RETALI8ION: The Cobalt Code (3 page)

Thomas growled as he replied.  “Muscles hurt.  Insides hurt.  Paw hurt.”

Regina breathed a slight sigh of relief.  If he could still talk this well, he was probably not in mortal danger.  “Okay.  Is anything broken?”

Thomas tilted his head ever so slightly for a moment before answering.  “No.  Just hurt.”

Regina took in a deep breath, and then let it out slowly.  “Alright, my sweet paw prince, you just rest for a while.”

“Can't.  Copters.”

Regina turned to see that, indeed, there were several helicopters heading towards the area.  It was nice to know his hearing was still far better than hers.  But, being unable to tell if the helicopters were from some branch of the security forces, or a news station, she couldn't take any more chances.  “Alright then.  It's time for me to carry you for a little while.”

-2-

It had started raining in the last two hours since the duo's escape from the hotel, and showed no signs of letting up any time soon.

“Wet,” Thomas stated unhappily.

Regina reached behind her to give Thomas as quick pet on his head that was sticking out of the makeshift backpack she had put together from her trench coat and Thomas's harness.  “I know, buddy.  I am too.  I'll get that fixed just as soon as I can.”

Regina stabbed a small crowbar into the cover lock on a control panel at the base of cellular data tower.  She had spent the last two hours leaving the building they had crash landed on, and climbing the 60 levels of stairs of the Caldwell Building across the street to reach the roof, and access to this particular data tower's panel.

“Why we here?” asked Thomas.

The crowbar slid out unsuccessfully as Regina pulled on it.  “
Shimatta
!” she shouted in disgust with how difficult the lock was being.  “We're here so I can try my hand at direct interfacing with a tower without authorized access during a rainstorm.”

A few moments later Thomas replied, “Why?”

Regina couldn't see it, but she knew Thomas had tilted his head before stating his next question.  “Sorry, that was sarcasm.  I'm trying to get in touch with Artemis, and not let whoever is after us know our location when I make the call.”

“Okay.”

Regina smiled.  It seemed Thomas hadn't lost his need for a simple explanation.  Taking a deep breath, she again struck at the box's lock.  Again with no luck.  “I'm gonna sit you down.  Okay?”

“Yep.”

Regina carefully lowered the makeshift backpack to the ground.  She then reaffirmed her grip on the crowbar with both hands and started swinging repeatedly at the lock.  After six direct hits, she heard the clanging sound of something metallic releasing or dropping from its location.  “TD Mobile really should invest in some high-end electronic locks so that vicious thugs like me can't just break the control panels open,” she said, nearly completely out of breath.

“You would hack,” Thomas stated.

Regina laughed, probably for the first time since seeing how badly Thomas had been hurt.  “You're right.  I would.”

She let out a sigh of relief as she pulled her data tablet from her belt.  Turning it on, she smiled.  “Still got a good charge and it looks like the manufacturer wasn't lying when they said this model was water proof.”

“You need prove water?” asked Thomas.

“No. It means water won't hurt it.”

Thomas titled his head.  “Water not hurt me.  I prove water.”

Regina smiled again, thankful for the distraction from how much her muscles wanted to give up on her.  “Yep.  Me too.  Now, hold still, I need to find something,” she said as she reached down in the makeshift backpack holding Thomas to try and find her left inside pocket.

“What finding?”

“These,” Regina said as she pulled two cords out.

Thomas bit at one of the dangling ends as they rose out of the bag.

“You're bored, aren't you?” Regina asked.

“Yes.”

“Sorry.  Just give me a few minutes to talk to Artemis, and we'll get some food, alright,” Regina said as she started connecting the cords from her tablet to the now exposed control panel.

A few taps on the tablet and one cord rearrangement later, Regina saw a connected message appear on the program she was running on her tablet.  “Well... at least something is going the way I planned it,” she said as she sat down and put her back against the base of the tower.

“Your hair run away,” Thomas stated.

“What?” Regina asked.  She reached up to feel her hair, but didn't feel anything amiss.  She brought her hand back down to look at it.  As sure as Thomas had said it, her hands were covered in the blue dye she had recently used to temporarily color her hair.  “I guess you're right.  Do I look funny now?”

“Yes.”

Regina smiled, as she started tapping away on her tablet.  “Let's see what Artemis is up to tonight.”

The screen changed to a small icon indicating that a call being attempted.

“Pick up.  Pick up.  Pick up,” Regina repeated as she hopefully watched her tablet's screen.

“Hello?” came a reply as the screen changed to a video feed showing a balding Japanese man in his late forties.

“Artemis, it's Regina,” she replied with a hopeful smile.

“Natali8! Is that you?” Artemis asked in a surprised tone.

“Yeah, it's me.  Sorry, I'm in the rain, I know the video isn't that great,” Regina replied.

“You will catch a cold that way,” Artemis said.

“Yeah, that's what I hear.  Anyway, can I get you to do me a favor, for old time sake?”

“Is this a small favor, like helping you get some new identification documents?  Or is this a big favor?” asked Artemis.

Regina bit her lip for a moment before responding.  “It's a big favor.”

“How big?  Are we talking corporate take down, exposing a politician, or a good old-fashioned heist?” Artemis asked, somewhat intrigued.

“The heist is done.  But the follow up has gotten very messy,” Regina quickly replied.

“How messy?” Artemis asked cautiously.

“Let's just say the goons that came into my empty hotel room at the Kogami didn't stop to ask questions or try to arrest me.”

“Holy Kitzle!  That was you!?” Artemis exclaimed.

“Yeah, that was me,” Regina replied reluctantly.

“You are all they are talking about right now on Net3!  The geeks are trying to dissect video showing you entering the hotel yesterday, trying to figure out what types of equipment you could have fit in your bags, and some have even been speculating as to what your Splice Cat's name is.  Seems that some of the more seasoned netventurers have managed to piece together times and front desk recordings to figure out the fake name you used to check in there.  Someone even got ahold of some drone footage that shows you making your, shall I say daring, escape from the Kogami.  Wow!” Artemis said in what seemed like one breath.  “Wait, are you okay?”

“I've been a whole lot better in my days.  But me and Thomas are okay.” Regina replied.

“No one really knows what happened after the crash.  They've been trying, but they haven't found you yet.”

“Good.  And I hope to be far away and gone without a trace when they figure out what happened.  But, I don't think it will take them long once the sun comes up.”

“Oh, why's that?  Is the famous Cobalt Code Thief getting sloppy?” Artemis asked curiously.

“Accidents happen lot,” Thomas said, jumping into the conversation.

Regina looked over at Thomas and made a shushing expression.

“Was that the tomcat himself?” asked Artemis.

“Yeah, that's him. But please, stay focused for me,” Regina said, turning her attention back to the call.

“Sorry.  Sorry.  Yeah, um okay.  So, what do you need from me?” Artemis said in a serious tone.

“I need you to help me figure out who's doing this to me,” Regina said sternly.

“A tall order.  What do you got?” Artemis asked.

“I got a lot of files form MPHarm, including the one file they sent me in there for,” replied Regina.

“Who dropped the files to you?”

Regina hadn't thought about it since everything had started, but she suddenly remembered that Thomas's video feed had, in fact, been interrupted when he was at the pickup site.  “I actually don't know.  Thomas did the pickup, but the transmission of the feed was disrupted, and I started on the job right after he got back.”

“That is a nooby mistake, Natali8,” Artemis said, somewhat surprised.

“Yeah, I was on a tight deadline, and the data stick they sent was encrypted, so I got busy doing that.  My gut told me to get out then, but the thought of all that money, and no sign of anything else going wrong, kept me from listening,” Regina said, mad at herself for making such an easy mistake.

“Well, at least you had a decent enough getaway plan.  But next time take a pistol with you to take out any drones in your path,” Artemis said with a chuckle.

“First, that's not funny.  Second, I do carry one, but shooting down drones with a pistol while gliding through the air is bit more difficult than you might imagine,” Regina said, suddenly very seriously.

“Sorry.  Alright, I'm in.  Curiously though, what was the pay?” asked Artemis.

“Fifteen mil,” Regina stated.

“Well... at least I see why you hesitated.  What's my take for helping?”

“You can have it all.  Plus whatever else we can take from this bastard.  I just wanna see the look on his face when he realizes he fucked with the wrong woman,” Regina replied with a harsh tone.

“That bad, huh?”

Regina looked over at Thomas, who was patiently waiting on her to finish her conversation.  “More than you know.”

“Can you go ahead and send me what you got?” Artemis questioned.

“Yeah, just send me the location you want me to drop the files in.  It might take a little bit though.  It's a few terabytes worth.”

“Here you go,” Artemis said.

A link popped up on Regina's tablet.  She tapped on the tablet for a few moments.  “Okay, it's on its way to you.”

“I see the files coming in.  Looks like a good connection, so it will probably take about a half hour or so,” Artemis said as he looked off screen.  “Say, do you still use a local storage device on Thomas's camera?”

“Sure do.  For just such occasions, actually.  Though I've never had to use it,” Regina said looking down to the camera on Thomas's harness.

“Amzle!  Alright, send a copy once you get it pulled, and you start taking a look at that on your way down here,” Artemis said, returning his gaze to the screen and conversation with Regina.

“Down where?” asked Regina.

“We can't be talking like this much longer.  Locater services will be able to find you,” Artemis stated matter-of-factly.

“Probably not.  Well, not unless they've got considerably more skills than I do,” Regina replied with a cocky smile.

Artemis looked confused.  “This came in as a standard connection, didn't it?”

Regina moved her data tablet to show Artemis the exposed control panel, and then tilted the tablet backwards to show the tower above her.

“Nice.  I'm going to have to remember that,” Artemis said with a smile.  “Security cameras?”

“On a loop,” Regina replied confidently.

“That's the girl I remember.  So, let's meet up where cyborgs dare not sleep in about two hours.  Suits?”

“Suits,” replied Regina.  “And thanks, EarAddaK8.”

Artemis nodded, then ended the call.

“Looks like I get to make good on that promise of food, old buddy.  So let's roll,” Regina said as she stood up.

Thomas wiggled his way out of the bag.  “I walk.”

Regina studied him for a moment.  “Are you sure?  Are you hurting?”

“Yes.  Less now,” Thomas replied.

“Alright then, in that case we'll take the elevator.  I know they have a video feed, but by the time they figure out who we are, we'll be gone.”

“Is food where cyborgs not sleep,” asked Thomas with a tilt of his head.

“Yep.  We're heading to Kusanagi's Kafe.”

-3-

Kusanagi's was a small net cafe located on the eleventh floor of the Thuman bank building.  A building famous for its private security services that had no connection to the outside world.  To say unscrupulous deals were made within its walls would most likely be a huge understatement.  But, as long as the occupants followed the rules, their goings and comings were never reported to anyone other than building management.  The only sign outside to indicate Regina had found the right place was a small meter-wide sign with a bar code printed across it.

“Food here?” asked Thomas.

“Yes.  You can have whatever you want,” Regina said as she looked down at her tablet to see what time it was.  It had been just over two hours since she'd spoken with Artemis, and she guessed he was probably already inside.  “Let's go.”

Regina walked up to the plain polished steel door and pushed it open.  The lobby was just as nondescript as the doors, with plain white walls, one other doorway on the back wall, and a small black desk sitting in the middle.  A single woman, wearing a very expensive black cheongsam, was sitting behind the desk.

“Greetings, and welcome to Kusanagi's.  I am Yoko.  How may I assist you today?” the woman asked.

Regina noticed, as she got closer that this was either an android or a cyborg.  Hard to tell.  But the body was undoubtedly a high quality model, as she could just barely make out the joint connections near its neck.

“Hi.  I need to go to the Red Room please,” Regina stated as she came to a stop in front of the desk.

“Reason for visit?” asked the cybernetic secretary.

“I'm here to get my friend here some noodles.  He really likes them,” Regina replied motioning towards Thomas.

“I don't,” Thomas stated, confused.

Regina's expression changed to one of displeasure.

Thomas lowered his head and said, “I like.”

Regina looked back up, and smiled, awaiting a response.

“Very well.  Please follow Tyko to your destination,” Yoko replied, pointing to a small black orb-shaped robot on the desk next to several others just like it.

The small bot jumped to life, with arms and legs springing from within it.  “Please follow me,” it stated cheerfully as it started giving off a diluted red glow.

“Thank you, Yoko,” Regina said as she started to follow the little robot.

“This way,” the little bot shouted, jumping off the desk, as the doors behind the desk opened automatically.

The doors opened into a long white hallway.  The only feature seemed to be several elevator entrances along the right side.  Tyko walked up to the middle elevator, and was followed closely by Regina and Thomas.

“Just a few seconds, please,” Tyko said hastily as it tapped its foot on the ground.

The elevator sounded its arrival, and the doors opened.

“Please step in,” Tyko said as he ran into the elevator.

Regina and Thomas entered the elevator and the doors soon closed behind them.  The small robot jumped up and pressed a button on the elevators panel.  The doors closed, and the elevator started moving downward.

“Ten seconds,” Tyko announced happily.

Regina counted the seconds in her head as she watched the fidgety little robot scuttle around on the elevator floor.  Sure enough, ten seconds later, the elevator doors opened again.

“This way,” the little bot said as it left the elevator, and took off down the hallway.

Regina maintained her slower pace, trying to take in her surroundings as they went.  This particular hallway still had a white ceiling and walls, but the carpet was a deep luscious red.

“Here we are, M'lady.  The Red Room!” Tyko said stopping in front of a mahogany-colored wood door about nine meters from the elevator.

“Thanks, Tyko,” Regina said as she stepped in front of the door.

“My pleasure,” Tyko said with a strange salute.  “Please come again,” it said as it took off back down the hallway.

“Let's see if anything has changed, shall we?” Regina said, looking down at Thomas.

“Yes,” Thomas replied.

Regina pushed open the wooden door, and walked in.  The room was dressed in every color of red one could imagine.  From the deepest and darkest to the tones as close to pink as one could go without crossing the line.  The colors also seemed to lighten as one looked up.  The carpet was a deep first blood kind of red wine, the tables looked to be either a ruby or classic polished cherry, chairs seemed to be different variations of cherry or apple, and the ceiling and its drapery seemed to be rose colored.

“Pretty,” stated Thomas.

“Yeah, it kind of is.  But try to stay on your toes.  We have some business to mix with our pleasure tonight,” Regina said, as she started walking through the room looking for Artemis, who should have already arrived.

Although the room seemed to have plenty of seating, she only saw a few patrons inside, none of which paid her any attention.  The only one who seemed somewhat out of place was one young man who seemed to be coding something as though his life depended on it.  And maybe it did.

Crossing behind one dividing wall, Regina spotted Artemis.  He wasn't hard to spot; he always wore this strange yellow knitted hat when he went out.  Regina thought it made him stand out too much, but at the same time she wandered around in a dark blue trench coat, and always had a three-foot-tall cat by her side.  Artemis was sitting alone in this divided off section at a booth near the end of the lane.  Only one other person was sitting in the section, they were wearing a hood so she couldn't see their face, but they looked to be paying her no attention, buried in whatever was on their laptop's screen.

Artemis noticed her approaching, and waved her over.  “Well, if it isn't the little white American girl who couldn't find her way into oPhone app when I first met her.  Let's see...” he said, as he started looking her over.  “Trench coat, impractical black knee-high boots, and an off-brand AR headset that doesn't look like you've taken it off in days.  You haven't changed a bit,” he said with a smile as Regina approached.  “Hair's new.  Is that how the kids are wearing it these days?”

“I assure you my boots are very practical, and I don't need fashion advice from someone who wears a butchered Pikawho for a hat,” Regina replied as she sat down in the booth, opposite Artemis.

“You look like shit,” Artemis said, leaning forward towards her.

“Thanks.  I look better than I feel, I assure you,” Regina replied.

Thomas hopped up into the booth beside Regina.  “Food?”

“Hey there, Tomcat.  How are you doing?” Artemis asked as Thomas settled in.

“Hello, Art.  Hurt.  Hungry,” Thomas replied.

Regina reached over and turned on the ordering system's screen that was in the middle of the table, and tilted it towards Thomas.  “Order whatever you want.”

“Yep,” Thomas stated enthusiastically as he pawed at the screen to scroll through the menu.

“Hey, I wanna go ahead and get something out of the way so you can be mad at me now instead of later,” Artemis said, turning his attention back to Regina.

Regina turned her head slightly and glanced around.

“No no, nothing like that.  I just brought in some old friends once I saw what we were looking at.  And before you go getting all mad, don't.  I don't want any money.  I doubt there is going to be any.  This is solely for you at this point,” Artemis said quickly, trying to explain himself.

“What do you mean?” Regina asked cautiously.

“Look, this probably goes deeper than either of us realize at this point.  So I called the old Tribul8 crew in to help out on this one,” Artemis said, leaning back and resting his arms casually on the back of the booth's seat.

“Artemis, you can't bring them into this.  Twenty Enforcers broke into two hotels rooms tonight, and did a whole fucking lot of shooting first, and asking zero fucking questions later,” Regina said alarmingly.

Artemis leaned forward again.  “Lower your voice a bit.  Look, I know this may come as a shock to you.  But let me assure you that we could not have done this by ourselves, at least not in the time frame you are gonna need it done in.  And don't worry, every member of the crew, who is still alive, owes their life to you and your quick thinking.  So don't even think about running out on them now.  They are already here.”

Regina was furious.  But tried her best to calm her breathing.  “Alright, start talking.”

“That a girl.  Time is, unfortunately, of the essence,” Artemis said with a smile.  He then reached up and made a motion with his hands towards someone.

Regina turned to see that the hooded figure was standing up.  She watched as the person started walking towards them, and slowly pulled their hood back, revealing the most shiny neon pink hair Regina had ever seen.  That pink hair framed a near perfectly symmetrical androgynous face below.  A face Regina recognized.  “Yosha, you crazy son of a bitch,” she said with a smile.

“Pronouns, please,” Yosha said.

“Sorry, my fault.  You crazy child of a bitch,” Regina said, correcting herself.

Artemis slid over, and Yosha took a seat next to him.

“How are you holding up?” Yosha asked, sitting their laptop on the table.

“I've been better,” Regina replied with a shrug.

“I bet.  How are you doing, Thomas?” Yosha asked, looking over at the cat.

“Been better,” replied Thomas.

“Well let's get to it, huh?” Yosha said, pressing a button on the laptop.

Regina watched as several components were displayed on the screen.  The only thing she recognized was the name at the top of the screen.  CEL P7.  “What am I looking at?”

“This is apparently what you were sent in to find, from what I understand.”

Regina nodded.

“Well this is CEL P7, a brand new interaction enhancement drug made by our friends at MPHarm.  This thing hasn't even been announced to stockholders yet.  Otherwise their stock would have seen a swift uptick,” Yosha said, somewhat excitedly.

“So what does it do?” Regina asked.

“You've used Regenerzon K before when diving.  Like during the China job we did two years ago when we had to pull that little princess out of that slave trade org.  It's like speed for computer junkies, right?  Well, this little pill does that, but better.  Plus, it even increases the physical interaction you'd get from a dive suit by slowing down some of your physical responses, and speeding up others, like your hands and arms,” Yosha finished with a hand motion to make it seem as though their brain was exploding.  “It's quite exciting.  Ya know, if it works like they hope it does.”

“Will it?” Regina asked, suddenly very curious.  “I mean, without melting my brain and all that kind of stuff.”

“Maybe...  Probably.  I don't know.  But they sure think it will.  They just sent a testing request for it today.  Or yesterday, now that it's after midnight,” Yosha said pushing a button to display the documents that had been submitted by MPHarm.

“Fuck,” was the only word Regina could say at that moment.

“Food.” Thomas stated, as a waitress started coming towards the table.

“Who ordered the Kansas City Strip?” the waitress asked as she approached the table.

“Mine,” Thomas said happily.

The waitress looked Thomas over, shrugged, and sat the plate down in front of Thomas.  “Enjoy.”

“Will,” Thomas said.

“Steak?  Are you sure you're a cat?” Artemis asked.

Thomas looked towards Artemis and produced a goofy toothy grin.  “Meow.”

Thomas then started eating the steak without any table grace or manners to speak of.

Regina turned her attention from Thomas's socially inappropriate eating habits, and back to Yosha.  “Then it makes sense that that was what I was sent to get.  Especially if it actually does all of that without turning up veggies.”

“Yeah, but then there's the frack of it all,” Artemis said as Yosha closed the laptop.  “It wasn't another pharmaceutical company, or even a conglomerate with pharm co ties that hired you for that run.”

“I'll have to admit, I'm pretty damn interested in who did, then,” Regina replied.

“How close did you inspect that video from Thomas's rig cam?” Artemis asked.

“Pretty fucking closely.  Aside from the one suit who was dropping the stick to Thomas, there wasn't anyone else in the alley.  There were two vehicles on adjacent streets.  One blue sedan, and one white van.  And aside from Mr. $600 Tie taking way too long to deliver a data stick, there didn't seem to be anything else to take away from it.  He was obviously communicating with someone on his headset, but I haven't worked out how since it seemed to be a dead zone for broadcast,” Regina said.

“That's what I thought, too.  But it's not what Amina thought,” Artemis said, sliding a folded piece of paper across the table towards Regina.

Regina picked the paper up and opened it.  It was a frequency.  She pulled her data tablet out and connected a cord from it to a port on Thomas's headset, and tapped out a few commands.  She then disconnected it from Thomas's headset and connected it to her own.  She quickly repeated the program actions on her tablet, and disconnected the cord.