CD & EA 1.33 - The Inkling of a Plan

Moving into the final act of book 1. Enjoy :)

Also, things might slow down as far as my posting goes - I'll always keep you 15 ahead of RR, but that means three a week instead of the, like, six I've been doing.

Gotta keep up with Victor, too! Both stories are in fun places (for me, mentally, I mean) so I don't mind!

-Plum

“Angel, call Ghoul,” Juliet said, watching the cab drive away. How long ago had she ordered it? “Maybe that one had just been close by . . .”

“She’s refusing the connection. Juliet, I . . .” Angel hesitated, and Juliet wasn’t sure she’d ever heard her do that before.

“What is it?”

“I think you should hear the last communication Ghoul had through her PAI,” Angel replied, and that’s when Juliet remembered she’d had Angel plant a snooping daemon in Ghoul’s PAI.

“Oh fuck!” she glanced back at Honey’s car and saw she was standing outside it, leaning on her open door, watching her with concern written all over her face. “Just a minute!” she called, holding up a finger. When Honey nodded, Juliet subvocalized, “I only want to hear it if you think she’s in some kind of trouble. If it’s, like, some personal relationship thing, I don’t want to snoop.”

“Yes, I think this warrants your attention. She received a message through the SOA system shortly before she made the call . . .”

“She made the call?”

“Yes. I’ll show you the message,” Angel replied then a blinking tab appeared on Juliet’s AUI. She opened it, and a message appeared:

Cassandra,

We’ve accessed Vikker’s cube, and he had quite a trove of information on you. Time to stop hiding. Call the return address of this message, or your sister in Boulder is going to receive a visit from a drone. You have five minutes.

“Fuck! Angel, you were supposed to let me know if anyone contacted her about Vikker!”

“This just happened, Juliet,” Angel replied curtly. “I only received the transcript from my daemon as you were asking me to call Ghoul.”

“Right,” Juliet sighed, sitting on the curb. “Sorry, Angel.” She glanced at Honey again and felt guilty for leaving her hanging while she figured things out, so she said, “Message Honey. Tell her I’m on a call trying to sort things with Ghoul and play me the audio for Ghoul’s call.”

Angel said, “I’m sorry, Juliet but I only have the transcript. I was trying to keep the snooping daemon as lightweight as possible, so I didn’t program it to send any audio or visual files.” Juliet didn’t have a response to that, so she just read the transcript as Angel displayed it in a little opaque window of her AUI:

***Start Transcript***

Unknown: Cassie, so glad you called!

Ghoul: Don’t call me that.

Unknown: Tut, such hostility. Time to stop playing games. Are you ready to come take your medicine?

Ghoul: Fuck you—you’re bluffing about my sister. I don’t even know where she is; how could Vikker have?

Unknown: Oh, I don’t know. My cousin had lots of friends. Don’t worry, though; I confirmed her location. Would you like to see a vid from my drone?

(thirty-nine-second pause in the conversation here)

Ghoul: Goddammit, what do you want? I don’t have the fucking money!

Unknown: (high volume) What do I want? I want the bitch that killed my cousin to pay! I want the creditors breathing down my neck to get fucked! I’ve got a few dirty jobs, and you’re going to do them.

Ghoul: A few jobs? Then what?

Unknown: Then we’ll see.

Ghoul: Your cousin double-crossed me. It was self-defense.

Unknown: That why you skipped town? That why you left him lying in the dirt with his back full of buckshot?

Ghoul: I was fucked! He shot me first! I almost died, had to bargain with a chop-doc to save my ass.

As Juliet read that line, her eyes got bleary, emotion choking her throat as she realized Ghoul was taking the fall for her.

Unknown: Sounds like bullshit. Enough. Get your ass to Vikker’s place ASAP, or I’m going to drone the fuck outta that little house your sister lives in.

***End Transcript***

“Angel, we have to help her,” Juliet said as she stood up and walked toward Honey’s car, wiping at her eyes.

“I can see why you would want to, Juliet, but . . .”

“Juliet!” Honey said, hurrying to meet her halfway. Angel cut herself off, probably anticipating being shushed by Juliet.

“Ghoul’s in trouble. If I can figure out a way to pay you, and maybe Pit and Mags, do you think you’d be willing to do a job in Tucson?”

“Depends on the trouble, but put together a plan and let us see what we’re getting into,” Honey replied, reaching out to squeeze Juliet’s shoulder. “You gonna be okay?”

“She’s in trouble because of me, so not really. I can’t believe she’s taking the fall for me.”

“Somebody has her? Or is this something to do with corpo-sec?” Honey frowned, clearly worried about what she might be getting mixed up in.

“It’s not corpo-sec! It’s some asshole that’s related to a guy that double-crossed me. He must have connections because Ghoul is scared of him, and while I haven’t known her long, she doesn’t seem the type to get scared easily.” Juliet’s hands were clenched into fists, anger, guilt, and worry warring for real estate in her mind.

“Tell you what,” Honey said. “I can help you do some recon, and then we can decide if this is something we can handle, something we can sell the others as a job worth doing. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” Juliet nodded, her mind racing to half-formed plans—imagined scenes of her and the others going into Vikker’s compound guns blazing. She shook her head, “Yeah, we need to make a plan. I think this guy’s connected, like, I think he’s got important friends. I don’t think we can just try to kill them all, or Ghoul would have done that already. I’ve got to think of a way to burn them—get them mixed up in a problem that won’t leave room for people like Ghoul and me.”

“All right, so tonight’s job is off, hmm?”

“Yeah, ‘fraid so. Sorry about all that.”

“No worries—it’s an open posting. Our rep won’t be hit very hard for dropping it—probably won’t even notice it.”

“‘Kay, um, would you message Pit and Mags? Ask them to keep their schedule open for tomorrow and the next day. Just in case we decide this is something we can do? I’ll message Hot Mustard and tell him about today’s job and also see if he’s down to help with Ghoul’s situation.”

“Done deal,” Honey said. “I’ll do it in the car. We should get some supplies for the recon. Care if I swing by my place?”

“Of course not! Thank you, Honey,” Juliet said, walking around and climbing into the passenger seat. When she sat down, she subvocalized, “Angel, please message Hot Mustard. Tell him I’m sorry about the job today but that Ghoul’s basically been kidnapped. Ask him if he’d be down for a job tomorrow or the next day if I get him some details.”

“Sending the message, Juliet. Also, would you like me to keep track of Ghoul’s movements with my snooping daemon?”

“Yes!” Juliet said out loud, and Honey glanced at her askance. “My PAI,” she said, shrugging. Honey chuckled and then jammed her foot on the accelerator, whipping her offroad hatchback back and around, then launching it onto the street, hardly slowing to see if cars were coming. The knobby tires whirred over the pavement as she hauled ass around one turn after another.

“No traffic patrols out here,” she said, winking at Juliet’s white-knuckled grip on the grab bar.

“Juliet, my daemon just pinged from I-10, south of Phoenix—Ghoul is en route to Tucson. Also, you received a video message from Hot Mustard.”

“Play . . .” Juliet started to say, but Angel had already started the message.

“Juliet! Hell, yes, I’m in. We operators gotta stick together, and if you’re worried about the scratch, don’t be. You can give me a share of your next few jobs if it makes you feel better. Tell me where, when, and what kinda ammo to bring!”

“Hot Mustard is in,” Juliet said, and Honey held up a fist for her to bump.

“Nice! Mags and Pit are down, provided we show ‘em it’s not suicide, and we promise to cover expenses.”

“Not we,” Juliet said, “I’ll make sure they don’t lose money on this.” After she spoke, she subvocalized, “Angel, what’s my balance?”

“After your audio implant upgrade, you have 28,333 Sol-bits.”

“This is it,” Honey said, pulling up a gravel drive to an old ranch-style casita with slump block construction painted white. Two goats wandered in the chain-link fended backyard, and through the big, arched, uncurtained window next to the front door, Juliet could see small children running around. “My auntie watches kids for money,” Honey said. “Be right back.”

When Honey closed the door behind her, Juliet said, “Angel, I have an idea.”

“I’m assuming you want to tell me about it?” Angel replied, and Juliet barked a short laugh at the sass in her tone.

“We still have the dreamer program and all that data you took from the Vykertech deck, right?”

“Yes, encrypted and compressed, but we have it.”

“All right,” Juliet said, lifting the deck hanging from the lanyard on her neck. “Do what you need to make this thing ultra-secure and then unpack that data—see what kinda stuff we got away with.” As she finished her sentence, Honey burst out the front door, slammed it behind her, and ran to the car. She held a black backpack stuffed full enough to strain the zipper.

She opened the hatchback, tossed in the pack with a thud that jostled the car, then climbed back into the driver’s seat. “We good? Any more stops before we head south?”

“The place we’re going is on the outskirts, past the ABZ west of Tucson. The guy we’re dealing with seems handy with drones. Any suggestions?”

“We need chill suits.”

“Chill suits?” Juliet blew some loose hair out of her face, pulling it back behind her ear in frustration—yet another thing she didn’t know anything about.

“Yeah, they’re like wire-mesh onesies attached to a battery—they’ll mask our heat signature so we can slip through the darkness without infrared’s spotting us. We still need to move carefully, though, depending on the drone.”

“Are they expensive?”

“Probably a thousand or more. I know a place we can shop, though.” She grinned and added, “Bargain basement kinda place.” Then she stomped the accelerator, and the car flew over the long gravel driveway and back to the rough road, throwing out a plume of dust.

Juliet sat back and closed her eyes, still gripping the grab bar above her door but trying to relax. She was worried about Ghoul, especially after reading the nasty tone of the guy who claimed to be Vikker’s cousin. Thinking of Ghoul riding in a cab toward that creep really bothered her, but then she had a thought, “Angel,” she subvocalized.

“Yes?”

“Can your snooper daemon get a message to Ghoul? I know she’s refusing mine, but what if we had the daemon say something?”

“To that effect, I could use my connection to the snooper daemon to force a full voice connection between you and Ghoul, though I wasn’t sure that was something you’d want . . .”

“No. Just a message, and can you do it in a way that doesn’t tip off the daemon right away? I’d hate to lose our connection. I’m afraid she’s going to be under a jammer the second she steps onto Vikker’s compound.”

“You talking to your PAI over there?” Honey asked, glancing at Juliet while she stopped at a light. “I can see your lips and throat twitching!”

“Yeah,” Juliet smiled, “Trying to get a message to Ghoul, but she’s making it hard.”

“SOA network won’t work?”

“Says she’s offline—I’ve already tried, and I’m afraid she’s going to be blocked before she looks at any messages I leave there. Anyway, I’m trying to figure out a workaround,” Juliet said, then she closed her eyes and subvocalized, “Well? Can you?”

“I believe I can send a short text message into Ghoul’s AUI memory buffer without compromising the snooper daemon.”

“How short?”

“Fewer than sixty-four characters.”

“Okay, send this: Stall for time. I have a plan. Trust me. J.”

“Do we?” Angel asked. “Have a plan?”

“I’m starting to get an inkling, yeah. How's that data on the deck coming?”

“I’m still sorting through it. Much of the files we took were proprietary OS files that Vykertech installs on all of their machines—nothing much of value there. Then there’s the dreamer program and a database of logs that might prove valuable if I can decode them. I’m working on it.”

“Good. Thank you so much, Angel. I really appreciate you; I know I seem to take you for granted sometimes, but I don’t. Okay?”

“Thank you, Juliet. I’m trying very hard to make sense of this database—I’d like to help our friend Ghoul as much as you would.” That brought a smile to Juliet’s lips, and if Angel were a person, she’d probably try to give her a hug. Which made her look at the other, actual person in the car and reach out a hand, squeezing her shoulder.

“Honey, thank you for dropping everything to help me. I know you don’t know Ghoul, which means a lot.”

Honey glanced at her and gave her a half-grin, lifting one corner of her mouth. You’re sweet, Juliet. I know I’ve only known you a few days, but you’ve always just kinda rubbed me the right way. You know what I mean? I’m happy to help you with your girlfriend.”

“Ghoul’s not, er, how did you mean that? I guess she’s my friend, yeah, but it’s nothing romantic.” Juliet felt heat in her cheeks and looked out the window. “Why am I so awkward?” she asked, laughing.

“No, that’s my bad,” Honey laughed. “Sorry, I shouldn’t make assumptions. You just seemed so distraught at her leaving, and you guys live together, right? I let my mind jump to conclusions. Sorry!”

“All good. I’m distraught because I feel like the trouble she’s in is my fault. It’s a long story, but I’ll tell you some of it when we get on the freeway, okay?”

“Perfect, because we’re almost to T&T’s,” Honey said, pointing to a big corner store. It was adobe-covered brick, two stories, and had colorful banners all over it, proclaiming things like “Great Deals!” and “All your hardware needs!” The front had a bright red plastic sign that read, just as Honey had promised, “T&T’s Pawn & Loan.”

“Okay,” Juliet said slowly, drawing out the word.

“I know these guys—they’ll cut us a deal. I hope they have two chill suits, though. They probably do. They have boxes and boxes of surplus gear on the second floor.” Honey pulled her car into the lot, taking up a white-striped section right by the front door.

“That’s not a parking . . .”

“No worries,” Honey laughed. “Tony’s sweet on me.” With that, she hopped out of the car, and Juliet followed, unable to get the grin off her face, despite their circumstances.

T&T’s was a shop where you could buy just about anything. Juliet saw ancient-looking portable computers with old-school keyboards, vacuum cleaners, pistols, hunting bows, clothing of all sorts, jewelry, batteries, books, and a thousand other types of items, and that was all on the first floor. People perused the racks, loud hip-hop music played on the speakers, and Juliet sniffed the air, certain there must be a popcorn machine running somewhere. Honey had already cornered one of the men behind the counter, a tall, light-skinned man with a high, black, and silver-striped flat-top haircut.

Juliet almost laughed at the crazy hairdo, but she could see the man took his style very seriously. His clothes were high-end banger—a flashy silver threaded jacket with a black skull embroidered on the shoulder, complete with glinting red LED eyes over spotless white jeans over white cowboy boots with gleaming silver-shod toes. The way he leaned forward, one elbow on the counter, talking real close to Honey, made it clear to Juliet that this was Tony.

Honey waved her over and said, “Tony, this is Juliet. We need to buy some gear for a job tonight, and we’re kinda in a rush.” She leaned forward, put a hand on Tony’s wrist, and added, “Can you please help us?”

“Oh shit, doll. Hell yeah, I can. Tony Senior’s got the counter, and I’m all about the sales today.” He winked at Honey, and only after she smiled at his gesture did he spare a glance for Juliet, “Hey, girl.” He nodded, then, done with the pleasantries, turned back to Honey, “So, what you ladies need?”

“We need a couple of chill suits, and they better work, T,” Honey said. “You wouldn’t want me getting sniped 'cause the suit fritzed, would you?”

“Oh hell no, Honey! I wouldn’t sell you any broke shit! Hang on, Pops got some of those on a surplus sale from B&C corp outta LA.” He paused, scratched lightly at the silver eyeshadow over his left eye, and added, “I think.” He looked at the crowd of customers near the register and said, “I better go to him. He gets pissed when I holler over the customers.”

“No worries, sweetie. We’ll wait here,” Honey said, lightly drumming her nails on the glass counter. Tony slid back around the counter and wended his way down to the far corner where his—apparently—father was handling the sales. Honey looked at Juliet, at her wide eyes and raised eyebrows, and laughed, “What? He’s sweet!”

“Very stylish, too,” Juliet nodded, tapping the side of her nose and nodding.

“Well, I think he is!” Honey said, laughing. “I mean, his clothes can’t match up to Tevlo’s, but not much could . . .” she giggled, giving Juliet a nudge in her shoulder. “Don’t be stuck up!”

“No, you’re right, you’re right. I’m the last person to talk about style.”

“You don’t go to clubs often? Too busy hunting down your next near-death experience?”

“Hah! You know I haven’t been doing this long—I used to be a welder. Well, I’m qualified to be a welder, but my boss had me cutting scrap most of the time. Between overtime and dealing with . . .” she trailed off as Tony came back down the counter with a big smile, showcasing very straight, very white teeth.

“Yo, ladies! I know where they are! Got a couple other sweet deals I can show you too. Follow me upstairs.”