Chapter Fifty-Six - Picking Skills

  "Right... well, we know where to look next time, I guess," Jenny said. She adjusted her mask, then shook her head. I had the feeling she was one part frustrated and one part annoyed. Two not-so-distinct emotions.

  "We can always come back," Sharp said. "Unless this wall is a complete no-go?"

  "It's not," Alissa replied. "I might... maybe be able to take down the wall with a spell, but I don't have a lot of confidence in doing it in a way that wouldn't be obvious to every sensor in the area and every mage within a mile."

  "That wouldn't be very subtle," Sharp said. "Even a small bomb might be less noticable if it's down here."

  Alyssa nodded. "I'd rather not risk it. And honestly? I'm a little tired from all the walking around in circles."

  "Hey, I know where to go this time," Jenny said. "I think we can find an easier way here next time. Just pop the right manhole in some alley and bam, we'll be here again in five minutes." She looked up at the ceiling, then cursed. "But getting back to where we started is going to be a bitch."

  "Then just any exit?" Sharp asked. "And then we take an autocab back to the start?"

  "An autocab? Do I look like I'm made of gold?" Jenny asked.

  Alyssa waved her down. "It's fine. We can cover that much. Let's get going?"

  And with that said, we started to head on out of there. Jenny mumbled the entire time, but eventually found a fork in the tunnel that led back into the storm drains and finally to a slime-covered ladder leading up to a manhole cover.

  I hopped up onto Sharp's shoulder as she climbed up and to the manhole, then pushed it up with her back until it squealed aside. We exited out into an alley with only a couple of itinerants there to stare at us. They didn't seem willing to try anything, not when three very suspicious youths in pale blue PPE stuffed their way out of the ground.

  Alyssa called for a cab, and all three of them undressed while waiting for it to show up. The balled-up suits were tossed into the trash, but Sharp collected the masks. They would usually be a little too expensive to just throw away, so we had to take them back with us as part of the charade.

  "I'm going to take so many showers when I get back," Sharp complained.

  "Yeah, tell me about it," Jenny said. "So... same time tomorrow?"

  "Ah, I can't, I'm working tomorrow. But if you guys want help, then I'll be available on Thursday!" Sharp said.

  "That's inconvenient," Alyssa replied.

  "I can bring more safety equipment with me, and a sledgehammer," Sharp said. "Plus, I bet I'm cheaper than just about anyone else you could hire to help on this kind of gig, and you know that I'm discreet."

  "Sure you are," Jenny said.

  Their autocab arrived, and the three of them, and myself, filed into the back. Usually I'd make some effort to hide so that the taxi wouldn't detect a cat and apply a surcharge for it, but we weren't the ones paying.

  Fortunately, we weren't that far from the river where we started off. Just a few miles at most. Those few miles overland were a lot shorter than the same distance underground through winding tunnels and the like.

  "So, not free tomorrow, huh?" Jenny asked. "When can you be here on Thursday?"

  "Uh, early, I guess. I'm staying..." she paused as my nails gently reminded her about the value of discretion. "Just on the edge of the city. So I can come here early, but not super early. I have a bike from the courier company I work for to get around. And the bus, I guess."

  "Cool. I think we're okay with that. Be here for eight. And bring that hammer you mentioned," Jenny said. "And bring a gun if you've got one."

  "A gun?" Sharp asked. She turned her head hard to the side. Jenny, being the shortest, was relegated to the middle seat between Sharp and Aylssa. She wasn't wearing her belt, because she was young and stupid, of course.

  "Yeah, you've seen those before, right?" Jenny asked. "You... do you own a gun? This is still America."

  Sharp nodded. "I mean, sure, I have a few, but I didn't think this job would call for a gun at all."

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "I mean, if you're going to help us break through that wall, you might as well help us the rest of the way. Whoever is paying you for info will pay you for a lot more if you get some from the inside, right?"

  "Maybe," Sharp said. "Look, I'll see if there's a better price for that, but I have the feeling that if you break in and steal whatever it is that they want to begin with, they won't want the information after all."

  "Heh. That reminds me of a pair of jobs I once took. One was for information on a target, the other was to eliminate them. It was amusing handing the information packet over when the very last line was their time of death."

  Sharp patted my head, gently.

  "That sounds like a you problem," Jenny said before crossing her arms. She uncrossed them right after because there was no room in the back for that kind of attitude.

  "We... can set something up where you'll be compensated a small amount if there's any violence. Having a third gun, so to speak, would make things a lot safer for us," Alyssa said.

  Jenny worked her jaw, but she didn't seem entirely averse to the whole thing.

  In any case, we arrived at the spot where they'd parked their old beater and got out of the taxi before it charged us extra. "Right, I'm heading home," Jenny said. "I stink. You all stink. Fuck, why do we never take jobs in nice places that smell good? Alyssa, why do you never want us to rob a perfume factory?"

  "You complain too much," Alyssa said before turning her attention onto Sharp and I. "We'll see the... two of you in two days. In the meantime, do you have a number? In case plans change and we need to contact you?"

  "Sure. I have a burner phone," Sharp said.

  "Don't trust us with your real number?" Jenny asked.

  Sharp blinked. "Uh... actually, I don't have a real number. Just lots of burner phones."

  Jenny snorted. "Yeah, you sound like every baby edgerunner ever right there."

  That last comment had Sharp's mood on a high until we made it back to the company bike, the silly girl. "Let's get home. I want in on that shower you mentioned. And the babies will be worried. Usually when I leave for such a long day, I give them extra treats so that they know I'll be back. We didn't do that."

  Sharp sighed as she got on the bike. "Did anyone ever tell you that you worry about your cats too much?"

  "No one who went on to live, no," I replied.

  "Uh... I take it back?"

  "I bet you do."

  Getting back home was a little involved, but with nothing pressing us for time, we made it back eventually. Of course, there was traffic on the way out of Boston Two, but that was just par for the course.

  "I was thinking," I said as we rode in an armoured bus.

  "Oh?" Sharp asked. She ran her hands through my fur. The humidity in the storm drains hadn't been kind.

  "We have a day and a bit before this gig resumes. It might not be enough time to level a skill on the threshold of five yet, but it might be enough for one of your weaker skills to level up."

  "Hmm," Sharp muttered. "I have Cool, Magic, and Reflex at pretty low levels. Zero, one and two, respectively."

  Cool was still at zero? I looked up to Sharp, who was wearing a dopey grin. Right, yes. "It might be possible to increase Reflex, at least. You have courier work tomorrow morning, but that doesn't mean we have to waste the afternoon. How about something like... badminton, or tennis?"

  "The sports?"

  "No, the salad dressing. Obviously the sports. They'll train your reflexes a little, and there are some centres in town. Just an hour or so after work tomorrow. We don't want to burn your muscles before a job."

  Walking up to a job, even an easy one, with sore muscles was a good way to jack up the difficulty without meaning to. A younger me had learned that one the painful way, and it was a lesson I'd rather impart vocally to Sharp rather than have her experience it for herself.

  "I think I might like that. It sounds fun!"

  ***