"There's a journalist nad Romano. He needs an elite team for an infiltration job. I think you're suited for it."
Rogue's voice had a kind of unhurried control to it that was hard to put a na on.
"What's the pay?"
That was Vito's first question.
"Don't worry. Our dia friend is generous. He's willing to spend."
Rogue liked this kind of direct rc. In her experience, the direct ones were easiest to manage and least likely to cause complications.
"Good. Send the mission file and Romano's contact."
With a guarantee of decent pay, Vito agreed without further negotiation.
"Very well. Good luck to you both."
Rogue handed Vito a chip and walked away from the booth with a call already to her ear. Being the queen of the Afterlife wasn't easy. There was always another call.
Vito read the chip. After going through the full mission, he muttered to himself:
"Interesting. He wants to make headlines."
He passed the chip to Jackie and called Romano.
Ring ring.
"Hello? Who's this?"
"My na is Vito. The rc Rogue found for you."
"Oh, it's you! Rogue ntioned you. When will you—"
"Better not to go into details over the phone. Can we et in person?"
Romano paused, then agreed.
"Sure. Where do you want to et?"
"Wild Wolf bar, Heywood. Work for you?"
"Done."
Call ended.
"Jackie. How's it looking? Finished reading?"
"Finished. This is what you get from the Afterlife. This is sothing."
"Good. Forward Bug a copy of the mission file. Let her prepare. We'll et the client at the Wild Wolf."
Jackie pushed down his excitent about their first Afterlife commission, called T-Bug, and they drove back to the Wild Wolf.
They'd been in a booth half an hour when the client arrived. Night City's elevated transit really did save ti.
Romano ca upstairs with Pepe guiding him. He'd been pressing Rogue about these rcs for a while, and now he was eting them in person.
"Hello. I'm Romano. A journalist."
"Hello. I'm Vito. This is Jackie Welles."
"Good. Let's get straight to it. When can you execute?"
Romano looked like a man in a hurry.
"If you want, two hours from now. We're stealing data from a Biotechnica subsidiary. It's not Konpeki Plaza. No need to be precious about it."
Vito shrugged.
Hearing that, Romano started having second thoughts. This person didn't feel reliable.
"Listen. This is Biotechnica. Even a subsidiary isn't sowhere just anyone can walk into. I'm paying serious money here. Don't screw this up."
Jackie, seeing Romano starting to spiral, spoke up.
"Relax. Our crew operates on two principles: precise and efficient. If Vito says it can be done, it gets done."
Romano had no real alternative. He reined himself in and laid out his requirents.
"Fine. I can only trust you on this. But I'm warning you — this job cannot turn into a spectacle. No gunfight inside a Biotechnica building for the whole city to watch. You go in, you find the machine, you download the data, you walk out quietly."
Vito listened, then extended his right hand.
"Sounds like we already have the sa plan. Shake on it, Mr. Romano. You sit in the Wild Wolf and drink for an afternoon. After dinner, you'll have what you ca for."
Romano shook his hand.
"Let's hope so."
"You won't be disappointed. Let's go, Jackie. Pepe, get our client a bottle of tequila. Drinks are on ."
They drove to the Biotechnica T3 branch. These two had been covering ground all day.
"Hey, Bug. How's the Biotechnica side? Got what we need?"
"I went through their power systems and pulled the building layout. Sending it to you now. But are you seriously going into a corporate building in broad daylight to steal data?"
"Don't worry about it. One more thing. I need you to get into their subnet and share cara access. Don't take full control. We don't want to spook anyone."
"That's smart. But how are you getting in?"
"I find a Biotechnica employee. Use the face-spoofing equipnt to copy his facial ID. Walk in. Once I'm inside, you locate their servers through the caras. I upload the virus, download the data, walk out."
"OK. If it's that simple, I only need eleven minutes."
End call. They pulled up at the Biotechnica T3 branch. An eastern district operation, set up specifically to handle new Badlands projects.
"All right. Let's find ourselves a lucky volunteer."
Vito started watching the people around them.
Jackie was confused.
"How do you know which ones are Biotechnica?"
Vito passed him a cigarette and pointed.
"This isn't the city center. Biotechnica is the only company in this entire area. Anyone in a suit is a corpo drone."
Soon enough, a man about Vito's build in a full corporate suit ca into view.
"Him. Heading for the parking structure. Follow him."
Jackie drove slowly after the man.
Just as he was reaching his car, Vito had already hacked the surrounding caras and co up behind him.
"Hope you're not a Trauma Team mber."
Vito's wrist flicked. A micro-injector pressed silently into the side of the corpo's neck. High-efficiency anesthetic hit in an instant. The man went limp. Vito caught him smoothly and folded him into the Magician.
"All right, Jackie. Drive a few laps. I need to get a shielding chip on him."
Vito connected the portable terminal to the corpo's data port.
"Bug. Scan his behavioral logs and personal profile."
"OK. One second."
Vito pulled out a portable scanner and started reading the corpo's facial ID, muttering quietly:
"Lucky man. This was equipnt I prepared for the Night Envoy identity. I was actually thinking about getting Yorinobu's face at so point."
"Done. Santos Rogers. Biotechnica employee. Access level 02. He can move through most areas of the subsidiary, but the core zones need special clearance. You'll need to improvise to get into the server room once you're inside."
One hour later.
Facial ID scan complete. Vito uploaded the data to the face-spoofing device, put it on, and asked Jackie:
"How do I look?"
"Close enough to the suit dog."
"Why does that feel like you're insulting ?"
Vito pulled on the suit and got used to his new face.
"All right, Bug. Ten minutes. Here's hoping technology can change our lives."
"An unexamined life is not worth living."
"Plato? Interesting, Bug."
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