It wasn’t that easy, of course. First of all, it wasn’t like we could just get an aircab to the target. That fucker was hiding out in a corpo pleasure retreat, and they screened to stop “undesirables” from entering.
No, we’d need Bowdoin’s help to deal with the security and get in there. But regardless of that, first we had a bounty to claim—a quarter of a million credits was very nice, after all—and even once it’d been split four ways, it was still sixty-two thousand, five hundred credits each.
I saw the wince on Reign’s face as we left the sub-levels of the arcology using Stinger’s security lift, and I knew that the scumbags had taken “their” forty percent off her earnings already.
The bounty wasn’t disputed this time, making me think that it’d probably been Lucky playing silly fuckers before. I let out a long sigh of relief, seeing that finally, finally, I had enough in my account to pay for the mods I needed to operate my damn suit again.
Leaving the building, I couldn’t help but smile, despite everything, as I saw Julius, standing where I’d asked him to be, waiting patiently with thirty plus guild members, all loaded for bear. I marched up and offered a fist to bump, getting a solid jolt as he replied in kind, before speaking.
“So, I take it we’re not needed?” he called over the rain and the wind as I approached him. The damn weather sent literal sheets washing across the open space out here.
“No, but thank you. It was touch and go a few times, though.”
“I can see that.” He nodded to the battered state of my armor, and I glanced at it, before shrugging. “Well, no offense, Kabutt, but we’re keeping the guns. The deal was we come and be ready to back you up if it goes badly. It didn’t, but we’re all fucking soaked and tired, so the deal’s done, all right?”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled, having expected that and already having written the deal off. It was better to have had the backup and not need it, than need it and not have it. Same principle as a prophylactic, really. And add in the shitty weather that a load of the guild had mustered up to stand around in? I sure as shit couldn’t blame them for wanting to leave as sharp as possible.
The rest of the guild moved as soon as Julius gave them the all clear, mounting up on their personal transports. Others called cabs or set off walking, vanishing in all directions as I put the call through to Bowdoin.
“Hey, Kabutt,” the hacker greeted distractedly. “What’s up?”
“What’s up?” I repeated. “Fuck’s sake, Bowdoin, what’s happening with the job? Have you definitely found him?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah! Sorry, weird data architecture here. Yeah, found him. He’s still there, so…”
“So…?”
He smiled. “So when I get paid, I’ll give you the location.”
“And what exactly is to stop you from fucking off to some bar as soon as the creds are handed over?”
“Uh, nothing?” he replied, seeming confused.
“Exactly!” I snarled. “Fuck’s sake, Bowdoin, you agreed to get me in there and help me with the hack. So you get paid at the end, once it’s all done, like everyone else!”
“Yeah, about that…” He grimaced. “Look, no offense, pal, but I don’t need to be there. In fact, there’s no good reason for me to be there at all. If I’m there, it’s extra risk for me. You might decide to off me rather than pay me, after all, and it’s a risk for my team as well. They’d be watching you…you’d be watching them. I’d be creeping around, trying to get into places to do hacks, when, seriously? All I need is access to their gear.
“I’ll walk you through the things you need to do to open the backdoors for me, and I’ll remote in. That way, there’s no risk to me that you decide to save on my wage, and less risk to you that you’ll get caught out by my team accidentally tripping something.”
“Fuck’s sake, Bowdoin!” I snarled. “What if I damn well need you on the ground?”
“Why the hell would you?” He seemed genuinely confused. “No offense, but you know fuck all about hacking. You’re going to a corpo site. It’s literally a pleasure park for them. Everything is remote capable—how else would they record everything to use as blackmail later?”
“I…” I paused, thinking about it, and really considering it, and winced. “Fuck, I need to go into that.”
“Exactly. And while you’re there? Every single movement needs to be cloaked by me. Like seriously, man. I not only need to spoof the security systems to ignore you physically, I need the digital ones to erase your presence. They need to see you, to approve you as being permitted, and then be wiped, one at a time, to make sure they don’t report you. On top of that, I’ll have no fucking clue when the systems are backed up, if they have random security checks or manual eyes on it.”
“Can’t you, I don’t know, give me a fake ID? Make them think I’m supposed to be there?” I asked.
“Yeah, yeah, I could, if I was a fucking idiot.” A long-suffering sigh filled the link as Bowdoin buried his head in his hands. “Let’s just think about this, okay? You’re a corpo drone, and you’re trying to climb the greasy ladder. You’ve got a little hacking experience under your belt, what are you going to do?”
“No fucking clue,” I said grimly. “Seriously, is this necessary?”
“Just…just trust me, okay?” He fixed me with a glare, then forced a smile. “So, I want to get promoted, and I know the only way to the top isn’t by being a good little drone, it’s by backstabbery, buggering up others and basically being a proper corpo scumbag, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So, do I stay at work an extra hour on this day, whatever day this is? Do I do my job right and hope for a little recognition, or do I trawl places like this, looking for anything I can use for blackmail?”
“Shit.”
“So, let’s take it a step further, because, you know, this is important to make sure you understand. Do we then let ‘Bob,’ the career corpo asshole, sit in his shitty apartment, waiting, then get a ping that he’s set to alert to any corpos moving around the grounds, or do we let him get a ping that shows nothing, simply a blank, erased passage log? Something that, when he goes looking for it, looks like it was triggered by a pest, instead of, you know, exactly the thing he’s going to be desperately watching for?”
“Fuck you, Bowdoin. I can take a hint,” I growled.
“You sure?” he asked sarcastically. “You don’t need me to send you a drawing, maybe take all the long words out? Get some dancing cartoon characters to act it out for you?”
“Do you want me to come fuck you up?” I growled.
“Hey, I’m trying to educate you here, Kabutt, and I’m only doing that because you’re Richie’s friend. Where is he, anyway? You said he was still ‘in’ but I’m getting returned pings…”
“He can’t comm from where he is,” I whispered, truthfully.
“He…is he dead?” His voice changed to one with a little more concern.
“Honestly, I can’t say,” I said hollowly. “He told me to contact you, though, for a few jobs. So, when I can explain more? I will, all right?” I hoped that anyone who might be monitoring this—I didn’t think anyone was, but that touch of paranoia was back—would assume I was just lying to Bowdoin and myself.
“All right…” he said, although it was clear he wasn’t happy. “Look, you want the location and my help, or not?”
“Yeah, I do.” I took a deep breath and blew it out. “Okay, how do we get in?”
“There’s three methods I can fix up for you on short notice, but for something like this? And as short notice as it is? None of them are perfect, and there’s risks with them all.”
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“Story of my life. Hit me,” I said flatly.
“Okay, option one. Corpos do the absolute bare minimum they can themselves. That means there’s a constant stream of bots moving around the area. They’re delivering everything from food to hookers, and disposing of garbage, like the remains of the food, and for what looks to be a very sick fucking party in number seventeen, the remains of the hookers as well.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, well, the option there is, we can get you into a van as ‘entertainment’ and send you direct to the tower. Then you wear a mask and run for his floor and apartment.”
“That…sounds okay?”
“It is, except he’d need to approve it, and he’s already had such entertainment leave for the night. On top of that, no offense, but you look like a bunch of scavs took a dump and shaped it into a human. Besides, any transport directly sent to a property sends a dual ping—as it’s en route, and on arrival—to the local security forces, and to the target location.
“If the target location doesn’t approve it? Security takes it down. The ping is sent at the same time to both locations, but at a random point in the journey, over the few minutes that takes. That means we can’t guarantee that we can intercept it, and for the entire journey I need to be laser focused to hack both locations at once, so anything else that comes along? I can’t help. Someone decides to have a look inside? You’re boned.”
“Can’t you control the transport? Make it not send that ping?”
“Ah, you’re learning! No.”
“But—”
“If the transport doesn’t send the ping, it’s automatically viewed as a suspect vehicle, and terminated.”
“Terminated?”
“Gamma cannons on the roof,” he clarified. “They take their security really fucking seriously, okay, Kabutt?”
“Shit.”
“Well, let’s face it, if the transport doesn’t ID itself, they’re losing nothing. It’s the transport company’s problem that their machine is wiped, not the corpo’s.”
“And if it’s a signal issue, then it’s only a bunch of hookers…is that it?”
“Basically, yeah.” Bowdoin frowned. “I don’t fucking like it either, but that’s these assholes all over.”
“Okay, so what’s option two?”
“Option two is a fast, hard hit. Basically, I’ll take down a section of the security wall, the sensors and everything, on the opposite side of the compound to you…”
“The…?”
“Just hold the questions, okay?” he growled. “The opposite side of the compound to you goes down, then I spoof a dozen attacks, all rolling over the walls. Make it look like some third-rate hacker is fucking with them, send all their alarms wild. Then you get your ass over the wall as far from the point of the original interest as possible.
“Then you run like fuck to the tower. I’ll take down anything that sees you, as fast as I can, but again, no promises. And it’ll get the security teams out and running, so you’d need to avoid them.
“Then you get inside, and, I don’t know, charm your way to the target’s location, floor thirteen, apartment four.”
“Don’t like that one,” I admitted, and he nodded.
“Fair enough. That leaves option three.”
“What’s option three?” I asked.
“That’s…that’s the problem.” He sighed. “Look, Kabutt, and all threats and shit aside—yes, you’re a scary motherfucker, so you don’t need to make threats and so on. I’ve not found a third option that I like, not a viable one anyway, not yet. I’m still working on it, though, so, I don’t know…head there and we’ll start as soon as I can come up with a plan?”
“That’s not good enough,” I growled.
“Which part of you don’t need to make threats and shit is confusing you?” he snapped. “You gave me a matter of hours to find this dickhead, and you hired me to find you a way through security, and to be ready to hack some asshole corpo cocksucker. I’m doing my fucking best, okay? I’ve found you two ways through security. It’s not my fault they’re shit! And corpo security isn’t something you break easily without corpo resources. So either you accept those facts, hand me those resources or I walk my merry way.”
“Shit…” I muttered, gritting my teeth. “You said there was a third option, you just didn’t like it?”
“Yeah.” He snorted. “You’d go in underground, like through the sewers. But it’s not specters and shit you’d be dealing with. Well, it’s probably shit, yeah, but you know, still…”
“Just fucking tell me!” I snapped.
“There’s a high-security zone down there. Something’s drawing a lot of power, but it’s not on any of the records. Some serious heat releases—I’m betting some kind of heavy-duty reactor or heat sinks. Definitely something hidden, either way. They won’t be leaving that kind of shit open to intrusion, either. They’ll have sealed it off fully from the undercity.”
“We could probably blow through though, right?” I scratched at my chin. “Use stealth in the sewers, then a breaching charge, rush them through the lower levels, take out—”
“Have you heard yourself?” Bowdoin asked disgustedly, shaking his head. “What the hell kind of stealth are you thinking of using with a breaching explosion? Heavy stealth? Nobody can report you if they’re all dead? Fuck’s sake, do you even understand the concept?”
“You got a better plan?”
“I could eat the alphabet and shit a better plan than that!”
“Which one has the better chance of success?” I asked caustically. “Your ones where we all hide in a fucking box, hoping nobody scans us, you know, like they’ll do for every goddamn package? Or where we bum-rush the tower and hope that nobody is looking in our direction?”
“Fuck’s sake, Kabutt, a shitty plan isn’t made better by comparing it with other shitty plans!”
“Which one?” I asked again.
“Not yours, dimwit!” he snarled. “That’s the kinda shit that gets all the alarm bells ringing, even for the shittiest kind of cyber security! There’s something hidden in the goddamn basement, something that they’re keeping off the grid, and you’re suggesting you blow up a goddamn wall to ‘sneak’ past it. Do you know what sneak means, Kabutt? Because I’m thinking you fucking don’t!”
“Then pick another!” I snapped.
Suddenly the feed filled with an image of a man banging his head on the desk, repeatedly, while a prerecorded track played repeatedly: “Why me? For fuck’s sake, I’m surrounded by idiots…”
It was a scene from a vid from a few years back, and it’d become iconic for the sheer fucking stupidity of the people the hero had to deal with.
It was something that we sent each other as NCOs, when dealing with officers. And to have it sent at me, clearly viewing me as the fucking idiot? I snarled, determined to find this little fucker and—
“WAIT!” he barked, suddenly back, eyes flickering as he did whatever hacker mumbo-jumbo voodoo shit he did. “Yes!” he crowed. “Oh yeah, I’m a fucking genius!”
“What?”
“Oh, don’t you worry, Kabutt. You wouldn’t get it, anyway. You just accept that I’m amazing, and, uh…can you get to this location in, oh, say the next five minutes?”
I got a location ping, and I checked it, frowning and spinning it around, making sense of where it was.
“Maybe ten minutes…?” I replied, confused.
“Too much. I can probably stall him for a few minutes more, but that’s it. Look, just get there, and take the guy out, or down, or whatever you do, then we have our ticket in. Are you with me?”
“You want me to kill him?” I asked, confused, sending the location to Reign and a quick text file saying we needed to be there right fucking now.
“Keeper, help me!” Bowdoin snapped. “For fuck’s sake, what is it with you people? Let me be clear here. Go knock him out, and be stealthy…Don’t fuck him up too much! And to clarify, Kabutt? Stealthy means nobody sees you—not you blowing up a building, playing a fucking trumpet as you go, all right? Awesome! It’s a pleasure working with you, mate, and this’ll totally mean you owe me a bonus. Bye-bye!”
The link cut off, and I was left blinking, trying to make sense of that last barrage of shit from the hacker. I shook my head. Clearly, I wasn’t going to get anything else, yet.
“Reign?” I snapped, turning to her, and she smiled, nodding as the pair of us fell into our accustomed roles easily again: me as senior NCO, and her as my second, ready to make shit happen.
I guessed this was how it was supposed to be for officers and senior NCOs as well, minus the frontal lobotomy they apparently had as standard.
“Aircab is incoming. ETA less than a minute,” she replied. “Paid the extra for an emergency pickup.”
“Thank you,” I said, relieved. “Send me the tab, and I’ll sort it.”
“No worries. Luna! Gessh!” she bellowed to the other two, who’d drifted off to one side and were chatting happily with someone they apparently knew from the guild.
They broke off, waved, then quickly made their goodbyes and hurried over.
“You know him?” Reign nodded after the sole figure who was even now running after his departing team in the distance.
“Yeah. Santos. Insanely talented mechanic! We used to date his brother.”
“You…both of you?” I looked from one to the other, and the pair nodded. “Wow, okay.” I shrugged.
“What’s wrong with that?” Gessh frowned.
“Nothing’s wrong with it,” I said quickly, glancing around to spot the incoming aircab. “He’s just…”
“The brother you were talking to is half your size.” Reign said it for both of us. “If the guy you were dating is anything like him? You’d have killed him in the sack.”
“Ah!” Gessh grinned as Luna started to laugh.
“No, no, don’t worry. Min and Santos are half-brothers. Min is, well, he’s…” Luna hesitated.
“He’s like some genetic freak,” Gessh finished for her. “He’s a man mountain—half-elf, half-orc, and he’s…Usually half-bloods are smaller than full-blooded orcs, and less pretty than full elves, right? He’s the opposite. He’s some poster boy for corpo security forces recruitment now.”
“Corpo, eh?” I winced.
“Security gig.” She nodded. “He’s too pretty to be a merc, I guess. Spends all his time ‘protecting’ corpo women…probably from their beds, if we know him.”
“So, just to be clear, if we meet him in a fight here? I reserve the right to shoot him in the dick,” Luna said.
“Luna liked him a lot more than I did,” Gessh admitted, smiling fondly at her sister. “Believe me, he’ll deserve the shot if we get the chance.”
“Okay…” I winced, before Reign saved us all.
“Cab!” she called.
I twisted around, grunting as I saw it coming to land behind us, and reflected—as I grabbed my gear, chucking it in the transport trunk—that no matter what direction you watched for the damn things from, they were always unpredictable.
“Load up!” I grabbed the door and climbed in, flicking on the optional privacy setup and acknowledging the charge for it.
“What’s the plan, boss?” Luna clambered in across from me. The other two joined us a few seconds later, with Reign complaining about the size of the trunk.
“Hey, you’re the one with insane length guns,” Gessh said as the cab confirmed we were all seated, the doors locking and the privacy light activating to show we were safe from outside contact or recording.
The cab lifted into the air, jinking to one side and making us all grab the restraints as something small and fast enough to trigger my instinctive missile trauma tore past.
“Goddamn delivery drones!” Luna snarled, catching the image on the side of it. “I swear, they try to hit things!”
“Probably,” I agreed, sighing and sending them all a datapacket. “Okay, here we go, people…”