12 Canned Coffee: 02

Spread around the four sides of the ten square meters room were four men. One standing across the room from me had a bowl of Hygeia tattooed on the back of his right hand. By his side, this other guy had on his neck a tattoo of someone sitting on a saddled horse. To my left, a man smoking a cigarette with a very strong smell, had a cross tattoo on the back of his hand, just like the other one. There was one last dude wearing long sleeves with no tattoo visible that was sitting on a desk on my right. They were representatives of all three units that formed the Trinity.

The pharmacy was responsible for chemicals, used the cup with a snake wrapped around it, their mark, the bowl of Hygeia was a well-known ancient symbol used by the Greeks to represent medicine. The Carousel unit, responsible for the pleasure market involved sex, kinks, nightclubs and alcohol, used the mounted horse as their mark. And then there were the gun suppliers who used, in a very clever way, the cross, therefore, being called the Church.

Tagging their members was the way the Trinity found to avoid inside wars. During the rise of the slums there wasn't a leading magnanimous organization, or either peace among the underground Lords. Many wars started because factions would infiltrate soldiers to sabotage schemes and steal supplies. Not to mention the deaths involving rivalry that ended up with the slums turned into a bloody battlefield. After years fighting each other with the lower Tier expansion as background, these isolated gangs were forced to stand together against the city's Force, sent to evacuate and destroy the whole place.

At the face of a common enemy that threatened the extinction of their whole business, three leaders of the biggest factions formed an alliance entitled "the Trinity". They divided the slums in three sections handling them to units to maintain and protect. Laws were created, such as the tagging and most importantly one rule saying that each unit was allowed to provide only one product or service. Meaning only the Pharmacy sold drugs, just the Carousel could run pleasure clubs and exclusively the Church could sell weapons. Said law was followed everywhere inside of Tier-1.

- After all this time, what were they doing here? - said the guy with the cigarette and the cross tattoo.

- Put that thing down, for fucks sake Dan. - the Manager was waving his hand trying to dissipate the smoke.

- Jeff says you can go deeper, is that right? - Church guy, Dan, was talking to me in a very uniform tone.

- I have my ways. - my nose was so itchy I kept moving it trying to make it go away, even my voice started to sound shaky.

- What ways? - this time it was the guy at the desk who directed me the word.

- Can't tell ya that, mate. Otherwise why would you pay me?

They all stared at me for a while. Then, cross-guy looked at the Manager who was still in the middle of the room smirking for no apparent reason. Dan let out another blow before stepping on what was left of his cigarette.

- I like this one. They're clever. If you say they're the one for the job, I believe you.

- Good. - the manager turned to me and continued - We need you to find out why the cops were here and when they are coming back.

- Finding out why they were here, ok, knowing when they are gonna be back is something else…

- Then we ain't gonna pay ya. - the guy by the desk didn't seem to like me very much. As I began to sniff loudly he pulled out a cigarette, lit it up and blew the smoke in my direction.

I only knew the reason why the police infiltrated the slum thanks to a certain cop and all I had to do was verify it by hacking into her armour and checking her communication data. That last part she wasn't aware of, I couldn't just take her word for it. After checking everything I found nothing more than a simple order to look for the Mask hideouts. She had access to a very low level of security, to access future operations I'd have to get my hands on someone higher ranked than a simple officer Abrom.

- Then you ain't gonna get sh- while I was talking the smoke my friend blew at me got to my nose and before I could finish my daring punchline I sneezed mid sentence making it rain at my guy over by the desk who immediately jumped off in my direction.

- Is this clown your best contact, Jeff?

- Back off, Bruly. - Jeff, the manager, I didn't know he had a name actually, stepped in blocking the way.

- Uh, sorry. I have allergies. - I wiped my nose on my jacket's sleeve, sniffing deeply for the man's annoyance. - What was I saying?

- What do you need to find out? - behind Jeff, baby Bruly buffed in disapproval.

- Access to someone who has the information or has a high ranked position that I can use to get it.

Every man in the room stopped moving, even Bruly. My request wasn't exactly simple, someone with that level of access had to be a Sargent, in the very least, they wouldn't have the specific intel but would know the mission's objective which would be enough for me. All I needed was a door.

Taking for the heavy vibe of the room they knew something I didn't, since they stayed quiet just staring at Dan while Bruly began to shake his head.

- If we don't use it then it's a waste of money. - Dan spoke up. Personally, he was my favorite so far.

- You can't just hand it to this clown!

Ignoring Bruly's rude protests, Dan turned to me with a confidence of someone in power. He wasn't just another member, he probably held a substantial position in the Church. They sent someone important to deal with this, meaning the Trinity was really worried.

- We have a Sargent on the paycheck. He's on the sidelines, doesn't get called in for operations like the one here…

- It doesn't matter. If he's in the network, I can access it. - that was getting exciting.

- We can arrange a meeting? - Jeff stepped in sounding cautious but hopeful.

- All I need is his IP address. No need to meet the pig.

- We don't have that. - Dan answered.

- And how do you know he is who he says?

- We've got his name.

- That doesn't mean shit! I have 10 different IDs. - I might've let out a smirk. For all I know this Sargent could be just a bored bus driver.

- He is legit. - Dan was on the lead and no one even opened their mouths after he mentioned the asset. The man was in control of the negotiations.

- I can work with a real name.

- Lee, Toni. Lives in the middle section.

Name and location facilitated things quite a bit, all I had to do was virtually find this little Sargent and then meet him in person, unfortunately. First I needed to leave and get some allergy pills, this underworld rendezvous turned out to be more intense than I had anticipated.

- 10 thousand. I'll be in touch.

Sargent Lee, Toni, what a dumb name. If he is as bright as his name this job won't be fun at all. I never got hands on a cop's IP before officer Abrom, she was a ground soldier, no real access to intelligence information or ongoing operations. That didn't mean she wasn't useful, I got to peek inside the police department and it was interesting. All it cost me was my favorite comfort hoodie.

Outside the suffocating room, I could hear Bruly shouting something about my departure, while the Manager began to explain what came next. He knew I only started the job after receiving half the payment in advance, not a second before.