Client and Her Audi

Our client was a woman in her early thirties with short black hair, a fiery glare, a little large bust, and long legs. She was waiting for us at the very corner of the cafe with her laptop open. As Tara and I came along, she glanced at us, then at her laptop back again.

"The time is 2 pm. You were supposed to be here at 12.30 pm."

I tried to think of an apology, but Tara casually sat on the chair beside her. "I'm surprised you recognized us."

"I have my sources. But you didn't answer my question."

"We got stuck in the traffic."

That was a blatant lie. Tara had suggested it was easy for Unet players to kill other Unet players in lonely places, so traveling at night wasn't an option. The chances of killing someone in broad daylight were very low, and even then they couldn't kill us when we were among a group of people. So it was my idea to schedule the meeting in the morning.

But the morning was busier than usual. Tara and I rode back to my old apartment to find the other bike we'd hidden. But apparently, it was stolen by some stupid fuck, so that was both a waste of time and fuel.

"There are people called Lookers," Tara said. "They have easy access to cameras around the city. But they charge a hefty price."

I decided it wasn't worth it. Even if found who it was chasing after them would mean we'll need to buy more guns. Which was more money. It was way better to ride back while cursing our fate.

So when all that was done, we were already late for our meeting.

"Why did you hire us?" I asked before the woman could speak another word. It was better to know whatever was hidden behind the job before accepting it.

The woman smiled. "Straight to business it is then. As for the reason…one, your bid was low. Two, you mentioned you had killed Ryan's gang, which alone is a good achievement. Three, I really like your relationship."

"How do you know about our relationship?"

She chuckled. "Next time you better do something like this in your room."

She turned her laptop towards us. Open in a separate window was a video of Tara giving me a blowjob on the rooftop.

"I'm getting very popular lately," Tara grumbled. "I might as well apply and be a porn star."

"That's impossible," I said, looking at the video angles closely. It was taken from the top, but both our faces were visible after some zooming. "There are no cameras on the rooftop, I've been there many times."

"You are stupid if you think cameras are the only ways you can get information. But you don't have to worry. This is not for blackmail, this reminded me of someone," she pulled back the laptop and tapped on something. "Now for the job. It's a simple bodyguard job. There is a girl and a boy, and there are a few bad people after them. You save this girl and boy from those bad people and drop them in a certain place."

She wasn't meeting our eyes as she spoke, which meant there was something she was hiding.

And she wasn't the only one with the searches. Before we came here I spent all night trying to find some details about our client. The Unet app had a profile search function. It didn't include our photos but typing the name gave us some details.

Our client was Maria Fontana - a woman who had joined the game five years ago. She wasn't in any clan, and there was no information about her associates. But she was a level 50, which meant she was something. Then Tara searched the news section of the Unet app with her name, but the only news that popped up was how Maria had once walked into a Safe Zone, purchased the Safe Zone, and then killed everyone inside it.

So she wasn't a pleasant one.

"We need more details," Tara said. "Who are the people coming after these two? Why?"

"The two of them are newly registered to Unet. And there are some gangsters probably somewhere between the level of 20 and 30 coming after them. That's all the information I'm going to give."

"Gangsters," I repeated. "How much exactly?"

"At least 20 of them."

Aaaand there's the catch….

She was offering a staggering sum of 10000TC for the job, enough to make us stay in that motel for three months and even upgrade some weapons.

"Where are they now, and where should we take them?"

"At Bellang Highschool up in town. You need to pick them up at 5 pm today, and drive them up right here," she turned the laptop again. This time it was a map, with a red pin located at Morse Hotel.

What's worse was I knew where it was.

"That location," I tapped the screen. "Is two towns away from here. It's nearly 35 miles. Assuming we pick them up at 5 it'll be midnight when we get there."

"And we don't have a car," Tara said. "In the job, you said you'll be providing us with a car."

Maria searched her pockets and pulled out a key and placed it on the table.

"See that black car outside?" she eyed the Audi parked right beside the cafe entrance. "It has a 4-cylinder turbo charged engine with all bulletproof glass and bulletproof tires. In the trunk you'll find a set of weapons. Feel free to use any or all of them. It is filled to the brim with fuel, and inside you'll find cash if you need more. So pick them up, floor it, and bring them to me. I don't care whether you take one day, two days, or an entire goddamn week to get to Morse Hotel, all I care about is the targets being safe. The cost for any place you stay along the way will be paid by me."

"If they die?" Tara asked frowning.

"You get no money, and I come searching for you."

"You can't kill people if they fail a mission, that's against the rules."

"True, but you can kill them sometime later. I know where you live, and you can't stay huddled inside that motel all day, you'll run out of cash. So when you come out, there'll be a sniper waiting for you."

She closed her laptop, then gave a thin smile. "So, are you ready? Because if you are not I have a couple of other people to interview."

I looked at Tara, and I found the answer in her eyes.

I kept my hand on the keys. "We accept the job."