Chapter Four
The job
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The forensic van from the MCIT, was parked inside the perimeter set up by the police. Its two occupants in the front seat were glancing at the people milling around, with their umbrellas behind the holographic security tapes trying to figure out what was going on. The fine drizzle continued to fall, but that didn't seem to deter the onlookers. There were quite a few people on the streets at the time, and the movement had attracted curious onlookers and some of the press who, despite everything, still had no idea what was going on inside the building.
"I've got a square ass from waiting," the fake Ann said, in the driver's seat, looking up the building. "It takes that long for those guys to collect evidence?"
Stan, the fake Patel, looked at her and sighed. "You should be happy they didn't call us up there with the others to investigate. I can improvise, but I'm not very good at science stuff. Calm down, they'll come back soon."
"Calm down? Easy to say. If we have to come down here, with so many police and drones, we'll be screwed. Those two should be awake by now." Ann said, visibly flustered.
"They're tied up tight. Did you disable their NW, right?" Stan asked, concerned.
"Yeah, of course I did. That doesn't mean they can't move. At some point someone is going to find out. I just hope that by the time that happens, we'll be far, very far away, from here. In another country if possible, at least for a few months." Then she looked at him angrily. "You could have come up with a better excuse not to go up there."
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"A turd is always a good excuse," the man laughed, with a shrug. The logging drone, a meter-high floating cylinder with a light on top that monitored the place, slowly approached the van, and scanned them. "What do you want, asshole?" Stan asked, gruffly, giving the drone a middle finger.
Both had records stolen from the real forensics, so the drone found nothing abnormal about either of them. Although it did charge a few cents of E-feb to Rabin Patel's account for the disrespect.
The woman shook her head and sighed, as the drone flew away again. "What do you think it is this time?"
"I don't know, and I honestly don't want to know," Stan said, grimacing.
"Aren't you at least curious?"
"You know what they say about curiosity. This is a weird one, I don't even want to know what they want someone's dead body for."
"The pay is huge, we could retire for about three years on that kind of money. I'm curious."
The man looked at her angrily. "You really want to know? These guys called us yesterday about the contract. As far as I'm concerned it's most likely someone messed up and killed her, and then they were scared shitless to move the body, and that's why they called us now."
"There just seems to be something weird about this one. Don't you think?"
"Weird about this job, it's just a matter of proportion."
"That guy gave me the creeps. Even if it was just a hologram. I don't know why, but I didn't like his voice."
"The least you should worry about is his voice. Think about the payment, and that's it."
The man sighed and settled back in the seat. He certainly didn't wanted to admit it, but there was something odd about the assignment. He was a man of few words. If the pay for him and his companion was good, there was no need to ask too many questions. Was the kind of life they decided to live together since a long time.
They were contacted by a man who told them he would have a job for them in a short time. In short, it could be weeks or perhaps months. So when he called them back through a holographic chat, just a few hours ago, they wondered what was going on for the sudden change of plans. The stranger raised the price of pay for the task.
The assignment was very simple for the man and woman.
Steal a body.
They hadn't done it before, but compared to more complicated things, like stealing information from a guarded power plant, or stealing a shipment of anomalous minerals, this seemed easier. Even if they were going to be surrounded by cops, the work and the pay was more than enough to excite their senses of danger.
"This guy never said anything about a body on the first call, did he?" asked fake Ann.
"You were there. He said it was related to a kidnapping and ransom of someone important only."
"But now it's stealing a body? It's just something doesn't quite add up. Someone killed who we were supposed to kidnap? And who is this girl after all? Because, she doesn't look like anyone important at all."
"Either something had changed in a short time, or this job is different from the first one."
"Well… I wonder why they didn't call us sooner," Ann said. "This would have been so much easier if they had called us to get the body out before the coppers arrived." She was listening to all the cops' talks outside and, for all they knew, the girl had been deceased for hours before the police and Nevermore SID arrived. "The ravens are here too, that's not normal."
The ravens. That mention was enough to bring back bad memories for Stan. "What's normal?" he muttered, looking up at the upper floors of the building. "I don't know anymore."