“Redline”
- Eddies
- 205,860
"The Loft"
Redline Crew Hideaway
Heywood, Night City
Ryan leaned back against the worn wooden table in the clubhouse, arms crossed, eyes locked on the small pile of money shards stacked between him and Beau. The red underglow lighting bathed the scene in a warm, almost sinister hue, reflecting off the still-crisp edges of the few unburnt bills left from the job. Most of the cash had been reduced to worthless ash, but the real payday were the shards that were still intact.
And that's what had him worried.
He exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair before nodding toward the stack. "Ain't gonna lie, choom. Gig went down too dirty." His fingers drummed against the table's surface, restless. "Bank job like that? There's no way they didn't throw some nasty countermeasures on those shards before we even set foot inside."
The warehouse had that comfortable, lived-in feel, a place the crew had put real time into making their own. It smelled faintly of engine oil and the faint burn of ozone from the netrunner setup humming up in the repurposed shipping container above. Adjacent to them, the large exhaust fans groaned softly as it spun, moving the thick city air through the space. The hum of distant traffic outside barely cut through the insulated walls.
Ryan glanced up at Beau, watching his reaction. The man knew his trade, knew how to burn digital trails before they turned into nooses. If there was something wrong with these shards, Beau would know. And if he couldn't fix it himself? He'd know where to send them.
"So, tell me straight can you scrub these, or do we need to pass 'em off to someone with a little more reach?" His voice was even, casual, but there was an edge beneath it. He wasn't about to let this job with @Vex Kiranova turn into a noose around his neck.
@Beau Frost