“Look, if you can tell me that two hundred megs isn’t much money. I can tell you that the quickest way to get it is to break into your own safe.”
“You don’t understand the security on that complex—”
“Do you understand the security?”
“I designed most of it.”
Tetsami turned around and grinned at Dom. She brushed windblown hair out of her eyes. “So, with your knowledge and six hundred K on our side, tell me it can’t be done.”
“It can’t be done.”
She snorted and turned her face out of the wind, leaning on the railing. “Yeah. And you think it’s more likely that you are going to build that six hundred K into another Godwin Arms?”
“I built GA&A.”
Suddenly he shows some emotion, she thought. “How much money did you start with?”
There was a pause.
“Hell of a lot more than you have now, right?”
A longer pause, then Dom’s voice was back to normal. “This is your area of expertise, not mine. What did you have in mind?” He looked off at the eastern mountains again.
She looked toward the range herself. She could see some purple-orange, where East Godwin disintegrated into forest. There used to be suburbs back that way, but they’d been abandoned when East Godwin went to its own little hell. Most of the real development was behind her, where Godwin built westward, as if the urban center were slowly crawling away from its thousand square kilometers of infected slum.
That’s what East Godwin is, a trail of slime left by the city as it crawls away from the mountains.
Tetsami decided that her lack of sleep was allowing her mind to wander.
What the hell did she have in mind? Whatever Dom said, this wasn’t exactly her area of expertise. She was a systems expert, a data thief. She’d never planned a job to physically go into a target. Before yesterday, she’d never even fired a laser in anger.
Cool it, she told herself, that’s the number one screwup—don’t ever start doubting yourself. Never on the job. That’s what gave the young software jockeys the edge. They were too inexperienced to worry about the risks.
She told herself to concentrate on her assets. The primary asset was the fact that she had access to the designer of a previous generation security setup. She’d be willing to crack almost anything with that edge.
“We obviously need a team to go in—”
“Obviously.”
Wow, she thought, what sage advice. Sheesh. “We’ll need someone to handle the comm in the complex. That’s my specialty, running around the systems in there—”
“The mainframes were destroyed.”
“Well, whatever’s left.” What else? “We need an expert on Paralian ship design, and another software jockey to handle the ship’s system. Chances are it’s isolated.”
Dom nodded.
“We need some muscle, weapons people to protect the specialists that go in. Not too many. The more people, the harder this will be to pull off.” How many? “Two people. It looks like two teams going in. One for the ship and one for the safe.”
Dom nodded again. What the hell was he thinking? Did this sound like she was making it up as she went along? “We need a demolition expert, to make sure we crack the place with the money, and we’ll need an electronics expert to help prep us. Those and a driver.”
“That’s six more people.”
Six? Tetsami made a head count. “I count seven.”
“We only need one spear carrier.”
Spear carrier? Oh, the muscle. “Believe me, we need at least one per team.”
“We’ll have one per team.” Dom looked straight at her and she suddenly realized what he must be thinking.
“You?”
“I’ll go with the team to the safe.”
“I don’t think you—”
Dom shook his head. “I’ll probably be the only one who knows the complex firsthand.”
“We’re going to need someone with combat experience and weapons expertise—”
Dom nodded. “I know.”
Tetsami looked at the exec and waited for an explanation.
Eventually, one came. “Ten years in the TEC. Special forces, retired.”
She looked around by reflex, to see if anyone had overheard him. The landing pad was still empty of people. She broke out into a chill anyway. She suddenly had second thoughts that had nothing to do with her own competence.
It was a Bakunin tradition to dislike the Confederacy. It was another Bakunin tradition to hate the TEC. Some of the more radical communes had regular executions of “TEC spies.” Bakunin was, in one sense, a planet of dissidents, and the TEC’s major function in the Confederacy was crushing dissidence.
Tetsami began to realize that the attack on GA&A must have been a TEC operation, and she mentally revised the number of assaults the new management was going to have to repel. GA&A was probably going to be hit at least once by every military-capable fringe group within fifty klicks of Godwin.
She could see someone lobbing a nuke just because the TEC was involved.
Dom turned away from the edge of the roof and started walking back toward the restaurant and the entrance to the hotel. “Okay, Tetsami, I’ll back your idea. I’ve risked money on less promising enterprises.”
Tetsami stayed by the railing. She was still dealing with his admission. After a few seconds, she cursed herself and followed Dom.
Dom booked rooms for both of them. There was enough money, and most of it wouldn’t be traceable. They should be safe for a while at least.
The hotel was the Waldgrave and it sat slightly west of Central Godwin. It tried to emulate its namesake planet in a number of ways, all with varying success. Wood was everywhere, though none of the rich Waldgrave stock that was the planet’s primary export—if you didn’t count fascism.
The hotel tried for a Germanic flavor, which ended up in silly affected accents and sillier uniforms. The staff’s only successes in its homage were in the expense of a stay, which approached what a stay on Waldgrave might really cost, and the absolutely feudal organization of the staff.
In the end, Tetsami decided she couldn’t have cared less. By the time they got their rooms she was thoroughly bored with the place. What she wanted was sleep. After some rest, maybe her pitch to Dom might not seem as insane as it did right now.
Glibly throwing requirements around was one thing. Just talk. However, coming through with a workable plan was something else entirely. Even coming up with people with the required skills—
Just thinking about it gave Tetsami a headache.
Top all of that off with the fact that people were out to kill her and Dom. That showed how insane this all was.
The guy in lederhosen who led them to their rooms didn’t stick around for a tip.
Dom opened his door and turned to her. “After we both get some rest, we’re going to have to talk about your plans.”
Tetsami nodded and watched him go in. She stood in the hall and held the card key for the neighboring room. She looked at it and thought about how much it cost. Dom had booked them for two days. It might come to just under a kilo.