Escort Mission
After settling on a reward of three hundred thousand Eurodollars, Carl, Jack, and Oliver looked over the mission details. Since lives were at stake, they all read it carefully. Yet unlike the generous reward, the information provided was sparse—so sparse that it could be called downright simple.
"Is that all?"
Oliver looked at Carl, somewhat suspicious that she had left out part of the information when sharing it.
"That's all there is."
Carl looked at the few short paragraphs, thought for a moment, then turned to Jack.
"What do you think, Jack?"
"It won't be easy."
"That's what I thought too."
The mission itself was not exactly difficult. Put simply, they were to go somewhere and work with mercenaries sent by other fixers, alongside the employer's bodyguards, to protect someone. The time was nine o'clock the morning after next, and the location was the Arasaka Waterfront Transport Port in Watson District. After receiving the target, they were required to escort him to Azure Tower on California Avenue in Little China, Watson District, within two hours.
The location, reward, and objective were all clearly stated. The only thing missing was information about the target. Mercenaries only needed to know where to go, how much they would be paid, and what they had to do, but when such an overly simple job came in with the note that they would be working with other mercenaries and bodyguards, it felt like they were being sent to their deaths.
They were supposed to protect a target, but if the target already had bodyguards, why did they need mercenaries too? The only explanation was that they were short on manpower. And any job willing to treat mercenaries as expendable manpower while offering such a generous reward...
"There's an eighty percent chance something will happen, and they'll use us as cannon fodder."
"Not eighty. One hundred."
Oliver and Jack, both thoroughly familiar with how corporations operated, spoke one after the other. Yet both of them looked at Carl.
Whether to take the job or not, as always, Carl would decide.
Carl thought for a moment, then nodded at Oliver and Jack. She still decided to take the job.
There were several reasons.
First, this was the first official job the fixer had sent them. They had finally gotten a chance at a mission that could make a name for them. It would be a shame to turn it down.
Second, the pay really was high enough to make the risk worthwhile.
And third...
Carl had already worked as a bodyguard once before. She felt that she had plenty of experience now, so doing it again would not hurt.
"We're taking it. Faraday will be there too. He said he'll personally pick us up."
"So we risk our lives and go die, while he gets paid for being a driver?"
Oliver shook her head. She truly could not bring herself to feel much goodwill toward fixers as a group.
"He's not just a driver. At the very least, he got us into this job. Since he had the connections to bring us a job that pays this well—even if it's a job that could get us killed—he deserves a cut."
Carl had the matter figured out clearly. After all, they were not well-known, and it was no small feat for Faraday, as a fixer, to find them such a lucrative "death mission."
"But if I find out later that he hid anything about this job from us, I'll kill him."
Business was business. If you had the connections and I had the muscle, then we could discuss profit-sharing. But if someone hid something during a partnership, that was not something a cut of the money could settle.
That was enough about fixers. The most important thing when taking a job was still the job itself.
Oliver had some doubts about the location. "Come to think of it, why is the mission location the Arasaka Waterfront Transport Port? Isn't that place off-limits to anyone except Arasaka Security? Does that mean the person we're escorting is from Arasaka?"
"Could be." Jack did not think it was a problem. "If we have to protect a Corpo Dog, then we protect a Corpo Dog. As long as the money's good enough, we can hold our noses and do it."
"No, that's not what I'm wondering about."
Oliver explained, "I told you before, didn't I? I know Faraday the fixer a little. Quite a few people in the Sixth Street Gang have taken his jobs, and there's always been a rumor in the gang that Faraday works for Militech. But this job has us going onto Arasaka turf to escort someone who might be Arasaka personnel. Don't you think that's strange?"
Everyone in America—or rather, the entire world—knew that Arasaka and Militech did not get along. The two corporations had even fought the Fourth Corporate War in the past, a conflict that spread across the world and was practically a world war. Now, a fixer with apparent Militech ties was doing work for Arasaka. No matter how one looked at it, that was strange.
"It's definitely strange."
Carl said, "But we don't know anything else. We have a job, so we'll just do the job first. The affairs of The Corporation don't have much to do with us, right?"
"True."
Oliver agreed with Carl. "Thinking about it too much is just stressful. The affairs of The Corporation probably won't drag ordinary mercenaries like us into them anyway. We'll follow the job. Come to think of it, what kind of people do you think we'll run into among the mercenaries hired by the other fixers? Maybe we can use them to get in touch with the fixers behind them?"
"What are you planning, Oliver? Find a few more fixers so we can take more jobs?"
Jack asked, and that was indeed what Oliver had in mind.
"The more, the better."
"More jobs, more Eurodollars."
As Carl spoke, she rose from the couch in the Afterlife bar and walked to the counter to say goodbye to Mrs. Welles.
She, Jack, and Oliver planned to buy a few things, then head to Oliver's apartment to discuss the matter in detail.
"I know you're taking on a big job. Be careful and stay safe, Carl, Oliver. And you too, Jack. Remember to protect them."
"I know, Mom."
Since he was a little older, Jack, who was being lectured by his own mother, patted his chest and said confidently, "As long as I'm around, nothing will happen to them."
"Remember to protect yourself too."
"I will, Mom. You too. Take care of yourself."
After saying goodbye to Mrs. Welles, the three climbed into the Rayfield Hera parked not far from the Afterlife bar. Oliver habitually took the driver's seat, then two seconds later suddenly realized something.
"Wait, isn't this your car, Carl? Why was I driving on the way here, and why am I driving on the way back too?"
"I'm too lazy to drive."
Carl tossed over the vehicle authentication device. Her reason was so convincing that, after the corner of Oliver's mouth twitched, she still took it.
After all, the Rayfield Hera was a good car, and Oliver rather liked it.
As the engine started, Carl sank into deep thought.
A thread gradually came together in her mind.
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