by neoraichu

Skunk seemed a bit sullen as she ate her pretzel.

'Maybe if she had something else to think about,' mused Lexi, 'it might lighten her mood.'

"I wonder how the boys are doing?" she asked.

Skunk blinked at looked into her eyes.

"I don't think it would hurt to check on them."

Her eyes lit up.

'Ah, she's already happier,' she mused as she used the communicator to call up Tek.

"Hello, it's your credit," said Tek, "Oh... hey Lexi, what'cha need?"

"Just... checking in before Skunk and I leave," she replied, "Any word on Pink?"

A 3-D image of the mall appeared above Lexi's wrist. Some areas were highlighted.

"Well, I've noticed that someone hacked into the Mall Security System, but the results were... rather amateurish to say the least."

"How so?" she asked.

"Well, only some of the security cameras were blacked out," he mused, "but we've been able to track Pink's movements upwards in the Mall structure. It's pretty obvious he was going to meet with his gang up on the roof."

"Aerial extraction?"

"Most likely."

"So you're on the roof?" she asked.

"Yes, but we haven't seen Pink yet," he replied, "Not that there aren't plenty of places to hide on the roof."

"So you're waiting to see where any flying transports come to land?"

"Correct," he replied, "then we just arrest Pink when he comes out to board it. I have enough scanners set up so that there's no place to land that we won't notice."

"Good idea," she said.

"So I'm sure that we won't need your backup for something as simple as this."

"Perish the thought," she smirked.

"I better close the channel before Duck's disapproving stare bores a hole into the back of my skull."

"Ace did say to keep coms closed," said Duck.

"Yeah, well I don't think talking to your stock broker right now rises to the level of a crisis," replied the coyote.

"It would if you guys knew just how many credits I have on the..."

Lexi closed the channel as she glanced at Skunk. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"There is something that smells fishy in Denmark," she replied as she called up the same image they had just seen from Tek's com.

"How did you record that?"

"It's just one of the functions of my cyberbrain," she answered.

Lexi looked at the image. "I don't see anything wrong..." she began.

"It feels like the data we're looking at from the hacking... is too conveniently flawed."

"How so?"

"It's like they want to make you think that Pink is going up to the roof," she answered.

"Where else could he go?" asked Lexi.

She inverted the image so that places not covered by cameras were highlighted. This included places where the cameras were shut off as well as places that had no cameras at all.

Lexi pointed at some lines going from just below the roof down to beneath the lowest basement level.

"What are these?" she asked.

"They are access tubes that go down into the old sewer system," replied Skunk.

"Well those were sealed off a long time ago."

"But not secured very well," she mused, "No security cameras, no alarm contacts, no inspections... It would really only take a small cutting torch to break in."

"What good would that do?"

"Once in, you could go down to the sewers without being detected," she replied.

"Ew, that sounds nasty," said Lexi.

"Here," said Skunk as she pointed at the image, "This chute intersects the path projected for Pink to get to the roof."

"So he could go down while the boys search the roof?" she asked, "Perhaps we should call Tek and let him know this."

Skunk tried to activate her com, but only static came out.

"Damn, the coms are being jammed," mused Lexi, "We can't tell them what we've noticed... well, I'm sure Tek will figure it out soon enough."

"If he doesn't get it fast enough, then Pink will surely get away."

"So are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Lexi with a grin.

"That we should take a little 'detour' on the way back to base?" replied Skunk, "I've already to plot the shortest route from here to the sewers."

"We might get in a little trouble, but it's better to act now and ask forgiveness later than wait for permission and have to apologize for failing."

"Oui."

The two got up and headed for the nearest shaft into the sewers under the mall.