Rachel and Touch are taken north, back to the hostel. There, they wait for the others to report in electronically. Within the hour, the second team reports that the plan went off without a hitch, and they were safely back in town.
Shortly after that, the third team checks in.
“They called for backup before they got out of the car. They caught up to us while we were making sure the car to was going to burn hot enough. No one got hurt, but one of my guys gave himself up because of your ‘no kill’ rule. Boss says your plan, your problem. You need to bust him out.” Wyatt, leading the third team, states.
“Damn it…” Touch sighs. “I’ll message you with a pickup point. Give me as many vans as you can get.” He hangs up.
“What’s the plan?” Rachel asks.
“Don’t know. We’ll need to figure something out.”
“Then what are all the vans for?”
He shrugs. “I’m sure we’ll find a use for them.”
They arrange for the scanner held by Jonah’s crew to be taken straight to Ortega. Touch and Rachel let Stephan dissemble their scanner and document all the parts and software to post his findings on the nets, then do with the device how he pleases. They sit in the front lobby to plan their next move.
“So, how are we going to get to him?” Touch asks Rachel.
“You’re asking me?”
“Obviously. You’ve been going in and out of the towns for weeks. I can’t do it. All my information is secondhand.”
“I don’t know… I don’t know the interior of the building… Or how we would sneak him out… The vans are too noticeable… Anyway, before we do any real planning, I need to take a look around there myself.”
“I agree. I need you to run this operation.” Touch tells her.
“What!? Why me?”
“I can’t go in and get close to the building without arousing suspicion, even at night. And this kind of job requires an intimate understanding of the location. It makes no sense for me to run a job I’m so far removed from. You’re ready.”
“No, this is too much. I can get you whatever information you need, but I’m not cut out for running this kind of thing, not with other people’s lives on the line.”
“If you don’t think you can handle it, that’s fine. But don’t kid yourself into thinking you’re not capable. Intelligence is a skill to be acquired. Not an innate ability that makes you ‘cut out’ for some things over others. You’ve been planning your own runs into town for weeks, while I was sidelined, providing support. This is no different.”
“Yes, it is. If I messed up then, I was the one who payed the price. If I mess this up, other people will get hurt. There’s got to be plenty of others here with more experience than me.”
“Exactly. They don’t need the experience because most people here have already done it, and are comfortable with it. That’s why we let the new guy run things as much as possible, so they get the experience, and learn to think for themselves.”
“Listen, I’m not your protégé. I’m grateful for your help, and getting to meet all these people, but I’m not going to join your little underground army or criminal network. So stop trying to groom me for some kind of leadership role.”
“I’m not. I meant what I said. I’m not part of some resistance movement. I’m not running a gang or criminal enterprise-”
“Then what about those traffickers you manipulated into working for you!”
He pauses.
“It was a bluff. They aren’t going to be strong armed or hunted down if they disobey me. I set them up to turn a new leaf, helping rather than hurting people. Sooner or later, they are going to realize that no one is coming for them, and they are free to do as they please. Then they’ll decide if they want to side with AriCorp or Bevmond or do something else entirely.
The people here aren’t part of any organization. We're all just freelancers and fugitives. We offer what we can and ask from others what we need. Again, if you don’t want to do this, that’s fine. No one is going to make you. But you aren’t being groomed or manipulated into anything. This is just a way to learn the skills you need to survive. I believe you’re ready for this.”
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In the military, she was never given a leadership role. It was just her, Talia, and Aris doing as they were told. All she had to do was watch out for her family and they would watch out for her. They were simple scouts: told where to go, observe, report, and wait to be called back. Being a div trainer for Atla was the same thing. All she did was receive a div to train, care for, and send them out when they were ready.
This was different. She would be the one making the calls. If she didn’t do enough, if she failed, there was no reprimand, no one on comms micromanaging her. Those guards, those civilians, any number of people could get hurt.
What if it was Aris? Or Talia? Rachel wouldn’t have the luxury of saying no. She couldn’t rely on someone else to do this for her. She wouldn’t let someone else make the call that could get her children hurt. How could she expect to be there for people, if she couldn’t handle this? So she imagined that guy in holding right now was actually her two kids. Then a plan starts to form in her mind.
“I need information. I need to get down there.”
“You’ll need backup.” Touch says.
“What are you talking about? You can’t go. There is no backup.”
“Contaire, wide-eyes. We have a whole hostel full of potential backup.”
“This isn’t their fight. We can’t drag them into our problems.”
“Do they need you to make that decision for them? Why don’t we ask if this is their kind of fight?”
She stares at him.
“What do you mean?”
“Call a general assembly. Explain the situation. See who volunteers.”
“I-I don’t even know how to do that. What would I even I say, how exactly do I ask people to gather?”
He motions his hand to the main room, where people go to eat, talk, and work on their robot hands.
“I recommend using your words.”
Within thirty minutes, there were over twenty people in the main room, talking amongst themselves, waiting for her to speak. Rachel had retreated to the hallway, pacing back and forth, taking deep breaths.
“Um, excuse me?” She had said to the two people in the main room, “There’s been a bit of an emergency. I was wondering if you could, go around and ask people to gather in here for a general assembly, please.”
She had given briefs and presentations before. But this was different. Those were part of the assignments she was given. She had to make the presentation, and her audience was obligated to listen. When she made videos, she put the lowest point in her life out there for everyone to see. But here, no one was obligated to listen to her, no one owed her anything, and this wasn’t an abstract, faceless audience she was sharing a story with. What right did she have to ask these people to put themselves in danger?
Then she replaced Wyatt’s foot soldier with Aris and Talia in her mind again. This wasn’t about who owed who, or what right she had. The only thing that mattered was getting the job done. Being in debt to anyone who volunteered to help was worth getting this guy back safely.
Rachel strides into the room, and everyone falls silent as she takes the stage. She stands in front of a whiteboard someone had set up. She can see Touch in the back, standing by the door leading to the front lobby.
“Hello. I’m Rachel. A job me and Touch were running this morning, resulted in the capture of one man, Gail.”
She draws a rough map on the board with damp palms.
“He is currently being held for processing in Sancam, on this side of town.” She says, pointing to a spot on her map. “I need to break him out. I can’t do it alone. So I’m asking for volunteers. I’d be grateful for any help anyone is willing to give.” She finishes with a dry throat.
A pause.
“Who is this guy, exactly?” Sal asks from the back, arms crossed.
“A member of Jonah’s crew, a gang operating in Mayvern.” a wave of murmurs ripple throughout the room. “They were helping us with the job, and he got captured.”
“Why were you working with those guys?” A stranger off to the side asks.
She hesitates.
“We came up with a plan to steal some device scanners from the local militia, in exchange for transportation out of here. It was our plan that got him captured, so we need to trade him back to Jonah to complete the deal.”
“What time-frame are we looking at?” Stephan asks from the front.
“I-I don’t know how this town operates. I don’t know when they are going to move him, or where. I have tabs being kept on him now. So I want to get this done as soon as possible, before tomorrow morning, if we can.”
“And how exactly do you plan on getting to him?”
“What kind of plan do you have so far?” More strangers ask in succession.
She takes a deep breath.
She pulls out her stylus, and powers it up. Collective gasps and murmurs radiate through the crowd as they're washed in its pink glow.
“This sword can cut through anything, with enough force behind it. I can cut out an entrance or an exit if I need to. I need to find out exactly where he’s being held, and what to do once I get him out. I need to see what I have to work with before I hammer out a real plan. I’ll be going into town on a recon right after this.”