The Johnson Run

by Kai O'Connal

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Simply this, Mr. Johnson. It is true that when we initially recovered your data file, there was an incident. As I am sure you are aware, that incident resulted in severe damage to networked devices in the area as well as injury to multiple people. This surely cannot be a surprise.”

  He gestured for her to get to the point. It was a delicate balance, stalling him long enough for E-jekt to do the work she hoped he was attempting, but not so long that Mr. Johnson grew bored with her explanations. There was also Lance to consider.

  “We attempted to recover the data file, originally thinking that a sprite or new kind of data bomb was responsible for the damage. During that investigation, we found out the truth.”

  When he tensed and sucked in some air, Keandra held her hands up.

  “There’s no reason to divulge what we found out. As I said before, we strive to be professional above all else. I believe that our mutual employment history in the past speaks to that. However, for the sake of disclosure, it is important that you know what we found out. When we discovered that this was only half of what you sought, we decided to take the initiative and retrieve the other half.”

  “That does not explain your actions. You could have easily returned one piece and then negotiated an agreement to recover the rest.”

  Keandra turned around and started walking in the other direction, crossing back in front of their stolen truck. Mr. Johnson followed her without hesitation, so she took several more steps before continuing.

  “We knew you didn’t have access to this facility. Furthermore, as you are well aware, that data can be difficult to contain. We needed your half in order to procure the complete package. There was no way we would be successful without it. As to why we created the ruse of abandoning the job, that was necessary for one single reason.”

  Here she paused and turned to face Mr. Johnson directly, steepling her fingers in front of her face just below her nose. When he raised a questioning eyebrow, she dropped her hands to fold them in front of her abdomen.

  “Plausible deniability. It had to appear like we went rogue on this mission, rather than took it on with your blessing. After all, if you were willing to risk a direct confrontation with Crystal Techtronix, you would have already acquired the other half one way or the other. Isn’t that right?”

  It was a gamble. Keandra didn’t know what Mr. Johnson’s relationship was to Crystal Techtronix, or if there was one at all, but it was an educated guess. The way the guards kept glancing up at the entrance to the hangar every time the turret opened fire. The fact that Mr. Johnson himself was waiting outside the facility rather than raiding it directly. These facts pointed to his need to maintain some distance between the facility and himself. But it was still a risk. If she was wrong, her entire story would fall apart.

  As she waited, keeping her external demeanor calm, Keandra felt a cold sweat forming at the base of her back. Her legs wanted to tremble, and the more she tried to keep them still, the greater the intensity became. She hoped he would read it as exhaustion and blood loss. Her footsteps had traced a line of blood in the sand as she paced. There was no hiding that.

  “Your methods are…unorthodox.”

  “That’s one of the reasons we are specialists. What matters is the results, not our methods.”

  “And you have the data package?”

  “Will your men allow me to retrieve it from the vehicle?”

  Mr. Johnson nodded, and Keandra turned around, walking back to the truck. She reached the open door and held out her hand. E-jekt handed her the commlink and opened his mouth to say something, but shut it when she glared at him. She walked back to Mr. Johnson and handed him the commlink.

  “You will find the entire data package secured on that device. I regret we didn’t have time to transfer it to a more suitable storage unit. However, we ran into difficulties.”

  Mr. Johnson took her commlink and handed it to his bodyguard without examining it. The guard carried it to a short dwarf standing behind the heavily armored strike team. The wind howled as the dwarf checked the data on the commlink. Keandra tried to read Mr. Johnson, wondering if he would prefer the data to be genuine or not. He kept his face impassive. After some time, he gave a nod, likely after receiving a report from his personal decker.

  “It appears your fanciful tale has some truth to it. Given our inconvenience, I believe that will cancel out any bonus you might have gained for your initiative. However, your regular fee will be routed to your accounts. We wouldn’t want anyone to suffer a negative reputation over this, now would we?”

  “A pleasure doing business with you.”

  Mr. Johnson turned and walked back to one of the armored vehicles. The bodyguard and decker carrying the commlink joined him. He waved and the soldiers lifted their weapons, no longer focusing them on Keandra or the truck behind her. Once Mr. Johnson and his escort climbed back into the vehicle, they peeled off, one at a time, kicking up clouds of dust as they drove away.

  Keandra collapsed where she was, her legs no longer willing to support her. E-jekt ran out and grabbed her arm, helping her to her feet. She shuffled over to the vehicle and slumped into the seat. E-jekt buckled her in and moved to close the door, but she reached out and grabbed his arm.

  “Did you do it?”

  “I tried. We’ll see. If all goes according to plan, then as soon as the jammer goes down, Freyr will be able to use the backdoor to get into the Matrix.”

  Keandra let her hand slide off his arm as she closed her eyes. Hopefully Freyr and Freya would get away. She heard the door slam shut next to her, but it sounded far away as she slipped into oblivion.

  Epilogue

  Keandra shifted in her chair, rolling her leg across the ottoman and wincing as she once again forgot about the wound on her calf. It had been two days since they returned to Sacramento, but the injury still felt as fresh as if it had just happened. Once again, she considered shelling out for magical healing, but decided against it. She wasn’t planning on running anytime in the near future.

  Lance sat on the floor next to her, his legs crossed and his eyes closed as he meditated. If you looked at him, you wouldn’t believe that two days ago he’d been clinging to life, barely hanging on. He still had a few scabs and had definitely acquired some new scars, but he was moving with the same agility and speed he had before the injury.

  Paz and E-ject sat at separate tables, one lost in the Matrix and the other lost in her guns. Once again she had taken apart her assault rifle and cleaned each component by hand.

  They were still in the Omni, taking advantage of their recent influx of nuyen to upgrade their rooms to a suite. To the credit of the staff here, no one asked about the blood-covered clothing that had to be disposed of. Keandra bet they had experience in such matters. That extra measure of security was well worth the premium rate for accommodations.

  Keandra pulled up their account information to check on their financial status. True to his word, Mr. Johnson paid them for their services. For now, they were living off the proceeds of that run, debating where to go next.

  As she was checking, a message popped up, announcing a direct transfer arriving from seven different accounts at the same time. The total transferred funds amounted to four hundred thousand nuyen.

  Keandra whistled. “Well, it looks like Freyr and Freya got out. The question is, where do you want to vacation?”

  About the Author

  Kai O’Connal is a traveling vagabond, a worldwide wanderer who is just as happy sleeping out under the stars as they are attending a museum show in the heart of New York City. They have previously popped up in Jakarta, New South Wales, Ecuador, and Cameroon, and we only know they are still alive when a manuscript arrives to us via e-mail. They are the author of the Shadowrun novel Frost & Fire and the short story “Tenuous Connections” in the Drawing Destiny Sixth World Tarot anthology.

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  * * *

  NOVELS

  Never Deal with a Dragon (Secrets of Power #1) by Robert N. Charrette

  Choose Your Enemies Carefully (Secrets of Power #2) by Robert N. Charrette

  Find Your Own Truth (Secrets of Power #3) by Robert N. Charrette

  2XS by Nigel Findley

  Changeling by Chris Kubasik

  Never Trust an Elf by Robert N. Charrette

  Shadowplay by Nigel Findley

  Night’s Pawn by Tom Dowd

  Striper Assassin by Nyx Smith

  Lone Wolf by Nigel Findley

  Fade to Black by Nyx Smith

  Burning Bright by Tom Dowd

  Who Hunts the Hunter by Nyx Smith

  House of the Sun by Nigel Findley

  Worlds Without End by Caroline Spector

  Just Compensation by Robert N. Charrette

  Preying for Keeps by Mel Odom

  Dead Air by Jak Koke

  The Lucifer Deck by Lisa Smedman

  Steel Rain by Nyx Smith

  Shadowboxer by Nicholas Pollotta

  Stranger Souls (Dragon Heart Saga #1) by Jak Koke

  Headhunters by Mel Odom

  Clockwork Asylum (Dragon Heart Saga #2) by Jak Koke

  Blood Sport by Lisa Smedman

  Beyond the Pale (Dragon Heart Saga #3) by Jak Koke

  Technobabel by Stephen Kenson

  Psychotrope by Lisa Smedman

  Run Hard, Die Fast by Mel Odom

  Crossroads by Stephen Kenson

  The Forever Drug by Lisa Smedman

  Ragnarock by Stephen Kenson

  Tails You Lose by Lisa Smedman

  The Burning Time by Stephen Kenson

  Born to Run (Kellen Colt Trilogy #1) by Stephen Kenson

  Poison Agendas (Kellen Colt Trilogy #2) by Stephen Kenson

  Fallen Angels (Kellen Colt Trilogy #3) by Stephen Kenson

  Drops of Corruption by Jason M. Hardy

  Aftershocks by Jean Rabe & John Helfers

  A Fistful of Data by Stephen Dedman

  Fire and Frost by Kai O’Connal

  Hell on Water by Jason M. Hardy

  Dark Resonance by Phaedra Weldon

  Crimson by Kevin Czarnecki

  Shaken: No Job Too Small by Russell Zimmerman

  Borrowed Time by R.L. King

  Deniable Assets by Mel Odom

  Undershadows by Jason M. Hardy

  Shadows Down Under by Jean Rabe

  Makeda Red by Jennifer Brozek

  The Johnson Run by Kai O’Connal

  * * *

  ANTHOLOGIES

  Spells & Chrome, edited by John Helfers

  World of Shadows, edited by John Helfers

  Drawing Destiny: A Sixth World Tarot Anthology, edited by John Helfers

  * * *

  NOVELLAS

  Neat by Russell Zimmerman

  The Vladivostok Gauntlet by Olivier Gagnon

  Nothing Personal by Olivier Gagnon

  Another Rainy Night by Patrick Goodman

  Sail Away, Sweet Sister by Patrick Goodman

  DocWagon 19 by Jennifer Brozek

  Wolf & Buffalo by R.L. King

  Big Dreams by R.L. King

  Blind Magic by Dylan Birtolo

  The Frame Job, Part 1: Wu by Dylan Birtolo

  The Frame Job, Part 2: Emu by Brooke Chang

  The Frame Job, Part 3: Rude by Bryan CP Steele

  The Frame Job, Part 4: Frostburn by CZ Wright

  The Frame Job, Part 5: Zipfile by Jason Schmetzer

  The Frame Job, Part 6: Retribution by Jason M. Hardy