Tommy Tsunami gazed at the woman with an expression of undisguised hunger. "Your target's name is Selene. She runs an underground organization called the Gutter Girls. Spies, bodyguards — they are whatever she needs them to be. Needless to say, this will be a difficult operation."
"Yeah, I'll be careful. What exactly is it that I'm stealing? The dossier mentioned something about surgery. I'm not killing her for you if that's what you want."
His eyes widened ever so slightly. "I wouldn't dream of making that sort of move against her."
"Then what is it?"
"I want you to remove one of her limbs for me."
It was my turn to stare. "One of her… limbs? Are you crazy?"
"Not at all. Her right leg, to be precise. I'd like you to amputate it and bring it me undamaged. Don't worry; I'm only borrowing it. I'll be sure to return it to her after I'm finished."
The Gaiden nightclub is on fire. I risked an autocab to try to see if I could catch up with Tommy Tsunami again. But on arriving all I see are flames and billowing smoke. The rain never stops, but the fire rages regardless. As I step out of the cab into the downpour, a fire blimp drifts from the sky like a breaching whale, siren lights painting the rain with crimson flashes. Hoses uncurl from its innards and attend to the business of spraying extinguisher foam. Spherical drones hover about, metallic fireflies that scan the vicinity and record everything to a remote feed. A large crowd mills around, typical gawkers attracted to destruction. Police androids work at establishing a perimeter, eyes flashing red and blue.
Peering from the alley of a nearby pair of buildings, I use the holoband on my wrist to crack into the drone program and use their facial recognition program to find any persons of interest. A tall, narrow-faced man watches the destruction with an anguished expression on his face. The intel identifies him as Twitch Samuels, a doorman for the club.
Keeping my head downcast, I use an umbrella to block overhead surveillance as I cut through the crowd and tap Twitch on the shoulder. He turns, looking down at me with red-rimmed eyes. His dark, thin hair spills across his brow like ink.
"Can I help you, miss?"
"Detective, actually." I flash my fake badge. "Can you tell me what happened here?"
He stares down with more than a touch of arrogance. "I already talked to those useless robot cops."
"Talk to me."
"The Troubleshooter happened."
"One man?"
His frown turns suspicious. "You don't know who the Troubleshooter is?"
"The Troubleshooter. Yeah, I know all about him." I quickly ran the name through my database. The information slides across the interior of my glasses. Mick Trubble. A private eye of sorts. Warning symbols flash, indicating a high-level threat. The man has a reputation for… trouble, of course. Not at all ironic.
Twitch clears his throat. "Well, if you know him then you know what sort of man he is. He came in like he owned the place. When I told him he wasn't welcome, he showed me his gun."
"And what did you do then?"
Twitch's narrow mustache stiffens. "What any sane person would do. I left immediately. I'm a doorman, not a bodyguard."
"And I'm a hacker, not a detective. But here we are."
"Excuse me?"
I pull my fur coat back so he can see the KA-blade strapped to my side. "Now I'm showing you mine. See, I don't really care about what happened or what the Troubleshooter did. All I wanna know is if Tommy Tsunami was in here and if he got out alive."
His eyes darted around. "You know I can't tell you anything. Rats don't live long around here."
"Neither do bugs." I tap fingers on the KA-blade. "And I'm about to pull out my flyswatter."
His Adam's apple bobs when he swallows. "All right, no need for threats. Mr. Tsunami survived the fire. I saw him exiting from the rear of the building.
"Where?"
"I don't know."
My hand tightens on the KA-Blade.
"I swear I don't know. But… he shouldn't be hard to find."
"Yeah? How?"
Twitch gestured to the inferno. "He and the Troubleshooter are at odds. Just follow the chaos. Shootouts. Burned buildings. Gang warfare. These things tend to follow the Troubleshooter when he's on a tear. And wherever he is, Tommy Tsunami will be as well."
"Fine. Don't tell anyone you saw me. Or I'll be back."
"I don't even know who you are."
"Let's keep it that way." I turn and head back for the alley, positioning the umbrella to avoid detection. Twitch calls after me.
"Why look for Tommy Tsunami at all? It's too dangerous. This nightclub won't be the only thing that burns tonight."
I pause, feeling the heat of anger and shame scald my face. "He has something I need. You might say it's a matter of life and death."
3
The heist went smooth as butter. The first thing was to pull a crack on a police synoid. The automaton pulled Selene's stretch Caddy over in an inconspicuous manner. Then it went berserk, taking out Selene, her bodyguards, and her trained wolf with stun rounds. The wolf was a surprise and should have given me a red flag right then and there. But at the time I charted it up as some rich bitch trying too hard. The black market was full of exotic animal sales, after all.
I guided the simdroid to a nearby warehouse, where I had a surgery lab prepped. The setup cost a grip, but the front money from Tommy Tsunami took care of that. A botnet program supplied me with automated surgery equipment, complete with an android surgeon. The amputation was grisly to watch, but everything went perfectly. The leg was removed, the wounds properly cleaned and cauterized, and Selene left in a medically sealed ice pod with a device alerting the local emergency services to its location.
I took a closer look at the leg Tommy Tsunami wanted so badly, but I couldn't figure it out even after running a scan at the many tattoos that covered the skin. Something was there, something I was missing. In the end, I shrugged it off. None of my business. My business was getting paid and then getting the hell out of New Haven.
After that, it was a return to a private room at the Gaiden nightclub, where I delivered the leg to Tommy Tsunami in an airtight, temperature-controlled case. He regarded it without expression, but there was a tiny glint in his eyes that let me know he was inwardly jumping up and down with joy. Turning away from the case, he stepped toward me with separate objects in each hand.
I gave him a quizzical glance. "What's this?"
"A choice, Jinx. In my right hand, I have a Transit pass. Completely legit, guaranteed to get you out of New Haven immediately. In my left I have a dibcard loaded with the remainder of your payment. You're free to choose one or the other."
I felt my jaw clench. "I should have known there was a catch. You got me in, but you're not getting me out. Now without taking half the cut. You never intended to pay the full amount, did you?"
A thin smile curved his lips. "You should have read the fine print, Jinx. And I'll pay you as promised. But getting out is on you if you don't take my offer."
"Yeah, okay. I'll take the dibcard. I can get out of here on my own."
He raised an eyebrow. "Can you? I wouldn't be offering if exiting New Haven was easy. You don't know how tightly the exit is guarded. You can't possibly understand the amount of control exerted to keep this city's population from ever leaving or even aware of the outside world. And you think you can just find some way out on your own?"
"Pretty much."
"As you wish."
He gave me the card, which I snatched out his hand and placed on the face of my holoband. The transfer went through, much to my surprise. I was now beyond rich, ready to disappear and leave my troubles and enemies so far behind that they might as well have disappeared.