The Devil in the Details - Prt 01

Zone 21

The Body Shop

0900L

The fighting in Zone 19 had raged throughout the night and the Media was just eating it up.

The announcer Lucy Li talking a mile a minute about nothing while already decked out in a stylized Sector Security Forces dress uniform that showed more cleavage than Nagoya had dared even during her stripper days and a black mini skirt so short that Nagoya didn't even need to look to tell what color her panties were.

Meanwhile on the one side of the display Wanted Posters with faces both familier and unfamiliar scrolled past with red X's crossing out the faces of the confirmed dead while a body count like an old school videogame score growing higher and higher with each moment.

" 2,782 Confirmed kills... " Li announced in her highpitched babydoll voice of hers. " ... another 9,000 taken into protective custody for zone reassignment. And though the fighting has died down with sunrise Edward Daya the Chief Corporate Officer and Director of the SSF, Sec-Tech and OPSEC Division has promised that efforts to clear Zone 19 will continue tonight as additional security personnel become available as the campaign to clean-up Old Town expands into police Zones 18, 20, 22, and 23..."

--

Nagoya killed the display turning her attention to the work floor and than Edger himself who had already made himself comfortable seated behind her desk already juggling multiple conference calls with his contacts and suppliers.

" So... " Edger announced as he ended the calls suddenly turning his full attentions to her. " Are you sleeping with that Major from Security Forces."

Nagoya reflected a moment on the idea of shooting the bastard then and there before shrugging off the idea.

" Really, You had to go there ? "

Edger nodded " Your right, stupid question but from a future business prospective one that has to be asked."

Nagoya rolled her eyes. " Yes."

Edger continued. "Can I assume you are also already aware that he has a wife and kids ?"

Nagoya nodded. " Yes."

Edger nodded again. "Last question. Do you think he'd give-up the wife and kids for you if you asked him to ?"

"No. Of course not ... " Nagoya hissed

Edger relaxed in his chair offering a soft sigh. "Good, that makes things a lot easier."

"Fuck you Edger..." Nagoya sounded wiping the tears her eyes.

"Sorry Luv... " He offered. "True love is bad for business. I needed to know if your heads in the right place."

She didn't bother looking at his smug face. " I take it you see an opportunity here."

" Indeed I do Luv." He agreed in turn. " Your boy from the Security Forces is a creature of habit's. He likes to keep things simple and in good order. The wife in Kids happy at home a regular girl on side that he can exercise that want to stray without fear of things getting to messy. The bonus is that you are his go to girl. He can't buy you flowers or jewelry but he can throw business your way and Security Forces stick together so if he sends business your way his friends are likely to do the same and here in lies your problem."

"And what problem is that ?"

"Thats my girl, never afraid to ask the big questions." Edger smiled in that smug knowing fashion she hated. " The problem is one of numbers Luv. Even with only one nights fighting every local body bank is already overbooked. By tonight there will be nowhere left to dump and that Luv is money waisted."

"So thats why I've got some of my people looking up additional staff and equipment for you as we speak."

She wanted to say she didn't want additional staff or the equipment he was offering but even she knew that the reality was that she did. Like Edger had said it was simply a matter of numbers and even with her running on stems the best she could hope to clear was 10 bodies an hour but that was her doing shit work.

Sure, Cyberware by itself was easy to strip off a corpse but the real money was in the salvaging of the biological components and these had a very short shelf life in a decomposing body.

Bioware, Plasma, Nanotech, Organs, Repurposed glands they brought in a lot of cash but the process of extraction was both time consuming and specialized and even if she put the body on ice process still needed to be addressed within a few hours after death. Hell half the bodies she had on the floor now were worthless outside of the cyberware. She'd never be able to identify and strip the most valuable parts in time at this rate.

Nagoya sighed. " The Shop can support maybe 10 work stations at a time we need ...

She found herself suprised to find Edger was already joined by the windows.

" I dont want you to worry about the details Luv. We have people for that... " Edger offered softly resting his hands on her shoulders and gently working the stress from her shoulders. " What I want you to do now is get some sleep. We are gonna have a busy night ahead of us and I want you well rested and ready before the shooting starts again tonight."

" Your the devil Edger ... "Nagoya sighed softly closing her eyes. " I can't sleep yet, I still have so much work to do. "

Edger gave a soft laugh. " You don't have to I already have people on the why to take care of things."

She grumbled her annoyance than glanced back over her shoulder. " So what does your Boss want out of all this ? "

Edger shrugged.

" The Boss wants 60% off the top with another 30% until the investment and labor costs are covered. The rest is all one's and zero's Luv."

"Frakk that... " Nagoya sounded her annoyance. " 40% off the top with only 25% to cover Investment costs and a 5% guaranteed cut of the top for my investment in this
little shit show of yours."

" Thats my girl ... " Edger chuckle. " Fight the good fight, dream the impossible dream... "

Nagoya frowned her annoyance. " It still feels like I'm the one getting screwed in all of this."

"You are Luv, but even if this little policing falls flat by weeks end you'll still be walking away from the deal with a small fortune if all goes well."