Chapter 8: You Still Haven't Told Me My Cut
"There's an entry point on the lower west side. I'm going in through there. I've scanned the interior; I'll take Hallway Two. There's a camera at the ninety-degree turn. Another one to the northeast. Once I disable those two, I can get to the elevator."
"Unlocking the elevator will take about ninety seconds, and the ride to the fourteenth floor is thirty. So, about two minutes total."
"Pilar, what's your status?"
Crouched behind Sasha near the wall of the industrial park, Rhys watched the black bodysuit visible under her pink jacket, his gaze flickering.
It had taken them over forty minutes to reach the Biotechnica facility, a massive industrial complex. Looking west, they could see the holographic koi swimming between the skyscrapers of Arasaka Tower. To the east was the city center interchange, a riot of neon signs painting the night sky. If all went according to plan, Maine's crew would be waiting on that bridge, ready for extraction the moment the job was done.
"Signal jammer is ready to go, but it'll only last five minutes, max. Sasha, you've only got five minutes. Any longer than that, and the frozen camera feeds will trip the alarm for sure!"
Pilar's voice, stripped of its usual manic energy and now deadly serious, came through the team's comms. Rhys, also patched in, silently noted the five-minute deadline.
"That's enough," Sasha said to the team. Then, right in front of Rhys, she cut the channel. Her cat-like lips curled upwards. "Stay close. Once we're inside, don't wander and don't look at anything. When I get to the elevator, you stand guard at the door. If anything goes wrong, send me a message. Don't worry about being detected; I've already encrypted your signal."
"Got it."
"Okay... now!"
Sasha tapped a key on her datapad. A faint click sounded, and Rhys saw the rotating camera under the eaves of the west gate freeze in place, spitting a few sparks. In the next instant, Sasha vaulted the two-meter-high fence with fluid grace. She was about to turn and see if Rhys had kept up when she found herself staring directly into a pair of dark, steady eyes.
Her own large eyes blinked once. Without a word, she turned, dropped into a low crouch, and sprinted towards the entrance.
Rhys was right behind her.
Sasha moved with incredible agility. As she neared the west gate, she reached behind her back and produced a small, complex-looking device. She slapped it onto the door panel, and steam began to vent from her head as her fingers flew across the device, inputting the code.
BEEP—
The door slid open. Sasha looked up at the cameras inside, and the steam from her custom headware intensified. Two cameras shorted out instantly. She bolted for the elevator, calculating the time and keeping a constant watch on the surrounding surveillance.
Maine had said they'd done extensive recon, but for a major corporation like Biotechnica, "recon" just meant posing as clients, walking around, and memorizing camera locations. As for the actual security layout on the upper floors... well, that was the kind of intel a fixer was supposed to provide. But the fixer who'd given them this gig was unreliable, his information vague at best. Sasha had to stay completely focused to avoid tripping the alarm.
At the elevator, she produced another device from somewhere on her person. Her right hand flashed with a silver glint. A monoblade slid out from her fingertip. She swiped at the wall next to the elevator panel, tearing it open—a Mantis Blade implant.
She quickly pulled out a specific wire and jacked it into her portable device. A wave of heat radiated from her as the cat-patterned vents on her cheeks began to spew white vapor.
The seconds ticked by. When Sasha finally looked up, she turned to Rhys and gave him a sharp nod. The elevator doors hissed open. She stepped inside quickly, turning back to point at the silver ring at her temple. A signal for a private call.
Rhys patched in instantly.
"Okay, I'm connected. Don't bother me unless it's an emergency," Sasha's voice said in his head as her physical form disappeared behind the closing doors.
Rhys: "Right."
About twenty seconds later, he heard the elevator's automated voice.
"Fourteenth floor, arriving—"
...
Sasha sprinted out of the elevator, simultaneously scanning for electronic devices and heading for the target office. She spotted numerous security measures and expertly avoided them, quickly locating her objective.
Crouching carefully by the door, she input the code the fixer had provided and successfully entered the office. Once inside, she let out a sigh of relief. The job was halfway done. Now came the part she was best at.
She plopped down in a swivel chair, humming a little tune, her cat-like lips curled into a smile. She took off her jacket, pulled her equipment from her bag, jacked a cable into the office computer, and put on her interface headset.
"R&D data, Project ALC2 accounts..."
"Found you~~~"
At the same time, still connected via the private channel, Rhys heard everything. Sasha's humming, her self-satisfied muttering—he heard it all. But he kept quiet, not wanting to disturb her.
A moment later, Sasha finished downloading the required data. She was just about to unplug, feeling pleased with how easy the gig had been, when she looked up and froze.
Reflected in her blue eyes was the Biotechnica logo. In the corner of the screen, a string of letters caught her attention—Securicine.
Her pupils dilated. Memories from over a decade ago came flooding back. In that single instant, she made a decision. For the first time, she was going to break her ironclad rule: Mission first, no personal business, no side jobs. She was going to take a risk.
In the net, Sasha's fingers flew across a virtual keyboard, digging for information on Securicine.
One data shard, then another...
[Malf Rank: Securicine is not yet ready for clinical trials. Test results show that while it effectively alleviates post-operative pain, there is a high probability of inducing degenerative neuropathy in patients. I am therefore requesting a recall of the current drug...]
[Norman: Request for recall denied. Proceed as planned.]
Those two lines of text plunged Sasha into a stunned silence. In a kaleidoscope of fractured memories, she saw herself handing a bottle of Securicine to her mother, calling it a miracle drug. She saw herself standing numbly, holding an urn.
"..."
Suddenly, Maine's voice crackled in her head. He'd patched into the team comms, his tone urgent.
"What's the status? Sasha, are you done yet? You've got one minute left!"
"Sasha?"
"Sorry, Maine," she whispered.
"What? Wait, Sasha! What are you doing?"
BEEP!
She cut the connection to Maine. Her eyes refocused on the screen. She reached up and ripped the data cable from her personal port. She copied the Securicine report, preparing to upload it to the WNS News tip line. It was the only thing she could do.
"So, does this count as a variable?" Just as she finished and sent the mission data to Pilar, a voice suddenly spoke in her head.
Ah... how did I forget to cut his connection?
"It's a variable, but it's my business. It has nothing to do with you. Don't forget my advice. Mind your own business," Sasha said to Rhys. Then, she let out a small, bitter laugh.
"You should go. You won't be able to get out if you wait any longer. Maine should be on his way to pick you up soon."
"As for my cut of the pay... depends on whether I make it out of here. If I don't, you can have it, rookie. Consider it a welcome-to-the-crew gift from a veteran."
After saying her piece, she quickly terminated their private comms link.
The Securicine data was uploading. Just as the progress bar hit eighty percent, her time ran out. The signal jammer failed. Red lights flashed, and alarms blared through the office. Immediately, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps.
Biotechnica's security bots had found her. The door burst open.
"The person inside, listen—"
Her Mantis Blade shot out. The data cable still connecting her to the terminal restricted her movement, but even so, she dispatched the first security bot in an instant. She spun around and instantly hacked into the next one—
[Available Quickhack: Cyberpsychosis]
CLICK!
The bot that had just reached her went limp. Sasha felt a wave of heat and dizziness wash over her. She raised her arm, plunging her Mantis Blade into the bot's chest as another one opened fire.
She backflipped nimbly, drawing the pistol she had prepared from its thigh holster as she landed.
[Biotechnica — WNS]
[Data Uploading... 95% Complete]
A stray bullet from a submachine gun tore through her left shoulder. It wasn't a fatal wound, but the impact sent her stumbling backward towards the window—the one that had been shattered in the initial breach.
[Upload Complete]
The data cable snapped. Sasha's body fell backward. She knew she wasn't going to make it out. From the moment she'd introduced a variable, her fate had been sealed. But she didn't regret it. The truth was out. Biotechnica would take a hit. She had finally given an answer to her younger, helpless self, lifting a heavy burden from her soul.
In the next instant, the feeling of falling vanished, replaced by the warmth of an embrace. And the faint, mixed scent of laundry detergent and alcohol.
Her eyes snapped open. Dazed, Sasha found herself staring up at a handsome, unchromed face.
And she heard his voice in her ear.
"You still haven't told me my cut," Rhys said, his tone completely serious.