Joe pressed the Enter key deliberately, his finger pushing more than it needed to as he let out a relieved exhale. The screen on his work table acknowledged the confirmation and replied with a notification that his report had been successfully submitted.

  He turned to a grinning colleague whose eye glinted with mischief that was more naughty than not.

  He looked around, then leaned back in his chair. The aged joints barely creaked as his weight pushed them back against his table.

  “What? Tell me already?”

  Chris, the grinning colleague, shrugged.

  “What do you mean? You cut your call mid-sentence, but I liked what you said before that.”

  “Oh, you mean the invite to some High Rise shindig?”

  Chris nodded slowly, tapping his nose with a finger as he pointed another to Joe.

  “Eh, I dunno, it’s a high school grad party. And it's all them spoilt High Rise kids. Don’t think it's our kind of jam.”

  “What do you mean? Yoh, it's High Rise teens with too much YeeBees in their accounts who just finished school; sounds like a money-making time to me.”

  Joe leaned closer as he looked around hurriedly. “Shhh! Not so loud, kerb!”

  Chris chuckled as he raised his arms to the side. “Please, everyone has some money-making scheme going on. We are authorized to keep the peace in the city. Nothing wrong with making extra while doing it. You’d think the CA would up our pay, but nah, too busy kowtowing to the Houses and making them call the shots on city spending.”

  His colleague snickered as he shook his head, relaxing somewhat.

  “Without the Houses, no one is gonna up their lazy asses and do shit anyway.”

  “You’d think hundreds of years of this kinda thing would get stale fast. But nah…”

  “Too much YeeBees involved, yoh, that trumps any other reasoning out there. It's also a reason for all the industry we have in our region. Everything.” He uttered the final word slowly, emphasizing each syllable.

  “Eh, I’m not about to talk about politics and economics like you always do; I’m not some High-rise teenager wanting to sound all sophisticated.” Chris shot Joe a side glance as he smirked.

  Joe chuckled, “I swear to you, I never did anything with her. She’s a very good-paying customer and middle person to the kids in High Rise. I’m just here to provide a community service.”

  Chris scoffed, and his head shook slowly. “Dunno what’s wrong with you, yoh, that’s prime High Rise blud right there.”

  “And if we get caught? As if it's not enough…”

  Chris waved his hand before snapping his fingers.

  “Hey, forget that. So, are we going? Or no?”

  “You think it's worth the risk?”

  Chris slumped his shoulders and exhaled dramatically, the mood changing

  “Really? Worth the risk? It's no risk? She did give you passes, didn’t she?”

  Joe nodded. “One for each of us.”

  Chris shrugged. “So? What are we waiting for? Each of us can carry a limited load on us, so let's squeeze those High Rises out of every YeeBee they have!”

  He leaned forward, his hand grasped his friend’s shoulder and squeezed.

  “C’mon yoh, let's make some serious stacks. Might even get to bring your missus on that holiday she’s always whining to you about, and then some.”

  Joe looked at his friend skeptically, his lips pursing while his mind churned. “I guess this one time is fine…right?”

  “Heck yeah, it is! Well, until we get more passes for more invites. It’s a promotional strategy; you’re the biz man here, can’t see how you wanna pass this one out.”

  He leaned forward, hands clasped as his eyes studied a more than enthusiastic Chris, who was starting to do that annoying drumming of his implanted fingers on the table, which he knew annoyed the heck out of him.

  “Okay, but just the three of us.”

  “Oh? Who’s not going?”

  Joe smirked, “The dude who actually did a High Rise blud, don’t want some teenage drama breaking out while we makin’ sales.”

  Chris chuckled as he nodded and shrugged. “Told him not to do that.”

  His friend smacked his shoulder hard as he stood up. “And you just told me I should have banged my contact.”

  “Eh, I know you’re smarter than that; chill, yoh.”

  “Okay, so… passes are valid twenty-four after we enter High Rise. We best get our game on.”

  Chris nodded. “Already on it, sending message to Williams to get all the stock ready for us to pick up.”

  Joe dipped his chin in approval. “Daze. I’ll join you in a bit; gotta make one last call.”

  His buddy walked off as his eyes followed the man’s distinctive dance-like gait, his HUD coming up with the number he was going to call as he tapped the air before it started ringing.

  “Joe, what’s up?” A voice trying to sound concerned picked up toward the end of the fifth ring.

  “Just a heads up.”

  “Ah, so you guys taking up the invite?”

  “Yep, it's a daze chance to get some serious YeeBees while clearing out old stock.”

  “Just make sure not to give 'em the ones you guys got from the Apostates; those crazy mafas’ stuff are too strong for teens.”

  “I wasn’t born yesterday, yoh.”

  “Hey, hey, chill. Was poking yoh, is all. Anything you want done as backup?”

  “That’s why I called. Those bluds still payin?”

  “Yep, on time every time.”

  “Any sus calls or messages or trackers?”

  “None new I’ve found, clean as a high-rise blud. After the warning you guys gave blondie, they stopped any add poking and just kept to their standard stuff. Easy to handle. Surprising, but I guess lil miss blondie really knows people.”

  Joe chuckled as his head shook slowly. “Daze. Yeah, I was kinda surprised all it took was that, but I guess I gotta stop thinking High Rise kids are like us when we grew up.”

  “You feelin’ OK, old man? Sounds like you’re being paranoid there.”

  “Just, you know. If something is too good to be true, it probably is.”

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  The man on the other end laughed dryly. “Yoh, you gotta remember who you’re talkin' to. I was the one that refined the workings of a High Rise House Intel div.”

  “Yea? Look where it got you.”

  The tone of the man on the other end changed slightly, heavier. “Those fucktards accused me of something they didn’t have solid proof of.”

  “They didn’t need solid proof, or don’t tell me you don’t know how shit works in their world.”

  There was a short pause before he continued.

  “Besides, you did do what they accused you of.”

  “Yea, but they didn’t have proof of it. Just the fact I grew up in Jaycrest was why I think did me in.”

  Joe chuckled. “At least they just exiled you to Adina City.”

  “Gotta be thankful for small blessings, amirite?”

  “Heh, for sure. Anyway. We leavin in an hour, plan is to reach High Rise South-East by 1900. By my contact’s timing, she said it would take about thirty-ish minutes to get from entrance to their loc.”

  “Roger that. I’ll monitor all comms and surveillance before and after you guys enter.”

  “You do that, and don’t get caught.”

  “Heh. Same to you, kerbs.”

  —-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Noa knocked curtly at the solid reinforced door and waited, her hands clasped in front of her as she bounced on the balls of her feet.

  “What do you think?” Anya, who stood beside her, kept looking around at the always active area around them. Her eyes landed on her sister before they fleeted to the many hover transports and crew milling about them, like a busy foreground to the solid and stoic structures behind them.

  Noa shrugged. “Guess we’ll know; better be good, though.”

  Anya frowned amusedly. “Why? You weren’t doing much at all anyway.”

  Her sister glared at her, eliciting a soft chuckle. “I was going through your params for your aiming soft, was thinking I could take a few pointers that I may have missed.”

  “Well…” Anya began, but Hassan’s voice, telling them to enter, cut short her reply, and they entered his office together.

  Hassan was in his chair, his screens on either side lighting him up with flickers. His left eye had a faint blue glow, and he was no doubt reviewing some documents there as well.

  They stood, almost at a relaxed attention.

  “So what’s up? You called for a meet, unscheduled, I might add?” Noa broke the silence and looked to her side at a smirking Anya, feeling Hassan’s eye drilling the side of her skull.

  “Have either of you noticed any disruption in the quality of your calls?” He was leaning forward, fingers resting against each other as his head dipped, signaling for them to sit.

  “Huh? No? Why?” Noa frowned as she shrugged and sat, adjusting herself. In spite of the many hours spent sitting here listening to Hassan’s lectures, she never got used to how stiff the seats were.

  Hassan turned to Anya, who had opened her mouth to answer but instead slunk back and went silent.

  “Anya?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Have you noticed anything?”

  “No, nothing aside from usual. Why?”

  “Intel came up with a couple of theories about this digger. So I needed to check with you, gals.”

  “Okay?” Noa frowned again, dragging the last syllable of her response.

  Hassan darted a look toward her, leaning back on his seat while folding his arms.

  “And one of the theories would be noticeable, but I guess it would be noticeable on HUD implants.” He leaned forward again, massaging his chin.

  “Noa, are you planning to attend the party?”

  She replied with a raised eyebrow. “Yes, why?”

  “I’d like to keep you on-site with a team, ready to go.”

  “Oh?” She perked up.

  He nodded; “We’re getting to the bottom of this digger issue. A lot of his codes are eerily similar to our own. And if Intel is correct, then we’re up for a time for sure.”

  “Ugh, why can’t these kerbs wait ‘til I get my implants, dammit.”

  Anya chuckled as her sister sighed deeply.

  “Anya, do you need any extra security for tonight? Other than the one you’ve already requested in addition to the normal detail.”

  She shrugged, her lips pursing. “Nah, don’t think so. Should be fine with the usual detail and the adds. Ally will have drones from her House in addition to some steel bags.”

  Noa shot her a look, then at Hassan, her head and face signaling to him.

  He sighed. “I’m not having drones controlled by another House to be responsible for this; too many plat heads and High House kids there.”

  Anya sat up to say something before he stopped her with a raised finger.

  “I know, the House controlling South East wouldn’t allow any other House to fly their own drones there; it's why the adds you asked for are a joint Intel-Sec team.”

  She raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s something we have dabbled with… so far, it's been working very well. So, the two peeps on your detail, plus four from that team, they’re bringing their own flyers.”

  “Wait… you want to risk a conflict just for this?” Noa leaned forward, concerned.

  Hassan looked at Noa. “It's true that each House has exclusive jurisdiction over their own High Rise. But it is also true that House Essedar is the ruling House, and with that and all the stupid politicking of the Council of Houses, I personally do not want anything…untoward to happen.”

  Anya shot her sister a look, and Noa replied with a shrug.

  Sensing the air between the two and having been around them since they were children, Hassan continued.

  “Yes, this is why parties are usually held on SEHIL-sanctioned grounds.”

  “Where you guys are the exclusive advisors and executioners of security.” Noa chimed in, a smirk on her lips.

  He glared at her, only to be met with a wink and a grin.

  “Right, so. That’s all. Before you asked, no, I didn’t want to do this via comms. I have my reasons.”

  The sisters had gotten up but stopped and turned, arms crossed almost in unison, and looked at him, expecting him to continue.

  He sighed. “And the reason was that until we settle this digger issue, which Intel are very interested in, anything to do with the Security of a House Essedar family member will be deemed sensitive information.”

  “Noa, prep for mission. Anya, have fun.”

  “Thanks!” They answered together, with Noa’s voice trailing at the end. “Yes, yes.”

  —--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  “So, what do you think?”

  “Of the outfit? I already told you it's daze.” Noa continued loading a magazine without looking up.

  “No, silly. I know you already told me that. I’m talking about this… ‘mission’ Hassan has lined up for you.”

  Her sister shrugged as she moved on to the next magazine in the stack she had made.

  “Dunno, really. I do know he’s assigned his favorite guys.”

  Anya smiled as she leaned closer, her shadow falling over the boxes of rounds from which Noa was taking her bullets.

  Noa looked up as she paused, her gaze falling onto a wide-eyed and wide-smiling Anya.

  She chuckled and nodded. “Yes, yes, those two are in the team.”

  “Ugh, lucky you. I get to spend my night with SEHIL high-school cave boys.” Anya leaned back as she rolled her eyes.

  “You might be lucky; who knows what can happen at a SEHIL high-school party.”

  Anya scoffed.

  “Are you bringing anything with you, though?”

  Anya smiled and nodded before pulling the left side of her thigh-length skirt upward. This revealed a holster held around her thigh by a strap made of a combination of steel lace and leather.

  “Fancy.” Noa chuckled as she reached for it and slid the pistol out.

  “Nice, it's the one he gave you for your 17th.”

  “Mhm! I like how delicate it looks.”

  Noa turned the small pistol in her hand, feeling its heft.

  “Has a nice weight to it. What did you load it with?”

  “Well, it doesn’t have that many choices, the usual rounds.”

  “True.”

  “I wish they could take long gun or shotgun rounds, though. I feel naked knowing I can’t have anything but anti-soft bag rounds.”

  Noa slid the magazine out and picked out one of the bullets.

  “Babe, this thing is tiny. It’s for personal, close-up D. No way you can fit EMP or anything fancy into it.”

  “Babe, I know that. Duh?” Anya chuckled dryly as she wobbled her head.

  Noa continued to study the cartridge, a finger brushing against the flatness of the top.

  “I kinda like the idea, though, having gasses and other stuff blown back into the case so that it's virtually silent. Old tech, yet effective.”

  Anya nodded and smiled. “Beats having to put a suppressor on it, nice and petite.”

  Noa returned the bullet to its magazine and slid it back into the pistol before handing it to her sister.

  “Let’s hope you don’t have to use it.”

  Anya’s right lip bent up as she replaced the pistol back.

  “Well. I need to do my hair and make-up. Call me if anything comes up?”

  “Oh, defo will, babe.”

  She leaned in and hugged her sister and lingered, neither of them wanting to let go.

  “If whatever you guys are waiting for is a go, I hope you teach them a lesson,” Anya whispered.

  “Oh, defo will. It's been a long time since anyone has tried this.”

  “Exactly. Petons need to know their place.”

  Noa chuckled. “Yes, yes.”