Chapter 16: Chapter 16: The First Meeting

Standing in front of a warehouse, Jamar listens on a Sony walkman as he worksout in a yard by himself. He mindlessly lifts tires around the track as he punches a punching bag inside of a warehouse lined up against several dozen identical ones. Each showing signs of wear and rust as he jogs along in a maze like fashion.

Passing by an older couple standing around a house-like shack, he waves at them.

“Morning, Mr. and Mrs. Miller.“ He says.

They go about their day as they look over at him.

“Staying out of trouble I hope?” The Mrs. asks.

Jamar laughs.

“You know me, still in the business.” Jamar responds as he walks past.

Mr. Miller shakes his head as he goes upon his day.

In a shower, Jamar washes himself as we see a rusted panel around it, yet Jamar is unfazed as he continues to wash himself in the mess.

Getting out, he stretches as he waits near the front as John can slowly be seeing walking over.

“Holy shit. I can’t believe you expected me to find the place.”

“Well you did, didn’t you?” Jamar responds.

“There’s like 15 other places that look just like this one, I got lost and ended up at the wrong one. Almost got killed by the people living inside of it.” John replies.

“That’ll happen. What can I say? It’s the industrial district, owners can’t change how it looks, zoning laws and everything.”

“So, this is your place? I can see why you stay at the office.”

“Hey, it isn’t too bad.”

“If I had to live in a place like this, I’d probably kill myself.” John says.

“Come on, let me show you around.” Jamar says.

Jamar walks inside of the warehouse. It’s like a personal gym, boxing equipment, heavy weights with a second floor with his personal things on it.

“At least the inside is palatable.”

“Not bad, right?”

John doesn’t respond as he continues to look around.

“Grab a seat and sit wherever.” Jamar says as he points to a stack of foldable chairs. Looking around Jamar points to a table with an exposed wire lamp floating above it.

“How bout over there?” Jamar asks as John cringes.

“Sure, why not?”.

Grabbing a few seats, John and Jamar head over to the table. Setting up their chairs, John and Jamar sit opposite of each other as Jamar looks at the lamp. He swings it around as he turns it on, it wobbles.

“Heh, like one of those lamps we used to use in interrogation rooms.”

“Christ.” John responds.

John crosses his arms as he looks around then back at Jamar. 

“I’m a little early but you think they’ll show up?”

“The kids? For sure. Opportunities like this only show up once in a blue moon.” Jamar says. John raises his eyebrows as he looks towards the entrance.

“I’m not too sure if it’s a good idea to bring them in on this gig.”

“We need them.” Jamar reminds him.

“The job is a bit more complicated than I thought.”

“I thought we already knew that.”

“The guys who run Club Amore are Triad.” John says.

“And…? Most clubs are affiliated with gangs, how else do they get their-”

“I watched as a lieutenant executed a prostitute in front of me. He told me that if I broke his trust he’d have me killed like a dog.” John says.

Jamar is silent for a moment.

“You need this money, John. If you don’t do it, you’ll die either way.”

“Yeah? Well I’m not sure if I can live with myself if I do either way. Maybe it’s better if-”

“Don’t fucking talk like that man.” Jamar is distressed as he slams the table.

“Don’t give up. It’s not over till it’s over.”

A knock comes from the front as a familiar face can be seen, it’s Ben as he looks around the open warehouse wandering in.

“Hello? Mr. Brown? You in here? I talked to some of your neighbors and they said this was the place.” John and Jamar look over at him as John still seems hesitant. 

“We’re right over here, Ben.” Jamar shouts as he waves.

Ben walks over as we see him wearing shades and a black trench coat as he wears his cyberdeck on him like a duel disk. Seeing this John immediately cringes turning to Jamar who does the same in a more discrete fashion.

“Hey guys.”

“Hey… Ben. So… What exactly are you wearing?” Jamar asks.

“Oh, I’m just dressed up as my favorite netrunner of all time, Elon Musk. As he’s always said, dress for the job you want.”

“Right…” John says.

“Why don’t you get changed?” Jamar asks as he stands up.

“I’ve got a lot of stuff you can wear, cause right now, you’re sticking out like a fish out of water.” Jamar continues as he walks towards Ben who seems confused.

“Doesn’t everyone in this field dress like this?”

“Only posers. Are you a poser?” John asks.

“I’m not a poser.” Ben replies.

“Great, let’s get you out of those clothes into something less noticeable.” Jamar adds as he gestures for Ben to follow him up a set of stairs.

A loud engine roar can be hear outside as it seems to slow down next to them.

John looks over at the entrance as Jamar starts to go through one of his lockers, taking out pairs of clothes while Ben takes off his jacket, his shirt drenched in sweat.

The sound of a door opening up can be heard as it’s slammed shut

“Two?” John mutters to himself.

“What’s that?” Jamar asks.

“Nothing.” John replies.

“This is all just a waste of time.” A male voice can faintly be heard saying.

“Be quiet, I’m sure they can hear us from here.” Rachel replies.

Walking over, Rachel and Peter can be seen walking towards the entryway as they look around the warehouse.

“This is the place right?” Peter’s faint voice can be heard.

“Yeah, I’ve been here before.” Rachel says.

“What? Why?”

“Birthday party.” Rachel continues with an excuse.

“Birthday party?” John chuckles.

Rachel and Peter walk deeper inside as they cover their eyes from the light as they look around, they spot John standing in front of a table as they point towards him.

“I remember seeing him a night or two ago.” Rachel says to Peter.

“Hey.” John finally shouts and waves.

“Where’s Jamar?” Rachel asks.

“Up here.” Jamar responds from the second floor as they look over at him, he’s currently changing Ben out of his outfit into more discrete clothes.

“If now isn’t a good time, we can come back later.” Rachel shouts.

“It’s fine, just sit down.” Jamar responds.

Helping Ben put on a plain t-shirt, John facepalms to himself as Rachel and Peter make their way over towards him, they sit down across from them. Peter looks at him hesitantly as Rachel looks away as she waits.

John tries to put on a smile as he looks at them.

“So what’s the job?” Peter asks.

“Didn’t know we recruited a fifth member.” John replies looking over at Jamar.

“He’s my brother. We’re a two part deal.” Rachel interjects.

John stares at her for a moment.

“Fine, but you’re sharing a share. That good with you?” He replies.

“Yeah.” Rachel says.

Jamar and Ben finally head back down as they walk towards the table. 

John looks around as he sighs.

“What’s wrong?” Jamar asks.

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“Oh, nothing. Just not what I was expecting for a first meeting.” He replies back.

Sitting down beside them at the table, Jamar grabs another chair for himself. He heads back towards the table. They all sit around awkwardly in silence as Jamar feels the uncomfortable environment, he slams his chair on the ground as they turn to look over.

“So, what’s the plan?” Jamar looks over at John as he asks.

“Woah, woah, woah. Slow down.” John replies.

“Still haven’t gone through our introductions.” John continues.

“What is this primary school?” Peter jokes.

“No, but I don’t even know your name, or anything about you.” John replies, checking him out.

“What kind of job is it anyways?” Rachel asks Jamar.

Jamar turns to look over at John.

“It’s a simple corporate infiltration job.”

“A what now?” Peter asks.

“It’s a heist.” John replies with a sigh of disappointment.

“Oh.” Pete replies.

“How much does it pay?” Rachel continues.

John just raises a hand.

“Five? Five hundred, thousand?-”

“Million” Jamar cuts her off.

She starts to laugh to herself as she looks over at him.

“You’re joking, right?” Rachel asks.

“No, no we’re not.” John responds.

Jamar starts to laugh as he watches her lock up.

“You thought I’d bring you along for something cheap?” He asks.

“So that means we’re each getting ¥1.25 million?” Ben asks.

“Maybe a bit more if we get some of the other things down, maybe less if we don’t.” John replies as he touches his neck.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Peter says.

“It means if we can actually do the job.” Jamar replies.

John sighs.

“Introductions people. I see faces without names.”  John continues as he tries again.

He points at Peter.

“Let’s start with you, you’re pretty talkative.”

“Me?”

“Tell us about yourself, name, job, what you can do.”

“Uhh, I’m Peter. Work as a mechanic with a background in systems engineering, mainly work with cars but I’ve been working on drones recently. I once ate an entire-”

“Mmm, so you’re a techie. Alright, next person.”

Rachel raises her hand.

“I’ll go next, Hi, I’m Rachel, I’m also a mechanic but I mainly focus on driving.”

“Mmm.” John responds.

“So, is Peter also like a backup driver?” He continues.

“Oh, no. He’s just the brains behind the tech.” Rachel responds.

“I can drive if I need to, but I’m not that great at it.”

They look over at Ben.

“Oh, hey everybody. Name’s Benjamin. But just call me Ben. I’m a recent graduate with a Master’s degree in-”

Jamar interrupts him.

“Just get to the point Ben, don’t need to tell us your life story.”

“I’m a Netrunner, haven’t had any official experience so far but Jamar said I’m decent.”

“That so?” Rachel asks.

“Yeah, broke into an upscale place in less than a minute. Trust me, he’s good.” Jamar replies.

They all turn towards Jamar and John as Jamar coughs.

“I’ll give an introduction to John as well since he probably doesn’t want to say anything about himself. I’m John, most of you already know me as the guy with a security firm. But before that, me and John go back to our time in the military. We both served as members of the Delta Force. We worked together on the same fireteam as Team Leaders. So we’re experienced.”

“I never knew you were Delta Force.” Rachel says.

“It’s not something you talk about usually.” Jamar responds.

“Not something you want to talk about.” John says.

Jamar looks over at John.

“Anyways, now that we all know something about each other and the amount, why don’t you tell us more about the gig, John?” Jamar says.

“The job is simple, our client wants us to gain access to trade secrets of one of their competitors and they’re willing to pay us a lot to do it. What?”

Rachel raises her hand.

“Quick question, who’s our client?”

“That’s confidential.”

“Do you know who our client is?”

John hesitates and continues.

“No, I don’t.”

“Oh, okay. Was just curious, that's all.” Rachel says.

“For future reference, most clients don’t want their rivals to know it was them who hired us. So just don’t ask.” John responds. As he takes something out of his pocket.

John places the holocard onto the table.

“Anyways, our job is to infiltrate a Yasuda Research Facility and gain access to data in regards to a Project SHARD, once we secure the files we’re to get out before they realize what just happened to them. They’re willing to pay ¥5,000,000 for it. And is our primary objective.”

Jamar looks over at Peter who stares at the hologram.

“Not bad right?” He says as he nudges on him.

“For our secondary objective in the scenario where we are unable to gain access to the files we’re to optionally take pictures of the prototype itself.” John continues.

The hologram above the card shows a diagram of the building layout and routes to the research lab within the complex.

“Our client has already prepared a route with the possible locations of what we’re looking for along with a possible cover for us to infiltrate the base, what’s left is execution and planning. This is our part of the job, and the hardest part.” John says.

Rachel raises her hand again.

“Why would they give the job to us if they already had a lot of it planned out? Isn’t that a little suspicious?” Rachel asks.

“Most groups don’t like their name associated with an act, it can result in retaliation.” Jamar responds to her as Rachel looks over.

“That makes sense, it’s why the first two Corpo wars started.” Ben says out loud.

“And it’s why our pay is so high.” John responds.

“The job isn’t easy and even if everything goes to plan, we’ll be marked.” He continues looking around the table at the others.

“Are you sure you all want to do this?”

The room is silent as they all seem to be thinking to themselves.

“Fuck it, there isn’t anything else that pays like this.” Rachel says as Jamar laughs.

“That’s what I like to hear.”

John looks over at them seriously.

“What about the rest of you? Are you guys in?”

Peter looks over at Rachel then at John and just nods.

John turns to Ben.

“I’m in.” He says.

John looks around the table as he looks at the others.

“I guess, let’s do this then.”

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