Glitch in the God Complex (AmpCore #1)

51 - It's All in the Fine Print

 "You know, Chloe," Rain murmured between sips of scalding black coffee. "If this is all what you think it is, I've got to warn you about something."

Delgado smirked. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. If you say 'I told you so' I swear to god I'll shoot you in the face."

"I'll try and restrain myself."

Kirk tried and failed to stifle a laugh, earning a stern look from both women. They stood in Rain's apartment, in front of a trio of screens with a central display that dwarfed the two positioned to either side. A massive Kaysar Munitions logo glimmering in its centre. He tried not to look at the rest of the place too much in case he imploded with jealousy. His whole house could have fit in Rain's front room, every inch of it immaculate and clean. It smelled like pine trees.

At least that's what the air freshener said. Kirk had no idea what a real pine tree was meant to smell like.

Standing a little further back, Nevay was the personification of unease, the gangster's face set in an immovable grimace, her eyes constantly flickering left and right. He could hear the faint whirr of her synthetic as it hunted for targets in the shadows.

Her caution wasn't totally unwarranted. So far they had Delgado vouching for Rain Kaulitz, but he still wouldn't have been particularly surprised if a corp kill-team came smashing through the door and slaughtered the lot of them. He'd sort of resigned himself to the fact that he was probably going to get shot dead, and soon, but if he could see this through before that happened, it would be worth it.

Rain sighed, putting her mug down and bringing two hands to bear on the holographic interface. Her fingers flashed silently over keys made of cobalt light.

"Alright, have you got those prints?"

Kirk looked expectantly at Nevay. She hadn't let any of them go with her when she went to retrieve them, but to his immense relief, she did come back, the bundle of crumpled and partly torn prints held together by a circular metal clip.

She twitched, and after a couple of seconds she stomped reluctantly forward to deposit the blueprints on Rain's desk. Then she receded like an angry shadow, one hand resting against the handle of her knife.

"Okay then." Rain beckoned him forward. "Kid, hold these things flat and tell me what exactly you want me to try and find."

Kirk cleared his throat and stepped forward, catching Delgado's eye. She gave him a small nod of encouragement.

"These are plans of a Skiltron-AtomTech fabrication yard, from before the Schism," he explained as he flattened out the first of the prints and slid it over so she could see it. "We think some of your friends have built one. And that they've started building codewraiths."

"Yeah, Chloe told me that much. Sounds insane."

"Does it?"

Rain sighed. "Yes it does, except I can't think of any other way for those damned things to have gotten into Hadrian North. There've been no reported breaches at the bridge, and no sightings on the banks from any of our contract patrol team – nothing. Kaysar have direct security contracts with half the companies on the docks and I've not heard anything. And when you eliminate the impossible..." She threw up her hands resignedly.

"That's what we figured." Kirk nodded. "We need someone to trace the contracts that you would need to build something like this. It would be a ... compartmentalised contract."

Rain's eyes narrowed and she looked down at the plans, nodding slowly. "I guess it would have to be. Assuming you wanted to keep it a secret from some people."