New Guy

My uncle had told me they had come for her in the night. That they had experimented on her. Ripped out everything that was my mother and replaced it with something else. Like my life.

Sabine dived behind a nearby dumpster that triple-panged from a short burst of SMG fire.

"How about I just take the bike and we call it null-sheen little girl?" The troll's gutteral laughter barked again and so did his SMG.

"Why do they always make things difficult? It was a good deal." Sabine turned to the man in the long coat that crouched next to her. He seemed to be staring off into space but she could see his lips muttering and seemed to be counting.

The man stood just before the SMG fire stopped and walked from behind the dumpster. He stared up at the massive troll as the spang of a metal clip bounced off the ground. Calmly he drew a long revolver from the folds of his coat and slowly aimed down the sight of the barrel. The troll growled and fumbled to reload. A single loud shot ignited followed by a large slump and the alley went silent.

Eyebrows slowly inched up in surprise as Sabine peeked from behind the dumpster to see the man in the coat nudging the massive troll's body with a single booted heel. She smiled and hopped from behind cover.

"Wow mister, nice shot!" The man grunted and nodded. Sabine watched in fascination as he re-loaded the single round before replacing the long revolver back inside his coat.

"That was real lucky mister. He could have pasted you easy. Trolls got thick hides. I mean, you're a good shot mister but nobody is that good."

"Some times its better to be lucky than good."

"So, will you take the job? I've got the nuyen and I can pay up front if you need it." The man looked resigned. Afterall, she'd only been bugging him for the last week.

"Yea, I'll take the job. Half now, half when I get you a solid lead." Sabine's eye sparkled.

"Done." Sabine had her hands shoved in her jacket pockets and jumped up and down smiling. Her hair was up in a pony tail and bounced energetically despite the rain. "So Mr. Turlington, while I got you on retainer and all. Think you could use a regular gig while you work on my case?"

"Call me Rip."

"Hmm?"

"I said, call me Rip. Its my name kid." The man's grizzled face swept the alley before he turned back towards the street. Sabine followed.

"Oh right, so wanna run security for me and my group? We could use an extra pair of eyes while we jam. Last time there were some, uh, problems."

"Group?"

"Yea the band. We're called Night Shyft. Not the best name I know but we're still new at this kind of thing. We do mostly classic metal from late 20s early 21st. Kind of a tribute thing. Most people think we're wiz. We really put on a great show."

"Uh huh."

"So you want in? We play most weekends."

"I'll think about it kid."