Jackie Welles

[Completed first vehicle-mounted weapon modification]

[Tech Points +100]

[Current Tech Points: 1635]

"Badass. Everyone else mounts machine guns on their cars, but you went with a smart shotgun. Don't tell me you expect me to climb up there and fire it?"

After they spent some time modifying the car's weapon mount, V mocked its ridiculous appearance.

The machine-gun turret had mounting hardware, but the smart shotgun didn't, so they had scrounged up some rope and tied the gun down.

Just as Lier had expected, besides connecting to a hand's Smart Link, the smart shotgun also had a physical interface, apparently intended for techies to run diagnostics.

Connecting to the car through a Personal Link let the user access visual feeds from its cameras and upload their own visual feed.

Then, through the connection between the car and the weapon, they could indirectly link to the gun.

That made its tracking software usable!

Unfortunately, just as V had said, someone still had to climb up there to pull the trigger and reload.

Technology. Amazing, right?

"Not amazing. In fact, it's incredibly slapdash," V said mercilessly.

"Maybe it'll come in handy later." Lier stopped the car. "There's the Farm. Get ready to meet your fellow local-and remember, you're a lone nomad from the Barkley Family now."

"Yeah, yeah. You talk so much every damn day-sometimes I really wonder why they call these places farms when there's nothing here."

Lier shrugged. "You'll have to ask the corporations about that. This isn't history class. Get moving.

"I'll stay in the car and fine-tune the weapons."

The car stopped in front of the "Farm."

They called it a farm, but it was really just a rundown house, comparable to the tin shack V had rented in Atlanta. It even let the wind in.

There was no sign of anything growing nearby. It must have been abandoned for a very, very long time.

Lier suddenly remembered the famous rocker-terrorist Johnny Silverhand's speech about what the corporations had done.

Bang. V shut the car door and headed toward the rundown house.

As soon as V entered, she saw a burly man with his hair in a bun sitting on the couch. His face looked fairly gentle, but he was built like a gorilla.

"I'm so broke I'm about to take up farming. You're here for me, right?"

Jackie smiled as he spoke, which struck V as a little odd-such a huge guy, speaking so gently?

"You're Welles?"

"Jackie, por favor-please."

V was even more surprised. Were people from Heywood really this polite?

"I'm V." As she spoke, V glanced at the crate on the floor. Just as their intel had suggested, it was clearly quality corporate merchandise.

She recognized it at a glance as one of the secure shipping containers corporations commonly used-she had stolen several of them just a few days ago, after all.

"Hold on. Where I come from, we get to know each other before talking business. It's a custom, or just good manners, you know?"

V spread her hands-she really was about to go home. This felt familiar.

"Sure. People need some backbone. Even if everything else gets taken away, you've still got to keep that much-let's start with you."

"Haha, exactly, chica-girl. Me, I'm a Night City native, with Heywood in my blood."

V raised an eyebrow. "I'm... uh, from the Barkley Family. I don't know what your Heywood is like, but where we come from, the convoy's one big family. I might not like everyone, but..."

"I get it, I get it!" Jackie perked up. "But you're all family, right? Heywood's the same."

"Well, good to meet you, Jackie. You carrying? Everyone in the Badlands carries."

"That's a Heywood tradition too. Damn, girl, we're definitely gonna get along! The goods are right here."

Looking at this honest-looking big lug, V laughed. "Heh, big guy, I think so too. What's the cargo?"

"Don't know-let's just say not knowing what's inside might make it easier on your conscience."

V nodded in agreement. "Then let's load it up-oh, I've got a buddy with me too. Doesn't talk much. You can call him Lier."

"More hands make light work. Let's go."

Watching V and Jackie walk out of the house, Lier felt a little dazed-

Their crew now had three members, with the standard setup of two muscleheads and a hacker.

But somehow... it didn't feel like a good omen.

And he was the hacker, which made it even worse.

Jackie loaded the cargo crate into the trunk. Yinglong and the Eight-Star Shotgun were tucked into the compartment beneath it to keep them out of the scanners' sight.

A hidden compartment like that could only be very small, or the Border Checkpoint would spot something wrong with the structure.

"Good to meet you, brother." Jackie sat in the back seat and greeted Lier with a broad smile.

Lier's expression wasn't nearly as relaxed-he had just remembered that one job in the game where V and Jackie brought a hacker along. That hacker had died horribly.

So Lier said gravely, "Normally, I'd say it's good to meet you too. Right now, though, I'm thinking about a matter of life and death."

"Uh..." Jackie glanced at V.

She shrugged. "Ignore him. He's just like that."

The car started up and headed into the sunset along the straight, sand-covered highway. V said cheerfully, "Finally, you're driving. Do you know how bored I've been behind the wheel these past few days?"

Lier replied, "I actually think driving's pretty fun. Besides, the road's so wide, and there aren't any other cars."

"You haven't driven for four or five days straight."

Hearing that, Jackie asked curiously, "Where'd you come from, driving that long?"

Lier and V exchanged a glance before he said, "Around Atlanta."

"Whoa, big city. Heard some serious shit went down over there. You know anything about that?"

"Of course." V promptly took over. "Militech and Kang Tao beat the living shit out of each other. We got stuck on the road right as we were leaving.

"You have no idea. Militech had this Cybermonster who could slice a car in half with one swing of his Mantis Blades. Guy was like a bulldozer.

"That sight, damn. Like taking a cleaver to a power line-sparks and lightning all the way."

"Holy shit, that badass?" Jackie's eyes lit up. "Then what happened?"

"Then..."

"Ahem." Lier cut off V's boasting, afraid she might say too much. "Check the customs declaration, V."

"Oh, brother, sure. Got it right here. Been keeping it nice and safe. You ever run a route like this before?"

Jackie handed the form to V, who looked baffled. Weren't you supposed to drive while I talked shit?

Lier quickly shot her a glare-she had to read it even if she couldn't understand it!

Lier answered, "Not often, but a few times. Don't be nervous. Relax."

"I'm not nervous!" Jackie's voice rose a notch, making him sound thoroughly unconvincing.

The car passed through an intersection, and Lier turned the wheel toward Night City.

As soon as they turned around, all three saw the Border Checkpoint in the distance—and a Militech attack helicopter flying overhead.

That wasn't all. Combat drones were everywhere on both sides of the towering wall, several Behemoth Armored Vehicles stood outside the Checkpoint, and the guards were fully armed.

Even more outrageous was...

Beep-

A hovering tank—a Basilisk—slowly passed through the Border Checkpoint to the other side. It looked like a new arrival reporting for duty.

That was a genuine weapon of war.

Lier's expression darkened. "They've beefed up security."

"No kidding. Because of that Atlanta mess, I'm guessing-huh, why's there smoke beside the road?"

Jackie looked toward the black smoke. It was coming from a CHOOH2 Station, where several cars sat burned down to their frames. The soldiers on duty nearby acted as if they saw nothing.

Lier glanced over and said, "A few cars getting blown up near the Border Checkpoint is normal—don't ask me why they blew them up. Could just be the Militech guards looking to make some money on the side."

Thup-thup-thup-thup-

The attack helicopter flew over the car. Jackie swallowed. "You just told me not to be nervous? Okay, I'm a little nervous."

"A little late to get nervous now."

The car entered a red lane with a sign overhead reading: Customs declarations.

Just ahead of Lier and the others, a black executive sedan was being inspected-

Lier held out a hand to V. "Give me the customs declaration. I'll go talk to them."

"Here-what does this mean?"

Lier glanced at the large white English lettering on the black declaration form. "L.O.A., lost on arrival. This is a customs declaration prepared specifically for smuggling.

"Jackie, where's the bribe money?"

"Oh... right here. I forgot... little nervous."

V gave the big man a long look, suddenly deciding Jackie wasn't quite as honest as he appeared.

But that was fine. They were even less honest.

Lier took the money Shard and pulled a smart shotgun out from under his seat.

Jackie stared-that thing looked expensive. At least tens of thousands, right?

Then Lier walked around to the passenger door and tapped it. V pulled an identical smart weapon out from under her seat.

And they weren't done yet. While Jackie was still reeling, V turned around and said, "Jackie, there are two smart shotguns under your seat. Take them out. We'll declare them together."

Huh?

Jackie was dumbfounded-was the stuff in his crate even worth as much as those guns?

Was he the one smuggling, or were these two?