Gaylen, Bers and Jaquan had stayed in the car as the three women ascended into the web of bridges, walkways and elevators. They had two listening devices to pay attention to, after all, while also staying alert for any further trouble. He was glad to have some news for when they came back.

“We might have our big break,” he said as everyone was comfortably seated. “That second tracker picked up a bit of a meeting, it seems.”

He went into the relevant part of the audio file.

“The man Ayna tagged is named Bulluru, it seems. And he met with our friend Sammy, and at least three others. After some brief niceties, we got this.”

He hit play.

“... but Sammy,” Bulluru said. “I heard something about trouble, here in the core.”

“There was no trouble,” Sammy replied, but there was an edge of defensiveness in his voice. “We just had a chat with some spacers that were asking the wrong questions.”

“Are you being fully honest there?” Bulluru asked. “Because if something serious went down, then we shouldn’t leave it unaddressed. But I also don’t want there to be trouble over a petty argument with people who will be hitting the lanes tomorrow.”

“No trouble, like I said,” Sammy told him, more sharply now. “I can handle it, with the boys I have here.”

“Please don’t sulk, man.”

“I am not sulking,” Sammy told him sulkily.

“Good. Keep on not sulking, and tell me about…”

There was a brief silence, and Gaylen strongly suspected Bulluru was checking for any nearby observers.

“... our offworld friends,” he then finished, with an emphasis that mostly invalidated the word. “Since they are staying in your turf.”

“They want a meeting tonight,” Sammy told him. “And I think we should give it to them. Tonight.”

“Have they come around on the price?”

“I think we should have the final discussion on that face-to-face,” Sammy said. “And, uh…”

A fair amount of self-satisfaction was seeping into the man’s voice at this point.

“... I think I know just the place. Arro’s place, in fact.”

Bulluru was silent again, though now probably for a different reason.

“An.. interesting choice,” he finally said. “A secret meeting in a place that is the hottest gossip item. Interesting choice.”

“People gossip, sure,” Sammy said. “But they won’t go there. The corp guards aren’t going to bother with a stakeout or something. And Arro’s crew had the place shielded. All that should still be in place. And it is an isolated spot. AND it is technically neutral ground. Or would you rather we invite those types into one of our own strongholds? Do you trust them to that degree already? I don’t.”

“You’re not… completely wrong,” Bulluru reluctantly admitted.

“No I’m not, am I? And Arro isn’t around to complain.”

There was a third silence, and having listened to this once already, Gaylen knew the reason why.

“Who do you think killed him?” Bulluru then asked, in a serious voice. “Them. I saw pictures of that whole mess, and… well, someone was very angry.”

“Not the spooks,” Sammy replied. “That kind of anger isn’t… professional, is it? Look, they had enemies down south. I don’t know much about it, but let’s focus on our own problems. And our own opportunities. You still have the guy, right? The one they want?”

“No one has randomly shot him, yes,” Bulluru told him dryly.

“Alright. Make sure your boys keep him where he is. I’ll get the spooks to meet our demands, then we hand him over.”

Gaylen ended it.

“That’s the relevant part,” he said. “They did some casual chatting, then entered someplace with a lot of interference. It seems we now have a deadline.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“On top of that agent’s implied deadline,” Herdis pointed out.

“We could see about tagging Sammy himself,” Jaquan suggested. “That would lead us straight to that meeting place. “We-”

“Arro,” Ayna suddenly said, and Gaylen saw something dawn on her face.

“What?”

“That was what Sammy called the man who greeted him, at that place out in the suburbs. That’s… that’s the group that was massacred last night.”

They all looked at each other.

“Maybe we should check it out?” Kiris said.

# # #

It was indeed an isolated part of the neighbourhood; a part of, if not a sea, then at least a lake of storage buildings, abandoned houses, and low-grade businesses that closed for the night. If one didn’t want to bother with penetrating the vast, surrounding forest for a clandestine meeting, this was certainly a good alternative.

The core itself didn’t allow civilian drones, but from what Gaylen could tell the suburbs were a bit of a grey area. And so they had a little thing floating up above, out of easy sight by the naked eye. Gaylen kept his eyes on the feed as Jaquan drove, and saw no sign of the green jackets nearby. The Heg agents weren’t as easily identified, but he still felt fairly confident that there was no immediate danger.

It was an unremarkable box of a two-storey building, unpainted and with few windows. It didn’t look like it had ever been intended for habitation, but Gaylen had certainly seen worse gang hovels.

After going past it they drove down a narrow side street, turned again, and came to a stop behind the house, in a bleak no-man’s-land of emergency exits and accumulated trash.

“Still nothing,” Gaylen said, of the drone feed.

“Still nothing on my part either,” Jaquan said.

He wore the goggles, and served as their alarm system against surveillance tech.

Their first sign of what had gone down was the back door. The lock had been blown apart with plasma, and as Gaylen stepped closer he could tell it had happened from the inside. A smear on the ground outside, that Jaquan confirmed was blood, added to the tale.

Someone had made a frantic escape attempt, but only barely made it outside before getting caught. By someone, or something.

Bers and Herdis stood guard outside, openly carrying their heavier weapons. The long, dirty backstreet was empty of traffic, and Gaylen doubted any locals would make a fuss.

The rest of them entered; Gaylen first, with pistol drawn, and then Jaquan, with his goggles.

“Still nothing,” the engineer said.

This was indeed not a residential, but minimal effort had been put into turning it into one. Or at least a hangout. From what Gaylen could tell, this had been some sort of chemical factory, judging by all the pipes and treatment machinery. There had clearly been more of it once, but some had been removed, while the rest had been left to decay. The first floor had a couple of sizeable empty spaces, and one had been equipped with sofas, a couple of tables, and a cooler and a minor cooking unit. There were a couple of entertainment setups, and some lockers that looked younger than the abandoned machinery. There wasn’t a fully-fledged upper floor, but raised walkways and platforms added up to half a one.

And then there was the blood.

There were more plasma-marks around, but the stuff didn’t create that kind of mess, so Gaylen took those to have been created by the local crew as they fought back. It hadn’t done them any good.

There were eight big smears on the floor, spread in a fairly wide area. One was up against some of the leftover machinery. A big one, big enough to have come out of two people, was near one of the sofas. One that really stood out was in what had been some sort of control area, converted into a makeshift bathhouse. Someone had been flung through the clear plastic that provided a view of much of the main floor, leaving blood on both it and the floor.

Gaylen touched the material. It wasn’t armour-grade, but still quite strong.

The final mess was up against the wall, and behind a chunk of machinery. It seemed to have been someone’s failed attempt to hide. Gaylen noted that a pipe would have made getting at the victim a bit tricky, if it had been in the proper place. But it had been bent out of the way. Not cut or melted. Bent.

“Someone in heavy armour could have done this,” Jaquan mused. “The expensive sort.”

“Hold on,” Kiris said. “Is this why that Heg agent was rattled? Does he think we did this?”

“Huh,” Gaylen vocalised as he rolled the idea around in his head. “What do you guys think? Should we feel flattered?”

“Hah.”

The little sound came from Ayna. But he could tell that she was nervous.

Gaylen took out his comm and found its range reduced to mere metres.

“The place is shielded,” he told the others. “With wiring, probably built into the walls and under the floor. It’s a very common thing for petty outfits, to have at least one place where the authorities can’t listen in. Of course, that also means we can’t listen in via any kind of tech. It’ll have to be… manual.”

“I could disable it,” Jaquan suggested. “It wouldn’t take long.”

“If they notice, they’ll relocate the meeting,” Gaylen said.

He looked around, at the pillars, the walkways, and the big, boxy lights that dangled from the ceiling.

“I’ll do it,” he said. “I’ll be inside before the meeting starts.”

“Sneaking is… my thing, boss-man,” Ayna said, although there was a fair amount of reluctance in it.

“And this whole operation is my thing,” he told her. It made him feel oddly awkward. “I… this is about an old debt to Mardus. Owed by me. No one else. The big risks are mine.”

Ayna smiled, and looked a bit to the side. It wasn’t her typical fun-loving one, and he didn’t quite know what to make of it. Maybe he would ask Kiris about it later, but for now they had a deadline.

“Besides; Ayna, I want you hiding outside, ready to slip trackers on vehicles and any solitary guys who give you the opportunity. And I want Herdis and Bers nearby, ready to burst in, in case of major trouble. Jaquan and Kiris: You stay in the car, ready to provide a fast escape, if needed. What do you all say?”

The three of them considered what he’d said. Kiris was the first to speak.

“Well, I’m not thrilled about it,” she told him. “About you just being in here, along with who knows how many killers.”

“Besides that, it sounds like a decent plan,” Jaquan said. “But I’m not thrilled either.”

He looked at them; his lover and his friend. One had been something of a rock for years; one single reliable human being in a life filled with chaos and violence and backstabbing. And a woman who fulfilled him, and made him feel like he fulfilled her in turn.

The two of them weren’t much for public displays, and he wasn’t quite sure which of them was to blame for that. But now they looked into one another, earnestly, sincerely. He knew perfectly well why she was so worried. He would be too. And indeed was, whenever she put herself in danger.

“Well, this is my life,” he then said. “Our life. All of us. We all chose this, in varying ways and degrees. As for my hiding spot, they might have a quick poke around before the meeting starts, but I doubt they’ll check the top of those lights.”

He pointed up, at the big, boxy lights.

“I can reach that one from that shelving unit,” he said, and shifted his pointing finger slightly. “And it is easily big enough to hide me. It’s also close to that emergency exit. In case of trouble. So. Are you guys with me?”

“I’m with you, boss-man,” Ayna said.

“I told you I was, at the start of this,” Jaquan said. “And your plan seems like the best shot at all this.”

Kiris held her hand out, and he took it. She in turn took his gaze and held it. He could get lost in those golden eyes, and often did. The feeling threatened now, even as a deadline progressed mercilessly. But he didn’t think she was actually trying to make some point. She just wanted to memorise this moment. These feelings. In case things went badly.

“Yes, I’m with you,” she said.