“I wouldn’t have it any other way. If we’re all in agreement about this, I suggest we use the rest of the night to get as much info as we can. We don’t have a lot of time to prep for this one, but there’s some special circumstances in play for why it needs to be done on such a short timeline.”
The team quieted down as they went to work, finding ways to get whatever they could about the target. Emu took Rude for a scouting mission while Frostburn retreated to her room to perform her own version of scouting. Zipfile sunk deeper into her digital world, leaving Yu alone in the main room of the apartment.
He reached out to Billy Shen to see if his Triad contact had any insight into Telestrian or connections he could take advantage of, but came up empty. He considered telling Billy about the BTL shipment, but thought it would be better and more valuable to share the info after the problem had been dealt with.
Reaching out to a few other people he knew resulted in similar results, leaving Yu with nothing to do while he waited for others to finish their reconnaissance. He moved to his room and sat on the edge of the bed, lifting his heels and bouncing his knees. After a few seconds, he got up and paced the room from one end to the other. When that failed to provide relief, he dropped into a fighting stance and practiced shadow boxing, fighting imaginary opponents that assaulted him in his imagination. He picked up speed, the motions turning into a blur as he snapped from one position into another, lashing out at his mental adversaries and imagining them reacting to the blows. Soon his clothes stuck to his body when he moved, but it did not slow his assault.
At one point, he flopped onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling and taking deep breaths. Sometimes this was the worst part of the job, the waiting. Sometimes it was worse than others. His hand strayed to his pocket and he removed the BTL chip, staring at it as he lifted it over his head and tumbled it across his fingers. Every scorched line was etched into his memory as much as the silicon, but he couldn’t help examining it again and again.
Thrusting it back into his pocket, he rolled over and scrambled to the bedside table. Jerking the drawer open, he reached inside and grabbed a couple of pills rattling around, popping them into his mouth without bothering to see what they were. In the end, it didn’t matter. Only the end effect was important.
Rolling onto his back, he stared at the ceiling once again, his breathing ragged and heavy. As he recovered from his exertions, the colored lines of light in the ceiling began to swirl, mixing and turning around before his eyes. His breathing slowed as he studied the designs that formed with the mixing of the colors. His arms splayed out to either side, he smiled as he lost himself in the hallucination. He caught the odor of lavender on the air, along with a touch of ginger. The odor made his mouth water and he licked his lips, but otherwise didn’t move from the bed.
His trip ended with him drifting off to sleep, despite the early hour. When he woke, he still had several hours until daylight. His clothes stuck to him and he could smell his own sweat caked onto his body. Considering he needed to be on the job soon, he set to getting himself cleaned up and presentable. It wouldn’t do to show up in a wrinkled, sweat-stained suit. His mission depended on blending in and not drawing any undue attention which might result in security forces reviewing his credentials. Whatever Zipfile could concoct would not stand up to heavy scrutiny. She was good, but no one was that good on such a short timeline. The burden of success rested largely on his shoulders.
As he showered, Yu went over the plan in his mind, rehearsing possible scenarios to prepare for any number of ways it could go wrong. At least if it did, he was the only one at risk. He didn’t want to expose his team to the dangers of this run, especially since the main reason for accepting it was his personal vendetta. He’d used lots of pretty words to convince the team, but deep down he wouldn’t lie to himself. He promised he would never do that. And being honest, this job was about the BTL dealers.
After getting dressed, Yu reviewed the information the team had gathered. Walking out into the main room, he saw Emu passed out on the couch with her drone pieces and tools scattered on the floor in front of her. She never stopped working on her machines.
Nobody had found anything out of the ordinary. Telestrian Industries appeared to be much like any number of other corporations, struggling to increase their influence and bottom line in an attempt to gain greater power and a more impressive rating. To them, their workers were cogs in the machine, and most cogs looked like any other. That simple fact was why their relatively straightforward plan might work. There were lots of ways to not be seen, and sometimes the best involved walking through the front doors in plain sight.
By 0500, Yu was fed and ready to head over to Telestrian headquarters. While some enthusiastic wageslaves eager to prove their worth would be up at that hour, most would wait at least until the sun came up. And the larger the crowd, the easier it would be for him to blend in.
To keep from getting too restless, he passed the time reviewing the latest basketball news. He had missed a couple of championship games, and they held his interest long enough for Emu to wake up.
She yawned and stretched, her shoulders popping loud enough for Yu to hear them in the kitchen. “How long have you been up?” she asked.
“A few hours. Been catching up on some games. Have any trouble last night?”
Emu shook her head and reached up to tousle her hair with both hands. “Nope. Pretty standard internal security. Got a couple of guards on the lower level, some scanners, and lots of cameras. Didn’t see anything on the outside or pick up on any drones. As long as you don’t hit any snags on the inside, it might be as easy as you think. Worried the file might trip an alarm though. Who knows what it does?”
Yu shrugged. “Not any different than anything else we do. Need to take chances somewhere, and the payoff’s too good to pass this one up?”
Emu scoffed. “You call 5k good?”
Yu sighed and slumped a bit, leaning on the breakfast bar. “There’s more than just the nuyen.”
Emu got up and walked over, standing across from Yu and staring at this face. “What else is there?” She grinned. “You get into trouble sleeping with the wrong girl who turned out to be the Johnson’s daughter?”
Despite the jab, Yu didn’t smile and bite back like he knew Emu expected. He frowned and turned away, rummaging in the fridge for something, even though he wasn’t hungry. When he turned back, Emu stood in the same position, the joking grin faded from her face.
“Door’s open if you want to chat about it. In the interim, I’ll give you a lift. Rude said he’d break our legs if we left without him, and I’m never quite sure if he’s kidding or not.”
Yu put both hands on the edge of the counter, using them to brace himself. His fingers tightened on the cool surface until they squeaked as his skin stuck while sliding. For her part, Emu stood silent and waited for him to speak. He looked up, scanning to see if any of the others entered the room, but they had the space to themselves for the moment.
“You know that BTL chip I carry around?”
Emu nodded.
“It’s from someone important to me. He tripped out on it and went crazy. I…” he swallowed. “It killed him. I was there when it happened. There’s a reason I won’t touch BTLs, even with all the other stuff I do. They’re just bad.”
He left out the part where he was the one who had had to kill Brother Lee, and that his cyberarm was a daily reminder of the incident, even more so than the burned-out chip he carried. He wasn’t ready to share those details yet. Giving them a voice would make the memories more real, and he had a job to do.
“I found a warehouse full of next-gen BTLs, ones straight off the boat and better than anything you’d find over here. Sitting in a warehouse behind more firepower than we can deal with, otherwise I’d want to take them out myself. Ham gaa caan those pricks. They’ve got it coming, and deserve worse.”
Yu took a deep breath before continuing. “The Johnson said he’ll take out
the dealers once we do this job for him. We need to get it done before they get a chance to move their cargo.”
Emu said nothing, but after a brief pause reached out and put one of her hands on his and gave a comforting squeeze.
“Don’t tell the others, ’kay? Don’t want to deal with Rude’s ‘yer getting too emotional, elfy-pants’ shit.” Yu dropped his voice and puffed up his chest as he imitated the troll, making Emu grin. The impression injected some much-needed levity into the scene, and his own smile was genuine as he pushed the memories into the back of his mind where they belonged. After all, he had work to do and he needed focus.
It took a few hours for the others to wake up and check in. Frostburn and Zipfile both left, but Rude crashed in the safehouse for the night, and Yu knew better than to wake the troll. If he could be difficult when rested, Yu didn’t want to tempt fate by disturbing the troll’s limited sleep. The solid thump of the troll’s feet hitting the floor let him know when it was time to finish getting ready.
Looking over his wardrobe, Yu debated how to try and pass himself off to security. In normal situations, they would have taken the time to acquire an old uniform or fabricate one. But with their limited timetable, he’d need to use what he had available. Passing himself off as a maintenance worker was too risky, given they didn’t know who serviced the Telestrian Headquarters. Such a mistake would make him recognizable as an imposter even with a passing glance.
The limited information they had indicated the office in Seattle involved biotech research. The company itself occupied most of the building on Denny Way, with only a few small businesses occupying the ground floor, mostly in the food industry. Passing as a member of one of those companies would be easier, but wouldn’t get him access to the terminals he needed to reach.
Which meant his best option was to pose as a manager of some sort and pull up any techno jargon he could about recent Telestrian products and public research. Of course, Zipfile had anticipated this need and prepared plenty of files for him to review and commit to memory as best he could. Putting on one of his higher-end suits, he got to work studying the materials to back up his story.
He continued reviewing the information, quizzing himself and listening to presentations to make sure to get the pronunciation correct for complicated medical terminology. Rude pounded on his door once, hard enough to make Yu question its stability.
The three of them left for Telestrian HQ. The sun had risen by now, and the streets were crowded with people anxious to get to their jobs before their corporate overlords penalized them for tardiness. Yu didn’t understand how people could put up with it every morning. At least when he committed himself to the Triad or to his team, it was for a family. Corporations viewed their subordinates as pieces of machinery, simple cogs to get the job done. What value did they gain from such a relationship?
In the end, Yu got out a block and a half from the building, joining the heavy tide of people walking on the sidewalk. It seemed easier than waiting for the cars to move along. Plus, it afforded him the benefit of Emu’s car not being seen when he entered the building. The fewer risks they took, the better. He had every faith in his ability to succeed without a problem, but a little extra caution never hurt.
Yu turned with the stream of people diverting from the main river and approached the front doors of the Telestrian building. It stretched thirty-six stories into the sky. Sunlight glinted off the mirrored windows, making him squint even without looking up. It gave him an excuse to drop his head as he stepped through the doorway, taking advantage of the environmental effect to limit his exposure to cameras which might run facial recognition software.
The main floor of the building was mostly open space, with several shops ringing the perimeter. A sniff rewarded him with a pleasant whiff of fresh-baked pastries and hot soykaf. Several vendors already had long lines, all of which followed a strict protocol of winding back and forth on themselves, even without the aid of guide ropes.
Most of the workers strode across the center of the building to the secure access point on the far side, manned by a couple of bored-looking security guards. They both stood at their post, but one of them had the glassy-eyed stare of someone distracted by the thoughts in their head. The other guard, a troll woman, waved her hand in a slow perpetual circle as she directed scanned employees through to the elevators.
As Yu stepped up, he prayed the fake SIN would pass the scanner test, knowing there was little he could do about it now. If something went wrong, he might be able to talk his way out of it, but until that happened, he didn’t so much as acknowledge the guards’ presence. Doing so would make him stand out from the rest of the horde as they prepared to chain themselves to their desks for the day.
And then he stood on the other side, heading toward the elevators. The troll continued her ceaseless wave, and he wasn’t even sure the other guard so much as blinked. The easy part was done, now he needed to find a terminal that would give him access.
He sent the message to the entire team, even though he knew Zipfile was the one reviewing the floor plans and piecing together the data from their brief information gathering. He would be willing to bet she had stayed up throughout the entire night trying to form a full 3D model of the building.
Yu stepped into the elevator and timed his button press to coincide with another rider’s. It was a simple matter of jostling into position at the right time. If the elevator locked out certain floors until credentials were scanned, the timing let him bypass the security measure.
None of the other people in the elevator got off on the 23rd floor, leaving him standing in an empty hallway covered in sickly gray carpet. He noticed the flat panel beside him, even though it should be flush with the outside of the building. No windows meant they wanted to prevent an easy access point. The bright lights on this floor chased away any thought of shadows, meaning skulking about would not be an option. Yu strained to listen, but only caught the faint ding of one of the elevators as it opened on a nearby floor.
Summoning all the confidence he could muster, Yu strode down the hallway. If he couldn’t hide, the best thing to do would be pretend like he belonged there.
The pathway split up ahead and he glanced in each direction, seeing doors opening off to either side, but no signs. He walked up to the nearest door and opened it, peering inside to see an empty office.
Zipfile’s response came back within seconds.
A soft creak interrupted his message, sounding like rubber squished underneath a heavy weight. Yu grabbed the handle of the door next to him and ducked inside, easing it closed with as much speed as he could manage without making a noise.
Once it latched shut, he slid across the wall to the far corner, where the darkness was thickest. At least this office didn’t have windows either, making it almost pitch black. The only light leaked through from underneath the door.
Zipfile was the first to ask a question, but Rude’s message came through right after.
The footsteps grew closer, approaching the door. They were soft and muffled through the wall, but unmista
kable. Yu crouched down, coiling his legs and getting ready to spring if need be.
When the footsteps continued past without any hesitation, Yu remained in position, counting to five before allowing himself to skulk back to the door. He pressed his ear against it, listening for some trace of the patrol, but hearing nothing.
Yu opened the door, turning his face away from the crack and letting the light in so his eyes could adjust. Then he peered through. He caught a glimpse of a human-sized person in uniform turning a corner. He didn’t get to see much, but he did notice the guard carried some sort of rifle. Yu slipped into the hall, closing the door behind him to leave it as he found it.
Yu didn’t wait for a response before continuing down the hall.
He turned toward the center of the building as Zipfile had suggested, working away from the perimeter. These halls lacked the large number of doors lining the hall, presenting him with a blank wall that gave little, if any place to hide.
Yu steered away from the long hallways, searching for an alternate route that wouldn’t leave him exposed for as long. Given the general atmosphere of the floor, talking his way out of a situation could prove difficult if someone saw him.
The next corner he turned down had small alcoves spaced out along the length of the passage. Yu decided to go this way, his feet gliding across the carpet without making a sound. He paid extra attention to any possible noises, straining to catch any advance warning of the patrols. A cough came from up ahead, and Yu ducked into the nearest alcove, pressing himself into the corner. Forcing himself to take slow breaths in through his nose, he stayed in control and calmed his heart rate. The fingers of his cyberarm curled into a tight fist as he waited for the guard to come into view. He didn’t want to force a conflict, but if he got caught, he might not have much choice.
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