Parabrisas delantero

(COMMERCIAL)

The Arroyo Naranjo hotel is a tobacco plantation en- closed in a prefabricated government greenhouse. The Arroyo Naranjo does not use the drones you would ex- pect to tend the plants and harvest the tobacco, nor does the plantation employ metahuman servants to look after the labor-intensive crops. They reason that drones can be hacked and that laborers can be bribed or threatened, making both potential security risks. Instead, they went with the obvious choice: zombies. While zombies require closer supervision and more care than either drones or metahumans, they can never be turned against you.

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dise Goods (Tobacco [2pts]), Zombie Servants

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HOTEL NACIONAL

(LUXURY)

To stay at the Hotel Nacional, you must be somebody. Or, at the very least, part of the Family. The most ba- sic rooms are meticulous recreations of 1920s Ma- fia chic, while the opulence of the premium suites is limited only by your imagination. Amenities include a swimming complex with everything from hot springs to polar pools, bars, and restaurants ranging from Pro- hibition-era speakeasies to 1950s Havana casinos, and gyms offering everything from personal yoga to MMA fights. The concierge office is ready for any request. The Hotel Nacional’s only rule is unbreakable: Do not bring your business with you.

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ing Service, Discreet Candyman Service, Gym, Sports Court (Basketball), Swimming Pool, Walk- in Freezer

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“So, Joshua, based on your professional experience, what should I do with my Ares stock? Buy or sell?” asked Maria Thornwood as she dined with Joshua Stanton at the Pearl of the Sea lounge in Downtown Manhattan.

To his friends, the thirty-three year old Joshua Stanton was a run-of-the-mill investment banker working for a prestigious financial firm in the heart of Manhattan. As far as they knew, he had been working at that firm for five years and had earned a sizable fortune playing the East Coast Stock Exchange. He didn’t let them know, of course, that his work k as an invest- ment banker was a cover, a dodge— a ruse to hide activities a lot worse than insider trading.

“Sell,” Stanton said. “Yes, I am aware Ares’ profits are up marginally for the year. I know they just acquired a new com- pany for Ares Global worth two billion nuyen. But there is still so much instability within Ares itself. Knight and Vogel are still at each other’s throats. Their infighting is becoming more public, and it’s going to hurt the corp, long-term. I say get out of Ares stock before things accelerate downhill even faster.”

“Where should we be investing instead?” asked Vincent Trenton. He kept an aloof, ironic note in his voice, probably to avoid the hint of panic likely making his stomach do backflips. Stanton took a sip of his wine to make his reply appear measured. “Genetique, Universal Omnitech, Pensodyne.

Companies specializing in gene therapies or nanotech. Yes, all stocks in those fields are at record lows due to this ‘head crash’ virus. Yes, the virus has investors scared, and I know of hundreds of investors who have lost entire fortunes due to the collapse of this sector. But at the end of the day, the head crash virus is only a temporary phenomenon. I predict things will stabilize, and then the corporations will be back on track with their research and development for new technologies. While the head crash virus is a passing anomaly, the general population’s need to look and feel eternally young and vital will never go away. There are a lot of good bargains out there right now because of this scare, and your portfolios will benefit tremendously from taking the plunge into these stocks today, when prices are so low. Take the risk while you can. You’ll be thanking me in a few years. Just avoid anything Evo or NeoNET related. They’ll be among the last to recover from.” As Stan- ton was talking, a message came into his commlink, forcing an ARO open in his line of vision. “I’m sorry, my friends. Important message from work. I need to answer this. Please excuse me.”

Stanton politely excused himself from the table and walked out into the lobby to check the message. It was com- ing in on his burner ’link, which increased the chance that it was important. It was gobbledygook, of course, but it turned into language once he ran it through his decipher algorithm.

<Operative: Chameleon. New job: NeoNET executive Marshall Grimes, Genetics Division. 52 yrs old, lives in NeoN- ET residential arcology, Riverside, unit 60228. No family. Lo- cation is provided in attached document. Termination must happen within 72 hours, must be attributable to natural caus- es. Pay is 250,000 NeoNET corp scrip. Accept Y/N?>

Stanton grimaced. He understood well how currency ex- changes worked, even if he wasn’t really an investment bank- er. Currently, NeoNET’s corp scrip was valued at 68 cents to a single nuyen. So the offer was one hundred and seventy thousand nuyen. Not enough.

<Payment needs to be made in nuyen or no deal,> Stanton replied.

After a couple of minutes, he received his response. <Agreed. >

The young assassin looked at the rest of the details of the assignment. Seventy-two fragging hours doesn’t allow for a lot of prep time. But it would be enough. He clicked the ARO in the message to confirm he would accept the job. Return- ing to the table, Stanton apologized to his friends that he had to leave, with an excuse that a major account was looking to leave the firm, and he would have to engage in some last min- ute damage control. He paid for his friends’ dinner to make up for his abrupt departure and left.

✖

First things first: Get intel. He needed to learn more about the mark, find the info his employer inevitably was hiding from him, and figure out why they wanted Marshall Grimes dead. It wasn’t merely about satisfying his curiosity—it was about anticipating potential complications and being in the position to overcome them.

It only took a few hours to learn from his contacts inside NeoNET security that Grimes was, in their terms, a ‘rat-faced, no-good whistleblower.’ NeoNET’s internal security had iden- tified him in the last two days as being the source of leaked sensitive reports and materials to the media; internal reports that drastically contradicted NeoNET’s public relations narra- tive to downplay the extent of the cognitive fragmentation disorder virus’ spread through their nanotech and genetech products, and reports that contradicted their claims that they were just a few months away from discovering a cure. These leaks were costing the corporation hundreds of millions of nuyen in lost revenue with each new devastating release and were causing serious harm to NeoNET’s reputation. And from what Stanton found, those who had ordered the hit didn’t wish for Grimes to be publicly exposed as a whistleblower in

this light, Stanton knew the two hundred and fifty thousand nuyen they were offering to take out Grimes would be seen as a bargain in comparison to what Grimes was costing Neo- NET with his leaks. That was good—if he played his cards right and did exactly as the employer asked of him, the chances of blowback on him or a double cross from his employer would be extremely low. He knew how to do the job in a way that would keep the employer happy, which wouldn’t hurt..

After learning the background of his target, Joshua con- tacted his decker, Brute Force. There was a lot of material he would need in order to get in and out of the sixty-five-story Riverside arcology without detection. He would need a copy of Grimes’ SIN and all the biometric data attached to it, in- cluding his fingerprints, retina scans, and DNA profile. Grimes had recently installed two state-of-the-art biometric locks on his apartment door inside the arcology in addition to the keypad lock that was standard on NeoNET apartment doors. That level of paranoia only confirmed to Stanton that he had something to hide. Stanton also knew he would need a voice print from Grimes in the event he needed to talk to any of his neighbors along his route to the apartment. He would also need the target’s schedule for the next thirty-five hours to be able to get into Grimes’ apartment while he wasn’t home.

While requesting this data on Grimes, Stanton also asked his decker to get a copy of a SIN, a biometric profile, and voice print for one of the security guards assigned to work inside the arcology, ideally a guard scheduled to be off at the time he was to pull off this job. This identity would get him into the arcology. Stanton also requested that it be a guard that might not be as well known to building security, preferably one that had only been working there for six months or less, decreasing the chance of running into someone who knew the guard’s habits or routines. He also requested a layout of the building. Stanton then contacted his fixer to acquire an authentic-looking uniform to impersonate the NeoNET guard and two fake SINs; one to mirror his mark’s SIN, and one to mirror the guard’s SIN. This list would eventually cost Stanton a total of fifteen thousand nuyen to obtain. With his plans set into motion, Stanton was forced to wait on his fixer and his decker to provide him with their paydata and goods before moving onto the next step, while he watched the clock. He had only had sixty more hours to take out his target.

✖

Six hours had passed before Brute Force had the SIN and bio- metric data delivered to Stanton on the two targets: Grimes and another man named Jeremy Hawkes, a NeoNET guard who had only been with the corporation for three months. Af- ter sharing the SIN information with his fixer, Stanton worked on programming the cutter nanites he would use for this job. While many in his profession were veering away from the use of nanites in general, fearing accidental infection by the

He also knew that the source of the cutters he used were clean, as the people he’s worked with for the last five years have proven to be quite reputable. If they said the nanites were selling were safe and reliable, he believed them. And what he found most desirable about these particular nanites was that he could lace an entire apartment with them, and they would only become active when they made contact with the assigned DNA profile. Otherwise, they would remain inert. Such a precise weapon—one that would leave family members and visitors unharmed—was one too valuable to give up based on unfounded fears.

Once he had finished programming the nanites to recognize Grimes’ DNA profile, he loaded them up into two aerosol cans disguised as body spray. He tucked them away inside a duffle bag, which held gym wear and an extra set of casual clothes.

At the forty-six hour mark, the uniform that Stanton want- ed arrived from his fixer. He checked it to make certain ev- ery detail was accurate, matching its appearance to Hawkes’ service record. Then he set about programming the finger- print patterns from both Grimes and Hawkes into a sheet of memory material capable of reproducing the finger and palm prints as three-dimensional molds that could produce pat- terns he could mimic though the use of his adept abilities. Once the sheet of memory material was programmed, he folded it up and slid it into a hidden compartment built into his custom-designed commlink. He then loaded his fake SINs onto his commlink and was ready to go.

With everything in order, the only thing left to do before morning was get a good sleep.

✖

Stanton rode the subway to Riverside on the Manhattan Island at 1130 hours, wearing the fake NeoNET uniform, and dressed as Officer Hawkes. Walking into the restroom for the subway station, Stanton entered an empty stall and closed the door. Minutes ticked by as Stanton closed his eyes and channeled mana into reshaping his face. The cartilage of his ears extended, forming points at the end from where they used to be round. He changed his eyes, shifting them from their natural green to brown. His curly black hair straightened and became blond. His facial structure slowly elongated, matching the image of Jere- my Hawkes precisely. Stanton then listened to Hawkes’ voice print and channeled mana into his body again, altering his vo- cal cords until he could speak exactly like Hawkes. Once that was done, he removed the memory material from his com- mlink and activated it, creating a mold of Hawkes’ finger and palm prints. Finally he shifted the fingerprints and palm print on his right hand to match Hawkes’ prints.

Once the transformation was complete, Stanton walked out of the subway station as Officer Hawkes and approached the three NeoNET guards watching the street entrance of the arcology. Stanton waited in line as the security guards

guards, the guard in charge at the checkpoint asked, “Hawkes. Are you supposed to be here? I thought you were off today?” “I got a last-minute call from Metahuman Resources tell- ing me I needed to cover another guard’s shift,” Stanton re- plied in Hawkes’ voice, placing his right palm on the scanner. A second guard confirmed Hawkes’ identity, verifying both palm and voiceprints and giving the supervisory guard an all- clear sign.

“Strange. I don’t see you on the schedule.”

Stanton sighed in frustration. “I’ll go up to M.R. and have a chat with them. If there was a fuck up and I’m not scheduled, I’ll just make use of the gym while I’m here and go home. Dammit. Could’ve used the extra cash.”

“I hear you. An extra shift would be nice right about now.” After the third security guard inspected the duffle bag and cleared it, the guard-in-charge let Stanton through the check- point. He walked toward the nearest elevator in the lobby and entered. Although he suspected the guards would not follow up and check his route though the arcology on the security cameras, he had to be certain. Instead of hitting the button for the sixtieth floor and making a direct route for his target’s apartment, he hit the button for the thirty-sixth floor, where the Metahuman Resources office was located. Stanton made a point of heading toward the office, just like he’d said he would do. By the time he approached the office, he was cer- tain that if the guards were watching him, they would have by this point turned their attention to other matters. He changed course again and headed toward a restroom near Metahu- man Resources, where he would change his disguise again, this time going from the appearance of the thirty-two-year- old blond elf to the silver-haired, middle-aged human in the Genetics Division. Switching the SINs he was broadcasting to that of Grimes and dressed in the casual business attire, Stan- ton walked out of the restroom and headed for the sixtieth floor.

✖

Everything stayed steady as Stanton got off the elevator. No one was rushing up to try to detain him or trying to track his movements. As such, Stanton continued to play the part of the geneticist, as he headed toward his mark’s apartment. Nearly at the noon hour, most of the hallways in the residential area of the arcology were deserted. Most residents were still at work or in NeoNET’s various corporate-run schools. And he knew Grimes was in a meeting at the Malmstein building in Midtown, and he wouldn’t be back to the arcology until later that evening. Stanton smiled a little to himself, grateful that he had successfully infiltrated the arcology.

Getting into Grimes’ apartment would be child’s play. He used his adept abilities to mimic Grimes’ prints and bypass the biometric locks. Once inside the two-bedroom apart- ment, Stanton started memorizing his surroundings using his

state, he might do something unpredictable, such as flee the apartment. Such a rash action could prevent Grimes from be- ing saturated with the nanites, making the mission fail. That would be a hit to the Chameleon’s reputation that Stanton would not tolerate.

Methodically, Stanton applied his cutter nanites to surfac- es he was certain Grimes would touch. He applied the nanites to the refrigerator handle, to the kitchen and sink facet han- dles, to the shower door, to the sheets and pillow covers of Grimes’ bed, to many of the plates and glasses inside the kitchen cabinets, and the sofa inside the living room. Once Stanton had used both cans of the nanites, he left.

✖

Most shadowrunners would have made a beeline for the exit once the job was done. And he could have done so, likely without tipping anyone off, but he still had a cover to maintain. Once again assuming the disguise of Jeremy Hawkes, com- plete with gym wear, he hit the gymnasium on the sixteenth floor. He exercised there for an hour, watching his surround- ings and other people’s reactions to him while looking casual and relaxed. Once he was done, he grabbed his duffle bag and left the arcology, waving to the guards at the main entrance as he departed. The guards paid no attention to him; nothing about him was what it shouldn’t be. He took his time leaving the area, making sure he changed subway lines multiple times, shaking any tail jobs that might have been attempted. Then he returned home to wait for the results of his work.

✖

He had to wait an entire day. His NeoNET contacts reported that Grimes’ body was discovered in his apartment at 0920 hours by arcology security, after he failed to not report to work. The discovery was well within the mandated seven- ty-two-hour time frame. Using his contacts, Stanton reached out to the NeoNET medical examiner who would autopsy Grimes, and paying her 5,000 nuyen to insure that the out- come of the autopsy would be “Natural Causes, Aortic An- eurism.” When the autopsy report came out, Stanton got a