Reason For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 1) (40 page)

“This is Derwent Tower.”  Hanna said, activating the briefing table in the basement three days later.  A large holo of a two hundred storey carbonide building, with its shining polished metal and glass façade, rotated in the air in front of Valerie, Deni and Hanna.  This was the initial planning meeting where Deni and Hanna could explain what they found.

“It’s owned by Rexor Holdings and is mostly leased by Orobello Construction.”  Valerie suppressed the wave of emotion that name caused within her.  It was where Tom worked before he was killed.  It had been responsible for the Sandy Shores project.  The multi-system company had building contracts all the way from the Pantheon, well out into the Edge.  It was not a surprise she would come across them.  When she glanced through the briefing documents in Sneaker’s office, she hadn’t noticed the name and she was glad she was in her own office when she did.  It would not have done for her hard killer reputation, if Sneaker saw her break down crying in front of him.  Since then she managed to control those emotions, or at least to not show them to whomever else happened to be in the room with her.

“I know the Job looked like a simple info dump theft, but it’s really not.”  Hanna continued.

“I didn’t think it would be if Garson gave it to us.”  Valerie said.

“Yeah and now I’ve had a look at it, I can see why it came our way.  Safelife have their planetary headquarters on the top ten floors and have pulled out all the stops.”  Hanna explained.

Deni laughed at that.  “I’m not surprised with the amount of times we’ve hit them over the last year.  They must be losing contracts by the hundreds.  Who knows what would happen if it got out that their HQ was robbed.”

“Exactly.”  Hanna said with a laugh of her own.  “So the system firewalls they’ve put in are impressive.”  Valerie nodded at that admission.  If Hanna was saying that, they would be very good.  The girl’s confidence in her abilities had grown steadily over the last year and rightly so.  “I won’t be able to do this remotely.  We need to be physically inside Orobello’s mainframe to get to the data.”

“OK, Hanna.”  Valerie said.  “What did you see Deni?”

Leaning forward, Deni entered some commands into the table and four red icons appeared at different points around the tower.  “Safelife have security patrols all around the building.  We saw a minimum of four in the air on every pass we made.  When they change the shifts, the on duty patrol doesn’t leave until their relief is fully in place.  They’re using Dragonfly Helos and we recorded a total of twelve different energy signatures.” 

The Dragonfly was a civilian light version of the Helos used by the Legion Army.  Though it wasn’t in the same class as the Windsoar, it still carried more than enough firepower to deal with anything they could field.  The Crew’s own aircar, as modified as it was, would not stand a chance against one Dragonfly, let alone four.  If Deni picked out twelve different energy signatures, it meant Safelife had a full squadron of twelve Dragonflies.  They would be able to always have eight in the air at any one time.  The remaining four would be used as replacement aircraft, while maintenance and repairs took place.

“We took the usual passive scan readings as well.”  Deni continued, referring to the array that Sneaker somehow acquired.  They fitted it to the inside of a normal airtruck.  Its large flat sides made a perfect place to hide the three metre wide receiving dish.  It could read any active scans just like a warship, but on a much smaller scale.  “They aren’t wasting any bandwidth, that’s for sure.  We recorded scans for heat, energy, metal, ceramics, carbon, organic and manufactured fibres.  Anything you could build something out of, they were looking for.  From what we saw of how the Dragonflies were working, I would guess they were checking everything that came to within a five hundred metre radius of that building.  They were even doing flybys on each individual Pterodactyl, I wouldn’t be surprised if they have names for them all by now.”

“It sounds like going in by air won’t be an option then?”  Valerie asked.

“You’ve got all my data, but I can’t see any way in.”  Deni answered.  Valerie would go through the data thoroughly later.  It was always good to get the girl’s impressions first.  While not as good as Hanna, Deni was learning and Valerie liked to push her as much as she could.

“OK,” Valerie looked to Hanna.  “What about the front door?”

“Not a chance.  ID passes, biometric scanners, visitors log and even escorts.  The full works.”  Hanna said shaking her head.  She was a lot firmer than Deni had been in giving her opinion.  “If we walk in there without already being in the system, they’ll watch us like mountain hawks and we won’t have room to breathe, let alone rob the place.”

“So we can’t go round it, we can’t go over it and we can’t go through it.”  Valerie said to summarise “We’ll have to go under it.”  She could see that neither of the girls were getting her reference to the ancient children’s song.  “What about Manual workers?”

Deni nodded thoughtfully.  “They have the usual cleaners, waiters, cooks and basic maintenance workers.”  She was obviously thinking it through.  “Maintenance will be out, they use a couple of long term contractors who keep a permanent staff roster just for this building.  Anyone new has to be vetted by Safelife.  The waiters and cooks are hourly workers.”  Meaning they were only paid when they worked and could be dismissed at any point.  “They’re too restricted though.  They can only go directly to their place of work and straight out again.  There are even toilet facilities set aside specifically for them, so they don’t get under foot.  I would go with the cleaners, they’re hourly and have more freedom to do their jobs.”

“I like it, Deni.”  Valerie said with a slight smile and Deni beamed back at her.  “I take it you have the information on the contractors?”

“It’s all in the data file.”  Deni confirmed.

“Good.  What do you think, Hanna?  If we go in, could you do an on the fly, stage by stage Hack?”  Valerie asked her.

“We’d have to switch ID’s as we go.”  Valerie could see the girl’s mind on overdrive behind her eyes.  “Changing who we are, practically floor by floor.  I’d have to Hack each system individually and with no way of knowing what we’re facing ahead of time I’d be creating the programs as I go.”

“So can you do it?”  Valerie asked, already knowing the answer.

“It would be the Hack of a lifetime.  You bet I can do it!”  Hanna said with such excitement that again reminded Valerie so strongly of Daphne.

Quelling that upswell of emotion, Valerie kept her voice level.  “Alright, do the background checks on the cleaning firms and you might as well set us up the initial ID’s while you’re at it.  I’ll go through all the data fully first and consider it all carefully before I come back with the plan.  I do think this is our best idea at the moment.  I’ll let you know.  Good work.  Both of you.”

The girls left, already chatting through what identities they would need once the Crew were in.  Valerie collected the files and went round to her office.  Much like Sneaker’s, there was nothing extravagant about it.  It had what it needed to have, desk, chair, small conference table and ensuite shower room. That was about it.  The only personal item in there to show it was hers, was a small armoury safe where she kept her weapons.

Valerie was the only one with the combination, not because she didn’t trust those with access to the basement.  Inside were all she had left of her family, the two pictures drawn by Daphne and Bobbie and the holocube she took from Furioso.  It sat in that sealed, dark safe, powered down and the pictures were in a closed folder so they couldn’t be seen.  They were there in a safe, secure place, but Valerie could not face actually seeing them.

All of this was pushed to the back of her head, permanently there, but far enough that distractions like planning a new Heist, could keep it at bay.  Sitting down in the comfortable chair behind her desk, Valerie started to go through the data the girls collected and plan this latest Job.

The carriage rattled on the crowded Underground train.  People were pressed in on all sides, shoulder to shoulder.  The few seats were taken by the oldest and a pregnant woman Valerie noticed.  It was something that surprised her when she started actually being part of this society.  As the Crew brought her more and more out of her misery, grief and despair, she began to really see the community she was now a part of.

Yes there were many problems with drugs, prostitution, starvation, poor health and the many other things faced by those not of the Privileged.  The criminal gangs didn’t help matters by supplying many of those problems, and lack of respect for human life.  Despite this, there was also human kindness and a level of neighbourliness throughout the community.  It seemed to become more evident the closer in proximity people came to the Privileged

It was as though they wanted to say as clearly as possible, they were human beings and not animals.  They could care for their own.  They would not abandon them.  Valerie watched when the heavily pregnant woman boarded the already crowded train.  Everyone shuffled aside so she could get to the seat.  No one had to be asked or told, they just went ahead and did it.

“She’ll work right up to the birth.”  Hanna stood next to Valerie and must have seen where she was looking.  “She’ll take maybe a week off, possibly more.  It would depend on how much she’s been able to save.  Then the baby will go to the Crèche everyday while she goes back to work.  All it will know every day, until it can walk, is a blanket and milk until the mother can get home from work.  Once it’s walking, she’ll have to take it out of the crèche and leave it at home.”

Turning to the girl, Valerie looked into those blue eyes.  She thought of how she and Tom had both taken a year off work for each of their children.  She imagined if Daphne had not had such a start in life.  Instead being born to that woman, then maybe she wouldn’t turn out much different from the girl in front of her.

Girl no longer.  Hanna was almost as tall as Valerie and turning into a strong woman.  Now they were both getting proper meals, Deni and Hanna shot up in height.  With the hard training regime Valerie set for them and the Enforcers, they kept their strong bodies and only filled out in the places women should as they became adults.  Hanna didn’t really look it at the moment, like Valerie, she wore additional padding under her clothes to look bigger than she naturally was.

The training was compulsory for the Enforcers and Valerie hadn’t given the girls any choice either.  Anyone else who worked for Sneaker was also welcome to join in, though few did.  Valerie made it clear, once you were in, there was no way out and it was a little too intense for most.  Some were now coming forward who were reticent before.  They were impressed with the results Valerie got with the girls and the Enforcers.

“I know it’s a hard life,” Valerie told Hanna.  “All life is a struggle, it has never been easy.”

“It is for the Privileged,” Hanna replied looking away.

Valerie didn’t have an answer to that.  She saved trying to say anything by the train pulled into their stop.  The two of them squeezed out, joining a crowd of people heading down the platform to the various exits.  There were nine at this stop.  Each one led to a different building above.  That was how this city, like many throughout the Pantheon, worked.  The massive towers had been built in a grid formation in blocks of nine.  The station would be deep underneath the central tower of the block.  A passageway would then lead to each of the eight surrounding towers. 

If you were lucky you worked in the central tower with a short trip.  Most people had to walk through the long, hot and dry tunnels.  It was down one of these, Hanna and Valerie turned.  There were no automated walkways or any other type of assistance.  It was often over a kilometre until you got to the buildings underground entrance.  Some people used small two wheeled scooters or four wheeled skateboards to help them. 

Again people sorted out their own way to work together.  Without any signs or markings on the floor the stream of people walking, stayed over to the right.  This left a clear path for those with some sort of wheeled assistance.  There was also an orderly queue at the beginning of the tunnel as people readied themselves.  The pregnant woman was just in front of Valerie and she watched as the woman unfolded a small scooter, setting off down the tunnel.

Now it was their turn, Valerie and Hanna took off their packs and pulled out their skateboards.  Not having had what you would call a normal childhood, neither Valerie nor Hanna had ever ridden one until a couple of days ago.  Both had excellent balance, for completely different reasons, and picked it up without too many problems.  There were some bruises involved and a lot of laughter from the Crew while they watched.

With a push of her leg, Valerie headed down the tunnel with Hanna beside her.  As she always did, Valerie ran through the plan in her mind.  As Deni suggested, the cleaners were the best way in and Valerie could not find a better idea after she went through all the data. 

It was then a question of who would be going in.  Hanna needed to be there so she was the obvious choice and Valerie did not want her going in alone.  Any of the others could be Hanna’s back up, but that is not how Valerie worked, she always believed it was best to lead from the front.  She hadn’t changed that in almost a hundred years and did not see any reason to now.

Deni was the only other member on this Job.  She was in a car park not far from Derwent Tower.  In theory, once the Job was complete, they should have the right ID’s to be able to walk out the front door.  Deni would then pick them up in an expensive aircar that would not look out of place.  In this case, it meant one of the aircar entrances high up the tower.

Sneaker suggested having Rush, Troll, Barney, Judge and Hobbs in their armoured aircar in case they needed extraction.  He hadn’t really argued strongly for it when Valerie disagreed.  He knew as well as she did that with all of Safelife’s firepower, the Enforcers wouldn’t be of any effective help.  Most likely they would get killed in the attempt.  He was merely playing council for the defence, to make sure Valerie looked at all the angles, just as she did for him.

This Job turned out to be the smallest Valerie had worked so far with the Crew.  The least number they used in the past was the five for an airtruck robbery before it made a delivery. 

Hanna built two ID’s into the cleaning company’s database.  They would hopefully get them in the workers entrance and as far up as the top of the residential area on the 34th floor.  After that it would be a case of making it up as they go, all the way to the 160th floor.  The padding the two of them were wearing under their clothes held four new sets of clothes.  Hopefully they could tailor them to whatever identity Hanna was able to build.  The most important item was Hanna’s beloved Quartz.  That was built into the base of her skateboard in a scan proof case, with a backup datapad in Valerie’s.

Rolling along the smooth floor of the tunnel, Valerie could feel the sweat on her brow from the heat.  If she was feeling it, then it must be hot.  Glancing across at Hanna, she saw large droplets running down her face.  Everyone in Inferno was used to the heat.  It was a part of the city only the Privileged could really escape. 

Down here in the tunnel, it was something else and Valerie looked at the woman ahead.  She was steadily pushing herself along on her scooter, her belly, heavy with child, resting on the low handle bars.  Valerie felt a strong swell of sympathy as she saw the woman’s back and sides were damp with sweat. 

Valerie shook her head, the Privileged could do so much more and chose not to, for it would eat into their own wealth and power.  She had seen first-hand their intense, insular focus.  They never saw anything beyond their own lives.  Valerie’s unique upbringing allowed her a much different outlook on people and Tom had been a truly rare individual, as she hoped Daphne and Bobbie would have been.  Everyone else she met in Eleanor Doherty’s life, didn’t want to look outside their bubbles.  They didn’t want to see how the rest of humanity lived at their expense.

While her brain was pondering Pantheon society, her body continued its progress along the tunnel and Valerie saw those ahead slowing.  “It looks like we’re here.”  Hanna said and Valerie nodded in response, slowing with the others.

They picked up their skateboards and joined the queue leading to the workers entrance.  It was slow going and Valerie wondered how people did this every day.  She and Hanna left the Dawning Sun almost two hours ago.  They came straight to Derwent Tower by public transport.  Valerie knew many residents from their area worked in this and the surrounding towers. 

They lost little time, even though it was one of the busiest periods.  The Privileged liked their cleaning done during the night, when the workers would not get in the way.  Valerie and Hanna were coming in at the end of the Tower’s working day.  Most of the workers were arriving now, people to wait tables, cook the food, serve at the bars, maintain the tower and equipment.  All were coming in.  They would all be gone as the Tower’s business day started the next morning, with only those working in the Restaurants and Cafes for breakfast and lunch remaining during the day.

The queue moved with a slow constant progression, until it was Valerie’s turn with Hanna behind her.  Handing over her skateboard to be scanned along with her bag, Valerie stepped through the personnel scanner.  Her gaze wondered around the room and she took in the security.  Despite the number of workers who had to come through here, the entrance was narrow, with room for only two lines of people.  Guards were stationed in front of and behind the scanners, with more off to one side.  All of them wore Safelife uniforms armed with a single Mag pistol, looking alert and professional. 

There was no reaction from any of the guards.  They must not have picked up on the hidden datapad or her extra clothing.  After retrieving her bag and skateboard, Valerie handed her ID over to the guard with the scanner.  He inserted the ID and pointed it at her face, it would scan her biometrics, matching them to her ID along with checking their files.  The guard barely acknowledged her as he handed the ID back.

Once through security, there was only one way to go, a wide tunnel leading to the Towers worker Hub.  This tunnel actually included a travellator, as some of the Privileged may have to come all the way down here to supervise.  Hanna caught up with Valerie and the two got on it together.  The moving floor took them at about the same speed as their skateboards would.  It wasn’t long until they got to the Hub.

The large room had elevator tubes all around its edge and in the centre.  In between were a variety of kiosks, each with a sign over the top and a person with a terminal.  The Hub was packed with people going in all directions and standing in queues at the Kiosks and lifts.  The two women searched through the chaos for the kiosk belonging to their cleaning company.

“I see it.”  Hanna said spotting it first.  “Come on,” she led Valerie through the crowd to join yet another queue.  Waiting patiently in line, the queue moved steadily forward until it was their turn.

“ID’s”  The man at the terminal asked and held out his hand without looking up.  Hanna passed them both over and the man ran them through his reader.  “OK.  Twenty-ninth floor, you need lift Centre sixteen.  Here are your work orders.  Make sure you are finished by five am and hand the pad back before leaving.  If the pad leaves your work area an alarm will sound and you will be arrested.”  It was all said in a bored monotone as though that was all he said, all day.  Valerie guessed it was probably true.

Grabbing the pad, a simple cheap reader that could do the most simple of jobs and the ID’s Hanna led them to the central bank of lifts.  Valerie pointed to number sixteen and they joined the queue, hopefully their last for the day.  The doors opened and everyone squeezed into the large car, it was back to being shoulder to shoulder.

The car rose up and did not stop until it got to the twentieth floor.  Valerie could not look at the pad she had been given.  There was not enough room to bring it to a position she could read it.  At the first stop, several people got out and then the lift stopped at every floor from there on.  When it reached the twenty-ninth, there were only seven of them left and Valerie called up the work orders on the pad.  It gave her precise directions of where to go, the location where the cleaning supplies were and a list of all the rooms to clean.  It was a long list and if their cover called for them to do the actual job, they would struggle.

The doors opened and everyone left quickly.  Hanna also read the instructions and led them easily through the narrow passageways.  Built to keep the workers out of the main corridors as much as possible, the walls brushed Valerie’s shoulders.  She could not help, but wonder how the pregnant woman could manage in such a tight space.

Reaching a small door that opened with a swipe of Hanna’s pad they stepped inside.  Everything they would need to clean the surrounding flats was in the small room and, more importantly, some privacy.  Quickly they both started to strip off the layers of clothes.

“That’s the easy part done.  What do you think?  Executives going to a conference call with someone on the other side of the planet?”  Hanna asked.

“No,” Valerie said.  “We’re two low down for that.  We’ll be two sisters going for a quiet drink and some food after a hard day’s work.”

“So, smart casual then?”  Hanna asked as she sorted through her clothes.