Chương 113: Book 2 - Chapter 31 - Hostage Negotiations

I walked back to my truck calmly, climbed into the driver's seat, then repeatedly smashed the steering wheel with my fist in frustration.

"Nyx, what are the chances of you convincing a higher up to disconnect Helen's AI?" Without having a valid reason? None. She is doing her part in preventing the antithesis from spreading, and exterminating them when she finds them. By Protector standards, she has just as much right to be a samurai as you do.

"Wonderful," I replied, punching the wheel one last time.

"I know I started this pissing match, but I figured I could handle it as long as I didn't give Helen an easy target. I was hoping she'd back down once I proved my bears could hold the line." I rested my head against the steering wheel.

"Now that she has Alan, I'm running out of options… why the fuck did he leave the house?" I tracked his movements, and he visited the home of Sandra Miller. She's fourteen, and trying to provide for two younger sisters. It appears like he dropped off a care package for them. I felt one of my eyes twitch.

"The little shit has a girlfriend? That's why he got kidnapped?" I cannot determine the full nature of their relationship.

"Fuck it, doesn't matter. He always judges me for being too reckless, I'll chew him out for his double standards later. Assuming I can save him," I pulled out the piece of paper and stared at it, while I got my mind in order.

"Helen wants to meet me at five, that's less than two hours from now, in sector eighty-six. I could ignore her, but there's always the chance that she might kill Alan before I can do anything, so it's best to play along for now," I muttered.

"I should also call for backup, try and end things today." You actually expect her to show up?

"She'd be stupid to do so, but anything is possible," I replied.

"It's more likely that she'll send one of her minions to keep an eye on me, and contact me through some convoluted bullshit instead." I sighed.

"Two hours doesn't give me much time to prepare, so I should get started." I started the truck, and set it moving towards the shelter. I should have contacted the Family, but I had something else to handle first.

"Nyx… tell me what's in my class III catalog." — I could barely believe how busy sector eighty-six was when I flew over. There were several street markets, completely packed full of people, and even the side streets were busier than I was used to. People evidently felt safe when the local gangs were working together to protect the citizens, instead of fighting over territory. Rather than parking, I had my truck hover just above ground level so my squad and I could jump out.

As soon as we hit the ground, I sent a signal to my truck, having it rise to the roof level and idle there, just in case I needed it. Once I stepped out onto the main street people gave me a really wide berth. They obviously recognized me, or at least the bears, and no one wanted trouble, and that was just fine with me. My destination was the intersection at the dead center of the district. It didn't have any significance, as far as I could tell, beyond being a landmark, and that suited me just fine.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. It only took me a few minutes to arrive at the location. It was fairly empty, besides the squad of bears I'd stationed there earlier, and a small group of gangers keeping an eye on them. The gang members' eyes went wide when I walked up with a second squad. One of the kids scrambled off, probably to report to the gang's leaders.

Since there was only a few minutes until the meeting, I didn't have time to stop them, or explain right now. I used the time remaining to organize my troops, and use my augs to prepare for our confrontation. I kind of expected something to happen right when the clock hit five, but despite my expectations nothing did. I had to stand there for a couple more minutes, before someone contacted me.

"Scuse me, miss samurai lady? A man paid me to deliver this to you." It was a young kid, not much older than Jennifer. He was holding a crumpled paper bag and he looked terrified.

"You can leave it there," I told the kid. He gently put the thing down, and promptly booked it. I glanced over at Bandit, who was busy inspecting the package from a distance, and only when he gave me the all clear signal did I go over and pick it up. Inside the paper bag was a small rectangular brick of plastic. As soon as I had it in my hand, it started ringing. I nearly dropped it in surprise.

"The fuck is this?" I muttered, poking the screen on the front. After a few seconds, I managed to answer the call.

"Teddy, you were quite prompt, I like that," Helen's voice said, through the box.

"Yeah, well, I notice you're not here," I replied.

"You didn't even send one of your lackeys this time."

"We both know that would have been a bad move. You probably would have taken them hostage and tried to force a prisoner exchange. I don't want that."

"So what do you want, Helen?" I asked.

"To evacuate sector eighty-six?"

"I want you to stay out of my business, and stick to our deal, Teddy. Dropping troops in eighty-six was a cute attempt to head off my plans, but I'm not here to play games. Leave me to my work, so I can protect this city!" Helen said forcefully. I didn't say anything for a minute.

"Teddy, are you there?"

"I'm here," I replied simply.

"Then why aren't you saying anything? Do you not care about Alan's well being?" I audibly sighed.

"I care, Helen. He may be an idiot, but he's family. I was just working on something in my augs," I said.

"What the FUCK could you be working on that's more important than your brother's life?" Helen growled.

"Structural analysis," I replied. As soon as the numbers fit together, I sent the command to execute.

"Helen, can I give you some advice? No matter how good your tech is, you should never assume it's infallible." The line went quiet for a moment.

"What?"

"You know what the problem with your signal jamming is? If your opponent has enough surveillance it doesn't quite make you undetectable. What it does is create a giant dead spot in the surveillance that's almost as easy to track as a specific person, or vehicle." I could hear a faint crash echo out of the phone, followed by shouting.

"Say hello to Bob, and the other samurai will you? I'll be over to see you soon. I just need to explain my bears to the local gangs first,""Teddy…" I didn't bother listening to Helen's reply, I just hung up and chucked the phone at a nearby street kid. The parts were probably worth a couple of bucks anyways. As I sent a signal to my truck, calling it to my location, I waved at the slowly increasing mob of gang members forming up across the street.

"So, has someone in charge shown up yet?!" I yelled.

"I can explain the situation to you, but I have places to be so let's make this quick, ok?" The mob split up, revealing a younger man, and a scarred older woman. They approached me slowly, a couple of toughs at their backs. I really hoped this didn't take long, because I really wanted to get over to Helen's compound. Alan wasn't going to berate himself.