The Frame Job, Part 1: Yu

by Dylan Birtolo

  Shadowrun: The Frame Job

  Part 1: Yu

  Dylan Birtolo

  Contents

  Part I: Yu

  The Frame Job teaser page

  Looking for More Shadowrun Fiction?

  SR Sixth World Ed./Sprawl Ops Ad

  Copyright

  Part I: Yu

  The crowd at The Sports Bar let out a communal cheer as the Sonics sank a basket that all but sealed the win. The display at the bottom of the screens updated to show the home team leading by four points with only twelve seconds left. Nothing short of a miracle—or magical interference—would let the Kings come back.

  “Eish, I can’t believe you’re gonna win this one.” The dwarf woman shook her head back and forth, her mohawk swaying with the motion and causing the lights of the bar to make her face tattoos shimmer. Her nose wrinkled, but a smile at the corners of her mouth betrayed her true feelings over the loss.

  “Come on Z, you should know better than to bet against the home team.” Yu flashed a charming grin that had convinced more than one woman to abandon her better judgment and accompany the elf to his private room. He’d learned to cultivate and appreciate his talents—not that he’d ever consider using them on a member of his team. They were family. He reached up and brushed imaginary dust from the sleeve of his suit jacket. One never knew when it would be important to look good.

  “One would also think you’d learn by now not to put all your eggs in one basket.” He emphasized the last word, eliciting a groan and a heavy eyeroll from his companion as she pushed herself up from the table and walked over to the bar. Yu laughed at his own joke, leaning back until the front two legs of the chair lifted from the ground. He rested his weight on the tip of his toes, trying to balance the chair as he waited for Zipfile to return.

  As he hovered around that edge, he reached into his pocket and retrieved a burned-out BTL chip. Tapping the useless piece of tech with his thumb, he scanned the bar, taking in the diverse crowd both in terms of metatype and social standing. Sports had a way of bringing folks together, even when they supported bitter rivals of each other.

  His gaze drifted over the chip in his hand and he froze, as if noticing it for the first time. What had been wayward spinning turned into slow shifting to catch the changes in light coming from the multitude of screens. His arm ached, and he reached up to rub his shoulder, even though his logical mind knew the wound—and the flesh it had damaged—had been removed long ago. That injury had resulted in his brand new cyberarm, which in most cases functioned better than his original one. But this one came with aches he knew he’d never be rid of.

  “Nice chip you got there. Shame it’s burnt out. Wishing you could go back to fabricated bliss?”

  The whisper came from behind his right shoulder and only Yu’s years of training allowed him to keep his composure. Nonetheless, he snapped his arm down, tucking the BTL chip away and out of sight. It was not something meant for others to see under any circumstances. And on the practical level, it was highly illegal, not that anyone in this establishment would consider pulling in Knight Errant.

  Keeping his face pointed away from the speaker, Yu tried to glance out of the corner of his eye at the newcomer. The man who spoke was human, dressed in clothes that had been nice once, but were spoiled from too many nights exposed to the elements, their wrinkles giving them away as slept in. The man’s hair was short and scraggly, and he tried to maintain a calm demeanor, but after a couple of seconds his eyes flicked to the side, jumping at some motion or shadow. His talents as a salesman were street worthy at best.

  “What are you proposing?” Yu asked, keeping his voice low and tucking his chin to direct his voice at the stranger.

  “I saw what you had. If you want some fresh ones, take a trip of your wildest dreams, I can make that happen. Fresh stuff, straight off the boats, not like anything you’d’ve seen. Well, you might, since it’s like from your homeland.”

  Yu resisted the warring urges to roll his eyes and strike the man in the throat. The muscles across his shoulders tightened, but that served as the only indicator of his true feelings.

  “Meet me outside in five, around the north side of the bar,” Yu replied.

  Without another word, the man wandered off, weaving toward the exit. He kept his hands in his pockets and his head pointed down toward the floor, but Yu made out the subtle shifts as the unsolicited dealer veered away from anyone who got too close. He recognized the motions and reactions, falling back into old habits of judging the man to gauge whether or not he’d be useful. This one would not meet the standards of his Triad back home. He’d be considered a threat, a vulnerability.

  Not that it mattered anymore, but old habits died hard. Of course, not being back home meant he could deal with the BTL dealer as he saw fit. If there was an opportunity to find out more information about this shipment, he might be able to do some real damage to the industry. He wasn’t naïve enough to think he could make much of a wave, but any ripples were victories.

  His thoughts captivated him so much, he didn’t notice Zipfile coming back to the table until she placed a heavy mug in front of him. Shaking his head, he plastered a smile on his face with practiced ease.

  “What’s in your head?” she asked, lifting her own mug and taking a big swallow.

  “Nothing. Just distracted.”

  He saluted her with the beer and took a swallow, not even tasting the liquid as it slid down his throat. His mind was too focused on other matters, like watching the clock to see how many minutes had passed. If the dealer went to the meeting location right away, he’d be expecting Yu to show up in three more minutes. If Yu waited too long, the man might get nervous and leave, or at least have his guard up. It would be better to get the drop on him earlier than later.

  “Want to place a bet on the next game? Should be starting in about a half-hour, and it’s not like I’ve got anywhere to be.”

  “I have something I need to take care of.”

  “AR drone race then? Want to check it out? Starts down near the Needle at ten, and lasts until the Knights show up.” Zipfile leaned forward, betraying her excitement for the upcoming event.

  “Another time.” Yu brought his mug up and chugged the last half of the glass, setting it onto the table as he stood up. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

  Zipfile reached out and placed her hand on top of Yu’s arm before he could step away. She tilted her head to look up at him with a questioning glance. “What’s going on?”

  Yu appreciated that she didn’t bother to question whether or not something was wrong. She knew him better than that, but this was something he didn’t want her to get involved in. Not if he could help it.

  “I’m fine.” He reached out and eased her hand off, putting it back on the table between them and pressing down in a subtle gesture to leave him be. “I’m just not feeling well, and want to get home.”

  The lie tumbled with ease from his lips, and he doubted she believed it, but time was running out. He needed to get in position soon if he wanted to get the drop on the dealer before the fool’s guard was up. He should’ve given himself more time.

  Yu took a step away, turning his shoulder so he didn’t have to look at the dwarf if she offered a rebuttal. She didn’t, and he turned his full attention to the upcoming task. He navigated easily through the crowd, sliding through like a rivulet of water always finds a trail downhill, and took the back exit, a fire door with the alarm long-since disabled. Regular patrons frequented this entrance, especially on busy championship nights.

  The night air had a refreshing chill compared to the room behind him. There was a hint of moisture too, a welcome change from the sweat and booze permeating every atom
inside The Sports Bar. As soon as the door closed behind him, the raucous conversation and celebration faded into a dull hum. Around the corner, passing cars splashed through puddles from the morning’s rainfall.

  For the moment, Yu had the small street to himself. He didn’t count the raccoons sniffing around the piled trash bags as intruders on his solitude. Walking to his left, he approached the corner leading to the north side of the building. When he reached the edge, he hugged the wall, peeking around the edge to scout out the area. He might not be the best thief in town, but his skills still ranked higher than most at not being seen.

  The BTL dealer stood against the wall, facing the main street and the corner leading to the front of the building. His weight shifted from one foot to the other in jumpy, jittery movements rather than the subtle swaying of someone who had one too many drinks. After a few seconds, his head whipped around, but he didn’t appear to see Yu staring at him from the shadows. The dealer looked at his hand, then back toward the front entrance.

  Sliding out from around the corner, Yu slipped forward, his feet gliding over the cement surface as he moved with almost unnatural grace. He navigated around a couple of puddles, making sure not to splash and alert his prey to his arrival until it was too late.

  The man never turned until Yu reached out and grabbed his shoulder. He tugged hard, yanking the man backward and making him stumble back in an attempt to regain his balance. In response, Yu swept out the dealer’s rear foot right before it touched the ground, making him fall onto his back with a yelp of surprise. Yu followed him down, dropping his knee so it pressed against the side of the man’s throat and turned his face away.

  “Please! Don’t hurt me! You can have ’em!” The dealer reached toward his jacket pocket with a shaking hand.

  Yu didn’t let him get that far. Experience taught him not to let anyone, especially terrified targets, grab something unseen. He reached out and smacked the man’s wrist with the back of his hand while leaning forward and putting more weight on his knee. The target got his meaning well enough and froze, not even trying to look up through the corner of his vision to look at his assailant.

  “You said you dealt in BTL’s, that you had a fresh collection off the boats?”

  The dealer tried to nod as best as he could with the elf’s knee wedged up against his jaw.

  “Do you know where the shipment is?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Listen, cat tau, right now I’m the one you should be afraid of. I’m the one who literally has your face pressed up against the stones. I’m the one who could break every bone in your hand one by one if I wanted to.”

  To accentuate his threat, Yu reached down and grabbed one of the dealer’s fingers, bending it back as far as it would go without snapping. His victim cried out, but silenced when Yu pressed harder with his knee. The tortured scream faded into a whimper. Yu released the man’s finger, but kept his hand nearby as a reminder.

  “It was being loaded into a warehouse down in West Seattle. It’s probably still there. Takes a few days to move it out to distribution. They’re just sitting in boxes off the boat. But you can’t get in. They’ve got guards and shit, take you out if you don’t got proper business there. I can get you in. Say you’re there for a deal. You could buy as much as you want.”

  Reaching down, Yu patted the man’s clothes, searching for his commlink. When he found it, he fished it out and tossed it to the ground near his prisoner’s hand. “Show me.”

  The captive man did as instructed, pulling up a map without moving the rest of his arm. A pint marked the warehouse and the map offered directions from their current location.

  Yu squinted and pulled up the warehouse on his own commlink, using his DNI to keep his hands free to deal with the criminal if it became necessary.

  “Want me to bring you there? I’ll show you the best trips ever, stuff you can’t even imagine. A trip out of this world.”

  Yu’s face lost all emotion, becoming laser-focused on the dealer underneath him. He thrust his entire weight down into his knee, using the motion to snap the dealer’s neck. He stood up and turned away, closing his eyes and lowering his head, not wanting to look at the fresh corpse. His hands clenched into fists and shook at his sides, but he forced himself to take a deep breath. After a few seconds, he shook out his arms and straightened his jacket. He walked out of the street, never turning to see the body behind him. At this point, it was just another casualty of the illicit BTL trade.

  It took several blocks before Yu found himself capable of pasting on his trademark smile and nodding to others in an attempt to elicit a smile or a lifted eyebrow. He leaned against the wall of a late-night café with a steady stream of customers and pulled up the map on his commlink, turning it over to satellite view and getting as good a look at the warehouse as possible with public tools.

  As far as he could tell, it looked like a normal warehouse along a string of such buildings in the industry district of West Seattle. Nothing about it stood out from the other warehouses along the strip, and it didn’t have any labels or signage he could see from these limited viewpoints. If he wanted to find out anything, he’d need some help.

 

 

 

  He could imagine the growl coming from Zipfile as she read his message and composed her reply. It turned the corner of his mouth up.

 

 

 

 

  That portion of the business taken care of, Yu called for a ride to take him down to West Seattle. In normal circumstances, he might be worried about leaving such an obvious and easy-to-follow trail, but he hadn’t been on a job in a couple of weeks and they didn’t have anything coming up either.

  Yu got out of the car a couple of blocks away from the row of warehouses, walking the rest of the way to his destination. Along the way, he slipped into the shadows out of habit. He didn’t make his stealth obvious. Rather than hug building walls and cling to the darkness, he picked a path that strayed toward the darkest areas. In his experience, such behavior would prevent people from noticing his presence unless they were on guard, and sometimes not even then.

  A breeze picked up, carrying the heavy salt odor from the Sound, combining it with a mixture of rust and grease he associated with heavy machinery. Even from here, Yu saw large cranes arcing up over the top of the buildings, devices for unloading giant crates of cargo. Down here, Seattle gave the impression of being a port in ways the center of downtown did not.

  As he got closer to his destination, Yu slowed his pace and made sure no one stood on the streets before turning around the last couple of corners. He still gave the impression of someone walking, rather than skulking. If someone noticed him, the worst thing he could do was draw attention to himself by looking like he was trying to hide. But a hesitant step here, a thoughtful pause there, these things helped to keep him from walking into someone’s line of sight.

  The object of his interest came into view, and he kept it at the edge of his vision as he strolled down the street. From here, he gained little information about it that he didn’t already know, which amounted to it being a warehouse
. Lights shone from the windows, and shadows danced along the walls as people inside moved about. The entire structure sat behind a chain link fence with barbed wire looped around the top. A soft buzzing pervaded the air, the familiar noise of drones flying nearby. He hadn’t seen any yet, but he couldn’t mistake the sound.

  This side of the fence had a gate with a guard sitting at his station, his head propped up on his fist. He wore a uniform, but it didn’t have any logos or branding, suspicious in its own right. Usually the security corps wanted to advertise their jobs, a way to showcase their dependability.

  Yu considered his options. He could bluff his way past the guard, but doing so without knowing anything about the warehouse might prove too difficult. But he didn’t need to get in there himself. All he needed as a glimpse through the windows to see what lurked inside. And he did have a camera drone from Emu. He’d never be able to pilot it as well as she did, but this job should be easy enough.

  Continuing his circuit, he turned the next corner, making sure the warehouse was no longer in line of sight. To be extra careful, he went a full block over, using the intervening building as cover. Better safe than sorry, especially since he didn’t have the backup of his team. He could reach out to Emu and ask for her help, but she’d want to know what he was doing out here, and he didn’t know if he wanted to share those details yet. Their family still felt new, fragile, and he didn’t want to do anything to risk fracturing it.

  Pulling out the small camera drone, he connected it to his commlink and turned it on. It hummed to life and he saw through its camera. Taking control of the device, it flew up over the building and he saw the entire district spilled out before him and stretching to the water beyond, lights from the city reflecting off the dark surface. He didn’t waste time savoring the view, and instead flew forward, heading for one of the warehouse windows.