The Liberation Paradox

An Invitation to Follow

Danny

14:12

(6hrs, 56min remaining)

After Marcio had disappeared back down the stairs to go hack a virtual back door into Sky's data pad, Danny had stealthily entered Mika Claire's apartment via the servants' literal back door. He took off the clunky, noisy tool belt he'd stolen earlier and left it by the door. He needed to be able to move quickly and silently here. Among Danny's many illicit skills, burglary was one of his oldest.

At first, he moved through the apartment slowly and with great caution, but he quickly discovered that the apartment was empty. This wasn't entirely a good thing. Mika's absence from the apartment meant that her phone would almost certainly be likewise absent. And the phone of The Mushroom's girlfriend, Mika Claire, was the place Marcio had chosen to hide the crime lord's stolen accounting data.

Unless they retrieved that phone, the Boaters would kill them. Getting caught attempting to steal it would mean a horrific death at the hands of The Mushroom. This was the most critical part of Danny's plan and it needed to come off perfectly. Yes, Marcio would have been a liability here, but Danny had other reasons for sending him away. He had his own reasons for getting his hands on the data.

It might seem reckless to hide the data right under Daniau's nose, but even Danny had to admit it was kind of brilliant once you thought about it. Danny had gotten a far better read off of The Mushroom last night than he'd ever hoped to get. While Danny knew almost nothing of this Mika Claire, he did know that The Mushroom wasn't the kind of man to go falling in love. He knew that Mika and The Mushroom had separate penthouse apartments and that Mika's was the smaller of the two. She was a kept woman. A sociopath like The Mushroom would never suspect that his pet girlfriend was walking around with his stolen accounting data in her pocket.

Marcio had explained to Danny during their initial phone conversation that Mika, as the boss's girlfriend, wasn't subjected to the same rigorous security protocols as most people. Like the boss himself, her phone was never scanned as she entered or left the building. Marcio's plan had been to let Mika unwittingly carry the data out of the Paradox Hotel and then he would get someone, likely another Boaters operative, to steal her phone from her outside the hotel.

Since Marcio was only stealing copies of The Mushroom's accounting files and the originals were still on the servers, there was nothing to be missed. All Marcio would've had to do was take down his proxy network and cover up any evidence of his theft on the servers. It would look like just a random cell phone theft, the kind of thing that happens all the time in the city.

It was a simple plan. It likely would have worked just fine if Danny hadn't gotten caught, The Mushroom hadn't ordered a security audit, and the secure zone hadn't gone into lock down. Now, it was a safe bet that even Mika's cell phone would be scanned the next time she left the building.

Once sure that Mika's apartment was empty, Danny quickly searched all of the obvious places where she might have laid her phone: countertops, bedside tables, coffee tables. Of course, Danny knew she likely had her phone with her, but there was a small chance she may have left it here in the apartment, especially since the lock down would leave the phone nearly useless.

Failing to find the phone, Danny resigned himself to await Mika's return. It would be tricky, but he would have to steal the phone from directly under her nose.

But then, a light flickered over the kitchen sink and another light came on in Danny's head. The light over the sink flickered again. He looked down at the clothes he wore. The heavy boots, so ill-suited for stealth anyway; the blue collar, button-up work shirt; his current name stitched just above his breast pocket. He was an electrician in an apartment whose occupant was a woman accustomed to having servants come in through the back entrance and move around her.