The Assassins of the Android's Shadow

$30,000

Lukas stared at the holographic e-currency as it displayed from the HoloBand smartwatch on his wrist. He scowled back up at The Baroness, Lady Torridge, throned lazily before him.

“That’s it?” He asked the baroness through his teeth. The silk-robed Lady only replied by laying back onto a floating diamond-studded chaise longue and tapping a sensor implanted in her temple to resume the show she had been viewing through her smart contact lenses. The Lady’s long, sizable charcoal-colored study was lined with several statues of her own naked figure, some gold, and some diamond. A black diamond chandelier hung above the man as he stood in the center of the study, and before him lay the Lady. She cackled forcefully at something she viewed on her private screen. She did not turn to face Lukas but groaned at the realization that he was still there.

“That’s all I have for now,” the baroness sighed plainly, waving a contemptuous hand at him, “I’ll see you next month in regards to my uncle’s termination. You're dismissed.”

Lukas gritted his teeth, “Look, here, I don’t pull this risky shit for your table scraps,” he advanced toward her, “and I sure as-”

A black-suited guard steadied his laser gun from underneath the baroness’ floating chaise.

Lukas reverted, “You promised me a hundred grand,” he huffed.

“And,” the Lady interrupted, “as I previously informed you, the market crashed. Now, I haven’t any time to deal with destitute hooligans such as yourself, so I suggest you be on your way,” the Lady snickered, “There is absolutely nothing you could do about the matter, anyway.

Lukas swallowed. He realized he had one alternative, “I’ll tell the Service.”

Torridge looked to the guard, “Send him ten-thousand more,” the e-currency popped up on his Band. “Now, Lukas, I suggest you leave my property immediately before there is more blood on my hands than I first intended.”

“Fine,” he smirked, holding up open hands in compliance, “but there wasn’t ever none on ya, to begin with. Sittin’ up here all pretty like this,” He motioned at her chair as he turned for the large door at the other end of the study.

“Go ahead,” the baroness waved her hand.

The guard shot Lukas instantaneously.

Blood spurted on the walls as his body writhed on the floor. The guard shot him once more and he lay still.

“Take him to have his watch removed and get my money back,” Torridge demanded the guard.

“Yes, My Lady.”

“I effing called it, bruv!” Abi shouted, pointing a bony finger at her HoloBand display with a mouth full of apple.

“Ay, yo, Sal,” Nanjala laughed, “Abi’s getting the twenty-grand.”

“¡N'ombre!” Sal yelled from the kitchen sink. She dried her large tawny callused hands on a grease-stained towel and hurried to the cluttered apartment’s living room.

Abi and Nanjala sat on a small grotty loveseat which was surrounded by wires and mechanics from Nanjala’s projects.

“The bloody minger shot ‘em up soon as he hit the door!” Abi made a finger gun and pretended to shoot at Sal while kicking up pale lanky legs in excitement.

Nanjala opened up a small, black, paper notebook and began jotting notes regarding her android, nicknamed Lukas’, faked ‘death’. He was Nanjala’s largest project, and building and maintaining him was the primary reason the women kept any money earned from their assignments (aside from small amounts Abi and Sal would wager on whether or not Lukas ‘survived’). The guise of an able-bodied fair-skinned man guarded the women from most intolerance, as well as possible suspicion for their crimes. None of the three women preferred hiding in Lukas’ shadow, but it was safest, and still allowed them to witness the outcome of their work when they donated the rest of their earnings to impoverished communities like theirs.

Nanjala studied the holographic display and decided Lukas’ twitching after being shot did not quite look as realistic as intended and would have to be reprogrammed if she wanted anyone to believe he was human. Fortunately, Lukas would not be in the Lady’s company long enough for the humanity of his reaction to be investigated.

Sal leaned over the back of the already-full couch and protested, “¡Chale! She couldn’t have killed him, yet. She still needed him. Lemme see.”

Abi rewound and played the footage by swiping her HoloBand’s display. She chomped on her apple as Sal gawked at the proof that she had lost their bet.

“I told you that gannet’d do it,” Abi said with her mouth full again, “And for a measly forty thousand?” She waved a bent elbow at Sal behind her, “Did’ja peep at her room, bruv? What’s she doing with that pocket change?” Abi chortled.

“She’s just another greedy sangrón,” Sal smiled sadly, shook her head, and walked back to the kitchen, “Nanjala, are we ready?” Sal called from the sink.

“Yeah,” Nanjala scribbled some more, then shut her notebook, stood up, and stretched her arms, nearly touching the apartment's ceiling despite her squat stature, “Let's head out.”

Sal removed her three tactical knives from the sink and dried them. She stretched a brawny arm into the back of a cabinet above the sink and grabbed a box of ammunition, “You need some, Abi?”

Abi stood in the apartment’s entranceway, “Nah, I’m set.” She patted her hip holster which carried a loaded pistol. Abi shoved two assault rifles into a duffle bag along with a full-face helmet with a large neon pink symbol across the front. Three parallel horizontal stripes in a tilted equilateral triangle: the team's mark. Abi undid the door’s several locks and passcodes, and stepped out, “I’ll start the car.”

Nanjala’s weaponry entailed a pistol, her HoloBand, several elaborate modules she invented and attached to the Band, and most importantly, her black notebook which she secured in a secret pocket beneath the pistol’s holster.

As Sal drove, Abi's front seat rotated to face Nanjala in the back row. Nanjala’s HoloBand display flickered a map of Torridge’s mansion generated by Lukas’ sensors. The map had several pinpoints, most red and 3 blue. Each red pin represented a member of the Lady’s staff that Lukas had planted micro-trackers on during his visits. One blue pin was planted on a room in the basement and was where Lukas’ body lay. The others, labeled “Abi” and “Sal” were off to the side of the map.

Nanjala opened Lukas’ cameras from her Band. He appeared to be in a doctor's office, laying on a metal table with several instruments on a counter and. She noticed a barred egress basement window in a corner of the room.

“Perfect,” Nanjala whispered to herself. “Okay,” she looked to Abi as Sal parked the car, “Lukas is going to open the basement window, here,” She pointed to the room on the map, “You two climb in and head down the hall and to the second right where Torridge is. You’ll have to kill off the staff, but Lukas is functioning well enough to help. When Torridge is secure, you’ll have to find her e-currency chip, since she doesn’t just have a Band. I’ve got a feeling it’s in her contact lenses, but it may be embedded in her wrist or neck, so that’s for you both to find-”

“Ya mean I get to open her up?” Abi nearly drooled at the idea.

“Uh… yeah,” Nanjala never understood Abi’s excitement for gore, “just don’t damage her chip.”

“Okay then,” Sal slipped on her helmet and cracked her knuckles, “let’s get to work.”

Once the others were in the basement, Nanjala directed them from the car over radios built inside the women’s helmets and Lukas’ ‘ears’. “Someone’s coming down the hall,” Nanjala said. The three in the basement heard footsteps on tile.

“I’ve got it,” Sal equipped herself with a knife.

The footsteps grew closer and the doorknob turned. The door creaked open.

Sal seized the man, covered his mouth, and slit his throat. He stopped breathing, so she dropped him.

Abi announced on the radio, “He’s out. We’re goin’ in.”

They padded through the hall as Nanjala directed. “Abi and Lukas, watch the staircase. Four are on the stairs now.”

“Got it,” Sal said and jogged down the hall with Lukas.

“Abi, go into the room on your right. There’s only one in there with Torridge. Take them out then wait for Sal and Lukas’ say to start looking for her chip.”

Abi cracked the study’s door just enough to see. She heard footsteps down the hall. She caught sight of the guard in the study and shot him twice. The footsteps hurried after the gunshot. Abi raced into the study. She heard gunshots followed by Sal yelling in Spanish. Torridge screamed in shock as Abi darted into the room. An alarm blared as she grabbed a handgun from underneath the cushion. Her hands trembled as she shot at Abi and missed repeatedly. Abi shot Torridge’s handgun. It fell to the floor. Torridge held up shaking arms in surrender. Abi aimed at her and leaped atop the chaise. More gunshots, then silence. Sal still wasn’t there. Abi realized she would have to take Torridge hostage. Abi stood on the floating chaise and guarded her body with Torridge’s while tying a chloroform-soaked cloth from her duffle-bag around Torridge’s face to combat struggling. Abi unholstered her pistol and pressed it to the Lady’s temple, just as three armed guards burst into the room.

A guard held two fingers to his temple. He then looked at Abi, “The Lady offers you two-hundred-thousand dollars if you let her go, no penalizing necessary.”

Abi looked at the Lady whose eyes were half-closed as her head bobbed, “How the hell do ya know that?

The guard looked to the others, then back to Abi, “If you must know, the Lady can communicate with her staff through her contact lenses.”

“Well, ain’t that the dog’s bollocks!” Abi stalled “Man, do I need a set of those. How much were they?”

“Much more than a criminal could afford.”

“Well, shit!” Abi smirked, “Two-hundred-thousand just isn’t gonna cut it then, huh?” Abi gripped one of Torridge’s arms and broke it over her thigh in one swift movement. The Lady wailed through the cloth. Abi snickered.

“This’s a lovely chair innit?” She stretched the Lady’s broken arm to caress the chaise. “It’d look pretty neat back at my place.”

“One million. The Lady offers one-”

Several gunshots fired and the guards fell to the floor, forming pools of blood. Sal hobbled into the study, helmetless, out of breath, and rifle in hand.

“We got ‘em all.” Nanjala said on the radio.

Abi dropped Torridge, who was now unconscious and ran to her teammate.

“Sorry-” Sal heaved, “Sorry we could not hold them all. I’m okay, but my helmet’s busted and Lukas is malfunctioning on the steps.”

“It’s all good. Let’s get out of here,” Abi grinned, “Right after I finish this,” she rolled up her sleeves and cracked her neck, turning to Torridge’s body.

Nanjala watched the three approach the car as the mansion lit up in flames behind them. Having fit Lukas in the trunk, Sal squeezed into the front seat “Ay dio, did you really need to be so brutal?”

Abi beamed as she climbed into the passenger seat “What do you mean?” she asked and handed Nanjala a clear bag containing a bloodstained e-currency chip and two bloody contact lenses, a thin wire, and button-activated sensor attached to one of them. “You can move my 20,000 to the donations, Nanj. I got something way better!”

“Oh my-” Nanajala’s face twisted and she covered her eyes, “Abi! That’s gross!”

Abi laughed as Sal started the car.

“So who’s next?” Sal asked.

Nanjala smiled, “Lukas was contacted by William Cronnesby seeking to have his brother assassinated.”

“Hm,” Abi simpered, “Sounds rich; can’t wait.”