Chapter 112

I got into the avi cabin. By the way, before that I had raised the clan's alert level to red alert, and now the people were really worried...

"Del, we're going to the Afterlife."

"To be fulfilled..."

And the salon fell into silence. But if the salon was silent, but the communication channel between me and the girls was full of discussions. And also I was broadcasting the recording from the surveillance cameras in Postmortem and it seemed that they just wanted to talk to me...

Except it seems a little extravagant to be invited to a conversation. So I highly doubt it'll be a simple conversation.

"Becca, you need to have Yerinobu in your sights."

"Maybe it's better..."

"No... Smasher's not your target, I'm taking him on. I'm not sure I'll do him alone, but at least I'll hold him off, and in the meantime you'll kill his employer and maybe he'll decide that with his death the order is no longer valid."

"Doubtful..."

The image of Judy shook her head.

"...He usually brings the order to its conclusion."

"I know. But the hope is that it'll be just a conversation and we'll leave. But I don't believe that, I don't believe that at all."

"We don't believe it ourselves."

Now all of the girls' images shook their heads, though it was Kiwi who answered me.

"...so be prepared for a big fuss and a full-scale confrontation. And yes, I would still advise Becca to ignore your order and keep Smasher in the crosshairs... He's Borg, and Borg have a few a priori weak points, one of which is probably hidden by his high "collar" of armored body.

I frowned thoughtfully.

There was logic in Kiwi's words, and most likely there was a vulnerable point behind his "collar" that could be hit. After all, it was unrealistic to make something invulnerable while maintaining something humanoid.

Another question is whether the weak points will end up where we expect to find them?

Inhale... exhale.

"Okay... I agree, first you carefully examine Smasher, if, and I emphasize this, if you find a critical point that could make killing him or severely damaging him realistic, then you take it in your sights, but you will only attack him on my command. If not, you attack Yerinoba on my command."

"All right. Uh-huh.

Becky's image nodded, and it was clear from her tone that she was pleased with this decision on my part.

"And yes, I'd like to remind you all, we'll be dealing with corporate ranchers. Of course without a direct connection, which I'm not going to allow, they won't detect any traffic between us, at least they shouldn't, but..."

"Yes, we remember that corporations may have capabilities unknown to us, so radio silence mode..."

"Exactly."

Meanwhile, the avi slid smoothly down to the landing pad of the Postmortem. I'd been forty-eight minutes since Bestia's call, and as soon as the cab doors opened, I waited five seconds, letting Becca jump out, and then went downstairs.

Take the elevator down to the entrance of the club and there I see an ambo remotely similar in style to the one who was always standing at the entrance.

"Where's Bronson?"

"None of your business, Bestia expects..."

I frowned slightly.

"Yeah. looks like it's time to cut ties with that old bitch if she can't keep her guard up..."

I shook my head, and walking past the guard, actually behind him, I activated the sandi to full, only to move my hand and put a splinter in the idiot's socket. And only then did I deactivate the sandi again and walk back into the hall.

"And it's empty... vato..."

I pretended to be very surprised to see a Borg and a Chinese man next to Bestia, and even more so when the costumed corporates poured out of the hidden booths, pointing their guns at me.

"Mr. Martinez. come in, sit down."

A faintly acerbic smirk played on Yerinobu's lips.

"What does that mean?"

I frowned slightly.

"Bestia?"

"I had no choice..."

"No need for you to take offense to my old "friend"..."

Smasher emphasized not only the word "friend", so that it was clear that they were not friends at all, but also the word "old", but the word was emphasized so that it was clear that he was emphasizing Bestia's age.

"...She really didn't have a choice, and neither do you at this point."

I frowned at Bestia, who looked at me like she was saying, "What the fuck are you doing here?" and "Thanks for coming!" even though she looked completely unfazed. I walked slowly down the hall, assessing the situation, and it appeared that the only real opponent here was Smasher...

"You do realize that if I do, I can kill you in time, right?"

I smiled with the edge of my lips looking at Yerinobu.

"And the little guy takes a lot on himself..."

The Japanese grinned, shifting his gaze from me to Smasher, and if the employer himself didn't take my words into account, Smasher did...

"Take his gun away from him..."

"Are you so worried about me?"

Yerinobu raised an eyebrow questioningly looking at his subordinate.

"Caution is not unnecessary..."

Well, at the very least I've gotten them all to pay less attention to their surroundings and more attention to me, which means that if anything, Becca will be able to complete her task and hit either Smasher's weak spot or nullify Yerinoba.

"Claire, I'll have the usual."

"Roger that, Tihonja..."

The girl was tense and honestly, even though here was one I wasn't interested in, I'd really hate to see her die in a showdown between Arasaka and me.

When I sat down across from Smasher and Yerinobu, and the only seat available was the one next to the Queen of Postmortality, silence fell over the room. The room fell silent until the cocktail was placed in front of me.

"What are you drinking here? Silverhand?"

"No..."

I shook my head.

"...though I like him as a singer, but his acts... he's a terrorist."

Bestia barely audibly gritted her teeth.

"...to detonate a nuclear bomb in a building from which it is clear that everyone cannot be evacuated is something you have to think of. And he kind of covered himself by saying, "I warned you, but you...

"You see, Bestia, I'm not the only one who doesn't think highly of your friend from the past. Did you know she was on his team when he planted the bomb?"

Smasher looked at me with interest.

"I heard..."

I nodded a couple times confirming that such information had reached me.

"...but I don't think you can blame her for that. A woman in love. she rarely knows which way she's going."

"Ha!"

Smasher was clearly having a lot of fun hearing such things about Bestia, and even in her presence.

"What are you drinking then?"

"No big deal."

I shrugged.

"...various non-alcoholic cocktails. Claire often experiments with making something unusual, but almost always these experiments are successful...

"Non-alcoholic?

Smasher was surprised.

"I don't like alcohol. it fogs up the mind, makes movements less precise and clear..."

"Hmm. I don't know what you're talking about. Well, since we're here."

And he fell silent.

"I assume you know who I am?"

I looked at Yerinoba and grinned.

"It's hard not to know your own father's killer."

He jerked as if from a slap.

"You, uh. did you steal the chip?"

"No..."

I shook my head.

"...but they tried to sign me to that order. Except the fixer."

I wrinkled my nose slightly showing my attitude towards the fixer who wanted to hire me.

"...Dexter DeShawn is not a man I would trust. Certainly not someone I'd work for. Although I must admit, he was very persistent in his desires..."

"And you just turned down the money so easily? I'm sure he was offering extremely substantial sums..."

"No idea how much he was going to offer. If I don't want to work with someone, I won't work with them."

"Loud words..."

Yerinobu shook her head.

"...but do they match the truth?"

"Relevant."

"Do you want to work for me?"

"Uh, no."

"What about my sister?"

I shook my head.

"Uh, no."

"But as far as I know she's been in touch with you..."

Yerinobu looked at me with interest. I don't know what he was expecting, but I nodded at that question.

"Contacted, moreover sent Proxies in an attempt to negotiate, but I was not interested then and am not interested now."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely..."

"Even if I leave you a billion-dollar contract?

Yerinobu's gaze could easily read genuine curiosity. But Smasher was unexpectedly silent, and it was a little unnerving, so I began to activate the sandi gradually. It was hard to talk without anyone noticing, but I wasn't about to risk my own skin, and certainly not Becky's.

"Even for ten."

"And you'll have to..."

I raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"And what makes you think that? Or do you think that her--

I nodded toward Bestia, as dismissively as I could manage.

"...is life worth anything to me? She's just a fixer. one of Knight City's best fixers, I'll admit, and her bookings are fat. but she'll be replaced by one or the other. So I'm not losing much of anything."

"Ha! The kid doesn't appreciate your life!"

Smasher turned with a chuckle to Bestia, who shrugged indifferently.

"And I don't give a damn about his life... he's a good solo, his completion rate is a hundred, but you can always find a new subordinate..."

"Enough..."

Yerinobu interrupted Smasher and Bestia's pique and squinted slightly at me.

"You know, it wasn't easy to find out, but we found out that you have a very strong connection to Aldecaldo and that clan is now surrounded by Arasaki Security Forces..."

I raised an eyebrow slightly, though I paled inside as the bulk of my girls stayed there.

"And what do you want?"

"Swallow..."

Fuck. How could you do this?! I thought you were gonna hire me against your sister!!! I thought you were gonna have a family fight! And you! You slouching bitch! You fucking asshole!

And though in my subconscious I was just yelling with indignation, I was glad I had the sandi on, because I had turned it on full blast for a few seconds and was able to yell, albeit in my subconscious, as well as make sense of what he'd said to me. If my face reflected anything, he probably didn't have time to see it, and when I realized I'd already gotten myself under control, I lowered the sandi's acceleration again.

"Who?"

My voice exuded curiosity and incomprehension.

"Swallow..."

A drop of doubt sounded in Yerinobu's voice.

"Uh..."

I frowned slightly.

"...That's all very well, but do I have to storm Biotech headquarters?"

I tried to express with my voice the doubt in the possibility of such a step.

"What's that got to do with it?"

Yerinobu blinked dumbfoundedly.

"Well, if anyone has these relic birds left...it's them, although it's more likely they've cloned them and they're still new birds, but which are for sure..."

"Enough! You know exactly who I'm talking about!"

"No..."

I shook my head.

"A girl, blonde, green eyes, scar under her eye, sword behind her back, dressed in medieval clothing and speaking in an unknown language."

"Uh. from the description of her, she's beautiful. but what do I have to do with her?"

"So you don't want to confess?"

Yerinobu sighed sadly and nodded his head and at that moment Smasher started to rise...