A thin line of purple vapor rose from the shadows on the edge of the alley, lit by the LED glow spilling from the tavern across the street. A small man with the face of a sick bulldog rounded the corner, stopped, and twitched his nose. Frowning, he glanced up at the sign flashing “Corvick’s E-stablishment” and touched one hand to the device attached to his ear. A faint ripple of electricity spread down the metal studs of his leather trench coat. Scanning the street, he entered the building.

Jane Brass stepped deeper into the darkness, removing a small wand from between her lips. She exhaled a large purple cloud into the alley and tucked the cyberette into her jacket. She pulled the jacket’s black hood over her head and double-checked her equipment: revolver loaded, location scrambler running, tracker responding. Glummy Jones had just entered the bar, stepping right through her tracking wire. The bug was affixed and Jane could watch on her mobile as he approached the bar then moved to a booth in the back. The conversation was starting.

After ten minutes the dot on the map exited through the back door. Jane let him get two blocks away, then crossed the street and entered Corvick’s. Behind the bar, a skinny man with a translucent nose-implant was trying to explain why fine battery-scotch had to be aged in the engines of aircraft instead of land vehicles. Jane spotted her source, Fred-E, in the back booth, neck-deep in a pint of old-style ale. She quickly stashed her mobile and took the seat across from him.

“Fred, glad to see you’re still on speaking terms with those Bolt Gang goons. So, are you going tell me what I need to know, or are we going to see this pretty face turn real mean?”

“Dammit Brass, I told you ten thirty. Glummy just stepped outta’ here!”

“That’s one thing I already know, E. Two more of those and you’re the one who’s outta’ here.” Jane pointed her right thumb at the door and the lights above flashed blood red.

“Alright, alright, point taken,” he pulled out a leather-bound folio, swiped a finger across a scanner on its cover, and opened it to a page of micro-discs. “I’ve encrypted this with your public key.” He handed her a disc, “I need you to extract everything you can from their data vaults. The relevant terminals are marked on those maps.”

She slid the disc into a slot in her right forearm. “Whoa, hold on there, slugger. This warehouse sure-enough can’t be where they’re holding the kid. Strike two. Bolt Gang doesn’t even touch this territory, and since when am I the one getting information for you?”

“Since I learned where that boy is, that’s when. Look Brass, I know how much this one means to you. Must be your motherly instincts finally kicking in, eh?” He gave her a big smile that made the fat of his cheeks cover his eyes. “I know what kind of things Glummy has in store for the kid, so the sooner you do this little job for me the more of that kid there will be left to save.”

“Man, you’ve got the heart of an android,” Jane laid her mobile on the table. “It’s a shame you don’t have the brains of one.” She pointed at the dot moving along the map, “I didn’t know which of the Bolts was handling the kid, but now I know it’s that bruiser.” Jane slipped her cyberette out of her jacket, placed it in her mouth, and gave Fred-E a wink. “I think I’ll skip your little trip, slugger, and maybe just follow this runner back to home base.”

“But, Brass, oh wipe my drive!” He gestured to her mobile screen, “Glummy ain’t going where you want, toots. He’s right outside!”

To be continued…