“Cole?”
“Yeah. Look, I got a few irons in the fire. I’ll get back when I can.” He disconnected the call and went back to looking at the images as the local PAN disappeared and the connection switched to the public grid. He disconnected, and after a final look at the flames in the incinerator, left the school through back doors and into an alley.
He wasn’t going to sit easy ’til he knew for sure Wagner got killed. And then he still wasn’t going to sit easy ’til he knew the reason for the killing wasn’t the data the other hacker took. And if he found out it was—he planned on setting that guy up for the fall. Since there was a possibility of technomancers involved, he had just the muscle to pull in for a little side job.
Blackwater connected to the public grid on a spoofed ID—one only a few would recognize—and made a call. After several seconds the connection opened, but no icon showed up. Blackwater knew he was listening, though.
He walked to his ride and shut the security on it down as he got in. He cranked it, and was halfway out of the parking lot before the answer came.
A wicked smile pulled at the side of Blackwater’s mouth as he turned out into traffic, the sign-off still visible in the window.
Clockwork.
Chapter Twenty-One
Bang Bang Booty Club
Mack liked looking at the whole picture—and if he couldn’t see all of it, he at least liked to have everything up in front of him.
When he’d first started his business, long before opening the club as his haven, Mack took cues from his father, who retired as a private investigator. Jack Schmetzer had worked for three decades for Lone Star, and decided to work for himself for the last fifteen years of his life. Mack didn’t know his father during his life in Lone Star, but he remembered those afternoons watching him spread everything out on the kitchen table, taking notes, putting the puzzle together.
Now, as an adult with a long and colorful life of his own, Mack used his AR desktop the same way. He connected his commlink to an interactive vid that displayed his dad’s old kitchen table on the wall across from his desk. With his rings he moved images, vids, and notes around to fit the timeline. Mack had remained there since getting Charis’s call about Artus Wagner’s murder while a search app filtered in more news clippings, vids, and intel on the key players.
So far, the story still didn’t make a hell of a lot of sense.
His door chimed, and he made a noise at it. Shayla stepped in and set a tray of food on his desk, then stood beside him and looked at the projection. “You looking for something?”
“The point.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You get in touch with Cole?”
“Yep. And he blew me off. He did ask about the murder at Horizon. Seemed real interested in who it was.”
“Yeah…they’re being real tight lipped on that information.”
She faced him. “But you know who it was.”
One nod. “I do.”
“You care to share all this with me and Preacher? I mean, we are part of your team, right?”
“I can tell what I know right now…but it’s not going to make any more sense to you than it does to me.”
“Try me.”
Mack shrugged. “Okay…the Johnson, who you know is Charis Monogue, assistant to Horizon Director Artus Wagner, hired us to retrieve data from a retired host in a building scheduled for demolition. Somebody else out-hacked Blackwater and took the data, killing Maria and two Horizon Security guards. Maria’s body mysteriously disappeared from the morgue. Blackwater, who lost the data to this other hotshot, hasn’t reported back in after heading out to look for Maria’s body, and now you tell me he’s blowing us off.” He moved closer to the projected images and started pointing and moving icons. “Charis gave me the vid of one hell of a conversation between Artus Wagner and an investigator named Draco Powell. This dwarf is interested in the data and a Knight Errant employee named Tetsu, whom he believes is a technomancer. Kazuma Tetsu is also the Knight Errant supervisor in charge of the Annex’s secure decommission and destruction, and has nothing in any file we can get a hold of that indicates he’s anything more than a Knight Errant flunky.”
“Does Powell have any proof? I mean…going off half-cocked, accusing people of being a technomancer can get them killed. Or kidnapped.”
“Powell said his technocritter could sense other technomancers. But I didn’t see any evidence of that on the vid. He talked about skin links with technomancers, and I think he was trying to tell Wagner that’s how Tetsu got the data off the host.” He moved the vids out of the way and displayed several articles on different news feeds. “Now here’s the part I know and you don’t—that the dead body was Artus Wagner’s, and Charis found it after she left here. Within an hour, these images of a tall man in a Knight Errant uniform is seen entering Horizon with the headline Knight Errant Technomancer Suspect Sought in Horizon Executive Murder.”
“Yeah, but that story went away. Can’t even find the images you have any more.”
“Uh huh…which is why I’ve got these backups on our secure host here. Don’t want any grid bugs coming in and getting into my personal shit to pull them out. Thing is, who removed it? Who killed the story?” He looked at Shayla. “Who leaked it in the first place, and why? And to make a point—they got Wagner’s title wrong. He wasn’t an executive. I still have contacts at Horizon, and they swear there wasn’t any image of a tall Knight Errant employee entering the building that morning up until Charis found Wagner’s body. So the only reason I can come up with—why this article showed up and then disappeared—is the killer put it out there and forces more powerful than him or her made it disappear...”
Shayla looked at the board, then back at Mack. “Or?” she prompted when it looked like he wasn’t finished.
“No…no or. What if the killer put it out there to frame whoever’s picture this is?”
“That’s not rocket science, boss. The image looks like Tetsu. The longish dark hair? Just the hint of a pointed ear? The dark KE suit?”
“But why? Why remove it?”
“I have no idea, boss. All I know is we got a hacker out of pocket and being all mysterious and no data. We need to go after the data and find out what’s in it.”
“Charis said Wagner put the data in the host himself, and he hinted several times it was his own personal kill file.”
“His what?”
Mack made a slow, deep shrug as he continued looking at the board. “It’s a revenge thing.” He turned to look at her. “Let’s say you work for some unscrupulous people who tell you to do equally unscrupulous things. Things you know would land you in jail if you’re caught. But you need the job, the money, or they have something on you as blackmail. So to protect your family or to reveal the truth after you’re dead, you keep records. Hard copy, vids, files, clippings, recordings—anything that will implicate the people who killed you.”
“Oh, wow.”
“So, Charis thinks that file had a lot of dirt on Horizon in it, and she wants to get her hands on it.”
“All the more reason we need to get it back first.” She moved forward and pointed at a smaller file. “Whose license are you running?” Shayla turned to him. “Mack…you got the license of the other hacker’s getaway car? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I’m still trying to put all the pieces together. The car is registered to Hitori Tetsu.”
“Tetsu? Are you serious? Mother? Sister?”
Mack shrugged. “It’s Kazuma’s sister, but she’s been missing for six months. Former Ares employee is about all I can find on her. Artist. In fact, she designed that billboard over on Rodeo Drive, the one with the moving panels?”
“Oh, I love that one!” Shayla put her hands together. “And
she’s missing?”
“Kazuma filed a report with all law enforcement agencies, even Knight Errant…but the case is cold. I got her apartment address.”
“It’s still active?”
“Yeah. I’m assuming her brother’s keeping it paid up.” Mack stepped forward and moved things around to bring up Hitori’s small folder. The image was of a beautiful young Asian woman with short, cropped hair and a bright smile.
“Huh. She’s not an elf like her brother.”
“No. Human. Her only augmentation is a datajack, just like Kazuma.” He moved Hitori’s image to the side and brought up the dossier on her sibling. “Like I said, this guy’s a straight arrow. No priors—except an altercation in a coffee shop a few years back. Stopped a group of hackers from entering a back door into Horizon.” He chuckled. “I’m pretty sure that’s why he got the job as one of the account supervisors. And get this—he’s also the nephew to a Lone Star operator.”
“Mack…if he’s looking for his sister, and he hacked that host to get to that data…you think the two are linked?”
“I’m looking at all possibilities at this point.”
“He’s not really looking good for this, is he? As the one that out-hacked Blackwater?”
“No. Which is why I want to talk to him myself and ask why an investigator’s got it in for him.” Mack’s AR flashed, and Preacher’s icon appeared in the right corner. “Boss, you got a priority call coming in. It’s encrypted and…it’s got a California prefix.”
He lowered his shoulders. Drek.
“Mack?” Shayla leaned forward.
“Shayla, change all the access codes we gave Blackwater, and anything he might have hacked. Get me a new hacker—just look through the boards and find one. If you know someone you trust—and he’s good—bring him in. But I want him here in the morning.” He ushered her out and locked the door.
With a wave of his hand, he cleared his AR desktop and settled into his desk chair. He raked his fingers through his hair a few times before he signaled the call to go through. This wasn’t going to be a chat. It was a full visual.
It was how she liked it.
The familiar face came into view in his AR, the smiling, red-headed beauty from his childhood. One look at her and all the years disappeared, and he was once again a small child in her service.
Hestaby.
“You look well, Mackenzie.” Her spellcrafted voice amplified over the speakers in his office, yet her lips never moved.
“So do you. I’m sorry for your loss.”
A dark shadow crossed her face for a brief second. She recovered and smiled again. “I still grieve, Mackenzie. But that isn’t why I called you.”
He nodded. “I’m assuming it has something to do with the Horizon death?”
“It might. But what I really need to talk to you about is something more distressing.” She leaned forward, and a crease formed between her brows. “What do you know about Contagion Games?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
GiTm0
Welcome back to GiTm0, omae; your last connection was 4 hours, 12 minutes, 13 seconds ago
BOLOs
Just a reminder—this board’s got less than two hours before it terminates in your comms. Send your sprites out twenty-four hours after that for the new link.
We’re missing a few of our own: Cobble, NetherNet, and WetPaint have all been missing for more than a week. No trace of their logins. If anyone has any information on them, especially sensitive personal information, get hold of Shyammo so we can add them to the database.
No new known dangerous handles yet, but don’t drop your guard.
Remember, GOD is always watching.
NeW oNLiNE
* Breaking News! One of Horizon’s junior flunkies was killed in his office today and technomancers are being framed. From what the vids are showing, which isn’t much, PCC security has little evidence, and they’re in a turf war with Knight Errant, who conveniently had a fire alarm system act up at the time of the murder. Dumped everyone into the streets for nearly an hour and caused a traffic backup. We have to get on this fast and get some kind of smear campaign going against Horizon—get them to prove the guy was killed by a technomancer. Anyone can say that’s what it was, but the public should ask for proof. Anyone got any details on this story? New information hasn’t hit yet, but it might by the time the news cycle rolls tonight.
* Contagion Games showed up in a report this morning, but of course the news was overshadowed by the Horizon murder and KE fire. Apparently their host went down again, and Bellex announced the decision to close the game down temporarily since the new UV host crashed. At least this time he didn’t finger technomancers.
CLOSER LOOK
>>>>Open Thread/Subhost001.445.1
>>>>Thread Access Restrictions:
>>>>Format:
>>>>File Attachment:
>>>>Thread Descriptor: Closer Look
>>>>Thread Posted By User: Shyammo
> Gonna start the posting up myself with news on the Horizon murder. Got images off a drone near the building. [Link] Looks like a guy in a KE uniform. But there’s nothing that says he’s a technomancer.
> RoxJohn
> Seriously? That could be any tech they have, or a guy in a black suit walking in. Where is that? The front of the building?
> 404Flames
> Yeah. This has got setup written all over it. But what I don’t get is why. I don’t believe a technomancer killed this official—and we still don’t have an ID on him. So who killed him and why?
> RoxJohn
> We’re not going to get anywhere till we know the victim’s name.
> 404Flames
> You guys think the murder is linked to the fire at Knight Errant?
> LongTong
> Duh? They happened within what, an hour of each other? It was organized to draw attention.
> Prettyboy
> Yeah. I agree. But away from what?
> J@zh@r@d
> Everyone—the Horizon murder victim is a guy named Atrus Wagner. He was once involved in the registration of technomancers for Horizon, and has worked in personnel for most of his career in Horizon. He was scheduled to retire in six months. Need everyone to look at this image and tell me if you have ever dealt with the dwarf beside him, and get a good look at the technocritter. I think it was dissonant. [Link]
> Silk
> Was this at a party?
> 404Flames
> Silk, I got a whole dossier on Artus Wagner. I’ll upload it to the files. Maybe someone can filter through and see what’s going on there.
> LongTong
> Has anyone seen HipOldGuy? I got a missive from his wife. She went with a church group to a trideo and came home to an empty house. And he hasn’t come home. The guy’s as dependable as the sun. I just checked his job, and they haven’t seen him either.
> Venerator
> Silk, LongTong, I’ve encrypted the image and dossier. Anyone interested in pursuing, contact me or Shyammo for a secure download. We need to get on this asap and start stopping this before it starts.
> RoxJohn
> Venerator, the last I spoke to Hip he was going to check out the Contagion Games host. Anyone else heard from him?
> 404Flames
Chapter Twenty-Three
Bang Bang Booty Club
Mack sat in his office, the lights off, his door locked. It was going to be hard to do this again—to step back out there and save the world. How many times had he done this as a child?
Too many to count.
As an otaku under Hestaby’s tutelage, Mackenzie Schmetzer had been one of her brightest students, and one of the best at moving in the Matrix. He remembered what that was like, that feeling of utter freedom inside the datasphere, with no restrictions, no cyberdeck, no apps needed.
Just himself, and Mackenzie became a ghost in the machine. A human sprite.
&nbs
p; A child of the Matrix.
That’s what they were called, and the Resonance was a deity. Something to strive for, to see, to touch, to worship. And he had when he thought as a child.
But as a man whose abilities faded before he was twenty, shadowrunner Mack Schmetzer didn’t trust the Matrix, or those who could submerge into the resonance. That’s when he learned about the technomancers.
Something Hestaby said during their conversation annoyed him. Well, the whole talk annoyed him, but one statement in particular got under his skin.
“Perhaps your distrust comes from a place of jealousy, Mackenzie. That perhaps if you had been online that day when the Crash changed everything…you would have become one as well.”
God, he hated that thought. Hated the idea he could be so petty.
But that wasn’t where the conversation ended.
“That might be, you old lizard. But you’re not going to fool anyone. You lost Shasta, you lost support of the Council, and you lost a good many of your shamans. Your Clutch is gone.” He had pointed at the visage in the vid. “I know exactly what you’re doing. You’re thinking if you can stop this from happening and somehow unite the technomancers, you can rebuild yourself a new base. But this time with a more powerful breed of otaku, not like when we were young. If you organize them—”
Shadowrun: Dark Resonance Page 9
