Chapter 50: Grieselda

Today was a day of many firsts. Many firsts, Grieselda had once promised herself she’d never have.

Firstly, the floatcar she piloted through Hillbrow traffic: she’d checked out from the impound lot without approval, which was as good as stealing.

And she flew the royal red floatcar with tinted windows to the captain’s apartment to commit another crime.

‘I’m not a bad person,’ Grieselda reminded herself as she adjusted her sweat slicked hand on the steering rod.

‘If anything this assignment has opened my eyes.’

The system was broken and scumbags like the captain were exploiting it. So she had no other choice. She had to be flexible to deal with them.

‘And it’s just this once. Just this one time.’

She had too. It was that or let the captain continue to poison the GCPD.

‘What if you don’t find anything?’

The thought had been nagging at her ever since she decided to go through with the break in.

‘No his apartment definitely has some secrets.’

The captain’s apartment was too secure, which could only mean he was hiding something.

‘Definitely hiding something.’

Grieselda wiped off beads of sweat from her forehead with a trembling armoured hand.

She’d studied the apartment layout countless times. The sole entrance was a custom fitted door, made from 30cm thick reinforced steel, the door operated electronically with a four step verification process – Key-card, password, voice recognition and a DNA scan. Motion triggers lined the door, windows, vents and all other breach points, ready to trigger the alarms at any sign of a breach. The smart apartment ran on a close loop network so she couldn’t hack her way in.

As far as small scale fortifications go, the apartment was locked tighter than a lunar bank. And knowing the captain she suspected a great many other unknown security measures were in place to stop intruders.

Sneaking in and out unnoticed was improbable.

Espionage against competent opponents wasn’t as easy as to accomplish like they did in the spy streams.

But Grieselda wasn’t deterred by this. All it meant was: she need not be subtle.

She indicated left as she approached the Etaf building. Swerved out of traffic without slowing down, speeding toward the reinforced windows of the captain’s apartment.

Strengthened as they were, they were designed to keep out thieves with lock picking tools and/or power tools.

‘Not stop speeding floatcars.’

She motioned the steering rod forward and the floatcar accelerated, zipped through the air with great purpose.

The car interior lights turned crimson and annoy beep rang out.

“Collision course with Etaf Building. Adjust trajectory.”

The vehicles proximity detection system sounded, alerting of her the strange course she was on. As per the safety regulations, every floatcar was fitted with a PDS, so the driver could adjust trajectory and prevent crashing or even flying too close to buildings. All to reduce property damage against the corporations’ skyscrapers from reckless pilots who pushed the limits of how close one could fly toward the tall buildings that divided the skies.

“Adjust trajectory now or vehicle will shut down.”

She ignored the warnings and the floatcar didn’t shut down despite the PDS’s words. The vehicle had been impounded because the proximity detection system had been faulty and the owner hadn’t bothered to have it fixed. This made the vehicle well suited to her cause.

‘That and it can’t be traced back to me.’

The helm to her mech suit folded over her head and she braced herself.

Boom! Half the taxi smashed through a combination of wall and window. Debris was blast into the apartment haphazardly. The bonnet of the floatcar was totalled, sparking and coughing up dark smoke into the captain’s apartment.

Grieselda groaned.

The seatbelt had held her firm and her mech suit and the airbag protected her from any damage. The impact had still given her a good shake though.

She unbuckled the seatbelt, kicked off what remained of the shattered windscreen and exited the smoking vehicle. She trekked down the rubble blasted into the apartment.

She swirled and took in the apartment within the thin veil of spreading smoke.

‘I did it,’ she thought in a daze.

She swallowed thick bile and com-linked the GCPD hotline.

“Emergency services, how can I help you?” An elderly voice said through the com-link.

“This is cybermage Grieselda Blanchett, first respondent to an accident. An unregistered vehicle has crashed into the Etaf building. The driver seems to have fled the scene…”

She relayed all the details before the operator let her go.

Grieselda grinned, content with her efforts but then frowned at herself quick to realize the error of her ways.

‘I was too eager.’

The timing of the accident and her call would reflect how quick on the scene she was.

“Fuck,” she muttered to herself.

Closed her eyes and exhaled. No she was overreacting. This was explainable.

‘I was on my way to visit the captain which is why I was so quick to the scene,’ she recited.

She nodded to herself. There was nothing out the ordinary with her story.

She placed a palm on her chest and exhaled hard. Even so, she needed to be more careful next time.

‘No! No! No next time.’

Grieselda palmed her head, driving through her thoughts by force. ‘Just this once. Just this once.’

Without further delay Grieselda began her search of the apartment. She didn’t follow the captain today so she had no clue to his whereabouts and couldn’t be sure when he’d return.

There was also the neighbouring minion to consider. Though Grieselda doubted she had access to the captain’s apartment door she could be circling around right now to enter through the breach she created.

Finally the sirens in the distance, once they arrived, they’d interrupt her search of the place.

So all in all, she only had a few minutes. To retrieve the evidence she required to complete her assignment.