He assumed an offer like this was coming, and shook his head. “I appreciate it, but this is something I want to see myself. And I’d rather do it alone, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course. I’ll be here waiting to take you back when it’s done.”
Yu climbed out and walked down the street toward the warehouses owned by Rip Current Shipping Lanes. The ocean smell and cool breeze helped to keep him focused as he walked, cutting through his tumbling thoughts and making him pay attention to his surroundings. Now that he knew what to look for, he recognized the activity around the warehouse, even when it was still several buildings away. He looked around for a good vantage point.
The best possible spot to get a view and guarantee he was out of the way would be the roof of one of these buildings. Yu entered an alley across the street from the warehouse, and looked at the wall in front of him. It wouldn’t be easy, but he had enough experience climbing that he could make use of the uneven masonry of the brick building. There were windows on each floor, with thick sills he could balance on.
The climb was slow, but he arrived with plenty of time to spare. Yu reached the top and pulled himself over the edge, lying down on the roof of an office building.
Keeping his profile low, he crawled to the front edge of the building, pulling himself up just high enough so he could see the warehouse across the way. A couple of people in their unmarked uniforms stood at the gate, and from this angle, Yu saw the armed drones circling around the building. This reaffirmed his decision that it was far too much for his team to handle alone. Now he sat and waited to see if Mr. Johnson would fulfill his obligations. There wasn’t much Yu could do if he decided to pull out. Since the package had already been delivered, he had nothing Mr. Johnson wanted any more. The worst he could do was spread the news through the runner community. But doing so would require sharing far more information with the public than he wanted.
Minutes ticked by, each one had Yu checking the clock at least five times before it rolled over. 2100 came and went, but nothing happened.
At 2104, when Yu’s legs itched and he longed to get up and pace just to keep his limbs loose, he caught movement at the edge of his vision. Turning to face it, he saw several Knight Errant vehicles lining up in the street.
These weren’t the standard cars used by officers attempting to patrol the streets and keep them safe, using a loose definition of safety by anyone’s terms. These were the armored vans carrying multiple officers in full battle gear. Seemed like Mr. Johnson, true to form, didn’t want to get his hands dirty while dealing with the problem. Yu didn’t care who dealt with it, as long as the BTL dealers were eliminated. He gripped the corner of the roof as he watched, one of his feet tapping as he watched the enforcement corp get into position.
And then the chaos started.
There were no sirens, no flashing lights, no booming voice telling the criminals to surrender. Instead, the caravan drove forward in a spearhead formation, slamming through the fence, with one of the vans aimed straight at the guard manning the station. He brought his weapon up and fired a few shots, the rapid explosions echoing through the air. They were followed by the high-pitched ring of bullets bouncing off an armored shell in a shower of sparks. And then there was the crunch as the vehicle rolled over the man.
The wheels hadn’t even stopped when the back doors flew open and the Knights rolled out with military precession. These weren’t the standard rank and file either, these were the elite members of the organization, well-trained to do their job. They covered each other as they circled around the warehouse in tight formations, shooting at the building. From his vantage point, the gunfire made his ears ring as the two forces exchanged shots.
A large explosion lit the night as a grenade went off near one of the vans, sending a few of the Knights scrambling and rolling across the cement. One of them didn’t get up again. The sudden burst of light made Yu turn his face away from the blast, in time to see the access door to the office building open.
He sprang to his feet and rushed toward the doorway as a large troll in Knight Errant riot gear stepped out and began coming toward him. The troll looked toward the warehouse, his gun coming around as he did. Yu already had his out and trained on the target. He fired as he circled around toward the door, not expecting the bullets to do any lasting damage, but hoping they served as a distraction.
His plan worked and the troll stepped back, bringing an arm up to cover his face. Most of the bullets bounced off or sank into his armor, but at least one cut along his bicep where the protection wasn’t quite as thick. Yu ran out of bullets, but reached the doorway as the weapon clicked empty. He jumped through, hoping to clear the first set of stairs and head down toward the exit.
But slamming into the ork coming up the stairwell was like jumping into a rock wall—and just as forgiving. As he tumbled to the ground, Yu had enough presence of mind to kick out, knocking the rifle out of the ork’s hand, robbing her of an easy kill.
If the disarm bothered her, she didn’t seem concerned. She reached down and grabbed Yu by the front of his jacket. He twisted free from one hand, but the other had too solid of a grip. She lifted him up from the ground and slammed him into the wall, cracking the back of his head against it, and knocking his pistol loose as well. Her tusked face blurred from the impact, but he knew she lifted him away to slam him into it again.
Yu lifted his feet behind him, using them to cushion the blow, then sprang forward as she pulled him back. The sudden shift in momentum let him flip over her head into the open air between the looping switch-backed stairs. She held on, stopping his flight short and yanking her into the railing so it caught her in the side. The impact knocked the air out of her lungs even through her protective clothing, but she held on with a growl.
As he struggled to tear himself free—and drop four stories to the ground far below, which somehow seemed like a better option to his dazed mind—the troll stomped into the stairwell, an ugly sneer on his face. He reached out to help the ork subdue the criminal, and Yu knew his life would be forfeit if those meaty fingers curled around one of his limbs.
Not seeing much in the way of options, Yu pointed his fingers straight and slammed them up into the bottom of the ork’s armpit. The blow made her let go, the nerve acting on reflex despite all her training. And Yu fell away from both of them.
He reached out to catch himself on the next railing, but missed the timing. His wrist slammed against the metal bar, and he thought he heard a crunch of bone. The impact knocked him out of the center and he tumbled toward the opposite side, catching himself on the railing by draping both of his arms across it and letting the metal bar slam into his rib cage.
For several seconds he struggled simply to breathe.
His foot slipped as he clambered over the rail, and it took three tries before he collapsed on the stairs on the other side. Compared to his other injuries, slamming into the cement steps didn’t even register. The gunfire from above as the ork opened fire did, however. Through his pain, a voice in his head reminded him that his life was over if he didn’t move.
At first, sliding down the steps was the best he could manage. Once he got to the next landing, he slid over to the wall and used it to prop himself up. As much as he wanted to take a moment to catch his breath, he doubted the pursuing Knight Errant officers would be willing to grant him that luxury. Yu shuffled forward, almost toppling over when he reached the next set of steps.
He took stock of his injuries as his lucidity came trickling back. His wrist felt broken, as well as possibly a couple of ribs. But his legs and lungs still worked, and they were what he needed most right now. Fighting was out of the question. He doubted he’d stand much of a chance against these two if he were fresh. In his current state, it would be suicide, even if they didn’t have guns.
To make matters worse, he heard voices shouting from the floors beneath him. He didn’t let it slow his pace. Whatever was down there couldn’t be any worse than what was poun
ding after him from behind, firing off the occasional shot that cracked into the cement around him. It might be just as bad, but he saw no reason not to keep running.
As he finished another flight of stairs, he saw a body on the landing. The corpse wore a Knight Errant uniform, but judging by the amount of blood pooling around it, wouldn’t be getting up any time soon.
Yu didn’t stop to take a closer look. He rushed past the body and continued toward the exit hoping for a miracle. The miracle came as he passed two more bodies on the ground floor, slumped on either side of the front entrance. This wasn’t a coincidence. This was a death trap. Somehow they knew to storm this building and did so with the same military efficiency they used against the BTL dealers. The nearby explosions and sounds of veritable warfare continued, but if anyone looked in his direction, they were too preoccupied with their own battle to stop him.
Emu rushed up, tires screeching against the pavement as she slid to a stop in front of the entrance of the building. Yu tried to get to her car, but his leg collapsed under him as something bit through his calf. The ork had reached the bottom floor and opened fire, catching him before he managed to reach the vehicle. She leaped down the last few steps to land on the ground floor proper and get a better angle.
Two drones buzzed to life from the back of Emu’s vehicle and zipped forward, guns rattling as they opened fire into the building. The ork ducked back and dove behind the stairway, but left a trail of blood in the process. Yu didn’t know if she was dead or not and didn’t want to wait around to find out. Not to mention wait for the troll. The drones continued firing, alternating to maintain cover fire but conserve ammo.
A giant roar ripped through the sky as at least 300 kgs of muscle and rage crashed to the sidewalk from the roof. The ground shook and the cement cracked underneath the Knight Errant officer. He reached out and grabbed a drone, hurling it against the wall in a flash of sparks. It sputtered on the ground a few times before he stomped on it, stilling it.
Yu pushed himself up to his feet and held out his good arm in front of him in a fighting stance. The troll didn’t hesitate, grabbing the arm and pulling Yu toward him. He hoisted the elf high overhead before tossing him to the ground behind him. Halfway through his trajectory, Yu reached out and pulled the pin from one of the standard issue grenades attached to the troll’s belt.
The other drone turned to fire on the troll, but retreated down the street while shooting. The Knight lumbered after it, moving at speeds no non-augmented meta could manage. Yu ignored the pain in his ribs and rolled over on his side, ducking behind Emu’s car for some measure of protection.
The grenade went off, and what was left of the troll dropped to the ground and didn’t move except for a few post-mortem twitches.
Yu pulled himself to the rear door of Emu’s car. It opened for him and he crawled inside. It lurched forward before he got his entire body inside. When his head reached the far door, he rolled onto his back and took a deep breath. Halfway through he coughed from the pain, a reaction that made fire lance through his chest at multiple angles at once.
“Don’t die back there after bleeding all over my seats. You also owe me another drone, and a detailing job after this!” Emu sped out of the district, slowing down once she reached the highway, but not daring to stop. “You alive back there?”
Yu took half the breath he did before, taking his time and making sure not to push it too far. He took measure of how much he could breathe without kicking off the pain.
“You were right… It was a setup.”
“Did you at least get what you wanted?”
Yu thought back to the destruction at the warehouse. The Knight Errant troops would eliminate the dealers, and the cargo had a high chance of being destroyed in the process. If it wasn’t, he didn’t know what the Knights would do about it. But at the least, they’d removed some portion of the threat from the streets of Seattle. And there were a handful fewer BTL dealers left in the world. These were all good things.
“Wasn’t worth it.” Yu managed between his short gulps of air. Talking took effort, but it helped distract from the pain threatening to push him into subconsciousness.
As he started to drop into the darkness, a thought jolted through him providing all the wakefulness of a shot of epinephrine.
“The others! Are they okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“They knew to look for me.”
Zipfile was the first to respond.
He waited for a few seconds before sending another message.
A couple of pieces slotted into place.
The silence coming across their private channel was answer enough and made Yu curl up as best he could despite his pain. If anything had happened to her because of this job he took… He couldn’t finish the thought. His face paled even more, and his hands shook. His good arm reached down to his pocket, feeling for the BTL chip he carried, squeezing it tight in his palm.
Yu collapsed into the seat, eliciting a groan as his ribs protested the motion. But it didn’t matter. The team—his family—was safe for now. That was the important part. But it would take work to stay that way.
A moment of silence filled the channel. Yu continued, the encroaching darkness approaching with more speed than Emu on a racetrack.
Despite suggesting the option, Yu couldn’t help but hold his breath. He needed to put the option out there, especially since he was the one who had dragged them into this mess. But he hoped they wouldn’t take it. Not because he was concerned for his own safety, but because he wanted to help protect the other members of his team, and make up for the trouble he brought to their doorstep.
It was the least he could do for his family.
The rest of the team agreed with Rude’s sentiment, and Yu lost the strength to resist the temporary relief of passing out. He dimly remembered the team discussing where to meet and how to move forward as the darkness claimed his awareness.
Look for more Shadowrun novellas in The Frame Job series, coming soon from Catalyst Game Labs!
Now that they know they’ve been set up by Mr. Johnson to take the fall for the jshadowrun against Telestrian Industries, our intrepid team has only two things on their mind—find out who set them up, and make them pay!
Read the rest of the series and find out what the other members of the team do to prepare for a run that could change everything for them…either for better, or for much, much worse…
But to find out, first they’ll have to risk it all…
COMING SOON:
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Part 2: Emu
Part 3: Frostburn
Part 4: Rude
Part 5: Zipfile
Part 6: Retribution
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The Frame Job, Part 1: Yu Page 6