BC stepped out the car. He pulled the bag with him and stumbled into the house. A thumbprint later, and he was falling into bed.
His alarm went off an hour later. The short nap reduced the pounding in his head from a roar to a dull thud. BC opened the bag and looked at the coin. He itched to grab it, but the memory of its force kept him from doing it. Instead, he closed the bag and put in a safe location, under his mattress.
A quick shower later, he headed out to the coffee shop. Pulling into the parking lot, he spotted Miz Johnson’s motorbike. She was early, but then so was he. BC ordered his typical and went to her table.
“Miz Johnson?” He asked making it sound like he didn’t know who she was.
She looked up at him. “BC?”
He nodded. “Nice to meet you. What can I do for you?”
She smiled. “I’m looking for someone to be charming. Are you charming?”
“I’m as charming as can be darlin’.” He drawled. Then it hit him. She was a spitting image of Misti Davenhert. Frag, his might complicate things with Ms. Latham.
She nodded. “The pay is 5K. Still interested?”
BC thought about it for a nano-second and then nodded. “Work is work.”
“Good.” She took a sip of her cup. “The target is a company called Fast Date. I need you to provide a distraction.”
“Sounds easy enough. Anything else?”
“We’re going in as a repair team, so know your stuff.”
BC frowned and shook his head. “I don’t know drek about computers.” Sure he used one every day, but knowledge? That was for the techs, not him.
She sighed. “You’ll need to know a couple of basic lines. Things like ‘we’ll know more once we get it back to the labs’, and ‘hackers’, and ‘anything is possible with technology’.” She took another sip. “I’ll also need picture of you.”
BC smiled. His features changed to dark hair, silverish eyes, and more tanned skin. “I’ll use this face.”
Miz Johnson looked surprised. “That’s pretty wiz!” She looked at him for a second, and then said she was done.
BC’s features when back to his normal ones. “Anything else?”
“Figure we’ll meet up here again at 1300, until the actual run time.”
“It’s a date.” He laughed.
He went back to his place and pulled up some data on Fast Date. It seems it was the premier dating site of Seattle’s elite. Five thousand a month for dues. He logged into dark net to see what the decker community had to say about Fast Date. Rumor has it there is a lot more data traffic for a "dating site” and they have about half a floor of servers. BC shrugged anything more than one was a lot for him. More reading showed there was debate as to who really owned the data. Some say it is Mituhoma, while others think it a data store for NeoNet. Great, upset the yaks or Villiers. Maybe he should have asked for more nuyen.
Just for kicks, he tried to pull up any data on Miz Johnson. Ten minutes later, he found quite a bit of information. Her real name was Hailey Davenhert. She graduated high school at 11, and went to University of Seattle, graduating at 15. Rumor has it the triple AAA corps all want her, but she seems to be content living at home with her mother. She seems really, really good with computers. Mutters of her being a techomancer have been bandied about, but nothing has been proven. He checked dark net and found a couple of posts to the anti-GOD boards. He wasn’t sure what or who GOD was, so he searched on it, and found it was the Grid Overwatch Division. He could live with that. A little anarchy was good.
He checked his chronometer. 1930. Even with the pounding headache, he changed into his party clothes and headed out the club.
He crawled into bed about 0230. Sleep came right away. Dreams came and faded away, except for one. He was at a party. Only this one was different, the clothes were old. Toga party type of old. The room was large and made of stone. Light was from oil lamps and doors? Not something, he could see. He found himself walking down a stone corridor. He ran his hands along the rough stone. Something was calling him. He could feel it in his chest. After walking what seemed to be forever, he came into a bedroom.
An old woman lay propped up on the bed. Old was an understatement. Her wrinkles had wrinkles. “I knew someone would come.”
“What can I do for you?” BC asked.
“Water.” Her voice was a whisper.
BC found a basin with a stone cup. He poured her a glass.
She spilled more than she drank, and handed him the cup back. “Are you here to take it?”
“Do you want me to take it?” He countered. “I’m not a thief here to take things that aren’t mine.”
“Have you done the rites?”
“I apologize but I haven't been taught the proper rites, perhaps you can teach me.”
She gestured towards the side of the room. Suddenly a table appeared in a pool of light. DC moved to the table and started studying the scroll. The lines of text. A test of Might – prove yourself worthy in battle. A test of Wits – prove your skill. Purification Rite – you must bath in the ‘blood of the lion’. Three tests.
He woke with an overwhelming urge to pee. Grabbing his commlink he did a voice memo with as many details as he could remember.
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