The Most Dangerous Dame

“—watch her with my life. I got it by now, Mick.”

Natasha stared at the busted-up dive we pulled up to. “You’re going in there by yourself? That’s crazy.”

I pulled out my deck of smokes and lit a gasper. “Crazy is the last thing I’m worried about, kiddo. Be back in a hot sec.”

I strode up the broken stairs real casual-like, but I felt my heart try to beat its way outta my chest. Hunter had that kind of effect on me.

The door was unlocked as usual. The interior was the same as the last time I walked in there, meaning the place looked like the previous occupants had taken blunt instruments and beat the joint to hell in a fit of drunken fury. Something rotten hung in the air, stinging my nostrils. A single flickering light bulb hung from the ceiling in the kitchen, swinging back and forth from the slight breeze. A figure sat at the rickety table, lost in the shadows of the room. One the tabletop was a cordial glass, a bowl of sugar cubes, a glass of water and a bottle that glimmered green in the dim light. I already knew what it contained.

Absinthe.

I nearly groaned out loud. The last time Hunter served me absinthe ended up in a hallucinogenic episode involving green fairies and an underwater conversation. I didn’t exactly want a repeat of that incident, but I didn’t wanna get on Hunter’s bad side, either. I sat in the wobbly chair opposite him, hoping it didn’t collapse and put me on my ass.

“Have a drink.” Hunter’s dark-suited silhouette didn’t move at all.

“Look Hunter, why don’t we just — hey what the hell?” I nearly fell over backward when I caught a look at what I thought was Hunter. A corpse sat in his place, unrecognizable because the vermin had already cleaned most of the flesh away. The skull that remained grinned at me as if appreciating the joke. Twin cameras whirred in its empty sockets as they adjusted in my direction.

“I apologize for not appearing in person.” Hunter’s voice emitted from a microphone clipped to the stiff’s suit lapel. “But I’m not sure what means Natalie has employed to tag your whereabouts. I can’t afford for you to lead her directly to me, you understand. That might result in ramifications beyond my ability to control.”

“Think you could’ve warned me first?” My stomach churned as I took in the gory details of the stiff, which looked half as bad as it smelled. “Who’s this dead chump?”

“No one you knew. What’s the term wise guys use? Oh yeah: fuggetaboutit.”

My eyes narrowed. Hunter’s tone sounded amused, which indicated a sense of humor. The Hunter I knew was never amused and usually had the personality of a stale biscuit.

I edged as far away from the stiff as I could manage without toppling out of my seat. “So you know Natalie is in town? Think that’s something you could have let me in on? Two women are dead because of that psycho.”

“That’s to be expected. It’s just one of the many tactics Natalie employed to control me. I was afraid to display affection to anyone else, relying on her as my only avenue of sexual release. More importantly it was a form of psychological control. Natalie was my handler, the mistress that kept me on a tight lease. The Secret Service needed my skills but feared my questioning attitude. Natalie was the answer. She was as skilled in psychological manipulation as she was in cold-blooded killing.”

I felt a chill, and not because of the information. It was the way Hunter spoke. Something had changed. It was as though the downloaded memories had been assimilated into his synthetic consciousness, causing him to relate them as though from personal experience.

He spoke as though he was human.

“So what — you’re scared of the dame or something? Not possible. You’re a synoid. A synthetic humanoid, Hunter. You’re not capable of emotions. That’s a human thing.”

The eye cameras whirred and clicked. “I’m an assimilation of the most advanced synoid technology combined with downloaded human memories. Your memories. That makes me something else entirely. And from what I recall of Natalie, I don’t want to be anywhere near her. She had a… hold on me. There’s no telling what would happen were I to come face to face with her in this state. It’s too risky.”

I stared at the grinning skull, trying to fight the bizarre sensation I was conversing with myself. “We need to talk, Hunter.”

“We are talking.”

“We need to talk about my past.”

“You never wanted to know anything about it before. The last time we spoke you indicated you were content in your ignorance.”

“Things have changed.”

“Indeed.” The skull’s ghastly grin seemed even more amused than before, but I was sure it was my mind playing tricks on me.

“Who… ” I hesitated as the name lodged in my throat. I swallowed hard. “Who was Maxine?”

“Ah. So Natalie dropped the ace on you. A definite sign of desperation on her part. That’s good news. It indicates she’s not as confident as she’d like you to believe.”

“Who was she, Hunter?”