Read Online Tails You Lose by Lisa Smedman - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lisa Smedman
Tags: Science-Fiction
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ramp. It flashed across several of the split screens on the monitor as it squealed around corners, at times narrowly missing the few parked cars that were still in the garage so late at night. The dwarf seemed to know exactly where he was going—he took the most direct route to the garage's
Rupert Street
exit.
The first time Alma had seen the vidclips of the extraction, she'd expected the car to be trapped at the exit. PCI's security teams had obviously been alerted to an extraction in progress—they'd already sent a drone to deal with it. By this point, the entire garage was on lockdown. The vidclips showed steel containment doors and ballistic-composite shutters blocking every exit, and secguards moving in on foot.
The barrier across the
Rupert Street
exit was in place—when the dwarf saw it, he brought the car to a screeching stop, front bumper almost touching the heavy steel containment door. There was a brief pause, and then one of the rear doors opened. The woman stepped out and headed for the maglock beside the door. She leaned over it, as if keypadding in a combination.
The lock shouldn't have activated. The garage was on lockdown, which meant that the ultrasonic "key" in Gray Squirrel's vehicle would no longer trigger it. The maglock had its own power source and was not accessible via the Matrix. The only way to open it was to punch in an eight-digit manual override code—a code that was changed daily and issued only to those secguards who were on duty that day.
The woman straightened, and the containment door rumbled up into the ceiling.
Alma and Hu had both come to the same shocked conclusion the first time they'd viewed this vidclip. A serious breach of security had occurred: one of their own staff must have been involved in the extraction. An extensive grilling of the secguards on both the day and night shifts, however, had turned up no evidence to support this theory. Every one of the guards had willingly submitted to an injection of gamma scopolamine—one of the takedown drug's side effects was that it induced the same willingness to talk as a "truth serum." Not one of the guards admitted to having compromised security by divulging the code.
On the monitor, the woman got back into Gray Squirrel's car. As the vehicle pulled away into the night, the containment wall closed. The last image captured on the vidclip was a shot of a PCI secguard, running up to the maglock as the door slammed shut and frantically entering the code that would open it again.
The clock on that vidclip read 11:11:28 p.m.—it had taken the four intruders just six minutes and twenty-six seconds to carry out the extraction. The shadowrunners might look scruffy, but they operated as smoothly as any team Alma had ever put together. She hated to admit it, but she was impressed.
The tabletop monitor reverted to a blank blue screen. Alma considered what she'd just seen for a moment before looking up but came up as blank as the screen. "I didn't see anything new."
Hu shot a level stare at her across the table. "Look again."
This time, a single vidclip was playing full-frame on the monitor: the one shot by the drone's camera, after the drone had been taken out of commission. The fine-weave mesh that had wrapped around the drone obliterated all detail, and the halogen light shining directly into the lens had overloaded the camera's aperture settings. For a brief moment, however, a fuzzy black silhouette loomed in the field of view: the securi-cam had captured the woman as she leaned over the drone to look at it. Then the silhouette disappeared from sight.
Alma knew this portion of the vidclip frame by frame. She'd had it enhanced, magnified and run through a visual decryption and feature-recognition program several times, hoping to add detail to the female intruder's face. Nothing had worked—the face had remained a blur. As the vidclip ended, Alma looked up at Hu, puzzled.
Hu restarted the vidclip at the point where the silhouette
Rupert Street
exit.
The first time Alma had seen the vidclips of the extraction, she'd expected the car to be trapped at the exit. PCI's security teams had obviously been alerted to an extraction in progress—they'd already sent a drone to deal with it. By this point, the entire garage was on lockdown. The vidclips showed steel containment doors and ballistic-composite shutters blocking every exit, and secguards moving in on foot.
The barrier across the
Rupert Street
exit was in place—when the dwarf saw it, he brought the car to a screeching stop, front bumper almost touching the heavy steel containment door. There was a brief pause, and then one of the rear doors opened. The woman stepped out and headed for the maglock beside the door. She leaned over it, as if keypadding in a combination.
The lock shouldn't have activated. The garage was on lockdown, which meant that the ultrasonic "key" in Gray Squirrel's vehicle would no longer trigger it. The maglock had its own power source and was not accessible via the Matrix. The only way to open it was to punch in an eight-digit manual override code—a code that was changed daily and issued only to those secguards who were on duty that day.
The woman straightened, and the containment door rumbled up into the ceiling.
Alma and Hu had both come to the same shocked conclusion the first time they'd viewed this vidclip. A serious breach of security had occurred: one of their own staff must have been involved in the extraction. An extensive grilling of the secguards on both the day and night shifts, however, had turned up no evidence to support this theory. Every one of the guards had willingly submitted to an injection of gamma scopolamine—one of the takedown drug's side effects was that it induced the same willingness to talk as a "truth serum." Not one of the guards admitted to having compromised security by divulging the code.
On the monitor, the woman got back into Gray Squirrel's car. As the vehicle pulled away into the night, the containment wall closed. The last image captured on the vidclip was a shot of a PCI secguard, running up to the maglock as the door slammed shut and frantically entering the code that would open it again.
The clock on that vidclip read 11:11:28 p.m.—it had taken the four intruders just six minutes and twenty-six seconds to carry out the extraction. The shadowrunners might look scruffy, but they operated as smoothly as any team Alma had ever put together. She hated to admit it, but she was impressed.
The tabletop monitor reverted to a blank blue screen. Alma considered what she'd just seen for a moment before looking up but came up as blank as the screen. "I didn't see anything new."
Hu shot a level stare at her across the table. "Look again."
This time, a single vidclip was playing full-frame on the monitor: the one shot by the drone's camera, after the drone had been taken out of commission. The fine-weave mesh that had wrapped around the drone obliterated all detail, and the halogen light shining directly into the lens had overloaded the camera's aperture settings. For a brief moment, however, a fuzzy black silhouette loomed in the field of view: the securi-cam had captured the woman as she leaned over the drone to look at it. Then the silhouette disappeared from sight.
Alma knew this portion of the vidclip frame by frame. She'd had it enhanced, magnified and run through a visual decryption and feature-recognition program several times, hoping to add detail to the female intruder's face. Nothing had worked—the face had remained a blur. As the vidclip ended, Alma looked up at Hu, puzzled.
Hu restarted the vidclip at the point where the silhouette
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