Chapter 12: The Contract

Both Oliver and Jackie initially thought the corpo woman had overheard them and was about to chew them out. Instead, she stopped right in front of Karl, staring at his face for a few moments.

Sure, Karl had a good-looking face, but in this era, good looks were easy—any ripperdoc could sculpt a chiseled jawline or flawless skin. So it wasn't his appearance that caught her attention.

It was him.

"I reviewed the surveillance footage from yesterday in Little China. You took out sixteen Maelstrom members on your own, right?"

Karl wasn't too surprised. In a cyberpunk world, surveillance was everywhere and detailed as hell.

Internally, he wondered why this corpo was coming to him about it. If anything, a shootout like that should be NCPD's business.

But there was one thing he had to clarify.

"Not just me—my friend helped too."

He gestured toward Oliver.

The corpo didn't even glance at him. She simply crossed her arms, and her chest—possibly cybernetically enhanced—pushed against the tight confines of her suit, creating a well-defined curve.

"I watched the footage. I'm not blind. I know who did the heavy lifting. Relax, I'm not NCPD, not some wannabe vigilante looking to serve justice, and definitely not some friend of the trash you killed. I have a job for you. Pay's 100,000 eurodollars. Interested?"

"100k eddies?"

Karl's eyes flickered for a second, but he quickly regained composure.

"Oh, so you're here for a contract."

His tone shifted. A smile appeared on his face, and his demeanor turned welcoming.

"You should've said so earlier, Miss Corporate Employee. Please, have a seat. Let's talk business. If it's within our skillset, we'll get it done professionally."

If a corpo was offering a contract, personal bias could wait.

Oliver and Jackie exchanged glances—both catching Karl's sudden tone shift with mild disdain, but they didn't argue. They immediately stood up to give the corpo and Karl space.

A 100k payday? That was more than most low-tier mercs made in a whole year.

The corpo woman finally acknowledged Oliver and Jackie with a glance—though it was more out of obligation than courtesy. She scanned the bar like she didn't want to touch anything. After a second, she sat in an empty seat next to Karl. Not clean, but at least no one had sat there before.

She pulled out a slim data shard and handed it to him.

Karl accepted it and slotted it into the neural port Viktor had installed the day before. The contract details projected into his HUD.

He read silently, then removed the shard and handed it back.

"Thoughts?" she asked.

Karl nodded slightly.

"Doable."

"How should I address you?"

"You don't need my name. Just do the job. Yes or no?"

"Sure. But how should I provide proof?"

"Send a photo to this number. Don't call unless it's urgent—I'm very busy."

She flicked him the number through encrypted transfer. At the same time, 30,000 eddies hit his account.

"This is the advance. Don't even think about running with it—unless you want me spending the rest on putting a price on your head."

And just like that, she stood and walked out of El Coyote Cojo, heels clicking, never once acknowledging the rest of the bar.

From the moment she entered to the moment she left, she hadn't spoken to anyone else.

Oliver blinked. "Karl, what the hell just happened?"

"Sorry for taking the job without asking you first."

"Man, don't even worry about it. We're brothers now, right? You're already getting gigs? I should be thanking you!"

He leaned forward. "So what's the job?"

Karl raised a hand, stopping him, and turned toward Jackie.

"You're flying solo, right? Wanna team up for this job?"

"Me? I can join?"

Jackie looked genuinely surprised. Corpo gigs were high-paying. He didn't expect to be cut in so casually.

"More hands, lighter work."

Karl smiled. "So? You in?"

"Hell yeah! If we're doing this together, I'm in!"

Jackie didn't ask about splits or details. Just said yes.

"First, let's split the advance."

Karl transferred 10,000 eddies to each of them on the spot.

"Dios mío… that corpo chick dropped this much just as an advance? What the fuck kinda job is this, hermano?"

"It's not something shady, right?"

Oliver had to ask the obvious.

Karl leaned back and explained.

"Simple mission. Maelstrom hideout in Watson. About twenty guys. We go in, find a crate they stole from the corpo, and destroy it. That's it. Take a picture of the wreckage and send it as proof."

"Huh… That crate's probably got something nasty in it," Jackie muttered.

"Yeah, like blackmail material. Real nasty corpo shit. Probably Japanese."

Karl frowned.

He remembered the shipment Maelstrom had hijacked from 6th Street a few days ago. Now this corpo woman's crate had been stolen too.

Coincidence? Or was Maelstrom just on a spree lately?

Not enough data to say.

For now, there was only one thing to do.

"Shall we?"

Oliver and Jackie nodded.

"Right after we finish this," Oliver said, biting into another piece of jamón.