Part 46

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***

- The scribe is in place...

Becky's voice was full of anticipation.

- Miss Muscle is in place...

Dorio's voice was filled with irritation. She was absolutely disgusted at having to work with retarded call signs. But she couldn't do anything, and neither could the rest of her mates, because who orders the music makes the rules, and in this case I was the one who ordered the music.

- Chrome Maniac is ready...

Pilar's voice was no less dissatisfied, but Becca, when she heard what call sign I decided to give her brother for about five minutes laughed like a horse. Well, I guess it's not bad that she got a burst of good cheer.....

- The big guy's in place and ready to go. and if it wasn't for those stupid nicknames, I'd be perfectly content to work again. Albeit as sniper cover.

- Good girl's ready. Reporting A-team is fully operational.

I nodded my head, though only those who hadn't minimised the conference call icons could see it. I guess no one in our sprawling group has made such a mistake. At least that's what I'd like to believe.

- All right, Tihonja's ready to go...

- Mentor's ready.

- Snowflake is ready.

- Group A, get to work.

I gave the order and soon shots rang out from the main entrance to one of the warehouses in the docking area. Sparse at first, but they became more and more frequent by the minute.

- We're in...

Judy reported back that they had attracted quite a bit of attention from the Steelers and I could get to work. So I went to one of the less convenient entrances, through a broken window on the third tier. Of course there aren't any objects to climb on, but a harpoon will help me....

The first shot from the harpoon and I calmly climb up to the broken window. I carefully peek through it and make sure that there are no opponents there specifically.

Having secured myself on the window I pressed the button detaching the cable from the harpoon and then quickly attached a new harpoon to the cable. After that I fired a new shot, now inside the warehouse, and there I went down smoothly. At the same time I did not forget to use my optics as tightly as possible. So I was sure that the opponents didn't even think of coming to me.

Once I was on the floor, I quickly walked towards one of the containers, which was open, and it was from it that the Stilettos were running out. Which meant there was some sort of underground passage.

Activating the sandi I calmly walked through the warehouse, entered the container and saw the stairs that led down to the bottom went down it, while carefully dodging the Stilettos, well, and inserting them chips from the girls. So that when they were on the front line Lucy and Kiwi could disable them, thus helping Judy. And of course, hacking into the data and collecting more money from the Stilettos' personal accounts was no small goal.

Once downstairs, I looked around and hid in one of the technological passageways and switched off the Sandys.

- Ladies, how's the comms?

- Communications are fine, the amplifier is working fine.

I grinned, then quickly headed towards the nearest access point, which I found with the help of optics. I immediately inserted a chip into it, then returned to the hiding place and switched off the sandi again.

- Work... I need a map of this place.

- Three minutes...

Lucy wasn't saying much, but it was understandable, she and Kiwi had a lot of work to do. However, a minute and a half later, I got a message with a map and my location marked. And I have to say, the Steelers were well established... even had two exits outside the warehouses! And that was the bad part...

- We don't control the emergency exit doors, but we've got the cameras under control.

- Roger that, how many more Stilettos are there?

- About 50 people. but they've already called for reinforcements. They should be coming from two directions, one to come at Group A from the rear and the other to come in through those exits. Group A has been warned, Big Guy and Smarty will keep their eyes open.

I nodded and after activating the sandi I quickly walked through the underground corridors, reaching the first room where the comp was marked. And there I stayed for a short while, only to insert the chip. I basically decided not to switch off the sandi and quietly walked along the corridors inserting splinters into everything that got in my way. And only when I was near one of the doors that led to the secret entrance-exit I briefly froze, and then just stepped aside and switched off the sandi.

- So?

- Stay out of the way...

Kiwi's voice was strained.

- Good girl, how are you doing?

- Hanging in there... like you asked, barely barely barely falling into retreat. But it's hard to demonstrate. they're not really trained. Although some of them are more or less adequate.

- Right, I'm waiting for help to arrive, we've got to give them a slap in the face.

- Come on. because only the Bookwoman is having fun here... I'll ricochet the next five enemies off that barrel and the wound must be a centimetre below the right knee.... and the amazing thing is, she does it!

I snorted.

- Well, she's a gun maniac for a reason.....

- I'd ask! I'm a master gunsmith, by the way!

- Yeah, yeah.

- You're talking out of your arse! How do you even work in this atmosphere?

- Big boy, don't play with your muscles...

Kiwi said it with a chuckle.

- ...Tihonya, unlike you, conducts reconnaissance and plans missions thoroughly. That's why we have a very relaxed atmosphere. So reinforcements arrive? So what? We know about it, so we're ready and watching the neighbourhood... Why worry?

- Mentor, don't get distracted....

- Sorry, Snowflake.

And Kiwi disappeared from the conversation, as did Lucy, who only appeared for a few seconds.

- Very fucking funny...

Mayne wasn't going to settle down.

- ...I always knew that Kee...

- Big Guy, by Call Signs...

My voice interrupted Mayne.

- ...You try to break that contract again and your reward and share will be cut by fifty per cent.

- Tz...

Mayne wasn't very happy with my words, but he remained silent.

- Quiet, aren't you putting too much pressure, on the Big Guy?

- Miss Muscle, I order music and dancing, and I want it done to the letter for my money. And if the Big Guy can't do something as simple as that, what's he doing in a solo?

- Well. our group had a slightly different profile...

- Yeah, yeah...

I nodded my head.

- ...I know, Faraday's got the dubolomites on a leash. I heard that. Did you like it?

- Grrr. Quiet, you watch your mouth.

- Big guy, am I wrong about something? You seem to have worked for no one but Faraday, and how, Miss Muscle and Chrome Maniac like their reputations after that? How are they perceived by other fixers?

- Grrr...

- Not well received. Disgusting... Happy?

Pilar intervened in the conversation.

- Yes, we screwed up working mostly for Faraday, but that's no reason to mock Biggie... You even gave us a call sign that sounds like bullying.

- So bear with it. maybe you'll get some brains. after all, even after Zdorovyak partially left the game, you didn't think to change your working style. Same old Dubolomas, just in the service of a different fixer and a smaller team. Meanwhile, who stopped you from giving Zdorovyak a sniper rifle like you do now, putting him on point and having him cover you?

I fake sighed.

- Who was stopping Chrome Maniac, with his knowledge, from going to Snowflake or Mentor and buying demons from them and then becoming a squad ranger?

Silence was my answer...

- No complaints about Miss Muscle. She alone has always acted in her role, which is the best fit for her and picking something else for her would be problematic.

- Thank you...

Dorio sounded slightly surprised and somewhat embarrassed.

- Or here's another option... Big guy, you seem to have some reputation, even though....

I didn't repeat the fact that his reputation for working for Faraday is very specific. But it's there.

- ...he could have been a fixer. I mean, it'd be local at first, you'd have to go under somebody. but the money would be stable. And in six months to a year, you could reach a level a little lower than Wakako, and there should be quite decent money there....

- I...

- You, you...

I shook my head.

- ...oh, reinforcements from my side have arrived, girls, get ready for a flood of information.

- Roger that, Tycho... ready.

As soon as the doors were fully open, I activated the sandi, then headed towards the opponents. It's a good thing I turned the speed up to maximum, because a couple of the new arrivals had military-style sandi. At least, I could tell from the visible parts of the sandi that they were military models, the ones that go to the 'civilian' are less dimensional.

However, they didn't activate the sandi, so they were easy targets for me, which I just knocked out. So I ended up with a bunch of bodies with splinters in their sockets.

- Ladies?

- We're on it. I sent you a new map, it's got the ones we don't need. We can disconnect them.

- Unplug them?

I grinned with the corner of my lips and walked calmly towards the marked targets.

- How tactful of you to point out the elimination.

- Yeah you don't talk about mass murder either....

- I prefer to think of it as deratisation...

- I agree. rats should be exterminated before they get settled in a new place, otherwise they can't be eradicated by any means...

Panam joined the conversation, though she was silent before.

- So, we're out of opponents....

Becky's voice was extremely pleased.

- ...Mentor, send Scribe a map to the direction I'm facing, to help with the deratisation efforts. It'll take me longer to do it alone.

- Got the map.

The two of us made quick work of all the Stilettos. Well, we cleared them all out and left the Stiletto base without leaving a single living enemy. And about twenty minutes after we did, OWLs and his guys came in and stripped the place of whatever was left. Guns, cars, everything.

And after that, we all met back at the nomad camp next to Hippo.

- So... please, comrades.

I transferred ten grand each to Mayne, Dorio and Pilar, and then looked at them thoughtfully with an attentive eye.

- ...this is your earnings. Now let's move on to the bonus...''

I grinned. OWLs had already transferred some of the clan funds to me in payment for the things they'd gotten. And I was looking at an impressive sum, not the largest we'd ever received, but twenty extra thousand for each of the distractors, and I wasn't about to offend the others, so I quickly scattered the bonus.

- This...

Dorio blinked in shock.

- This is the bonus I mentioned. And now you have a choice, do you continue to act as a distraction while taking other Stilettos' points, or are you not satisfied with your co-operation with me and want to delta?

- Um. if I may be allowed to speak...

Pilar was very confused and somewhat shocked, but he was the one who first found the strength to start talking.

- ...I have a question...

I looked at him questioningly.

- ...Do you get bonuses like this every time?

- Usually more...

Becca shrugged and started to answer her brother before me.

- ...But there's usually less of us, so I guess the total amount is about the same as usual....

She looked at me, as if to suggest I continue.

- It's not the biggest score we've made, but overall. yeah, give or take, we get bonuses like this all the time. And it's all due to the professional work of the rangers and the fact that I give them the opportunity to work.

- And... Do you always put chips in?

- No...

Judy got involved.

- ...He used to prefer direct connection and running the roner through his deck, but then you had to work quietly without attracting any attention. And after we started using splinters, silence became optional, and today, when Lucy and Kiwi were swimming in the ice bath, they didn't have to be disturbed by the noise.

- Well. they were trying to counteract some of our efforts.....

Kiwi shrugged.

- But due to the fact that their runners worked without forced cooling of the systems, and we with it, we could overclock our chrome a bit more and as a consequence we worked better.

Lucy continued after her friend.

I, on the other hand, continued to wait for a response from Mayne or the other members of his group.

- I... wouldn't mind working with you a couple more times.

Maine was clearly having a hard time with those words... but I didn't know what was going through his head, so what made him decide to do it was a mystery to me. Unless he was hoping to buy some new chrome?