The building where I was supposed to meet Regina Johnson was much dirtier than I had expected.
Piles of paper lay scattered everywhere,
along with all kinds of trash strewn about in a mess.
"Welcome."
"It’s late, but it’s good to meet you, Ms. Johnson. I’m Kangal Spitz."
"And the people behind you?"
"They’re the crew I belong to."
Johnson’s eyes narrowed.
Of course they did. I had suddenly brought along companions—six of them, no less.
"Well, headcount doesn’t matter for this job, so it’s fine."
"Ahem! Can you tell us what the job is already?"
Maine, having recovered his senses, began asking Johnson about the job.
As though she had been waiting for it, Johnson explained the details of the job and its risks, then gave us one last warning.
"The most important things are stealth and speed. Under no circumstances can you get caught before noon."
"Before noon... What time is it now?"
"One in the morning. You have eleven hours."
Kiwi answered.
After hearing her answer, Maine looked like he was considering it for a moment. Then he swept his gaze over us and grinned as if he had made up his mind.
"If we’re going to finish this job, we should leave now."
When I smiled and jingled my car keys, the crew’s eyes began to shake.
I wasn’t sure why, but it was probably because of my thrilling driving skills.
"Hey, Kangal. You’re driving again this time, right?"
"What is it, Sasha? Is there a problem with my driving?"
"No. Could you just drive a little more safely?"
"Of course. I always put safety first."
"..."
After hearing my answer, Sasha and Kiwi looked at me uneasily.
Rebecca cursed at me with her eyes, while Maine and Dorio shook their heads.
Pilar just reacted like Pilar.
Watching all this, Johnson laughed as though she were watching a comedy show.
Leaving them behind, I returned to the car, started it up, and activated Chameleon.
More precisely, I remembered it being some kind of optical camouflage stealth function or something.
Once I operated that function, the crew began coming out of the building.
"Everyone, get in the car now."
"Whoa! What kind of function is this? An invisible car is fucking awesome!!"
"Move, you bastard!"
Pilar marveled at the car’s function, while Rebecca roughly shoved him aside and, with catlike agility, quickly claimed the front seat.
Kiwi got into the passenger seat next, and the remaining three piled into the car as well.
"Should I casually push it to eighty?"
"Kangal!!"
"Are you insane?!"
"I’ll walk."
"I’m joking."
"Make that kind of joke one more time, and I’ll put a bullet through your face."
"This time I’ll really only push it to sixty."
Only after I said that did the crew quiet down.
On the way to the job site, the crew began discussing the operation.
This job was to kidnap a corporate executive, steal the secret ledger in the executive’s office, and deliver both the executive and the ledger without getting caught before noon.
"Kangal and Kiwi take the office. The rest of us handle the executive."
"Wait! I’m going to the office too."
Rebecca shouted urgently at Maine as he got out of the car, and everyone looked at her.
"Rebecca, what’s this all of a sudden?"
Rebecca answered my question in an extremely serious, solemn voice.
"Well, obviously. It’s the heart of a senior crew member who wants to help the rookies who just joined."
That was right.
Kiwi and I were rookies.
I had joined today, and Kiwi had joined the crew three days ago.
"I’m fine with it. What about you, Kiwi?"
"I’m fine."
"Then it’s settled! We’re going."
Maine waved a hand as though he did not mind, and I took that as the signal to head for the office.
The way to the office was quiet, and everything remained peaceful right up until we were nearly done.
That is, until Rebecca went berserk.
To be exact, it had started two minutes ago.
A tiny mistake set off the alarm, and security bots came rushing in from every direction. That was when her happy-trigger tendencies began to shine.
Bang—!!!!!
"Die!!!!"
Bang—!!!! Bang!! Bang!!
She was saving us from this deadly crisis while simultaneously dragging us into an even bigger one.
The security system’s highest alert level had activated, leaving us like rats trapped in a jar.
Rebecca charged ahead and fought, while I dealt with the bots she missed. It had probably been nearly five to seven minutes now.
Clang!!— Clang!!!
"Kiwi!! Are you not done yet?!"
"Thirty seconds."
Click!
About thirty seconds later, just as Kiwi had said, the door behind us opened.
I ran slightly behind Kiwi because I was carrying Rebecca like luggage.
Rebecca soon came to her senses, overtook Kiwi, and took care of the bots.
Making use of her small frame, she darted around like a nimble foal.
"Hey!! If you don’t want to die, get moving already!!"
I take that back. She was nothing like a foal.
She was a wild mare rampaging around in a foal’s skin.
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