The Debt Collectors War

Chapter 31

They went to a house on a road at the edge of the town. The house was older, probably more than fifty years old, from before standardised modular housing, and seemed to have been built as an individual item, by hand, and of distinct natural materials like wood and brick, rather than pre-formed panels which snapped together.

Buildings made that way needed more maintenance, Ellie supposed. This house had been painted recently, which probably needed doing regularly to keep it looking tidy. The front garden looked tidy, too, but Ellie made herself not notice. Half the houses she’d ever dragged people out of in the middle of the night looked tidy, and the people who lived there were good people, and she dragged them outside anyway. She didn’t like it, especially, but she’d got used to it as part of her job. Got used to it, and decided that all she could do for people, really, was to try not to be too rude, or break too much, and to get it over with as quickly as possible.

Ellie sat in the SUV and looked around. They were on a gravelled driveway in front the house, and there was a lawn and garden beds beside them, and some trees and barns in the distance. The sky was still vast and big and clear, like it was in Afghanistan. Ellie decided she was starting to get used to it.

All three of them would go up to the door, Ellie decided. All three of them was safer, since they could cover one another. They would all go, but they were just going to talk for now. They would be polite, rather than insist on answers, or search the house, or do anything heavy-handed. For now, she was simply asking questions, inquiring politely if anyone had seen the kid.

She decided that was best.

She took her corporate secureID out of a pocket and hung it on a cord around her neck, ready to show to whoever opened the door. She would identify herself, and she would leave her submachine gun in the SUV, and hopefully she would look harmless. Hopefully the people inside the house understood she was trying to look harmless too.

“Am I safe just walking up to the door to talk?” Ellie said to Joe. Just to check.

“Here?” he said, looking the house. “You should be.”

“They won’t shoot as soon as they see me?”

“Why would they?”

“I don’t know. I’m asking you.”

“Do we think they’re militia?” Joe said, as if he thought Ellie might have intel he hadn’t seen.

“No,” Ellie said. “Not as far as I know. I just mean, what’s normal here. Do people just walk up to doors and knock?”

“Usually.”

“We don’t need to message them first?”

“I wouldn’t have thought so, no.”

“I mean, we won’t surprise them, and get shot, like we might at a hajji house?”

“Oh,” Joe said, and looked around at the flat empty farmland. “Well, they probably saw us drive up, so I don’t think they’ll be surprised.”

Ellie looked at him for a moment. “Don’t be an asshole,” she said.

“I’m serious.”

“I know, but don’t say it like that.”

Joe grinned.

“So it’s safe?” Ellie said, to make sure she understood. “I’m asking you explicitly, native guide. It is normal here just to walk up to the door? Rather than shouting hello from over here or something?”

“We should be fine going to the door.”

“They won’t shoot at us?”

“I wouldn’t have thought so, no.”

“You’re coming too,” Ellie said sharply. “How sure are you?”

“Sure enough I’ll go with you,” Joe said, and grinned again.

“Good,” Ellie said. “And we shouldn’t wear tactical armour, either?”

Joe looked doubtful. The heavy armour was to protect them against close-quarters automatic rifle fire, but it was bulky and thick and hot to wear, and it had a helmet and visor, too, covering the wearer’s face, which didn’t usually give the kind of friendly impression Ellie wanted here.

“I wouldn’t,” Joe said. “No. Not if we’re being friendly and just talking.”

“Being an asshole again,” Ellie said. “Don’t be clever.”

Joe grinned some more.

Ellie sighed. “Come on,” she said. “Both of you.”

She got out of the car.