Aswon plucked a fresh grape from the bowl and set it down on the table before him, then slapped the back of Kai's hand as he reached for it.
"Leave it alone. So, the line of grapes are a net or line of some kind, held up on sticks. The orange segment is Hunter…" he continued, allocating the items out to people and describing his game plan for how to 'accidentally' tackle Wa Fan when she walked along the beach. They mentally rehearsed what they were going to do, until everyone was clear on the plan.
"Good work, Aswon. Can I eat the grapes now?" Aswon pushed them over to Kai, who seemed completely unrepentant. "So – that's going to be about lunchtime. We've got a couple of hours… Tads, do you think another tracking ritual is a good idea?"
"Yes, but not in the way you might think. I want to check that we're doing it right, that the forms and techniques are correct. So we're going to do a simpler version, to double check on things."
"How's that going to work?"
"Well, you go and hide somewhere in the academy, and settle down out of the way. We use some item that means something to you, something personal…"
"Like my pants?"
"No, not like your pants. Um… maybe your bow. Yes, that should do the job. So we use your bow as a focus, and we try to track you. The fact that we know you're in the building should make things easier, but will help us make sure we're doing the right thing. And if we can track you fine, and create the link, then either Aswon or Shimazu can follow that to find you."
"Sounds easy enough."
"It might also help them, if the tracking link takes a sharp turn and heads up through a roof, they'll need to break off to go up the nearest stairs and then get back to where it came through the floor to pick the trail back up. And hope it doesn't travel through the floor joists or something, out of sight. But that would be worth knowing, too."
"Alright. So, I'll go find somewhere to settle down, and see you in a while then?" He grabbed a bowl and filled it with grapes as he was leaving. "What, I don't want to get hungry while I'm waiting!"
Tads led Vadim and Shimazu back to the chopper and climbed aboard, settling down on the floor with her apprentice sitting opposite her, close enough that their heads almost touched while they started to sway in unison and chant. Shimazu made himself comfortable on one of the seats, hand on his sword hilt and watching with casual interest, aware that this could take some time.
Aswon, Hunter and Marius were still back in the dining room, finishing their breakfast, when Aswon perked his head up.
"Hey, the feeling that Shimazu got from the photos. The visions he had… it felt quite like a progression in time. One thing following another thing. Just got me wondering… the falling coins. Does that sound like a slot machine or something to you?"
"Perhaps. Shimazu didn't have much in the way of detail. It could be related to a lot of things." Hunter shrugged his massive shoulders. "But it sounds like a reasonable guess."
"I was thinking it might be worth checking with people if Harley liked to gamble, or play games like that. It's possible he was either at a casino or gambling den when he was snatched, either that or maybe he had gambling debts and that's how they realised where he lived?"
"It's worth a go I suppose. I've got all my kit cleaned and ready to go, so short of training, there's not much else to do." The three of them cleared their dishes and started to wander the academy, catching student and instructors in between sets of exercises or bouts of sparring, questioning them further about Harley and his activities.
Unfortunately it seemed that if Harley was into gambling at all, that nobody in the academy knew about it. He wasn't opposed to it as far as they could tell, just completely ambivalent. The closest he'd come was trying to predict who would win in a major martial arts tournament, and if it was a points based or knockout victory – but given the environment and the people he was with, that was hardly surprising.
Back in the chopper, Tads and Vadim performed the ritual, as they had the day before. This time though, after an hour, a silver sparkling trail formed from their hands, arcing down to touch and ground itself in the bow, while the other end rose into the air and quested from side to side, a living creature sniffing the air before setting off in pursuit. The two shaman concentrated on the ritual, while Shimazu rocked forward onto his feet and set off in pursuit, following the trail as it sped on ahead of him. It led him through the academy, through twists and turns, up stairs and out of a window down to the courtyard, back upstairs and winding around one of the wings until he discovered Kai sitting in a cupboard atop a pile of folded blankets and old clothes.
"So it works then?"
"It would appear so. I can see why you would normally have a mage following the trail though. Several times it twisted and seemed to head in a random direction and I had to do some climbing or go off route to pick up the trail again. If you had been further afield, and I had to climb trees or cross water, it would make life very difficult."
"Well, let's go back and tell them and see what we do next." The two headed back down to the chopper, letting the shamans know it was ok to stop their ritual. Maybe because of the proximity, or maybe because the tracking had been successful, neither seemed to suffer the same magical backlash that they had previously – either that or the flush of success and satisfaction that flooded through them both was enough to mask the worst of the symptoms. They went out to find the others, and reported their success.
"Well, we tried finding out if Harley was into gambling, but it seems he wasn't. I'm convinced that the coins falling is something related to a casino or something like that, though. So Hunter's doing some matrix research for me…" Aswon pointed at Hunter who sat slumped at the end of the table, his deck next to him and a cable running to Marius and the sat-phone.
"So what did they know?" Kai asked
"Well, he's big into his nightclubs, and he likes a drink – though not to excess. His favourite clubs are "Three stripes Central", "Retro Fever" and "Smooth Moon", all fairly mainstream nightspots in Hong Kong city. He likes a lot of dance music and stuff with a strong beat, again not surprising given the background. He's taken a few of the students or instructors out for drinks on occasion, but not that often."
They talked more, until Hunter stirred, pulling the jack cable from the socket on the side of his head.
"Well, that was a bust. I've been looking around for clubs that have links to the Blue Lotus Triad, or other underworld groups, but I've not found anything. I'm not surprised mind, given the quality of my deck and the utilities, if I HAD found them, then so would the tax man and the police I would imagine, and they wouldn't be in business."
"So does that mean we need to hire a dedicated decker?"
"If you want more information, then yes. Someone local with more specific knowledge on the local grid would probably help as well. But someone who does this full time will have better utilities, a better deck and more experience than me… but you have to pay them of course. And if you're poking into the Triad's business in their own back yard, I would imagine you're going to pay well. Maybe five figures." Kai pulled a face. "Yeah. Thought you might not like that. "
"Ok, can we work around the problem. Is there a way you can check to see if the police have raided any clubs recently? Or had some really big scores or clean ups? Maybe if the police have put pressure on somewhere, that might indicate criminal activity, and we might be able to work out what is going on from the other side?"
"I'll give it a go." Hunter jacked back in, relaxed his body and then slumped as his consciousness leapt into the digital ether, racing down highways of neon light as he cruised through the grids, looking for information.
"I'm gonna give Spook a call as well, then. She may have heard some information, or know someone local that might be able to give us a steer or guidance without charging us the world. Back in a few." Aswon grabbed his phone and headed outside to call his fixer and see if he could gather some tidbits.
"Alright, while we're doing that – are you and Vadim ok?" Kai asked, and got a nod from Tads. "I was just wondering… now that you know your ritual was working ok, is it worth trying again for Harley?" Tads gave him a considering look, then checked the time before shaking her head.
"I don't think so. It's going to take at least an hour, maybe longer. And if we get some backlash again, we're going to be feeling drained. And I don't want to be anything but fresh and ready to try this mind-probe on Wa Fan. We only get one chance, and I don't want to mess it up. So maybe later on today, but I don't think we have enough time to do it before the meeting at lunchtime. Kai checked the time himself and did some quick mental maths, then nodded in agreement with her.
They rested a bit, then got their gear together and headed out to the beach, setting up a volleyball court just off the side of the direct route from the town to the academy, and started to play a friendly game – it got them warmed up and in practice, and helped them fit in on the beach anyway, selling the illusion further.
Just before midday, Marius spotted Wa Fan walking onto the beach, dressed in the same silken suit she had used the day before. She carried a container under one arm, perhaps the size of a big shoe box, and marched resolutely towards the academy. As she got close, Tads and Aswon watched Hunter and Marius carefully, looking for the hand signals they'd worked out earlier.
Wa Fan drew parallel with Aswon, and Hunter leapt high into the air and smashed the ball down towards that edge of the area, his powerful physique driving the ball through the air in a vicious spike. Aswon flung himself sideways, spinning in the air as he 'desperately' reached for the ball, his legs scything round and sweeping Wa-Fan off her feet and driving her to the sand with an audible thump, sending a spray of sand up into the air.
Aswon struggled to his feet, long legs wrapped around hers while he blurted out apologies in Nigerian, his hands raised towards her trying to convey his apology with his hands and facial expression. Tads moved around and positioned herself with the sun behind her, silhouetting herself nicely and lowered a hand towards her, then pulling as Wa Fan automatically grabbed the offered arm. She channelled the mana swiftly and with vigour, punching the spell through hard, not caring about the after-effects - this had to succeed, no matter the potential headache. Flashes of insight filled her head as she lifted the thoughts from Wa's mind, scooping away her thoughts and duplicating them.
Moments later Aswon struggled to his feet, towering over Wa and continuing to offer apologies and checking on her while Tads released her grip and moved off to recover the ball, trying to stay out of Wa's line of sight and memory as much as possible. Wa raised a hand to Aswon, stopping him from trying to brush sand from her shoulders and taking a step back.
"I am not injured. No no, please don't touch me. I am fine. Yes, I understand, an accident. Please be more careful. Excuse me, I have to leave." Wa spoke in English, interrupting Aswon as he spoke in horribly accented pidgin English himself. With that she reached down to grab the box, and with a forced smile at Aswon and a gesture of negation as he tried to help her walk again, she continued on her way towards the academy.
Tads waited until Wa was about half way towards the academy before she spoke, making sure she was crouched down on the sand and speaking quietly, trying to stop her voice carrying naturally and only being transmitted to the team via their encrypted comm links.
"Wa is an accountant or ledger manager for the Triad here. A four one five, some kind of rank or position based on lucky numbers I think. She runs all the finances around the Shek-O area, and funnels a lot of cash through the bar to launder it. She was told by her boss, to deliver the message that Chun needs to be ready to compete in a fight, but she doesn't know why – and she's very angry about that. I got a great sense of hostility towards some other members of the Triad, and there's thoughts and conspiracies about her being set up as someone to take the fall if this goes wrong. She is really suspicious about some political machinations, about being passed over for promotion. I've got some faces and nicknames, but such brief flashes I don't think they're reliable – she's very suspicious about a lot of people."
"The person she works for, who told her to come and deliver the message is Lo Han. She thinks of him as the four-three-eight, which I think is a senior manager or something like that. He is the one who decides what activities and jobs are pulled in the Shek-O area, and as well as herself and a couple of other junior managers he has about forty to fifty foot soldiers or workers, who are forty-nines. Everything in their power structure seems to have a number, something related to luck or how things sound…"
"Anyway, Lo Han is an employee at the country club, the head grounds keeper. She thinks he is aware of what the whole plan is, and she's just been drip fed enough information to get things done. Lo Han appears to be a dwarf, Chinese and he looks to be middle-aged by human standards. His nose looks all squished and funny, and he has an obvious cyber-eye on the right side."
"She's convinced that Chun is going to have to agree to fight, and is feeling a weird mix of emotions at the moment – triumph tinged with suspicion about what is going on, and some fairly devious planning about possible scenarios that she might be able to take advantage of to advance her position in the Triad."
Wa Fan climbed the stairs to the front of the academy, finding Chun, Kai and Shimazu sat waiting for her just like they had been the day before. Once more she bowed to Chun in what seemed like a genuine gesture of polite respect, then gave a dismissive look at the two team members.
"Master Chun. I presume as you have your guests present, that you wish to converse in English?" Chun nodded at her, watching her carefully. "Very well. In that case, I have come for your answer. Are you prepared to fight?"
"Well, I don't want to, but I don't think you're going to give me much choice in the matter, are you?"
"No, not really. Not if you want to see the boy alive again. At least in one piece."
"Then I'll fight."
"Good. I hope you have kept in shape and are prepared to put on a good show. On that note, I have here your fighting costume, that you will wear on the night of the bout." She took a step forward and presented the box to Chun, who took it in two hands, setting it down gently on the table before him. With a careful pull on the fabric wrapped around the box, he undid the bow and then removed the lid, revealing a glittery pink tutu made of some kind of translucent mesh lying inside.
"Are you being serious?"
"Deadly."
Chun didn't respond verbally, instead replacing the lid on the box and then leaning back in his chair and staring at Wa. The smile was gone from his face, and his eyes were hard and dark, staring at Wa with an intensity they'd not seen before. Shimazu watched him for a moment, then glanced back at Wa to see how she was reacting. He was no stranger to violence – he'd used his sword to deadly effect on a number of occasions, becoming a spinning avatar of death as he whirled and dodged through a combat, beheading opponents or severing limbs. He'd faced magma-breathing Salamanders, huge para-bears, Shapeshifters, even eldritch horrors crawling out of pits in subterranean temples… but he would have been uncomfortable with the look that Chun was using at the moment, and he was glad it wasn't aimed at him. By the looks of things Wa was just starting to realise that she'd made an enemy – a personal enemy, with this latest act.
"We will be in touch, with the specific location of the fight in due course – but you should be prepared to travel to Macau in a few days. I will leave you now to continue your training and preparations. In a few days, if you follow the instructions given, then he will be returned to you, unharmed."
She turned and headed down the stairs, then headed across the beach back towards town – but giving the volleyball game a very wide berth this time. The rest of the team kept up the game until she was out of sight, and then headed back to the academy and met up with the others in the dining area to discuss what to do next.
Tads went over the results of her mind probe again, trying to add context and additional information, describing more about the feelings rather than the events, making sure everyone was on the same page with what she'd sensed, then sat back waiting to see who would comment first. Aswon jumped in after a moment's thought, surprising no one.
"It sounds like we need to go to the country club and find the boss then, and have a discussion with him."
"By discussion, do you mean knock him unconscious, get Tads to rummage through his brain to extract all the information and then pull the trigger and put a bullet in his head?" Marius queried.
"Well, that's certainly one option. Though that is more likely to get us involved with the Triad at a higher level." Marius just shrugged at Aswon, not arguing the fact, but also giving the appearance of not caring that much. "It's just something to be wary of. We are in their home turf, is all I'm saying. But still – what do we know about Macau? How far away is it from here even?"
Hunter rolled out the map and keyed in the details, showing them the area of south eastern China, Hong Kong island and the city of Macau, then gave them a brief run down.
"It's only about seventy-five klicks from us, just across the water here, and it's a little like Hong Kong – a territory that's pretty attached to the mainland really, but has a distinct history and culture. It's technically part of the Canton Confederation, one of the Chinese states following their civil war, but it's actually a free city. The main difference is that it's not an independent city state like Hong Kong, so technically you're in Chinese territory when you're there."
"So we have to cross an international border to get in to the area?" Marius asked.
"Well, technically yes, but I suspect in reality no. All the data I can find on Shadowland indicates that the region is considered almost an open port. There's so much gambling, smuggling and trade that runs through the city that it's pretty easy to get in and out – the main actual checkpoints are the bridges that link it to the mainland, and that's where the actual border guards are posted. Otherwise it looks like the city is a haven for gambling of pretty much any variety you can think of, and a major hub for trading from east to west. Combat Inc have a major base there it seems. And something I kept seeing referenced was that there is a significant presence of Yakuza and Mafia elements in the city – it's not dominated by the Triads like Hong Kong is."
"So, we can just hop in a boat and get across to the city pretty easily then. Especially if we can get a rigged boat for me to pilot. Hmmm."
"Again, in theory yes. However, if you look at the map, you can see all these islands to the east, and there's a huge amount of coastline both north and south that is only loosely under control of the Canton Confederation. Again, going by the reports of other runners and smugglers on the net, the area is lousy with pirates, officials on the take, a fair variety of critters and some weird shit like magic dolphins. So it's not a safe bit of water by any stretch. Now I think we've got enough firepower to make it manageable for sure – but it's not a walk in the park."
"So we know Chun is going to have to travel to Macau for this fight, in a few days time if we can't find Harley. And we should be able to get there too, but we'll have to keep our eyes open. So, if we have to, we can go with him and try to look for Harley there, if they're actually keeping him close to hand over, after the fight. But otherwise, we need to follow up with this boss fellow, Lu Han, at the country club?" Kai summarised, and got a series of answering nods from the rest of the team. "So, now we've had the meeting, and we've got a little time – Tads, Vadim. You've proved the ritual works by finding me this morning. Want to give it another shot? Give us more options?"
"I'll give it a go. Now we know it works, I feel more confident. Up for some tracking, Vadim?" He nodded at her, and followed Tads out of the room as they headed for the chopper, ready to start their fifth attempt to find Harley. After they had left, Kai headed over to see Chun, wanting to get some more information.
"Hello Chun. Just wondering. Do you have any relatives that live nearby? Anyone you can go and stay with?"
"Not really, why? I mean, the wife has a sister over in China, she's only a couple of hours away."
"Are you close? I mean as family, how well do you get on?"
"We speak every few weeks, I guess. Maybe see each other once a year though – travelling with kids is a pain, so it's difficult to arrange."
"It might be worth getting in touch and seeing if you could go and stay. We have found out some useful information this morning, and we may be able to get a location on Harley. If we do recover him, it could well be a good idea to get out of the area."
"Ahh, Harley doesn't have a passport. We won't be able to travel with him to China. Well, not legally anyway." Kai blinked in surprise, then mentally kicked himself. "I mean, I know some people that might be able to help us out, but it would take some sorting. I can ask?"
"Yes, perhaps just make some enquiries, but don't commit to anything. We'll work on developing that information and see what we can do. Ok, thanks, we'll be back to you later."
The team busied themselves with training and gear preparation, until Aswon gave a start about an hour later as Vadim's astral form raced through the room he was in, swaying from side to side intently before disappearing through the outside wall. He headed back to the chopper and found Tads sitting cross-legged on the floor, with the selection of items from Harley's room in front of her, a look of intense concentration on her face. From just above her, a hair thin silver thread appeared and wove its way into the academy, heading in the same general direction that he'd seen Vadim go. He looked to the side and saw Vadim's body, lying slumped to the side in what looked like a very uncomfortable position. He gently lowered the limp body to the floor, laying out the limbs neatly to try and prevent cramp, and assensed him – the body was still alive, but the spirit was gone.
"Everyone, it's Aswon. Tads has completed her ritual and it looks to have been successful. There is a tracking thread, and Vadim is on the trail, trying to locate the target. I don't know how long it will take him, or even that he will succeed – but this is further than we've gotten previously!"
"So what do we do now?" Kai asked.
"Gear up and get ready to go!" Hunter responded.
"Well yes, that works. But it will take some time for Vadim to follow the trail. I can see it going out of the chopper, through the academy and down onto the beach, that's the way he was heading a few minutes ago."
"Oh, you can see it? Is it worth us following it as well?"
"Maybe, Kai. It's pretty hard to see, and I think it's only because we're in the same magical group that we can spot it at all. Otherwise we'd have had to have been in the ritual. But I'm guessing there… Anyway, I'm not actually sure on that, but it doesn't matter. We need someone who can see in the astral to trace it, so that's either myself, you or Shimazu. But we need someone to drive a car or ride the bike, otherwise it would take forever to follow the trail."
The team sprang into action, and worked around the academy again, finding out what vehicles they could get. Unfortunately, the only vehicle immediately available was the moped, so after a hasty discussion it was decided that Marius would drive, with Shimazu perched on the back. Though Hunter was a better driver on two wheels, he was also large enough that there was no way they'd both fit on the bike. As it was, Marius had to put his daysack on reversed, wedged down his front while the solid slab of Shimazu snugged up behind him on the tiny seat as they took off slowly through town, Shimazu calling out directions and guidance to Marius.
They drove along the coast road, following the immaterial gossamer thread as it wove back and forth, taking them through the next village north of Big Wave Bay, then onwards to Cape Collinson and the main road that led to Hong Kong city. The moped puttered along at a steady twenty kilometres per hour, traffic whizzing past them while Shimazu peered around the side of Marius, concentrating hard on the trail. After a little over eleven kilometres, traffic started to build up as they entered the outskirts of the city, cars and trucks racing past them with little regard for their safety.
The trail departed from the main road, taking an off-ramp and then starting to wind through the city. The traffic was slower here, but more congested, with cars and trucks constantly trying to barge or bully their way through junctions, regardless of right of way. The trail took a series of sharp left and right turns, crossing back and forth over the main road and seeming to go through a variety of side streets and areas as it continued to head towards the city centre. As they rode along, the number of near misses rose steadily, as did the quiet muttering and swearing of Marius as he tried to keep them safe while still responding to the apparently random course changes that Shimazu threw out to him.
Thirty minutes after setting off, they arrived near the waterfront, at a large nightclub with the name 'Retro Fever' displayed on an animated billboard. The thread seemed to head in through the main doors, disappearing out of sight.
"Trail goes in through the front. Looks closed though, so unless we're going to wait until night time and try to get in, I'm not sure what we can do…"
"Well, at least this seems to fit, Shimazu. We know this was one of the three clubs mentioned and found in his computer history. It seems entirely likely that he would have come here. I will see if we can get around to the other side. Maybe there is a service entrance or some way to get inside to see if we can spot anything else?"
He put the moped in gear and rode down the pavement, weaving in and out of pedestrians, then turning down the side alley that ran parallel to the building.
"Next left! The trail comes out, through that fire exit! Yes, along this road, veer right at the end, then turn hard right!"
"That is a one way street!"
"But that's where the trail leads!" Marius swore again, and drove down the gutter, keeping tight into the pavement and trying to avoid being smashed by the oncoming traffic. Horns blared at them, but nobody seemed to mind, and Marius got the distinct impression that what he was doing wasn't actually that uncommon. The trail reached the end of the mercifully short one-way section, then turned inland, heading up the steep hill on narrow twisting roads for nearly two kilometres, before it took a hard right in through the front doors of an apartment building. Marius pulled over to the side of the road and turned parallel to the hill, killing the engine and looking around, before hitting the transmit button to contact the rest of the team. The reception wasn't great, with the hill in the centre of the island in the way, but he could get through most of the time.
"We followed the trail to one of the night clubs mentioned in the centre of the city, then Shimazu spotted the trail coming out of the side door. We picked up the tracking again, and it led us to a large residential block of apartments. It looks like the Bamboo Grove complex on Kennedy Road, from the signs. The complex is fairly large, I think there has to be over two hundred residences here. The building is on the side of a steep hill, and I estimate thirty stories. It is taller than the surrounding buildings, so I do not think we will get a good view on the roof or higher levels, unless we get inside."
"I've found you on the map, north side of Mount Cameron. Yeah, ok, the overhead shots aren't great, but it looks like about 7 buildings on the same land, linked by sky bridges. I can see a couple of pools on the roof – or at least they look like pools. Plenty of HVAC units and other machinery, and there's a helipad up there." Hunter responded, throwing the details up on the screen for Kai and Aswon to study, too.
"The thread goes in through one of the entrances, looks like the main pedestrian entrance in building three. I've had a look at the buildings, and they are warded to a fairly basic level, so we're not going to be able to see much through windows or doors. I think we need to get inside!" Shimazu was scanning the buildings to either side as well as craning his head back to look upwards at the towering concrete monstrosity that was before him.
The apartments were built onto the side of the hill, rising at about a twenty-degree angle. Construction must have been a challenge, but with the astronomical cost of land in the city, no doubt it had been the only way to make affordable housing. At the southern end of the building, highest up the hill, there was a three-story car park before reaching a plaza and the bottom of the apartment tower proper. At the northern end, the ground had fallen away steeply enough that the car park was at least eight stories high, massive concrete pillars supporting the enormous slabs of pre-cast material that made up the parking levels and carried the weight of the towers above.
"Let's go check out the entrance?" Shimazu suggested, climbing off the back of the moped and stretching his legs, trying to get the blood flowing again. Marius pulled the moped up onto the pavement and onto its kickstand, then headed across the small roadway after Shimazu, angling towards the exterior door leading inside. As they got closer, they could see the door was covered by security cameras that were arrayed along the wall, covering the area in general though there didn't appear to be any cameras pointed specifically down at the doorway itself.
Marius pulled his electronics kit out of the backpack and selected a few tools, then with a quick glance up and down the road to make sure nobody was paying any attention, started to work on the casing, finding the security screws and working to remove them quickly and quietly. The screws were of an old design fortunately, matching one of the various bits available in his kit and it only took him a few seconds to get the case off.
With the innards exposed, he was about to start work on tracing the release mechanism for the door when his eye was drawn to a button at the top left of the circuit board with a small label underneath marked up with a single word.
'Override'
"Surely nobody is that stupid…" he pushed the button with the tip of his screwdriver and heard the tell-tale thunk of the bolts releasing the door mechanism. Shimazu quickly grabbed the handle and pulled the door ajar, while Marius hurriedly placed the case back over the top of the lock and replaced the screws. They slid through into the vestibule, and after checking to make sure there was a manual release on the inside of the door, let it close behind them. "We should make a note of this security system, Shimazu, and never buy anything from their range…"
The area inside was dimly lit and smelt faintly of mould and stale urine. Walls were painted a pale-yellow colour, with some darker patches here and there, faint graffiti showing through the thin coats of paint. A bank of four lifts were spaced along one wall, and fire doors led through to a staircase on the other side, while cheap plastic flooring was scuffed and ripped, creating an uneven pockmarked surface between them.
"The trail goes into the second lift." Shimazu gestured as he walked forward, hitting the call button by the side and then waiting as the display panel above the lift doors showed the cab coming down. Inside the cab the graffiti was more evident, gouged into the dimpled metal surface of the walls, and the smell intensified. Marius started to hit the buttons for the floors above, one after another.
"What are you doing that for?"
"The trail goes straight up I presume. So we want to stop at every floor to make sure if it turns off, you can follow it." The lift lurched into motion, rising up and stopping at every floor until they reached the roof, where finally the trail turned and led them out of the lift and into the small accessway, then out through a door onto the roof. The wind was more evident this high up, and they had a view over much of the city to the north, reaching down to the waterfront and about a kilometre further north, the northern shore and the rest of the city.
"Dammit." Shimazu had strode forward out of the doorway, walking around a low block of electrical equipment, then climbed the half flight of steps up onto the helipad and was standing just off to the side. He turned towards Marius, then pointed straight up with a finger. "Trail goes vertical here, rising up as far as I can see."
"I would assume they loaded him into a chopper or some other air vehicle then. And I do not think this is the sort of thing we can call an air cab for. Hopefully Vadim is already on the trail past here and will be more successful." They looked around for a minute, just in case they could find any clues as to what might have happened, before retreating back towards the doorway and the lift.
"That's disappointing, though to be honest I didn't think we'd get this far. From what Tads described, the trail doesn't always seem to coincide with paths and roads in the physical world. I think we got lucky to get this far."
"Well, that sounds very messy and impractical." Marius wrinkled his nose, indicating his thoughts on processes that didn't follow clearly defined and understood rules. "However, from what you have said, I think it is clear they arrived outside, bought him in through the front doors and rose up through the building to here, then loaded the hostage onto a vehicle and flew away. So, there are lots of cameras around. If we can get access to the footage, then we have a chance to gain some physical evidence."
"Hmm. Shimazu looked around, then headed to the parapet and looked down the hill, before pointing to a number of the other buildings. "Lots of these have helipads – why did they pick this one? The building is a bit run down and low class, so maybe it's got lower security than anywhere else. But I'm suddenly wondering if one or more of the team that snatched him don't live here. That would make it even easier to access…"
"That sounds reasonable – but there are over two hundred apartments here. Searching through them will take time. A lot of time. However, it may be something we need to do, if we cannot develop other information." Marius checked the signal strength, then took advantage of their height and the clearer line of sight to call back to the rest of the team and advise them on what they had discovered.
"Come on, Shimazu. I think this apartment complex is probably big enough to have a local security office or presence on site. If so, I would be certain that that is where we will find any local recorders or copies of the security camera footage." They headed back down in the lift to the ground floor, and then scouted around. At the northern end of the structure they found barely legible signs pointing towards the 'Management centre', which turned out to be a small set of offices next to the supervisor or custodian's apartment. Both the management office and security office had heavy security doors that led inside, but set into the outer walls were access panels with heavy duty windows featuring microphone pickups and speakers, over the top of a wide drawer, allowing for physical items to be passed back and forth from inside to outside.
Marius led them past the doors and to the next turn of the corridor, then stopped just around the corner to check for cameras. There didn't appear to be anything pointing at either the doors or windows into the offices, just the general camera in the area that covered the entire corridor.
"There is a very good chance that the security system for the whole building was purchased and supplied at the same time, from the same manufacturer. If so, I feel that there is a high probability that I can get us through that door in about twenty to thirty seconds. Are you prepared to deal with whoever is on the other side, while I investigate the security systems?"
"No problem. How lethal are we going?"
"I do not think we should aim to kill anyone we do not have to. But neither do I want to take any avoidable risks." Marius rummaged round in his rucksack and pulled out a balaclava, pulling it over his head to mask his features. Shimazu found a bandana and followed suit, and they got ready to make their attack. Shimazu pulled the scabbard out from under his coat, fixing it to his belt and settling the weight, getting it in a position to draw quickly if needed, then settled his holster back on the other side to balance the weight. Marius had the toolkit in his pocket, the same driver and bits as had worked outside in his hand, ready to go. After a quick nod at each other, they took a deep breath and rounded the corner, swiftly striding down the corridor towards the security office. Shimazu stepped around Marius and placed himself between the crouching German and the security camera, covering his activities.
Marius quickly slid the screwdriver up into the housing, trying to remove the screws as quickly as possible, He worked without his usual caution, having spotted the same manufacturer's logo on the lock as the one outside, and thus feeling confident that there was no anti-tamper mechanisms likely on this unit either. As he worked, the screwdriver slid in too far, not finding a screw head to latch onto and his heart skipped a beat, wondering if he'd made an assumption that was going to land them in hot water. Quickly he fished out a small angled mirror and checked the underside of the housing – there were the screw holes, but with no screws present. He grabbed the housing and slowly wobbled it and eased it back towards him. Something held it in place, but allowed movement, and as he applied more pressure he could hear a quiet tearing noise as the contact adhesive someone had used to 'fix' the case in place slowly tore free, coming off in his hand. He checked, and then stabbed at the override button, located in exactly the same place as the first lock, then stepped to the side to clear the way for Shimazu.
Shimazu sidestepped into the space cleared for him then pushed through the door, taking a few steps into the room rapidly his head swivelling to take in the scene. To his right, sat at a desk just in front of the window he saw a security guard turning to look at him, mouth agape. Adrenaline flowed though him as he saw the guard reaching for the taser baton by his side, and time slowed to a treacle-like flow, the coffee cup in the guard's other hand seeming to tilt and fall oh so slowly, the hot black liquid falling to the floor in a long stream. His hand dropped to his pistol with blinding speed, drawing the Ruger in one smooth motion and aiming it square at the man's head.
"Drop it! Hands up!" The words spat out in harsh Mandarin, glottal and brooking no argument. Behind him Marius entered the room, closing the door behind him and started to scan the area. The security guard was transfixed on the huge hand cannon pointed at his face, and the taser baton slipped from his fingers to bounce onto the floor, joining the spreading pool of coffee.
Marius moved behind him, and pulled out a couple of thick cable ties from his toolkit, then secured the man firmly, zipping down his wrists to the arms of the chair. He checked his handiwork, then stepped back to examine the man now the immediate pressure was off. He looked to be in his fifties, hair white and carrying a significant spare tyre around his midriff. His face was weathered and had a number of small scars, and his eyes looked slightly milky. As Marius watched, he could see the man trembling, wondering if his assailants were about to kill him where he sat, and his chest rose and fell quickly as he panted in fear.
A quick glance around showed a fairly typical security office. There was a switch by the front window that could depolarise the surface, turning it into normal two-way glass – he made sure that was firmly set to the 'one-way' mode before doing anything else. The desk was littered with rubbish and bits of equipment, spare cables and batteries, half destroyed cards and bits of locks. The rest of the room was just as chaotic, full of old kit and broken items, a box of lost property, a filing cabinet full of flimsy printed plastic overflowing from the binders. On the side wall was a set of four small monitors displaying rotating feeds from the security system, and underneath them was a small host, cables fed in from the wall mount that held the monitors in place.
Another small monitor was on the front desk, along with a machine for encoding door access cards and a credstick reader, and then a battered keyboard and mouse combination, next to the overflowing ashtray.
"This looks like what we need. We need the password for the system though, to make life easy."
Shimazu loomed in front of the man, and moved the pistol down, aiming it at his stomach.
"Password." His voice was low, serious but without the earlier harshness. He figured the man knew how much trouble he was in, and trying to sound intimidating now was just as likely to backfire as to help. As he watched, the man coughed a little, then extended one finger on his right hand, pointing at the top right desk drawer. Shimazu reached down and released the man's right hand, then gestured for him to wait. Easing open the drawer to reveal the contents, he gently reached in himself, feeling along the top surface – then pausing as he found the panic button set into the underside of the desk top. He placed his hand over the button, covering it entirely, then gestured with the barrel of the gun to the man. Still trembling, he reached into the draw and pulled out a small book, then struggled to flip it open one handed to the last page, laboriously copying out the password and tapping it into the keyboard, one ideogram at a time. As the computer unlocked, Shimazu grabbed his hand and slid it back into the ziplock, cinching it down and securing the man again, pulling the chair out of the way to allow Marius in.
"Tell me. Have there been helicopters landing on the roof. In the last few days."
"No – no landings. Not any more. No one affords them." Shimazu studied his face, looking for any tell-tale signs of a lie – but the man appeared to be telling the truth. He was still sweating profusely and looked terrified, as Shimazu held the gun only inches from him.
"Ok, this looks like what we need." The screens flickered as he ran through the different cameras on the network, flicking between them. "I am going to shut the system down and restart it, make sure the password is still valid." He powered the system down, waiting for the hum of the fans to stop, then hit the power button again, watching the boot up sequence. At the logon prompt, he entered the same sequence, and watched as the login completed, a tight smile forming on his lips. The smile faded though as a message appeared in the status bar, warning him that disk corruption had been detected. He clicked on the message and read through the details in the error message.
[WARNING. Improper shutdown detected. File corruption found. Beginning full RAID scan. Do not power off your system. This process may take several hours. For support contact your authorised dealer]
He watched as the counter rose from 0.0% to 0.1% and snarled.
"Cheap piece of shit. Ok, this will have to wait until later. It is either working or corrupt – nothing we can do now!" He shut the system down again, and as soon as the power was off, started to pull cables out of the back of the host, getting it ready for transport.
Shimazu looked down at the security officer as he gave a little cough, then watched as the man flicked his eyes down to his shirt pocket and back. As Shimazu stared at him, he went through the motion again, looking down and back, several times. Reaching forward he gently pulled the flap of the pocket up, and then grunted in understanding as he saw the packet of cigarettes and a small disposable lighter snugged up next to it. He extracted both and then tapped the packet, flicking out a cigarette and holding up to the man's mouth for him to grab. A flick of the lighter and the cigarette was lit, the security guard drawing in deeply and relaxing back into his seat, as far as he could.
Shimazu assensed him examining his aura and disposition and trying to get a good read on him, and was somewhat surprised to see that the terror had drained away now the initial surprise was gone, and had been replaced with resignation tinged with hope.
"I think he's going to behave himself," Shimazu said in Russian, "he seems relieved that we're just here to steal things and not kill him. At least that's what I'm getting from him at the moment, anyway."
"Good, happy not to have to kill anyone. Ok, the host is ready to go. Got everything?"
Shimazu looked around and checked to make sure they hadn't left any gear behind or incriminating evidence then nodded at Marius.
"Let's go!" With the host stuffed into the backpack, they headed out, pulling the security door closed behind them. Shimazu stuffed the sword and pistol back up under his jacket and followed closely behind Marius, eyes scanning left and right. "At least we don't have to worry about being on the cameras now!"
They retraced their steps, heading back down the stairs to street level and out to where they'd parked the moped. It took a few minutes to get their gear shifted around to the point where they could all fit on the bike, now that the bulky host was filling the rucksack, but once they'd figured that out, Marius started the engine and walked the machine backwards until he could turn it round and point downhill. With a last quick check, Shimazu climbed carefully onto the back and they accelerated away, leaving the towering apartment block behind them. Now that they were heading out of town, Marius could stick to the back roads and side streets, staying away from the crazy main roads and busiest highways, making the journey much less stressful on the way back, though slightly slower. They made it back to the academy for a little after three thirty, returning the borrowed bike to Anna with thanks and then looking for the rest of the team.
They found Aswon first, who was standing in the courtyard, weapon held ready.
"We're getting a little worried. Still no sign of Vadim…"
