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"This building is one of the fire station archives, the same one the fire truck belonged to before it ended up in the junkyard?"
"Yeah…"
I looked at the unremarkable building… then studied its floor plan again and snorted with satisfaction. There was nothing complicated about this job, but we were still taking it seriously, so Judy was slowly connecting to an access point that should give her control over the building's cameras. And they were definitely there…
"Alright, I'm connected…"
Judy's image nodded to me, and I smirked, quickly pulling out my harpoon. It seemed to be my favorite method of infiltration… The harpoon fired and dug its hook into the edge of the roof, after which I slowly started climbing the wall.
"You need the third floor…"
"Copy that…"
After reaching the third floor, I used a daemon on the window, and the lock immediately opened. Then, while still holding on to the harpoon with one hand, I used a suction cup with my other hand to slightly open the window, which opened upwards. I put my foot in to make sure the window wouldn't slam shut, then detached the suction cup and fully opened the window, using its latch to keep it in place.
"I'm going in…"
Once I was inside, I pressed a button on the gun, and as always, the harpoon remained on the roof, and the cable detached from it, coiling back into the device. A couple of seconds later, there was a quiet pop—a charge in the modified harpoon went off, breaking the hook into countless pieces.
"What's the situation?"
I didn't close the window.
"Everything's quiet. The only guard is asleep at his post. As a rule, no one is interested in this place, so no one would hire a full security company to protect it."
I nodded my head.
"Second door on the right…"
I obediently opened the door and saw a rather large room with a huge number of racks for storing information. Servers…
Man…
"Which one do we need?"
"Look for the year…"
Judy gave me a year, and I quickly walked along the racks, which to my surprise were labeled. And I found the right year… though the rack was one of the last ones.
"We got here just in time…"
Judy was connected to me and could see everything I could, so she understood perfectly that the information's shelf life was about to expire. That meant if she had waited another couple of years, she wouldn't have had a chance to prove her innocence.
"Ugh… connect to it…"
I obediently connected to the server, and now I didn't feel anything at all. Not that I had lost all feeling in my body, but with the more powerful deck, the streams of information that I used to feel because of its heat and other external factors were just gone. So I was very happy that I had decided to replace it.
"Found it… evidence that a bigwig from the fire department administration forged the documents for the truck. The previously decommissioned truck was put back on the books, with a retroactive date… this is good; we won't have to go to other places. Downloading the data…"
"Uh-huh…"
I was still focused, but nothing happened until the moment I simply jumped out of the building and landed softly on the ground, hearing a quiet click from above behind me, which meant the window had closed. I made it back to the Thorton just as calmly, where Panam and Judy were waiting for me. After that, we drove to the Aldecaldos' campsite.
"So?"
The Thorton was already driving down the road when I turned to Judy.
"You got all the necessary data?"
"Yeah…"
She smiled.
"I just have to make a few adjustments to it, remove the extra stuff, and then I can send it to the lawyer, and he'll take care of the court proceedings."
I nodded my head in satisfaction.
"That's good…"
"Uh-huh…"
"And tomorrow we have our first job from Regina."
I glanced at Panam.
"Warn Mitch and Scorpion that we might need their help."
"Huh?"
"We have two Scav bases on our radar, and according to Regina, both of them probably have chrome stashes. So getting it out for those who would benefit from it more than the thugs who take apart ordinary people for it seems like a good idea to me."
"Are we paying for the chrome through Regina, as usual?"
I shrugged.
"You know the rules… if you and I had found these places, they would all be ours. But since Regina found them, she gets a percentage from the sale of the chrome. However, I can agree to a discount for the Aldecaldos, which we will calculate purely from my share. But Regina's percentage has to be whatever she sets it at."
"Got it. I'll warn Mitch and Scorpion, and also Saul, since he's the one who'll have to pay from the common pot… Heh, we also installed new chrome on almost everyone last time, so most of this will go beyond Night City and its territories, to the parts of our clan that are in other parts of the country."
I shrugged.
"That's not so important…"
"You just don't get it."
Panam smirked.
"This is another nail in the coffin of the idea of getting in bed with Biotech."
"Hmm?"
Judy looked at Panam with interest, and I was also curious about her words. After all, I still didn't know anything about the inner workings of the clan.
"What's the point of getting in bed with someone if we can provide for ourselves? And with the new chrome, jobs will be a lot easier! That means more profit… and yeah, I wouldn't recommend giving them a discount…"
"Huh?"
I looked at Panam in surprise.
"It's better to offer them an installment plan. Let them pay in installments; that way, they won't forget who gave the clan new chrome. This will hurt Saul's reputation even more. Knowing him, I can tell you that he'll try to take credit for it, saying that it was because of his efforts that you gave the clan an installment plan on such favorable terms. But everyone in the clan already knows that you and I are a couple, so that attempt will look pathetic."
"And what if he doesn't try to take credit for the success?"
"Then he'll have to admit that someone who isn't the clan leader was able to achieve a much better result than he was. And in such a short time, too. That will also hurt his position…"
"You're holding something back…"
I looked at Panam intently.
"Yeah… I want you to take over as clan leader, but…"
She bit her lower lip for a couple of seconds.
"…I talked to Mitch, and he said it's just impossible. He suggested that I handle clan affairs myself. He said you're my man anyway, and you wouldn't leave me without advice and help."
"Well…"
I nodded my head.
"…he's right. I'm not ready to run off with the Aldecaldos if they decide to move to another part of the country tomorrow, but I think that's where all this is headed…"
I nodded my head again.
"I… listen, can I come with you if you go somewhere?"
"Hmm?"
I glanced at Judy, and Panam also looked at her through the rear-view mirror.
"Well… I just tried to leave Night City once before, but I was alone and I failed. The city sucked me back in, but I think if I have good company…"
Judy licked her lips, which were dry from embarrassment.
"…the city won't be able to suck me back into its abyss again…"
"I don't mind…"
I shrugged and glanced at Panam.
"If I do decide to join Panam and her clan, I don't mind you coming with us. What about you?"
I glanced at Panam, and she nodded her head.
"Where would I be without you, choom?"
"I… thank you…"
Just then, we arrived at the Aldecaldos' territory, and as I was about to get out of the car, a call came in from an unknown number.
"I'm listening…"
I raised my hand, stopping the girls and asking for a couple of minutes of silence.
"Ghost? This is Rogue…"
"I'm listening…"
"I have a job for you…"
I used a titanic effort to keep my face from grimacing. This lady might not be known for selling out her solos, but her reputation wasn't the cleanest, either. No fixer has a clean reputation, not even Regina has a spotless record…
"When?"
"Tonight at eleven p.m… the Afterlife… someone will guide you."
I sighed. The connection was cut, and I looked at Panam and Judy in a daze.
"You're not gonna believe this…"
"Hmm?"
"Rogue just called me…"
"But I thought you didn't want to work with her…"
I nodded.
"Yeah, it's an unnecessary risk, but to tell her to fuck off…"
I sighed and called Regina.
"She already called you, didn't she?"
Regina's voice was a little sad.
"Exactly… I assume you were the one who gave her my number?"
"I was asked very persuasively…"
Regina's image winced slightly.
"Got it…"
"So, working for Rogue is an honor, of course, but my fixer is more important to me…"
Pfft…
Regina choked a little, but a smile appeared on her face, and the slight annoyance in her eyes disappeared.
"…so how about this? Is there a way for you to send me the approximate dates of the jobs you've already planned for me?"
"Hmm?"
"Just leave one day open as a window so Rogue doesn't get suspicious… and yeah, I'm still keeping my weekends to myself. Not even Rogue can move me on that."
"Understood… that's not a bad idea, actually. But she might start pulling the prestige card…"
"When did that ever matter enough to me to stick my head in a tiger's mouth?"
"Well… you're right about that. You're almost unique…"
Regina forwarded me the emails with an approximate schedule, and I quickly looked through it.
"Alright, I've got it. I'll let you know my availability after I talk to Rogue."
"Good… and thanks for not leaving me… workers like you… are very valuable…"
"Thanks for the high praise."
I smirked and cut the connection.
"And?"
"Regina was pressured… and considering there aren't that many people in Night City who can do that…"
I shook my head.
"…I was right not to send Rogue away. I'll have to do some jobs for her from time to time, but I'll make sure it takes her a very long time to find jobs for me… and they won't be cheap."
"Hmm?"
"Well, I have a very busy schedule…"
I smirked.
"My jobs are literally scheduled down to the day and hour. That means I'll have to cancel some jobs for her, which will result in having to pay a cancellation fee. I think Regina won't mind transferring some jobs to other solos or just rescheduling them if she gets a decent amount of eddies for it. And she'll leave a spot open for Rogue in my schedule. So Rogue won't be able to say for sure that we're doing this on purpose…"
Then Panam raised her hand, and now I was worried. However, she finished her call pretty quickly.
"Who?"
"Rogue, too… she said she 'appreciated my potential'…"
Panam snorted.
"…and she offered me a much more profitable job than the one with you. I would be in charge, but a guy named Nash would be with me…"
She grimaced.
"What's wrong?"
"I've just heard about Nash… he's a Wraith piece of shit. And if I hadn't been working with you, I probably wouldn't have known that… Can you believe it? She wanted me to work with a Wraith!"
"Did you refuse her?"
"Yeah…"
"I hope you weren't rude?"
"I barely held myself back. So I didn't say a word to her, but I gave her my opinion on the Wraiths in general and on Nash, who I didn't even know."
I nodded my head, and Panam and I, without even talking about it, looked at Judy. Not that she was a good enough netrunner to interest Rogue, but what if?
But no, she didn't get a call, not two minutes later, and not even by evening, when we were already getting ready to go to the Afterlife…
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