Chapter 4:
Parker Manningham
I was in the
cockpit checking in with the pilot when I get the message on my commlink. It
was a very simple e-mail sent to my private account. The only words on it read:
You are in danger.
You have 1 hour before your plane
lands in Detroit.
You need to get off of that plane.
This is not a joke.
I was on the roof and I saw what you
did.
This is me saying thank you.
#93587234098724
That was all
that it said. The string of numbers at the end was a routing line for an
untraceable commlink account. I was set to dismiss the message as garbage or a
hoax. But the 5th line stopped me cold.
I was on the roof and I saw what you
did.
The only
people on that roof besides my team were the GammaTech security team, and the
runners. No one that I had read a file on at GammaTech had the ability to get
to my personal account, which leaves the shadow team from the roof. Making the
decision quickly, I stepped out of the cockpit, and walked the length of the
plane and stepped into the small bathroom in the rear of the passenger
compartment. I knew it was still probably bugged, but with my subvocal mic I
should be alright until it got analyzed after landing. I ran the number into my
comm and waited. I heard it click through various connections before I finally
heard the muted beeping of a connection trying to be established. When it did
it was voice only, which was only to be expected. The voice was gruff and low,
probably a dwarf----------. “Suit, I didn’t expect to hear from you, but I am
glad that I am. You are about to be in a world of drek if you don’t get off of
that plane. “I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t used to people being this
upfront. I was intrigued about what he knew, but I was also cautious about this
being a setup, “How do I know what you are saying is true, why would I abandon
my job just on your say so?” The voice didn’t even wait a moment before
answering, “Your boss, Mr. Elindi. He has been on the line with Detroit since
the plane got in the air. He has them convinced that you helped us with our
escape. He is telling them that you were in on it from the start. He also has
GammaTech buying that line as well. They are willing to give Ares a better deal
if you are handed over to them for prosecution.” That had me stopped cold. Now
that was exactly what I expected from the kind of people that I was used to
dealing with. I took quick stock of my situation. I had my Ares LightFire 70.
It wasn’t built to penetrate the armor the 2 goons in there were wearing, but
headshots should stop that form mattering. Elindi also would not pose that much
of a problem. There were parachutes in the rear of the plane, and an emergency
hatch I could pop and jump from. The only problem was my apartment, and all of
my possessions. It was all corporate owned, there was no way I would ever be
able to go back there. For that matter, my Ares SIN was sure to be revoked, if
not turned into a criminal SIN, I was officially screwed, my life was over. The
voice on the line obviously could read minds however, as he started addressing
my problems, “Mr. Manningham, my associates and I are very grateful for what
you did. We all saw that it was in your best interest as well, but we are glad
that everyone got what they needed out of the situation. I was able to find
your file as we were making our getaway. As soon as we saw the writing on the
wall, we contacted some local talent and had them clear your essentials out of
your apartment. We also set you up a safehouse and a new ID. Of course, this
isn’t a no strings attached agreement, but at this point, we know we have you
over a barrel.” He was right, I was downright iced no matter how this ended up
going down, but my mysterious friend wasn’t done speaking yet, “Also as a show
of good faith I have already cleared your SIN from the federal database. Ares
will still have a copy on file, but as far as the government is concerned… you
no longer exist.” If I hadn’t of fallen down before, I distinctly recall
falling against the wall and sliding down to the floor when I heard that. I was
no longer a person, I no longer existed. I was simply a body of the faceless
herd that called itself metahumanity. I slapped myself, there would be time for
melodrama later, I needed to move or die. I realized that my faceless adviser
had stopped talking, “It appears that I do not have much of a choice, what is
the plan?” I could almost hear the smile as the voice started talking again,
“The plane is currently over the east coast of North America. Jump out, and
find transportation to Seattle. We will meet you there with your gear and our
care package. Don’t take too long though, any more then a week and the deal is
off.” With that the connection got cut off with the slight squeal of a high
density data transfer. As my comm scanned it, it appeared to be an address and numerous phrases with times next to them. These ad to be hourly specific
passwords and phrases. Saving that to my harddrive, and then removing the chip
from my comm, followed by deleting the information from the temporary data
storage was enough to make sure it was unhackable. Now my only problem was
getting off of the plane. I stood up, straightened my suit and stepped out of
the bathroom. Nothing had changed out here, The Twin Tweedles were still
sitting with their backs to the cockpit staring at Mr. Elindi, who himself was
immersed in something, I could only assume devastating for me, on his commlink.
I nodded to the trolls, who nodded back, and then I made my way back through
the stewardesses cabin and back to the tail of the plane where the luggage was
stored. Normally this area could not be accessed. But as head of security on
this trip, I had an access card. Slipping through the door and shutting it
behind me, I was now alone in the dark with the luggage from the trip. Luckily
it wasn’t much, as I took a penlight from my coat pocket and turned it on so I
could find where the parachutes were back here. It didn’t take very long as the
hold wasn’t built for the bulk luggage of commercial passengers. Slipping on
the ‘chute, and quickly reading the instructions on the tag to ensure I didn’t
kill myself, I made my way over to the emergency hatch, and that is when my
luck ran out. As it turns out, the pilot has an indicator on his dash that
informs him when someone accesses this particular compartment. So moments before
I could open the emergency hatch, Tweedle-Dee popped his head into the
compartment. Now anyone who knows anything about trolls knows that they have
very good night vision, something about seeing into the thermal spectrum. So I
knew as I saw the backlit silhouette raise the submachine gun to the ready
position that I was boned, because he could clearly see me, even if I couldn’t clearly see him.
At this point it was decision time. I could go with him now and try to break
away later, of I could try to make it out the hatch now. Let me remind you. I
had taken an interest in the security of Mr. Elindi, and although I thought
very little of their social skills, the twin trolls were extremely good at
their jobs. You don’t et to work security for Ares if you are not. So I knew
that going with him was basically the same as just giving up right here and
now. With that in mind I threw myself backward and flailed for the emergency switch
that would detonate the charges and blast the hatch off of its hinges. I heard
a hail of gunfire, and felt fire lick into my right side, but as luck would
have it, it was not my day to die. My hand hit the emergency switch on the
first try, and the change in atmosphere pulled me out the now open hatch. With
as fast as the plane was moving It was well past me by the time that I even
realized that I was in freefall. It was then that I thought for a moment that I
did not have any equipment that told me what altitude I was at, or when
exactly I should open my ‘chute. Leaving it to chance I waited 10 more seconds
of freefall and as I was passing through the cloud barrier pulled the ripcord.
The canopy opened above me, mercifully devoid of any holes. Looking down I saw
that I was still extremely high in the sky. I shrugged, well at least as best
as I could in the ‘chute harness, it would be a long way down, but I had plenty
of time, and really it was quite a beautiful day.
