Date Friday 20/02/2060, Location 39.94636, 48.92074

The team parked up at the west of town, right on the edge of the district. Calling it the "upmarket" end of town was a bit of an exaggeration – it was just where nicer houses had been built over the best land, and the poor had been expelled by the police. As soon as they were stopped, Tads projected from her body and sped up to Baku, hovering over the Marina and having a good look around her. She couldn't spot any tails, so she accelerated back to the south, to Mammadova's house, about four hundred metres from the truck.

Even though she'd travelled over two hundred kilometres for the dog leg, she arrived only a minute or two after setting off – but she was pretty certain she wasn't being followed. She entered the house carefully, heading for the main room and looked around her. There was Mammadova, watching the trid unit in the corner of the room, and behind him were four humans, all standing and watching. She had a quick flit through the house but found no other signs of movement, then returned to the truck, again via Baku.

Opening her eyes, she reported in.

"Mammadova is on the couch, watching trid. Bunch of servants I think, all standing waiting, also watching. Didn't see anyone in the house – but there was one more servant than last time. No wife, no child though."

Hunter had already keyed up the portable trid, and was picking up the local signal. Very shaky footage, obviously hand held, was showing a confusing scene – they recognised the politician's house, but there was a mass of police cars, an ambulance and a fire truck there as well, all with emergency lights flashing creating a disco strobe of blue, yellow and red lights that bounced off the streets and walls. A police officer was pushing back people, and running a piece of tape across the road to cordon it off, whilst knots of policemen stood around.

He listened for a moment via an earbud, then reported in.

"There's been an incident. No actual facts, lots of guesses. No statement yet. They know something major has happened, but don't know what. So we have a little time, but the clock is definitely running." Kai nodded to Hunter.

"Based on what we're hearing, should we send him a message from one of the phones, saying 'Ulvi is being blamed for the death of the politician, you need to get out' – maybe go back to our plan of being the rescue squad?"

"No, I don't think so. Bad plan," Aswon shook his head, his dreadlocks flapping back and forth with his emphatic gesture. "That will send him into his car – and I have suspicions about that. Vehicle armour, gas seal, run-flat tyre kind of suspicions. If it's as upmarket as we think it is, then it could have almost anything built in – including pop up turrets. Bad mojo. Keep him out of the car."

"And if we can't get to him in the car, we can't rob him," Shimazu added helpfully.

"And the garage was the one place we were convinced had the most security cover," chimed in Marius.

Kai nodded, then shrugged. "Do we have any rubber bullets – things that can stun him?"

"We have Kai, when he shouts in that funny way, he can stop people in their tracks for a few seconds. And we have tasers. That's close."

"Either way, we need to sneak into his house somehow, don't we?" said Tads.

"I can sneak ok, and I've been practicing my lockpicking. And I can walk over things like grass and flowerbeds without leaving a trace, if needs be, from Shimazu.

"But the first electronic lock you run into, you're stuck." Aswon smiled, baring his fangs at Shimazu. "Can't we just kick in the front door, Kai shouts at them to lay the frak down, and we go from there?"

"I like that – we can handcuff or zip tie them all, get the servants out of the way and stop them getting hurt, then deal with the boss, at our leisure. We can load him up into the truck whenever we're ready and take our time with the magic nonsense then." Marius sniffed at the end of his sentence, clearly not having the highest regard for the magical effects yet.

"Ahh, but if we assault him and kidnap him, then the influence spell is almost certainly doomed. There's no way he'd want to trust us with his bank details if we've already abducted him."

"Could we make him terrified instead? Intimidate the information out of him, and use the spell to overcome his natural aggressiveness?" Shimazu looked at Aswon, and then smiled as Aswon considered this new approach. After a few seconds he nodded in firm agreement.

"Do you actually need him awake to conduct your theft? Or will just having access to his fingerprints and things work?" Tads shuddered a little, considering what she was saying, but carried on regardless. "I mean, they need to be attached still from what I understand, because the scanners can tell the difference, but does he need to be woken up to do this?"

"That depends if he has verbal passcodes or phrases for his account – which he might do for large amounts – then yes, he will need to be awake. Or controlled. Or both."

"And of course, if we steal him away, he'll recognise us, won't he Aswon? And that's bad." Hunter interjected before Aswon could respond.

"No Tads, don't worry. We have a load of burkas and shemaghs and stuff to use as disguises. And besides, even if he recognises us, it won't matter. Not in the long term." He smiled as he stopped speaking, but the smile stopped at his eyes which where cold and hard. Certainly the future did not look full of roses and comfy blankets for Mr Mammadova. Tads shuddered, thinking of the shallow graves up to the north where the other mafia goons had been buried.

"Well, we definitely don't want to stay in the house, as the cops might turn up anyway from the politician's death, let alone any noise we make getting in. So taking him away in the dark to somewhere else is a good thing." Kai added. "Even if the cops came only because they were on the payroll and wanted to report in to their real boss, that would be bad."

"We can still try your plan Kai, we just need to keep the message really short, sharp and a little vague. Something about some friends of his to keep you safe while the heat dies down."

"Yeah, and I can always change my appearance to look like one of the goons, or someone very local, and just 'encourage' him into the back of the truck." Nadia looked at Kai and pointed at him to attract his attention.

"Something you may want to be aware of… he may have the bank set to call his home commlink number to authorise transfers. Or he may need a token or authenticator from the house to provide confirmation. If you go to his house, this will be a factor, perhaps."

"Ok, something to bear in mind. Say, Marius – can you tune that jammer of yours. So the trid signal still gets through, but the phones don't work? Can you do that?" Marius cocked his head to the side for a moment and then nodded.

"Are the phones working at the moment? Would the police jam them in response to the assassination of Aliyev? As Tads asked the question there was a frantic rooting through pockets as the rest of the team checked their phones, but signs of relief as they found them all working ok.

"Ahh, but there is a thing. He may be using his phone – or rather an app on it – to control the trid, or other things in the house. If we jam it, he may notice sooner rather than later. That would instantly raise his suspicions." Marius frowned as he considered if there was a way to block some of the signals, but not others.

"Also – if he has medical coverage of some kind, as soon as we killed the phone signal, they could be scrambling a team to his location. Let's face it, he has enough money to afford the best," Kai added.

Hunter and Marius suddenly twitched, pointing in roughly the same direction.

"Curtains moved in that window over there. We're being watched."

"How can you tell, the glass is polarised? Can't see anything through it!" Kai wondered.

"The amount of light being pushed through, like a backlight. It changes the reflections somewhat. Anyway, someone is there, and watching. I'm moving the truck." Marius put actions to words, starting up the engine and pulling away smoothly down the road, seeking a new place to pull up and plan that was out of sight of this house.

Two minutes later they pulled up in another quiet area. As they pulled to a halt Shimazu turned to Tads with a sudden twist.

"Did you say there was a new person? Who were they? Do you have any details?"

"No idea. I can go check if you want?" She looked around and saw several nods. Laying back she sped from her body, heading to Baku, stopping for a look, then doubling back to the house. Inside she spotted the people again, with one of the servants now working in the kitchen. She spotted the new person, now squatting on the end of the sofa, watching the trid unit with Mammadova. She concentrated and let her astral sight wash over him.

In his body, dark tendrils of cyberware wrapped their way up and down his limbs and chest, forming a dark skeleton inside the brightness of his essence. It looked different to Marius and Hunter – just as pervasive, but not the same. She examined him for a few more seconds, then headed back to the truck, and reported in. Several of the team frowned, but they knew that it was an imperfect science and would have to just wait and see.

Marius launched the surveillance drone, sending the lighter than air craft drifting towards the house, with its sensors all trained down on the property, checking out a hunch. Back in the truck, Kai was addressing the rest:

"I think assaulting might not be the best – I still think getting him out of the house is the way, we just need to figure out how." He looked at Aswon as the tall tribesman suddenly had a lightbulb moment, his mouth forming an obvious "oh" of surprise.

"How about we send the message instead saying that Ulvi has been framed for the murder, and they have someone coming over. Maybe a lawyer? To get him out of trouble?" While the others considered this, Shimazu seemed less taken.

"I say we go with Marius and his idea – ram the house, go in, taser him, load him in the truck and leave. It's simple, it's effective, and it gets us out of there quickly. I don't like the psychological aspects of what we're trying to do – my gut says it won't work on him." Marius twitched, then threw up the drone footage onto the screen, replacing the silent news footage which still showed a whole lot of flashing lights and very little else.

"See here. Standard construction. Local materials. Probably a lightweight block construction with local render applied over the top, simple truss roof. Large windows. It has all the structural integrity of a wet paper bag. My truck WILL go through this, far enough for us to assault him." Kai chose to ignore the possessive term, and instead asked a question.

"Won't it make an awful racket crashing through the house?"

"Ahh, I can fix that. I can put an illusion over us, making it look like the normal house and no truck to anyone watching. And I could make a huge noise of sirens and screeching tyres as if someone is being chased down the road to cover it. Maybe some flashing lights off the building – enough to make someone think that there was a police chase outside, but gone by the time they get to the window."

"And how about, as we leave, we fire one of the RPGs into the front of the house and throw the tube. Sure, cops will come – but they see a massive hole in the house, collapsed bits of building – and a cheap ass RPG lying there, they're going to see what we want them to see. Cops are lazy mostly – certainly it's going to take a while to change their minds, and that makes it easier to get away." Hunter spoke with certainty, pointing out firing angles on the drone surveillance picture. As he did so, Tads sighed, and reached for a blanket.

"Get me the things. Everyone with clips and stuff as well, let's get rid of the forensic evidence…."

An RPG was pulled from the stash in the back, followed by numerous clips and magazines, knives, electronic gizmos… after she had finished casting the team ensured they gloved up and then reclaimed their gear.

"On the way out then, let's send a message from one of the phones, saying that Ulvi was involved in the hit and the politician is coming for you – but after the ram. That way it can be found by the investigators, and throw them even more off the scent." This time everyone agreed with Kai's plan, and he warmed up a phone, ready to go.

"Are you sure you can hit the building hard enough to go through, and stop before you run the guy over on his couch?"

"Trust me, Aswon. I'm an expert." Marius looked up past the tribesman at a house on the other side of the road. "More curtains twitching. Are we going for this?" Kai nodded, and the team started to buckle in, cinching harnesses tight around them and securing loose objects in the cab, as Marius pulled away and started to close on the house.

Tads clambered into the front seat, ensuring that she could target a stunball into the house without catching anyone else, displacing Shimazu into the back. As they looked around, they realised there were only five of them in the cab. Kai glanced into the back, looking with concern for Nadia and Aswon – and saw her pulling blankets and pillows into one of the bottom bunks as she wedged herself in under a couple of spare flak jackets, while Aswon wedged himself into position, wrapped up in his hammock like a crash-net.

"All secure – go!"

The truck accelerated, the diesel engine roaring as it ponderously picked up speed. Marius nursed it around the sweeping bends, the parked cars flashing by the cab with little clearance on either side.

They roared up the road and then swung off into the driveway. Kai hit the send button, then crunched down into a braced position as the house loomed up. He winced – he couldn't help it. They were doing over 50kph and heading straight for a house. At the last moment, Marius did something – something that probably defied perception for anyone that wasn't rigged into the vehicle, truly at one with the machine. The front left wheel jammed the brakes on full, clamping down on the wheel with massive shoes. The heat spiked dramatically as the ceramic disks heated up under the friction, glowing cherry red after fractions of a second. The three wheels down the right hand side of the truck jacked up in unison, blasts from the shock absorbers forcing the truck body up and the wheels down into the ground, until they reversed almost immediately. The impetus of the movement pulled the wheels up into the air, and friction on the right hand side of the truck dropped to almost zero.

In accordance with the laws of physics the truck yawed immediately, the back end kicked round, orbiting the pivot point of the front left wheel. In slow motion, Marius saw the heading come around – heading closer and closer to the bearing that would see him intersect the front of the house. As he got close, the shocks on the left side of the truck fired, slamming it over to the right, and the brakes released. All six wheels hit the ground, spinning and leaving a metre long set of tyre tracks gouged into the driveway, before a moment later they struck the front of the house.

A sickening crash ripped through the cab, and everyone was flung forward into the harnesses. The truck hit like a wrecking ball, barrelling into the structure of the house and shattering it, blowing it inwards as the armoured cab plowed into the front room and entrance corridor. The dividing wall struck the cab, plasterboard and plastic shattering under the impact and giving way in huge sections from the torque. Tads gritted her teeth and threw her power into the phantasm spell, throwing up a bubble around them and blasting out the sound of police sirens, copying what she'd heard from the news report earlier.

As they drove in, Marius felt bumps and grinds from the front wheels as they rolled over rubble and debris, building struts and material. Then he felt something softer, something much more compressible, as the wheel ground over a human body, smooshing it into paste. Oops!

They slowed, and came to a halt, and the roof came down on the cab, the weight resting on the top hatch now that the support of the front wall had been removed. Inside the scene was confused and chaotic – plaster dust still falling from the ceiling along with lathes and bits of material, lights blinking, the flashing from the huge trid sending strobes of red and blue light across the room. There were four almost simultaneous clicks as the safety harnesses were released and the team grabbed weapons and deployed from the truck.

Hunter and Shimazu slid out of the doors to the left, Shimazu diving forwards with sword and taser in hand, Hunter backing him up with his pistol raised. Aswon slid out of the door to the right, actually dropping down the side of the truck head first, crawling down into cover behind the large couch. As they started to move, their eyes were drawn to movement in the chaos within – servants running for cover away from the death machine that had just smashed through the front of the house, and what looked like Mammadova rolling towards the trid – not diving for cover, but actually rolling in a controlled fashion.

In the truck, Tads took one glance at the madness and then climbed over the seat, heading back for her normal position. There was no way she was going to get everyone in sight at once, and the rest of the team were encroaching anyway – casting a spell would do more harm than good.

The air was rent by two loud gunshots, as a pistol appeared in Mammadova's hand, rounds punching through the sofa. The second one slammed into Aswon, shattering on his armour having been slowed by the passage through the heavy frame of the sofa. Hunter heard the shots and adjusted to the right, moving forward to cover the couch, his pistol held in a two handed weaver stance. Next to him Shimazu moved forward, knees bent almost double as he crabbed forward, keeping out of line of sight. Aswon rolled to the side, moving away from his previous position and training his weapon towards his unseen foe.

As one of the servants fled through the door into the kitchen, a large figure loomed around the corner, raising a machine pistol towards Hunter. Huge sinewy muscles clamped down tight as the finger depressed the trigger, firing fully automatic towards the large ork. Bullets ripped into him from hip to shoulder, as the recoil made the muzzle climb. Each of the bullets were light, without much energy but the kinetic shock and impact force spun Hunter around, forcing him to pirouette across the debris, tripping and ending up sprawled on the floor, facing back towards the truck. Blood oozed out of the tiny holes in his armour that some of the fragments had punched, but the worst injury was to his ego.

Shimazu sprang off one foot, charging towards the new threat with his sword held in a high guard position. He covered the three metres quickly and bought the sword slashing down, trying to eviscerate him. The sword bit deep, dragging through the armoured overalls the target was wearing, but then slowed as it hit the flesh below, instead of opening a massive wound, the cut was shallow and superficial. The figure twisted, the machine pistol tracking from Hunter towards Shimazu instead.

Aswon sprang to his feet and pointed his gun at Mammadova, and shouted at him over the noise of gunfire and collapsing house.

"DON'T!" his weapon was trained right onto his forehead, and he looked down the sights, trying to make it clear that he had him bang to rights.

Hunter span over onto his front and raised his pistol – taking careful aim at the figure that had drilled him with auto-fire. He aimed carefully past the weaving Shimazu and his sword, and fired a single shot, hitting the figure centre mass. Rather than crumpling, with blood pouring from his gut wound, the figure seemed unaffected – not even taking a step back. Definitely cyber-augmented in some way, Hunter thought.

In the cab, Marius checked the surveillance drone, spotting two people looking out into the street, one from their doorway, one from a window. Neither were looking at their house, so he relaxed, swinging the drone around to get a good view of the area. In the back Tads suddenly flinched as she took an elbow to the face, as Nadia climbed over her from the rear of the truck, submachine gun in hand.

"Hey! Watch it!" she rubbed at her temple, leaning to the side in her harness as Nadia's feet kicked past her as she struggled out to join the fray.

Next to the kitchen the figure thrust his machine pistol into Shimazu's chest and depressed the trigger once more. Shimazu's sword thrust forward, taking advantage of the complete lack of defence posed by his opponent. The sword thrust deeply into the side of the figure, penetrating the armour and opening up a huge flap of skin. Hot blood cascaded from the wound but he couldn't hear the grunt of pain – the ten lightweight rounds chattering from the pistol filled his head with ringing. The light bullets were scarcely out of the barrel when they hit his chest plates, shattering after imparting their kinetic energy into the dense polymers and Kevlar weave. As round after round punched into him he was forced to take a step back, then another, and a third. Pain lanced through his guts as fragments of bullets poked through the dense weave, opening up scores of cuts in his stomach.

Kai threw himself down from the cab onto the couch and faced Mammadova, modulating his voice;

"FREEEZE!" To underscore his point he shot him with his taser, twice. Thousands of volts coursed through the Mafia boss, and his body went into spasm, then dropped to the floor, twitching and frothing. Tads looked around, and saw the situation was marginally under control internally, but could see the curious neighbours on the screen, relayed from Marius's drone. She dispatched some watcher spirits to distract them.

"Go and annoy those people, and stop them looking at us. Quickly" They flew away, and she had a sudden thought, shouting after them, "Don't be seen!" She hoped they heard her….

Shimazu raised his taser, figuring that he'd been pushed back out of combat, so he might as well make the most of it. He fired the first shot, but between one hand steadying himself from the pain of his wounds, and the lurching of his target, the prongs flew harmlessly overhead. He adjusted aim and fired again, this time striking true and seeing his target start to shake as his muscles clenched in response to the flow of electricity through them.

Across the room, Aswon saw Mammadova go down and turned to his left, spotting Shimazu firing at his target. The rifle swung round, and the target's head filled his scope, enormous at this short range. By instinct the trigger pulled, and the Purdey belched a shot, taking the target in the throat and destroying most of the neck. The body crumpled to a heap on the floor, blood spraying from the severed arteries in a fountain up the wall.

"Ok, clear up, out of here in 30 seconds!" shouted Kai, then moved towards Mammadova, grabbing his shoulders and spinning him around. Aswon moved to quickly check his pockets, finding his car keys and ditching them as soon as he saw the fingerprint scanner built into them – much as he wanted to have the car away, that was going to make it too complicated for a fast getaway. Instead he grabbed the feet, helping Kai drag the body towards the truck.

Hunter grabbed the ID, machine pistol and phone from the corpse by the kitchen, then headed for the truck, hot on the heels of Shimazu. In the cab, Tads pulled on her respirator and goggles – any second now a bunch of people stinking of cordite were going to enter the truck, and she didn't want to have to deal with the headache. She'd never even known she was allergic to gunpowder until she'd started on her walkabout.

When everyone was back aboard, Marius started to back out, listening carefully and watching the sensors. He felt the weight of the roof on the cab, and as he started to move could detect the eaves catching on the back of the hatch. The truck lurched forwards, throwing everyone in the cab around for a moment, and as he felt the roof lift as the cab pushed it up, threw it into reverse and backed out swiftly. As he cleared the house with a shrieking of timber and ceramics, the roof collapsed down, sagging almost to ground level. Marius slammed the brakes on and saw a shower of debris slide off the roof of the cab.

"Hunter, you're up." The ork grinned and heaved the hatch to the side, and stood up, RPG in hand. He aimed down at the house and fire, the warhead hurtling across the few metres and impacting on the remains of the front wall, blowing tiles and timber up in the air and finishing off the structural integrity of the roof entirely. Carefully he threw the launching tube to the side, making sure it landed clear of the truck, on the side of the building where it would be easily found.

Marius accelerated backwards down onto the street as Hunter climbed back inside, and then floored it, accelerating madly away from the scene of the crime. Tads breathed heavily inside her mask, the filter on the respirator stopping the particles entering her airways but making her sounds like a sci-fi villain instead – but it gave her the concentration she needed to modify her spell and make them look like a heavy construction vehicle – with the Mammadova livery splashed down the side.

In the front, Shimazu pulled open his jacket, wincing as sharp stabs of pain ripped at him as shards of ripped plating pulled out of the flesh. He grabbed the medkit and stabbed around the wounds, injecting dose after dose of novocaine until it started to feel numb and distant. He probed at the wound with gloved fingers – it mostly seemed fine, now that he'd dug all the splinters out, so he sprayed antiseptic over it and then pulled out a big patch of synthskin, peeled the backing off and slapped it over his stomach, sealing the wound.

The truck hit the edge of the district and the main road, and accelerated south, out of the city, away from the ranch and their home turf – just in case.

Mammadova lay on the floor in the rear of the compartment, Nadia keeping an eye on him with her SMG aimed at his legs, as they headed out into the wilderness, looking for a nice ravine to turn off into, or a trail off into some woodland. Somewhere nice and quiet, secluded and with no chance of interruptions.

It was time to have a chat with Mr Mammadova…