Chapter 83

The car stopped smoothly not far from the destination point, and I quietly left it. I headed toward the nearest alley, where I simply activated the cloaking system and made my way to the Claws' dojo under its cover.

The building was a three-story...

One of the open windows was on the second floor. I evaluated the height and activated the sandi, then accelerated and jumped after about a dozen meters. A couple of subjective seconds of flight and I literally flew into the window, good to calculate the trajectory was not difficult. Touching the wall, I corrected my flight and rolled over to extinguish all the speed.

After looking around, I turned off the sandi.

"I came in."

Letting the girls know that I'm already inside the dodez so they realize they'll have work to do soon.

"That was fast."

Becca was very surprised, but my ranchers said nothing, remaining silent.

"The window on the second floor was open."

"I see. Where do you want to start?"

This time it was Judy who intervened in the conversation.

"I'm gonna go up to the third floor and start putting splinters in everything I can reach."

"Good plan... Tiger's?"

"Well, uh. Regina said no deaths this time, so we'll try not to. Although I don't understand why she's worried about these thugs."

"Okay, uh. get back to work, we're not distracting you anymore."

Kiwi answered me this time, and then there was silence again, and then I turned on the sandi again and moved forward down the corridor. This time I didn't care which way I went, since I didn't have a plan of the building. And the girls had found out on the way that there was no way to connect to the building's systems from the outside.

Along the way, I looked into rooms I came across along the way and if they had laptops or computers in them, I put slivers in them.

When I opened the next room, I noticed a representative of the Tiger Claws sitting there, who was obviously dressed in very expensive clothes. So I stunned him carefully, and in addition to the chip that went to his personal port, as well as to his laptop, I thoroughly searched the office...

And it wasn't for nothing, I found a couple of chips where they keep the proceeds that don't go through the register. I also found a dozen cash twists. It was interesting, but I didn't forget the main purpose of my work and soon I was on my way.

About half an hour of subjective time, which translated into about five minutes of real time, and here I had the second floor fully explored. The stairs to the third floor were found, and the girls were already monitoring the building's security system, so if anyone climbed to the second floor I'd know.

I calmly went up to the third floor and quickly searched it, and only then went down to the first floor, which, as I already knew, was a large training hall. And here it would have been considerably more difficult to walk through it if it weren't for Sandi. As it was, I just doubled my caution.

I didn't spend much time searching the few offices on the first floor, but it wasn't in my interest to knock out all the claws practicing, as there were too many of them and something would definitely notice me.

Not that I care...

But of course I care, because it's my reputation, and if I'm noticed it will be a little shaken and I don't want that. So I decided to just avoid all the athletes who were training. And that's how I got to the entrance to the basement.

Disconnecting the sandi I once again froze in the shadows invisible to the others due not only to my location but also to the cloaking systems.

"What is it?"

The girls were silent for a couple of seconds realizing exactly what I had asked them and then Lucy answered me.

"Only a couple of sensible ones... but they all have a sandi. or something else made of chrome that mounts on the back in the spine area."

"I see..."

I sighed.

"How's work?"

"Take your time..."

"I'm not rushing you, I'm just clarifying. I am well aware that you can't work as fast as I can simply because at the speed of sandy runners never work, but I need to know what you've already managed to do..."

"What-what-what.

Kiwi was visibly grumbling.

"The boss was hacked. He's got a couple of interesting accounts and correspondence that shows he's being paid by some pretty serious people for fake fights. Not corporate, but from the top of the gangs--

"They don't give a shit. Zero out the accounts."

"Copy that. Also started working on those claws you knocked out, and Snowflake is working on the building system in hopes of getting something interesting out of it."

"Okay, uh. working."

Having said that, I activated the sandi again, this time turning the acceleration to a much higher power and only after that I opened the entrance to the basement and went inside... The air became much more viscous, if at the previous speed I was pleasant to work with, but now I really felt the resistance of the surrounding world to my actions.

It felt like I was moving in some kind of viscous substance...

The suit began to slowly heat up...

I designed it with high temperatures in mind, and still underestimated what it would have to endure. I guess I'll have to rework it...

My first opponent didn't notice anything, I just knocked him out by inserting a splinter afterwards and immediately moved on.

Step by step I moved along the corridor, but in general none of the new opponents, even though they possessed sandi, obviously not ordinary, judging by the massiveness of at least old military models, could not oppose me. It was simply because they still had to activate it, while mine was already active and they didn't have time to notice me.

Another door behind which was the fighter I needed to rescue was locked and I had to disable the sandi.

"Ladies..."

"Uh, just a second. Uh-huh. Got it. I'll get it.

Lucy quickly answered my question and after a couple more seconds the door opened with a quiet hiss.

"And who are you?"

The voice of the imprisoned boy was tired, but still alert.

"Quiet. sent by a fixer to get you out of here."

"Hmm? And who was so generous as to hire the most discussed of the solo rookies?"

The fact that I was called a beginner didn't surprise me, as I am really considered a beginner, since I started working only a couple of years ago...

Fuck...

I blinked in surprise.

What, I've been a mercenary for a couple years now?!

Shaking my head I pushed those thoughts away from me and focused on my goal.

"How should I know? The order came through Regina, but it was sort of given to her by one of the other fixers. So, uh."

I shrugged.

"And you're not interested?"

The boy stepped cautiously out of the room and looked around respectfully humming when he saw the knocked out monkeys with the sandi.

"No..."

I shook my head.

"Less you know, less you get in trouble. I'm just a simple solo who gets the job done. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Uh-huh... and no offense to the newbie...

"What's the point of taking offense? I really haven't been in this business that long..."

I shrugged.

"Although that's how you look at it, not everyone goes solo for six months... so I'm kind of an old man."

"Yeah..."

The guy grinned, but in the meantime we had already reached the stairs that would take us to the first floor.

"Stop!"

I could hear the tension in Lucy Judy's voice, and I made a gesture for the boy to stop, and he obeyed me by freezing in place.

"What's wrong?"

"Rauner, uh. is checking the building's systems on some kind of closed-loop remote link. It's quiet so far, but we're better able to counter him when you're still on target.

"What's wrong?"

"Enemy rancher checks the system..."

"AND? What do we do?"

"Waiting..."

The guy gave me a hard look, but still shrugged and stayed put.

"Bookworm, how are the girls?"

"Tense and working together... I guess someone really experienced is in there. So we're waiting."

"Yeah, we're waiting. I'm just worried, and I don't want to bother them with questions. So I'm pestering you. You're busy, but you're not in danger right now."

"Yeah, well. but I'm still hoping for a couple more combat missions that I'll be doing."

"I'll ask the fixers about something like this..."

Becca snorted in agreement and that was the end of our conversation.

About fifteen minutes of waiting and then finally Kiwi's slightly tired voice came through.

"It's okay, you can go..."

"How are you doing in there?"

"Let's do it later. we're all tired like..."

"Roger that, moving the target out of the basement..."

And we walked slowly out of the basement, and then I led him carefully through the first floor, occasionally carrying him from place to place using the sandi so that Claws couldn't see him. It was only when we got to the second floor that I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mm..."

The boy rubbed his slightly reddened skin as the high speeds took their toll on him, though I tried to protect him with my body by moving my back forward. It was a stupid way to do it, but I couldn't think of anything better, since injuring the target I was supposed to save was stupid in my opinion.

"This way."

I nodded at the window and, picking the guy up in my arms, jumped out the window. I didn't activate the sandi this time, and the guy, fully aware of what was going on, swore quietly.

"Fuck, I should have been warned..."

"What's the point?"

I landed on the ground softly enough and immediately put the guy on the ground, then dialed Regina.

"Hi, my all-time favorite fixer...

"Huh?!"

"Why are you so surprised, my wallet's delight?"

"А... huh..."

Regina grinned at me, and I could tell that she wasn't offended, and even appreciated the humor on my part.

"...in that respect. Well, in that respect, I agree, but if you pay too much attention to me, your girlfriends might take offense..."

"Huh, don't worry, we'll welcome you into our friendly family."

"Uh, no. I'm more of a traditional one-woman, one-man family.

I shrugged.

"Well, it's up to you. Just tell me where to take this fighter."

"Have you saved him yet?"

"Yeah. (chuckles)"

"Hmm. I'm sending the car, get the coordinates..."

I quickly checked the coordinates and grinned and nodded.

"Thanks, got it, moving on to my destination."

The connection broke and I caught the guy by the shoulder as he was about to leave.

"I'm sorry, but it's not gonna work."

"So I'm a prisoner? Again?"

He looked at me with irritation.

"No, uh. but I have an order to fulfill, and it only counts if I get you to the waiting car."

I was met with an annoyed look, and I could see that he was assessing his chances against me, and he was realizing with every passing second that he was no match for me. He doesn't hold his own against the fact that I was able to steal him out of the basement of the Claws dojo...

"All right, uh. let's go."

"Don't worry about it."

I shook my head.

"My fixers appreciate me and know that I don't do kidnappings and zeroing. Although a couple of times I had to kidnap people, but there I was given a detailed dossier from which it became immediately clear that people are shit. And zeroing. same story, but even so, my fixers don't take much advantage of knowing how to convince me to do that kind of work."

"Relieved..."

The guy's voice was caustic.

"I wasn't trying too hard. I'm just saying, if they wanted you in another basement, they wouldn't have sent me. So, uh."

I shrugged again, and we walked back to the road we'd come along, since I didn't want to put him in the car with my girls. No, I didn't doubt them, but the guy could have provoked them with some compliment they might have taken offensively.

In about fifteen minutes we got to the point, and in another ten the car arrived, in which sat the fighter I saved...

Just then, a confirmation came from Regina that the order was complete...