Inside one abandoned warehouse, half of which had long since crumbled, a patch of darkness shimmered then dispersed, the dim light invading from outside reflecting on the glistening surface of a bright red car.
It had no wheels and floated a meter above the ground, effortlessly remaining in one spot without making any sounds or disturbing the dust underneath it.. Anti-gravity modules were rare, but not as much as advanced cloaking systems.
Magic Mirror was one of the best, mostly used in high-end military equipment. One could only wonder how a solo mercenary got his hands on something like that.
The door opened and a man stepped out. Strangely enough, he was dressed in a white tuxedo, complete with a bow tie. He looked left and right, then frowned. Jerome Barberin arrived, and from the looks of it, his client was late.
~[ ]~
"I have a clear shot. Should I take it?"
A red cross marked the head of the smuggler, seen through the scope of a sniper rifle with quite the long barrel. Maria remained perfectly still, her weapon trained on the target as she blended with the darkness filling the inside of an abandoned apartment two thousand meters away.
Two thousand meters in the opposite direction, Gaspard leaned on the steering wheel of his truck, focusing on the footage playing through his OAM.
"Not yet," He said then looked to his right. "The corpos?"
"I see them, but..." Ricardo said. "You aren't gonna like this."
He was leaning back in his seat, his head encased in a bulky headset shaped in a way that wouldn't mess his mohawk. With a thought he shared the footage captured by another one of his drones, this one placed under an old sign near one of the main roads.
Four trucks drove in the direction of the rundown warehouse. Though they appeared to be unmarked, their clean exterior and the lack of customization spoke of their nature as corporate property.
"They are identical..." Gaspard narrowed his eyes.
The intel they got focused mainly on the smuggler and barely mentioned the recipient. When he heard they were a low-level executive at that corporation, he had assumed they would show up in a more fashionable car instead of an armored vehicle. With how things are, Gaspard began to wonder if they had something planned for their exit.
"Can you see inside?" He asked.
"Nope," Ricardo answered. "They are perfectly insulated."
"This... got a lot more complicated..." Gaspard said.
The corpos took steps to ensure the package reached them in secrecy, but that clearly didn't stop them from taking precautions in case someone tried to steal it once it was in their hands. Even if they didn't know whether someone was targeting them, the right thing to do would be to assume someone is and act accordingly.
Still, increasing the security level would only hint at the value of the package. Gaspard didn't think that the gig would be easy, but from the looks of it, their plan would need some adjustment.
"Next thing, Mr. Bond over there will pull out three suitcases out of his trunk." Ricardo cackled, but only he seemed to find the idea humorous.
~[ ]~
The convoy made its way to the warehouse and parked inside. Jerome watched as the doors opened and what he assumed to be bodyguards descended. Each one was geared for was, and looking at their bulky frames, it was easy to guess that they went through some physical enhancements.
The guards, all of whom were dressed in black with faces covered with masks, inspected the area for a few seconds and one of them happened to look in the direction one of Ricardo's drones was hidden, but thankfully he didn't seem to notice it. They continued with their business like nothing was amiss. A couple of minutes later, the cars opened again and a stereotypical businessman came out, complete with a plain-looking blue suit.
"Took you long enough." Despite being surrounded by a SWAT team, Jerome wasn't a fan of being made to wait, even if it was just a few minutes.
"My apologies, gentleman." The businessman flashed one fake smile. "I assure you we tried to arrive fifteen minutes early, and we would have if not for the... unmaintained roads of this part of the city."
"I expected you to show us in a helicopter or something." Shaking his head, the smuggler sighed and turned to his car. "Your package is in the back."
The trunk opened soundlessly, revealing its contents. Four identical suitcases, all white without a single scratch to distinguish them. Jerome moved aside and gestured toward them. "This should be the part where you inspect the goods and confirm you got what you asked for, but even I don't know which is the real one and which is the fake."
"We trust that you would honor our contract." Said the corpo.
Four of the bodyguards stepped forward and each took a suitcase. Each one would ride one of the trucks, and as a final step, each truck would take a different route back to wherever they came from. Without knowing which of the suitcases was fake, one would have to steal all four to ensure they got the real one.
Jerome watched as the cases were carried to the trucks and for a moment his frown deepened. After much hesitation he decided to just come out and say it.
"I know it's none of my business and all, but... surely you can give me a hint about that thing."
"Pretty sure we paid you to not ask questions." The corpo shook his head with a smile, one slightly more sincere than before. "To be honest, I'm as clueless as you are."
"Seriously?"
"That man can be... a bit eccentric."
"Well, our lives are so different they might as well be aliens." Jerome went silent. A second later, the corners of his mouth curved up slightly. "Well, the weirder they are, the bigger the paychecks you get from them." He turned around and walked to the front of his car. "You know how to contact me if-"
Coming to a stop, the smartly dressed smuggler whipped his head to the left. He might have noticed it much earlier than any normal human would have, but it was already too late by then.
A crimson fountain erupted, the liquid splashing all over his face and white tuxedo. Right beside him, the corpo grunt he was talking to a second ago was tumbling back, his head reduced to scattering bits of bone and brain. With life blown out of it by an illusive sniper rifle, the headless corpse dressed in blue fell on its back with an audible thud.