The Ride

Riiip!

The paper bag tore in two. Li Jie took out a glass bottle with a red label and set it on the logistics department's battered workbench.

"I don't really drink. Want some Chinese Erguotou?"

"No, we don't drink that stuff in the morning."

At the entrance to the vehicle modification workshop in the deepest part of the underground parking garage, the stout Dren kept shaking his head. "That stuff packs a punch, but it tastes awful. Actually, I think all Chinese high-proof liquor tastes bad. It's practically gasoline."

"You've drunk gasoline?"

"Of course not," the skinny Junker said lazily beside him. "Hmm... but we have drunk aviation fuel."

"Yeah," Dren chimed in. "Then we accidentally landed in Moscow when we farted."

Aaagh!

Li Jie pressed the edge of his hand against the space between his eyebrows, feeling his temples throb.

Was there not a single normal person in the Eastern District Precinct?

He pulled an envelope from inside his coat. "I got up too early today and didn't get any other booze ready, but I put in some extra cash. How does that sound?"

Dren snatched the envelope, tipped out the bills, and began counting them with Junker.

"Three hundred... four hundred... five hundred... six hundred... sixty? Hey, what's with the extra money? If you're really strapped for cash, we can stick to the five hundred we agreed on and worry about the booze later."

"It's... a sort of... custom where I'm from. This number means everything will go smoothly. Is it enough for a bottle?"

"Enough? More than enough. Don't worry, you'll definitely get more than your money's worth!" Dren stuffed the money into a drawer, then turned around and hauled the workshop door open with Junker with a rumbling crash.

"That's it?"

A large black van sat in the middle of the workshop, looking crude and ugly.

"That's it?"

Dren ambled over and rapped on the bodywork. "Ten-millimeter steel plating with external ceramic armor. Double-layer V-shaped underbody, blast-resistant self-sealing fuel tank, reinforced radiator, engine..."

He glanced back at Junker. "You explain that part."

"We originally wanted to swap in a 3116 diesel, but fuel consumption and cooling would've been problems, so we kept the original engine," the skinny man continued. "But I fitted a GT38 turbo and replaced the pistons, connecting rods, and injectors. Power's up by at least forty percent. Now, aside from tanks, there's probably nothing in Gotham that can beat you in a collision."

He opened the rear door. "We removed the prisoner compartment and just added a few restraint anchors. We fitted squad seating and weapon racks in the rest of the space. With the way you work, you won't have many live prisoners to bring back anyway, right?"

"Wow! Wow!" Li Jie climbed into the cab and ran his hands over the brand-new encrypted radio and locking long-gun rack. "It's even got new air conditioning!"

"There's an auxiliary generator and heavy-duty push bumpers front and back, too. Ugly, but they work. We left a connection for tear gas at the rear." Looking at the huge GCPD lettering painted on the body, Dren wore a satisfied, almost tender expression. "Seriously, we haven't put this much effort into modifying a vehicle in years. Kid, don't embarrass us."

"No problem. Thank you both." Li Jie's gratitude was heartfelt. He knew that, besides the risk of falsifying expenses, Bob must have also found a way around Internal Affairs' asset review. "I'm sure this was a lot of trouble for you."

"That's true," Dren said with a nod. "But we also made quite a bit off the expenses we submitted..."

"Hey!" Junker shot Dren a glare. Dren shrugged indifferently. "It's fine. Bob sent him. He's one of us."

When the newly modified war wagon rumbled up to the gates of Blackgate Penitentiary, Martin Thorwald's head started buzzing again. He spread out the Eastern District Precinct's paperwork, pecked at his keyboard with both index fingers, and carefully checked the records before giving Li Jie a kindly smile.

"Otis Flanagan? No problem. Honestly, the more broke bastards like him you take off our hands, the better." Martin signed the papers without hesitation. "Give Bob my regards. We haven't seen each other in ages."

The guard escorting him this time wasn't Morrison, and Li Jie hadn't paid much attention to his name. The man's mouth rattled like a machine gun the entire way. Prisoners, officers, delivery companies, even his father's affair-he blurted it all out without restraint. Li Jie held his hands behind his back and laced his fingers together tightly just to keep himself from covering his ears right in front of the man. When the handover was finally finished, the officer even gave him an enthusiastic farewell.

"Hey! Jay, you're the easiest guy to talk to I've ever met. When are you coming back? I'll tell you about the guys in the serious offenders' block betting on eating cockroaches, with the losers getting fucked up the ass. That scene was just..."

"Next time. Definitely next time."

Pushing Otis along by the back, Li Jie strode toward the exit without looking back. Faint farewells still drifted after him. "Definitely next time! I'll tell you all about it, just you..."

Motherfucker!

Only after escaping into the vehicle did Li Jie breathe a sigh of relief. Even getting caught in a Stun Grenade's blast hadn't been that painful. He looked at Otis's thin prison uniform, shook his head, and switched on the heater.

"This won't do. We need to get you a change of... Holy shit!"

Something suddenly wriggled rapidly up Otis's stomach beneath his loose prison uniform. A gray rat's head popped out at his collar, followed by a plump rat that scrambled free and climbed onto Otis's lap.

"Aaagh... what the hell is that thing!"

He knew Otis could control rats, but having one suddenly pop out right beside him was an entirely different experience.

"Sorry, I'm sorry, officer!" Otis hurriedly scooped the rat into his palm. "This... this is my friend Bastian... very well behaved, disease-free, and won't cause any trouble."

As though understanding him, the rat stood up in his palm and nodded rapidly.

"Holy shit, can Bastian really understand what you're saying?"

"Yes. Actually... officer, I... I can get the general meaning of what rats say, and they listen to me, too."

You said that yourself. It's not like I was after anything!

But even though he had known it all along, Li Jie still found the whole thing deeply strange.

"All right, rats listen to you. But wasn't your old job catching rats?" Li Jie shook his head in bewilderment. "That's even more ridiculous than Kennedy happily applauding streets full of sniper rifles."

He took another look at Bastian. "You can keep Bastian, but you have to promise there won't be any chewing through wiring or fuel lines in here."

"No problem!" Otis and Bastian bobbed their heads in unison.

"Beautiful!"

As they passed through the Commercial District, he took Otis into a small clothing store and spent just under a hundred dollars on a few thick winter clothes, then sent him into the rear compartment to change. He also bought a bag of peanuts and tossed it to Bastian.

"If you dare shit in this vehicle, I'll..."

Li Jie twisted his left hand, crushing the few peanuts in his palm into powder. Bastian gaped and nodded repeatedly in terror, then sniffed the peanuts. Excitement appeared in the rat's eyes, and Bastian bent down and began munching.

Otis had bought an out-of-season down jacket. The style was somewhat dated, but the material was thick and sturdy. Returning to the cab, he tucked Bastian and the peanuts into his jacket pocket, then carefully wiped every last peanut crumb off the seat with a tissue before gingerly sitting back down in the passenger seat.

"Thank you, officer. You even bought food for Bastian."

"It's just a bag of snacks. No big deal. But you have to make sure Bastian doesn't piss in here," Li Jie reiterated. "Anyway, down to business. About overturning your conviction."

Otis's eyes went wide. Even Bastian quietly poked a head out of the pocket.

"We'll go see our Chief in a bit. He's already agreed, but this is going to be difficult. First, the officer who handled your case is an idiot colleague of mine. I don't think he'll admit what happened back then."

"I... I can confront him face-to-face!"

"That's exactly the problem... You see, he didn't have a grudge against you or any old score to settle. He just grabbed you to take the fall and fill his quota. And he's handled so many wrongful convictions that he can't even remember who you are, so he won't remember what happened back then. Naturally, he can't admit to it."

Otis slowly lowered his head. After a long silence, he choked out a bitter laugh. "So... so that's..."

He clamped his mouth shut and covered his face with his hand. Bastian climbed from his pocket onto his shoulder and squeaked twice, then climbed back down and emerged again clutching a peanut.

"Dwelling on the past won't do any good." Li Jie started the engine. "At least there's hope now, right? Also, don't go around telling people you can talk to rats for now. You know, that sort of thing doesn't fly at the precinct."

Bob McGinnis had been feeling rather pleased with himself lately, yet somewhat unsettled, too. He took his mug from the coffee machine and was about to have a sip to calm his nerves when two knocks sounded. Then came a click, the office door opened, and a head poked sideways into the room.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing? Can't you come all the way in?" Startled, he nearly knocked over his mug. Li Jie withdrew his head, then walked in with Otis.

"I was worried you had visitors. Chief, this is Otis Flanagan. We came up the back stairs."

Bob set down his coffee, took out a cigarette and lit it, then tossed another to Otis and tapped the desk.

"Sit down. But if you smoke, you'd better keep away from this kid. He hates the smell." He pointed at Li Jie. "Otis, I hear you've got plenty of contacts down at street level?"

"Ah... street level?" Holding the cigarette, Otis had barely perched nervously on the chair before he hurriedly stood again. "Y-yes..."

Remembering what Li Jie had said, he assumed this was a reference to the rats and nodded repeatedly. "That's right... I... I can have them find people... anyone, really. It's easy, and they can get inside homes, too."

"Excellent. I didn't realize you had such an extensive network." Bob smiled happily. "To put it bluntly, I'm not helping you for nothing. If we overturn your conviction, you'll have to work for us. What do you say? If you agree, we'll take the next step. If not, you'll go back to Blackgate Penitentiary."

"A... network?" Otis froze for a moment, but the rest frightened him so badly that he had no time to think. He immediately raised his right hand. "I swear, I do."

"No need to make it sound like a wedding," Bob said, turning to Li Jie. "Now for some good news. First, you two can deal with that idiot Fleck yourselves. Give him a little suffering and you could get him to admit he brought down the Soviet Union-but remember not to kill him. Also, I contacted Paul Perino last night. He agreed in principle to support us."

"Huh? Perry?"

The name caught Li Jie off guard. That prosecutor was close to Mayor O'Brien and had a rather notorious reputation. He had expected someone upright and incorruptible to step in, but instead...

"Don't be stupid. Did you think we needed to find that Harvey Dent guy? People like him shout about rooting out corruption and righting wrongful convictions, then stir up a storm across the whole city. By then, the entire judicial system will be joining forces against you." Seemingly seeing through Li Jie's thoughts, Bob flicked the ash from his cigarette with his index finger and scoffed. "I told him someone had a personal grudge against that old bastard Joshua and wanted to use the overturned conviction to screw him over. Perry felt safe naming his price after that."

"You know, dealing with greedy people is actually simple. Just agree on what's in it for them. Dealing with people who talk about justice and ideals takes a lot more consideration." He took an authorization slip from a drawer and tossed it onto the desk. "Go help him collect his work supplies and temporary ID. Find him an office in one of the little rooms beside the supply warehouse. First, we need to see whether this friend of yours is worth helping."

"Got it. We'll go right now. Oh, boss, there's something you might want to brace yourself for." Li Jie hesitated, then decided it was better to say it up front. "The war wagon's modifications are fantastic, but... it burns a hell of a lot of fuel."

"Don't worry about that." Bob burst out laughing. "There's plenty of oil in this world. Our military always manages to bring it back, doesn't it?"