6166 Detroit 1.24.2039
Clara
"You MC?" I ask the intimidating woman standing before me. She's tall, and I realize she's wearing platform boots. She looks down on me, sizing me up and most likely finding me lacking.
"Who's asking?"
"We heard you might have a lead on the contact who was hiring out people to kill androids around town."
She narrows her brown eyes at me. "Who," she enunciates. "The fuck. Are you?" I am about a second away from cowering, but remember myself before I can. Clara fucking Weber, that's who, I want to say and can't.
"Melody," I use the name I'd come up with. I sound like a stoner groupie from the 70s, but we're rolling with it. "And you know Andrew." I nod at Roscoe who looks equally intimidated by MC.
"Nope."
"We're after something big. Rich folks on top think they can use us for their dirty work while withholding the real goods. We want what they have. We can give you a cut." I can almost hear Roscoe groaning. "Twenty percent if you tell us about the guy you followed."
MC doesn't speak for a long moment. I'm half worried she's about to punch me.
"Fifty."
"Thiry."
"Fifty"
"Forty-five." For fuck's sake! I might as well hang up my hat as a reporter and become an auctioneer or black market dealer at this rate.
"Deal. Got hired via text. Encrypted. Impossible to track and I have some friends who can hack anything. Did the job and the money was left at a dropsite. I had my sister dress up like me and do the job while I kept an eye on the dropsite. A man dropped off a bag of money. I followed him and he met up with another man who paid him. I followed the man who paid him and he made a phone call. Said it was the last job and that his men were ready for the next stage."
"That's it?" I ask when she pauses.
"He did mention 'the tower'."
"The what?"
"He said, 'Must be nice for you to watch your rats running around from your tower.'I don't know what he meant by that. Plenty of skyscrapers in Detroit."
My mouth falls open as everything clicks together in my head. "Of course."
"You know what he meant?" MC asks, eyes hungry. Roscoe is watching me, too, looking nervous.
"Of course he's some corporate bigwig. It's going to be impossible to track him," I tell MC. "Thanks for your info. We're going to keep looking. You are in for a cut when we get it."
"I'd better be. I don't give away information for free," MC threatens.
"Hey, it's not going to be easy getting to this guy, but we're on the right path."
"Whatever. Scram. You're blocking my table."
I'm only too happy to leave, moving toward the exit with Roscoe on my heels.
"You figured something out, didn't you?" he asks, nearly treading on my heels to speak into my ear.
"Yeah." He doesn't need to know more than that.
"Great, so I did my part, now I can—" Whatever Roscoe can do, I don't find out because suddenly there are flash bombs going off at the entrances.
Roscoe and I duck and Hank is shouting in my ear. "Get out of there Clara! FBI found out about the market and they're raiding!"
"Well, shit," I say aloud as armed men swarm the room. Everyone is trying to flee, and Roscoe gets ripped away from me. I try not to get trampled, making my way toward one of the entrances. There's no way the FBI will listen if I tell them I'm undercover. A vendor starts shooting, and suddenly the SWAT soldiers are shooting back. I dive under a table. Hank is yelling incoherently in my earpiece, but my heart is beating so loudly in my head that I can't hear.
"Everyone is shooting now!" I yell, hoping Hank can hear me over the chaos.
"Do not get yourself shot!" he shouts back.
"Easier said than done." I move to the other side of the table, adrenaline pumping. People are being arrested left and right, but there's a gun fight between the SWAT team and some of the die-hard members of the black market. I skirt around stalls, staying low, looking for a way out.
Suddenly someone's grabbing the front of my shirt, hauling me up nearly off my feet. MC looms in my face.
"I knew there was something off about you," she growls. "You're a fucking narc!"
"I'm not!" I yelp. "I had no idea they were raiding."
"I don't believe you." Now I really do think she's going to punch me. She draws a fist back. I punch her in the throat before she can land her blow. She drops me immediately, and I hit the ground with a grunt. Before she can recover, I'm off, speeding toward one of the entrances. The SWAT team is busy trying to subdue the shooters. I take my chance when they close in, leaving the door unguarded. It's not the entrance I came through, so I have no idea where it leads.
I sprint down the tunnel, footsteps pouding dully. The lights flicker on the walls, and I fear they might go out.
"What's happening?" Hank asks. I can hear the fear in his voice. He's definitely regretting sending me in.
"I found a way out. I don't know where it leads. I'll keep you updated." I keep on until I reach a wooden ladder at the end. I climb it like a monkey, adrenaline still fueling me. The sound of gunfire echoes behind me. There's a door at the top, and I push it open, heaving with all my might. Cardboard boxes go tumbling on the other end, and I trip out into another basement. There's a set of stairs leading up and I take them two at a time, bursting out into the backroom of what seems to be a bar. Music is beating so loudly that I can't hear myself think.
"Hey, where'd you come from?" asks a bartender as I push out into the bar, past the patrons. As soon as I hit the street, I put my hands on my knees and pant.
"Dixie's Bar," I tell Hank when I catch my breath.
"I'll be there in five minutes."
…
"Of all the colossal fuck-ups, this is at the top," Hank says as soon as I'm safely in his car. "You could have been killed."
I don't bother to point out that he agreed to this plan. "I know where Connor is," I say instead.
Hank goes quiet. Then, "Where?"
"CyberLife Tower," I tell him, realizing the gravity of what I'm saying. Either someone high up in CyberLife is operating despite the current freeze on the company or someone else has found a way in. There's no other 'tower' that makes sense. Where else would have technology that could keep Connor from contacting an outside source? Where else would it make sense to take an android like him?
"Shit."
"Yeah."
"We need to think this through. We can't go barging into CyberLife."
"Hank, Connor needs us."
"I know that!" Hank sighs. "Just, just let me think on this a little. You almost died tonight. We can't just run blindly into this."
My leg bobs up and down in impatience, but I don't argue. Hank is a police officer. While I don't think he'd necessarily refuse to go after Connor because of red tape, he does have to follow protocol in a way I don't.
"You're right," I tell him. "I don't have the first idea of how to get in there. But we need to move quickly."
"We will."
"Did Roscoe get away?" I ask. I'd nearly forgotten about him in the pandemonium.
"If he doesn't want all the people he snitched on turning on him, he'll seek help from the police."
I'm not sure he's that smart, but he served his usefulness to me.
Hank drops me off at home with a warning not to act without him. I promise him, fingers crossed behind my back.
…
I don't have Connor to help me hack into CyberLife, but I do know other androids. Markus and his people have been moved to another warehouse. It's shabbier, but at least they're not out on the streets.
I drive there after Hank leaves despite the late hour. Markus stands to greet me when I enter, a question in his eyes.
"I need your help," I tell him. "I need to break into CyberLife Tower."