Chapter 155: Blanca’s Job

A call from Blanca?

Karl didn't think too much about it before answering.

Karl: On a job. What's up?

Blanca: Did you just wipe out a Wraith camp?

Just now?

Karl glanced at the Wraiths still running for their lives and corrected her.

Karl: More like… right now.

Blanca: Did you rescue an engineer? Guy named Thomas Stein.

Karl: Yeah. Militech's guy.

Blanca went silent for a moment. Just when Karl thought she had ended the call, another message came through.

Blanca: He's the one I sold out.

Karl didn't respond immediately.

His mind flashed back to when Thomas Stein had reacted so intensely upon hearing Blanca's name.

At the time, Karl had just assumed the guy was overly emotional, biting at anyone like a rabid dog. But now—

Turns out, she really had sold him out.

Blanca: I sent four of my subordinates to make sure the job got done. You let them go, didn't you?

Four?

Karl recalled the four guys who had bolted like hellhounds were on their heels.

"So that's why there were suddenly four Wraiths out here with Kerenzikov implants—cyberware that needs constant maintenance. Figures."

Karl: I wouldn't say let them go. More like… they ran fast enough that I didn't get the chance to kill them.

Blanca: Yeah, right. Like I don't know what you're capable of. If you really wanted them dead, they'd be dead. Fine, I'll owe you one. Don't worry about Thomas Stein—he's a nobody. His position at Militech's already been revoked. The guy's fired. You saved him? Whatever.

Something felt off.

Karl knew Blanca well enough after working with her multiple times. She was pure corpo—never did anything unless there was something in it for her.

Those four were her people. She didn't need to bring them up, yet she did. Not only that, she said she owed him for sparing them. That wasn't normal.

And then there was Thomas Stein. She had sold him out, and Karl had taken a job to save him. Normally, she'd be pissed—maybe even try to pay him more to finish the job properly, make sure all loose ends were tied up. Instead, she was outright dismissing him as unimportant.

That was very wrong.

"What are you scheming?"

"Scheming? What, now I can't even say I owe you one without it being a scheme? Do I really seem that untrustworthy?"

"Yeah. You owing me a favor and letting Thomas Stein live—it doesn't fit you. It's suspicious as hell."

Karl didn't hesitate in his response. He knew exactly what kind of corpo Blanca was.

"Heh. Fine, fine. I won't mess with you. Just take it at face value, alright? Maybe I really am just trying to be friendly for once. Consider it a favor. You can cash it in later if you need me for something small. I don't mind. As for Thomas Stein—he's already marked. Someone else will handle him. Not my problem."

So that settled his doubts about Stein.

But the favor…

"So this is just a transaction now? A favor for minor jobs, meaning I shouldn't expect any help with bigger ones?"

"Mhm. Four subordinates aren't worth me owing you anything big."

Something still felt off.

Listening to Blanca's tone—so casual, almost like friendly banter—

Karl felt completely out of his element.

One thing he was sure of, though:

Blanca was definitely scheming something she couldn't say out loud.

After thinking for a moment, Karl asked a question.

"You're not scheming something that's gonna end with me having to put a bullet in you, right?"

They were familiar enough with each other that even Karl would hesitate a little before pulling the trigger.

"...Huh?"

On the other end of the line, Blanca clearly froze for a second. Then, as she processed what Karl meant, her tone shifted—now tinged with irritation.

"You bastard merc. Why do you always assume I'm scheming against you? Can't you think normally for once? Here I was actually expecting you to say something else!"

"What do you mean?"

Karl's confusion only seemed to piss Blanca off even more. "Forget it! Take the damn favor or don't. But just so you know, if you really wanted to, I wouldn't even say no if you asked me out for dinner!"

With that, Blanca angrily cut the call.

Was that just her way of trying to put him at ease?

Karl frowned.

Leave it to a corpo to retreat to advance—acting mad just to make him lower his guard.

But still… what was that about agreeing to dinner?

Just some random comment to make herself seem more trustworthy?

Karl considered, for a brief second, the possibility that Blanca genuinely wanted to use this favor as an excuse to have dinner with him.

But the image of Blanca as a sharp, calculating corpo was way too deeply ingrained in his mind. It was hard to believe she'd do something without a hidden agenda.

There had to be something she wanted from him.

That much, Karl was sure of.

But what exactly was it?

His skills?

Was she trying to pull him closer, get him to work under her?

Weird.

Hopefully, this wouldn't actually end with him putting a bullet in her.

Still lost in thought, Karl was about to head back and help Jack with looting the battlefield when a new message popped up.

"If you really do want to take me out, I like that Spanish place in City Center."

…Okay?

"That place is good, yeah. Kinda pricey, though."

"."

As Karl helped Jack scavenge weapons from the Wraiths near the cave entrance, another message arrived after a long silence.

"I can pay for it."

Pay for it?

See? Knew she was up to something.

Trying to bribe him with food.

"We meeting in a few days? You planning to discuss a job in person? Can I bring others?"

"You… go on a dinner with a woman and bring other people?"

Karl thought about Mama Welles and Misty. "Yeah. Why not?"

"." …I can book out the whole place. Anyway, you're free on Christmas Eve, right?"

"Not sure. Christmas Day, my crew's got a bar night planned."

"My biomonitor just flagged a blood pressure spike. And I think I finally understand how to talk to you."

"How's that?"

Karl picked up a discarded rifle, gave it a once-over, then sighed and tossed it back—it was busted. At the same time, a new transfer hit his account.

40,000 eddies.

"Christmas Eve. You. Alone. At the Spanish place. The job is to have dinner with me and keep me safe."

"You could've just said that from the start. If it's a gig, I'm in. But why alone? You just said you could book the whole place. Wouldn't my crew be better for protection?"

"Alone!"

So, just like before—there was some internal corpo mess going on.

No trusted subordinates. Needed to keep things quiet.

And she was calling him in for that?

That was her real reason?

"I'll be there."

After that, Blanca went silent, clearly not interested in continuing the conversation.

Half an hour later, while Karl was still looting, a thought crept up on him.

…Was this actually just Blanca making up an excuse to go on a date?

That possibility was quickly thrown out the window.

Because—

She paid him.

Back in Karl's day, everyone knew that if money was involved, it wasn't a real date.

If you had to pay for someone to meet you, then either one or both sides were being weird.

And Karl was damn sure he wasn't the weird one here.

So Blanca was definitely scheming something.

After all, that was forty thousand eddies.

A full 10K more than what he had paid V and his crew.

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