“That was a high-caliber round,” Angel said as Juliet dropped to the ground, her hands digging into a thick layer of mulched leaves. “It came from the northwest.” An arrow flashed on Juliet’s AUI, indicating the correct direction. “Between five and twelve hundred meters away.” Juliet crawled on her elbows toward a thick tree trunk, some kind of deciduous maple variant.
“Did the shot come this way?”
“I did not hear any impacts from the projectile.”
As Juliet scooted around the tree, putting it between herself and the source of the shot, another one rang out along with the unmistakable sound of a man shouting. She started to ask Angel to analyze it, but she was already on it. The audio sounded again, cleaned up and enhanced. This time, Juliet clearly heard a man shouting, “Got him!”
“Do people hunt out here?”
“Ah!” Angel’s voice was full of relief, “I think that’s it. Hunting licenses are sold and raffled for use in this dome and two others.”
“Right. Well, let’s get out of here before someone thinks I’m a deer.” Juliet stood up and broke into a jog, following her original trajectory toward the parking lot where, hopefully, her cab would be waiting. She heard more distant shots as she progressed, but they didn’t seem to be getting closer, and it never sounded like bullets were coming her way. Still, she tried to hurry, pounding over the loose mulch, jumping the undergrowth, and weaving between tree boles. After fifteen minutes or so, she broke through onto a grassy berm along the side of a broad, two-lane road with smooth, fresh-looking blacktop.
“Your destination is only a hundred and twenty meters to your left.”
Juliet wiped at her sweat-drenched forehead and then started jogging along the road. It rounded a densely treed curve, and then she saw the tourist stop ahead. It reminded her of a truck stop back on Earth with charging stations, big halogen lights, and three fast food restaurants, all sharing a parking lot. “Did you . . .”
“Your cab is seven minutes out.”
“Thanks,” Juliet sighed, slowing her jog to a walk, trying to calm her breathing and cool down a bit before she encountered any people. They weren’t in the city, though, and it was very early in the morning—nobody was moving about at the station, and all the restaurants were limited to automated service. Juliet walked up to a place called “King’s Smoothies” and stepped through the automatic door, sighing with pleasure as the frigid AC blew against her sweat-soaked face and neck. She approached the automated service kiosk and ordered a “Banana-berry Protein Blast.”
“Though they are technically a berry, most people don’t refer to bananas that way,” Angel said, her tone intrigued.
Juliet frowned, looking at the label; it pictured bananas next to strawberries and some other little red berries. “I don’t know if the person who did this marketing realized bananas are a berry. I sure didn’t. I think they’re trying to be clever. It means it has fake banana flavoring mixed with some kind of nebulous, fake berry flavor. Make sure my nanites are on guard; I doubt it’s good for me.”
“They are standing by!” Angel replied, a sergeant getting orders for her troops.
When the machine spit out her smoothie, Juliet stuffed an extra-wide straw in the center of it and began sucking the icy, sweet liquid, watching out the window for her ride. “That’s hitting the spot.” She moved to stand more directly under the AC vent, letting it blow on the back of her neck while she worked on the thick beverage. When her cab pulled in, she hurried out and climbed into the back, groaning as she stretched her legs out and sank back into the cushion. She was just starting to drift into a fitful sleep when her AUI beeped, and Angel spoke up.
“Juliet, I’ve received a message on the encrypted line I shared with those two young women, Rissa and Cel.”
“That was fast. How much do they want?” Juliet mumbled, her mind still trying to drift away.
“It’s not a payment request, well, rather it is, but it’s not what you intended. It seems the fellow they went to, Redbot, is demanding you pay him ten thousand bits, or he will turn the girls over to EvoGen. Cel says that the corp has issued a bounty for Rissa.”
“Are you kidding?” Juliet sat up, adrenaline and anger banishing her sleepiness.
“Cel is the one sending the messages, but she says it’s at Redbot’s insistence.”
“Get a location from her and start the cab that way.” Juliet lifted her SMG and pulled back the bolt, ensuring a round was in the chamber. “I’m not going to have some street-level ID broker strongarm ten k outta me.”
“Cel says Redbot will only wait fifteen minutes for the transfer. She did share a location, but it will take us nearly twice that long to arrive.”
Juliet growled, her mind racing down possible solutions, finding problems with all of them. Finally, she said, “Can you see the bounty?”
“Searching.” Angel only paused a couple of seconds before saying, “EvoGen has a seventy-five hundred Sol-bit bounty for Clarissa Campos, an indentured worker and biomedical trial participant. Five thousand bits will be paid to anyone who only manages to bring in the woman’s fetus.”
“What?” Juliet felt hot rage ignite in her stomach. “That’s disgusting. Message Cel. Have her tell Redbot I need to call in a couple of debts before I can pay. Surely, he’ll wait an hour for a big payday.”
“Passing the message to Cel—done.”
“Dammit,” Juliet groused, flexing her hand, watching her stiff pointer finger refuse to move. “I wish I’d had time to get this looked at.”
“Cel says Redbot will wait, but he’s ‘slapping them around,’ please hurry.” At first, Angel’s words spawned more fury in Juliet, but then she frowned, and an even darker thought arose, one that was born from the seeds of the betrayals she’d faced over the last year.
“Do you think these girls are scamming me? Do you think they saw a softie, an easy mark? Should I just cut ties?”
“The bounty is real, though they could be using that against you, yes. I recommend we investigate with caution.”
“Yeah, my thoughts, too. Can you get a map of the location? Where is it?”
“It’s not far from the port district. According to Cel, Redbot’s ‘office’ is on the second floor of a helium processing plant.”
“Can you find us a nearby location where we can do some surveillance? While you’re looking, open a comm line to Bennet.”
“Roger,” Angel said, all business again. Juliet’s AUI opened a new window, and a tone sounded, indicating an attempt to connect with Bennet. A few seconds later, the window filled with static, then clarified, showing Bennet with heavy eyes, his head on a bunched-up pillow.
“Hey, you’re still alive. Aya wins again!”
“Oh, right; I’m supposed to think you guys were betting on the odds of me surviving the night?”
“She said you were geared up to go to war, so, yeah, we started a pool.”
“You’re full of . . . Oh, it doesn’t matter. You wanna help me out with something?”
“Now?”
“Well, yeah.” Juliet chuckled. “I’m pretty sure you got more sleep than I did. I could use your eyes and maybe a face the people I’m dealing with won’t recognize.”
“This related to your friend?” Bennet grunted as he started to get up. His image became slightly blurry as his PAI struggled to render and simulate his expressions.
“Not exactly.” Juliet scowled and rubbed at her temple. “Not at all. It’s a total side job. I ran into some girls who needed help. It’s a long story, Bennet. Can you help?”
“You know I owe you plenty. I’ll be there. Where we going?”
“I’ll have Angel send you a pin. It’s not far from the port. Hey, I broke my finger, I mean on my cybernetic hand. I suppose we need to be in the shop for you to try to fix that, right?”
“Depends. How bad is it? Did you just bend the plasteel around the joint or . . .”
“I got it blown off by a shotgun.”
“Yeah, we’re going to need the shop. Sorry, Lucky.”
“Okay.” Juliet blew an exasperated breath, making a funny sound with her lips, then said, “See you in a few minutes.”
“Right.” He cut the connection, and Juliet stared out her window, watching the buildings of New Atlas pass by. Traffic was still light, but there were plenty of people out and about, enough to keep her distracted.
“I think you’ll have a good view of Redbot’s offices from the roof of the building across the street. It’s a plasteel fabrication plant and won’t be open for two more hours.”
“Great. Thank you.” Juliet closed her eyes, trying to let her mind rest, if only for a few minutes. She’d been up all night, counting on being able to fall into her bunk back on the ship, but now she had another crisis to manage. That said, it was no surprise when her mind wouldn’t let her slip into a doze. She started to imagine scenarios, picturing the mysterious Redbot and a bunch of goons surrounding the two girls. Then she imagined the scenarios if Cel and Rissa were in on some scam to get her to waste her bits. “I guess if the girls are in on it, they wouldn’t have given me Redbot’s real location. We’ll know something as soon as I get some eyes on the scene.”
“That’s logical.” Juliet and Angel rode in silence for several minutes, and then Angel announced, “We’re approaching the location. I’m having the cab bring you around behind the plasteel fabrication plant.”
“Is that where you sent Bennet?”
“Yes.”
Juliet watched as the cab turned down a cluttered alley between two tall, boxy concrete buildings. It approached a large recycling hub bolted to the side of the building on the left. A green light bloomed on its dashboard, and the cab’s AI said, “Destination reached. Enjoy your day.” The door unlatched, sliding open, and Juliet clambered out of the boxy vehicle. She clutched her pack in one hand and her SMG in the other, glancing left and right, and then a shadow detached from the side of the recycling hub, and Bennet stepped into the cone of the reversing cab’s headlights.
“Yo.”
“Punctual!” She followed the word with a nervous little laugh. “Thanks, Bennet.”
“It’s all good. Uh, what are we doing here, though?”
Juliet looked up the length of the concrete building behind him and said, “Need to get on the roof.”
“Seriously?” Bennet rested a hand on his pistol, reaching up to scratch at his short hair, and said, “Wanna tell me what’s going on?”
“Yeah.” Juliet set her pack down by her feet and opened the top flap. “Let me get up there first, though. We can talk on comms once I’m in place.” With that, she pulled out her new grapple launcher.
“Oh! I like it!” Bennet reached out for the half-meter length of hardened plasteel. It had a plastic grip and a sight halfway up its length, a grapple attachment on one end, and a flat prybar on the other. “Seems like it was made for breaking and entering.”
“Yeah—definitely a sketchy piece of gear to be walking around with.” Juliet laughed, adding, “I haven’t tried the grapple yet, but it should reach the top of this building, no problem.”
“I didn’t bring any gloves. I’m guessing this thing fires a nanofilament line? That’s gonna be rough on bare skin.”
“Nah, I don’t need you to go up there. The target’s in the building across the street. I’m just doing some recon.”
“Still, glad you got that glove. Looks like it’ll do the job.”
“It’s made of something called Duraflex. The salesgirl was very convincing.” Juliet shrugged and held up her gloved left hand. “Can’t say it’s not comfortable.”
“All right, cool. Let’s see this thing work.” Bennet handed her back the grapple launcher. Juliet hoisted the heavy black rod, waiting for Angel to provide a targeting reticle. As one took shape in her AUI, she positioned it right above the building’s concrete parapet.
“Is that where I want to aim?” she subvocalized.
“Yes. I’m compensating for drag based on the schematics for that device. You should be right on target.”
“Here goes,” Juliet breathed, then gently depressed the firing switch on the launcher’s grip. She was surprised by the loud hiss of compressed gas exploding out of the tube as the grapple launched out. It sailed through the air, the thin, sturdy line zinging out behind it, and then it cleared the parapet and landed on the roof with a clinking, thunk.
“Now gently pull it toward you until the grapple catches on the cement.”
Juliet did as Angel suggested, gently pulling the line down, letting it automatically retract into the launcher. After a few seconds, she felt the grapple scrape along the crenelation and catch, holding fast as she tugged.
“Nice!” Bennet said, clapping his hands and looking left and right in the alley, ensuring they were still alone. The sky had brightened quite a lot, and Juliet figured their time was severely limited when it came to not being happened upon by some fabrication employees or even city garbage collectors or some such. She dug around in her pack, pulled out the round ball of her spider drone, and handed it to Bennet.
“We’ll use that for some closer recon. Can you chill at the end of the alley and wait for me to fill you in?”
“Yeah, sure. What is this, a little drone? This is cool as hell. Aya’s gonna be jealous; hers are way bulkier.”
“Yeah. Go ahead and let it go at the end of the alley. My PAI will drive it.” She reached up to grab the line, pulling hard with her cybernetic arm, four-fingered though it was. She used her feet against the building wall to support and help propel herself, and thanks to a lot of hard work in the gym back with Grave and on the Kowashi, she powered herself up the two-story building in just a minute or two.
As she threw her leg over the rough concrete parapet, she scanned the roof but saw only vents and a few large, square air treatment installations. She crouch-walked over to the parapet bordering the street, across which she hoped to see some sign of Redbot’s activities. She’d just gotten there and was hunkering down when Bennet said, in comms, “You want me to leave this grapple hanging here?”
“Yeah, but keep an eye on the alley. I mean, I might have to make a run for it, and I’d like a way out.”
“Got it. Drone’s down, by the way.”
“I’ll navigate the drone into the other building,” Angel said.
Juliet grunted her agreement, then poked her head over the short concrete wall and stared at the far building. It was clearly an industrial site with huge bay doors, lots of enormous plasteel containment tanks, and big, steaming exhaust vents up on the roof. All that aside, the second floor had windows arrayed in a regular pattern, and she guessed there must be some offices up there. Five of the nine windows she could see were dark, but right away, she saw movement in the second window from the right. She didn’t know exactly what she hoped to find, staring at those windows, but she did it, using the enhanced zoom and added scanning spectrums of her helmet’s visor.
Angel helped to focus on movement, highlighting people. So far, Juliet had only seen three different men, none of whom looked very much like thugs. “I wish you had a directional microphone and a proper millimeter wave scanner.”
“Well, Angel, maybe next time we’re shopping, you should remind me to pick those up.”
“I will,” she replied, Juliet’s snark lost on her. “I’ve gained entry with the drone and am searching for passage upstairs.”
“Hey,” Bennet said into comms, “are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“Right,” Juliet muttered, “Angel, keep scanning those windows in case I’m distracted.”
“Will do.”
“Bennet, I ran into a couple of girls, real street rat types. They were down on their luck, hunted by this really nasty-sounding corp called EvoGen. Well, they want one of the girls because she’s pregnant. I’m guessing she or the baby or both were part of some trial or other. I offered to pay for the girls to get new IDs, fake ones, and figured that was that.”
“Uh-huh. That wasn’t that, was it?”
“No. The guy they went to, according to one of the girls, wants to extort me for some more bits. He’s threatening to sell the girls back to EvoGen if I don’t cough it up.”
“And you want to get eyes on him or the girls ‘cause you don’t know if the girl is lying to you. That sound about right?”
“Sounds about right.”
“Juliet, I’ve reached the second floor with the drone and have eyes on Rissa. Two men are confronting her.”
“Hang on,” Juliet said into comms, then focused on the window Angel had opened in her AUI, displaying the feed from the spider drone. The drone appeared to be peeking around a corner into a room with drawn shades—one of the windows she couldn’t see through, no doubt. Rissa was leaning against a wall, and two men were standing very close to her with threatening postures. One of the men looked very low-end corpo to Juliet, wearing a poorly tailored brown business suit. He wore custom, retro specs and had his hair combed back from his brow with some kind of slick, shiny product. The other looked like a typical banger to Juliet—a red button-up shirt with a bejeweled cross on the back and loose, designer jeans studded with faux rhinestones in the shapes of skulls and more crosses.
Juliet was staring, willing one of the men to turn so she could see their faces more clearly when the drone transmitted some audio. The suit-wearing guy said, “She’ll be all right as long as you cooperate. I’m not trying to get half a reward, so calm down. I don’t want to have to tranq you and risk the kid dying.”
“Why don’t I just knock her out, boss?”
“Head trauma? That’s your big plan? And if she dies and the kid dies before EvoGen gets here?”
Suddenly Rissa made a weird, choking, panicked sound and tried to bolt between the two men. The banger in the fancy shirt threw her back against the wall, then rotated at the hips, sending a brutal right hook into Rissa’s face, rocking her head back to crack against the wall a second time. She slid down the wall, conscious, or so it seemed from the drone’s viewpoint, but stunned.
“Oh, no, you didn’t!” Juliet growled, abruptly standing up.
Juliet barely heard Angel saying she had to move the drone to avoid foot traffic. Her ears were pounding with her rushing blood, and her mind had gone down a dark path; she hadn’t been so angry since she’d learned what Gordon was doing to Delma. She ran to the grapple and, as she sat on the parapet and threw one leg over, spoke into comms, “Bennet, they’re in there, and the girls are in trouble. I saw the pregnant one getting punched.”
“Aw, hell,” Bennet groused, “My knuckles just started to heal from the last jerk I beat up.”
“Glad I’m wearing gloves,” Juliet replied, gripping the line and swiftly lowering herself toward the ground.