Chapter 10

I must've patrolled the NCPD lab in The Glen for two hours before deciding that there'd be no way inside without someone noticing me. Sitting in my car across the street, I resigned myself to finally calling River, and my entire body clenched as I hit "dial" in my holo.

"V," he answered cautiously. "I'm uh… glad you called."

I gritted my teeth, already feeling the tension in his voice. "I need your help. Can you be at the NCPD lab?"

He frowned. "What's wrong? Are you in trouble?"

"I'll explain when you get here. It's a lot." Hearing myself speak, I remembered how frustrated I used to feel when I didn't get answers over the holo either. It felt like an odd role reversal.

"On my way," he replied firmly before hanging up.

It was early evening, and as I had remembered from before, it seemed much darker because of the highway stretching above the buildings and blocking out the direct sunlight. I got an update from my NCPD Subcontractor program that a new incident was reported just nearby, and I even saw two police cruisers and a drone zip by, but I wasn't going to be sidetracked while waiting. If anything, the shootout would serve as a diversion if we had to break in – if River actually came. He finally showed up in his pickup truck and parked behind me on the side of the street. I took a deep breath and braced myself, determined to keep focused on the job, then I got out and walked to his truck. He looked at me worriedly through the windshield as he unlocked the doors, and he looked about as tense as I did when I climbed into the passenger seat.

"Hey, River," I tentatively greeted, almost under my breath.

"What's going on, V?" he asked. "Are you OK?"

I took another breath. "Do you still have any kind of access to get into NCPD systems?"

He seemed surprised. "No. I quit the force, remember? What's this about?"

"Damn…" I breathed. "OK. We've stumbled across something pretty big. You remember the Peralezes? They put me on Rhyne's murder case?"

"Yeah, of course," he nodded.

"They're in trouble," I continued. "They're being conditioned, their brains, their memories, their personalities, all being rewired by a company called SSI. We're trying to figure out who's behind them – whether it's a corp, or Holt, or both. We just need more evidence. The only lead we have is… well… Péter Horváth."

"What?" he frowned.

"Remember how his boss said that he changed?" I asked. "Well… I'm thinking he was conditioned, same way that the Peralezes are being conditioned. We need to find anything that might've been taken from him, even his implants. Something that would link us to whoever bought or installed his chrome, or anything taken from his apartment as evidence."

He nodded as he thought it through. "It makes sense… Holt was behind the mayor's murder, so he could be manipulating the Peralezes to get ahead in the race."

"So, you'll help?" I asked.

"Yes," he nodded. "First, you're not gonna find anything at this lab. That case is closed, so it's in a storage lockup in Little China, Precinct Three. Second, we'll need an ID to get in and the case number to find what we're looking for once we're there."

I heard the nearby echoes of gunfire, and an idea popped into my head. "If I got you into a police cruiser, would you be able to get what you need?"

He shook his head. "I'd still need an ID, and mine's already been revoked. How are you planning on getting a car?"

"Let me worry about that," I replied. "What about Han's ID? He was your old partner. Do you still remember his badge number?"

He glared uncomfortably at me, but face and his silence were laced with guilt.

"Good, we can use that," I suggested.

"No," he replied firmly. "He'll get his ass handed to him when it shows up in the logs, then he'll be thrown out onto the street. Not doing that to him. He's got a little girl."

I huffed and looked squarely at him. "River, this is bigger than him. Whether it's Holt or not, someone controlling the Night City mayor can't possibly lead to anything good. We have to figure this out."

He gritted his teeth. "What are the Peralezes doing about it? Do they know?"

"Elizabeth knows, but she was warned that Jefferson would be killed if they kept digging," I explained. "They hired me to investigate something, and I found out all of this along the way. I have two days to bring the whole thing down, or I have to lie to Jefferson to get him to stop searching. If I tell him the truth with them still out there, he could be killed."

"How do you know it's not an empty threat?" he asked.

"A piece of their tech in the Peralezes' apartment knocked me out," I continued. "During that time, they installed scrolling hardware in me without me even knowing it. A friend of mine found the parts and got them out of me before anything happened, but it means they can do it."

He sighed and thumped his hand on the steering wheel. "OK. I'll do it. How are you getting a squad car?"

I smirked. "Follow me."

We quickly rounded the corner on foot and followed the sounds of gunshots. We then found two police cruisers blocking off an alley, the officers out of sight and engaged in the firefight. I crouched and snuck over to the driver's side where I connected my personal link to the door.

"What's the badge number?" I whispered to River.

"We should help them!" he hissed. "We can't steal these! They may need them to get away."

I shook my head. "Keep your cool, River! If the cops were losing the fight, they'd be closer to here or woulda delta-ed out by now. They've got this. What's Han's ID?"

He grumbled and recited the digits, and I cleared my way through the car's defenses with the appearance of being Detective Harold Han. I smiled when the door unlocked and the computer signed in. River begrudgingly got in the front seat while I jumped in the driver's seat, then revved the engine to life and sped us away.

"Jack in," I instructed as I started heading north.

He nodded and connected his link. He searched through the files for a moment, then updated the GPS. "Got the coordinates of the lockup, checking the case number now."

I checked the map as I drove. "You've gotta be kiddin' me…" I groaned.

"What?"

"This place is right next H10, my building," I huffed as I shook my head.

He raised an eyebrow. "Guess we should try not to get ID-ed while doing this, then," he offered.

I chortled. "Was that a joke coming from the ex-cop about to pull off his first heist?"

"Something like that…" he hummed nervously. "Gotta make sure my partner doesn't disappear on me again…"

I shook my head and gripped the wheel tighter. "Look, let's not talk about last night, okay? We gotta focus."

He sighed. "OK… but we should. Soon."

"Fine," I grunted. "How are we getting into the warehouse?"

He jacked out of the car's computer. "The car will interface with the gate control and allow access with Han's credentials. Works both ways, in and out. I got the case number, so we should be able to get the evidence pretty quickly."

Under my breath, I whispered, "Hope so…"

I slowed down as the streets narrowed and became more bustling with foot traffic. The ebb and flow of people going in, out, and around the Megabuilding reached the point where traffic spilled across the streets with no regard for crosswalks. Normally, I'd be used to edging slowly through the crowd and nearly having to run a few people over to make it known I was there. However, the sea of pedestrians parted willingly for the NCPD Overlord without question of who was behind the wheel. The lockup was quietly stashed between the towering Megabuilding and the elevator to the NCART rail station. It mainly consisted of a garage door blocked off by two steel barriers, and the simple illuminated letters 'NCPD' with no other indications of what it was. A patrol car sat nearby with two officers policing the area, which seemed to draw more attention than the building itself. Set across from a series of bright advertisements and store signs, the entrance almost completely blended into the otherwise blank structure that even I had never minded before.

As we approached, the car's computer chirped with a signal from the depot and began transferring Han's credentials. Both River and I remained silent in hopes that we'd get through. After a moment, the screen blinked with a green light, followed by a loud, metallic scraping of the garage door opening. I glanced over to the officers by the patrol car, and while they noticed us, they merely nodded towards our car and continued looking out on the streets. We sighed with relief and waited for the barriers to lower, then slowly drove inside.

"Hardest part's over," River noted quietly.

The garage door opened to a corridor which led past a security booth over to a large freight elevator. The booth was seemingly manned by droids and was lined with cameras which scanned the car again, confirming authentication yet again, then allowing us through. The elevator was large enough for a large cargo truck, and once we entered, an interface similar to an elevator's sensor popped up on the car's screen. River tapped the button for the main floor, and I noticed that there were buttons beneath it for several archive floors.

"How will we find Horváth's stuff?" I asked as the elevator started lowering us down.

"The main floor is for new cases that just closed," he explained. "His case was open-and-shut – killed by a cop while committing a crime. No trial or real investigation, so no point in holding evidence for more than a couple of weeks. Bigger cases with trials and prison sentences get archived in the basement. There are four pieces of evidence recorded for this one, but no descriptions of them, which is odd. They'll be shipped off and destroyed."

When the elevator stopped, we drove into what looked like the floor of a warehouse. Rows of tall racks and shelves stretched across the room, filled with small boxes, large crates and exposed but wrapped-up bloodstained mattresses in more than one instance. Next to one of the rows by the center of the warehouse floor was an open shipping crate partially filled with evidence. We parked next to it and got out, both of us looking around. Near the ceiling was a narrow catwalk that rounded the whole warehouse. It led to small emergency doors on the elevator's side of the room along with a ladder on each end. In front of each section of evidence was a small digital tag displaying the case number.

"This way," River instructed as he read down a line of tags.

We went down the row until he paused in front of a thick, medium-sized case with a digital lock. He reread the tag number, then looked back at me.

"This is it," he nodded.

The white overhead lights suddenly switched to a searing red, and a loud alarm blared throughout the room. The elevator raised itself upward, and I heard the sound of the emergency doors opening.

I pulled out my gun and yelled over the alarm, "They know we're here!"

"HIDE!" he shouted as he drew his own gun and started looking around.

I moved into the shelf to get out of the main visible area, but I knew it wouldn't be out of sight if anyone started patrolling. Then something caught my eye – a large metal wardrobe in the next row. It had a few bullet holes in it, but it was big enough to possibly store both of us.

"RIVER!" I called out.

He ran towards me when I waved him over, and we both darted over to the wardrobe. As River climbed in, I could hear the buzzing sound of drones approaching. He held the door open for me and I stepped inside, but he had to pull me against him to fully close the door. I squeezed against his chest with one of his legs between mine, and his arm keeping me from resting against the door in order to keep it shut. Red light entered through the few bullet holes in the doors, but I could see better by the small glow of light from River's mechanical eye. The white dot glowed softly enough that I could see the outline of his face and the reflection in the white of his other eye. The drones' buzzing was growing louder and was joined by the thumping and mechanical sounds of nearby droids. The alarm silenced, but a deep, loud, computerized voice rang out.

"LOCATING SUSPECT! YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO REVEAL YOURSELF!"

I clenched my teeth and tried to keep my breathing quiet, but my heart was racing with adrenaline. I could feel a slight tremor in River's grasp, and it was only then that I realized exactly how we were positioned. I hadn't even thought about it, but my left hand was cupping his shoulder, and my right hand held my gun but was wrapped around his left bicep, keeping me balanced in his grip. Our hips were together, and my thigh was against his crotch, which seemed to slowly throb harder and harder against me. I felt the heat from his chest radiating out from his open coat, his hot breath across my face, the gentle but firm grip of his free hand on my back slowly moving upward, and the intensity of his stare directly into my eyes.

Our breathing stopped as the drone buzzed closer and closer, slowing down as it approached. After an agonizing moment, the drone passed and continued its scan. River silently sighed, his face dropping slightly down and his eyes closing. Our noses touched for a moment, and though I expected him to pull away before I did, he kept still for a moment, then started slowly drifting closer. My eyes widened and my mind went into a panicked overdrive trying to understand what he was doing, but I was so frozen that I couldn't pull away even if I wanted to. Then I felt his lips touch mine. My mind went blank, allowing my reflexes to take over. I breathed in quietly and parted my lips, then slowly kissed him back. Our movements were almost microscopic when we were connected, neither of us daring to move but for the nervous trembles quaking back and forth across our bodies.

One of the droids' metallic thumping on the floor grew louder as it walked closer on its patrol. We both drew a quiet breath and let our lips part, but we pressed our foreheads firmly together and gripped each other tighter as if to will ourselves into invisibility. The droid walked past us without stopping, and we heard the distant clicking of another droid patrolling and the buzzing of the drones flying round the lockup. We kept still until both the buzzing and the clicks had moved away. There was an echoing chime that rang out as the red lights switched back to white.

He pressed his cheek against mine and whispered, "I think we can move to see what's up, but quietly."

I nodded and remembered the job at hand, though given what just happened, I had gotten quite comfortable. I inched myself to the side and felt my shoulder graze against the door. I slowly opened the door and peered outside. Through the shelving, I was able to see over to the shipping container and the car, and I didn't see or hear any droids. I crept out the door and onto the floor, looking around and raising my gun. The air seemed cold without the heat of two bodies filling the space around me, but I didn't mind being able to move again. River silently closed the wardrobe doors again and looked around, then motioned me behind a larger crate.

I crouched down close to him. "What do we do now?"

He grimaced. "Not sure, I've never been in one of these illegally before."

"How were we caught?" I whispered. "We didn't even touch anythin', and we made it through the scans."

"Probably something with Han's ID," he suggested. "Doesn't matter now. Just have to find our way outta here."

I looked around again for the drones and the droids, then up to the emergency exits which now appeared closed. "We could go up through the catwalk, but I'm betting that's where those mechs came from. We'd have to fight our way through while carrying the evidence."

The freight elevator at the end of the room started lowering again. I grabbed River's arm and pulled us back to the wardrobe, this time holstering my gun before getting in. He got back inside, then slouched so that he could peer out of one of the bullet holes. I strained to find an angle where I could see as well, but it meant pressing my face uncomfortably against his shoulder. As we peered out past the row of shelves, the elevator lowered another NCPD patrol car down to the floor. It rolled out and parked just behind ours, then two people emerged. I immediately recognized Detective Han, but I couldn't make out who the other person was except for the glowing digital NCPD badge hanging over his chest.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"Han's new partner," he breathed. "Gonaghal. Same guy who sat on the 'Peter Pan' case."

The elevator loudly whirred as it raised again, though the officers didn't seem concerned. Han looked around with his arms at his hips. I zoomed in with my Kiroshis and tried to listen to what they were saying.

Gonaghal rounded the car and stood next to Han. "Security says scans came back empty. They may have gone further down if they haven't escaped."

Han shook his head. "Let's check the car, see what they looked up. Might give us an indication of who they were."

We watched silently as Han scanned his badge and got in the stolen patrol car with Gonaghal. After a few minutes of digging through the car's computer, they exited and started walking towards the locked case with Horváth's evidence and files. River cursed under his breath, but I quietly shushed him. They found the case and examined it.

"Hasn't been opened or tampered with," Han noted.

Gonaghal huffed. "Who even cares about that case anymore? No one ever even knew the guy's name."

Han crossed his arms. "I have a hunch."

The elevator creaked and started lowering again, this time carrying an armored SUV down to the floor. The detectives started walking towards the SUV as it passed both patrol cars and parked near the center of the floor. Two guards emerged from the front seats, each wearing thick jackets emblazoned with "SSI" over the chest. A blue glint caught my attention, and I saw the passenger-side guard's eyes glowing blue. I suddenly remembered the times I had seen that same glow from a police officer staring at me outside of the barn crime scene, and again from another person in the crowd after one of Garry's sermons. I remembered that sermon in the alley with him raving about Reptilians. I doubted the guard was Reptilian, but I scanned him anyway. He had a smooth and squared face with remnants of a five-o'clock shadow, neatly combed hair, but a slight scowl that made him seem intensely observant. His ID came up as "Mr. Blue Eyes." He was listed as "Wanted," yet his crimes were classified and neither detective seemed to care about his presence.

Out of the back of the SUV came Deputy Mayor Weldon Holt, the same man I had seen in the braindance for Rhyne's attempted murder. He looked none too pleased to be there.

"What the hell is going on?!" he demanded.

"It's just a minor breach," Han assured. "Nothing's been taken from what we can tell, but someone used my credentials to get in."

Holt rolled his eyes. "And that was important enough for me to cut short an investors' dinner at Embers, yet somehow, you two are the only clowns here? Fuckin' ridiculous."

"They were looking into the Rhyne assassination case," Han continued.

"It's been closed," Holt growled.

Han shook his head. "I have a feeling it was my old partner, River Ward. He tried making noise about the case, claiming corruption. Brass shut it down and suspended him. He never came back."

"I have bigger things to deal with than your messes!" Holt roared and shoved his finger in Han's face. "Elections are next week, and that fucking Arasaka parade tomorrow is stealing the media's attention. You don't really think you'll get anywhere in the NCPD if I'm not elected, do you?"

Han stood his ground. "You'd best worry about delivering on your old promises before making new threats."

Holt snarled, but he backed off. He stepped back and looked at each of his guards, then turned around and looked back at Han. "We'll discuss this tomorrow. I have business to attend to tonight. Destroy the case evidence and report back to me once you've tied off your… loose end."

He continued back to the SUV but nodded at the guard with the blue eyes. The driver and Holt got in and drove back to the elevator, leaving Mr. Blue Eyes with the two detectives.

"What are you doing?" Han asked.

Staying at attention, Mr. Blue Eyes replied, "Ensuring that the job here is done. It's part of my contract with Mr. Holt."

Han shook his head, but he took the other detective and walked back to Horváth's evidence case. The two of them grunted as they carried the case back towards the shipping crate, but once inside, the guard drew his pistol, aimed inside, and fired two echoing shots.

River gasped and rushed out of the wardrobe with his gun drawn. I jumped out after and drew my own, the noise from it alerting the guard to where we were. River managed to fire off one shot before the guard raised his arm and launched a small missile towards us. It hit one of the evidence crates and sent out an electric shock with lightning bolts darting around the metal racks and into us. My implants were momentarily disrupted, but I could see enough to squeeze off some cover fire after crouching behind another crate. Two shots missed and one hit him square in the shoulder, yet he barely winced or moved when it hit.

He emptied his clip aiming for me, then extended his arm again and fired off another EMP round at River. River dove out of the way but was still within glancing range of the pulse. He fell to the ground in pain from the shock, but I used that opportunity to take good aim and fire a shot at the guard. The shot smashed into his jaw and tore it off, revealing a mechanical neck and throat. He set his eyes squarely and angrily on me and reloaded his gun in a blur, then charged towards me while shooting, one shot just grazing my shoulder without me noticing. River regained his senses and continued firing rounds at the man, and I dove out from the crate and fired as well. The shots did more and more damage, finally tripping the guard and bringing him to the ground. His body sparked and smoked, but he roared up one last time and raised his gun. As a last resort, I launched an explosive round at him which blasted his arm clean off and partly ripped off his head, both of which had been connected by mechanical parts.

The body twitched and sparked a bit more as River and I cautiously approached it. The severed arm appeared as a normal, unmodified arm except for the exposed wires and white servo fluid leaking from its joints. The head was still connected by a pair of tubes but was otherwise cracked and burnt. The blue eyes glowed for a moment, but then the glowing stopped and revealed human-looking brown eyes.

River panted and huffed. "What the hell is this? I've never seen someone take so many hits. Oh, shit… V, your shoulder!"

I saw some of the blood dripping out, but the wound wasn't bad. I waved him off and pointed to the body. "Forget that, look at his jacket – SSI. Same company providing security for the Peralezes, same company conditioning their minds. Looks like this guy had most of his body swapped out with chrome…"

He shook his head, then looked back at the crate. "Han…" he breathed before running towards it.

I took the guard's gun just in case he – or it – wasn't fully dead, then ran after River. He was leaning over Han's body, examining him to see if he was dead, though the shot through the side of his head spoke for itself.

Johnny appeared and spat at the body. "Fuckin' corrupt pig. Serves him right."

"Dammit, Han," he breathed. "Why… Why would Holt tell him to kill me, but have him killed first?"

I ignored Johnny, shook my head, and gestured to the dead guard. "He must've really been talking to that guy. Han was a liability, and that guy woulda come after you next. But we gotta get the case and get out of here."

"What about Han and Gonaghal?" he asked, a hint of regret hitching in his voice. "We can't just leave them like this. And his little girl…"

"There's nothing you can do for 'em," I reasoned. "But you can help his daughter when we get out of here. We should bring the guard with us along with the case. His implants will tell us who's funding SSI."

He huffed for a moment and shut his eyes in grief, but then took a breath, stood, and nodded.

We escaped the lockup using Gonaghal's ID and the other patrol car, packing Mr. Blue Eyes' body into the trunk and the evidence case in the back seat. We moved them both into my I360, then destroyed the patrol car with my remaining explosive rounds. I called Vik and arranged to bring the body to the clinic, then called Judy and told her to meet us there.

"On the table," Vik sternly instructed as we carried the body down.

The dismembered arm had been balanced on the guard's chest and fell to the ground with a heavy thud as we heaved the body into the chair. River and I panted with effort as the body was much heavier than it looked.

Vik picked up the arm and examined the exposed joint. "I'm sure I'm going to regret asking this, but what the fuck possessed you to bring a dead body here? Surely you've seen someone loaded with chrome before."

Judy huffed as she stormed down the stairs, "You know how boys go nuts when they get in over their heads." She conspicuously sized-up River, then gave me a sly smirk.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "This guy works for SSI, but he also was guarding Deputy Mayor Holt and killed two officers on his orders."

Judy narrowed her eyes. "SSI? The company fuckin' with the Peralezes?"

"Exactly," I replied. "We're tryin' to figure out who's behind SSI, and we're hoping this guy's implants can give us a clue. Try and see who made them and search any records of who bought them."

"Wait, V," River interrupted. "We saw Holt there with two SSI agents, and we know he had Rhyne killed. He also had Han killed because he was a liability, you said so yourself. It's not him calling the shots?"

I frowned. "The Peralezes told me that Holt is behind them in the polls. If he's controlling them through SSI, why is he losing?"

"Better yet," Vik added while examining the arm, "where are they getting this tech? This is very interesting. This is RealSkinn, but it's got no serial number or any kind of manufacturer's stamp, which is illegal."

I raised an eyebrow and looked at the separated plates covered by RealSkinn on my left arm which hid my Projectile Launch System. "I don't see anything on mine."

He shook his head. "They're engrained into the skin, nearly invisible except if you know what to look for and use the right optics. Every manufacturer legally has to submit them so that scanners will mark them as mods – it helps determine if weapons are hiding underneath. This stuff though… this has no markings, even for product control. Whoever gave this guy his implants either makes this stuff themselves or paid out the ass to get it."

"He had more than expensive skin going on," I added. "The entire time, his eyes were glowing blue like he was transmitting something. Then they shut off when he died. He has a weird name for someone who's just a guard, too. 'Mr. Blue Eyes.'"

"Sounds full of himself," Judy groaned with a roll of her eyes. "Wonder how many 'Mr. Stud' implants he's packin' downstairs."

I nodded and continued, "It's weird, though. I've seen people's eyes glowing like that and they'd just be staring at me for just a second. Not sure why. Then they'd stop and they'd look away. This… well… this guy named Garry talked about people with blue eyes like that, and then he was supposedly abducted by suits with blue eyes like this."

Vik looked skeptically at me. "Wait, 'Garry the Prophet,' the guy raving outside Misty's? Don't tell me you're continuing the crusade of a crazy homeless gonk."

"'Crazy' doesn't begin to describe it," I scoffed. "But some of his shit actually checked out and it's connected to other things happening around the city. We've got to figure this out."

Judy nodded. "Alright. What about the other evidence? Did you check it out?"

"Not yet," I shook my head. "I'm gonna bring it to Sandra and see what we can make of it. Let me know what you find from this guy."

"Watch yourself," Vik added cautiously with a nod.

"I'll walk you out," River offered and turned to leave with me.

I noticed a gleeful sneer on Judy's face as she watched us go, but with River right there, I couldn't make any gestures or verbal jabs back at her. I had been too focused on the job to really remember what happened in those tense few minutes when we kissed, but I couldn't help but think about it as we walked silently. We walked back through one of the back-alley gates towards my car, but River paused behind me.

"V… wait," he quietly asked.

I turned and looked back at him, my mind starting to race in different directions. He looked hesitantly up at me, then slowly stepped closer.

"I just…" he began, "Earlier…"

I sighed and shook my head, having an idea where it was headed. "It's OK, River. You don't need to explain."

"I want to," he continued, gathering himself. "I… I thought after what happened to your last input, you wouldn't even be thinking of being with anyone else for a while. So, I wasn't expecting you to actually reach for me, and I panicked."

I stared at him as my mind went blank in confusion.

He took another step closer. "I know neither of us has time to talk right now, but I want to be able to talk when there is time." He took one of my hands in his. "So, just be careful."

My heart was slamming in my chest as I processed what he said. He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine again, gently cupping the back of my neck with his other hand. I breathed in and tightened my grip on his hand, pulling him closer and harder to me. It wasn't the most mesmerizing kiss I ever had, but I could feel something spark to life inside me that I hadn't felt for a long time, and that made it wonderous. I could feel his lips curl into a smile before he slowly pulled away.

"Call me tomorrow," he whispered.

"I will," I replied as my own smile emerged.

He walked away towards the other end of the alley, leaving me standing like a statue for a good five minutes before remembering that I had to get to Sandra.