“It’s never come up.”
“That makes sense.”
Gomez’s flip phone buzzed. Not tonight. He took the phone out and opened it and looked at the text: MAKE CONTACT. It was Evgeny. He would use all caps.
He sighed and replied: DeSoto’s 1 hr.
“What’s that about?” Kat asked.
“Evgeny. He has our next job.”
“Tonight?”
“I’m not sure. I meet him in an hour. We’re going to eat some vat-grown meat first.”
◆◆◆
Gomez and Kat sat in the back bar of DeSoto’s when Evgeny and Mr. Li walked in.
“Gomez,” Evgeny said, pulling a chair out for himself. “And this is?”
“Kat. She’s part of the team. She was in Berlin.”
Evgeny smiled. “Ah yes, I remember. You were on comms during the Marzahn mission.”
“That’s right,” Kat said.
“I am Li. Pleased to meet you,” Mr. Li said offering his hand to Kat. They shook. “What is your role in the team?” Mr. Li asked with a smile.
“Security systems and comms,” Kat said. “I’m also good with guns and general ass-kicking.”
Mr. Li smiled again.
Jacob’s right, Gomez thought, there is something about this guy that just isn’t right.
“I guess you have something for us to do?” Gomez asked.
Mr. Li took an old fashioned flash drive out of his pocket and slid it across the table. “The instructions are on the drive. I believe you have the technology to read the drive?”
“We are called Retro Media,” Gomez said.
“So you are,” Mr. Li said.
Evgeny laughed.
“Do you want to give me a clue?” Gomez asked.
“We would prefer to not say much. It’s very sensitive, and we wouldn’t want anyone to overhear. Also, make sure the machine you open the drive with is not connected to the net,” Evgeny said.
“You’ve got my interest,” Gomez said.
“It is a hacking job,” Mr. Li said. “There are directions to a safe house in addition to the instructions.”
“Directions?”
“None of our operatives will be going with you. The people there are business partners, much like you,” Mr. Li said.
Gomez didn’t like how this was shaping up. He looked at Kat. The look on her face showed she didn’t like it much either. He turned back to Mr. Li. “And when this is done, they will give us what we need? What you owe us?”
“They will not have the goods,” Evgeny said. “There will be a meeting in the days following the hack. We need to be sure it is a success.”
“This is getting a little old, Evgeny. We did that first job for you, and you didn’t deliver. And now we have to wait until days after the added, bullshit job. It stinks.”
Evgeny shrugged. “There are things beyond my control, old friend. I am simply a pawn in a larger game.”
“Well, I don’t like being a pawn,” Gomez said. “It makes me not want to play the game. You should know that about me.”
“I understand your frustration,” Mr. Li said, holding his palms to the ceiling. “Trust me when I tell you, we are going on our orders. The SRS values its business partners. Evgeny and I value you, but our orders are what they are. I would love nothing more than to give you what you have due, but as I said, we are only going on our orders.”
“You did say that,” Gomez said. He was ready to break the deal off and come up with a new plan to break into Your Better Life. However, he couldn’t make that call alone. Jacob and the others would have to agree. They could always tell the SRS to forget it after they looked at the flash drive and had an idea of what the job entailed.
“Can we count on you?” Evgeny asked.
“Last time I checked, I haven’t gone back on my word.”
Mr. Li smiled again.
Gomez stared at him, resisting the urge to smash a bottle over his bald head.
Chapter 24
“It seems pretty simple,” Jacob said. “Maybe not easy, but simple.”
Earlier that day, Jacob asked Xia to come to Retro Media, they had a new job from the SRS and would need her help. He told her he didn’t think they could do it without her. Now she knew why. Kat had rigged the mall security system to display the instructions the SRS gave Gomez, and each of the screens showed the document.
“Maybe not easy? That’s an understatement,” Sandy said.
“I still think the key is multiple attacks to get the security system’s AI on its heels,” Gomez said.
“Not to mention the people on their side who’ll be trying to counter us,” Kat said.
“If we can get past the AI, the people on their side won’t be a problem,” Jacob said.
“Why hasn’t the SRS done this themselves? They have to have hackers,” Xia said.
“They have hackers who have tried,” Gomez said, “but the SRS is mostly a ground forces kind of operation. The best Chinese and Russian hackers feel the same way about the SRS that we do and would rather work for their governments or corporations. Regular old crime doesn’t pay as well as state-supported crime.”
“That makes sense,” Xia said.
Jacob looked at the displays again. “I don’t know,” he said. “I think we might need the kid’s help.” He looked at Gomez who was already shaking his head.
“No way,” Gomez said. “I just don’t want him to be a part of this whole thing.”
“We don’t have to bring him into the whole thing. Just this. We tell him it’s a standalone job,” Jacob said.
“One more person in there running an attack would be nice,” Kat said.
Gomez stared at the collection of displays. He closed his eyes and shook his head again. “I don’t like it, but you’re right. That Nazi AI is going to be tough. I’ll go get him, but if anything happens to that kid, I’m going to be pissed.”
Xia watched as Gomez went to the front of the store, closing the door behind him.
“Why’s he so protective of Two-Step?” she asked.
Kat sighed. “The kid reminds him of someone he knew in Berlin.”
“Knew?”
“He was killed on a mission
