Chapter 19 - The Grab

I jacked in and slid into Pusan as before. For a Hi-Tech outfit they either weren't very protective of what they were producing or the programs with this new Deck were even slicker than I thought they were. Once you're in a system moving around is no problem. You need to be careful not to trip any alarms, etc. but mere movement is wide open. Of all places to look I checked out Security to find out who was on duty is Special Projects tonight. They had to have a roster of those working so they knew if anyone unauthorized was trying to penetrate their facility. After pulling out a copy I went to a quiet place and checked it against those I knew worked in SP and knew then who was on tap.

Knowing who the players were I checked out SP to find out what they were working on at the time. They had two projects that were nearing completion. One was the snatch of a mid-level executive from another company and the other was a data theft from one of their competitors.

One of the first things that was done years ago when computers were in their infancy was to reduce music to computer digits so that recorded music could be played over the speaker system of the computer. From that all types of sounds were soon digitized to be played back over computers, including human speech. Moving into the security cameras mounted in SP I copied both pictures and voice of the lead worker in charge of the night shift.

With that I jacked out and set up the program that I had been working on earlier that evening. I had the computer do an overlay of the lead worker's face and voice on mine. What ever I said came out sounding like him and my facial expression were changed to reflect on his face.

Shortly after two a.m. I contacted Sun Yat Soon by telecom and informed him that we had run into a problem with the extrication of the executive that we were working on. As the snatch was scheduled for later on that very week these problems had to be corrected prior to the grab being made. I told him some problem that sounded reasonable and let him know that I was only checking in with him to inform him of the snag. We had things well in hand and there should be no delays with the extraction.

Knowing the type of person he was we knew that Sun would soon be on his way to the office to keep tabs on the problems and make certain that the operation went smoothly. I kept tabs on him while I contacted Blake and let him know that he should soon be on his way.

Shortly after Sun left his home he called to see what the status was with the problem. I was standing by and intercepted the call before it got to Pusan Special Projects. This time I looked just a bit more harried and rushed. I let him know that we were still on top of the problem and that it should be handled by the time the grab was to take place. In the background I had several people from SP scurrying around as if there was a problem that was more serious than they were letting on. They were checking printers, grabbing phones and yelling at one another. I used views that I had recorded earlier and had speeded up just a bit. It was done to lead him to think that more problems were being handled than the lead worker was admitting. In Corporate life you had to watch out for those under you as they were trying to grab the brass ring also.

Now I had no doubts that Sun would be heading for the office. I again contacted Blake and let him know that the follow-up call had been made, intercepted and handled. It was now up to them.

In less than an hour Blake and Thunder were back. They came up to where I was waiting to let me know what had happened. When he started Blake laughed. "We had Sun between us after we got closer to his plant. We changed things a little. Dane was in front and she hit her brakes harder than he thought she was going to and he hit her in the rear. We were behind him a ways and pulled up when we saw the 'accident'. You should have seen her 'Coon. She was wearing very feminine clothes as if she was just returning from a late date, didn't look anything like a Samurai. He was all flustered and she reached into her purse as if to get a pad to write on and pulled out her pistol and shot him."

"She then grabbed him and held him up until we got there. Cain came out also and he help put Sun into the car with him and Dane while Thunder got in Sun's car and drove it away. The whole snatch took less than a minute. No other car passed us and only two cars went by on the other side. They then took him to the second place we have where some of Thunder's people were waiting while I followed Thunder to the mall and picked him up. We used an underground parking lot so the vehicle shouldn't be noticed quite so readily. To add to it we left the car unlocked and the keys in it. With any luck some street punk will steal it which should increase the confusion."

"They gave us a call just about the time I was picking up Thunder at the mall and they had arrived at the hideout. Sun was masked, stripped and was safely put away. Cain said he used a spell on him which kept him from seeing or hearing anything until they got to the hideout and he removed it. You know even stunned your hearing is working and the spell kept him from hearing anything that might give him some idea as to where he had been taken. They also drove around a bit before going there so he couldn't recall turns and streets to backtrack his location. Now we just wait while Cain questions him."

"Huh, Blake..." I started.

"Look 'Coon, he's going to question him under spells and some mild drugs. Nothing that will harm him and no torture. I'm not into that either, ok?"

"Thanks, I was concerned. We hadn't spoken of just what type of questioning was going to be done and I needed to know."

"I know. Go get some sleep and in the morning we'll check on what information they have gotten from him. From what Cain said it shouldn't take long for him to get what we want and then that part will be over with."

I did like he suggested and went to bed. The next morning Dane was there when I went in to eat. She had just arrived and looked tired and said she was going to bed herself soon. She was reporting as to what they had learned.

"Hi 'Coon. Blake will be up in just a bit. If you wait you can hear what I have to say. Thunder should be here shortly also, he's going to be interested."

While we waited I put on fresh soykaf and started something to eat. Before I had finished Blake came dragging in and sat down. From his looks he had stayed up a good while after I had crashed.

"Well, we got it," she explained. "The whole routine for what good it will do us. Jason Wilson, the Decker down there got cute. He's the one who took the chips and passed them off to the janitor who is an Ork named Roge Fangtooth. Wilson then went back inside and deliberately injured himself. He tipped his chair back and hitting his head on another desk. This left a good sized goose egg on the back of his head and some blood. He then just waited around until the others found him and it looked like someone had hit him on the head and run off with the chips."