When he had risen in the morning, Owen had noted the gray overcast sky with satisfaction. Good day for some scouting, especially since I now know that my research at the library will be compromised by the Worm. Because he wanted to be very familiar with his potential escape route, he walked the ten miles to the South Mountain Reservation. South Orange Avenue, the most direct route, had little traffic owing to both the weather and the early hour. He made good time in spite of his stops to pick up some sandwiches and a pair of old style "lensed" vision enhancers (quaintly called "Binoculars"). When he had gotten high enough in the park to look down on Newstead he began to methodically analyze the visible security measures of Pym's mansion. By lunchtime, Owen knew this would be a very tough nut to crack.
Apparently, Hank Pym had turned the mansion into a combination home/barracks. Owen saw that the Humanis leader was using the local policlub membership as a live-in security force, and judging by the glimpses he caught of the patrols, they were expecting trouble. Each of the groups circulating just inside the property's high fence consisted of a handler with a hell hound and a guard with a gyro mounted minigun. As time went on Owen noticed at least 4 drones flying an inner pattern closer to the mansion. He noticed a number of "dead zones" where no patrols ever ventured, and surmised that they would contain hidden and deadly traps. With all the physical security, Owen was sure that the mansion was well guarded against magic intrusion also. As he considered the problems of entry through these defenses, Owen heard a disturbance in the woods behind him. Rather than wait, he dodged silently into the underbrush and moved away from his observation post.
Owen circled around until he was behind the disturbance. He then followed quietly back towards his lookout point. When he got to the edge of the woods he saw 3 camouflaged norm males armed with sniper rifles. He listened to their quiet conversation.
"See, I told you Mandrake was paranoid. There's nobody 'staring down at us'".
"Ok, but let's make damn sure before we report back. That fragger gives me the creeps, and I don't want to argue with any magic user unless I'm absolutely sure." said the group's leader.
The third said nothing but began to scan the tree line as the other two made careful survey of the area. Owen had been careful to leave no traces and was confident that he had not given himself away, but remained absolutely motionless. He knew that the eye of the third member of this outer perimeter patrol would be drawn to movement before anything else, and did not want to alert the guards that they had been under his observation. If he could help sew the seeds of doubt the magic user's alarm, he might find ways to exploit that later.
The guard who was scanning the tree line began to move towards the spot where Owen stood frozen. Glancing around Owen saw a bombardier nest in the branches of the tree to his right. Waiting until the guard's eyes glanced to the left, Glendower faded down and around behind the tree, quickly flicking a pebble at the nest. When the awakened squirrel chittered in protest and began dancing around on the branch, all eyes were drawn to the disturbance. Owen used the distraction to practice a ninjitsu technique which translated as "walking night's shadows" to flee the area undetected.
When Owen returned to Vailsburg he found a public telecomm and retrieved the latest info from the B&E group. He returned to his room and was shocked at the data his deckers had uncovered. There were several indications that within the next 24-48 hours a Mitsuhama subsidiary would make a pre-emptive move against Pym to undercut the merger efforts Shiawase had made. This was incredibly valuable data that Owen would never have even looked for. Damn! I've got to pay them something extra for this. Pym would give them a fortune for this kind of data. I've also got to hit the mansion tonight, or I may lose the thread I've been following. If Pym gets hit by Mitsu I may never find out anything more about the damn photo. I'd better get rolling!
After calling Felix with instructions to transfer another 175,000 nuyen to Gom, and assuring the troll it would be the last such payment he would require, Owen called the Newark fixer's number and laid out his hastily conceived plan. Gom naturally wanted time to put together assets and possibly find new wrinkles to increase his profits, but Owen was adamant about the job going off tonight. Glendower informed the fixer that the transfer represented the balance owed on the first job, the full balance for the second, travel expenses and fees. While Gom worked on transportation issues, Goldie arranged for the B&Eers to meet Owen in the waiting room of the train station at 6:00 that evening. Goldie would also be there with the money and to work out logistics.
The B&Eers were surprised at the call for another meet with their extravagant Johnson. Steeldog assumed it was bad news and didn't want to make the meet but Tina Louise, his usual ally, was strangely silent on the issue. Cyclops advised caution but said that money from this Johnson was too good to pass up and Barcelona was too curious to walk away. Eventually the entire group was gathered in the waiting room of the train station. Goldie arrived early but other than assuring them that Mr. Johnson was not pissed, would say no more about the reason for the meeting. At 6:00 Owen walked in.
Politely asking if everyone would join him in the Oyster Bar, where they could talk in privacy, Owen conducted everyone to a private room in the back whose door was guarded by a very tough looking dwarf. After refreshments were ordered and delivered, Owen turned on a white noise generator and began:
"First of all, let me say that I am delighted with the paydata that you have unearthed thus far. I trust that you have not acquired any unwanted attention?"
When nobody responded Owen continued "Excellent. Although our initial contract is not yet complete, I am so impressed by the quality of your work that I would like to offer you a job to run this evening. I have a need for a distraction to pull the security assets away from a guarded locale. Perhaps 2 hours of preparation and 5 minutes of mock attack. I don't require or expect any sustained contact with the security element, merely a distraction. The pay is, if I do say so myself, exceptional, but relates to the work that you have done so far. If you decline the job, I am informed I can get another team for perhaps a quarter of what I am willing to pay you. Are you interested?"
Even Steeldog kept his mouth shut as everyone at the table nodded. "Very well. You've unearthed some remarkable data which leads me to believe Mitsuhama may take a crack at Pym in the next 24-48 hours. I intend to beat them to the punch. I need a rigger to run a drone at Pym's mansion to draw the attention of at least 4 security drones. I need a decker to muck with the power company grid and give me a blackout. I need a magic user to toss enough mojo to keep the astral security off balance and I need muscle to make enough noise to grab the human guards' attention. This has to go off with absolutely clockwork precision, and for the night's work I will pay each of you 10,000 nuyen."
The sound of jaws falling open resounded in the room. 10,000 nuyen for a single night's work? It was like winning a lottery! After the Christmas glow dimmed, however, the team's survival instincts made them look for the unmentioned detail that would cost them their lives. Predictably, it was Steeldog who spoke up.
"Ok, Mr. Santa Clause Johnson, what ain't ya mentionin' that's gonna get us all cacked? I mean, it ain't that I don't trust ya, but I been around da block a couple a times an' I know deres no such thing as a free lunch. What's da catch?"
Owen politely responded "The 'catch' is that the security force consists of edgy Humanis policlubbers who have better weapons and equipment than you. If it comes to a showdown, you've got real problems. I can't speak to the magic side of the contest in either direction, but in terms of manpower, firepower and tech they are out of your league. I'm assuming the same is true in terms of magic. The reason I am paying so much is that your deckers uncovered data that Pym would have given a fortune for. You did not betray that information and I see that as something that I should encourage. As a further mark of my respect, if you feel the danger outweighs the reward, I will, even now, allow you to walk away, provided that you agree to remain my guests, and incommunicado for the next 6 hours. I think that is more than fair. Goldie, if I might speak to you privately for a moment, we will give these gentles a moment to consider their options."
When the Johnson and Goldie walked over to the corner, the B&Eers held their conference. Barcelona, the magic user, spoke first "Spirits! We take this in a heartbeat. The pretty boy gives us such a gift. We have faced worse for much less. I say yes."
Steeldog replied "It still smells ta me. Deres gotta be sumpin he ain't sayin an it'll probly get us all geeked. I dunno"
Cyclops said "It does sound almost too good to be true, and we have been fragged over by these 'golden runs' in the past, but I don't think we can walk away from this without kickin ourselves forever, if it turns out to be as simple as he says."
Roadrunner, the team's rigger, chimed in with "I'm not certain that kickin ourselves isn't better than geekin ourselves, but what the hell, I'm game."
When Hardwire simply nodded all eyes turned to Tina Louise. She said quietly, "I can't 'xactly 'splain why, but I know dis is upfront. He ain't lyin an he ain't hidin' nothin. I say we do it."
The ork's look kept Steeldog from commenting on her newly acquired psychic ability, but the Samurai did give Owen his best steel-eyed-death-stare. "We've agreed to do it, Mr. Johnson, but if ya lied about da set up, I personally guarantee I'll have yer hoop fer a hat."
Owen nodded seriously, but then couldn't help adding "I understand your intentions, but may I say, that you have hit upon a remarkably unappetizing image."
Even Steeldog had to smile at the table's laughter following this observation. The members of the team introduced themselves and the detailed planning began.
Owen checked his harness a final time before preparing to drop from his perch on the bottom of the stealth modified Wasp. The chopper had been set up so that any upward looking radar might be fooled by its absorbent sheathing. The one man craft was traveling in the gap between the high edge of low detection and low edge of high radar coverage and after dropping its human payload would both climb and drop to try and occupy the attention of any particularly attentive radar operator. That Goldie had volunteered to remote rig the chopper had surprised and pleased Owen, as it left Roadrunner free to rig the attack drone. He insisted on paying her at the same rate as the team, even though she had volunteered to do it for less. She still thought his LALO (Low Altitude, Low Opening) jump was madness, but, caught up in the excitement of the run's planning, she had agreed to pilot the craft.
The timing had to be precise for the insertion to work and at the predetermined moment, Owen rolled off the tiny stretcher slung beneath the Wasp and dropped into the darkness.
Barcelona's astral form, ally spirit and a pair of air elementals approached the mansion from the south. Her meat body was with Roadrunner in the van parked in the lot of the burned out ice-cream parlor 2 miles away. She had removed any magical gear which might conduct spells back to her body and was about to commence her attack.
Precisely on time Hardwire's attack knocked out the powergrid for Newstead and part of Livingston. Cyclops's defensive utilities had gotten her to the node she needed to disable area power and the other decker was now guarding and monitoring the elf woman's meat body. Although their Johnson was aware that the mansion had backup power and that the grid would be restored within minutes, he had insisted that the disorientation of a few seconds of darkness would be all that he needed. As her attack brought out black ice, she jacked out of the system, having made some of the quickest nuyen she had ever dreamed of.
As the lights went out Steeldog and Tina Louise opened fire on the mansion grounds from the woods to the north with a pair of minigrenade rifles. Firing incendiaries, tear gas and high explosives, they provided one minute of the loudest chaos imaginable. As soon as they had emptied their clips, they had ridden their trail bikes at high speed back to the van. It looked like they had gotten away clean when the outer perimeter patrol that the Johnson had warned them of opened fire with sniper rifles. Neither of the Samurai were particularly alarmed and as Steeldog provided suppressive fire with his new Ingram Super Mach 100, Tina Louise loaded her clip of smoke and tear gas rounds and opened fire. Because of the lack of wind, the smoke grenades provided enough cover for the pair to load their bikes into the van without taking any more fire. Knowing that the security element they had just encountered would be repositioning themselves to ambush the van further up the road, the Razors jumped the median and headed back in the other direction.
The Yellowjacket attack chopper hovering around the road's first curve was an unpleasant surprise.
Roadrunner loved "flying". Her CyberSpace Dalmatian drone had been equipped with some nasty toys, but she was more interested in buzzing her opposition than in blowing them up. Her attack from the east had drawn the attention (and fire) of eight of the hovering Guardian drones that surrounded the house, as well as at least one heat seeking missile. She had no idea where that one had come from, but it was only by switching from horizontal flight to hover mode when the alarm sounded that she was able to dodge the missile. At that point she figured she had done enough and was about to "fly home" when she got the trouble call from Steeldog and Tina Louise.
She quickly climbed to 1500 feet and observed a Yellowjacket helicopter chewing up the roadway of South Orange Avenue as it tried to destroy the van skidding around the curves. Because there were no straight-aways the attack chopper had not even unlimbered its missile pod, but was using its minigun to try to destroy the van. Realizing that her armament wouldn't do a thing to the armored attack craft, she sighed and sent her drone into a suicide dive at the craft's rotor. Although she jacked out before the drone died, she was sure that the Yellowjacket would leave her teammates alone.
Barcelona was amazed at the level of magical protection around the mansion. She had encountered hell hounds and elementals, watchers, and a mage. She was dodging as fast as she could, having drawn the magical assets of the mansion to the south. She wanted to avoid battle but astral space and real space were different concepts and she had to defend herself over a long retreat from the mansion grounds. In fact, her strength was waning when the mage who was pursuing her realized how far afield his astral form had been dragged and returned to his post. Heaving a sigh of relief, her spirit returned to her flesh as Roadrunner was starting the van. They pulled onto the roadway just behind an identical van containing their two teammates. The convoy traveled up South Orange avenue at a leisurely pace.
As Owen dropped into the blackness he began a slow count. At 8 he pulled the ripcord and as the black parasail deployed he watched the attack on the darkened mansion. He was concerned for his team as he saw the pair of Yellowjackets lifting from their concealed hangers. Drek! I missed that, I hope the team doesn't get nailed by aerial assets. I wouldn't want to end up unattractive headware, he thought as he grinned again at the image. He was relieved to see that one of the choppers had been deployed to counter the "real" attack from the west, but was concerned about the rotorcraft moving north. At least I scammed some of the heat away from the team, but if I'd known about choppers, I probably would have tried something else.
Owen landed on the roof of the mansion and gathered his chute just as the house generator relit the grounds. There was seven kinds of chaos going on down there with alarms blaring, dogs barking, men shouting and the helicopter doing a dance of frustration as they all tried in vain to find the attackers. When the guard with the sniper rifle came up onto the "widow's walk" at the apex of the building, Owen took his chance. As silently as possible, Owen lowered himself down the stairwell, and when the guard was distracted by a radio call, opened the door and slipped into the house.
Owen knew from the worm's blueprints and a little logic that the small rooms on the uppermost floor would contain servant quarters and security monitoring stations. He drew his "Goren Bee" squirter from the shoulder holster and began sneaking along the passageway. He knew he had to get off the floor before he was spotted as his hooded sneaksuit, rebreather mask and lowlight goggles would probably mark him as not belonging. He also had to find someplace to hide the black chute that was hanging out of his shoulder satchel.
When he saw that all of the stairways were set up with metal detectors he breathed a prayer of thanks for the equipment he had gotten from Goren and BeBop. If there were any internal monitoring devices that had not been reset by the power outage, he would register as unarmed and hopefully not be considered a threat. Of course, he had no defense against being actually seen by either human or video eyes, but that was not a problem he could address at the moment. When he got to the base of the stairs the voices that he heard approaching prompted him to duck into the darkened master bedroom and then slip into a large walk-in closet.
Frag me, Owen thought, I've lived in rooms smaller than this closet. This bastard must have 200 suits! Pushing through one wall of clothes and then another Owen found a wall safe. Oh, ho! And what do you keep in here Mr. Pym? Let's just have a look, shall we?
Owen studied the lock carefully. It looked like a biometric maglock as, in addition to the keypad, there was a hand pad which would scan finger and palm print, body temperature, etc before allowing the correct code to open the safe door. Looking very closely, Owen saw that there was a film of dust on the hand reader that was not present on the keypad. He immediately smelled a rat and deduced that the hand pad would probably set off alarms, or, at the very least, it would accumulate data on whomever activated it.
To avoid setting off any alarm, Owen removed a ceramic tube capped with two pull rings from his equipment belt. He unscrewed one end of the tube and drew out the length of monowire that it contained. Slipping the rings onto each hand he used the monowire to saw through the safe door's lower hinge. He then drew his Sten blade and pushing it through the metal, cut through the corner of the safe's door. It was arduous work because he did not want to disturb the maglock, but some 18 minutes later he had pried out the lower left corner of the still-locked, safe door, creating a large enough hole for him to empty the safe. He found quite an impressive collection of jewelry including a string of rare black pearls and a platinum necklace set with large fire opals. He also found several certified credsticks and a matched pair of hand tooled needlers. Although he estimated that the safe contained more than 1/2 a million nuyen worth of valuables, he was disappointed that he did not find any useful data. That's right, oh greediest of mortals, 1/2 a million's just not enough, is it? he asked himself. Placing the hinge inside, Owen had re-inserted the corner of the safe when he froze as he heard several muffled voices on the other side of the closet door.
Listening carefully, Owen heard some strange sounds. He slid to the floor and slowly extended a small plastic dental mirror under the door, moving it around until he could see what was going on in the room. A statuesque blonde woman, dressed in a shiny black latex sheath, (which left nothing to the imagination), was apparently preparing to whip a naked, (excited), athletic looking male for the amusement of a pair of scantily clad, twin, teenage girls. Every time I have work to do, the circus comes to town, Owen thought. Couldn't the de Sade family singers find someplace else to play? At that moment there was a loud knock at the bedroom door. Owen faded to the back of the closet, behind a rack of suits and clearly heard:
"Sorry, Security. Have to search the building. Orders. Everyone step into the hall. NOW." The Hell Hound's bark which punctuated the command spelled doom for Owen. He drew his pistol and combat blade and waited for the closet door to open.
As Owen heard the deviant club moving out, he shifted his position against the closet wall in order to prepare for an imminent attack, and felt it move. Quickly, he increased the pressure and found a seam in the wall. Pushing on the edge furthest from the seam Owen opened the concealed door and stepped into a tiny alcove. He quickly shut the hidden door behind him and shot the bolts just as the security team made a by-the-book search of the now empty closet.
Still expecting an attack from the Hell Hound, which could perceive in the astral as well as the physical, Owen held his breath and waited. When the para-animal did not kick up a fuss, he removed his rebreather and sniffed the air. The paint on the walls of the alcove had that tell-tale smell of the microbiologic life that had prevented magical invasion for years before the modern Fat Bacteria gasses had been developed. Pym probably had everything painted with that stuff to prevent magical spying. Well, might as well see what I've got here.
Owen unpacked the parasail from his shoulder satchel, rerolled it into a small bundle and sat on it. He activated a chemical litestick to give his goggles some light to work and then repacked the bag with the jewelry pieces, cataloging each one. I suspect Mr. Pym is much better off than even the decker's report said. Nobody leaves 1/2 a million nuyen in jewelry sitting in a closet safe unless they've got more money than they know what to do with. I could just dump the pieces in the bag, but when I try to move these, it might be better to have them in the felt cases Pym stored them in. I'll leave the needlers in their case too. Man, that's beautiful custom workmanship! Owen thought as he examined the pistols. I'll have to be careful with this bag now as the guns and credsticks will set off metal detectors.
Owen then examined the tiny alcove. By the weak luminescent glow he found a trapdoor near the outer wall of the building. None of this shows on the building plans, he thought. I'm glad I didn't try to take this guy at work. I bet his offices bear no relation at all to the filed plans. Opening the trap door he found a ladder built into the inside of the building's outer wall. He silently climbed down what he estimated was two floors, until he found another alcove.
Sneaking up to the alcove wall, Owen found an executive metal attaché case. He opened it and quickly realized that he had found Pym's bugout bag. The case contained 10 certified credsticks, each holding 50,000 nuyen. There were also 4 personal sticks with different names attached. There were 3 pages of rare stamps in plastic sleeves along with some 30 pages of hand written provenance for the stamps. Owen had no idea on the value of stamps, but knew that the pages tracing their history and proving their authenticity increased the stamps' value many times. There were also 3 plastic pages containing American Gold Eagles. Originally a 20 dollar face value coin of the 1800's, they were now such a numismatic rarity that Glendower was again shocked at the lack of security. I think I'll leave this here for the time being. I don't want to be so greedy that I can't move quickly.
Setting down the case, Owen focused on trying to hear if the room on the other side of the wall was occupied. He heard Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" playing and slowly opened the secret door. His goggles compensated for the lights in Pym's private study. Owen snuck over to the large room's only visible door, intending to lock it, only to find that the heavy steel door already had bolts thrown on its top, bottom and sides.
Owen approached the heavy drapes which formed a room within a room along one wall. He peeked in to see a healthy, attractive middle aged male, sitting stark naked in a vibrating recliner facing a wall of television monitors. As Owen watched the man took a crystal out of a refrigeration unit on the table next to his chair, popped it in his mouth and seconds later lost consciousness.
Pym's a SURGE junkie! Owen thought. He had read reports about the latest designer drug among the ultra-rich. Surge crystals were an off shoot of the pharmacological research that had produced Kamikaze. Where the combat drug was a tailored amphetamine, the genius who first produced Surge was looking for a psychoactive that would intensify emotional states. It was incredibly expensive because, like Owen's Sten blade, the crystals could only be formed in the zero-g environment of the orbital platforms.
Owen had read that the stuff was incredibly addictive, but that the jaded rich had chosen it as a drug to relieve the ennui associated with always having everything one wanted. The drug usually was used at parties where a single laughing jag could bring about a state of near total hysterical bliss for an entire room, or a lascivious remark could turn the same party into a week-long orgy. The problem was that when using Surge, a simple disagreement could also turn into a lethal bloodbath as the drug amplified any emotional state.
Pym must have video links to watch the circus performers in the bedrooms. He keeps himself calm and relaxed with the music and chair, all in a safe little womb, and watches the show until the drug has amplified his state of sexual desire and he becomes a rampaging sex beast. Then I'm sure he makes personal visits with each of the performers. Let's see if we can jog his emotional state in a different direction.
Owen turned off the music and the monitors, killed the lights and moved Pym's unconscious body from the recliner to the straight-backed wooden chair which sat across from the ornate desk. He used plastic restraints to bind the Humanis leader's wrists and ankles to the arms and legs of the chair. He shifted the desk lamp so that the high intensity light shown in Pym's face and waited.
Hank Pym came back to consciousness expecting a night of fun. When he didn't hear his beloved Mozart, his eyes came open with a start. He was tied up! He wasn't watching his live porn, He was staring into a bright light. There's someone in here. What do they want? What will they do to me? Oh, God, no! Pym thought as the terror began to take hold.
Owen sat behind the desk and waited in silence as Pym demanded release, threatened mayhem and eventually screamed for help. When he judged that the multi-multi-millionaire was in the right state of mind, Owen said "Shut up". He was immediately "rewarded" by Pym's loss of control of both his bladder and bowels. Reaching up to shift the light so that it illuminated the facsimile of the picture from Dunkelzahn's will, Owen said "Tell me about this."
As terrified as he was, Pym's first reaction was to deny knowing anything about the photo. After a few seconds Owen sighed and pushed back his chair from the desk. The sound of his unknown assailants approach sent Pym over the edge.
"All right, all right, I was there, I was there, don't torture me, please don't torture me. I'll tell you everything..anything, please, please, sit down, sit down, don't come over here." Owen stopped moving around the desk but did not sit down.
"It was in Paris, it was 22 years ago... we caught the elf without his minders... He was the Dragon's pet... Dunkelzahn...We did it under orders from Alamos 20,000... Central leaked information that there was a plot to release a toxic bio-agent that would kill millions and lay it at the dragon's door, when the keeb came looking for clues we snatched him and executed him. The photo was sent to the dragon weeks later as a warning."
Owen returned to his seat and as the prisoner began to relax he said "Again"
"Could I please get cleaned up a little, this is really uncomfortable."
Owen turned the lamp back into Pym's face and said "Again"
"Hey, I'm cooperating... right? There's no need to..."
The "THUNK" of a composite throwing spike hitting the high back of the wooden chair next to Pym's head ended conversation along those lines. Pym began crying and retelling the story, this time in great detail. When he finished Owen said "Again" and each time compared details. After the sixth retelling he felt he had gotten at the truth and now knew his next stop would not be FDC but back home to get the last of the murderers. He was now faced with the problem of what to do with Pym.
As he got up to retrieve his throwing spike Pym began to scream like a child "NO! NO! NO! You're going to kill me now! I know, I know! It's not fair! I told you everything! Please! Please! Don't kill me! I'll give you anything! Anything! You can have it all! Just PLEEEASE don't kill me! Look, look...right on the desk...right in front of you that paperweight...it's a 1/2 pound of solid orichalcum, I swear...it's yours...and...and in the top drawer there are some credsticks...take them, please...the swords on the wall, they are priceless, Japanese national treasures..."
Owen hesitated and the negotiator thought his approach was working. "There's lots you could take with you, enough to make you rich, and you can have it all if you just don't kill me...Look, see that painting on the wall, behind it there is a safe. The combination is 20#26872#4927*1355371211 ... just don't touch the hand pad because it will set off the alarm..."
When Owen didn't move Pym had another panic attack "Oh, GOD, I swear, I swear I'm not trying to trick you...you'll kill me before my people can even get in here...I swear you can have everything...open the safe, please...It'll be worth it, please..."
Owen punched in the numbers on the keypad and opened the safe without any apparent alarms sounding. Pym said "See, See I wasn't lying...that pouch has 10 diamonds in it..take it...there's other things...take it all just let me live," and broke down sobbing. Owen tossed the credsticks, pouch and data chips from the safe into his bag. He also retrieved a heavy sheet of stiff paper written in Japanese which judged the swords to be authentic. He reverently took the ancient weapons down from their display stand and after packing them with the items from the desk, he again moved to retrieve his spike. Pym screamed "Take the Fairlight!" Owen saw that on a shelf by the trideo was a beautiful Fairlight Excalibur deck. As he put the deck in it's carry case, Pym babbled, "Go out through the secret door. Go down the ladder and follow the right wall...after 20 paces take a high step and another high step as there are two strings of monowire about 8 inches off the ground. After that just follow the wall to the end. There will be a bike, some weapons and another keypad. Don't touch the hand pad but put in the same number as the safe. The door will open in 20 seconds but will only stay open for 4. You'll be in a drainage pipe about 100 yards from the road." When Owen finally reached over and pulled the spike out of the chair, Pym screamed and fainted.
Owen picked up Pym's bugout bag on his way out. Loaded with swag he reflected as he climbed down the ladder: Well if he didn't lie, this escape is a hell of a lot easier than the one I had planned. I'd like to study the swords and review the data chips, but as soon as I get out of here I've got to pick up my gear and head home. Since I finally know the score I've got to capitalize on it before the game changes again.
I wonder if Pym will survive. Owen thought. I can't say I care much, one way or the other, but I'd be curious to see which gets him first, the terror of being tied up naked and alone with a brain full of Surge or Mitsu's kick squad. Neither would be a very pleasant way to die, but from what I know of his dealings with Humanis, he's earned his end. He's got that Doc Wagon bracelet, probably a super platinum level contract, but that den is nearly impregnable. If he worries himself into a coronary I wonder if they'll be able to break in and revive him before the damage is irreparable. Well, I've got more immediate concerns, like how I get all of this booty on the plane home.