We were placed in separate holding cells.

The door shortly opened, blinding me with the bright light from the hallway.

"Get up! We have questions for you. Follow me," one of the soldiers commanded, grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet before pushing me towards the door.

I was taken to an interrogation room where a man in a suit was waiting, looking through a file. He greeted me by reciting my criminal record:

"Max Carver, quite the record you have here. Former member of the Almano crime family, linked with the heist at City Center, and now Knight Rider. Am I missing anything else?"

I sarcastically replied, "Aww I'm flattered that you’ve done your research on me."

He didn't take kindly to my sense of humor. "Watch yourself, Carver, before I come over there and punch you," he warned.

Just then, Alejandro entered the room, looking like shit and ready to take down the guards.

"Now that the two of you are here, we can begin with a simple question. What business did you have at the motel?"

There was a pause of silence, as neither of us was going to say anything.

"I suggest that one of you tell us before you make the situation worse."

Silence fell again, as none of us were willing to talk about our business at the motel. The interrogator had had enough of the quiet game and kicked over his chair, yelling at us to talk before he turned violent.

I shifted my gaze towards the camera, making sure it captured my next move. The man standing in front of me seemed to be unaware of the lens recording our every move. “You think that’s a good idea?” I said, with a hint of amusement in my voice.

The man turned around, his eyes widening in surprise as he noticed the camera. “You think that camera is going to save you? Don’t make me laugh, Carver,” he sneered, his tone laced with contempt.

I remained calm and composed, my eyes fixed on his face. “Oh no, it's not for my safety,” I replied confidently. “It's just that I don’t want to embarrass you in front of your co-workers.”

The man was taken aback by my comment. He grabbed my shirt, his knuckles turning white, and prepared himself to punch me. But before he could land a blow, the door opened, and a woman walked in.

“Better you didn’t expect to see me here,” the woman said, her voice smooth but also commanding attention.

The man let go of my shirt, his eyes darting between me and the woman. “Miss Stout... I didn’t know you were coming. I have this interrogation under control,” he said, trying to sound confident.

Stout didn’t buy what the man was saying. “Really? It looks to me like you are about to punch him. Get out of here, Shaun,” she ordered, her voice firm and authoritative. “I'll take over this interrogation.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Shaun started pleading with Stout, but she cut him off with a stern look. “I don't need a subordinate who questions my orders,” she said, her tone icy and resolute.

I nudged Alejandro, and my curiosity piqued. "Who's she?" I asked him, nodding towards the woman who had just entered the room.

"That's Meredith Stout," Alejandro replied, a hint of trepidation in his voice. "She's one tough-ass woman. I worked with her to find out who the mole was, which was a major pain in the ass. After a while, however, I decided to leave,"

As Shaun left the room, Stout turned towards us and greeted Alejandro warmly. "It's been a while, hasn't it? How have you been?"

"Good. The family’s keeping well also," Alejandro replied, his voice polite but guarded.

"Glad to hear it," Stout said, before turning her attention to me. "And who's your friend?"

"This is Max," Alejandro introduced me. "We've only met a couple of hours ago."

Stout reached out to shake my hand, but I hesitated. It was difficult to shake hands when you're still in handcuffs.

Without missing a beat, Stout laid out the plan. "We're going to let you go. The netrunner you unplugged was working for us, gaining information on our enemies." She ordered our handcuffs to be removed and escorted us out of the building.

Getting outside, I noticed my car parked.

Stout had ordered some people to retrieve my car as evidence but couldn’t find anything that could be of use. Except for the burger wrappers that I forgot to get rid of.

Before we could leave, Stout made us an offer. "There's a space available if you want to join Militech," she said, eyeing us both intently.

We exchanged a glance before declining the offer. We knew better than to get involved with a corporation like Militech.

I checked my phone and noticed that I had two missed texts from Henry.

Henry

“You calmed down now?”

Sent at 12:23 p.m.

Henry

"Max, you there?”

Sent at 12:30 p.m.

Max

"Shit, sorry I didn’t respond. I've been very busy. Where are you right now?”

Sent at 2:41 p.m.

Henry

“Fuck’s sake I thought you were doing something stupid. I’m currently at Afterlife.”

Sent at 2:41 p.m.

Max

"Great, stay there; I'm on my way.”

Sent at 2:42 p.m.

I informed Alejandro that we were heading back to Afterlife. We got into my car and drove back to Afterlife.

Upon returning, I spotted Henry sitting at the bar, nursing his drink. I asked Alejandro to go see the man who gave us the gig and update him on how the job went while I went to talk to Henry.

“I take it you were worried about me,” I said.

“No. Just concerned that you would have ignored Reese’s instructions,” he replied, taking a sip of his drink.

He then noticed my expression and added, “You seem to be in a better state than yesterday.”

“Yeah, I'm still a bit pissed off at Resse, but I'm much calmer now. Besides, I've been given the responsibility of showing a new member the ropes,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

Henry chuckled. “Who would recommend you show someone the ropes?”

I smiled. “It was surprisingly the queen herself.”

Henry looked at me skeptically and said, “How? You've never met her, and no offense, you never will.”

Just then, Alejandro joined us at the bar handing over my share of eddies for the job. I introduced him to Henry. The three of us continued to chat, catching up on the day's events.

"Sounds like it was quite a day, but I need to talk to you about something, Max," Henry said.

He asked Alejandro if he could excuse us, as the information he wanted to share with me wasn't his business. We walked to a nearby booth.