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***
- Yeah, who's this?
- David, hi, this is V...
- Hi V...
I grinned saying hello to the girl who still owed me a favour. In general we hardly ever spoke to each other, well with a few exceptions... and the fact that she called me meant she wanted something from me.
- Listen, do you have anything going on right now?
- No...
I shrugged.
- ...just finished a couple of hours ago, why?
And it was true, I had just finished a second assignment from Bestia a couple of hours ago. Both were quite challenging, but generally doable for our company. The other thing is that we didn't get any additional income from them, because both assignments involved the interests of corporations.
The first one was related to Biotechnics, we had to steal data from one of their servers. However, we did not forget to steal some information, but mostly on the topic of what happens to the Nomadic clans that decide to co-operate with this corporation.
We took out this information to correct Saul's brains a little, because he is already delirious with this Biotechnics.
The second assignment was with a small arms company called Rostovic, a Serbian corporation that produces low-quality weapons. There was a virus to be introduced there.
There was a lot of security both ways.
But the girls and I did it, and now I was completely free. Well, except for the fact that I had to make pork ramen for Becky... and not just for her, because if I cooked, I had to cook for the whole group.
- Okay, can we meet?
- Why not... tell me where and when.
- As soon as possible, in Megabash N10, there's a gun shop there, second amendment called....
- Robert's Gun Shop? I know, it's a very good shop, I used to shop there early in my career.
- Yeah, in front of this shop.
- All right, I'll be there in about an hour or so... Should I go alone?
- Yeah.
The connection went dead, and I got up from the chair where I had dozed off before Vee's call.
- Hmm? Where are you going?
Panam took her eyes off the telly she was watching and looked at me intently.
- Vee contacted me... she asked me to meet her....
- Can I give you a lift?
- Well, I'd appreciate it.
- Are you coming with us, Judy?
- Hmm?
Judy came up to us from the ground floor. Slightly grubby, but very happy.
- Where to?
Panam looked at me after that question and I just had to grin and say where exactly we needed to go.
- N10 megatower.
- Hmm... nah, I'm home... I've got a couple of ideas for braindance, I want to change them and make them into regular deep dive films, sort of training programmes. There's a lot to check out and some data to pull up...
I shrugged.
- So, Panam, shall we go?
- Yeah...
Cherry and I went down to the ground floor and then left the flat....
It took us forty minutes to reach our destination, but that's only because we were in no hurry. Panam admitted that she could have taken us there in twenty-five minutes.
Calmly going up to the right floor I saw a Second Amendment shop in front of which Vee was leaning with her back against the wall.
- Vee...
I approached her and she grinned and greeted me with a nod of her head.
- David... Panam...
- So, what did you want?
- Let's just say... I was asked to set up a meeting....
I chuckled
- And who was that?
- Dextor DeShawn...
Vee gave me a slightly patronising grin, and I closed my eyes and took one slow inhale, then exhaled just as slowly.
- Thank you, but I'm not interested.
- А?
Vee blinked confusedly.
- David, what are you doing? This is the big leagues! The fattest orders! Postmortem!
I shrugged.
- Well, I've been to Postmortem anyway, and I do the occasional order from Bestia....
Vee's eyes widened in shock, but then there was a slight sneer. She must have thought I was joking.
- Well, well, well... you don't have to say that. I know you're embarrassed, but working with Dexter is very honourable and...
- V, just between you and me...
She raised an eyebrow in surprise, but when she saw my serious look, she nodded.
- DeShawn's not the kind of man I'd want to work for. Do you even know what fixers are like?
- А?
- There are two basic types of fixers. The first type is fixers like Bestia, Regina, Wakako, basically all the fixers who work with regular teams. They prefer professionalism and reliability of teams. The second type of fixer is someone like Dexter DeShawn. He doesn't have permanent teams, he relies on intuition and he looks for the ones who will catch his eye, if you can put it that way.
- And you don't want to work with him because of that?
- No...
I shook my head.
- It's just that DeShawn in particular has a very... mixed reputation.
- Hmm?
- On the one hand, he's a big-league fixer, and Bestia let him into the Afterlife for a reason. They wouldn't let just anyone do that. On the other hand... He's very fond of eliminating teams that don't go according to plan.
- А?
Vee blinked confusedly.
- It's not something you talk about left and right, but... you work with Wakako, right?
- Yeah.
- Ask her for information on Dexter... Especially statistics on the teams he's worked with, and you'll see that there's only about thirty per cent of them alive. And more than half of the eliminated teams completed their missions and were eliminated afterwards....
Vee frowned.
- Look, maybe you could at least meet him, eh?
I sighed.
- Okay... I'll meet him...
- Okay.
- But only because you're the one who asked me to....
I looked at V thoughtfully. Hmm, it's been a while since I've seen her live like this and she's changed her style a bit. She used to be more of a corporate girl, which she was, but now she even looks solo.
- ...But I doubt he'll have anything to offer me to change my mind and agree to work for him.
- Well, that's his problem. I'm just the middleman and I'll organise the meeting.
- Yeah...by the way, while we're meeting here.....
- Yeah?
- I remember you mentioned a couple of times when you were still lecturing about some mega fancy shooting ranges where corporates train....
- Hmm. Yeah, there are, why?
- Do you know if non-corporate people even have them?
- Well... I guess so... I was not interested in it... I didn't need it before, and now I'm satisfied with ordinary shooting galleries.
I grinned and nodded my head.
- Okay, thanks... when and where to meet DeShawn?
- He'll be here in about ten minutes, and he'll be stopping right in the car park of this tower.
- Well, we'll wait.
That was the end of V and I, as I thoughtfully dialled Regina.
- David, hi, is something wrong?
- Hi, Regina, no, I just had a feeling.
- A feeling?
- DeShawn came to me through an acquaintance, and as you know, he has a reputation.
- Yeah.
There was an emotion in Regina's voice that I had trouble recognising.
- But that's not why I'm calling... although letting you know he's trying to recruit me is part of the reason. The main reason... buying information... I need a shooting gallery, but not an easy one. I heard when I was at the corporate academy that they have a super tricked out one that's almost like the real thing...
- Hmm... I'll look for information... I understand you need one of those, but not tied to the corporates?
- You know me well.
- Mm-hmm and be careful with DeShawn... he can be more cunning than just recruiting... say he offers you a small assignment after which you learn too much and you have a choice....
I grinned.
- Regina, you know I know how to say no....
- Mm-hmm...
- Anyway, I've given you the info, I've ordered the info... and now bye....
- I'll see you later.
- So?
Panam looked at me and raised her eyebrow questioningly. I just shrugged my shoulders.
- Well, I learnt a few things, and I also learnt that DeShawn is a good person to keep an eye on. It's easier now, though, because we've got a reputation, so we can give up working for the big guy.
- Well, that's the way it is.
Panam nodded and then we waited for our employer, who would never be our employer. That's what I've decided for myself. I'm not going to get involved in the canon story. It would bring too much shit down on our heads, and if I couldn't get back together with my girls, I'd probably still think about it... it would give me a chance to meet them....
Who am I lying to?
Letting Johnny's construct into my head?
Fuck that!
He was a charming bastard in the game, and that was mostly because he was played by a very good actor. If not him, the whole story of this terrorist would have been perceived from a completely different angle, and here, Keanu Reeves did the incredible and shared his charm with the character who took from him the first version of his appearance.
In reality, it's all bullshit... The information that I have, and I'm very well on the network to find out everything that could be, down to rumours and broadcasts from concerts that were at Samurai, to say that he was not like in the game. He was the same in his fucked upness... he could start shooting on stage, he could start a concert under the Arasaki Tower, knowing that it would provoke unrest and deaths would not be avoided. He could have done a lot of things, even set off a nuclear bomb, just like in canon, he could and did.
But for all that, he certainly wasn't the charming type. He didn't have charisma, at least not the charisma that Keanu Reeves displayed.
And to let such a fucker into his head, and otherwise survive in a canonical situation will not work, and then still hope that he will not agree with Alt, with whom he mutilated while she was alive, that she returned to his body, and I wiped to hell ....
No way!
I'd rather put a bullet in my own head than count on everything going exactly as it does in canon.
So I don't want to get involved in any of this shit. I'd talk V out of it, too, but she's on fire about working with DeShawn. She was a smart girl, but the freedom and romance of the solo life has blown her mind.
- So where is he?
Panam glanced at her watch and shook her head slightly irritably.
- Well, given his reputation, he's probably already in the car park, but he'll call me about five minutes before the time of the meeting Vee said. So I'll be a little late for it.
- To make you feel guilty?
- Yeah.
- Asshole.
- Just sneaky. But we know the trickery, so it's not gonna work. And we don't need this, so we'll just wait.
- Okay. Should I go with you to the meeting?
- I don't think so.
- Well, then I'll just eat.
I glanced at a small eatery that was not far from us and shrugged my shoulders and went in with Panam. It was there that the call from DeShawn caught up with me....