Chapter 2: Part 2
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Taking a deep breath I activated the sandevistan and entered the room. The first knife immediately flew into the target closer to me, the second into the one that was a bit further away and while it was flying I had already reached the first one in the back of his head. Pull the knife out and throw it again at the third one.
Three dead bodies and the first thing I did was to get my knives back and go to the only door out of the room, but it was quiet behind it, so I just dragged the Scavengers' bodies aside and looked around for anything useful. One revolver and two bats isn't even serious. Sighing I took the jacket of one of them and put the weapons in it, then went to the balcony and dragged the weapons, which also folded in the jacket, which neatly knotted.
Well... now at least there is a semblance of a bag.....
When I looked out the door I saw a riper, who was leaning over the table and thoughtfully examining the body he was going to cut up.
Gross...
He was the only one in the room, and that was good, but the fact that he was standing sideways to me was not so good, though... The knife I held in my hand left it quickly, and through the ajar door it went right into the riper's temple. I didn't feel sorry for the thing, so I just walked over to him and quickly ransacked him, realising that he didn't have anything important, just an interesting glove that plugs into the connectors on his arm.
I carefully removed it, then wrapped it in the tarp I found and put it in the jacket I was carrying the rest of the stuff in.
Hmm... the guy lying on the Reaper's desk looked familiar to me....
The same guy who'd bullied David the most.
I frowned a bit, it didn't seem like anything happened to him in canon, but it seemed like David beat him up after setting up the sandevistan. Except it probably didn't happen the first day after the installation, it should have happened today and as a result he wouldn't have been in a bind.
I touch the guy's neck and raise my eyebrows in surprise then don't hesitate to dial Regina.
- Are you done yet?
- I'm in the middle of it, and like you asked, I'm trying to work quietly. But there's a chance you and I might get some fake money out of this order.
- Fake money?
- Yeah, there's a corporate kid on the desk of a ripper I've already eliminated. Daddy's on the board of directors of Arasaki Academy, as far as I know. And he's still alive. A little dishevelled, but alive. We could try to make some money out of it.
- How do you propose to make money?
- Do I have to teach you? No, of course I can think of some interesting schemes, but you've been in this business for a long time and you probably know how to do everything in such a way that there will be no claims against us.
- Okay... you've got a brain... is he going to make it to Trauma's flight?
I looked at the body, took another pulse.
- Well, his pulse seems stable.
- So you'll wait for Trauma's team, but don't forget your job is to clean out the Scavengers' lair, kid, just a side job.
- Roger that.
- By the way, think about a nickname, if it works out, we can tentatively assign it to you.
- Quiet.
- А?
- I want to be Quiet. I like, you know, like right now, quietly doing the task at hand. So 'The Quiet One' would be perfect.
- All right, not Quiet yet... I'm calling in a trauma, their flight time is usually about five minutes or less, so hurry up, or the hive will be disturbed...
- Roger that.
I quickly looked around and checked the guy's pulse and went to the next room, I had to hurry....
I didn't delay any longer and didn't hesitate to use sandevistan, so five minutes was enough time to clear the Scavengers' base. Trauma took all seven. But the guy was stable, so I just waited next to him and when the team arrived I obediently raised my hands in a sign of peaceful intentions and took a couple of steps back, letting them do their job.
- Hey...
One of the Trauma team turned around pointing a gun at me.
- Don't move.
- I wasn't going to. It's just there's a door off the balcony to the bathroom, couple of bodies lying there. I'm not a pro, so I might have misjudged the stiff's status. Who knows, maybe one of your clients?
The medic nodded and they quickly checked the room and left me in their transport without taking anyone from the bathroom. So their clients weren't there.
Finished with all that, I gathered up the goodies and dialled Regina again.
- Mission accomplished. The kid's trauma is gone, so is another living body.
- Good job... Got a personal account?
I grinned.
- I do, but if you can help me create a left one for Tikhonia, I'd appreciate it.
- Okay... consider it a bonus from me for not only doing the job quietly, but also looking around.
- Yeah... and I have a question.
- Am I listening?
- I've got an interesting glove off a Reaper, obviously a profile glove, and I've also collected some weapons, any buyers in mind?
- Well, in Little China, in Watson, there's a mega-tower called H10. There's a shop on the seventh floor called: 'Second Amendment. If you say Regina, he'll buy the ripper glove. He won't give you the full price, but he won't fuck it up.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome, Tihonja... when will you take your next assignment?
At that moment I got a beeping signal of a message that contained Tikhonya's account details, and I quickly linked this account to myself, and then checked it and whistled.
- Thank you for such a generous payment....
- It's actually a small thing...
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Change? It's enough for me to renew my rent, to buy food, and if I earn at least a grand for the guns, I'll be able to live more or less peacefully.
- Well, for whom it's a trifle... But for whom it's quite decent money....
I shake my head.
- Okay, I'll start working tomorrow. Today it is necessary to discount the weapon, to pay the rent of the flat, and in general to comprehend what happened today.
- Okay... call me tomorrow.
- What time?
- Hmm?
- Well, I realise you need sleep and you don't feed on the holy spirit... what time should I call you to get out of the way?
- I get up at seven. And food doesn't affect my work. And if I have to work at night, I don't mind calls from my solos.
I nodded understandingly, which I'm sure was reflected in the image she saw of me.
- Okay, I get it, I'll call you tomorrow at seven-thirty.
- That early?
- Sooner I start, sooner I finish. After all, there's so much to do in the world.
I grinned.
- I didn't even have a girlfriend yet! All my time was taken up by this... studying.
I swallowed the swear word like that, I was going to be extremely polite to my fixer. And not just her. While I was eliminating the OWLs, I realised that having a certain aura of a gallant and quiet solo who always follows orders is a very attractive goal. At least that's how I'm sure to live long enough.
Well, I'd like to think so.
I got to Watson and the megatower H10 by another underground train, the stop of the train was not far from the destination point.
I got there quietly and without any accidents, after which I reached the seventh floor of the megatower with the same ease and found the right shop.
- Hello.
- Hello to you too, if you're serious. What do you want?
- I'm from Regina, she said that you can rent weapons... well, and the Reaper's glove, all of which I found honestly and I doubt that the true owners of these items will be found.
- Well...
The man shrugged.
- Since Regina sent you to me....
He waved at me and went to the door, opening a passage inside his shop, from where he led me into a back room.
- Show me what you've got...
I calmly untied my jacket and laid out on the table all the guns and bats I had found, as well as ammunition for automatic rifles. And of course the Reaper's glove.
- Hmmm... the condition is shit, I'll tell you that....
- I can see that.
I shrugged.
- According to my estimates, the red price for all this shit, except for the glove, is one and a half grand. Well, that's if you're selling it, but since I'm basically renting it out....
I shrugged again.
- Huh, you got a good eye. But I wouldn't give you a grand and a half... My name is Robert Wilson, for friends and acquaintances, and you'll be in the first category in no time, you can just call me Robert. Now you see why a grand and a half for this shit is too much...
And the owner of the gun shop started to show me very quickly the barely visible scuff marks that were signs of some kind of wear and tear, possible internal mechanism problems and other defects.
- So?
- You can get about a grand, but you'll have to spend time to do it, so that means I'll get about seven hundred Eurobucks.
- Ha! Well done! Normally that would be it, and you'd get five hundred instead of seven hundred, but since you're from Regina and it's your first time with me, I'll give you eight hundred. Five hundred in cash and another three hundred in my shop account.
He grinned.
- All right with that?
- Yeah... what about the glove?
- What about the glove? I don't know about that... I can give you two hundred eb (eurodollar/eurobucks) right now, or I can take it on realisation, then you'll probably get more, but when will it be? I don't have many familiar rippers, I'll have to put it on the black market... in general, there will be a lot of trouble and the result will appear at least in a couple of months.
I scratched my cheek.
Obviously he's not fucking around. No, you could doubt him, of course, but in this world you have to trust someone at least minimally and on the Game, although it's stupid to base your opinion on it, but Regina was my favourite fixer. Then there was Dakota, and the rest... the rest pissed me off. So I'd rather believe her than trust no one and live in constant fear.
- How much am I gonna get in a couple of months?
- How the hell should I know?
- Just a ballpark.
- Well, you'll get 600 for sure. That's if it's not in the best condition, if it's in good condition, you can get more than a thousand, of course, all this is taking into account my commission, so the actual cost in good condition about a thousand two hundred ....
- Three hundred now and another three hundred in your shop.
- Fuck you! Two hundred and fifty now and a hundred on the books!
- Two hundred and ninety in cash and two hundred and fifty on account.
- You're fucking cutting it like a knife! Two hundred and sixty in cash and a hundred and fifty on account.
- So I'll spend it all from you....
I shook my head.
- Two hundred and eighty in cash and two hundred on account.
- Two hundred and seventy in cash and two hundred to the account....
He held out his hand and I shook it with the pleasure of a good bargain.
- All right, come on, let's go to the exit, I'll pay you there.
I nodded my head and was escorted out of the shop. Now Robert was standing behind the net and I was on the opposite side of him.
- Okay, here's your dough... you better count it. We are all human and can make mistakes, and I don't accept complaints after you leave the shop.
Nodding understandingly, I counted the cash and gave him a thumbs-up.
- All right, now let's see what you've got....
He slid me a terminal and I immediately went into the price list.
- Oh, a small technician's kit...
I looked at him in surprise.
- Is there a medium one? I definitely can't afford a large one, especially since you can't find them second-hand, but a second-hand medium one should cost about five hundred....
- Well, I've got one, my old one.
I got a look.
- ...Militech, packed in a standard case. All the tools are intact. But I won't give it to you for 500. A thousand, no less, and that's only because the set is twenty years out of date.
I nodded my head understandingly.
Such an outdated set is not good, on the other hand, to work with the crap that the street gangs have... and you don't need anything newer.
- Look, in theory, how much would a big, outdated one cost? It doesn't have to be a Militech, but a Tectronics?
- Well, if it's obsolete... you can probably find it for about 10,000. But that's if it's from Tektronika. Militech or even more so Kang Tao will cost orders of magnitude more, even outdated. Although, if you take the same Nokota....
- No, no, no...
I shook my head negatively.
- I'm not going to deal with that shit.
- That's right...
I counted out a thousand from the nala I had, though I had to add a little from the Scavengers found at the base. But that's even better.
- Now, I need a scope and a really good silencer for the unit. So that the shot from it is almost inaudible. Just so you know, I'm going to modernise it a bit, so it'll be more powerful...
- Yeah, let me see what I've got...