Chapter One—Hitomo Luxury Sweets

“John,” Kyle said.

“Yeah?”

“Did you zap the loot?”

“Of course I did. You don’t think I’d forget, do you?”

“Of course not. I’m just checking.”

They were in the basement of the Hitomo Luxury Sweets. The entire building, a modest forty-seven floors, was theirs to do as they pleased. The structure was owned by a shell corp well hidden from Jon and Kyle’s personal ownership.

Some of the floors were occupied by real tenants. The floors John and Kyle wanted for their own personal use were tenanted by on-paper individuals, but in reality, no one lived on those floors.

For now, the sub-basement was in use by the two men. They had deactivated the elevator and blocked off the stairs. The only way in was through a secret lift Kyle had installed when the building went up.

Kyle left the holo vid room and went into the garage where they had the money and other loot in bags. It was a good thing the dollars weren’t in paper cash, otherwise they’d have needed a truck to haul it all. A few data chips was all it took. The rest of the room was used to store the relics for Koji’s safe.

Kyle chuckled. “Dumbass.”

“Say, Kyle,” John said, scratching his head. “You really think this loot’s worth what they said on the holo net?”

“I sure do,” he said. He laughed. “Did you see the look on their faces?”

John chuckled.

“So you said we were gonna have some fun?”

“Yeah,” Kyle said, glancing up at John. He shrugged irritated. “Don’t you remember that stupid-ass meat guy?”

“Oh right,” John said, picking up two of the black duffle bags and following Kyle out of the lower floor garage. “That pompous tech nerd that wants everyone to eat his new brand of printed meat.”

“Dog shit’s more edible that that,” Kyle said as he put his two bags on the table. “We can go through this stuff later.”

“Did you do research on him?”

“Yeah. ‘Course I did.”

“Okay. So we’re gonna rough him up?”

“Oh… yeah, we’re gonna do that all right—and more.”

“More?”

“You’ll see, John. You know this pompous asshole’s meat isn’t even fit for human consumption. Did you get the file I sent over?”

“Um…”

“Dammit, John. I told you to read it.”

“I’m sorry,” John said. “I was getting ready for that Koji operation. You know how May gets when we’re late.”

Kyle chuckled. “Yeah.”

It was clear he had very little care what May thought.

“You know she stood me up?”

John followed Kyle out of the room and into the secret lift. “Did you think she’d actually show up?”

“I dunno.”

John rolled his eyes.

The lift opened up at the penthouse, and since they were in a hurry, they hadn’t put the bags in. It was two small at three by three square feet. They would get the bags later, when they returned from the meat guy’s place.

Kyle glanced at the darkening city skyline, bright neon in the entertainment sector clearly visible. The meat guy’s place was in the upscale district of Life City.

John moved up and pushed the button that made a part of the wall slink back to reveal a secret room with benches, tables, and weapons racks.

Together the two men situated themselves in the room.

“So what are we going to need?” John asked.

“Security is pretty tight at the our overlord’s place. Going to have to break in while avoiding most of the guards. We’ll need the bots,” he said grasping for the little drones. “Probably going to need some aura dampening crystals, too. I don’t know if he has any mages on the payroll.”

“Best to be safe.”

“Yeah.”

Kyle handed John an aura dampening bracelet, then strapped his own on. He looked down at himself, then at John. They were both wearing business suits.

“These okay?”

“Yeah, why not?”

John nodded. “So what’s the plan of action?”

“We need these,” Kyle said, handing him one of the silenced pistols they kept ready with the silencers screwed on. He handed John a few more energy clips and the holster.

“That’s kind of a lot of ammo.”

“There’s a lot of guards. What are you scared, big guy?”

John scoffed. “Just wondering”

“Don’t worry,” Kyle said. “I’ve got everything under control. Just trust me.”

“I do.”

“I know you do.”

“So what are you thinkijng?” John asked.

“I’ll tell you on the way. Let’s go get the car.”

“All right.”

The room was small. Kyle had to duck and dodge John as he turned and walked back out of the room. Kyle holstered his pistol under his left arm as John closed the hidden door behind him.

“I wish we could grab a bite to eat before we leave.”

“Nah,” Kyle said. “There’s a sushi place on the way.”

“I hate sushi.”

“Hells, man. Noodles. They have noodles too.”

“All right.”

“I’ll tell you the plan on the way.”

“Kay.”