19. The Escort Mission

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After settling on a payment of three hundred thousand euros, Carl, Jack, and Oliver began studying the details of the job. Since their lives were at stake, they read everything with great care. Yet the information provided was nowhere near as generous as the payment—in fact, it was remarkably sparse.

“That’s all?”

Oliver looked at Carl suspiciously, as though wondering whether Carl had accidentally left out part of the briefing when forwarding it.

“That’s everything.”

Carl stared at the few short paragraphs. After thinking for a moment, he turned to Jack.

“What do you think, Jack?”

“Not going to be easy.”

“That’s what I was thinking too.”

The job itself was not especially difficult, at least not on the surface. In essence, they were to go to a designated location and work alongside mercenaries hired by other fixers, assisting a client’s bodyguards in protecting a particular person. They were to assemble at nine the morning after next, at the Arasaka Waterfront transport terminal in Watson. Once they received the target, they had two hours to escort him to Konpeki Plaza on California Street in Watson’s Little China district.

The location, the payment, and the assignment were all clearly stated. The only thing missing was information about the target.

A mercenary technically needed nothing more than the where, the pay, and the task itself. But a contract this bare-bones—especially one that explicitly required them to cooperate with other mercenaries and bodyguards—carried the distinct smell of a suicide mission.

They were being hired to protect someone who already had bodyguards. Why would their services be needed as well? The only possible answer was that the existing manpower was insufficient. And any client capable of treating mercenaries as disposable manpower while offering such an extravagant reward...

“Eighty percent chance something goes wrong, and they’ll use us as cannon fodder.”

“No need for eighty percent. Make it one hundred.”

Oliver and Jack knew the corporations’ ways all too well. They spoke in turn, then both looked toward Carl.

As always, Carl would decide whether they accepted the contract.

Carl considered it for a while, then nodded to Oliver and Jack. He had decided to take the job.

There were several reasons.

First, this was the first official contract Faraday had sent them. They had finally been given a chance to make a name for themselves, and it would be a waste to turn it down.

Second, the payment really was generous enough to justify taking a risk.

And third...

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Carl had already worked as a bodyguard once before. In his own estimation, he had accumulated plenty of experience, and he saw no reason they could not do it again.

“We’re taking it. Faraday will be coming too. He said he’ll personally take us there.”

“So we risk our lives and go off to get ourselves killed while he gets paid to play chauffeur?”

Oliver shook his head. He had never held fixers in particularly high regard.

“He won’t merely be driving us. At the very least, he managed to get us into this job. If he has the connections to land us a contract this lucrative, then he deserves a cut.”

Carl had already calculated the matter clearly. Truthfully, their own reputation was still insignificant. For Faraday, as a fixer, to find them a job that paid enough to be worth risking their lives over was no small feat.

“But if I find out later that he concealed anything about this job, I’ll kill him.”

One matter had nothing to do with another. If he had the connections and they had the skills, then dividing the proceeds was perfectly negotiable. But if he concealed something relevant to the operation, that was an entirely different matter—no mere discussion of percentages could settle it.

With that, the subject of Faraday came to an end. The most important thing about accepting a job was, after all, the job itself.

Oliver was puzzled by the location listed in the briefing.

“Speaking of which, why is the rendezvous point the Arasaka Waterfront transport terminal? Isn’t that place off-limits to everyone except Arasaka personnel? Are we escorting an Arasaka employee?”

“Could be.” Jack did not seem particularly bothered. “If we’re protecting a corporate dog, then we’re protecting a corporate dog. As long as the money’s right, we can hold our noses and do it.”

“That’s not what I’m questioning.”

Oliver explained, “I told you before, didn’t I? I know a fair bit about Faraday. Quite a few people in the Sixth Street gang have taken his jobs, and there’s always been a rumor that Faraday works for Militech... But this time, we’re heading onto Arasaka territory to escort someone who may well be an Arasaka employee. Doesn’t that strike you as strange?”

Everyone in America—or, for that matter, the entire world—knew that Arasaka and Militech were bitter enemies. The two corporations had once fought a conflict that engulfed the world, essentially the Fourth Corporate War. Now a fixer with vague ties to Militech was helping Arasaka. However one looked at it, the situation was bizarre.

“It’s certainly strange,” Carl said. “But we don’t know any more than that. We have a job, so we’ll just do it as instructed. Whatever the megacorps are up to has little to do with us.”

“True.”

Oliver agreed with him. “Thinking about it too much is giving me a headache. Besides, whatever the megacorps are doing, it shouldn’t involve ordinary mercenaries like us. We’ll follow the brief. Speaking of which, I wonder who the mercenaries hired by the other fixers will be. Maybe we can use them to get in touch with the fixers behind them.”

“What are you planning, Oliver? Find a few more fixers and pick up more work?”

Jack asked the question, but Oliver really had been thinking exactly that.

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“The more, the better.”

“More jobs, more euros.”

Carl said it as he rose from the sofa at the Afterlife and walked over to the bar to say goodbye to Mrs. Wells.

He, Jack, Oliver, and the others planned to buy a few things before going to Oliver’s apartment to discuss the matter in greater detail.

“I know you’re about to take on something big. Be careful... Stay safe, Carl. Oliver—and you too, Jack. Remember to look after them.”

“I know, Mom.”

Jack, being the eldest of the three, was the one who received the most reminders from his mother. He thumped his chest and declared with complete confidence, “As long as I’m there, nothing will happen to them.”

“You remember to look after yourself too.”

“I will, Mom. You take care of yourself as well.”

After bidding Mrs. Wells farewell, the three of them climbed into Carl’s Sky Hera, parked not far from the Afterlife. Oliver habitually took the driver’s seat, only to realize two seconds later that something was wrong.

“Wait a second. Isn’t this your car, Carl? Why am I driving it both ways?”

“I’m too lazy to drive.”

Carl tossed him the vehicle authorization device. The excuse was so perfectly reasonable that, after Oliver’s mouth twitched, he accepted it anyway.

After all, the Sky Hera was a fine car, and Oliver was rather fond of it.

As the engine roared to life, Carl sank into deep thought.

A connection was gradually taking shape in his mind.