Deadman

After we finished eating, the Khan stood.“Brun is the one you should speak with regarding the oil.” He gestured to a nearby guard. “Take him to Brun. Let her know she is to answer any questions he has.”

The guard nodded.

I stood to leave and the guard placed a hand on my shoulder. “The Khan has not yet excused you.”

I stood slowly and deliberately, the guard's hand trembling with effort as he put more and more weight on me in order to keep me down. He looked at the Khan who smirked and gave him a nod. He released his grip and stepped aside to allow me to stand.

I nodded to the Khan. “Thanks for breakfast.” I turned to the guard. “Lead the way.”

He nodded, likely eager to leave after having that blow to his pride in front of the Khan, and started to lead me away. We passed out of the palatial tent and began heading south. The city had only just been waking up when I’d first arrived, but was fully alive as I walked through it. The roar of engines was constant, as was the yelling over that noise. When we were near the southern tip of the city, I saw a particularly large garage with a half dozen vehicles inside it, all in various states of being put together or cannibalized to be recycled. Standing on a platform above it all, leaning on a railing, was the tall, broad shouldered woman I saw last time I’d come to visit Fette. The one who’d been helping the Khan repair an engine.

She saw us as we approached, and climbed down to meet us.

The guard nodded at her, then leaned in to yell loud enough for her to hear, but quiet enough that I couldn’t make it out. Must’ve been a skill you develop when you're surrounded by engine noise all the time.

She nodded at him and gestured for him to leave, then for me to follow her, which I did. As we walked out she pulled a cigarette from the pocket of her grease-stained mechanics suit and lit it, taking a deep inhale as we walked until we’d reached relative quiet. It made me flinch, expecting her to catch fire, but somehow she managed it with not trouble.

“My husband says I’m at your disposal. What do you need?”

“I want to see if there’s any fuel or vehicles that are unaccounted for.”

“Alright.” She started walking further south, until the oil pipeline that fed the city came into view.

“No questions?” I asked. I’d expected her to demand an explanation of some kind.

She shook her head. “The Khan wills it. I serve the Khan.”

I nodded. She was either very loyal, or pretending to be. I had made her a suspect in my mind the moment the Khan had mentioned she’d be the one to know the status of the gas supply in the town. “Were you born in the Khanate?” I asked.

She blew some smoke. “Edge of the territory. Brought here once I got the mechanic status.”

“Taken from friends and family?” I asked.

She snorted. “And thank Christ for that. I was too good for that dirt farmer shithole.”

Well that sounded convincing enough to cover that angle. We made it to the pipes, Brun carefully extinguished her cigarette before getting any closer to them. They were a mess of metal that looked completely incomprehensible to me. There were already a number of gear pierced men and women working on loosening and tightening different areas, and in one case adding a new pipe. I watched as Brun checked each valve. Knocking one with her fist, checking a gauge on another, barking questions to a few of the mechanics, then she came back to me.

“Nothing is… well, missing, exactly but…” She shook her head. “Well, the flow is higher than it should be, but we haven’t expanded the fleet recently so it shouldn’t have changed.”

“How much extra would that account for? In terms of vehicles?” I asked.

“A lot. Enough for maybe ten truck and bike squads.”

“So, it could easily cover five armored buses?”

I saw a realization dawn on her face. “Yes. Shit.” She moved to the nearest mechanic and grabbed him by the collar. “Who increased the flow?” She asked.

“Wha-?”

“The oil flow from the rig? Who turned it up?”

“I’m not sure, I think it was Shifter?”

“Short guy? Earned gears all the way up his ears?”

The man nodded.

“I’ve gotta call the guards,” said Brun, locating the nearest tattooed man with a gun.

I grabbed her shoulder. “Wait on that.” Then I turned to the shaken mechanic. “Where is Shifter usually this time of day?”

“Further down the pipe. By the secondary garages.”

“Alright. Listen to me. We didn’t speak. Understand?”

The man looked confused, but slowly nodded.

I turned and started walking down the pipeline. “You know where the secondary garages are?” I asked.

“Sure, but why not just send guards?”

I shook my head. “Don’t want him to have a warning.” I picked at my teeth. “There could be multiple people involved, and if they haven’t left already we may be able to get the drop on them.”

She nodded.

“We know where he works. Is it remote? Out of the way?”

She shook her head. “The opposite of both.Crowded garage in the center of Fette.”

“Any way to draw him into somewhere private without making him suspicious?”

“At his level of gears he doesn’t really report to anyone. He would have his own house though. Probably on top of one of the garages.”

“In that case, it may be best for me to pay him a visit once he’s back home.”

…

I sat on a garage roof a few units away from where Shifter rested his head, watching it and waiting for him to return. I thumbed my book thoughtfully, glancing up between turned pages.

“I’d heard you were more the ‘round ‘em up and hang ‘em type,” said Brun.

I sighed and dogeared my page. “You don’t need to wait with me. You can go back to the work you were doing.”

“How will you recognize Shifter without me?”

“He’s short, has an ear covered in gears, and lives alone in the house I’m staring at. I think I’ll manage.”

She shrugged. “My workdays fucked anyway. I’ll make sure you get the right guy.”

I slowly lifted my book back in front of my face, but just as I began reading, I was interrupted again.

“Any theories yet?”

“Yes.”

“Whose your suspect?”

“Just Shifter so far,” I lied.

“Well, it’s not like he could’ve moved all that gasoline himself.”

“True, but I’m taking this one suspect at a time.” I paused for a moment. “We know the gasoline was taken from here, but what about the buses themselves? Any way they could go missing without you noticing?”

She shook her head. “Maybe a piece here and there could go missing, but five buses? Not possible.”

I nodded. That meant the buses were from outside the Horde, but there would still have needed to be Horde involvement with them getting through. The Horde specifically prohibited anyone from having an engine in their territory without their blessing. The idea of five armored buses passing without anyone taking notice… possible, but not likely.

“How many wives does the Khan have?” I asked, deciding that if Brun was going to force me to talk I may as well get some questions answered.

“Ten. I’m his eleventh.”

“So eleven?” I asked, confused.

“No. He’s had fourteen, I’m his eleventh. He has ten right now, and some concubines.”

“What happened to the other four?”

“The older wives don’t talk about it much, but I know one was rad poisoning, another was killed by raiders, one left, and one was killed by him. Not sure why.”

“One left?” I asked.

She nodded. “She went back to her tribe. She was Kaijin and asked to be allowed to return to her people. The Khan allowed it, as long as she brought her tribe into compliance with the Horde. I’ve met her. Scares the shit out of me.”

I had more questions, but before I could answer I noticed someone approaching the house. He was short, and looked almost like a walking black smudge; he was covered in oil from the day's work. “That him?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yep. Shifter.”

I nodded. “You can go now, I’ve got this under control.”

“But-”

Before she could argue, I hopped off the roof, leaving her there. It was a jump I could make without hurting myself, but would lead to a broken ankle for anyone else. She tossed up her hands and shook her head. I walked through alleys and back ways to get to Shifter’s house. I didn’t want to draw too much attention until I had more information. Luckily, the sun was setting, and the streets clear.

I reached the front door and made two firm knocks, pulling my shotgun off my hip and standing slightly out of the door frame.

Shifter opened the door, and I shoved my shotgun in his face with one hand, grabbed him by the collar with the other and threw him inside, quickly closing the door behind me.

He started to yell, and I put the shotgun to his forehead.

“I’ll need you to talk, but let’s keep the volume down. Think you can manage that?”