant to ask you about something. I have to get rid of Defiance...my computer...it's much too large to be lugging across the United States. I think I'll need something more practical for this job." Parker knew her meaning...the system wasn't something that a person could just walk into a computer store with. She thought for a moment, thinking of the various acquaintances that owed her favors. In her line of work, she often came into contact with less than law abiding citizens. She ran through a list of possibilities in her mind...then finally a name came to her.
"Cyrus," she muttered.
"What?"
"Cyrus...he's this kid I helped out a few months ago...I got some possession charges dropped for him. He used to work for me from time to time...hiding in bushes with a video camera, things that that. Anyway, he owes me...if anyone knows where you could drop your system...it's him."
Claudia's eyes brightened, "Can he get me a trade for it?"
"More than likely. He's got his fingers into little of everything. We'll track him down tomorrow."
Claudia's mood seemed to lighten after that, and two women finished their food and cleaned the kitchen. Afterwards they sat in the living room, with Parker sprawled out in one of the armchairs and Claudia on the sofa. Parker withdrew a long remote control from the side pocket on the chair and pressed a few buttons. Moments later dark, haunting music filled the room. Claudia didn't recognize it, but her face scrunched in distaste. She found the music to be far too dark and depressing...much like Parker herself. Claudia preferred more mellow sounds, certainly not this melodic melancholy spewing from Parker's stereo.
There wasn't much more conversation between them, but some of the tension had subsided. For the first time in days, Parker actually felt relaxed...a condition that she rarely ever found herself in. By the time Parker decided to go to bed, Claudia had dozed off on the sofa. Parker left her there and trudged off to her bedroom. The nightmare did not return that night, thankfully, and Parker awoke the next morning feeling refreshed.
Claudia was still on the sofa, and she didn't stir until 9 a.m. Parker waited patiently while she showered, and she had to stifle a laugh when Claudia emerged wearing jeans and a sweater.
"What?," Claudia asked, noticing Parker's amused smirk.
"Have you ever been down here before?," Parker asked.
"No...why?"
"It's only ten o'clock and it's already 83 degrees outside. By noon the temperature will be up in the nineties...and you want to go outside wearing that?"
Claudia flushed, "Oh...I didn't think of that," she mumbled, "I'll go...put a t-shirt on."
Parker was still smirking when Claudia rejoined her. Together they loaded Defiance into the car, then set off. The sun was a blazing ball of fire in the sky as they headed for San Antonio, with Parker sitting behind the wheel of her Firebird. Claudia suddenly realized why Parker kept the air so frigid in her house. They dry heat was awful, even with the air conditioning on in the car. Her white t-shirt was sticking to her, and her curls had frizzed horribly. She glanced at Parker, wondering how the other woman could stand the heat, clad in all black as she was.
"How on earth do you stand this?," Claudia asked, fanning herself.
Parker shrugged and rolled her window down a crack, then lit a cigarette. "I've lived here all my life...you get used to it."
The rest of the trip was spent in silence, then the city was suddenly upon them. Claudia stared out the window with avid interest, as she always did when in a new city. Parker easily parallel parked front of a two story building that looked oddly out of place in the midst of the much larger buildings around it. They busied themselves with unloading Claudia's computer and hauling the components inside.
Claudia didn't have much of an opportunity to look around the office much before Parker was ushering her outside again, closing the door and locking Defiance safely inside the heavily secured office. Parker started walking, leaving Claudia trying to keep up with the other woman's much longer stride.
"So...where are we going now?," Claudia asked, when she finally fell in step beside Parker.
"I told you, I have an appointment to keep," Parker replied, suddenly coming to a halt in front of...a tattoo shop?
"This was the appointment you had to keep?," Claudia asked in disbelief.
Parker nodded and pulled the door open. A little bell chimed as they entered, and Claudia's eyes widened at the sight of the interior of the place...specifically the big man behind the counter. He had to be at least six feet tall, and well over two hundred pounds of rippling muscle. His eyes were a deep brown, his head shaved completely bald. Ink covered every inch of the skin on his arms, and the opened leather vest he wore revealed that most of his chest was tattooed as well.
"Parky!," the man exclaimed, rushing away from the counter and enveloping Parker in a crushing hug. To Claudia's amazement, Parker actually blushed.
"Don't call me that Cy," she grumbled, hugging the big man back. She stepped away from him and addressed Claudia, who hung back by the door.
"Claudia...I'd like you to meet Cyrus." Claudia nodded politely. This was Cyrus? This was the "kid" Parker had referred to last night? Parker followed Cyrus into the little room behind the counter, leaving Claudia perched on one of the leather sofas in the lobby.
"You still getting that piece on your back today?," Cyrus asked her.
"Yeah," she replied,watching as he looked for her design in a stack of papers in the counter. "I need a favor Cy."
"Name it."
"Claudia is my partner on this new case I'm working on."
"That little mouse?"
Parker chuckled, "She's more than she seems. Anyway...she's got this computer system... real state of the art stuff. We need to trade it."
Cyrus didn't look up from what he was doing, "What do you want for it?"
"Something more practical I guess. You'd have to talk to her about it...I don't know shit about this stuff. Can you get it done?"
Cyrus grinned at her, "You know it babe...I'm the answer man." His face sobered as he asked, "Can I trust her? She won't say where she got it from will she?"
"I trust her," Parker replied without hesitation.
"Good enough for me. We'll go when we're finished here. Where's the system?"
"My offices."
He nodded, and Parker left the room and returned to Claudia. She sat down next to her on the worn sofa and began flipping through a book of designs.
"It's done," she said quietly.
"I thought you said we'd have to track him down?," Claudia whispered back.
Parker shrugged, "We did."
Claudia suspected that Parker's relationship with Cyrus was far more than what she'd been led to believe. "Who is this guy anyway?," she whispered, curious.
Parker gave her a sideways glance, then whispered, "My fellow black sheep cousin."
Claudia's eyes widened in surprise...her cousin? Parker's father was a notable Texas politician and her cousin was a tattoo artist? Could this woman possibly get any stranger? Cyrus emerged seconds later and began preparing his station. Claudia had never seen anyone get a tattoo before...Parker saw the interest in her eyes.
"Wanna watch?"
Claudia nodded, "Do you mind?"
"No...come on."
Parker directed her to sit in a chair next to a long, padded bench, then disappeared into the small bathroom. She changed into a cotton tube top and came back to the bench. Claudia's eyes were drawn to the circular scar the tube top had revealed...where Parker had obviously been shot. She quickly averted her eyes as Parker stretched out on her stomach on the bench. Cyrus hadn't said a word to Claudia, he'd simply gone on preparing by choosing the ink colors he would use and donning rubber gloves.
As soon as he started the tattoo, a rather large Chinese dragon in the small of Parker's back...Claudia's stomach turned at the buzzing noise of the tattoo gun and the little droplets of blood mixing with the ink. Parker remained still, her facial features unreadable. If she felt any pain at all...she didn't let on. Parker actually enjoyed the experience. The physical pain was minimal, and she found it refreshing. She'd found that tattoos were addicting, and she hadn't been able to stop with just one. It was therapeutic in a way.
Claudia thought it was disgusting, yet surprisingly intriguing. It was something she would never do herself, and though watching the process was making her a little queasy, she couldn't look away. It was the look of total bliss that had suddenly settled over Parker's normally stoic features. Parker almost looked happy.
"How long will this take?," she questioned softly.
"Couple hours," Cyrus replied.
"We'll go a soon as we're done here," Parker said in a reassuring tone of voice. Claudia nodded and sat back to wait.
The time passed slowly as Claudia waited for Parker’s appointment to come to a close. She was beginning to fidget, her mind already thinking ahead to what she could possibly gain for Defiance. Claudia was thumbing through her fourth magazine, having grown weary of watching the tattoo emerge on Parker’s back, when Cyrus shut the tattoo gun off and stood.
“All done.” he announced, a self satisfied smile on his face. “One of my best yet.” Parker rose as well and turned her back to a mirror to get a glimpse of the art. She eyed the tattoo appreciatively.
“You outdid yourself this time, Cy.”
“Does that mean we’re leaving now?” came Claudia’s anxious supplication. Parker turned to face Claudia and raised an eyebrow. The tiny woman had obviously worked herself into a bundle of nerves, an impatient light shining in her eyes. Parker wondered what she had to be worried about. After all, Claudia deli with the underground market on a regular basis. Perhaps it had been all of the waiting around which had finally gotten to her.
“Yes, we’re leaving now.”
Cyrus locked up his shop, then the oddly matched party made their way back to Parker’s office. Claudia struggled to keep up with the two long legged individuals she accompanied.
Nothing could have prepared the burly man for the sight which greeted him upon entrance to the room the women had placed Defiance in. “THIS is what you want to dump?” he asked, his tone disbelieving. Parker shrugged and glanced at Claudia who wrung her hands in front of her. Cyrus shook his head “All right then, let’s get going.”
The computer was loaded quickly and efficiently into Parker’s firebird before they set off for destination unknown. “I know this guy. He runs his operation out of an old warehouse.... deals mostly in ripped off electronics, but he should have some computer shit for you to pick over. Take a right at the next intersection.”
The warehouse stood dark and foreboding in the heart of the industrial district in downtown San Antonio. Judging from it’s exterior, the place had seen better days. Several shipping trucks were parked to the side of the building, one in particular backed up to the loading bay. Crates were stacked haphazardly beside a large retracting door. To the left of that door, a smaller portal was situated. This was their destination as Cyrus led them through the entrance.
Entering the portentous building brought them into what appeared to be a cavernous stock house. Shelves reaching as high as the ceiling were positioned through out the large space, forming rows upon rows of storage for illicit goods. A handful of men were rushing about at a hurried pace, each bearing items and crates to be packed in the truck docked at the bay. One man stood checking things off on his clipboard, issuing orders in a booming voice. He glanced up, catching sight of the three visitors, and smiled largely, revealing several gold teeth.
“Cyrus! Good to see you.” he welcomed the brawny man with a hearty handshake. “And you’ve brought guests!”
“Parker Mendoza and Claudia Valentine, meet an old friend of mine,” Cyrus introduced.
“Gabriel,” the man supplied. Parker didn’t bother to shake Gabriel’s hand; she didn’t like the beady gleam to his eye. Claudia wasn’t even attending the conversation, her gaze already sweeping over the contents of the warehouse, a tiny smile gracing her lips. Gabriel coughed uncomfortably as Cyrus smirked. He had known the tradesman would be in for a surprise when encountering his cousin and the curious little redhead. “So, what are we unloading today, ladies?”
Claudia turned her startling green gaze to Gabriel. “An entire unit. I want a trade though, not a sale.” her tone was confident and assertive, a far cry from anything Parker had heard from her before. Gabriel gave Claudia the once over, taking in her childlike appearance.
“That’s a lot to discard...are you sure it’s a complete system?” Gabriel pressed, condescension dripping from his mannerisms. Claudia’s eyes narrowed, as her cheeks colored in anger.
“It’s state of the art, I assure you: iMAC, Epson, and Vista,” Claudia responded through gritted teeth.
“All right then. Right this way,” he led them through a maze of shelving units, weaving in and out of boxes in various stages of packing. Finally, the four came to a halt in front of a small room, it’s entrance situated in the back of the warehouse. Gabriel opened the door with a sweeping gesture. “After you....”
Claudia stepped into the chamber with little trepidation. She was comfortable now, in her element, surrounded by everything she knew. Cyrus leaned against the doorframe, Parker by his side as they watched the little woman prowl the room, quickly assessing the equipment it contained. “Where’s the good stuff?” she demanded. Gabriel frowned.
“This is everything.”
“No it’s not.” she shook her head adamantly. The air was still for a moment as the two appraised one another stonily. Finally, Gabriel extended an index finger toward a half hidden door at the back of the ward. Striding toward it purposefully, Claudia entered the alcove he indicated. A genuine smile lit up her features as she surveyed the computers and components within. “This is more like it.” she muttered, gravitating to a rack of laptops. Quickly, she chose a Powerbook, the latest model. Turning the slender computer over in her hands, Claudia inspected it carefully. The body casing hadn’t been tampered with, a sure sign that the motherboard had been left intact. You could never be too careful when buying underground goods. Hackers were a paranoid breed, often deconstructing parts of their computers before sale as a type of insurance. A computer without full capabilities couldn’t be used as effectively by the competition. For now, she wouldn’t have to worry about the programming the computer currently contained. By morning, it would all be wiped out anyway, replaced with her own special blend of software. The hard drive was what mattered, and it didn’t appear to be tainted.
Finally, she turned her attention to the three spectators in the doorway. “Got compact printers?”
“On that rack over there.” Gabriel directed. Claudia’s focus was once again diverted as she began to gather various items from all corners of the room. Absently, she shoved the Powerbook into Cyrus’ arms, oblivious to the surprise painted on his face. Muttering to herself, Claudia added a high speed compact printer, digital camera, and a IBM compatible laptop to the pile. Parker snickered as she observed Cyrus desperately trying to hold everything Claudia tossed his way. He shot her a dirty look before turning his attention back to balancing the goods.
“I’m looking for a new piece,” Claudia addresses Gabriel, “ it just entered the market a couple months ago, strictly on a covert basis. They call it a Bugseye because it processes multiple images more expediently than any other scanner on the market. It’s small, compact, about eleven inches in length. Heard of it?”
“Yeah, I got one in yesterday. First model, actually. You want it?”
Claudia gave a curt nod before resuming her actions, rummaging through a box of replacement parts. Gabriel left the room to retrieve the desired item from his office. As soon as he was gone, Claudia turned to Parker.
“That’s everything. I think we’re set.”
“Good. You think he’s going to let you have all of this in exchange for Defiance?”
“Most of it. Money’s not a problem.” she shrugged. Gabriel returned bearing the Bugseye, a sleek box, much less extraordinary in appearance than expected.
“All right. Now I want to see your unit.”
Parker and Claudia led Gabriel and one of his technicians to the firebird, where Defiance was immediately extracted. Cyrus trailed behind, bringing with him the equipment lodged in his arms. Without a word, the technician Gabriel had snagged to appraise the computer set to work. He scrutinized every last detail of the body casing before picking it up to carry into the warehouse. Parker darted concerned glance in Claudia’s direction, but she didn’t seem bothered.
Back inside, the computers to be swapped were plugged into a power bar terminal lining one wall of the main office. The quiet hum of technology soon filled the small space as the units were booted up properly. Silently, Claudia and the nameless technician navigated their way through the computers for a quarter of an hour before finally turning to face Gabriel.
“It’s sound.” the tech informed his superior. Claudia nodded her agreement and Gabriel narrowed his eyes, rubbing his palms together.
“Good. Let’s talk price.”
“Straight across, no questions asked. The Powerbook, laptop, and printer for the iMAC, Epson, and Vista.”
“What about the Bugseye?”
“I’ll give you four thousand.”
“Six.”
Claudia met Gabriel’s gaze without wavering. “Four and a half.”
“Unacceptable. It’s the latest thing, lady. Five and a half.” he sneered in response.
“Five.”
“Done.” the bartering man grinned. “It’s yours.” Claudia nodded her thanks, retrieving a bundle of bills from her pocket, and shoving them in Gabriel’s direction. He immediately commenced counting the money as Claudia snatched the elite scanner, clutching it to her chest. Satisfied that the entire amount due had been paid, Gabriel gave Claudia a smug smile. “Pleasure doing business with you.”
“Likewise.” With that, Parker, Cyrus, and Claudia turned to leave. On her way out the door, Claudia stealthy pressed a kiss to her fingertips then ran them across the top of Defiance. The computer would most likely be sold for parts or as a home processor; it no longer possessed it’s full capacity of operations.
When she had first determined to sell Defiance, Claudia had wiped the software plates clean, replacing them with run of the mill applications. Even without her unique software designs, the iMAC was valuable. Cracking the plastic casing, she had even done a bit of damage to the motherboard, guaranteeing that it would be of no use to another hacker. Then she had laid herself down on the bed in the guestroom and cried until the tears would no longer fall. Her actions had been a prelude to things to come....there were only two short days left until their job would begin.
“You coming?” Parker asked softly, noticing Claudia was lingering in the doorway.
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
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