Sometimes, twenty minutes can feel like a whole day. I feel the adrenaline rising with every new mile we drive.
Not an intense splash, but rather a calm and steady flow. Fear mixed with excitement; the euphoric drug that keeps our hearts running.
In the meantime, the team is silent. David is driving, Chillean is cleaning the rifle, and Akira is memorizing the blueprints. I was looking outside.
If you stared at the window for long enough, you could eventually peek through the trees and see the flashing lights of all colors far away.
The roads are soulless, with only driverless cars still making deliveries.
The rich get their late-night meals, managers receive important shipments, and people like us hurry to infiltrate corporate castles.
David finally spoke for the first time since we left the gas station.
"Listen carefully," he said. "I'm only saying this once."
Chillean stopped rubbing the rifle for a moment. Akira lifted her eyes from the page.
"The building has three main storage aisles," David continued. "We're interested in the left one. Aisle C. It will look like the most common warehouse.
However, there is a cold-storage room on the right, which will likely be protected. Expect resistance. Reinforced steel, manual lock. Akira, this is your responsibility."
He took one hand off the wheel and tapped the dashboard like it was the cage itself.
"Inside that cage, third rack from the bottom, you'll find a small hard case. About this big." He placed his hand on the dashboard. "Around 30cm all around. Matte black. No logo. Only marking is a white strip with the number 47-B written on it."
"So a box," Chillean said. "We're risking our necks for a box."
"A sealed case," David corrected. "You don't open it. You don't shake it. You don't ask what's inside. Don't even breathe on it. You carry it out in the same condition you found it in."
I glanced at Akira. She was staring at the blueprint, but her posture shifted slightly, like her mind had started building the path already.
"Any backup?" I asked. "Similar cases? Decoys?"
"There may be other hard cases," David said. "Yours is the only one with a white strip and 47-B written by hand. Not printed. Handwritten. Black marker."
Akira traced something on the blueprint with her finger.
"Cameras?" she asked.
"Unknown how many, a lot, not every camera is on the blueprint, so beware," David said without thinking. "The cage lock itself is analog. That's why you're here."
She nodded once and went back to studying.
"And if the case isn't on the rack?" Chilean asked.
"Then you look under it," David said. "If it's not on the rack or under it, you check the wall behind. We're not leaving without it."
"And if it's gone?" I asked.
David paused for a second.
"Then you improvise," he said. "But if it's gone, we probably don't walk out anyway."
No one liked that answer, but no one argued.
The rain got a little louder. Neon shadows still flowed lazily across Akira's face as she studied the page, lips pressed together, eyes moving line by line.
For a moment, I watched her fingers tap the exact area on the blueprint where the cage would be.
At least we knew what to look for. The van slowed down.
David turned off the main highway onto a service road leading into an industrial sector.
We rolled past one warehouse with broken signs and dead lights.
Then another with half the wall eaten by rust.
Then a third, newer, reinforced.
The fourth one stood alone, a little taller, a little too clean.
That's when time stopped. Things became more real than anticipated. I saw something that no outlaw wants to see under any circumstances.
Small, but clear even through the foggy rain. A red circle. A white dot in the middle, calmly glowing. My stomach dropped.
"David," I said quietly, leaning forward. "Tell me we're not where I think we are."
He didn't answer. Just kept rolling the van until we slid under a half-collapsed metal canopy and stopped. The engine hummed for a second and then died.
The silence that followed was wrong. Not calm. Not peaceful. Just heavy.
I stared through the windshield at the glowing red mark.
"David," I repeated, louder this time. "Say it."
He finally spoke, eyes still facing forward.
"XIIX logistics depot," he said. "Target is inside."
For a second, I didn't say anything.
I just felt the heat in my chest, rising from somewhere deep.
Then I reached forward and grabbed his shoulder, hard.
"You're a piece of shit. You brought us to an XIIX facility," I said. "And you only mention it now?"
Akira froze completely, hands hovering above the blueprint like a statue.
Chillean slowly stopped cleaning the rifle and turned his head a little, watching us from the side.
"It doesn't change the job," David said. "Get in, take an item, get out. Same as before."
I laughed once. There was nothing funny about it.
"It changes everything," I said. "You said 'a top corp', not XIIX. They are off limits, and you know it. Are you insane? Even if we make it out today, we will be dead within the week."
David didn't react.
I grabbed his collar and yanked him halfway around in his seat, close enough that I could see the little cracks in the skin near his eyes.
"You think we're suicidal?" I asked. "You think you can just drive us into a XIIX warehouse like it's a corner store and no one will say anything?"
"Let go," David said.
"Make me. I think the chances of me killing you here and now are much greater than the chances of us three surviving the hell we are about to enter." I replied.
Chillean's fingers tightened around the rifle. Not pointing it, just… ready.
Akira's breathing got a fraction louder, but she didn't speak.
David stared at me with that dead, old soldier calm.
I tried to reset my emotions, but it wasn't easy.
"You had the chance to walk away at the gas station," he said. "You stayed. You knew it was dangerous. Nothing's changed."
"All of my jobs are dangerous. XIIX is a different league. You crossed a line by not specifying; you tricked us." I said.
I released his collar, but didn't lean back.
"Here's how this is going to work," I said. "If you want me inside that building, I have two conditions."
His eyebrow moved half a millimeter. For David, that was a full reaction.
"I'm listening," he said.
"First," I said, "ten grams. Each. Not six, not nine. Ten. You knew exactly what this place was, and you chose to hide it. This isn't how business is done in this world."
"Ten is excessive," David said.
"XIIX is hell," I replied. "Pay accordingly."
We stared at each other. The rain filled the gaps in the conversation.
"Second," I continued, raising another finger, "you tell us what we're stealing. No more 'an item'. I'm not walking into hell blind for a mystery box."
Akira's eyes flicked from him to me. She didn't say anything, but I could feel her leaning into my words like they were some kind of safety net.
Chillean shifted in his seat, considering.
David looked at me like he was trying to decide if killing me would cause more problems than solving them. I honestly wanted him to try. I was furious.
But we don't have the luxury of acting like children. He needs me, and I need him. A mutual business.
"You're not in a position to negotiate," he said.
"You're wrong," I answered. "You need me. We all need each other. You would never bring a Key and an analog ghost for a warehouse if you plan to half-ass it. You sought us because you know this isn't simple. So let's stop pretending."
At the corner of my eye, I could see Chilean's hand turn into a fist. At least I know that my earlier assumption about him being a Key was right.
David's jaw clenched once.
"Ten grams if done clean," he said finally. "Seven if alarm. That's as far as I go."
I thought about it for half a second, then nodded.
"And the item?"
David looked away, out the windshield at the glowing red circle.
"It's something they shouldn't have," he said. "That's all you need to know."
"Oh, right, but you should have it? Or whoever sourced you the job anyway. You are the moral high ground of a perfect man who deserves to keep the grail that is inside that box. Tell me what it is that is worth dying for." I said.
"I'll tell you one last thing. No one sourced this job to me. It's personal. Now, I've already told you more than you deserve," he replied. "You want poetry, go write a book. You want ten grams, you walk through that door.
Akira finally spoke, her voice quiet but clear.
"Is it biological?" she asked. "Technological? Data?"
David didn't look at her.
"Stop asking," he said. "You're here to get us in and out."
He met my eyes again.
"What you need to know," he said slowly, "is that the longer we sit here, the higher the chances that symbol out there stops glowing and starts watching."
I sat back, ran a hand over my face, and looked at the red circle one more time.
XIIX. Of all places.
"Ten grams," I repeated. "And if I get out of there alive and find out you lied, and whatever this is ends up in the wrong hands, I will find you, David. Consider this a professional courtesy. You owe me one."
His lips twitched just slightly. Not a smile. Something colder.
"Don't give me the semantics. I don't owe you shit. Now get out and get it done," he said.
"Ladies, enough arguing." Chilean stood up in frustration. "I'm going in, I'll gladly take 30 grams for myself."
He opened the van door. Neon and rain spilled in, washing the argument out into the night.
Akira was looking at me: "We're on the clock, I'm going." She stood up and followed Chilleon.
"What's rule one?" Akira suddenly asked me as she was walking out.
What the hell got into her? Asking me questions like that. Some game does she play?
I was watching the red symbol through the glass, then finally pushed the door open and joined them in the wet air.
"Akira," I asked, and she slightly turned towards me.
"My first rule is that I watch my enemies closely. But you, I will watch you even closer."
"Good." She responded.
The warehouse stood ahead of us, metal walls slick with rain, the eye glowing as if half-asleep.
Akira knelt by the perimeter fence back door and started working.
Her hands were steady, but her shoulders were not as relaxed as before.
The door was made of the same metal wire, non-electric, almost too easy to break. It took her seconds.
Everything felt off. This warehouse is barely protected, even though it's owned by a company that owns us all.
Chillean was diligently scanning for any intruders.
I took a small EMP metal box and began scanning for cameras to potentially look out for. But there were none.
"That's wrong," I said. Akira didn't look up from the fence, but I could tell she agreed.
"A place like this never goes blind," she said. "Even if it's empty."
"You're saying they shut it all off for us?" Chilean asked.
She finally rose to her feet and glanced at the dead metal around us.
"No," she said. "Nobody is expecting us, but they expected someone."
She paused, then added:
"Someone already went through the trouble of turning the eyes off. Likely it was XI themselves. For one of their own. But why the back door? That's the real question."
A small chill crawled down my spine. "For this exact route?" I asked.
"For this exact fence," she answered.
There was no drama in her voice. No fear. Just a simple fact, dropped between us like a knife. She adjusted her coat and stepped aside, leaving the gap in the fence open.
"Rule one?" she asked again, this time without looking at me. I didn't say anything. I took a second to adjust my thoughts and took the first step on the territory of XIIX.