I took a deep breath, activated the sandevistan, and entered the room. The first knife immediately flew at the target closest to me, the second at the one a little farther away, and as it flew I reached the first one, who already had my knife in the back of his head. Pull out the knife and throw it again at the third.
Three dead bodies and the first thing I did was get my knives back and go to the only door out of the room, but it was quiet, so I just dragged the Trashmen's bodies aside and looked around for anything useful. One revolver and two bats isn't even serious. Sighing, I took the jacket of one of them and folded the weapons into it, then went to the balcony and dragged the weapons, which I also folded into the jacket, which I neatly knotted.
Well. at least now I have a semblance of a bag.
I looked out the door and saw a ripper leaning over the table, thoughtfully examining the body he was about to cut up.
Tough...
He was the only one in the room, and that was good, but the fact that he was standing sideways to me was not so good. The knife I held in my hand left the room quickly, and through the ajar door it went straight through the riper's temple. I didn't feel sorry for the thing, so I just walked over to him and quickly patted him down, realizing that he didn't have anything important, just an interesting glove that plugs into the connectors on his arm.
I carefully removed it, then wrapped it in the tarpaulin I found and put it in the jacket where I carried the rest of the stuff.
Hmm. the guy on the Ripper's table looked familiar to me...
The same guy who bullied David the most.
I frowned a little, it didn't seem to happen to him in the canon, but it seemed like David had beaten him up after installing the sandevistan. Except it probably didn't happen on the first day after the installation, it should have happened today and as a result he wouldn't have gotten into a bind.
I touch the guy's neck and raise my eyebrows in surprise then don't hesitate to dial Regina.
"Are you done yet?"
"In the process, and like you asked, I'm trying to work quietly. But there's a chance you and I might get some fake money from this order."
"Leftover money?"
"Yeah, there's a corporate kid on the desk of the ripper I already eliminated. Dad's on the board of directors of Arasaki Academy, as far as I know. And he's still alive. A little disorganized, but alive. We could try to make some money out of it."
"And how do you propose to make money?"
"Do I have to teach you? No, of course I can come up with some interesting schemes, but you've been in this business for a long time and you probably know how to do everything so that we don't get any complaints."
"Okay... you got a brain. is he gonna make it to Trauma's flight?"
I looked at the body, felt for a pulse once more...
"Well, his pulse seems stable."
"So you wait for Trauma's team, but don't forget your job is to clean out the Scavengers' lair, the kid's just a side job."
"Roger that..."
"By the way, think about a nickname, if it works out for you, we can tentatively assign it to you."
"Quiet."
"А?"
"I want to be quiet. You know, I like, like right now, to quietly accomplish the task at hand. So "The Quiet One" would be perfect."
"All right, well, it's not quiet yet. I'm calling for trauma, their flight time is usually about five minutes or less, so hurry up, or the hive will be disturbed..."
"Roger that."
I quickly looked around and checked the guy's pulse again and went to the next room, I had to hurry...
I didn't linger any longer and didn't hesitate to use the sandevistan, so five minutes to sweep the Scavengers' base was enough for me. Trauma took all seven. But the guy was stable, so I just waited next to him, and when the team arrived, I obediently raised my hands in a sign of peaceful intentions and took a couple steps back, letting them do their job.
"Hey..."
One of the Trauma team turned around pointing a gun at me.
"Don't move..."
"I wasn't going to. There's a door to the bathroom in the room next to the balcony with a couple of bodies in it. I'm not a pro, so I might have misjudged the stiff's status. Who knows, maybe one of your clients?"
The medic nodded and they did a quick check of the room, then left me in their vehicle without taking anyone from the bathroom. So their clients weren't there.
Finished with all that, I gathered up the goodies and dialed Regina again.
"Mission accomplished. Trauma took the kid, also took the still-living body.
"Well done... Do you have a personal account?"
I grinned.
"I do, but if you can help create a left one on Tychonia, I'd appreciate it."
"Okay, well. consider this a bonus from me for not only doing the job quietly, but also looking around."
"Uh-huh...and I have a question.
"Am I listening?"
I've got an interesting gauntlet off a riper, obviously profile, and I've also collected weapons, any fence-sitters in sight?
"Well, in Little China, in Watson, there's a mega-tower called N10. There's a store on the seventh floor called: "Second Amendment. If you say Regina, he'll buy the ripper glove. He won't give you the full price, but he won't fuck you over.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, Tihonja... when will you take your next assignment?"
At that moment I beeped at the signal of a message that had Tikhoni's account details, and I quickly linked the account to mine, then checked it and whistled.
"Thank you for such a generous payment..."
"It's actually a small thing..."
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Change? I'd have enough to renew the rent on my apartment and buy some food, and if I earned at least a grand for the guns, I'd be able to live more or less peacefully.
"Well, for some people, it's a small thing. And for some, it's quite a lot of money."
I shake my head.
"Okay, I'll get to work tomorrow. Today I need to drop the gun, pay the rent, and generally make sense of what happened today."
"Okay, uh. call me tomorrow."
"What time?"
"Hmm?"
"Well, I realize you need your sleep and you don't feed on the holy spirit. What time do you want me to call you so I don't interrupt?"
"I get up at seven. And food doesn't affect my work. And if it's a night job, I don't mind getting calls from my solos."
I nodded understandingly, which I'm sure was reflected in the image she saw of me.
"Okay, I got it, I'll call you tomorrow at 7:30."
"This early?"
"Before I start, before I finish. After all, there is so much to do in the world."
I grinned.
"I didn't even have a girlfriend yet! All my time was taken up by this. studying."
I swallowed the swear word like that, I was going to be extremely polite to my fixer. And not just her. While I was eliminating the Scavengers, I realized that having a certain areola of gallant and quiet solos who always follow orders is a very attractive goal. At least that's how I'm sure to live long enough.
Well, I'd like to count on it.
I got to Watson and the H10 megatower on another subway train, a good thing the train stop was not far from my destination.
I got there calmly and without any accidents, after which I reached the seventh floor of the megatower with the same ease and found the right store.
"Uh, hello."
"And hello to you, if you're serious. What do you want?"
"I'm from Regina, and she said you had weapons available to turn in... and a Ripper's glove, all of which I honestly found and I doubt the true owners of these items will be found."
"Well..."
The little man shrugged.
"Since Regina referred you to me."
He waved at me and went to the door, opening a passage inside his shop, from where he led me into a back room.
"Show me what you got..."
I calmly untied my jacket and laid out on the table all the guns and bats I had found, as well as the ammunition for the automatic rifles. And, of course, the Ripper's glove.
"Hmm. the condition is, let's face it, shitty."
"I can see it myself..."
I shrugged.
"I figure the red price for all this shit, except for the glove, is a grand and a half. Well, that's if you're selling it, but since I'm actually renting it out..."
I shrugged again.
"Huh, you got a good eye. I wouldn't give you 1.5, though. My name's Robert Wilson for friends and acquaintances, but you'll be in the first category in no time, just Robert. Now you see why a grand and a half for this shit is too much..."
And the gun shop owner started very quickly pointing out to me the barely noticeable scuffs that were signs of some kind of wear and tear, possible internal mechanism problems, and other defects.
"So?"
"You can get about a grand, but you'll have to spend time to do it, so I'll get about seven hundred eurobucks."
"Ha! Well done! Normally you'd get five hundred instead of seven hundred, but since you're from Regina and it's your first time with me, I'll give you eight hundred. Five hundred in cash and another 300 in my store account."
He grinned.
"Is that okay with you?"
"Yeah...what's up with the glove?"
"What about it? I don't know anything about it... I can give two hundred eb (eurodollar/eurobucks) right now, and I can take for realization, then most likely you will get more, but when will it be? I don't have many familiar rippers, I'll have to put it on the black market... In general, there will be a lot of trouble and the result will appear at least in a couple of months."
I scratched my cheek.
Obviously not fucking around. No, you could certainly doubt him, but in this world you have to trust someone, at least minimally and according to the Game, although it is stupid to base your opinion on it, but Regina was my favorite fixer. Then there was Dakota, and the rest... the rest of them pissed me off. So it's better to believe her than to believe no one and live in constant fear.
"And how much can I get in a couple months?"
"How the hell should I know?"
"Just roughly..."
"Tsk. you'll get six hundred for sure. This is if it is not in the best condition, if in good condition, you can and more than a thousand, of course, all this with my commission, so the actual cost in good condition about a thousand two hundred ..."
"Three hundred now and another three hundred on your store account."
"Fuck you! Two hundred and fifty now and a hundred on the books!"
"Two hundred and ninety in cash and two hundred and fifty on account."
"Fuck, you can't cut without a knife! Two hundred and sixty in cash and a hundred and fifty on account."
"So I'm gonna spend it all on you."
I shook my head.
"Two hundred and eighty in cash and two hundred on account."
"Two hundred and seventy in cash and so be it, two hundred to the account..."
He held out his hand to me and I shook it with the satisfaction of a good bargain.
"All right, come on, let's get you out of here, I'll give you a count."
I nodded my head and was escorted out of the shop. Robert was behind the net now, and I was on the opposite side of him.
"Okay, here's your dough. you better count it. We're all human and can make mistakes, and I don't accept complaints after you leave the store."
Nodding understandingly, I counted out the cash and gave him a thumbs-up.
"All right, now let's see what you got..."
He slid me a terminal and I immediately delved into the price list.
"Oh, a small set of technicians..."
I looked at him in surprise.
"Do you have a medium one? The big one I'm sure on the cost I can not afford, especially since their used shit to find, but used medium should cost about five hundred ..."
"Well, I have, my old, uh."
I was met with a glare.
"...Militech, assembled in a standard case. All the tools are intact. But I won't give it away for 500. A thousand, no less, and that's only because the set is twenty years out of date."
I nodded my head understandingly.
Such an outdated set is not good, on the other hand, to work with the shit that the street gangs have... you don't need anything newer than that.
"Listen, in theory, how much would a big, outdated one cost? Not necessarily from Militech, but from the same Techtronics?"
"Well, if it's outdated. you can probably find one for about 10,000. But that's if it's from Tektronika. Militech or even Kang Tao will cost orders of magnitude more, even outdated ones. Although, if you take the same Nokota..."
"No, no, no, no..."
I shook my head negatively.
"I'm not gonna deal with that shit."
"And rightly so..."
I counted out a thousand from the nala I had, although I had to add a little from the scavengers found at the base. But that's even better.
"Okay, I also need a scope and a really good silencer for the unity. So that it's almost inaudible. Just so you know, I'm going to modernize it a bit, so it'll be more powerful..."
"Uh-huh, I'll see what I have...