You're In, Sister

Cathay    

Solaris City

Solaris VII

25 April 3061 

                    A week had passed, and absolutely nothing at all happened. Lin Ming had no scheduled fights, she heard nothing from the mysterious Drake, and her employers didn't have much to say to her. Which ordinarily would have been fine. She was sitting on a nice chunk of cash after her recent fights, and it allowed her to see a little more of the city.

                    Truth be told, she had wished that she could have seen it with Nicky, but the detective was busy, and the two had not met during the entire week. They had exchanged texts and stayed in touch, but Lin found herself secretly wishing for just a little bit more.

                    She had just returned from lunch at a nice small Cathay cafe, when she found another slip of paper under her door. Just like the first time, it contained an address in the Black Hills, and a time, this time six in the evening. She texted the details to Nicky this time, and within a few minutes, the detective called her back. 

                    "This could be big. That address is a family type bar and grille in the Black Hills, so it's likely another exchange of information. Hopefully this will be something we can use."

                    "So I should take the meeting?" Lin asked. 

                    "Absolutely. It's a public place, so you should be safe. Don't go anywhere with him, or whoever shows up, keep it public. I'll hang around and try to be inconspicuous and maybe get a tail on whoever your contact is after they leave. Either way, this is a shot for us to get more info."

                    "I've got it."

                    "Just play it cool and casual, see what they want. I'll be nearby if anything goes south."

                    #####

                    Six o'clock came, and Lin found herself in a run of the mill family style bar and grille. There were a few monitors showing the games, but nothing like a sports bar. There were several families enjoying a dinner out and Lin felt out of place sitting at a table by herself. 

                    She didn't have to wait long before Drake approached and took a seat. "Mind if I join you?"

                    She nodded. "It's your party. I haven't ordered anything, didn't know how long you would be."

                    Seconds after Drake had been seated, the waitress came over and took their order for appetizers. He waited until the waitress left before continuing.

                    "So, you are still interested in our offer?"

                    Lin raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware there was an offer on the table. I was just keeping my options open. You understand."

                    He nodded. "Yes, I understand completely. But this is a point of choice. I've got a specific task for you, so you'll have to decide if you want it or not."

                    The waitress appeared with their appetizer, loaded potato skins.

                    "That would depend on the task."

                    He slid a small thumb drive over to her. "This is a drive cloner. Plug it into any normal system and it will copy whatever is on the storage drive of that system. We would need you to plug it into one of Red Dragon's computers. It probably won't steal any sensitive material, but it will get us a look at their network and file systems so we can get a clearer picture of what we need to do."

                    "So all I have to do is waltz in and plug this into one of their units?"

                    "Basically, yes. It will take between two and five minutes to complete the process, so you would need to take that into account."

                    "And what exactly do I get out of this?"

                    "Ten thousand C-bills. And our gratitude. And a little bit of trust between us."

                    "Who exactly are you. I need to know who I'm working for here."

                    He shook his head. "No you don't. The less you know, the better. Corporate espionage can be a dangerous game, and you'll want to stay as clean as you can."

                    "And what if I say no? Do I end up like the last guy with two bullets his head?"

                    Drake seemed confused for a moment, then regained his composure. It was a dangerous thing, her dangling the murder out there, but she wanted to see his reaction and how they played it out.

                    "Nothing so dramatic. We just walk away. We'll try some other way. But a piece of friendly advice, you've got things all backwards."

                    "What are you talking about?"

                    "Exactly what I said, you've got it all backwards if you think I had anything to do with what happened to the guy before you. We were working together, yeah, but things were going fine. My bet is the Red Dragon found out and solved the problem their way. This is big corporate stuff, they don't like to leave trails, if you get what I mean."

                    Lin was stunned. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts.  This put everything into chaos. She had no reason to trust this information that Drake had given her, but she also had no particular reason to trust her employer. They had been nothing but professional, but the world of corporate secrets was a cutthroat one to be sure.

                    "I don't know if I believe you."

                    "That's on you. You have to make a decision. Do you want to go down this road, or not? Once you do, there's no backing out, trust me, Red Dragon will see to that. But if you work with us, there is a lot more rewards down the pipeline for you. It's your call. Take the deal, or leave it."

                    She stared at the small black thumb drive for a minute before responding. When she did, she reached out her hand and took the device. "Ok. I'm in. I'll get this done. And I get ten-k C-bills, no questions asked. That's as far as I'm going for now, I'm not committing to anything more down the road yet."

                    "Understood. But Like I said, once you're in, you're in. And once you do this, you're in, sister."

                    With that, Drake got up and left, again leaving a pile of D-bills to cover the meal. Lin Ming sat in silence. What had she gotten into?