22: This Is a Trial

22. This was a trial.

There were twenty-seven mercenaries in total, and compared to those twenty-seven, the Arasaka Security personnel in Arasaka uniforms were actually at a numerical disadvantage.

"Thirty-seven Arasaka security personnel, plus twenty-seven mercenaries—that's sixty-four people. Are we going to war or escorting someone?"

"If it's war, that's still a little short on manpower."

Oliver answered Jack as he walked out of the warehouse. He looked at the vehicle nearly two hundred meters away, tightly surrounded by Arasaka Security personnel. "Is that the employer's car? Why does it look so familiar?"

"My God."

Jack saw the car too and instinctively exclaimed, "A Rayfield 'Lake Lady's Sword—Guinevere.' I know that car. I even watched the launch event when it came out. I remember drooling over it back then."

"And now?"

"I'm still drooling."

"Heh."

With a chuckle, Carl stared at the car as information about it flashed through his mind.

Rayfield 'Lake Lady's Sword—Guinevere': To anyone who knew cars, the name Rayfield was synonymous with wealth. That was right—these vehicles were made exclusively for the rich. The 'Lake Lady's Sword—Guinevere' in particular cost more than the GDP of many island nations.

As a symbol of wealth, the Lake Lady's Sword had an engine capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with any professional race car, while its interior was as luxurious as a five-star hotel suite. Supported by crystal ball technology, it did not even need windows for passengers to see every view outside the vehicle. Naturally, that also maximized the safety of those inside. If you ever encountered this little beauty on the street, do not think about testing her armor with your Lexington. It was military-grade.

"How much do you think this car costs?"

Carl stared at the Lake Lady's Sword and asked Oliver, Jack, and Maine beside him.

"Ten million eddies?"

Oliver guessed, but Jack, who clearly knew more about cars, immediately named the price. "Twenty-two and a half million eddies." (Based on the real-world 2010 Koenigsegg CCXR, 26 million)

"That number sounds like a dream."

Carl stared at the car. Selling it would buy a whole lot of the latest cyberware.

"Stop thinking about that nonsense."

Maine was the calmest among them. He had been a mercenary longer than any of the others and had seen his share of luxury cars. Though this was his first time seeing a Lake Lady's Sword, he had gotten used to such things and was no longer surprised.

Maine said, "Do you know what I'm thinking right now?"

"What are you thinking?"

"We're dead."

"Why do you say that?"

Carl looked away from the car, somewhat confused.

"Someone rich enough to ride in a Lake Lady's Sword, guarded by this many Arasaka security personnel, still needs idiots willing to die as expendable assets. What kind of danger do you think we'll run into next?"

"I do have a guess."

Carl spoke a term that made Maine, Jack, and Oliver's expressions change drastically. "ACPA."

"ACPA?!"

Oliver's face twisted when he heard the word from Carl. "Why would you guess that?"

"I have a few clues, I guess?"

"How sure are you?"

"Fifty-fifty. Fifty percent chance I'm right, fifty percent chance I'm wrong."

"Isn't that the same as saying nothing?!"

Though Oliver said that, he knew perfectly well that if Carl did not truly have some clues, he would not have brought up such a fifty-fifty possibility at a time like this. In other words, if they encountered nothing, that was one thing. But if they did encounter something, there was a ninety-nine percent chance their opponent would be an ACPA.

Back when Oliver had explained ACPAs to Carl and Jack, he had described them as consumables that would make corporations lose money. But if he actually had to face one, he knew better than anyone how dangerous an ACPA was. The Sixth Street Gang had hidden light ACPAs, and the gang's veterans had encountered them on the battlefield.

Their group of mercenaries had decent equipment, but it could not compare to an ACPA. What was an ACPA? A humanoid walking tank.

"Don't overthink it. We accepted the job, so let's do our duty. Our ride's here."

Jack watched several empty Villefort Alvarado V4F 570 Envoys drive over from the distance and stop in front of them. He guessed they were meant to carry the mercenaries and Arasaka Security personnel.

Villefort Alvarado V4F 570 Envoy: An expensive, enormous vehicle. Riding one through the streets was not called cruising—it was called patrolling. For many people in Night City, the Alvarado was the ideal way to flaunt luxury.

"I always wanted to ride in one of these when I was a kid. What street punk wouldn't like a car like this? Sitting in one made you feel like you'd made it. Never thought that after becoming a mercenary, I'd get to ride one so casually just for a job."

As Maine spoke, he watched the other mercenaries board the vehicles. "Are we forming a convoy to cross the Watson District? Won't that attract too much attention? If you ask me, with the Lake Lady's Sword, we should just floor it and rush through. We'd be there in ten minutes."

"And then possibly have a hacker change the traffic lights or reroute vehicles along the way, guide us into collisions, and trap the target somewhere the attackers have prepared?"

Oliver opened the door as he spoke. "I think the employer is rich enough to get a hovercar. Fly over from the sky, and there'd be no obstacles. Don't hovercars have anti-hacking programs now?"

"That only stops ordinary hackers. What hovercar nowadays doesn't need equipment to guide and control it? Do you think whoever is willing to mobilize this many people and spend this much money to protect the target would not be able to find a skilled hacker? If they did that, they'd probably crash the moment they took off. Once you're in the sky, you can't even run."

As Jack spoke, he looked at Carl, who had already taken the front passenger seat. "Carl, what do you think?"

"I'm looking with my eyes open. Honestly, I suspect there's an inside man among the security personnel. The moment the target moves, they'll know. Otherwise, I really can't think of any reason they'd insist on transporting people through intersections in a convoy."

"You mean there might be someone working for the attackers within the security team around the target?"

Carl sat in the driver's seat. The luxury car could drive itself anyway, so he was just going through the motions.

"If they could still trust the people around them, would they need to bring in mercenaries like us to muddy the waters even more? Mercenaries only recognize money, don't they?"

Carl had now confirmed his guess: there had to be moles like Blanca and Juanito among Arasaka's people. Yet he still could not understand why a company like Arasaka could not even uncover the traitors in its own security force.

Or perhaps, within Arasaka, moles like Blanca and Juanito had been arranged by people higher up because of the target's identity, which was why they could not be exposed—and could not be investigated?

If the target really was Sakura, then naturally, many people would want her alive while also wanting her dead. But arranging people to protect her while also arranging people to possibly attack her made Carl think of a word more likely than office politics.

That word was:

A test.

Or perhaps:

A trial.

A trial for Sakura, conducted with an unknown number of lives.

There were always people obsessed with sakura after the rain.