After ten more minutes of silence, the two finally began to make their move. The other two officers had long since vacated the area, and Adam felt there was close to no chance of them being caught after so long. Though, he would have waited for more if he could have helped it. It was not too tight-balled to consider that a second ambush was close to being sprung with their close proximity to a tightly watched area.

But that would have forced the young man to lay in the snow for longer than he could bear. The snow had begun to pile up around Troy, to the point where a stronger blast of wind could cause a sizable mound to form over him. The AI didn't want to risk the possible frost-bite, hence their early departure.

“Just why did you want to track that car exactly? You realise we have a limited supply of those things, right?” Troy questioned the young man upon his feet again. A few seconds were spent trying to get a handful of snow out of his neck area, it having been shovelled in during the trip out of the bush. “Charlie already said he can't make more of them.”

Adam had thought about that, yes. But had also decided to ignore it, the possible rewards being far too high to ignore. There were some dangers of using their limited one-time use equipment with such high frequency, but they needed to be used when they would create a larger potential gain. Keeping items able to greatly improve one’s chance of survival was the perfect example of foolishness. Yes, there might have been a point in the future where they would once again need that item already used, but they wouldn't have been able to get to that point without it.

‘It was the perfect time to expend it, no matter the possible consequences. Though I do recommend we spend time practising your aim once again, when we have the required downtime,’ Adam answered, already trying to figure out the possible times to train. It would likely be after crossing the border and finding a place to settle down for another few weeks. If it was in the countryside again, it would be possible at that time. However… there were still some doubts if the young man would still be in good physical condition after their exit strategy. The river had been observed to have sharper edges than predicted, and a cut from them could leave a wound that required minimal movement.

“That doesn't really answer my question of why you wanted that car tracked. What do we get out of it?” Troy asked once again. A shame. Adam had initially decided to tell him outright but had then tried to wait a few moments to see if the man could figure it out on his own. It seemed that he was once again forced into a state of disappointment. Not that the AI had expected anything else, but still.

‘If you have followed along, it would be clear that the police force has realised more than a few facts about us. The first is that we are constantly searching through stores. The second is that we are searching for a specific item. And the third is that the item is extremely rare in a general shop, limiting the actual locations with the item to being three or less. Do you have an idea of why I needed the tracker on that car now?’

Troy didn't stop brushing snow off his clothes, but there was some force taken away, as the gears in the man's head began to turn in a whole new way. And with the eyebrows beginning to raise, the AI felt some small hope that he didn't need to constantly be the team's analyst. While he might never have the chance of becoming the brawn, due to his small weakness of no physical body, he was sure that Troy could have some thinking delegated to him. Humans had a brain for a reason, after all.

“So… they know what we are searching for, they know the exact locations of where the product is, and they are keeping watch over those locations in the hopes that we will go over to them?” Troy guessed. It was a good guess, but not exactly what Adam had been looking for.

‘They are indeed baiting us. This might let us go after smaller stores without too much to worry about, but there is a clear requirement that we visit one of the guarded stores. But, we don't know where those are, since we only have one of the locations noted down.’

“And that will change the moment that we look at the location of the tracker,” Troy concluded, putting his arms on his sides. The man stretched for a few moments. An understandable action, seeing as his back was still in the opinion of lying down being the optimal state.

‘Yes. Enough time has passed by now, so we should have a clear map on the route,’ Adam commented, as the man took out the small panel. It was one of the less-used devices that he had, and for good reason. There wasn't really any point where it was a needed item, except for the rare times that trackers were used. And that had been… weeks. Nearly a month, actually.

It took some time for the panel to turn on, more time than what had been expected. A small flicker came at first, making the AI fear that the gear had been damaged during the fall down the cliff earlier on. Charlie had not overseen the tracking system during repairs, after all, making Adam’s fear very believable. But… It turned out fine. After the initial moment of hazy flickering, everything came into focus, the screen adapting to the new restrictions put upon it. And the view on it was good news to the AI.

“A bit more into the city than I would have preferred, honestly,” Troy commented with a frown. The AI was just happy it wasn't too close to the station. They still had to worry about letting the police know they were there, after all. Adam was still unsure about just how it was occurring, but they always seemed to know. It was quite a conundrum since the AI always did his best to shut down every type of communication with the outside. There should have been no way to send out negative feedback.

… Somehow, Adam’s wording of his own problem made another series of ideas show themselves around. It was quite a peculiar idea, but… it made sense. It had not been seen in most of the models worked with, but there was always the chance of being modified at a later date. And if the suspicions were true, there was a chance that the AI had just found something that would prove invaluable to future scavenges.

Nevertheless, the two moved on with their plan. Troy walked on the outskirts of the city until he couldn't, and then walked straight towards the building they needed to visit. Still having access to the tracker, it was shown that the car had moved out from the shop, and had continued over to the station.

Or, Adam could only guess that it was in the city. He had never seen it in person, the group as a whole having valued it as too high-risk to venture into the very middle of the city. But the location of it, mixed with one of the maps shown throughout the city, made the AI have the conclusion of it being the station. Not like there were too many reasons to park in that sector anyway.

When they got within a block of the building, it became decently clear that they had found it. Most of the shops on the outskirts weren't the… most luxurious if it could be stated in such way. The further one got into the centre of the city, the more expensive things would be, and the quality would likewise increase. That was only decided from the average, of course, and there were shops of incredible size and quality farther out, but the average did show something close to the truth. For one, Adam did not doubt that the other shop with the needed item was just as close to the centre as the shop in front of them.

“How are we expecting to get inside? Not sure that there’s a back entrance to sneak into here,” Troy commented, standing on the side opposite of the shop. And the man was probably incorrect. Adam didn't dare doubt that the city was failing basic safety standards. But, he was just as sure that it was hidden in such a way that it could only be used as an exit. Which meant that they had to go through the main entrance.

And the main entrance was gated off with the poles, as the AI had come to expect. Going through the doors would not be possible for them, lest they would meet an end in a cell. And with no back-entrance, there was only one real option. The windows. But… there were no such things on the first floor. The shop had images showing its wares, yes, but there were no windows to interact with. The second floor, on the other hand, had more than the AI could ask for. And with it being a multi-floor shop, it would only require one simple thing.

‘Troy. Are you up for a climb? Because I think it would be appreciated greatly if you were.’

The aforementioned young man just looked at the building before sighing heavily. It required next to no context on what was being asked of him. And, even better, the man was not rejecting the idea like the AI had feared. It would have been such a waste of time to find a good argument for why it was needed.

After quickly agreeing on which window to go for, the man began his climb. It was a fairly easy one since the architecture of the building was so focused on intricate details. It could have been described as an older English style, giving out plenty of places to foot one’s hands and feet.

A normal person might still have had trouble with it, however. It was still the act of scaling a building, with the full knowledge that a misstep could lead to a head-first collision with the ground. Not the greatest way to die, and certainly not the least painful one.

But Troy just moved up and up, as if the idea hardly caused him to flinch. Adam looked at this with some form of curiosity, a man not fearing the danger he put himself in. Sure, there were many others like him, able to stand in the eyes of death without the slightest increase in pulse. Honestly, the young man had a harder time walking than putting himself in danger of lethal failure. Was the human brain just not able to comprehend it?

Or was it that the brain had just accepted the danger it was in? Had it grown tired of the constant anxiety that was brought from the great heights of a building, the large teeth of a predator, and the depths of the murky water? With how much had been tried, Adam feared that might just have been the real answer. In a way, it was perhaps a good thing, the man able to control himself in a situation where he needed it. But, it also had the potential to truly cause a danger to be even worse. What happened when Troy couldn't recognize the danger anymore, seeing it as a part of his life, the expectations on him being adapted fully? Adam was not yet sure what the answer was, but the AI was sure that it was not a good one.

With a steady speed, the man finally reached the window. It had some overhanging in front, allowing the man to stand next to it. From instinct, a hand reached the glass, allowing Adam to force his way into the system. Now was the time of action. They needed to be fast. But, before that, the AI needed to have a quick look into the details.