Drive-by Part 2

Like most things Nekane owned, her car was high-quality and on the expensive side. Not expensive enough that anyone would be suspicious, but it was definitely one step above what a woman working in an office could afford. Of course, it wouldn't be unusual to see someone like her driving it either. Many women had husbands and with two incomes could afford nicer things. Some people financed their vehicles, but it wasn't widespread. Most lenders understood that jobs and health and the ability to secure an income were transitory, so very few would lend to individuals. Like most everything else in the city, your connections were what were important. In practice a family or faction would assume the obligation of the debt on behalf of an individual. That way in case of default, the lender would have recourse against a viable entity, and the family could deal with the defaulter how they saw fit.

What did make Nekane a bit unique was the level of success that she had achieved without publicly aligning herself with any faction. There were plenty of people that didn't of course, but doing so was playing life on hard mode. There were few reasons to not become a part of a larger community. It was mostly people with no history and few skills to offer or those who had betrayed a faction at some point. Most people as soon as they had achieved some level or skill or ability or sum of money would immediately try to transition into the fold of a larger group. Nekane had never done so.

Of course Nekane's job wasn't as it seemed either. It would appear to any observer on the street that Nekane went to work in an office 5 days a week like hundreds of thousands of women and men in the Metro. They allowed commerce to take place, maintained supply chains, fulfilled contracts, and represented their factions in the business world. Nekane's job acted as an intermediary between other groups who couldn't reach agreements otherwise, and was a fairly prestigious job. But even beyond that Nekane's position within the company was unique. She was a spy.

"Hahahaha!"

Nekane laughed out loud as she said the word spy in her head. It was an altogether imprecise way to describe what she did, but perhaps it was the best? Centuries ago spies infiltrated rival countries and gathered information and sowed discord and sabotage. But there were no countries or governments and more. Companies used to mimic spy behavior in what used to be called 'corporate espionage', which Nekane guessed was a good description as well.

Although she would never admit it, in her mind she likened herself to a rogue in a fantasy world. Sneaking in the shadows, waiting for the right time to strike, observing for weaknesses in the enemy. Using all the resources at her command to obtain her goal, even if she had to stretch the rules a little. She smiled at herself. Maybe she was the dork, not Jeremy.

Nekane's company was legitimate, it had to be. And she really did help craft and negotiate contracts. But Nekane was also tasked with gathering information from the client and related parties: family secrets, building layouts, dummy accounts, anything useful. The information would be relayed to a shadow company owned by the same people as the forward facing one and would then be sold to interested parties. Nekane sometimes operated on this side of the transaction, but 90% of the time she was on the gathering side.

The biggest challenge of the whole operation was maintaining a sterling reputation so that factions would still use the company in the future. Often times significant secrets would go unsold for years in order for there to be no path back to her company. Nekane's preferred method for gathering information was to compromise a lower level member who needed a higher level of information than usual to complete a certain project or task. It offered another level of protection, because such people would rarely admit that that failure was theirs; it could jeopardize their position in the organization.

Nekane had been driving for about 30 minutes; she was entering a part of the city in the southwest quadrant, an area she hadn't been for a long time. It was not desirable and was one of the more poverty stricken areas, and not much had changed since the last time she was there.

Most of the people who lived here were day laborers. A group of them would gather at a point in the neighborhood, usually the local grocery store early in the morning and wait. Construction foremen and contractors would stop by and give day-long contracts to the men. They would load them up in the 6 passenger vans they brought, take them to the work-site, and bring them back at the end of the day. It was hard work for low pay, and it wasn't kind to those with any kind of disability or advanced age. After all, the contractors could just not offer a job to someone that wouldn't pull their weight. It wasn't impossible to learn a skill at a job site, but you needed to do your job plus work close enough to learn from someone willing to teach about plumbing or electricity or whatnot. In any case most skilled workers move out from the neighborhood when they could afford to; very few stayed to improve their nieghborhood.

Most of the females in the neighborhood worked cleaning houses in the city and took their children with them on the busses and trains to complete their jobs. The whole situation had the strange side effect of making the neighborhood as ghost town in the day time. The denizens had no concept of a weekend either, their lives ran 7 days a week.

So as Nekane entered the block before the compound, she was surprised to see kids playing out on the sidewalks. Children as young as 2 or 3 were chasing balls and playing with toy trucks. Even more surprising nearby groups of moms chatted and glanced over at their kids every few moments. Curious. Was there a mass layoff or something?

Things got even stranger as Nekane entered the block of the compound. She didn't need to worry about the address, it took up the entire block. It was a giant cube of a building under construction. Judging by the layout, this was going to be residential property as well as a business center for the Frads.

As the crossed the street, there were construction workers every few hundred feet directing traffic as some of the construction equipment fouled the street. Every one of them wore a bright yellow safety vest as well as a hard hat and safety glasses like at any construction site. But bizarrely, underneath the PPE they wore a full formal tuxedo. Nekane had seen some strange and curious cultural and factional wear, but this was totally strange. Nekane looked into the site and all the workers were dressed the same.

A few theories were bouncing around in Nekane's head, but right now she had to focus on the road. As much as she wanted to ask questions, today she was just getting eyes on the job site. As she passed the middle of the block, she noted what was surely to be the grand entrance. It was opulent and fantastic. There were pillars and decorative stonework all pointed toward a massive doorframe, which she assumed would be filled with a massive door at some point.

As she glance by, she noticed a huge man standing to the inside of the doorframe and starting forward. He had a long, gray, expressionless face that matched his hulking body. He too was decked out in full formal gear. That and his stature made him look like a monstrous butler, moving only to do his masters bidding. Nekane felt his eyes watching her as she passed by, despite the almost black tint job she had on her sedan.

Nekane had wanted to circle the city block, but decided against it. The hulking man wasn't the only one that her car was drawing attention to, and she had gotten a few other glances as she drove by. It was alright, she would continue her research later. She was getting hungry anyway.