NOVGO.NET Chapter 39: The Wire Tap
Chapter 39: The Wire Tap
Rain lashed against the fourth-floor kitchen window of Apartment 4B, rattling the glass pane while distant sirens echoed across the boulevard.
"This adapter cable feels like it survived three industrial scrap fires," he muttered, adjusting the wire connecting the stolen morgue drive.
’Fifty credits for a counterfeit data bridge under the rail bridge is honest market robbery,’ he thought, watching the red indicator light.
"This wiring is scorched from an internal short circuit," Jolly muttered, using her small tweezers to straighten the copper connection pins carefully.
"The merchant swore this bridge was military grade," he answered with a dry smirk, holding the flashlight steady over the circuit board.
’A ten-credit discount at an open night market usually means the component was pulled from an industrial garbage fire,’ he thought dryly.
Jolly sat at the table with her spectacles perched on her nose, tapping keys with the steady rhythm of a telegraph operator.
"The drive partition is protected by an administrative emergency lock," she noted, opening the supplied drive-recovery program while her black notebook rested beside her elbow.
Ruby leaned over Jolly’s shoulder, studying the code clusters with the concentration she gave unfamiliar maps.
"Try the Association tactical override cipher from the seventh precinct," she suggested, reciting twelve alphanumeric digits from memory in a crisp soldier voice.
The small laptop chimed with a harsh electronic buzz as the encrypted partition broke open, filling the screen with corrupted audio directories.
"We are inside the root directory," the girl announced in a flat voice, her fingers hovering above the trackpad while files populated.
The folder headers displayed zero municipal classification stamps, carrying instead the private directory tag of an unlisted corporate research network across town.
[ Project chimera // biomass field harvest // subject index ]
’They categorized our neighborhoods like an open agricultural field,’ he thought, feeling his bone density tighten with dangerous, quiet kinetic fury.
"Play the audio log recorded at dawn," she commanded softly, pointing toward an encrypted sound file stamped with that morning’s intake timestamp.
Static hiss crackled through the laptop speakers, followed by the smooth, cultivated voice of a man speaking with chilling administrative composure inside.
"The baseline sample from the loading-dock test failed to survive initial impact," the cultured voice recited from the recording with detached arrogance.
"Biomass classified as ordinary biological waste, clear the pavement before the morning shift arrives," the recorded speaker concluded with chilling administrative indifference.
"Listen to how calmly he orders a human corpse removed," Ruby whispered, her knuckles whitening against the edge of the table.
’To an executive in an air-conditioned tower, an unranked porter bleeding in an alley is just a line item on an invoice,’ he thought.
Fin sat motionless in his chair, listening to the sterile timeline of his own violent murder recited like a defective factory product.
His internal Pulse stat rested steadily at nine points, yet his thumb pressed into the table until the surface dented inward.
"Agh... that voice belongs to the Chair of Genesis Core," she whispered, her hands clenching into fists upon the back of his chair.
"Wait, there is a second voice recorded on the backup channel," the girl interrupted, clicking her trackpad to boost the background audio.
A sharper woman’s voice crackled through the speakers, carrying the clipped, disciplined cadence of an active military commander reporting from the field.
"The anomaly did not stay dead in that alley," the second speaker countered, static popping as she reviewed satellite telemetry data packets.
"The visual identification matched three hours later in the fourth district, confirming an uncatalogued recovery," the woman’s voice continued over the quiet recording.
"Then deploy Batch Two into the civilian shelter," the Chair’s voice answered, smooth as polished marble and devoid of human warmth inside.
"If the anomaly is genuine, it will come to the light," the director commanded before the audio transmission abruptly terminated into silence.
’The entire shelter breach was an orchestrated trap,’ he realized, his fingers releasing the crushed laminate tabletop with terrifying, measured self-control.
’They sent mutated beasts through a floor of sixty children just to verify my bio-telemetry,’ he calculated with rising, unyielding lethal intent.
Ruby reached past his shoulder, her finger tapping the small metadata block displayed in the bottom right corner of the media player.
"Look at the digital signature on the authorization line," she said, her voice dropping into a dangerous, low register that promised violence.
[ Authorizing director: Dr. Aris Thorne ]
[ Title: director of synthesis // Genesis core ]
[ Operational facility: regional synthesis plant // district 2 ]
"Aris Thorne operates an unmarked research laboratory disguised as an Association medical warehouse in District Two," she explained with grim certainty.
"The facility sits behind the old rail freight yard, protected by automated defense turrets and private syndicate sentinels," she added in detail.
"That explains why the High Council pulled our district vanguards overseas," she continued, looking down at the illuminated map coordinates with fury.
"They needed our sector clear so Thorne could test his synthetic prototypes without interference," she concluded, unhooking her spear sling with resolve.
Fin stood up from the kitchen table, walking to the counter to check the honed edge of his hatchet in silence.
The polished metal reflected the dim yellow kitchen light, gleaming with the lethal promise of an unpaid invoice coming due for collection.
"We take the midnight freight train across the river canal," she said, watching his steady movements without offering a single word of hesitation.
"The maintenance cars pass behind the freight yard at two in the morning," she added, checking the locking latch on her kite shield.
"Leave the notebook on the table," he told his sister gently, resting his calloused hand against the warm fabric of her shoulder.
"Keep the deadbolts thrown on both doors until I knock twice," he instructed, setting a fresh water pitcher on the kitchen table.
"I have Teacher Sefu on speed dial if the hallway sensors trigger," she replied, closing her laptop screen with calm, methodical precision.
’She handles a corporate war with the same sharp accounting logic she uses for high school algebra homework,’ he noted with pride.
Jolly looked up from her screen, her dark eyes clear and steady behind the smudged lenses of her round wire-rimmed glasses tonight.
She picked up her red pen with deliberate care, drawing a thick crimson box around the name Aris Thorne across the notebook.
"People who test on schools do not get to stay on the ledger," she stated in an unbroken voice devoid of childish fear.
"The ledger will balance before dawn," he answered in a quiet voice, sliding both matte-black daggers into his spatial inventory pockets.
[ Genesis core audio log decoded ]
[ Target confirmed: Dr. Aris Thorne (district 2 synthesis facility) ]
[ EXP: 118,900 / 2,500,000 (unchanged) ]
"Save an untouched copy," Ruby told Jolly. "The decoding work goes on a duplicate."
"Already separate. The original file is closed."
Fin watched the save finish before she disconnected the drive from her laptop.
’She should be arguing about homework, not preserving a murder investigation. We finish this before it becomes her normal evening.’
Ruby opened the apartment door, the hallway air carrying the faint draft of rain and the distant rumble of the approaching storm.
They stepped through the threshold together, leaving the quiet sanctuary of Halden Street behind as their boots met the dim stairwell.
Behind them in the kitchen, the deep dent in the table remained, marking the place where patience ended and retribution began.