Corpo Plaza.
The streets were packed with people. From time to time, someone would stop and look up at the two towering monuments of the century, their eyes filled with envy, longing, or disgust.
The suited corpos rushing back and forth through their busy routines had long since grown used to the sight above them: AVs constantly moving between the corporate skyscrapers overhead.
Some looked up, gazing at that unreachable summit of power.
And some stood at the summit of power, looking down at the countless crawling lives below.
Meredith Stout was one of those people.
Her high-ranking position inside Militech was enough to let her stand inside a vast executive office, looking out through the floor-to-ceiling windows from high above over all of Night City.
But today, Meredith was not interested in the scene below.
Her gaze remained fixed on the Arasaka Tower across from her, straight and imposing, black and severe.
She could not see what was happening inside Arasaka Tower, but she knew there had to be someone over there, just like her, who liked to stand by the window and study Militech Tower in return.
Century-long enemies were bound to have all kinds of entanglements.
Cooperation. Competition. Infiltration.
Standing before the window, Meredith folded her arms and stared through the glass toward Arasaka Tower, her focus resting on the seventy-eighth floor, the Arasaka high board conference center, the Jungle Conference Room.
She was waiting.
Waiting for news.
Waiting for the board's decision.
Last night, she had led a strike on the abandoned steel mill in the Northside Industrial District, disrupted Arasaka's Special Ops plan, and wiped out three Arasaka squads.
That incident had already been classified as top-secret Militech intelligence and was under absolute lockdown.
It was an event that could be made big or kept small.
The key was how Arasaka handled it at the board meeting today.
At the time, she had reached a secret agreement with Arasaka's deputy director of Counterintel.
The two sides would cover up the truth together.
If he went back on his word and reported the matter to the higher-ups on the Arasaka board, then she needed to be ready for the consequences.
That was why she had already arranged for her informants inside Arasaka to send word the moment the board meeting ended.
Meredith's expression remained grave. She rotated the ring of her artificial eye to check the time. Most of the morning had already passed, yet there was still no report that the Arasaka board meeting had ended.
"Looks like this board meeting is getting pretty heated. Are they assigning blame, or discussing retaliation against Militech?"
Meredith was not certain. A dozen possibilities flashed through her mind.
The only real variable was Arasaka's young deputy director.
"He's ruthless when it comes to eliminating rivals, yet he has no real background. He doesn't look like someone who works for Arasaka out of pure loyalty."
Meredith had already ordered a detailed intelligence investigation on Kai and studied his work record inside Arasaka.
Her conclusion was simple.
A lone wolf.
A hard case inside Counterintel.
A man who always put maximizing his own interests first.
At last, her personal secretary appeared at the door requesting permission to report. She said directly that the Arasaka board meeting had ended and that a major decision had been announced.
The yellow ring in Meredith's artificial eye turned, and the office door slid open automatically.
The secretary hurried in and gave Meredith a detailed report on the entire course of the board meeting and the final outcome.
After hearing it all, the tension in Meredith's brow eased somewhat.
But when she learned of Kai's promotion, she still looked genuinely surprised.
"Dual deputy director?"
That result was beyond her expectations.
Even if Kai had completed the mission and obtained the cyberware data, a promotion and show of favor on that scale was too much.
How many years had Kai even been at Arasaka?
In the six years since Arasaka Tower had been rebuilt, most of the upper management had been transferred in from other regions. Very few had actually risen through the ranks inside Night City's Arasaka Tower itself.
The current director of Counterintel, Arthur Jenkins, for example, had only been parachuted in from Arasaka headquarters a little over a year ago.
And yet Kai's rise looked like that of a blazing new Arasaka star in the corporate world.
Meredith thought for a moment and realized the matter could not be that simple.
"A lone wolf with no factional backing managing to rise against the current can only mean one thing. This is the result of factional struggle."
"The one in charge now is Michiko Arasaka. Did she take an interest in him?"
As far as Meredith was concerned, she had basically figured out the logic behind it.
Kai had already become a sacrifice in Arasaka's internal factional game.
This promotion was nothing more than using him as a tool, a piece for Michiko Arasaka to use against her opponents.
Kai had not revealed the truth behind that night's deal, so the Arasaka board unanimously concluded that Militech had merely supported Maelstrom from behind the scenes.
"So he does understand the weight of things."
Meredith withdrew her gaze and sat down at her desk. Now that she had a handle on the board's decision, her mind settled considerably.
She moved on to the next step of her plan and issued a new order.
"Arasaka stealing data from Militech's experimental cyberware isn't something that simple."
"Since it was R&D supervisor Tanaka who needed it, find a fixer who can actually get things done and investigate what exactly Tanaka is playing at."
The secretary bowed to show she understood, then left the office.
Meredith tapped the desktop lightly with the fingertips of her right hand, bringing up Kai's personal file. The intelligence display now showed his dual deputy director positions.
She studied it for a moment, then the yellow ring of her artificial eye turned again as she pulled up her contacts list and sent him a congratulatory message.
"Kai, congratulations on your promotion to dual deputy director."
Westbrook.
Japantown.
The small plaza in front of the TURGO Convenience Store.
Maine was sitting alone beneath a shade canopy, and there was something lonely about the figure he cut there.
In daylight, the plaza was nowhere near as lively as it was at night.
And with Dorio, Pilar, and the others all injured from the previous night, no one had come to hang out there today.
Maine was waiting for someone.
He still had part of the payment for the information he sold to Faraday left to collect.
He grabbed his beer and took a long swig to cool himself down.
Not long after, a dark red luxury sedan slowly pulled up.
The driver's door opened, and the chauffeur-bodyguard stepped out, walked up to Maine, and said,
"Get in."
Maine clicked his tongue in annoyance at the bodyguard's arrogant attitude, then set down the bottle and got into the car with him.
The door shut, and the sedan started moving again.
Inside the long cabin, Faraday was still dressed in that luxurious dark red suit. One leg crossed over the other, he quietly watched Maine.
"The information you gave was good. Here's the rest of your payment."
Thirty thousand eddies were remotely transferred into Maine's account.
The moment Maine saw the amount, he knew Faraday had definitely skimmed off a hefty cut from Militech.
"Bastard…"
Faraday did not care in the slightest. Maine's anger meant nothing to him. He simply continued speaking as if nothing had happened.
"Since the intelligence was accurate this time, I've got a new job for you."
He pressed the fingers of his left hand against the armrest beside him. After the fingerprint authorization was confirmed, a small chip popped out from the side armrest next to Maine.
Maine picked up the chip and slotted it into his neural interface.
Then he started reading the job details.
"What?"
As the data finished loading, Maine's expression turned increasingly grim.
"Steal navigation and travel-route data from a high-level Arasaka company car?"
Faraday did not seem bothered at all. He asked in a low voice,
"Is there a problem?"
(End of Chapter)
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