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Contacts Part 2

This is the second part of the 'Contacts'.

There was two new windows on the panel when Dean returned from the bath. They alerted him about the police raiding at the nightclub where Jason worked and suspicious transaction record from his account. Normally he would just ignore the alert, but not today. He stared at the bill and found the listing items he had paid for but didn't buy and he concluded at the moment that someone was stealing his credits, someone was ripping him off, someone with skills.


He triple checked his transaction records and came up with two more unidentified purchases of electronics. The payment was authorized by himself as the system showed, but he didn't remember doing such thing, nor did he received any electronic. With some digging, it turned out the shipping address was a black market resale warehouse where people traded stolen properties to other interested parties, there was not a chance he could find out who did this to him, not if he had connection inside the market. The date and time of the billings was seconds after he paid a worker, maybe someone had penetrated his network and gained access to his outgoing connection packets and made use of the digital footprint to forge the authorization, or it could be someone inside the credit company that stole his money. Either way, someone was watching his every move. Determined, Dean shut down the connection to detain further information leakage. He had to move away to some place safe tonight, and he happened to know a place that he could stay.

That night he went out to a remote location - an abandoned old sewage pipe entrance under the bridge, to monitor the kill of Joseph Stevenson in a portable rig. The weather was chilling outside, beside wearing a decent and clean down jacket and trouser, he also brought an extra warming gloves with him to keep his hands from frozen. He went inside the stinky pipe and found a spot to lean against the rusty surface, and set up his equipment in a comfortable position. The time at 12:40 AM Midnight. 

After successfully established a secure connection to a video feed near Joseph Stevenson's apartment, Dean waited for KPJ to took action while monitoring his credit account's activity. At exactly 12:45 AM, a shadow executed Joseph Stevenson with a glowing dark green laser blade in a clean cut which decapitated him and left his blood pumping onto the wall. In the darkness another light source appeared, once again Dean scanned the display and wired the credits to KPJ's account. This time he kept an eye on the credit balance and transaction records but nothing transferred except his own authorized payment. Dean grinned at his account balance one last time and packed his thing to move back home. Maybe there really was someone accessing his network at where he lived, or there's a slight chance that the person working at the credit company who stole his assets was off the clock. 

Contacts Part 1

       Dean's fingers swiped through the circular interface smoothly, pushing windows to pin them at the QuickAccess, leaving only the live camera feed on display and magnified it in the center. The feed was showing a room with a closed windows looking out to the downtown Manhattan covered in snow. He checked the time, 7:45 AM. 
       He sat still in his chair which connected to a custom made wheel line in his cubicle apartment, and waited for something to happen on the other side of the feed. Outside the wind howled and he heard police siren bouncing up and down in the air. 

       Presently, a women figure walked into range and was doing her makeup. Seconds later, Dean heard a girly scream followed by a muffled shot. The girl, confronted with the gun in her most vulnerable moment, fell down onto the mattress and bounced off to the floor. A man covered in a bulky dark-blue greatcoat came into view and lifted the girl's body in front of the camera with caution. He gently positioned her to lean against the bed and carefully closed her eyelids to cover her dilated pupils.
       With that done, the man stood there and held out a display facing the camera. Dean performed a scan on the display through the panel and transferred a large sum of credits following the details he retrieved from it. The man checked with the device as the transaction completed, then he froze in front of the girl saying something inaudible to Dean, and opened the windows before he left. "It's been good doing business with you." Dean said to the screen. 
       The girl's head remain tilted backward lying on the bed with her neck exposed to the chilling winter air and her blood tardily soaked up by her white bathrobes.
       Dean didn't even check his credit account, not the sum, not the transaction record because he had so many liquidity going in and out all the time, it was hard to keep track on every single detail.

       Dean terminated the connection to the feed in self-envy and dragged a list with names, titled 'Performance Appraisal', into the center display. He scrolled down the list and crossed the first name, 'MADISON, KAT'. One down, nineteen to go.

       His finger then kept circling around the QuickAccess undecided. When he finally settled on 'Contacts' and dialed for one named 'Jason L', he was a bit skeptical about himself.

       "Hey watup D?" Jason blurred.
       "Don't D me." Dean remarked. "Where are you? Sounded too loud to be the club in the morning."
       "I am driving to pick up this girl for my uncle. Guess I am now doing Girls Delivery, too."
       "At this hour? Man that sucks." Dean said. "Well, I guess I would have to call the other guy then. Later." 

       He ended the conversation and initiated a chat with 'KPJ' on the contacts list.


       08:11 Dean: Up for a Job? 
       08:11 KPJ: Anytime
       08:12 Dean: 'STEVENSON, JOSEPH', MALE, ADR - O, DLV 0
       08:14 KPJ: EST - O

       Dean dragged the bubble 'O' open to view the content, it showed the time, 12:45 AM Midnight.

       Dean pushed himself away from the workstation and glided to the kitchen on the wheel line. Breakfast cereal was on the upper deck. He recalibrated his artificial arm and extended it to grab the box, he didn't like to move around in the morning, stood up was absolutely unnecessary in his mind when he could utilize his arm. A cockroach in the drawer was added in the meal for flavoring and nutrition. He ate it with disgust, crunched the food with his dirty yellow distorted teeth, then slid to the bathroom and immersed himself with the artificial right arm taken off in a pond of yellow rusty discolored water for a very long time.

[This is a fusion of three ideas, an expansion of details from the previous 'Random Encounter [2]' (Kat and the man in bulky dark-blue greatcoat), 'Artificial Limb' (Dean) and 'Escape Driver' (Jason), check them out if you haven't already.]


Needs to Remember [Mike VS Jasper]

       They robbed a local bank on impulse, but the money were gone with Mike after things went south when a cop showed up unexpectedly during their escape. There was no plan B.

       "Where is the money, Mike. We don't have to do this. Hell, I don't want to do this to you buddy," Jasper pushed the gun harder against Mike's temple, "Just tell me where the money is and this will all be over." Jasper hit Mike in the face with the back of the gun. Mike's face was already covered in blood. "I knew you had the money when the manager packed them full in the bag." Jasper said. "Please Mike, where did you put them when we ran our separate way? I trusted you man." Jasper paced around the chair.

       The manager didn't care if they took all the money, the insurance company would cover for it. Jasper was on crowd control, but since the bank was deserted at the afternoon, there was only a guard, two staffs and a manager. Mike knocked out the guard first and they did not see the three had any suspicious movement trying to call for help. The cops shouldn't be there at that time.


       "Come on Mikey, is this worth it?" 
       Mike spat blood from his mouth, his eyes closed, his breathing steady, his head nodding slightly.

       When Mike signaled Jasper that it was time to go, they busted out the heavy glass door and went straight for their drive away vehicle, a black SUV. A cop shouted at them as they were approaching the car, they froze for a second there looking at the cop, and ran their separate way. The cop fired a shot but they were out of the street corner.

       "What happened when we separated Mike? Tell me, please." Jasper begged him.

       Mike stopped jerking back and forth.

       Jasper ran along the blocks and hijacked a black sedan, he drove around town searching Mike for a while but decided it was too dangerous cruising in a stolen vehicle. He ditched the sedan at a car park and changed his clothes and carried the bag to the warehouse. The police cruisers were everywhere. He tried to call Mike. Mike was already there. Jasper pinned him down and tied him to a chair afterward. Jasper interrogated Mike.


       "Why are you doing this to me Mike?" Jasper walked in circles. "I thought we had a deal."


       A can smashed the window and landed near Jasper. Flash, he was blinded. Boom, ringing in his ear. Then he heard shouting from every direction. He was forced to face the ground and cuffed.
       He saw the police was releasing Mike from the chain.
       "Are you okay, sir? I am sorry we hadn't arrived earlier." A police said.

       And Jasper realized.
       "You are a rat? You are a rat, you are a fracking rat!"
       "Sorry, buddy."


[Again, something similar to Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs]
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