Chapter 113

“You guys don’t have to wait around. You could go check on Malcolm…” I offered as we entered the basement of the Straight Lane Apartments, where all my netrunning stuff was kept.

 

“Malcolm is asleep, and Dr. Vik doesn’t want us bothering him. Besides, we can help you like last time. Go through data while you keep up the hunt.” Ichi replied and I didn’t have a response for that.

 

I felt bad that my chooms would be hanging around me while I was basically sleeping, while leaving Malcolm alone. Especially with how antsy Ichi was to help.

 

“It’s fine Motoko. The sooner we find these fucks, the sooner we kill them and let Malcolm sleep like a baby.” Hiromi reminded me and I nodded as I clambered onto my netrunning chair. I pulled out the chair’s connectors and fitted them into my leotard so the biomonitors would keep an eye on me, and the coolant could flow then rested back.

 

“Okay. I’ll see you later.” I told them and closed my eyes.

 

Only to open them in my blank lobby space.

 

It only took me a moment to adjust and then I was off. Zipping through the city in a blur as I used the IP address of all the systems I had been scanning back at the attack site to practically teleport there.

Then I set foot onto the netscape and went to work. First I accessed the cafe that was across the street. Breaking through their ICE with only a few moments of work since their system wasn’t especially well protected. I ignored the connection to the other netrunner I had noticed before, and instead accessed their camera.

 

Only five minutes into entering the net I got my eyes on the fuckers that shot Malcolm.

 

It was hard to miss.

 

The four street thugs all charging through the alley, one still holding a pistol in his hand as they clambered into a rust bucket Archer Hella.

 

Then they took off with a jerky motion as they seemed to forget to release the parking brake before slamming the gas.

 

Part of me was still furious at these fucks but…

 

Malcolm? Really choom? You trusted that these fucking gonks had a fucking Supercar for sale? They didn’t look like they had XXL burrito to their name.

 

I sent a note for Ichi to ask Malcolm for more details on why he trusted these guys in the first place. These guys were just thugs. Chaff.

 

I refused to believe Malcolm was that stupid…

 

Okay he had gone without backup. So maybe he was a little brain dead, but I refused to believe he was this stupid.

 

But they had given me what I needed. A direction.

 

“The Archer Hella we are looking for is heading East on Lele. Towards… Pardey? Yeah. Is there a freeway connection there?” I asked my team as I started going down the street, checking if there was a good corner store with a camera on the intersection.

 

*No freeway connection there They would have to go south and then get on from the Republic Way connection.* Hiromi replied after a moment and I nodded.

 

Okay Let’s cut down on what paths they could take, and track them home.

 

——

 

Two hours later I pulled out of the net to take a break.

 

I hadn’t exactly eaten today and Hiromi and Ichi were both getting hungry.

 

We had tracked the fuckers through Charter Hill, Into Heywood of all places. I had thought they might be connected to the Tinos. But then as they moved through the area they turned east.

 

Into Arroyo. Then into Rancho Coronado.

 

6th St?

 

I lost them multiple times in the area. Unfortunately the industrial parks giving way to suburbs, cut out a lot of my ability to snoop.

 

“Oh. Thanks Ichi!” I Chirped as I finally opened my eyes to reality to see Ichi had obviously gone on a food run at some point.

 

“No problem. There wasn’t much we could do to help there at the end.” He said stuffing a piece of some noodle dish into his mouth.

 

“Yeah. Rancho Coronado is a bit of a dead zone.” I grumbled. Sure there were still security cameras in the area, but they were few and far between, and worse some were pointing just at the front door, or at places I couldn’t use.

 

“So what do you think?” Hiromi asked and I grumbled a bit as I sat and stuffed my own little meal into my mouth so I wouldn’t have to speak at first.

 

“Rancho is 6th St. If the guys fled there, they are probably 6th St. Or maybe they are an offshoot gang or something. We either go and start hunting them down, or maybe see if we can’t use some diplomacy? Reach out to 6th St. Might be able to find out who they are that way?”

 

“You think 6th St. Would give up info on one of their own to us?” Ichi asked, obviously skeptical, and I shook my head.

“No I don’t. Which means we are probably going to have to hunt them down, in the middle of gang territory… This is gonna be a pain.”

“We could try and lure them out?” Hiromi asked and I shrugged.

 

“I don’t think that will work Hiromi. However Malcolm contacted them, they aren’t going to respond through those methods. Especially if they suspect Malcolm isn’t dead. Think about it. They wanted his eddies. If they have even a single braincell they will realize a teenager flashing that kind of money probably has people that will kill them to get a paycheck.”

 

“Ah true… They’re gonna suspect someone is coming to kill them.”

 

I blinked.

 

“Yeah. They will. They will suspect someone is going to try and hunt them down… Hiromi you are very smart.” I told her, and she looked questioning at me.

 

People in Night City were pretty direct. Normally if something like this happened, and Malcolm was some Corpo kid. They would hire a merc. The merc would try to hunt them down, succeed or not, and that would basically be it. Once the merc failed to find them… Then the fuckers would be safe from retaliation. Wasn’t like a merc was going to get paid if they found them a week after pissing off the guy hiring them by failing.

 

Hiromi continued to look confused at my words. But while she hadn’t said anything genius herself, it was actually very accurate. If they suspected someone was coming for them… Then that’s what we would show them.

 

“We are going to trick them. They are probably hiding right now. Deep in some hole. It won’t be easy to find them, and even if we do, we will have to deal with 6th St. getting involved… But if we convince them that they got away with it? If they think they are all clear, they will stop hiding. Then we won’t have to hunt them down through 6th St. territory. We will just invite them to a nice little deal and remove them then.”

“So you go and pretend to look for them?” Ichi asked and I shook my head.

This narrative has been purloined without the author’s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

 

“No, I won’t be a good choice, I’m weird cause I’m so young besides, I was trying to take a break this week anyways. Better to get someone that looks like a merc, give 6th St. Exactly what they suspect to see. That way they won’t react strongly. Just another merc searching for someone for a bounty before giving up.”

 

“So we hire someone to pretend to look for them just to give up?” Ichi asked looking a little unhappy with it.

“Exactly. We hire a merc for an easy few days, of fucking around in Rancho Coronado, pretending to find our boys. And then he gives up, once he stops showing up. Obviously he couldn’t find them and so everyone in the area will know that he gave up and that solves the whole problem.”

“Wait but who? Are you going to ask Jun or Fujimura-sama to hire a merc?”

 

“Nah. I know a guy.” I said and grinned as I started making a call to Jackie. A week or so contract to hang around Rancho Coronado, eat on my dime, and make a half hearted attempt to find the four gonks? Jackie would probably be all for it.

 

Plus it was a perfect excuse to go home and relax for a while like I planned before Malcolm got shot.

 

I breathed in, and out. Yeah. I still needed that break.

 

—–

 

After making a call and setting up the whole situation with Jackie, he ended up agreeing, laughing the whole time at the idea.

 

I was just glad he was willing to do it, for less than normal merc money. I mean, sure I could pay him fully, but this should be a pretty safe gig. Although I did offer a hazard pay if 6th St. did try to jump him or something.

 

Until then we all went to Viks.

 

“He’s still sleeping.” He assured us patting Ichi on the shoulder as the boy had instantly walked over to Vik for an update about his best choom.

 

“Is there anything we can do?”

“Just keep quiet and let him rest. He’ll be fine. Everything is stable, and he is mostly just recovering blood and healing a bit. I shot him up with Quick Heal and everything. The boy’ll be on his feet in a week like nothing happened.” Ichi gave out a shuddered sigh at the words, his shoulders almost trembling as Vik patted the Section 9 jacket that we were all still wearing.

 

I mouthed a thank you to Vik as Hiromi and I braced Ichi. Hiromi pressed her forehead against the side of his head, while I reached over and ran a hand through Ichi’s dark hair.

 

“I’ll be okay.” He said a little grumpily a few moments later when he realized both of us girls were being gentle with him.

 

“We know.” I said and Hiromi agreed. Ichi stood straight. Annoyingly taller than I was and wiped our affection off of him like it was covered in cooties.

 

He would be okay, and so would Malcolm.

 

—–

 

I flopped onto the couch at home a few hours later.

 

Vik had eventually sent us all home to rest, agreeing he would text us when Malcolm woke up.

 

Rolling sideways I looked at the new holo TV and stared at it. It was too high up. The old TV was just on a table across the room and was a little above head height when on the couch. The Holo TV had the display way up towards the ceiling.

 

It made my neck hurt to look so high up while sprawled out.

 

Probably some corpo plan with Biotechnica to sell more Bioware necks to people or something.

 

I rolled my face into the couch.

 

Maybe a good eight hours of sleep would help?

 

I faintly felt a thump of bass through the couch. Reaching down I placed a chrome finger against the floor, even with the carpet I could feel the faintest hint of vibrations there.

 

Rockerboy neighbor was playing again.

 

My guitar was over there… It would be something to do. Get out some of the frustration I’ve been dealing with.