Won't Be Fooled Again

 Game date: 9/24/2020

The whole thing started when Vamir got wind of a possible hit job.

The mark, one Lilian Day, is a project leader at SunTek.  Word is, she's onto something big.  So big, it won't just put SunTek on the map (let's face it, they're already a big star on the map), it will let them own the whole atlas.  With whatever it is she's working on, they'll be more powerful than any other corp.  Maybe even more powerful than the government.

So the basic idea is, this would be bad.  I think we can all agree on this.  No company should have that kind of power.  The big question is, what to do about it?

What Vamir suggests is, maybe we can take this project for ourselves, make some money.  I'm not sure I even trust myself with that kind of power, let alone some of the people I hang around with.  But let's table that thought for a moment, because, let's be honest with ourselves: I'm curious.  And if we're going to take the thing, whatever it is, away from SunTek, sure, I'd like to at least see what it is.  

And let's be even more honest: we can't allow Day to reconstruct the project, either.  She'll probably have to be killed, and I tell everyone that.  It probably doesn't sit well with some of them, especially seeing how I've lectured about unnecessary death.  Hell, it doesn't sit well with me, but if I can live with it, they can too.

So I put together a plan to kidnap Lilian Day, take her ID, and hack our way into the SunTek research servers.  It's a quick thing; it has to be, because she doesn't leave the headquarters building much at all.  But she will do in about a week, for some big multi-corp presentation.  The execs travel by limo, but peons -- even important brainy peons -- get economy cars with no mini-bar and barely even seat-belts.  We keep it simple: We divert the smartcar to a  nearby secluded spot.  Jane and Aru wait at SunTek HQ, while Katrya and I intercept Day, with Mauger on sniper point.  No need to involve the minors this close to danger, although they would monitor in case we needed their skills.  Just to be extra safe, Vamir and Varfana hang back from this one.  Guard duty for the kids, yes, but also in reserve in case the rest of us need our peaches saved.

Simple plan, right?  And it started out that way.  I kept the Owlet near SunTek HQ and Maggy near the abduction point.  Ryatt insisted on sending his dog drone there, too.  

The company car gave up without a fight.  Lilian was sharp, though.  After the first deviation from the planned route, she knew something was up, and tried to call out through her BANlink.  And she might have succeeded, if I'd been pulling this caper on my own, but with Ryatt and Jane working concurrently, we managed to block her communication.  

So the car rolls to a stop right where we're waiting.  The hatch slides up.  Lilian Day stares right out at us.  She's not panicking, oh no.  She's pissed.  She stares right at Katrya and me, and flatly says, "What do you want?"

Her appearance and demeanor were incongruous with each other, and it threw me off my stride for a couple of seconds.  She was younger than I expected, less than 20, I'd guess.  This should not surprise me; prodigies happen all the time.  We even have a couple on this team.  She was also dressed in elegant evening wear, and was actually quite pretty -- but her current expression was cold as dry ice.  

I don't think I stared longer than a second or two before ordering her to give up her ID and BANlink.  I made my instructions as ruthless as I could, warning her that her only chance to live was to cooperate.  I even had Mauger fire a warning shot to begin a five-second countdown (which he did without hesitation).

She blinked when the plasmer bolt hit the seat, right next to her head.  Maybe she even jumped a little.  But that was it.  After a shrug, she just gave us everything we wanted, then studied her nails until I told her to get out of the car.  Then I took the vehicle back to SunTek, leaving Day with Katrya and Mauger to guard her.

Maybe this is where I went wrong.  Because on the way back to the headquarters building, I was concentrating mostly on how we were going to get in, and how I was planning to disable the security cameras once I did get inside.  But back in that alleyway, Lilian was not intimidated by the foxkin giantess.  And she really, really should have been.  And I should have been paying attention to that.

First, Katrya frisked her, finding nothing unusual.  Once again, Day didn't react with anything resembling fear, only boredom and impatience.  Then Katrya grilled her for her apartment location, and for her work passwords.  Only, "grilled" isn't the right word, because Day gave up the information with only one wry quip ("There are other ways to get access to my apartment").  Apart from that, she only sighed a lot, acted bored, and waited.  Every statement Katrya made was laced with menace -- you have to hear this woman, she can make a coffee order sound menacing -- yet Day's responses were more like small talk.

Not your typical hostage behavior.  And I missed it.

When I got back to SunTek HQ, I gave Lilian's ID to Jane Doe, and allowed the car to take me into the garage, while Jane escorted Aru through the main building entrance.  Once I connected with the building's wireless, I tried (and failed) to take over the security cameras.  I pulled up my collar and told the team that the cameras were still up, grabbed Day's BANlink, then headed for the lift, intending to meet them at the lobby level.  I heard Ryatt chuckle, once, over the comm. 

By the time my lift reached the lobby, Aru and Doe were ready at the elevator banks.  We rode up, while Jane tried her hand at the security cameras. 

It was only then that I turned my attention back to the feed from Maggy.  Only then that I truly started to worry about Lilian Day's lack of concern.  Something she had recently said nagged at me.  I ran the stream back a little.

Katrya was saying, "You are incredibly comfortable with giving your apartment information. ...Plan on moving soon?"

And Day answered, "No. I just don't think you'll get that far."

And then she turned her head to stare directly at Mauger.

Even missing everything else, I should have caught that in real-time, but I did not.  And it cost us precious seconds, because while I was replaying it, Jane had already learned the truth.

"I've got the cameras," she gasped.  "Zeke, we're walking into a trap!"

For the second time that evening, I was stunned.

Mauger was yelling in my ear, "Can't ANYTHING ever go right?" and I wanted to defend myself, but really, I agreed with him.  I smashed all the floor buttons between us and the penthouse, thinking that we needed to make a quick exit.  

It was Aru who asked the pertinent questions: "What kind of trap?"

"There's guards on her apartment floor," said Jane, "her office floor, at least two research floors... Heavily armed."

I croaked into the comms, "Give Vamir a payday." 

But before Mauger could pull the trigger, I lost the camera on that end.  Lilian kind of smirked, then a
blinding flare of radiant light came from her.  I still had audio, so I could hear Katrya give a sort of grunt, then I heard a meaty thump like a body hitting the street.  

This was when I heard a "ding!" and the doors slid open.  I was all set to exit and head for the stairs, but Aru stopped me.  He asked Jane if she could feed the cameras something that didn't happen, but refused to explain, pointing at Lilian's BANlink and saying that it might be listening.  

Well, duh.  And here I've been lugging it around, the heaviest and most obvious bugging device in the whole damn city.  I tossed it out and hit the "door close" button so Aru could explain his idea in relative privacy, which was to feed the security cameras images of the three of us leaving the elevators on one floor and running down the stairway.  Which was what I was planning on actually doing, so, yeah, fairly believable, that.  But if guards were to chase that false image, then perhaps we could just ride another lift down, unimpeded.

Yes, that sort of thing is possible, if you have the right images.  I could have told him that, if I weren't so busy kicking myself, but it was Jane who had the cameras, after all.  Plus I had Mauger in my ear.

"Okay Chief, the shit seems to be hitting the fan. Kill her?"  Why was he asking?  Didn't I say...?  Well, at least he didn't call me "Boss."

"Hell yes."  I wanted her so dead that the street cleaners couldn't find her.  I've never felt such a murderous lust for revenge before.  I believe that I may now understand why Mauger shot that TK at the TH.  I only regret that Maggy couldn't record the shot, because the audio sounded glorious.  

But when the noise from the rifle faded, a burst of static tore through the comms, and I heard a voice like construction paper being torn coming over OUR channel. "Shame. I was getting used to that body."

I wanted to think about that.  I wanted to think about it a lot, what it might mean about Lilian Day, and when & where we might see her again.  But there just wasn't any time, because we still had to escape.  

Jane needed to know what floor to program our fake escape for.  I put her off long enough to order comm silence, and put Parker on independent mode.  Then I told her to give it two floors, and we'd exit on the next, and take another car back down.

Which is exactly what we did.  We rode the lift all the way down to the garage, innocuous elevator music filling our ears.  When we stepped out, we could hear a fire alarm.  We set about looking for a vehicle large enough for three.  Unfortunately, there were no limousines on this level (I could really have used a drink), but we did find a van, and rolled out of the open gate.  

We even managed to permanently disable the GPS, so our mini drug cartel got something out of the deal, at least.

I later learned that the new medkit in Maggy needed replacing.  Good investment.

I am shaken by this experience.  I don't have any real evidence that this trap was set for me.  I shouldn't take it personally.  But it's hard not to.

I've changed my VPN.  I'm reviewing all my security.  I'm encrypting a new private channel.

And I'm looking over my shoulder.  A lot.

Fool me once, shame on you...

..::Kai::..