Neon Shadows #9 Part 2 - The Luko Connection
General Summary
It was around 9 PM on Friday 2/18/2022, when Desmond received a call from Jay. Desmond, having just wrapped up a conversation with V and returning some files, answered, "Jay, have you tracked down Luko?"
"He's just leaving work now, driving a new EV. I'm following where he goes. If you wanna come pick me up, we can have a chat with him," Jay replied.
"Sounds good to me, on my way now," Desmond responded, walking to his car. He kept an eye out for the woman from earlier but didn't see her. The desperate crowds outside the precinct had shifted, though the desperation remained the same.
By 10:30 PM, Desmond arrived at Jay's location. Jay had directed him to pick him up several blocks away from a popular street known for its neon lights, nice restaurants, clubs, and Simsense parlors.
Desmond, dressed in a hoodie and sweater over his bulky armor suit, rolled down the window and nodded at Jay. Jay weaved between a few cars and climbed in.
Jay relayed the details. "Luko's driving a very small, unremarkable grey EV. He's barely fitting inside it, with his hunched shoulders pressed up against the driver's side window. He seemed pretty business as usual, so we'll see if he's got something else going on or if now that Gina's gone, that was it for him."
"Alright, point me in the right direction," Desmond said.
Jay motioned to a nearby fancy bar. "He's been in there for about an hour or so, eating with some friends. Looks like he's going to be heading out soon, and we can follow him to where he's staying now."
"Right, sounds good. You don't think Luko is dumb enough to stay at his old place, do you?" Desmond asked.
"If he's still in his old place, then I truly don't know what Gina would have seen in this guy," Jay replied.
After about fifteen minutes, Luko said goodbye to his friends and did finger guns to the bartender on his way out. He crossed the street and walked a block to where his car was parked. In the drizzling rain, he changed from his slacks and nice shirt into metallic sheen cargo pants and a red tank top. He opened the door, sighed, and squeezed his bulk into the driver's seat. Soon, he was just another bit of chaos in the mixture of headlights, taillights, and flicked cigarette butts that made up the traffic.
By 11:30 PM, Desmond was tailing Luko's car. Jay used his eye to take a picture of Luko's license plate in case they needed it later. The little grey car wasn't hard to follow. At times, it sped up only to suffer a jerking application of the brakes, behavior typical of a car with a limiter installed to enforce safe driving. A rental sticker was visible on the license plate.
Luko drove west for about forty-five minutes, where the streets became progressively less maintained and the shadows darker. Lit street lamps were fewer and far between. He eventually pulled into the G-Reign taxi repair shop. Several burn barrels were in the parking lot, surrounded by six to ten gang members of varying genders sitting in metal folding chairs. A car nearby had its stereo playing a deep bass track. The garage doors opened, and Luko pulled inside.
A moment later, he emerged from a side door with a case of beer and several large, clear bottles. Although he wasn't wearing affiliate colors, the group welcomed Luko with many claps on the back. He took a seat close to the burn barrel, his face illuminated by its light. His eyes were bright, but the dark circles under them were unmistakable. The man was exhausted.
A few men nearby pulled chairs closer and appeared to speak to him. Luko nodded his head and responded with little animation. A few moments later, a man handed him an open beer, and after some goading, Luko poured it out on the ground. The group cheered.
By 12:15 AM on Saturday , Desmond turned to Jay. "Should we get out and get close?"
"Probably at least close enough to hear what's going on," Jay replied.
"I'm not sneaky, so why don't you get close, and I'll be waiting on your signal for backup," Desmond suggested.
"Alright, lay low, and I'll be back," Jay said, getting out and sneaking as close as he could to get within earshot, using the car playing music to his advantage.
Under the cover of flickering shadows and silent cars, Jay approached the G-Reign group. The music and shouting made it difficult to hear anything specific, but the general mood was one of camaraderie. The gang members drank, laughed, and bullshitted for about forty-five minutes.
Jay returned to Desmond. "I don't think I'll be able to listen in on them. There's a lot of noise. However, that probably means we can use that to get the jump on these guys and maybe get info out of Luko and G-Reign both."
Desmond put on his helmet. "Then let's go get real close." He got out and began to nonchalantly walk towards the group.
Before they reached the edge of the firelight, a gang member noticed them approaching and smacked the shoulder of another man nearby. They were both wearing torn black cargo pants, grease-smudged yellow t-shirts, and leather jackets. One had a pistol in his waistband, but otherwise, they didn't appear to be armed. Several AK-47s were on the ground near the burn barrels, and one was leaning up against a metal folding chair. The group didn't seem overly defensive or on alert.
"Shop's closed, civvy. This is a private party," one of the men said in their direction.
Desmond, stepping into the firelight and revealing himself, said in a mechanically distorted voice, "I'm just here looking to speak to an old friend."
Jay moved to the side, positioning himself to shoot at anyone who went for the AKs, waiting for Desmond to engage and hopefully surprise them.
The two gang members seemed taken aback by Desmond's armor. One reached into his pocket and put on a set of brass knuckles but kept his arm to his side. "Oh, yeah, who might that be?" the first man asked.
Quieter and to himself more than his friend, the second man, with the brass knuckles, muttered, "Is this it, then? Is that all the time we had?"
"Luko, we need to talk. I'd prefer a quick chat, and we can both be on our way," Desmond said, looking at Luko before panning to the rest. "I've got time if you all wanna do this the hard way, though."
The two men turned to look towards Luko as the rest of the party realized something was going down. The six or so figures lounging around the fire stood up from their chairs, all but Luko. One picked up his AK by the strap and slung it over his shoulder. On the far side of the fire, a shadowy figure picked up a nail-infused baseball bat. None made any overtly aggressive moves.
Luko continued to look into the fire and took a long drink from his bottle. The crowd shifted, leaving several G-Reign members between Desmond and Luko.
"This anyone you want to jaw at, Luko?" one of them said without taking his eyes off Desmond.
Luko looked up and squinted into the darkness. "Who is it now? What do you want?" he slurred.
"Friends of Gina. You likely have no reason to believe us, but if we were with who you think we are, we wouldn't be asking nicely. Have your boys keep their music up; they can watch us step away to talk in private. Anything funny, they can intervene," Desmond said.
Luko sobered, his jaw clenching. He stood up and walked towards them, pulling the burly gang members out of his way. "Alright, let's talk. No need for anyone else to get hurt." He led them to a spot about fifteen meters away, under a functional street light.
"Yeah, there fucking is! That's the guy who broke Steve's ribs!" shouted a thin-faced thug near the stereo. He began to move forward but was held back. He had a large purple bruise along the side of his face and his nose was obviously broken.
"Shut the fuck up, Allen," said another voice.
"You touch Luko and you won't ever leave West Western, motherfucker!" shouted another. His blonde hair was short and perfectly mussed, like a picture-perfect surfer style. He had broad shoulders and muscles bulged out of his tank top. He looked like an underwear model stepped out of a magazine, then got strung out on lightning meth. He watched Desmond and Jay carefully with soft, light blue eyes. "What do you want?"
"First off, how much did you know about Gina's operation?" Desmond asked.
Luko answered slowly and directly. "She got product every few weeks or so, we drove it around to her clients. Some were cooler than others. What's it got to do with you?"
"Her drugs led to the Overlords leveling a chunk of the city. We're just a couple of concerned citizens. What happened on Valentine's Day?" Desmond pressed.
Luko sighed. "I don't know anything about the Overlord's plans, but there are some good guys in there." He choked a bit. "There were... more. Just like in the Blades. I picked Gina up around noon, we made deliveries to some clubs, then she gets a message on her phone. We pull over a while, and she does more phone shit, then asks me to drop her off at the airport."
Another big sigh, then more
loudly, "And I fucking did. End of story."
"Did she say why she needed to go so suddenly?" Desmond asked.
"No, but I learned later from some friends. Her place got robbed and someone jacked her delivery. She was on the hook for it and didn't have insurance, or something," Luko explained.
"Insurance as in, collateral payback if she lost a shipment?" Desmond asked.
"Yeah, she couldn't cover that much. And, like, a mistake like that and she'd never get a call again, even if she made it right."
"And if she didn't make it right?"
"Oh, fuck man, she'd be the perfect example for that sick fuck Gene to prove a point with. If he could snuff her out and Lawbringer stays quiet... fucking hell of a message."
"What is Gene to her?" Desmond inquired.
"He was her ticket to bigger, better... whatever."
"Was her relationship with him strictly business?"
"That was a part of the gig, never meet and never see your contact. Makes it easy to blacklist people or for them to quit and get to live."
"Right. Was Gina acting different in the days or even weeks leading up to that day?"
"I don't think so, everything was pretty normal. Set routine, things were looking good. A bit of drama with Franny, but that's nothing new."
"What drama in particular? Anything, albeit trivial seeming, may be important."
"Nothing between Franny and Gina, those two are... were... inseparable. But there was always some shit going on with Franny's family. They didn't approve."
"I see, so what I'm to understand is that Gina knew her delivery was stolen from her apartment and resorted to leaving town?"
"That's as much as I know. I haven't been able to get ahold of her since. At least Franny let me know she was alright uptown, with the police and her fam. They were always afraid she'd get hurt but I guess that isn't a problem now?" Luko thought for a moment. "Actually, she was pretty weird about that. Like, giddy."
"Franny was giddy about being uptown?"
"Nah, giddy about not ever being in danger. That was always the hang-up with her parents; they didn't like the risk around Gina."
"So Franny's family knew about the delivery business?"
"Oh, definitely. They are how Gina got in, through Franny. The whole dealer recruitment thing is anonymous, and they had no idea Franny told Gina how to get started. God, they were pissed when they found out."
Desmond turned to look at Jay for a moment before looking back at Luko. "So... Franny's family has ties to the higher-ups in the drug business?"
"She's cartel through and through but opted for a simpler life. Didn't want to carry the torch."
Luko began to pace as the night got colder. "Hey, look, this isn't anything secret to anyone here. Can we drink while we do this? I think my friends are sick enough of killing this week."
"We're almost done, Luko. Some people are looking for Gina now, and they kidnapped the bellboy to use to get her to come in. Why haven't they come after you since you're clearly closer to her than he is?"
"They HAVE come to me! Every goddamn gangbanger and bounty hunter from all over the city. I've had drinks with Bloodhound Lenny's crew, talked to Tommy Brooks at Old Charlie's funeral, had a call with Brutus from the lockup this morning. I had to cancel my appointments tomorrow AM because Lawbringer is fucking flying me... somewhere, likely to rape my brain."
Luko looked up into the drizzling rain and light pollution.
"I'm sorry to hear that. I truly don't believe you deserve that. What'd Tommy Brooks want with you? And also, I heard Brutus vanished, how'd you get a hold of him?"
"Brutus and I go back a few years. Six months of physical therapy for a torn trap got him back to A-grade pull-up range. Hell of a patient. Great guy. He called me up to ask if I knew what the hell was going on in West Western and if any G-Reign were hit. He didn't have any comm credits, but I do a weekly strongman competition prep class for the guards, and they let it slide."
"Tommy is my cousin Shelly's brother-in-law. We both owed Old Charlie a lot growing up. He gave me a list of the MIA Blades to take around to my friends. Hence the wake." Luko motioned to the growing crowd around the burn barrels. Desmond noticed a few more cars had arrived.
"What did Brutus say specifically to you this time you talked? And also, if I wanted to have a talk with Lenny or his friends, where could I find them?"
"He asked if he needed to call any family to let them know the news or if I'd heard about more hits coming. I told him I didn't know if anything was happening, but if it does, it won't be well planned. It'll be hard revenge. Everyone lost someone."
"What do you want with Lenny? No offense, but as tough as you look, he's not a guy to fuck with. Their office, or compound, or whatever, is near the tanker shop elevator on the east side. They bunk up and drink at the Cerebral Rat a few blocks inland. What are you gonna do with all this?"
"If someone needed to get a hold of Brutus, how would he?"
"My friend Snakes put Brutus's call through, and he works the downtown jail. Not sure how long he'll be there before the court date and transfer."
"Lenny is just a person of interest I've been keeping an eye on. And as for what I'm gonna do with this information, make the city a better place. Make sure that someone is watching out for everyone while this broken system only does what's best for control." Desmond nodded at Jay. "Keep yourself safe, Luko. Thanks for the help."
Jay added, "It might not mean anything coming from us, but you got the rug pulled out from under you and have been left with way more shit to clean up than one person should, so I feel for you. But the big guy is right; we wanna help clean some of this shit up too, and you've been very helpful to point us in the right direction. So hopefully our actions will speak for us."
"My friend Snakes put Brutus's call through, and he works the downtown jail. Not sure how long he'll be there before the court date and transfer." Luko listened to their final words. "The last year was good stuff. Like, too good, and it feels stupid for it all to end because Gina got robbed." He turned to walk toward the fire. "Make the city a better place? You sound like Brutus and Lawbringer. Maybe just try being good instead of forcing it. But what do I know."
He turned to Jay. "Hey, if you ever want advice on bulking up your little girl frame, here's my card." He handed Jay the card.
Luko, now thoroughly drenched from the light rain, crossed the parking lot back to the burn barrels. Several men came forward and handed him a beer. Moments later, the group shouted, "For Crank!" and the sound of shattering beer bottles followed.
Jay smirked a little as Luko walked away. "I might just take you up on this," he said, pocketing the card. In general, there was just something about Luko that was likable.
By 2:15 AM, Desmond got in the car and waited for Jay to sit down. "Luko is way different than what I imagined."
"He made me rethink how I look at things, that's for sure. I might need to borrow a cigarette from you after all that," Jay said.
Desmond took off his helmet and took two cigarettes out of his pocket. He lit one up and handed the lighter and the other cigarette to Jay. "Guess we might have had some stuff backwards. That makes the Franny clone situation even stranger. Let's unpack it some more with the crew. For now, where should I take you?"
Jay took the cigarette and lit it up, then handed the lighter back and exhaled. "I didn't really take you for a menthol guy, but this whole night's been pretty surprising. You can drop me off at the parking garage in Chinatown, and I'll head home from there. Let me know when and where to meet for the team discussion. In the meantime, do you want me to maybe get some eyes on that tanker shop elevator that Lenny and his boys are at just to see what we might be dealing with there?"
"Before the accident, I didn't care for menthol. After, though, I don't know if it's my suppressants or what, but it burns like hell smoking anything else now." Desmond stared at the lit end of the cigarette for a moment at a red light. A few seconds after it turned green, the car horn behind them snapped him back out of it, and he continued driving.
"I'll let you know when and where we're gonna meet up again. I was thinking about asking Alex or V3RM1N to hack some cameras around that tanker shop for us, but if you feel like that's a better option, then go for it. I was actually hoping you could tail Luko in the morning and make sure he gets in and out of his Lawbringer meeting okay. I just want to make sure he doesn't leave in the trunk of Lenny's car." Desmond took another long drag. "He's far from an innocent citizen, but what's probably in store for him isn't fair for what he's done."
"I'll make sure Luko is okay first. I meant what I said about our actions speaking for us, and you're
right; he might not be innocent, but he doesn't deserve all of this either. Afterwards, I can get in contact with Alex or V3RM1N and see if they need help with anything regarding the tanker shop. But if all else fails, I'll just see if I can find a rooftop nearby and get an idea of security, defenses, and their comings and goings."
Jay looked at Desmond, who seemed lost in a moment, then reached into a side pocket and held out an old, dinged-up dog tag. "I'm not sure if I can quite relate to what happened to you, but it seems like we both suffer from having a life before our augmentations that seems better now that it's gone, and we can't go back to it... only forward."
Desmond pulled up to the Chinatown corner store, and Jay climbed out. Every alley as far as they could see was packed with tattered tents and cardboard mattresses. The community there had fared better than others, but many were still suffering.
By 3:15 AM on Saturday 2/19/2022, Jay tapped the roof of the car as a farewell and then headed home to get some rest and reflect on what had happened with Luko and what he had discussed with Desmond.
Report Date
20 May 2024
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