Previous Story: 71. Patient Zero - Part 2

Lady Rose considered pouring herself a whiskey, but she wanted a clear head for the call. She pressed the CONNECT button on her holo-conferencing setup. Five beeps sounded until Ryder Arcadia picked up. He sounded strangely distant.

"Ah, Lady Rose. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"This call might not be a pleasure for you, Mr. Arcadia," she said, elbows on the desk, hands clasped together.

"Oh? And why’s that?" he asked, trying — and failing — to sound innocent.

"I know your people took one of the captives from the facility below the bank. Why didn’t you notify me of your intentions?"

"Couldn’t I ask the same? You’re lucky those thugs of yours didn’t hurt any of my people."

"My thugs?" Rose forced herself to take a deep breath. "I thought we were collaborating."

"We are and we will. This was merely a failure of communication. Rest assured that, when we’ve completed our research using the captive, I will share the results."

"I guess you’ve got that guy Malik looking into it — what do you call him, Winner?"

"Er … well … I have a very capable team."

To Rose, the ruthless businessman sounded drunk, or tired, or … something.

"By the way," he continued, "while we’re putting our cards on the table, perhaps you could explain what your pet hacker has done — figuring out a way to control the CyMS?"

Now, Lady Rose found herself on the back foot. "It seems it’s difficult to keep secrets in San Lazaro these days."

"Indeed. But with those do-gooders showing up everywhere, we need to stick together. I suggest we call it quits and agree not to withhold anything else from each other. I’ll let you know about the captive; you’ll get me up to speed with this control program of yours. What do you say?"

"Fine with me." She still did not trust him and was sure he didn’t trust her. But she had enough enemies; she needed an ally.

"Excellent. I’ll be in touch."

As the holo-projection flickered off, Rose tapped on her phone implant and called Fei. "That wireless tap at ATS has been very useful. I want you to find a way to install another one – this time at Cynfo Tech."

Next Story: 73. Goddess Rising