35 – Outlining the Op

  “And you trust her?” Addie asked, looking at the building layout Tony’s PAI was projecting from the tabletop.

  “I don’t trust her, but I think the info she’s giving me is legit.” Tony shrugged. “It’s a feeling, but also the fact that Chavez vouched for—”

  “The doc who stripped you?” Beef interrupted, snorting as he shook his head.

  “Yeah.” Tony sighed and ran his cybernetic fingers through his hair. “I know how all this sounds. It seems sketchy, and I don’t blame you all for feeling off. Thing is, I’ve known Chavez a long time; spent a lot of hours on his table, shooting the shit while he cut pieces out of me and installed new ones.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “My wire-job was a ten-hour surgery, and I refused to be sedated. I learned a lot about Chavez while he maneuvered those damn bots through my body, dragging nerves in and out.”

  “But you were gonna kill him?” Addie asked, not because she was trying to call him out, but because she wanted to give him a reason to explain—for the others.

  He smiled, reaching for his drink to take a sip. “Yeah, Ads. I mean, I wouldn’t have cared about him stripping my gear if I hadn’t known him. If Eric asked some random chop-doc to do all that, I wouldn’t even bother learning their name. But Chavez? We were close. Well, I thought we were. I thought we were friends. I think—after speaking with him the other night—he did too. The difference is that he has real friends. Family.” Tony’s voice got quieter as he continued, “So, when the choice was strip my gear or die, it was easy for him. I see that now, and I can’t blame him.”

  Addie was surprised to see Beef nod. He reached up to rub his chin as he said, “Yeah. It’s how I felt about my boys. Might sound shitty, but I’d put a bullet in any of them if it meant saving someone I really cared about.” When he looked at Addie, her blood drained from her face, and she quickly looked down. The only thought she could form was to silently pray Glitch hadn’t seen the look in his eyes.

  Tony saved the day by taking the comment in stride. “Right, but if one of your old boys came to you with some intel about a guy you both used to work for, a guy who did you wrong?”

  Beef thumped the table. “Then I’d take that dirt and run with it.” He grinned hugely. “I get it, T.”

  Tony returned the smile, and Glitch waved a hand. “Hello? There’s a lot more to worry about than whether the guy was trying to betray you. I mean, sure, that’s a big problem if he was, but even if he wasn’t, even if this corpo-chick has it out for your old boss, their intel could be wrong.”

  Tony leaned forward, elbow on the table, as he looked the holographic model up and down. “Yeah, but it makes sense. I know they’re sending me into a trap. The big mistake Eric and Jen made was assuming I’m stupid. Eric’s always been full of himself, though. He always gave himself the credit for our success—the deals he made, the jobs he found, his connections with people. My skills? Good, but not the thinking-kind of good, you know? As for Jen…”

  He trailed off, but no one bailed him out. Everyone stared, including Addie; she’d never heard that side of the tale before. After a minute, he caved under the pressure and started talking again. “Jen’s a lot like Eric that way. They’re both narcissists. They’ve always been willing to give me credit for talent when it came to things they didn’t want to do—training hard, being physically ruthless, putting my ass on the line—but they both believe, in their heart of hearts, that they’re better than anyone else.”

  “So they thought you’d think the job was legit?” Glitch prompted.

  “Yeah. They know I know Jen doesn’t like her uncle. What they don’t know is that I could read that relationship from a mile away. She fears her uncle—far more than she dislikes him. More than escape, she yearns to prove herself to him. She wants to know he thinks she did something good. Obviously, that’s not something she’d ever advertise, so, in her conceit, she assumes there’s no way I could understand that.”

  “There’s no way she’d try to off the guy? Wouldn’t that be showing it to him?” Beef asked.

  “Nah.” Tony shook his head.

  Addie thought she knew what he was about to say, so she guessed: “He raised her?”

  Tony smiled, nodding. “Another thing she’d never tell people, but I saw the pics. She has an old-school photo frame in her closet. I—” He paused, glancing at Addie. “—did some snooping around her place on a few occasions.” He shrugged and then looked away, focusing on the hologram again. “I used to be a little more paranoid than… how you know me, I guess.”

  “So, you know the job’s a trap,” Beef said, clearly not loving the tangents about Tony’s psychology, “then why even go? Why are we hitting this place without you?” He gestured to the hologram.

  “Because Jen needs to believe things are going her way. We need to make sure she sends her best guys after me.” He pointed to the slowly rotating building image. “She’ll be sitting there, tagged and waiting—a free kill.”

  “So we’re doing her, then?” Beef asked, brows shooting up.

  Tony glanced at Addie, then back to Beef. “I was being poetic. Rather you just bagged her—leave her for me to deal with.”

  Glitch shook her head, clicking her tongue. “But you’re gonna be in the middle of a trap. Got someone else giving cover?”

  Addie nodded, swallowing and clearing her throat. “That’s my question, too, Tony.”

  “Didn’t I just explain to you all that they underestimate me? The thing is, I know it’s a trap, so I’m already ahead of the game." He tapped his arm. "I’ve got a surprise or two, and we’ll be in comms together, assuming…” He trailed off, looking at Glitch, his eyes focused on the new data port she’d had installed over her right temple.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “You wondering if I’m good to go? Comms shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve got daemons I can run with, gear tailored to Cross Corp. It’s up-to-date as of last Thursday, and I’ve confirmed with three different sources that Cross doesn’t change out their protocols until after the sixteenth of each month. We’ve got a week.”

  Tony tapped his temple. “That thing what I think it is?”

  She nodded, her pink irises flaring with repeated concentric circles. “Pre-war AI. He’s gonna run the rig for me, manage my data dive.”

  Tony pursed his lips, whistling softly. “Must’ve cost a pretty little stack. That bit of gear will take you to tier two if you play your cards right.”

  Glitch smiled almost shyly and looked down. “I know. I know how lucky I am that you two included me on this. I promise I won’t screw up my end.”

  Tony didn’t argue, but his eyes unfocused as his thoughts took him somewhere else. Addie leaned toward him. “She won’t, Tony. She’s been drilling for days—ever since I told her the target.”

  “I’m not doubting her. Sorry, I spaced out there. Honestly, I was thinking about another netjacker I used to know. Always talked about how he was gonna get one of those old-school true AIs. Is that one licensed or…”

  Glitch shook her head. “He’s lying low, so, you know, don’t talk about him.” Her eyes unfocused for a second, then she smiled, looking at Tony. “He just cussed me out—I’m supposed to pretend he’s licensed or tell people he’s just a clever, modern PAI.” Her eyes unfocused again, and she raised her voice. “But I’ve been telling him I don’t keep secrets from this crew!”

  Once again, Beef brought them back on track: “So that’s the extent of your plan? You’re smarter than they think you are?”

  Tony laughed, shaking his head. “No, Beef! You’re my plan! You guys.” He gestured around the table. “I just need to stay alive long enough to give you a shot at Jen. When you’ve got her—hopefully Eric, too—then you just need to tell her to call off her boys. Unless I’ve killed them all and escaped, that is.” He winked at Addie, and she smiled despite herself.

  “Be serious,” she said, though her smile took the teeth out of the protestation.

  Beef stood and walked over to the cart, lifting the top open, revealing the remnants of the snacks Tony had ordered. “Nobody wants this little sandwich thing?”

  “All yours, man.” Tony looked at Addie. “You gonna be good with this? I don’t think you’ll need to, you know, fade.” She’d written to him at length about her strange experiences in the veil and the advice Pyroshi had given her.

  “But you can, right?” Glitch asked. “I mean, it makes a lot of contingencies possible…”

  Addie licked her lips, trying not to think of that icy touch that had torn her shoulder, or the other irrational fear she’d begun to torment herself with—that she’d somehow run into Janet Dawkins on the other side. “Yeah. I mean, if I have to.”

  Glitch nodded. “Hopefully, a moot point.”

  Tony reached under the table and squeezed her hand. “You should be good. After what I did to…some of our old acquaintances, I’m fairly confident Jen is going to throw her best guys at me. You and Beef should be solid.”

  “How much of a role will Cross have? Is her uncle gonna be in on it at all?” Glitch asked.

  Tony gestured to the table, and the three-dimensional model of Jen’s supposed base of operations—according to the contact Tony had made—disappeared. A second later, a much taller building appeared, white letters running down the side spelling out CROSS. Tony pointed near the midpoint, and the view zoomed in, the walls dissolved, and the perspective changed to top-down. “This is the auditorium where the CEO and board address shareholders.”

  He drew his hand up slightly, and the view followed it, showing the floor above the cavernous auditorium. “This is where the ‘green rooms’ are for speakers. According to Eric, I’ll have a shot at her uncle, Hermon Cross, here.” Tony tapped one of six identical room outlines on the display.

  Beef watched from where he stood near the catering cart. He was cleaning up the leftover snacks, but between bites, he said, “And you think it’s all BS? If they’re setting up a fake speech or whatever, that means Cross corpo-sec will be there, too.”

  “Maybe some. You see, there is a shareholder presentation happening on Saturday, but supposedly, they’ll be doing a sound check and Herman will be there to practice his speech the night before—when I’m going. Trust me on this, though: that man won’t be anywhere near the Cross building on Friday night.”

  “So, you get into the building with the credentials Eric gives you, go upstairs, go to the ready rooms or whatever, and then they spring the trap?”

  “Yeah, basically. They’ll use the Cross door scanners and security to make sure I’m not carrying any serious hardware, and then her high-tier goons will take me out. I’m sure she’ll want to capture me alive so she can gloat to my face before…” He shrugged. “You know.”

  “Before she makes Eric do what he was supposed to do the first time?” Addie asked, her voice quiet, her hands feeling cold despite Tony’s grasp.

  Tony stared at her, their eyes locked like magnets, but he didn’t speak. After a few seconds—probably awkward ones for Beef and Glitch—the netjacker cleared her throat.

  “Um, T, can you have your PAI send me all this data? The stuff you have on both buildings?”

  “Yeah, there’s a jammer in here, so—” He stopped speaking when Glitch drew a data cable out of her wrist.

  “Put this into your data port.”

  Tony nodded, drawing the cable the rest of the way over the table and then reaching back to slot it into his data port. While his eyes flickered with tiny lights, Addie looked at Glitch. “Do you think I could meet you guys at the hotel a little later? I’d like a few minutes with Tony—”

  “Say less, sis.” Glitch waved a hand. “But me and Big Boy ain’t leaving you here. We’ll go down to the club and hang for a while.”

  Tony unplugged the cable and let it retract toward Glitch. “I wish I could bring you guys back to my hotel, but we really can’t be seen together. Odds are good here, but back at the Arms…” He shrugged. “I’m sure Eric’s got eyes on the place.”

  Glitch slid toward the seat. “Okay, T. One more night of this stuff, then we’ll party—out in the open.” Tony slid out of his seat and walked over to her, opening his arms. Glitch smiled and squeezed him around the ribs.

  “Tomorrow,” Tony said, as Glitch pulled away and stepped toward the door.

  Beef closed the top of the cart and extended a big hand to Tony. “Don’t try to hug me.”

  Tony laughed, grabbing his hand. Addie narrowed her eyes, watching as the two cybernetic limbs clasped onto each other. She was certain that if those limbs had visible muscles, they’d be straining. As it was, she could hear the advanced materials the fingers and thumbs were made of squeaking with the pressure.

  “Cut it out, you goon!” Glitch punched Beef’s shoulder. “What are you gonna do if one of you breaks a hand right before the job?”

  “Not a chance, babe,” Beef chuckled, breaking his grip and pulling his hand back. “T knows when to quit.”

  Tony arched an eyebrow.

  “See you soon, Ads. We’ll be down by the bar.” With that, Glitch tapped the door panel, and it made a swishing sound as it rotated open.

  Addie couldn’t hide her smile as she watched Beef struggle with the narrow opening. “See you in a little while!” she called after them. The door cycled shut, and she and Tony were alone.

  Tony reclaimed his seat beside her. “I know everything seems simple, but it’s really not,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. “I couldn’t hope to get at her without you guys and everything you did. Glitch’s AI, her rig, all that software—it would’ve taken us years to build up the bit-vault to swing all that—”

  Addie put her finger over his lips. “Hush. I know it’s not going to be easy. I mean, maybe our part will, but you’re going to be walking into a lion’s den.”

  “Lion’s den? That’s an old one—apt, though.”

  Addie smiled. “I’m well-read. Anyway, I know you’re being vague about the danger. I know you’re going to have to pull off some heroic stuff, so… let’s just enjoy this little window of time. Let’s make the most of it.”

  Tony’s lips curled into a sly smile. “I can get on board with that.”

  Addie glanced toward the door, then looked back into his eyes, leaning close as she whispered huskily, “Okay, then. Can you lock that door?”