As much as Chan Yi loved the burgers at Xian’s place, it wasn’t the only reason he stopped by. The old man loved to give out advice and dispense his version of street history to anyone who would listen. The man might seem like a busybody to anyone else, but he’d taught Yi more about living in the Piles than any of his programming had. The old man treated him like family, and Yi did his best to check in on him every few days.

He slid into his favorite booth and Xian’s mouth opened in surprise as he noticed Yi there a second day in a row. Yi gave him a small, tight smile as he waved at him. Their years of friendship would let the man know he wasn’t there for a social call. Xian didn’t come over right away, but Yi had learned true patience sitting in this very booth.

When Xian finally came over, he slid a plate of onion rings and a cool bottle of soda between them on the table.

“I knew you forgot something yesterday,” Xian said as he grabbed an onion ring and took a bite out of it. “Must be the onion rings.”

“Obviously,” Yi said with a smile as he followed Xian’s example and began to eat. The onion rings were perfect with a nice crunch between his teeth. “Business good today?” he asked after his third.

Xian nodded, then leaned closer. “What do you need, Chan Yi?”

There was something off about the way Xian addressed him today, from his body language to the food he’d dropped between them. Yi did a quick sensor sweep of the building and there was nothing out of the ordinary. He set his forearms on the table and leaned in to speak. “Found something interesting this morning that I need to investigate. Have you ever seen anything about Mann Enterprises, here or in the Builds?”

Xian’s eyes tightened. “You don’t want that sort of trouble, Chan Yi,” the old man said. “When they start showing up, people disappear. According to Darcy, they’re the ones that nabbed him. Don’t know why or what they want, but they worked him over pretty good.”

“I hear Darcy’s got a new supplier.” It was a thin lead, but he was hoping for a home run. Darcy’s name had turned up on Fulmer’s list of customers.

Xian nodded. “He came over talking about a month ago, saying that he had his hands on some hard-to-get stuff. All on the up and up, but he was letting his friends know first.” Xian smirked. “As if I need arms of steel to run this place.”

“A port would make things easier,” Yi reminded him. They’d had the conversation before, but Xian was resistant to augmentation. It would have made it easier for Yi to hack into his system if he had a port, but he’d managed to get access to the store cameras and files without it.

“I don’t see you sporting those fancy wires all over,” Xian said.

“Only a few,” Yi said with a grin. If the old man knew what he was really talking to, it would be a much different conversation. One in which Yi was running from the other end of a gun. Xian wasn’t just anti-augmentation. He was anti-AI as well. “So, what do you know about Mann Enterprises?”

“They started coming around the Piles two months back, questioning people. Demanding answers, and if they didn’t like what they got, they hauled the person off. Not to jail. Madame K went looking when they took Anna. The cops didn’t know anything about it, and they didn’t come to the Piles to investigate either. They knew better. People get on the wrong end of a business deal with Mann Enterprises, and they end up gone.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I appreciate the tip,” Yi said as he grabbed the last bite of food. “And the onion rings.”

“That’s not a tip, that’s trouble waiting to happen. Stay clear of them, Chan Yi.”

“I’m doing my best,” Yi said with his more reassuring smile.

Xian grabbed his hand and stared at Yi. “Back off while you still can. I don’t know what business you have, Yi, but Mann Enterprises is looking for something. Now isn’t the time to be stirring trouble. Someone like you might want to stay low for a while. Maybe find a few new places to get their information from, until this blows over.” Xian took the plate and stood up, heading back to the kitchen. When he went back to the counter, he didn’t look Yi’s way.

Yi knew better than to ask anything else. Instead, he finished his cola, left a large tip on the table, and said a silent goodbye to Xian and his favorite burger joint.

###

His next stop wasn’t far. Yi walked across the street and down the alley until he came to the back of Darcy’s tech store. It had been a while since Yi visited the place. He’d scoped it out when he first met Xian, but there was nothing special about the store. They must have really done a number on Darcy if he wasn’t opening yet.

Yi hacked into the lock and let himself in the rear door. The back was a mess of stacked boxes, and it didn’t take years of experience to see the place had been tossed. Chan Yi searched the boxes, then worked his way to the front of the store. The metal doors that Darcy usually opened to the Piles were locked down and there was an eerie quiet to the place. Yi had sat across the street at Xian’s a hundred times and watched Darcy hawking his wares. To see the place lifeless was disconcerting.

The counter was covered by a thin layer of dust. It didn’t take long for the muck of the lower levels to get in, especially since Darcy had been closed for a few days. The shelves were still full though and the boxes behind the counter, while opened, held their original contents. When Yi checked Darcy’s books, he realized Mariner Tech had taken half of it back.

“What the hell were they doing here?” Yi asked aloud. It made no sense. Fulmer was being harassed by Mariner for having stolen tech. Darcy was taken in because he’d bought the tech from Fulmer. So why had Mariner Tech taken some of the stock, but left the rest sitting in boxes? Mariner had come after the tech dealers, but what was so important about the boxes they took? And why had they left the rest behind?

“Mann Enterprises is hitting the Piles hard,” he continued to speak to the empty room. Two had always said it helped him to think. Sometimes Yi did it just to appease him, even if he wasn’t there. “They’re looking for something.” He looked into another box and shook his head. “But not the stolen tech. They took Darcy. Did he tell them where he bought the tech? Did they trace it back to Fulmer? Where did he get the tech?”

Yi opened the box next to him and pulled out a wicked wrist blade. Added to an augmented arm, it was the perfect sheath to hide the throwing blades from. He looked at the tech but couldn’t find any problems with it. He opened the port on his arm and connected to the blade’s sheathing mechanism. It only took a moment for the diagnostics to run and Yi knew there was nothing wrong with the tech. It was very high-quality, specialized equipment.

“There’s no flaw. How the hell did Fulmer get this?”

Mariner would never let the faulty tech be sold. And the level of sophistication in the programming for the blades was beyond usual augmentations. In fact, it would work well with his own.

Had Fulmer somehow gotten hold of tech from Mariner’s military division?

Yi did a more thorough search then, looking through the invoices to see that most of the missing boxes had been marked simply as ‘defense.’ He needed to dig into this further, with expert eyes.

Yi slipped a few items into a bag, including the knives. He didn’t see tech this nice often and his own stores were low. Darcy was going to owe him more than that before this was all over anyway. He was in over his head and the man was just starting to get it.

Yi grabbed his bike from behind Xian’s diner and took off to another section of the Piles.

Mariner Tech was still developing their military operation and Yi had a few pieces. He needed to have it checked out with a specialist, but he had no doubt it was the good stuff. Once he got it checked out, he needed to look at Fulmer’s warehouse to see if anything was missing.

Yi didn’t have to go far to get to Dr. Obuo and he hid his bike before preparing to go in. She didn’t like when he showed up, and she really wasn’t going to like him showing up twice in two days. He just hoped she’d forgive him and not shoot him out of spite.