Heading in the opposite direction from V, Roqi moved stealthily away from the main building and climbed up the ladder to the arched rooftop.
The view up there was breathtaking.
Roqi glanced behind him at the sandstorm advancing across the desert like a massive wall, swallowing the landscape as it moved. He swallowed hard.
The wind stung his face — sharp grains of sand slicing through the air like tiny razors.
"Suzi, can you hear me?" Roqi asked, pulling out a pair of smart binoculars.
"Loud and clear," Mower replied calmly.
He lay flat on a small patch of rooftop, pressing his eye to the binocular's lens.
With perfect focus, the smart optics zoomed in on every detail within several kilometers. He even spotted Mower lying prone on a car rooftop with her sniper rifle. He waved.
Mower returned the gesture with a thumbs-up.
"We've got three snipers: Suzi, Panam, and Scorpion," Roqi muttered, eyeing the trio on their rooftops. "I'll mark the Raffens outside the building. You guys can pick them off one by one."
"Mitch, I'll need your drone to scan the perimeter of the factory," he added. "If we're starting this party, V and Saul need a clean escape route."
There were way more Raffen Shiv than expected.
If they weren't drawn out soon, V wouldn't even make it to the basement — let alone get Saul out.
A few long minutes passed. Roqi was nearly buried in dust before Mitch came back over comms.
"No guards around the perimeter. They're all concentrated inside the main building and front plaza," Mitch confirmed. "The storm's picking up. I've gotta pull the drone back!"
The little quad drone wobbled like a leaf in the wind as it struggled to return.
"V, can you hear me?" Roqi asked, eyes fixed on the yard.
"Yeah, I hear you. What's the play?" V whispered from a catwalk above the Raffens.
"Tap into the factory's subnet. If it's still running — turn everything on. The noisier, the better."
"Copy that. Give me a sec," V said, tiptoeing back toward the control room.
A beat later, he returned.
"Not great news — not terrible either. Not many devices online. If T-Bug were here, she could probably do more."
"It'll have to do. Let me know when you're ready."
"I'm good. Say the word."
Roqi adjusted his rifle and got his sights back on target.
His voice cut through the channel like a trigger.
"V — go."
On cue, the factory yard came alive.
Cameras, cranes, floodlights — all glitched and jerked like they were possessed. Lights strobed erratically, flashing like a rave in a mental hospital.
"What the hell!?"
"The fuck's going on?"
The Raffens, previously moving toward cover from the storm, stopped in confusion. Some cautiously stepped back out into the yard, blinking at the chaos.
"Shit! Are these things haunted!?"
One thug tried slapping the side of a spotlight to calm it down. No dice.
"Must've been a virus! I told you assholes to stop clicking random links!" another barked, clearly in charge.
The commotion drew more of them outside. Within seconds, a dozen more Raffens poured from the building to investigate.
"Shut this crap down! The storm's almost here! You wanna get buried out here!?"
They hadn't taken this place to defend old machinery — it was just a waypoint. The cement plant offered decent shelter from the storm. That was enough.
Catching Saul? That had been a jackpot — both a stroke of luck and a calculated ambush.
Once the sandstorm passed, they could press the advantage — ransom him, ambush the Aldecaldos, whatever worked best.
Weapons, gear, eddies, bikes, women, food...
If they could cripple the Aldecaldos, this group of Wraiths — the Night Howlers — would level up fast. Maybe even challenge the top gangs beyond Night City.
The wind howled louder. The air turned a sickly haze, visibility dropping with every second.
And yet — it was beautiful.
Like watching the rim of a volcano. Like staring into the eye of a superstorm. Like a tidal wave made of sand and ash.
Nature, unchained.
Pop.
A silenced shot. It vanished into the wind like a whisper.
The bullet pierced a fuel drum.
Boom.
The resulting fireball tore through the nearest Raffen. He didn't have time to scream.
Explosions rippled across the yard, fueled by stacked barrels and twisted cables. Fire whipped through the air, turning into a writhing serpent of flame.
"Open fire!"
Panam, Suzi, and Scorpion fired nearly in sync — three perfect kills from the hilltop snipers.
The wind warped their aim slightly, but the rifles were good. The shooters were better.
"Snipers!"
"Fuck! We're under attack!"
"Where the hell is it coming from!?"
Bullets sprayed blindly into the storm. Visibility had dropped so far, they couldn't see more than a few hundred meters.
The Raffen Shiv were panicking.
Some screamed into the haze, shooting at ghosts. Others tried fleeing, only to drop mid-run — a shot to the skull, a chest punched open.
Roqi's marks were going down fast.
He fired intermittently from the rooftop, picking off anyone isolated.
Panic spread like wildfire. The Raffen numbers were thinning.
"V, they're retreating to the main building. You at the basement yet?"
No answer — only the sound of scuffling and breathing over the comms.
Then finally, V spoke up, his voice low.
"I'm in. Almost got spotted..."
"Good. Get Saul and get out," Roqi said, squeezing off one last round.
The rest of the Raffens had holed up inside the building — maybe twenty of them.
Roqi stood, and immediately a gust of wind shoved him back. He slipped, catching himself on the rusted rooftop framework.
The drop was at least ten meters. He swallowed hard.
The rooftop creaked beneath him.
Too narrow. Too high. Too damn windy.
But Roqi steadied himself, crouching like a silent predator, and pulled a shiny grenade from his belt.
Militech Deep-Cut Anti-Personnel Grenade
Inside the building, the Raffens were shouting, arguing, panicking.
They'd sealed the main doors — but fear spread like a virus.
Roqi pulled the pin.
Clink.
The grenade dropped into the building like a ghost. White smoke rose as it hovered up into the air...
…right before laser threads burst out in every direction.
Zzzzzzzzt—!!!
The slicing noise was grotesque. It sounded like squid sizzling on hot metal.
Lasers danced through the air, spinning wildly. The building's interior lit up with dozens of thin, blazing beams. Walls, crates — and flesh — all were shredded.
"Let's go again."
Roqi pulled another grenade — this one different — and tossed it through a window.
Kang Tao Smart Fragmentation Grenade – Guided
Kang Tao: Smart Electronic Warfare Solutions™
They looked like a household appliance brand — but made death their business.
BOOM!
The explosion launched Roqi back. He barely stayed on the roof.
Pin, toss, target, impact. One and done.
Kang Tao didn't just make weapons — they made vendettas with Wi-Fi.
"Lucky, what the hell was that? Sounded massive!" Panam's voice crackled.
"All good — that was me. The Raffens bunched up like idiots. Perfect target."
"V, what's your status? Got Saul?"
"…There's a girl. She's dead," V said, voice tight.
In the basement, several Raffen bodies lay crumpled.
And one Aldecaldo — a woman, mangled, her body bloodied and draped across a rusted table.
"Fucking scum!" Panam slammed her fist against the car hood, trembling with rage. "They're inhuman! Goddamn monsters!"
She had expected this — but seeing it hurt all the same.
The Aldecaldo warriors who'd been captured weren't Saul. They held no value.
Survival had never been part of the plan.
Panam rarely returned to camp. She fought with Saul constantly. She kept her distance.
But her heart had never left the Aldecaldos.
"Keep going, V. Don't stop," Roqi said, sighing.
The wind was now a full-on howl. Dust bit at his face as he began climbing down from the rooftop.
Every breath tasted like dirt.
The storm was nearly here.
"Cough... At the very least, we've got to get Saul out of there alive."
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