Glitch in the God Complex (AmpCore #1)

43 - Did You Come to Start a War?

extract_8651_messagelog-hardcache201104

networkIdent:[ACCESS DENIED]

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Do we know the target's location?

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Yes. Our contact reports she's leaving the academy to meet with Jennings.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – The academy is allowing that?

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Of course not. They're going off the books – she's got help. All she needed was a push in the right direction to send her off.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Finally some fucking good news.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Our contact is going to stay on site with her – make sure everything goes as it should. They'll keep us linked up with coordinates and I have a wetwork team standing by.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Good. But I want that fucking rat's nest cleared out – every tunnel and every single member of Jennings crew hunted down.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – What exactly are you suggesting? We don't have the manpower for that kind of operation. Besides, what would be the point? They're no real threat.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – You think so?

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – No one's going to take the word of some gang leader over the official newscasts. If he could follow through on his little threats we'll just spin it away.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – That's not a chance I'm prepared to take. Prepare Phalanx 16 for deployment.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – You're sure? After everything that's happened you want to risk putting them on the streets?

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – I've had assurances from our tech partners that the anomaly has been isolated. We won't lose control again.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – You sure about that?

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Stop arguing with me and do what I tell you. It's my responsibility. We've sunk too much into this to let some petty racketeer blow our cover. It's time to get our property back and kill Cutter Jennings.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – All right. And what about the girl?

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – No more screwing around. The other corporations already know too much. She needs to be terminated. She's to be shot on sight – I'll make sure kill metrics are loaded into the Phalanx command codes.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – And the students helping her?

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Acceptable losses.

SenderID || [ACCESS DENIED] – Alright. We'll be ready.

extract_terminated

*

Piper jolted awake.

An avalanche of sensory data piled onto her as she came crashing back into consciousness, an invisible tether wrenching her into reality. Bright lights; the breathy hum of a car engine. She smelled expensive cologne and polished leather – some kind of cinnamon air freshener.

She sat up so fast she almost smashed her head off the seat in front of her.

"Woah, easy, easy!" A gentle grip closed around her shoulders, tipping her back again until she pressed against the headrest. "You're okay – you're in the car, with us."