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This time, the door opened for me immediately, though the guard gave me a very hard look. But what did I care? I had business to attend to, not to flirt with a guard who was also a guy, so flirting was definitely out.
"Back already?"
Guy number two greeted me with a smirk as I walked into the club, but I didn't even give him a glance. I just walked past him toward the booth from which Rogue was moving in my direction.
"Let him in…"
The voice of Night City's top fixer was slightly annoyed. Still, her gaze remained sharp, as if it was looking right through me.
I walked into the booth and sat down in the seat she had indicated with a nod of her head. And as soon as I sat down, she placed a data shard on the table in front of me.
I raised an eyebrow in question.
"Plug in the shard. It's the job."
"For when?"
"Plug it in…"
I sighed.
"Rogue, I have a very busy schedule, with jobs already booked for the next two weeks. There are, of course, days off and so-called 'windows' in it, but the schedule is still tight. So before I plug in this shard, tell me when this job is going to happen. Because if that date and time are already taken, I don't see the point in knowing extra information."
Rogue slowly inhaled and just as slowly exhaled.
"Two days from now… at noon."
I sighed and took the shard. It fit exactly into an open window in my schedule, so I would have to read it. I could have lied, of course, but lying about something like this… She could just call Regina, and even if Regina didn't sell me out and tried to cover for me with some vague words, Rogue would definitely know I had lied based on indirect evidence.
"So?"
"Your target is Vincent Vega. A corporate lapdog. It's a trial job, so you won't get a lot for it, just ten grand, but it's not a difficult job either. On the specified date, he'll be in Santo Domingo, Rancho Coronado. The exact building is marked on the map."
I nodded my head a couple of times.
"I don't usually take jobs like this, but sometimes it's good to do some charity, especially since if you don't get rid of people like him, life in Night City can become completely unbearable. This way, you get rid of a corporate lapdog like him, who kills and intimidates workers on behalf of corporations that dare to ask for a three percent raise, and life gets better for a couple of months. Wages go up a little, and the new lapdogs are too scared to show their faces…"
Rogue smirked.
"I know many solos don't shy away from assassinations, but I don't do that."
"No…"
Rogue shook her head.
"If I needed him killed, I would have hired someone else. It's not hard to find people who specialize in that here…"
Rogue gestured toward the main area of the club, where solos gathered, waiting for jobs or celebrating successful ones.
"…the problem is that I need Vega himself. You have to get into the office he'll be in, knock him out, get him out onto the street, and deliver him to my guy, who will take care of his transport from there. I really hope you live up to your reputation and that there will be no unnecessary casualties."
I closed my eyes to tune out the outside world and more accurately study the building plan she had given me, the approach routes, and the target himself. I could really profit from him if he really was a corporate lapdog. But something told me that corporations wouldn't just let their money disappear.
And that would be too big of a risk.
Fuck it, I'll do the job strictly according to Rogue's demands. I already got five hundred thousand out of her. I'll transfer two hundred to the girls and keep one hundred for myself as an intermediary fee.
"Well, overall, I don't see anything difficult about it…"
I opened my eyes and looked at Rogue.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah…"
I nodded my head and, after copying the job data, took out the shard and placed it on the table.
"Can I go?"
"Yes."
I got up and calmly left Rogue's booth. I walked through the bar, and just as I was at the exit, I came face to face with Maine, who was walking into the club with his crew.
"David!"
A little girl with pigtails, in a jacket a couple of sizes too big, jumped out from behind the big guy and rushed into my arms.
"Becca…"
I smirked, caught her, and ruffled her hair. Then, without letting her out of my embrace, I took a step to the side and nodded at the white-haired girl.
"Lucy."
"David."
The girl nodded at me in a friendly way.
"Getting bigger, are you?"
Maine looked at me intently. I just shrugged. I wasn't exactly happy to be here. I was perfectly content working with my own fixer, and I wasn't rushing to take another bite out of the pie before I had even properly chewed what I had already bitten off.
"You have no romance in you, kid…"
A guy appeared next to Maine… he was tall and muscular, but his voice was feminine. I had no idea who he was—either a guy with a fetish for feminine voices or a girl who decided to become much stronger and had modified her body. And it wasn't my business anyway.
I shrugged.
"Let me introduce everyone. Maine is the biggest muscle-bound guy. Next to him is his girlfriend, Dorio…"
I showed no surprise. If the guy liked girls like that, so what?
"What, no surprise?"
"Should I be surprised? Everyone has their own tastes…"
Pff… "You're no fun…"
Becca pouted a little but continued to introduce her crew.
"This is another netrunner on our team, Kiwi."
I looked at the girl from head to toe. I immediately recalled the cartoon where she was a traitor. Overall, she was a pretty lady, but Panam and Judy would definitely be tastier. Becca and Lucy, too…
"And finally, my moron brother, Pilar."
I couldn't help myself there. I took a step forward and held out my hand to him for a handshake.
"Pilar, right?"
"Um… yeah…"
He was very flustered and shook my hand.
"Your extremely wasteful attitude toward money, which leads to you guys sometimes not even having food, is what led me to meet such a wonderful girl as Rebecca. Thank you for being who you are… And after Becca brought Lucy into my life…"
I shook my head.
"I haven't had a vacation in a garden of such beauties in a long time… it's just paradise. Thank you."
I noticed that Lucy was a little red and smirking. Becca was indignant. Pilar just stood there with his mouth agape, not knowing what to say to me.
"Looks like you're going for a harem…"
Kiwi said that in a very sarcastic tone.
"…you think you can handle it?"
"A harem?"
I tilted my head to the side.
"Maybe, but I haven't decided yet… And now, I have to say goodbye to you guys, as my partners are waiting for me outside."
I ruffled Becca's hair one more time and, nodding to Lucy, walked around Maine's group…
"So, how are you two doing?"
As soon as I sat down in the Thorton, I asked the girls, who were clearly a little worried.
"We're fine. We saw Becca and Lucy with their main crew go into the Afterlife. She waved at us."
Judy answered my question, but Panam was giving me a somewhat displeased look. I just pretended not to notice it, and after getting into the Thorton, I sent them each two hundred thousand.
"I hope you don't mind that I kept a hundred grand for myself?"
"What is this?"
Judy looked at the transfer in shock, then focused her gaze on me. Panam just smirked and shook her head.
"Did you really squeeze money out of Rogue?"
"If I hadn't been paid, I wouldn't have gone to meet her. So the money was transferred through Regina even before I went back into the Afterlife. I just didn't want to hang around and distribute it, so I'm transferring your share now."
"Well… I didn't do anything, so I'm fine with it."
Panam smirked.
"Same here… I didn't do anything and I got two hundred grand? I should be thanking you! Thank you."
Judy was also smirking. She leaned forward a little and lightly hit my shoulder. Her voice was so sincere that it was clear she wasn't playing and was genuinely grateful. However, Panam's tone, when she said she was fine with it, was also full of gratitude, and she was looking at me with a very telling gaze, so I was happy that they were both satisfied.
"Damn… you're almost like a rock after you replaced your muscles with synthetic ones. But…"
She looked at my not-so-tall figure and licked her lips a little.
"In some ways, that's probably a good thing. Every girl dreams of having a partner who can be a wall they can hide behind from all kinds of troubles. And here's a little wall…"
"Uh-huh, our little wall…"
Panam finished Judy's thought with a sarcastic smirk.
"Yeah… ours…"
Judy glanced at Panam and raised an eyebrow questioningly, but soon relaxed and leaned back in the back seat.
"Where are we going?"
I shrugged.
"We have a job tomorrow, so I guess we can go home…"
Judy bit her lower lip.
"Listen, why don't you guys just move in with me?"
"Hmm?"
"No, seriously, my apartment isn't small. I have a braindance studio. Thanks to the expensive computer you bought me, I was able to downsize it a lot, and now my robotics workshop is there too. And there's still some space left, so we could combine my robotics workshop with your gunsmithing workshop. The living room is big, but there's only one bedroom…"
"Well, in general, you have a big living room, and I can sleep in it for a while. And then we can buy the apartment next door and combine them, so it'll be a little more spacious…"
I shrugged.
"Yeah… we can do that…"
Judy nodded.
"And you girls can sleep together."
"Uh-huh…"
Judy shot a quick glance at Panam, who finally started the Thorton.
"So, to Judy's place?"
"Well…"
I shrugged.
"I think that makes sense…"
"Yes!"
Judy was clearly very happy with my words. Panam, after revving the engine a little, started the Thorton and drove it in the direction of Judy's apartment building.
"Only, the apartment next door is occupied…"
"We'll buy it…"
I shrugged. I doubted the owner would ask for more than a hundred grand. Considering the average salary is around seven to ten thousand, almost a year's salary for an apartment in an old building that could be condemned at any moment…
I shook my head.
"Well, a nasty old man lives there. He might ask for up to a hundred and fifty grand…"
"Well, then we'll buy the apartment above or below it and just make a small staircase from one to the other."
"Uh-huh…"
Judy nodded and looked thoughtful. I was also thinking. It seemed I had won Judy's heart—or was very close to it—since she had suggested something like this and was looking at me in that way. So I just had to wait a little, and the girl would be completely mine…
Damn…
With thoughts like that, I sounded like some kind of villain who had decided to kidnap a princess-slave, and I had even orchestrated it so she would agree to the kidnapping herself.
Man…
"So, are we working tomorrow?"
Judy broke the slightly awkward silence.
"Yeah…"
I nodded my head. Tomorrow and the day after. The day after that, counting from tomorrow, is the job from Rogue. But I shouldn't count on any bonuses there. I'll have to kidnap the client quietly, and since he works for a corporation, I can't count on any side eddies. So we'll have to try to get everything tomorrow and the day after… Fortunately, the Scav bases can probably bring us an extra fifteen grand per person…
"Uh-huh…"
The girls nodded their heads, and Panam smirked.
"And if we're lucky, maybe more…"
"Well, we'll see about that…"
I shook my head, trying to curb my girls' greed, so they wouldn't get too disappointed if it didn't work out.
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