181. Lazarus Group
"Found it."
The Sandevistan had been easier to trace than expected—so much easier than those hard-to-track identity weapons that it was almost surprising.
After examining the Sandevistan's maintenance records, Night City Police Department personnel quickly identified a highly distinctive maintenance signature, one as unmistakable as a signature and clearly pointing to a particular Ripperdoc.
In cyberware maintenance, no two sets of technical traces were ever exactly alike—or rather, not for Ripperdocs skilled enough to maintain a Sandevistan.
Every doctor left unique traces in their work. It was a habit rooted in muscle memory and ingrained thought patterns, one that was difficult to conceal.
It was like the master surgeons of old hospitals. Their surgical styles had always been readily apparent; even if a patient transferred to another hospital, an experienced peer could identify the surgeon at a glance from the marks left by the operation.
Following those traces, the Night City Police Department quickly launched an investigation under River's command and successfully located the Ripperdoc.
By all reasonable assumptions, an adversary this cautious, having left behind no clues, naturally would not have left a living witness either. Nearly every officer involved believed that all they would find in the end was a disposed-of corpse.
Yet reality defied everyone's expectations.
When the assault team completed its silent encirclement under maximum alert and elite officers kicked down the door, the sight inside the clinic left everyone stunned—the doctor was intently installing an optical implant for a client. The sudden intrusion startled him so badly that his hand jerked, and his surgical instrument nearly slipped free, almost causing a medical accident.
The doctor instinctively turned to curse, ready to teach these uninvited guests some of Night City's "linguistic arts." But when he saw that every last one of them wore