Leo and Lucy arrived at the door to the third-floor surveillance room. Once again, Leo activated his tactical scan. The readout on his visor showed only two people inside—the Eden Gang netrunner they had come to neutralize, plus a guard who should have been monitoring the screens but was instead hunched over his phone. Clearly, his devotion to the cause was lacking if he was slacking off on duty.
Catching Lucy's eye, Leo gave a slight nod. He didn't need to speak; she already knew what he meant. A flash of red glimmered in Lucy's eyes, and the surveillance room's automatic door whooshed open. The second it slid aside, Leo lunged in like a panther.
The phone-scrolling guard managed nothing more than a startled look before Leo clamped both hands around the man's head and gave a sharp twist.
Crack!
A crisp snap signaled a broken neck. The guard dropped lifelessly to the floor. That left only the netrunner—lying slack in a chair, jacked into cyberspace, oblivious to Leo and Lucy's arrival.
Lucy wasted no time. Stepping up to the inert body, she pulled out the netrunner's cable. Instantly, the man convulsed like a fish flung onto dry land, toppled from the chair, and stopped moving altogether. Being forcibly disconnected from cyberspace that way was fatal—he would never wake again.
Checking the monitors, Leo saw no sign the rest of Eden's members had noticed anything. He exhaled quietly, relieved. Then he toggled his communicator to call El Capitán.
"El Capitán? It's Leo. The job's done—T-Bug should be safe now."
On the other end, El Capitán's face glowed with relief. "Excellent work, Leo. Once T-Bug wires the money, I'll send your cut right away. Where are you? Have you made it out?"
"Not yet," Leo replied. "We just yanked the netrunner's cable. We're still inside Eden's base."
El Capitán's grin vanished instantly. "Damn it—call me after you're out, will you? Get out of there now, Leo—no delays!"
He ended the call quickly, but Leo could sense the man's genuine concern. It was no wonder people respected El Capitán—he cared about the mercs he hired. Faraday, the other major fixer in Santo Domingo, couldn't have been more different in that regard.
Leo turned to Lucy. "Let's move. Time to go…" He switched channels to Rebecca. "Rebecca, Lucy and I have finished here and are heading out. Keep your eyes peeled outside."
"Roger. Nothing unusual yet," Rebecca answered. Though she was annoyed about not joining the infiltration, she was a professional: no tantrums, no drama. She did her job.
Leo cracked a small smile, glad he'd insisted on bringing her in some capacity. He hauled the two bodies into a large bin outside the surveillance room, then headed back the way they came. But upon reaching the second floor, the doors of every room along the corridor opened simultaneously. People who had been sleeping, playing cards, gaming, or cleaning weapons emerged in droves—dozens of them stepping into the hallway at once.
Leo yanked Lucy back around a corner, ducking into a small blind spot. Quickly activating his scan mode again, he spotted a new development: nearly all Eden Gang members were massing in the first-floor lobby and courtyard. Sneaking out the way they'd come would mean going through that lobby, which was now packed. When they arrived earlier, it had been nearly empty, letting them slip by undetected. Now, leaving that way seemed impossible.
He motioned for Lucy to follow him back to the surveillance room, then opened his comm channel once more. "Rebecca, any idea what's happening?"
"No clue. I saw the guards leave the main gate and go back inside, but out here, everything's quiet."
Leo's mind raced. Could their presence have been discovered? But if so, the guards would be racing upstairs instead of gathering in the lobby. Something else must have happened, outside their knowledge.
After a moment, Leo spoke into the team channel again. "Rebecca, drive a bit farther away. Lucy and I are hidden—we haven't been spotted—so don't worry about us. Just make sure you're safe."
"Got it. I'll relocate and keep an eye on things. Good luck."
Lucy tapped him on the shoulder. "Leo, look at that."
She pointed at one of the surveillance screens, where a bizarre scene was unfolding at the front gate. Leo maximized the feed from that camera: the main gate had opened to admit four NCPD patrol cars and a News54 broadcast van, rolling straight into the courtyard. One patrol car's driver even did a dramatic drift in the center, leaving a wide, dark streak of scorched rubber.
Leo and Lucy exchanged mystified looks. "NCPD and News54? What are they doing here?"
…
"Hello, everyone—this is News54. I'm Emma, your field-intern reporter, and we're broadcasting live from an NCPD raid on a 6th Street Gang hideout…" Emma's tone was bright and emphatic. "We all know gangs are a scourge on this city—breeding grounds for crime, like rats we can never fully exterminate. Commissioner Jerry Fort bears a huge responsibility and has vowed to—"
A crew member cut her off with a frantic wave. "Stop, stop! Emma, that's not how we spin it."
Emma froze, uncertain. "W-what's wrong?"
"News54 is the mouthpiece of Militech and the New United States. If you stick to unvarnished facts, they'll hate it. Do you want to stay an intern forever?"
Emma shook her head. The crew member spoke more kindly, trying to guide her.
"Think about who's paying. You have to weave in some talking points the sponsors like. For example: 'Oh, look at Night City's horrifying crime rate—once a proud project by Richard Night, now a cesspool. How tragic. How lamentable. Its moral decay only worsens under so-called independence. Since declaring autonomy, Night City's crime rate has doubled compared to the NUSA. From every angle, it's clear that Night City should return to the fold for the sake of security…'
That's what our sponsors want to hear."
Emma looked shocked. "But won't that annoy the NCPD if we talk like that?"
Her mentor smacked a palm against his forehead. "Ah, right. We usually slam the NCPD, but not this time—Commissioner Fort paid big bucks for this coverage. So we'll cut two versions. One storyline praises the NCPD as heroes stepping up for justice despite the city's moral decline—that's for the commissioner. The other version is for the NUSA sponsors, claiming Night City is doomed without federal control. Got it?"
Emma nodded reluctantly. "I think so."
"Great. You're a smart kid. Follow this strategy for a few months, and you'll go full-time. First, let's redo that take. Everything you said just now—cut it. Start over."
Meanwhile, the police recognized something was off. Leading the operation was Detective Connor, who scanned the courtyard warily.
"Stay alert," he ordered his team. "Weapons ready, keep the engines running. Something's not right here."
He'd barely needed the warning from his subordinates. Commissioner Jerry Fort had ordered him to lead this so-called "raid on a 6th Street hideout," but from the moment they'd driven in, the atmosphere felt…strange.
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