CH1a

CHAPTER 1

 

Downtown San Jose became a ghost town by 7pm every night, and Japantown was nearly empty aside from a few delivery scooters and a couple of driverless delivery vehicles from Uber Eats. A utility van, with “Luigi & Mario Plumbing” written in script on the side, was parked on the corner of Taylor and North Ninth Streets.

Alto ran point on the operation, but his giant 6-foot-10 frame was cramped in the back of the van. Olafur, a bearded ginger, sat to his left and pecked away on a tiny keyboard. Olafur thrashed his head back and forth while listening to a death metal band from Norway name St. Anüs.

Alto quickly scanned a new piece of code from Melo, an AI program he created a decade earlier. Melo had a direct link to Clyde, the robodroid, that was positioned next to Alto in the back of the van. Clyde was the eyes for the team and accessed every surveillance camera within a two miles radius of the storage facility including two nearby drones in downtown San Jose and a robot guard dog in front of the Civic Center. Clyde monitored the 27 cameras inside the building including the two in the alley. Olafur had neutralized all of them.

"Remi, status update?" asked Alto.

"Felipe A. Dick, our superstar safe cracker, is having problems," said Remi. "It's been almost 20 minutes and we’re still outside the locker."

Remi and Felipe were crouched in front of locker 612.

"Eat my ass you, Doxhead. It's fucking bullshit!" a sweaty Felipe barked at Remi. "We expected an additional layer of security, but they must be using a new encryption. If you don't believe me, ask Clyde or Melo."

"Felipe is correct," said Clyde. "A new layer was installed within the last three days.”

“Melo has been rewriting the code but needs a couple of minutes,” said Alto.

"Your AI is slacking off!" said Felipe. “Instead of analyzing your dreams, it should’ve hacked this encryption by now.”

"Melo was perfectly fine before Olafur started fucking with in," said Alto.

Olafur stopped typing and flashed two middle fingers.

“Time for Plan B,” said Alto. “Devika, you’re up.”

Devika entered the lobby, but the clerk in a vest behind the front desk ignored her because he was watching an NBA game on his 24/7 Caesar’s Palace glasses. The broadcast audio with the sounds of squeaking sneakers and the bouncing ball echoed through the small lobby. The Golden State Warriors were beating the Beijing Sharks by only 10 points at the start of the fourth quarter. The clerk was hyper focused on the game, and it was obvious he had a vested interest in the outcome.

Devika cleared her throat. Loudly. The clerk slid his glasses to the top of his head and the audio from the game went silent.

"What?" said the irked clerk.

Devika reached into her fanny pack and pulled out a key fob. It had the yellow and green logo from San Jose Storage on the tag.

"This belongs to my grandfather, but he has dementia, and he doesn't remember his locker number. I tried your other facilities in Mountain View and Fremont, and two in San Jose. The last guy said his locker has to be here."

The clerk scanned the key fob and shook his head while he pecked away on a tablet.

"What's his name?"

"Garcia. Jerome Garcia," Devika said before she leaned in and whispered, "But, I have a sneaky feeling Gramps didn't use his real name when he opened the account."

"No one ever does. That's why our customers love us," said the clerk while he flipped his glasses back down. "712. Take the elevator to the seventh floor. We’re closing soon, so try to be quick."

"Thanks," said Devika while the crowd erupted after a thunderous dunk.

"Oh, and do me a favor and check on another customer for me?" asked the clerk. "There's a pregnant woman who's been up there for a long time, just want to make sure she's okay. I don’t see her on the cams, so she might be in the bathroom on the seventh floor."

Devika smiled and nodded her head. When the elevator door closed, she exhaled. She slid on her glasses and inserted earbuds.

"Easy. I told ya," assured Alto.

Devika stepped off the elevator on the sixth floor and heard Felipe cursing in a mix of Spanish and Portuguese.

"Hey Dick-lick! Follow me," ordered Devika who pointed to the stairwell door.

"Remi hang tight and wait for Melo," said Alto. "Clyde, how we looking?"

"The closest humans are three skateboarders in Backesto Park. No one else is in the building. The clerk is fixated on the game. 8:24 left in the fourth quarter. Warriors lead by 13 points. The clerk placed his entire bankroll at Ceasar's, or $272, on the Warriors to win by 19 points. There's an 89% chance they win the game, but less than a 68% chance they cover the spread."

                Felipe and Devika hurried up the stairwell to the seventh floor. They walked 20 yards and stopped in front of locker 712. Devi scanned the key fob and the door unlocked. The light flicked on and they stood in a small room that was mostly empty aside from a few racks of clothes and a couple of suitcases.

"Try the door again," Alto said to Remi, who turned the knob to 612 but it was still locked.

"Shit," said Remi.

"Double shit," said Alto

"Mork skitur!" said Olafur in Icelandic.

"Quadruple shit," added Clyde.

Melo typed 16 shit emojis into the group chat before tweaking the code.

"Time for the foam," said Alto.

"Copy," said Devika.

"Do explosives make you horny, Dev?" asked Felipe. "I know they make me rock hard!"

Devika rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You have 30 seconds, Boner Boy!"

Felipe took two items out of his shoulder bag: a silver pen and a small container that looked like eye drops. He quickly squeezed the bottle and the expelled liquid made a circular pattern on the floor. Devika stepped into the hallway, while Felipe backed up to the doorway.

"Ten seconds starting now," said Felipe as he activated the laser pen.

Remi took several steps away from the door in the sixth-floor hallway. Devika was positioned directly above her on the seventh floor. Felipe took a deep breath.

"Five... four... three... two... one..."

Felipe aimed the laser pen at the liquid, which instantly transformed into a glowing orange and yellow foam.

"Get ready," said Felipe.

Felipe stood a couple feet from the circle. He jumped up and down three times. The circular section of the floor quickly disappeared. He entered the hole and dropped down to the floor below.

Remi waited a few seconds before the door to locker 612 opened.

"Finally, Dickhead!"

"Don't blame me," said Felipe. "Alto's outdated AI sucks ass."

"Quit your bitching and find the console. You have ninety seconds," said Alto.

"It's located in a duffle bag next to the gold clubs," advised Clyde, who scanned the video from Felipe's glasses.

Remi took off her jacket and unzipped her fake pregnant stomach.

"Found it," said Felipe, who pulled a small box out of the bag. The console was wrapped in a San Francisco 49ers beach towel.

“Confirmed,” said Clyde.

Remi slid the console into a waterproof sack and stashed it inside her fake belly.

“Looks like there’s an old laptop here too. Clyde, are you seeing this?” asked Felipe.

“Looks like an IBM?” said Alto. “From the early 2000s. Possibly?”

“ThinkPad T40,” confirmed Clyde.

“Grab it but you gotta hurry,” said Alto. "Extraction begins now," said Alto. "Remi, you're first. Then Devi five minutes later. Felipe, leave via the back door.”

“Try not to nod out or have a flashback on your way downstairs,” Felipe said to Remi as he shoved the laptop into his shoulder bag.

Remi flipped him off and silently mouthed, “Suck my twat.”

“Clyde, how we looking?" asked Alto.

"No one else in the building. The clerk is pacing nervously in the lobby. Under three minutes to go. Warriors up by eight. 91% chance to win. 23% chance to cover. Two humans were in the alley. A cook from Zen Sushi was smoking a cigarette but went back inside. A homeless person pushing a cart is about to exit the alley in the opposite direction. One of the drones is assisting in a car accident 15 blocks away. The other drone is in a holding pattern."

Olafur had moved into the driver's seat of the van. Remi exited the elevator and waved goodbye to the clerk, who barely noticed her. Remi walked one block to the van.

"Check one," said Remi as she slid into the passenger seat.

“Copy,” said Alto, who nodded and Olafur drove off.

The back door of the storage facility flung open and Felipe jogged down the alley. He hopped on his motorcycle and sped off.

"Check two," said Felipe.

"Copy," said Alto. "Check two."

Devika thought the elevator was taking forever before it returned to the ground floor. She thanked the clerk, who didn't say anything to her. He was in the middle of a cursing tirade while the Sharks pulled within four points of the Warriors with less than 30 seconds remaining. Clyde unjammed the cams inside the storage facility and the alley.

Devika walked one block in the opposite direction down North 10th Street and waited 30 seconds before Felipe arrived. She put on a helmet and wrapped her arms around Felipe's waist.

"Check three," said Devika.

"Copy," said Alto. "Check three."

"Whew!" exhaled Remi before she popped a pill.

As Felipe and Devika drove off, a drone began to track them.