Mikkel nodded.
"Whoever your mysterious benefactor is, he certainly had access to a great many confidential details about Minerva Technics," said Paulie, turning to sit down at his computer.
I shot Mikkel a glance after hearing mysterious benefactor and took his slight head shake to mean he hadn't mentioned Ezra and I shouldn't either.
"The level of detail in this info dump is amazing," said Paulie. "I spent half the night verifying the info wasn't false and couldn't find a single source to discount it. Of course, that's only using external sources. There could still be facts that I can't verify without internal documents, but it's still fascinating. After that, I really dove into it."
"You went out of your way to confirm the data was correct before you even started working with it?" I asked.
"Well, yeah," said Paulie. "What, you just take all information magically volunteered to you as true?"
I admitted he had a good point. Mikkel and I had never questioned Ezra's data. He could be selling us a lie. Or he could just have wrong data himself.
"Much of the plan detailed on the drive is about hitting the security servers," said Paulie. He brought up the schematics on his computer and pointed to a spot on the map. "Here. Honestly, I can't tell what these servers are. They're in an odd place for security, but it wouldn't be the first time I've seen messed up deployments by IT in old buildings that were never made for that type of wiring. I can't find anything to discount it as your target, so your friend is probably right about it being the ideal target. There's a worm on this flash drive. Pretty insidious little bugger. I could only figure out some of it, but there's a ton of disabling there and it remotes into a few servers. It appears to have all the Minerva passwords, as it's not depending on cracking. So assuming the passwords haven't been changed, this thing is going to bypass all their security and go off like a nuke."
"That's good, right?" I asked.
"Yeah, I think so," said Paulie. "Your friend's plan clearly counts on that. Get in, hit the server first, then save whoever this 'J' is. I assume that's your rescue target. It says J is in the medical center, though not the intensive care area. There are less outright security protocols, instead you have to worry about quarantine protocols. So getting through that section won't be hard as long as you don't trigger some biohazard and create a lockdown. Doubtful that you'd do that, but you two have your own personal brand of chaos, so I figure you should know about that ahead of time."
"Whoa, we're getting ahead of things," said Mikkel. "How do we get in the building?"
"Yeah, they have their own security force and its right in the middle of Midtown," I said.
"Well, obviously you're going in at night," said Meat. "Minimize the random traffic both inside and outside the building. Strike under cover of darkness. Use night vision gear."
"Yes, that's what your friend's plan also suggests," said Paulie. "Going in at night, that is. He or she has a few points of entry. I'm not sure I agree with all of them. The server and the med wing are both below ground. Most of these points of entry are above ground. One is on the roof. I'm not sure how you two would get onto the roof."
"No problem, we can just use the Nowak Chopper," I said sarcastically.
"We totally need one of those," said Mikkel.
"What, so you can call it the Pork Chop Express 2?" I suggested.
"Hell no! Blue Thunder!" said Mikkel.
Meat chuckled. "For once I actually know what you are referencing."
"I don't think the roof is a good idea for many reasons besides that," said Paulie. "The biggest problem is access. The doors are all badge access or badge access and guard. Even if you threaten the guard and get his badge, he's probably going to panic switch you and then you'll be dog piled by a bunch of thugs."
"Definitely not part of any plan," I said.
"Your friend's suggestion is.. uh... well, I'm not exactly comfortable with it," said Paulie.
I sighed, thinking about Ezra's differences in how he operates. "What is it?"
"He or she wants you to go to the residence of a Minerva Technics employee, overpower them, and take their badge. Or mug them on the street, according to a later note."
"Are you serious?" said Mikkel.
"The flash drive even has a list of recommended employees," said Paulie. "I guess your source thought them easily taken in a fight."
"Or people your source didn't like," suggested Meat.
"We are so not doing that," said Mikkel.
"If you did, I might have to kick your asses myself," said Meat. "We hunt monsters for the good of people. Mugging an innocent person tarnishes our name and I don't like it."
We all nodded. We might fight other people in self defense, but we don't kill people and we sure as hell weren't thugs. My shotgun-to-SUV encounter was an exception that even Mikkel wasn't pleased about. There had to be another way than Ezra's suggestion.
"How good are you guys at pickpocketing?" said Paulie.
Mikkel wiggled his hand to indicate so-so. "We had a little experience when our mom died, but I stopped because it's kind of a loser's game. Low reward, high risk. And the people who are easiest to steal from are usually people as bad off as you are. I'm rusty. I don't wanna pin this all on my skills. Szandor, how are your sticky fingers?"
I sighed. "I was never good at it to begin with, remember? I actually got my ass kicked that one time."
"Oh yeah," said Mikkel. "Well, what other ideas do we have?"
There was silence as we all thought.
I ground my teeth for a moment, but then I remembered. "I've got it. Mikkel, remember that card we found?"
"On the body?" said Mikkel.
Paulie and Meat turned to look us over suspiciously. We had never told them about the Minerva Technics card on the commando body and we didn't want to reveal it right now. They didn't quite know about Smilin' Rick Molina's access card. Hopefully they'd think we were talking about some other body we encountered. There's a surprising amount of bodies in our line of work.
"We didn't kill anyone," I said. "He was dead already."
"We just went through his pockets," said Mikkel defensively.
"Because we figured it would be helpful," I said, trying to make it sound like we don't make a regular habit of robbing the dead.
"And it turns out it was," said Mikkel.
"So we have a badge," I said. "Where can we enter?"
"Well, I looked over a few of the entrance points suggested," said Paulie. "There's places where I would enter... and places I think Meat would have the best luck. But for you guys? This is the best one," he said, tapping on the schematics.
"Where is that?" I said, trying to read the schematics which were probably very plainly understandable to Paulie but Greek to me. Even when we used maps, we went for the basic stuff. And printed them out onto paper.
"Bottom floor," said Paulie. "Sewer tunnels."
I groaned and Mikkel nodded.
"You know us so well," he said sarcastically.
We worked out our route through the building and details with Paulie.
"Once you're in there, you're on your own," said Paulie. "I don't want to be involved from the moment you step onto their property. I am not getting involved with a multinational company."
"Anymore than you are already?" said Mikkel.
"This is all intellectual," said Paulie. "Thoughts are not a crime. For the record, you shouldn't break the law in any way. See? Now I've officially warned you against it. If you choose to use some of the ideas mentioned while going over a hypothetical situation, that's your problem."
"Glad to know you have our back," I said sourly.
"I didn't see you asking for help anyway," said Paulie.
"That's true, I'd like to keep this just us," I said, turning to look at Meat.
"You don't have to worry about me," said Meat. "I'm not setting foot in a place that can go into lockdown when I don't have a dog in that fight. If you need a street pickup, you can call, b
ut you're on your own in there."
"Thanks," I said.
"I think we do need... uh.. material help, though," said Mikkel.
"We haven't been home, so we have only what gear is in the van," I explained.
"That was a good move," said Paulie, turning back to his computers. "They've had a watch on your apartments all day." He clicked the mouse a few times and two of the banks of monitors lit up with grainy webcam footage. I recognized a high shot of the front of my apartment building and a side shot of Mikkel's. Paulie tapped a car on each display. "Here and here. Switched out every two hours, but easily noticed by someone with a camera. The driver parks, never gets out of the car, sits there for two hours, then drives off. Clearly surveillance."
"Uh, Paulie, where are you getting this footage from?" I said.
"Oh, from the webcams I have setup in front of your apartments."
"Why do you have webcams setup in front of our apartments?" I said.
"Because you never know," said Paulie. "They're watching. They're watching me and They're watching you."
"And you're watching us," said Mikkel.
"Yes, so I don't miss anything," said Paulie.
I made a mental note where the camera locations were from the video angle. I'd take them down at some point, Paulie be damned. "Right now we don't have the time to go over this, but sometime later we need to have a talk," I said.
Rock the Casbah
Saving Jessica meant once more into the breach; and in this case the breach was the labyrinthine innards of the New Avalon sewers where cannibalistic ghouls ran rampant and the waste of the whole city sludged through tunnels. We set off at 9pm under cover of darkness. We were suited up in jump suits, breather masks, and weapons. My own weapon choices were based on moving quickly. I kept my machete and lead pipe, but didn't take anything heavier. Technically there were ghouls and creatures in the Clark Building, but they were supposed to be all locked up, so we shouldn't need to fight them. That was our hope.
We didn't have to spend too much time in the sewers. We were able to climb down someplace in Midtown. I'd love to say how the shit and waste of all the corporations in Midtown were the blackest, vilest essence in New Avalon, but honestly, the sewer tunnels were about the same under Midtown as most places. They were a labyrinth of limestone, gold painted lettering in art deco fonts, and the worst smelling sewage. Midtown's only distinction was that since it was in the relative center of New Avalon, it had the most intersections, as it was the center of the web that shot off in many directions. Only Old Avalon seemed to have a greater labyrinth. That made sense: while Midtown was now the beating heart of New Avalon, back in Carmichael's day nearby Old Avalon was the heart. The tunnels were the most complex and confusing under Old Avalon, especially by that fancy hotel.
Honestly, some days I wondered how these tunnels were even made. Like I've always heard, Carmichael was either a genius or a madman... but having been in these tunnels, he must have been a genius even if he was insane. I can't even conceive of how these were tunneled without making them all collapse. Then again, I am not an architect and have trouble building furniture I bought at Wal-Mart, so my opinion is probably worthless on this subject.
We were on a lower sewer tunnel, one which slunk downward into greater depths than some of the others. How the sewers managed to have multiple levels were again a mystery to me. We made a turn around the corner and then were travelling upstream toward the Clark Building entrance Paulie had indicated.
What's up with that? mumbled Mikkel through his mask, shining his light in the sluice of sewage.
Sewer gator? I suggested. My muffled words sounded like the warble of Charlie Brown's teachers, but Mikkel still understood me.
He shook his head. As it got closer, we could see there was something gray and round floating in the sewage - something that didn't look like gross sewage floating things. We walked closer to it (but not into the sewage), shining our lights on it. I noticed another not far from it. It was some sort of hard container. On further examination, I realized it was a metal barrel. It would probably be waist high to me if placed on the ground, maybe two feet in diameter. On the second barrel I could see the biohazard symbol.
...the fuck? I said.
Mikkel lifted his mask for a moment. "I don't understand. I'm not sure if this is even bad. I mean, this is all sewage. Waste. So in theory it shouldn't matter. But I'm pretty sure my limited waste management experience has me missing some inadvertent consequence of biohazard containers in city sewage."
I lifted my own mask. "I'm worried this is going to mutate the ghouls... if they're not mutated already. I for one do not want to face mutated super ghouls."
"Mutated Super Ghouls should be the name of your next band," said Mikkel.
I shook my head dismissively and lowered my mask.
When we got closer to the supposed to entrance of the Clark Building, we heard voices. They didn't sound angry or hostile; nobody was saying anything like, "Get those damn Nowak boys!" They sounded calm and muffled. I looked to Mikkel and he nodded. We clicked off our lights and proceeded with night vision goggles.
As we moved forward, we saw another light source farther down the tunnel. We moved only as far as we needed to see, but made sure we were still in darkness. In the light we two men in white hazmat suits. Both of them had gas masks on. One of them was setting a biohazard barrel on the edge of the walkway. Then he casually kicked the barrel into the stream of sewage. The other one was rolling another barrel out to the edge.
Great, I thought, they're kidnapping, experimenting on monsters AND poisoning the environment. Minerva Technics was turning out to be a real piece of shit company.
As we watched the guys in hazmat suits, I'm pretty sure Mikkel and I had the same thought - we could easily beat up these guys and then get into the Clark Building. I looked over to Mikkel, and his night vision silhouette shook his head. I was inclined to agree. What if there were a few more guys around the corner? Or what if one set off some sort of alarm? There were too many variables, too much risk. We weren't about to reveal ourselves quite yet. Also, we already had an access card.
Instead we sat in the darkness just watching them like some sort of predator. Or Batman. Eventually they tossed all their barrels into the sewage and turned around. They walked into an opening on the side of the tunnel, their light disappearing with them.
Mikkel and I followed at a good distance. At the end of this new hallway there was a metal gateway and then a metal office door. The two men closed the gate behind them and then locked it with a chain and padlock. Then they swiped their cards on the door. It opened and they disappeared. When the door closed, it left us in darkness.
We waited a minute in that darkness before removing our night vision gear and turning on our lights.
"Well, now we know Ezra and Paulie were right about the entrance," I said as Mikkel examined the chain and padlock. "What's the lock look like?"
Mikkel turned to look at me, and without breaking eye contact, he slid his crowbar into the padlock and with a minimal move of his arm popped it right off. "What padlock?"
"I'm glad they're using shitty security down here," I said.
"Oh, it's symbolic," said Mikkel. "Enough to deter anyone who is casually looking at this gate but not actually here to break in... I mean, if there ever were casual vandals down here. Teenagers with a death wish or something. The door is what's really keeping people out."
I nodded as we opened the gate and walked to the door. No camera on it. But I guess if this is where they're doing their illicit dumping of biohazardous materials, they probably didn't want to have a camera recording it. Just in case they ever got subpoenaed faster than they could erase the footage.
"I guess now we find out if that badge we found is any good," said Mikkel. "Hopefully the dear departed Rick Molina had sewer door access."
"If he didn't, this trip is ending real quick," I said.
I swiped the badge on the scanner and we stoo
d in front of the door awkwardly, waiting for the moment of truth.
The door opened.
I'm not sure what I expected for the innards of a corporate stronghold. Maybe gleaming white lights and computer displays on everything. Gold gilded everything and free cigars everywhere. Nubile slaves and cocaine orgies. The Architect of the Matrix.
Instead we were in a pretty dingy area that looked like a loading dock. Black rubber covered the floor which was heavily stained, no doubt by either the biohazard barrels or the shoes of workers walking out into the sewers. There were long pieces of stiff translucent plastic draped to block out the smell and possible germs. We walked through those when we saw no sign of the two men we followed in. There were two rooms off this new area. First was a large cargo area that was filled with those same biohazard containers. I wondered if they had a schedule that trickled the dumping so that it didn't alert the EPA. The second area was a changing room with lockers and benches. Extra white hazmat suits were hanging on hooks with masks next to them. There were also showers around the corner. The showers were in use.
"Walk on by or knock those guys out?" I said in a low voice, my mask removed.
"I'm not picking a fight with a guy while they're in the shower," said Mikkel. "That's like some Guy Code violation. A man's shower is sacred. Like his shaving razor or his liquor stash."
"I raid your liquor stash all the time."
"You raid my decoy liquor stash, Szandor. The real one is more cleverly hidden."
"You have a lot of liquor," I said with a headshake.
"Can never have too much," he said.
I shrugged.
Mikkel nodded at the hanging hazmat suits. "Let's put those on."
"We already have suits and masks."
"Yeah, but if we wear one of those, we look like we're employed here."
"But we're going into the rest of the building. We're going to stick out. You think guys in hazmat suits just walk around?"
"Hey, they need to stop by the break room and get donuts too," said Mikkel.
"Whatever," I said, deciding I want never to walk in the break room of my job and see a guy in a hazmat suit leaning over the box of donuts. "These guys probably don't take long showers. Let's just grab the suits if we were going to do it."
I Kill Monsters Page 22
