Lynx's pulse raced as she moved deeper into the narrow alley leading to Jack's secret hideout.
Along the way, the woman couldn't help but take in her surroundings as her feet padded the concrete surface beneath her boots. The flickering street lights cast long, eerie shadows on the walls, which were plastered with graffiti from years of neglect. The chill in the air bit at her skin as she pulled her collar higher, and the hum of distant traffic was faint in the background. The polished, glamorous exterior of Utopia hid the grime that slowly consumed its forgotten corners. And Lynx knew all too well the darkness that lurked beneath the surface of the colony.
The woman subconsciously tightened her grip on the folder. And for some reason, the stolen documents felt heavier with each passing step.
By now, Lynx knew that these weren't just simple papers; they were a ticking time bomb. One that was liable to turn the upper echelon of Utopia on its head if they were ever leaked to the wrong person. If the rumors Jack had shared were true, they could cost her far more than her freedom. They could cost her everything.
Jack's warning during their previous phone call echoed in the woman's mind. And the unease in the man's voice was still fresh in her brain. He never sounded so shaken before. Yet today, there had been something different.
"Lynx, you don't understand what you're dealing with." Jack had said, a rare tone of concern in his voice. "Rumors about a theft at Korrin's mansion are already circulating around the net. And it's not just corporate goons hunting those files. They've got some serious muscle working on this. The kind of people who are willing to do whatever it takes to bury what's on them."
The mention of "serious muscle" unsettled the blue-eyed thief. She'd crossed paths with other mercenaries before while out doing jobs. And there was no shortage of ruthless killers who didn't think twice about collateral damage. But the way Jack had said it made her think there was more to the story than he was willing to share. At least over the phone.
A few minutes later, the woman was at the location of the safe house.
Lynx stopped in front of the door and knocked, her mind racing with possibilities. The familiar comfort of Jack's safe house was the only reliable refuge she had right now. She needed time to think, to breathe. And more urgently, she needed space to fight the craving that was currently clawing at her insides.
The door creaked open, revealing the hacker extraordinaire in all his glory. For a brief moment, Jack just stood there, his expression unreadable but his eyes alert. He was a man in his early thirties, lanky and tall, but looked every bit the part of a man who had lived through his fair share of battles. His curly brown hair was a complete mess, but it was the weariness etched into his face that truly told the story. Dressed in his usual hoodie, jeans, and scuffed boots, Jack looked like someone who tried to keep a low profile whenever possible.
"Get in." Jack said, stepping aside and allowing Lynx to enter his abode. The stale air and scattered bottles gave the place a sense of abandonment, but Lynx had seen it all before. Still, there was a certain heaviness to it now, something more ominous in the air.
"I've got the files." Lynx murmured, setting the folder down on the cluttered table in the middle of the room. "I need you to help me decipher them. Once we're done, I can figure out what to do with them. Maybe I can sell them to someone whoever else has it out for Korrin. I can't pay you right now, but once I make a copy and hand the original off to Milo-"
Jack's eyes flickered to the folder, but his face remained impassive. "It's not that simple, Lynx."
The woman's stomach twisted. "What do you mean?"
The man stepped closer, his voice dropping low. "I've been checking on things about the Korrin estate ever since you first texted me. Mainly about who's after those files. They're not just some low-rent corporate lackeys. These people are serious business, and they'll stop at nothing to cover up what's on them."
Lynx inhaled sharply, trying to suppress both the rush of fear and the oncoming headache. "So, what? They're going to kill me for this?"
Jack didn't answer right away. Instead, he grabbed a bottle from the corner before cracking it open with a flick of his thumb. His gaze stayed fixed on her, searching for any sign of weakness. Lynx didn't flinch.
"I don't know..." He said before taking a swig. "But I can tell you this much: you're not just running from Korrin's regular security. Whoever he sent after you, they're not the kind of people you want to tangle with." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, eyes never leaving hers.
The room seemed to close in around Lynx as she processed his words. The fear, the pressure, the feeling of being hunted was beginning to creep up on her. Her hand trembled as she reached for the folder, its weight suddenly unbearable.
"Well, fantastic." She muttered, her voice tight. "So now I've stolen the wrong thing, huh? I'm not sure if the money I can get from this information is worth my life."
Jack's tone softened slightly. "I'm not saying it's over, Lynx. But you're gonna need to lay low for a while. Even if I do make a copy of that info for you, you can't keep running forever. And you definitely can't handle this alone without some serious luck."
Lynx leaned against the nearby wall, doing her best to control the rising anxiety and the burning need gnawing at her. Sweat beaded on her skin, and her chest tightened as the unmistakable craving surged. The urge for a fix of glitter was overpowering, a desperate pull to numb the chaos in her head.
'What the hell am I even doing right now?' The woman asked herself while staring up at the overhead light. Why was she putting herself through all this trouble? All she had to do was call Milo, wait for him to tell her the meeting point, drop off the folder, and get her money. Everything else was completely unnecessary. However, the information in those documents was worth a fortune. She'd be foolish not to make a copy of it for herself and pawn it off to the highest bidder. The money that she could make from it was too good to pass up. Hell, she might even be able to double her earnings with what she had now.
"You got anything for pain in this place?" Lynx then asked her colleague. She wasn't willing to meet Jack's gaze, due to the fear of the judgment she might see there.
The man hesitated, the weight of the moment settling between them. "You know I can't help you with that, Lynx."
She exhaled sharply, bitter. "I know...."
Lynx knew that asking him was pointless. Jack was one of the rare people in Utopia who lived a clean life. The guy had never drunk so much as a single sip of alcohol in his entire life. Apparently, he did so because it could mess up his work. Fucking around with computers while drunk or high always leads to hackers making a dumb mistake that ends up getting them either arrested or killed.
The following silence hung thick and heavy with unspoken understanding. Lynx desperately wanted to surrender, to give in to the drug that was currently clouding her judgment. But she couldn't. She couldn't afford to let it take control, not with everything that was at stake. Not when there were people hunting her.
Eventually, the moment passed. Lynx slowly pushed herself off the wall, standing a little straighter. She was a survivor. She had to be.
"Alright..." She then said, meeting Jack's gaze. "I'll stay for now, Milo isn't expecting a call from me for at least the next few hours. But not for long. I'll figure this out. But I need to know one thing, Jack."
The man raised an eyebrow.
"Who's after me?"
Jack's expression darkened, and for a moment, Lynx saw a flicker of something-guilt, concern maybe? But the look disappeared too quickly to be sure.
"I can't say for sure. But considering the company that Korrin works for, I can make an...educated guess. I think he might've hired an Angel to find those documents. They have a history of hiring them when they need something done under the table."
Lynx's fists clenched at her sides, her jaw instantly tightening. She had been a shadow in the system for far too long not to know what an Angel was. They were the top mercenaries in all of space. The kind of people who could be considered one-man armies. They were the boogiemen who made even high-ranking corpos disappear for the right price. And they always ran clean jobs.
'I guess I need to move fast, huh?' The woman surmised as the fog in her mind finally started to clear up a bit. Lynx had a plan in mind. But first, she needed to steady herself. She couldn't afford to falter-not now.
Jack looked at Lynx with a brief softness in his eyes before turning away. "Anyways...there's no time to waste. Let's hurry up and make copies of those files. We need to make sure that we have a backup just in case things go sideways. And I'm pretty sure that Milo's gonna want to hear from you sooner or later. No doubt he's already been notified that Korrin's mansion got raided."
For the first time all night, Lynx had the energy to smile. "Thanks, Jack. I owe you big time."
"Just make sure that I get a tip when all this is over."
"No problem."