by Anthology
I've only dipped in that pool when it was necessary-or I was tricked into it. I still cherry pick when I can, and then beg when necessary. I've pretty much kept my choices to surveillance and recovery over the years-though I have been pulled into some pretty complicated situations.
This profession sometimes takes me to different places-not always the more exotic locales like Hong Kong-nobody throws that kind of nuyen my way. And since I'm more of a Seattle name, not much about my reputation has gotten past the borders. Lately the routine had become too much of just that-a routine. I did want to get out of the rain-see some sunshine.
Los Angeles wasn't my first choice, and neither was this coffee shop across from the Mega Tri-Plex (that's the local term for the three Megacorps buildings for Horizon, Ares and Shiawase).
I was here to do a favor for an old friend's "nephew." But let's get it straight-I knew the guy I was meeting wasn't really her nephew-because Naomi Takashi didn't have siblings. Naomi's an old friend of mine from my short-lived Lone Star days who was now the Central Administrator for Wireless Augmented Reality Reconnaissance at the Lone Star facility in Seattle. The fact she had asked me for a favor-that was enough for me to say yes before I knew what it was she wanted.
I had a skeletal sob-story fit for the latest teen trideo-of a brother looking for his sister who disappeared. Yeah, I'd heard it before. Null perspiration.
But hell-it was Naomi-and I owed her my life ten times over.
So I'd e-mailed the guy-a Knight Errant employee named Kazuma (that's KAH-zoo-mah, as Naomi corrected me forty times) Tetsu. Tet-sue. His e-mails were professionally encrypted-scaled so that I'd have to enter a password on my end to read them. It was a bit annoying but I liked the guy's eye for security.
We'd arranged to meet at Cup O' Sin on the corner of Dreking and Expensive at ten o'clock. I'd only been there ten minutes before I saw him entering the shop-that was less then two minutes before the ork and his buddies blasted in with weapons firing.
Just my kind of day.
He was tall and slender and young looking-like most Japanese I'd known. Naomi was my age and I swear she looked as young and beautiful as the day we'd first met. His hair was fashionably cut around his face and ears then pulled back in a long ponytail behind him. It looked as if it'd been dyed a reddish brown as well-but at least it wasn't something like bright pink or yellow. He wore an expensive suit, black with a mandarin collar and black silk beneath. On his lapel was the KE pen the local branch's employees wore as a badge as well as his SIN that allowed them access in and out of Knight Errant doors.
I kept my attention fixed between my contact and the three coming through the front. It was obvious in a pinch they weren't actually aiming at anything or anybody-more so firing off their weapons to create a panic. My guess was to chase customers out of the shop.
But then there was always the path of the stray bullet-which found my client somewhere in his upper body. With a grunt I ducked, pulled out my Colt Manhunter and chambered a round. It wasn't so much that I was worried about this kid's life-but my own. If something happened to him, Naomi would blame-and possibly kill-me. At the very least she never speak to me again.
And as a professional, I couldn't exactly afford not having her as one of my key contacts for information in the Lone Star database.
As others scrambled out and the three intruders made their way in, I moved quick and low around them and to the right. Kazuma lay on his face behind a felled shelf of token coffee mugs and sugary sweets. I saw blood on the back of his suit and on the polished tile floor beneath.
But he hadn't let the wound take him down-the guy was up on all fours, moving as fast as he could toward the back of the shop to the counter, a black leather messenger bag draped around his shoulder. If that's where his gear was stored and one of the shooters saw it, they'd come after him and take it.
Tech wasn't as expensive as it used to be-but still-from the size of the bag I assumed he had one of the new slimline commlinks with an RFID tag on it. Shit-heads like these were always looking for a quick steal and a quick fence.
With a glance around I moved in behind him, keeping the overturned shelf between us and the intruder's view. Colt in my right hand, I crouch-stepped over him, threaded my left hand and arm beneath his left side under his arm and pulled him forward with me.
My back gave a slight protest-he was heavier than he looked-and I was getting too old for this.
Original intention had been to get him out of the shop-but it looked like that exit was blocked, and he'd also started to fight to get free of me. I figured whoever didn't get out in the first few seconds was going to be either a hostage or collateral.
"Baka let me go!" he hissed at me as one of the shooters, a bulked up, chromed hulk, chased a nice-looking girl out of the shop and then dragged her back in again. Uh oh-that didn't look good for her. "What are you-" the kid said in a much louder voice.
I slapped a hand over his mouth and yanked him down to the floor with me to watch the shooters' actions.
The ork noticed his companion dragging the girl back in by her hair and moved in himself. If this was gonna be some twisted bit of thrill sex I was just gonna have to drop the kid and do my part. Can't stand by and watch as some innocent piece of endowment gets gacked.
But ork took his weapon and held it by the firing end and smashed it hard into his companion's head. The side not covered in a chrome dome. Blood gushed over the thug's face and he lost hold of the girl. She screamed but was at least smart enough to get the hell out of there.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Chromedome demanded as he reached behind him and drew a katana from his back.
Ork didn't appear to be too afraid of Chromedome's weapon. He was in his face, his own weapon righted and the barrel inches from the guy's bloody nose. "We ain't here for that. You do your part and you get paid. You fuck up again, and I'll cap your ass and chop you for parts."
Chromedome sneered and re-holstered his blade.
A few other customers were trying to get by and Kazuma was moving in my arms. I pulled my hand away from his face and whispered, "Keep quiet."
But that just wasn't going to happen. "I have to get back there," he nodded in the direction he was going. "Behind-" he winced "behind the counter, to the right. Central server and network key."
Oh? I didn't ask how this kid would know that-I just did what he said. I released him and he kept low. I crouched down as well but noticed there was a blood trail left by his clothing. That little detail was going to give us away eventually-but at the moment it couldn't be helped.
"I'm in," said the third intruder, another human that'd set up a small odd shaped box near the register. He'd donned a pair of goggles and AR gloves-dude was interfacing with the shop's PAN through a home-make comlink.
So they were hacking into the shop's network. But why? It was a coffee shop. The only thing they'd find was an inventory list, payroll records, and maybe what next week's soy-drek of the day was going to be.
Kazuma was moving again and I followed him, hoping like hell none of them noticed the motion behind mister hacker. It wasn't that I couldn't defend myself-I was pretty good with my Colt Manhunter. But I had no idea if Kazuma here was armed, could shoot, or how bad he'd been hit. I also didn't know what kind of weapon mister hacker had. The fact these guys were hitting a shop bright and early on a Tuesday morning, full of customers and witnesses, was just a little crazy.
He moved behind the coffee shop's counter and to the right, just past the employee john and kneeled in front of what looked like a blank part of the wall. I kept myself low on my knees, my Colt aimed at the back of mister hacker as Kazuma held up his left hand in mid-air. It looked to me as if he were playing an invisible piano-but I knew he was logged into the Augmented Reality of the coffee shop's PAN.
I didn't see a commlink on him anywhere, no wires, so I assumed he'd done the mod thing and converted his data-jack to a wireless receiver-internal 'link. And since I didn't se
e any goggles or shades-I assumed his eyes were cyber-enhanced as well.
Now see? Why would a young, good-looking kid like this do that to his body? Me? There wasn't an artificial piece of hardware anywhere. Not even a data-jack. Never had a need for it. Yeah, I'd used the commlink and goggles rig now and then so I could get a taste of what AR might be like-having advertisements, e-mail and calls always in the peripheral of my vision.
And you know what I thought about it?
Crap. My mind stayed busy enough without all that shit being dumped in there on a continual basis. The Matrix was easier today to access than ever before-I'd never liked VR back then and I sure as hell didn't like it now.
There was a click and the door popped open. I pulled it out just enough to shove him inside, then piled in behind him.
The room was little more than a four-walled coffin, complete with an empty desk, an old data-jack outlet in its surface, and several brown, unmarked boxes. A broom, mop and apron hung on a nail behind the door.
I closed the door as quietly as possible. Kazuma reached out with his left hand again and tapped invisible keys. He was favoring his right arm where the bullet had apparently went through his shoulder.
Abruptly he waved at the air with his left hand and then collapsed hard against the wall. When he moved I saw a bright smear of blood he'd left behind. I holstered the Colt and coaxed him into helping me remove the messenger bag and jacket. Kazuma unbuttoned the front of his shirt and winced as I peeled it back from the wound.
Yep-right shoulder was a bloody mess. Reaching into the right pocket of my coat, I retrieved an old penlight I'd gotten from a client a few months back-self-charging little tool. Wasn't sure how I'd lasted this long without it-especially with my aging eyes.
He winced and closed his eyes as I pulled material out of the wound, but kept quiet. Turning his face away, I got a good look at his profile and noticed his hair had shifted, exposing a long, slender ear.
"You're an elf."
"Is that a problem?" His voice was surprisingly deep.
"No-it's just that Naomi didn't mention that." Now I was sure he wasn't her nephew.
His eyes opened at her name and he turned his head to look at me. "You're Derek Montgomery?"
I gave him my best smirk. "Is that a problem?"
He almost smiled. Almost. But then schooled his features into something a bit more stoic-which of course looked strange on his face. I'm not a judge on guy's looks. Especially when it's common to polish up one's appearance cosmetically these days. But looking at Kazuma-I'd say he was kinda too pretty for a guy. Being an elf and Asian-that was a double whammy. Androgyny was the curse of being both.
There were more shouts on the other side of the door and then a scream.
Kazuma looked at the door and I noticed just a flicker of panic in his expression. "We need to call the PCC-"
Ooh. I waved my right hand at him to stop. "Let's not get too hasty, okay? I'm sure local authorities can handle this." It's not that I had a problem with the PPC cops-my problems were more interlaced around Lone Star-but I wasn't in the mood to deal with any sort of authority at the moment.
He frowned at me. I noticed he had dark green eyes, not dark black-brown like Naomi's. And I also noticed with a slight shock that they weren't enhanced; these were human-or rather elven-eyes.
I looked at both of them. Cyber eyes-though you could buy the newer enhancements with life-like cosmetic qualities (mostly used by kids who were doing it behind their parent's backs)-always had a tell-tale sheen about them. Not like an animal's eyes that went red or silver in bright light-but more of a different hue. A signature that I'd always used as a marker. It let me know they were seeing things I had no access to.
This kid's eyes didn't have that. They weren't cyber.
So-how had he seen the shop's AR? Or even been able to tap this room's security? Unless he had on a pair of those smartlink contact lenses. That could account for the green tint to his eyes.
"I'm going to check on our friends outside." He leaned his head back on the wall and closed his eyes.
"Hey-Kazuma," I tapped his cheek. He looked incredibly young and he was looking incredibly pale. With a wound like that and no medical treatment-elf or human-he was going to go into shock. I wasn't a doctor, and I sure as hell couldn't play one in the trid. "Hey-look at me."
He blinked slowly and his expression looked-familiar. Only where had I seen that look before? Not on his face-but someone else I'd known a long time ago. It was the expression of someone being in two places at once.
"They've dismantled the auto-security call-out," Kazuma said, though his expression didn't change. "Looks like they've already hacked into the main control. Damnit-the ECCM's still working, but it looks like they're not trying to jam the main signal."
I was still wondering how he was seeing this-so I reached out and moved his hair away from the sides of his temples. There was no datajack. Nothing. Not even a scar where one had been removed. I would swear he was accessing remotely-but was he in the Matrix? I didn't see how-most of the time if a decker was submersed in VR then they weren't accessing their meat sack except to breathe, much less speak.
How the fuck was he doing both? "Do you have security clearance for this server?"
He nodded slowly. "I do now."
What the hell did that mean? Was the kid hacking his way in? Well, he was Knight Errant and he'd known about this room-which made me think he was either pretty high level or he'd worked in the sector before-maybe even for the PPC. I figured I'd ask him later-after we kicked these assholes out.
"Kazuma-can you figure out what they're after?"
"I don't-" He frowned, and his full, lower lip trembled. "How could they know this? I didn't know that door existed on this server. Ponzu-track sinister seven, subsection 66.77-pop2. Find out where that thing is going."
Ponzu?
Wasn't that a sauce?
Kazuma blinked rapidly as he looked up at me. He was shaking. "I-I'm cold."
"Shock." I glanced around. There was nothing in here that I could use as a blanket-except my coat. With a sigh I stood and removed it, careful of my weapon and laid it over him. I really needed something to staunch the bleeding-but the wound was a through and through-a hole in and a hole out. The wound was bleeding steadily and if we didn't get out of here soon, this kid was gonna expire.
And then I'd have Naomi to contend with. That was not how I intended on ending this little venture.
As I tried to fasten his coat around him as a bandage my hand pressed against something hard and ungiving. I pulled the coat back and found a hidden back holster around his middle containing a Fichetti Security 600. I slipped it out and checked the magazine as Kazuma's eyelids fluttered. Fully loaded.
I nudged him and held the gun up. "Can you use this thing?"
He squinted at me and nodded. "Yeah-I can use it. My Grandfather taught me."
Grandfather? Was that supposed to mean something? I held it out. I wasn't surprised a Knight Errant techie boy had a weapon-I think I was just slotting him into a stereotype and suspecting he had a katana hidden somewhere. "Think you can use it now?"
He nodded and reached out with his left hand and grabbed it. "Why?"
"Because we have to get out of here, that's why. If I understand what you're saying, those jack-heads out there are looking to steal this server-why I don't know-but that means they'll be trying to bust down this door any minute and I'm not sure-"
"They're not after this server," Kazuma said and he cleared his throat. He also sat forward and took in a deep breath. He tried not to wince from his shoulder and I noticed he wasn't using his right arm at all. "They found a back door I didn't know was there-it was probably written in by the coder for this server's original service before it was re-purposed. But they got an Agent in through that door. I've sent my own program after it." He swallowed. "I'm afraid it's trying to hack into Horizon. Baka."
I wasn't going to pretend I fully understood what he
was saying-but I was knowledgeable enough to know that using an Agent to hack into an outfit like Horizon was gutsy. "I'm not sure how they can find a link between the two PANs-"
"Horizon owns this city block as well," Kazuma said as he winced. He was honestly fighting to stay with me. This kid had guts, I'll give him that. He nodded to the wall behind him. "This is part of a redundancy system-an off-line backup for Horizon's client list. It was scheduled to be taken off-line next month and remove the node."
There was more shouting from outside the door, and I thought I heard the siren call of a local authority posse. Great. Things were about to get heated. I looked back at Kazuma. "Are you saying there's a way for them to hack into Horizon by using this PAN?"
Kazuma nodded. "Yes-I'm-baka-" he jerked and his eyes closed again. At the same time there was a barrage of foul language from the other side of that door.
Nuts. I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying-I was blind. If I had my commlink I could hack the shop's security system myself-but I didn't. I eyed the bag on the suit jacket. But if Kazuma did…
I grabbed up his bag and rummaged through it. As I suspected-inside was a Novatech comlink and a pair of gloves and shades. I pulled them out and slid the gloves on, then slid the shades on. They were blank-no image. I took them off and checked the commlink.
It was off.
I looked at Kazuma-if the link was off, how the hell was he accessing the PAN? Was my first guess that he had an internal 'link, right? Which meant he was using his own secured PAN to chase after the hackers?
That was just stupid on several levels-having an internal 'link nowadays-especially since the Technomancer and AI scares was just stupid. If someone listening to all the drek out there about Otaku Nightmares being Technomancers didn't see a physical commlink they'd kill this kid. Straight up. I'd already read about too many "mistakes" like that in this crazy-ass world
