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"You are beautiful, smart, kind to me and your friends, and ruthless to your enemies…"
I was about to spend at least five minutes listing all the positive qualities of my girls, but I was interrupted by a call from an unknown number… again… what kind of day was this?!
"I'm listening…"
"Ghost…"
The voice was familiar. It would have been hard not to recognize it, since I had just recently spoken to the owner of that voice in person. But what could he possibly want from me? We had already talked about everything…
"Mr. DeShawn?"
"I would like to hire your subordinate… I need to process a recording made with very high-quality optics. It has all the layers of a recording—the regular, the thermal, and the audio. Everything, in short… and you have to be a real pro to process it… Unfortunately, Alvarez refused to work with me specifically. She said she doesn't work separately from her crew. So I would like to hire your crew…"
I shook my head.
"We're not interested."
"Huh?"
"Mr. DeShawn, I'm not foolish enough to fall for such an obvious ploy. The moment we agree to process a recording that will, in all likelihood, be used to plan a job, we'll be on the list of people with sensitive information… and knowing your reputation, you prefer to get rid of people like that."
"But the client said she knew Alvarez… that she was the best, and…"
DeShawn went silent.
"Hmm… are you talking about Parker?"
Ahem… "Yes."
"Well, your client has too high of an opinion of herself… her relationship with Alvarez is terrible, even though it used to be pretty good… But she buried that relationship herself a while ago."
I was silent for a couple of seconds.
"As for Alvarez being the best, I won't argue with that. At least among the people I know or have heard of, she really is the best…"
I wasn't going to say that the topic of braindances wasn't very interesting to me and that I had never been interested in anyone in that field. But I was more than certain that there were a couple of people in Night City on the same level, or maybe even better. But I'll keep those thoughts to myself.
"…but we're still going to refuse, and I advise you to look for another braindance master."
"Ugh… I didn't think Ghost would be a coward… and you're dragging your crew into this mess, too… aren't you ashamed of yourself?!"
"Mr. DeShawn, I would ask you to watch your words… but if you're still curious why I made this decision… I'm interested in a quiet and peaceful life. At the level we are at right now, we have stable jobs, decent earnings, and good bonuses, as well as a moderate risk…"
I wasn't going to mention that the risk was only moderate for me, a guy who had an experimental Sandevistan. I wasn't going to show my hand to this choom. And I wasn't going to reveal the true state of affairs between me, Regina, and Rogue.
"…I see my job as a crew leader not as getting them famous names that would be used for cocktails at the Afterlife, but as getting them to live to a ripe old age with enough savings to live without a care in the world. And to accomplish those goals, I don't need to risk my life and theirs more than I am right now."
Tch… "So you'd rather be a nobody and live quietly until you're old than make a name for yourself and flatline before you're thirty, huh?"
"Exactly, Mr. DeShawn. You understand my position perfectly. And now, goodbye…"
I cut the connection.
"Where was I?"
"On how lucky you are to have us… but right now, I'm more interested in who just called you?"
"DeShawn… he was trying to hire our Judy to process a recording he was planning on using for a job."
"Seriously? Hiring a crew member without going through the crew leader?"
"Well… he thinks he can do whatever he wants, so yeah, he tried to do it. But our Judy is a smart girl and she refused. And after that, he tried to hire her through me… He probably thought that I didn't know what he usually does to people who are too informed about his plans."
"Got it…"
The Thorton's engine growled and picked up speed, and I fully approved of Panam's actions. Now he could very well try to get what he wanted by force. At the same time, I called the girls, setting up another conference call.
"I thought we just talked…"
"Girls, pack your things and come to our apartment. This is not up for discussion and it applies to everyone, including you, Kiwi. I don't like that DeShawn is focusing so much attention on our crew, so it's better to stick together."
"Alright, we'll be there soon…"
"Don't hang up. I need to know that you're all okay. And yeah, Becca, warn Pilar. He's still your brother, and they might try to get to you through him."
"Through Pilar?"
There was a sarcastic sneer in Becca's voice.
"Don't lie to us… you can curse him out all you want, but if you didn't give a damn about him, you would have left him a long time ago. But you haven't… and I think DeShawn will at least consider that a possible way to put pressure on you if he's really that interested in our crew."
"Alright… I'll warn that punk…"
The girls went quiet, but they didn't hang up until they got to our apartment, where Judy had already prepared beds for everyone. We'd have to squeeze in a little, of course, but it was only for a couple of days. After that, we'd have another weekend, and we would definitely get out of the city then. And we would settle into the Behemoth, which would have a tent attached to it. And with that tent, there would be enough room for everyone.
I let out a calm sigh when Lucy, who was the last of our group, crossed the threshold of the apartment.
We worked like dogs for the next week and didn't forget to watch our backs. But thankfully, nothing strange or noteworthy happened. Regina's jobs, as usual, were mostly against arrogant gangs and drug dealers. In the latter, she even expanded beyond her own district, which, according to Night City police statistics, had become the cleanest in the entire city of drugs.
Rogue, on the other hand, preferred to work against corporations, though she preferred not to go after the big players, or she would work against small fry who had gotten too big for their britches and whose loss wouldn't have a big impact on the corporation. No, she wasn't scared; at least, I didn't see any fear in her. She just didn't see the point in taking a risk when she could get the same result with ten small hits. And without drawing too much attention to herself.
Right now, we were coming back from another job…
"David, we have a tail…"
Fortunately, we all fit into one car, even if it was a little cramped in the back. But that closeness meant we didn't have to worry about splitting up.
"I see them…"
I sighed.
"…Becca, get ready…"
I, in turn, connected to the turret on the roof of the Thorton and started watching through its camera, without moving it yet. The camera, thankfully, could rotate three hundred and sixty degrees. But that was only after the recent upgrades from Panam and me. The upgrades also made the turret much more reliable. Before, it would often jam…
"I can't tell who it is, but they're following us professionally…"
"Not just professionally…"
Panam cut me off.
"…it's a nomad tracking style. Only clan members track like that… and that's a bad thing, since there are only two clans near Night City right now. The first are the Aldecaldos, and the second… they're only called a clan loosely…"
"Wraiths?"
"Yeah…"
I sighed.
"Well, there's no point in the Aldecaldos tracking us. They already know a lot about us. And they wouldn't work against their own. But the Wraiths…"
"Uh-huh, they would… but how did they find us?"
"You think they were looking for us specifically?"
"If they were, the tracking wouldn't have started in the city but near the clan's camp. And they would have attacked us in the city. But they found us in the city… Although, there's still a chance that they saw us by accident and decided to follow us…"
"And could they be trying to find the clan's camp by tracking a nomad car?"
"Well… I doubt it. The clan's camp has never been a big secret, so it's not a big problem to find it…"
"Panam, change course. Let's drive through the city, through its port districts, where the storage warehouses aren't under corporate security… I think that's where they'll show their true colors, and we can take care of them…"
A guy with a gun popped out of the car that was following us and fired at us with his automatic weapon. But the Thorton was well-armored, and a weapon of that quality couldn't do much damage. But it did give me a reason to act, and I immediately activated the turret… but I didn't kill the guy. Instead, I fired a short burst at the car's weakest point… the radiator. No matter what a person does, that part is usually the least protected.
"Radiator's hit…"
I reported to Panam. In the meantime, Becca had climbed onto my lap, opened the window, and stuck her head out with her pistols, which I had upgraded. After that, a couple of shots rang out. The enemy car swerved. It was clear that Becca had shot out their tires, after which the car was thrown up and flipped in the air…
The guy who had been shooting at us fell out of the window as the car was flipping. At that moment, Panam slammed on the brakes and sharply turned the wheel, turning the Thorton to face the enemy.
Becca was almost thrown out the window, out of which she was still sticking her head, so I grabbed her by her plump ass, which she was very proud of, and held her back.
"Hold on tight!"
There was pure pleasure in her voice from what was happening, but her actions and words didn't stop me from turning the turret around so that it was once again facing the enemy car.
"Get o—"
"Everyone, stay put. I'm going out, and so is Becca…"
My words cut off Panam, who was about to start giving orders. It seemed she felt in her element because of the Wraith attack, something she had dealt with before.
"Becca, you're with me. Judy, I'm disconnecting. You…"
"Kiwi would be better on the turret than me."
"Alright…"
I nodded.
"…then Kiwi will be on the turret. Becca and I will go knock out those assholes…"
"Knock them out?"
"Well, since Kiwi is on the turret, you, Judy, and Lucy will be hacking them. I think robbing the Wraith base because they tried to attack us would be a good countermove. And it would also be a way to find out what they wanted from us…"
"We'll get it done…"
I disconnected from the turret and left the car. Kiwi was already in the front seat, connected to the Thorton's turret.
"Becca…"
"I know, I know… I'll be right behind you, covering you. You're the one with the Sandevistan, and I'm just a gunner… damn it, where can I get one for myself?"
"If you want, we'll buy you one… I think Vik won't refuse to install one on you, but you'll have to give up some of your other chrome. You're already heavily chromed out…"
"Hmm… I guess not…"
She shook her head. I had already walked up to the guy who fell out of the car and, since he was still unconscious, I inserted a shard into his port. It was one of the ones that Lucy, Kiwi, and Judy had been making in large quantities.
"First one's in. Get to work…"
I walked toward the car and noticed some movement just in time, so I turned on my Sandevistan. In slow motion, I watched a bullet fly out of the barrel of a pistol pointed at me. My Sandevistan had already hit full speed. Much faster than I had ever gone before…
The bullet was so slow…
So…
Harmless…
But I didn't lose my awareness of the situation, and in a situation like that, I was just afraid to move. I knew that my synthetic muscles could handle it, but my bones, which were strengthened with regular medicine, definitely couldn't.
They would be turned to dust!
I started to slowly decrease my acceleration…
That was difficult…
It was mentally difficult to start slowing down and watch the bullet fly toward me faster and faster, and to also know that Becca was behind me and that I couldn't just get out of the way.
But I got lucky…
When the bullet was moving at the speed of a normal person leisurely walking down the street, I felt that I could move now, even with difficulty. But I decided not to risk it and, after slowing down my acceleration a little more, I slowly started to move to the side. At the same time, I turned around slightly and made sure Becca was following me…
So I took a step toward her, grabbed her by the waist, lifted her up, and moved us to the side. Once we were in a somewhat safe place, I put her down. My body was starting to ache a little, and I knew that meant I was moving too fast…
I walked up to the car, bent down, and looked inside. There were two of them in there… one was unconscious, and I immediately put a shard in him. But the second one… I snatched the pistol from him, not caring at all that he was clenching the grip and that his finger was on the trigger… And the fact that my actions broke his fingers and tore off the one that was on the trigger didn't bother me either.
"A-a-a-a-a-a!"
I fell out of acceleration, spitting out the blood that was gathering in my mouth.
"Shut up…"
One punch, and the enemy lost consciousness. A shard was then put into his port, and a dozen seconds later, a shard was also in the car's onboard computer.
"Panam, you gonna call your people? I think a car that's more or less prepared for them wouldn't be a bad thing for the Aldecaldos…"
"Of course…"
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