04-Apr-2071, 01:23:05, Tacoma, Seattle

<<Sounds like a plan.>>

04-Apr-2071, 01:22:57, Tacoma, Seattle

His focused honed by finally being able to do something bad to the man ultimately responsible for the last few days of chaos, Nuke slashes into the car's node, keen to abuse any vulnerabilities he can find.

04-Apr-2071, 01:22:57, Tacoma, Seattle

After a few minutes Nuke's inside the car's system - unnoticed it seems. He has access to the nav system and autopilot, and all the other systems - including the relay for the target's commlink.

04-Apr-2071, 01:23:00, Tacoma, Seattle

<<Any luck Nuke? >> Jasper stared out the window, thinking about the next part of their mission,"I hope this guy don't got too much of an entourage"

04-Apr-2071, 01:24:39, Tacoma, Seattle

<<Yeah. I'm in. Got a hit on his commlink. Going after that next.>>

Nuke continues to follow the digital breadcrumbs closer to Gannings himself.

04-Apr-2071, 01:26:10, Tacoma, Seattle

Again the firewall can't stop Nuke's Exploit program, and the hacker quickly penetrates the commlink's system, without being noticed - or so it seems.

04-Apr-2071, 01:26:13, Tacoma, Seattle

<<In his comm, looking around now. Let's see what I can see of who he's eating with.>>

Nuke begins copying everything from the link to storage on his nexus for later study, then starts scanning for wireless nodes within a few meters of Gannings' commlink, notably those of PANs in Active or Passive mode.

04-Apr-2071, 01:30:13, Tacoma, Seattle

Next to Gannings are several PANs - he must be sitting at a table with about a dozen people. All active. There's also the restaurant node, as well as several drones flitting by.

04-Apr-2071, 01:30:26, Tacoma, Seattle

Pleased with his discovery, Nuke begins checking out the public PANs adjacent to Gannings, curious who's claiming to be having dinner with him.

<<Wonder if he's in the middle of hiring another crew of runners to go look for Cheryl.>>

04-Apr-2071, 01:36:38, Tacoma, Seattle

Unless the district's leading business representatives are moonlighting as shadow runners this is a normal campaign funding dinner - Gannings is seated with upstanding citizens with deep pockets.

04-Apr-2071, 01:36:38, Tacoma, Seattle

<<Check that. Looks like a batch of power brokers and influence peddling douchebags. Trying to listen in.>>

Still reasonably comfortable that he's undetected, Nuke sets about looking for the controls to turn on the microphone of Gannings' commlink while suppressing any indication that it is on.

04-Apr-2071, 01:36:58, Tacoma, Seattle

<<that sounds a little better than more runners, keep me posted >>

04-Apr-2071, 01:40:14, Tacoma, Seattle

Nuke turns the commlink's microphone on, and his software compensates for the suboptimal conditions easily - revealing the expected small talk full of semi-veiled promises for political respectively monetary support. Might have some value for political opponents, but nothing to really write home about it - and nothing seems to touch on the girl. The usual speeches about family values too, and conservative policy, moral integrity etc.

04-Apr-2071, 01:40:16, Tacoma, Seattle

Nuke only half listens to the dinner table chat, his mind wandering to the list of all the deviant things that the hardline social conservatives keep getting caught doing.

<<I hated this guy before. Now that I know what a tool he is, I almost want to leave him alone so he can continue to suffer through being a douche for the rest of his life.>>

04-Apr-2071, 01:43:20, Tacoma, Seattle

<<That doesn't look like suffering to me - he gets good food, good drinks, power and money.>>

04-Apr-2071, 01:43:26, Tacoma, Seattle

<<I guess you’re right. Once we’ve got a few days between us and this, I’ll deal with him. Assuming he doesn’t do something stupid tonight.>>

04-Apr-2071, 01:45:21, Tacoma, Seattle

<<So the kidnapping is still a go?>>

04-Apr-2071, 01:45:24, Tacoma, Seattle

<<Don't see why not. I've already got access to his car. As long as he doesn't get a ride home with one of these pieces of shit, we should be good.>>

While he waits, Nuke begins sifting through the information he's collected from Gannings' commlink.

04-Apr-2071, 01:55:24, Tacoma, Seattle

So far it looks like the usual itinerary of a politician on the rise. Meetings, memos, messages and and notes full of corp-speak - it looks like Gannings is not even using plain words in his pivate notes, instead writing like he talks in public. The only noticeable thing is the absence of the aforementioned meetings, and more messages of calls that were not taken, in a few periods - a few days before the kidnapping, as well as right afterwards, and then later again. And some hint of an agent's routine to send out pre-recorded messages.

Then Ganning's comm is moving - the man is standing up, and heading to his car. Showtime.

04-Apr-2071, 01:55:24, Tacoma, Seattle

Jasper's already heading for Gannings location. He checks the garage layout for exits so he can try to position "Shelly" in front of the vehicle.

04-Apr-2071, 01:55:24, Tacoma, Seattle

There are two exits, the likelier for Gannings is the eastern, but by being ready one floor below Gannings Jasper will be able to move and get ahead no matter which Gannings chooses - provided he violates the speeding limit inside a bit.

04-Apr-2071, 01:55:24, Tacoma, Seattle

As Jasper weaves through the parking deck, Nuke relays the info from the car's external cameras. He pops out of VR to press check his pistol, then returns to work.

04-Apr-2071, 01:55:25, Tacoma, Seattle

Stray starts to control her breathing some, to prepare on the upcoming action. It doesn't quite work perfectly, but at least it serves to focus herself. The smartlink of her shotgun feeds her the system data - all ready.

04-Apr-2071, 01:55:25, Tacoma, Seattle

"Alright, I figure I'll send Shelly out in front, and we can hang back with Charlene. Once we're out in traffic, we can leap frog, pull away and come back. He'll never know he's bein tailed."

<<[@Charlene] Boot up the Radio scanner girly. I need police bands and traffic from the target>> Jasper sends "J.R.", his agent, to help with analyzing the signals, while he focuses more on the driving and the scene in the parking deck.

04-Apr-2071, 01:55:25, Tacoma, Seattle

Jasper's agent analyzes the signals and soon the rigger has the gridlink traffic data streaming into his field of view. cracking the KE net's encrpytion is a bit trickier though, but Jasper has that data after a bit. Neither shows much relevant data though - the car with the politician is on its way home.

04-Apr-2071, 01:55:32, Tacoma, Seattle

Nuke watches through the limo's pilot's sensors as it makes its' way through the evening's traffic, all the while listening in on Gannings inside. The surrounding traffic is studied, then the hacker abruptly flips over to the account he left in the GridGuide system, looking for any sign of major traffic delays between the limo's location and the Ganning residence.

<<Call it when you want to hit him, J.>>

04-Apr-2071, 01:55:32, Tacoma, Seattle

There's some pile-up on a major crossing - a go-gang scuffle caused a truck to skid while avoiding a fallen ganger, which led to a crash on the other lane. Most nav systems reroute their cars, but a few are blocked there, which means trafic is slowing down some.

Nuke also could manipulate the traffic lights to stop Ganning's car by stopping the car in front of him any place he wants to - under a bridge might be best, provides cover from helicopters and drones.

04-Apr-2071, 02:05:12, Tacoma, Seattle

Jasper turns "Charlene" back onto the road just ahead of the limo as "Shelly" circles the block.

<<The next decent overpass we get to I'll have Shelly hold up traffic behined us and we can make the grab. I'll stop the van in front of 'em and you can drop the hammer. Stray grabs the target, with a little support, and we're out. sound good?>>

04-Apr-2071, 02:15:10, Tacoma, Seattle

Stray nods. "Sounds good. can you open the doors as well when I reach them?"

04-Apr-2071, 02:15:13, Tacoma, Seattle

Nuke reaches for the hood again, then does a quick check of the limo's node, verifying that he's not locked out of window and door lock control.

<<They'll be open when you get to the handle.>>

I need a shotgun...

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:32, Tacoma, Seattle

There it is, time for the show...

Jasper signals "Shelly" to turn across traffic slowly and come to a stop. He brings up some bad diagnostic reports and has the truck broadcast them. Dropping into VR, he puts the drone feeds to max, blocking out the nodes scenery. Front and center is the Limo following him to the Underpass. The hot sim and adrenalin mix into a potent cocktail.

<<here comes the spot. Ready in 10 sport fans>>

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:42, Tacoma, Seattle

The truck slows down, then stops, forcing the limousine to follow suit. Stray pulls a mask over her head and grips her shotgun. The smartlink informs her with the familiar slightly tingling warm feeling when it links up with her simsense rig that the weapon is ready, loaded with slugs. A small crosshair pops up as well in her field of view.

<<Get the door to Gannings open!>> the adept signals over the commlink before opening the door if the car and storming towards the limousine.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:42, Tacoma, Seattle

When Stray jumps out the limousine starts to react, its driver gunning the engine, as of yet unaware that Nuke's got his hooks into the car's system. He also initiates an emergency security lockdown though - Nuke will have to cancel that too, or the doors won't open.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:42, Tacoma, Seattle

<<On it.>>

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:42, Tacoma, Seattle

<<Sic'em Bud!>>

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:43, Tacoma, Seattle

Both Jasper and Nuke are quicker than the rest.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:43, Tacoma, Seattle

Jasper orders Bud to neutralize the Limo Driver.

<<we got their communications on lock Nuke?>>

He checks on "Shelly" to see how the traffic jam is going.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:43, Tacoma, Seattle

Bud starts to move into a position to rake the driver side with autofire while Stray is closing in on the limousine, left hand reaching out for the door handle that should extract right now.

The traffic jam is going nicely - lots of honking, and the traffic blogs must be filling up with frustrated venting soon.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:43, Tacoma, Seattle

As the jaws of the trap close on Gannings, Nuke lashes out at the protocol holding the doors locked, trying to brute force it into stopping.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:43, Tacoma, Seattle

Against every expectation Nuke's hack fails - and the door remains locked. Stray is almost there, hand going forward, but no door is opening yet, and no handle extracting. No alert blaring either, at least.

Then Bud opens up, sending round after round at the windscreen on the driver side - the armored glass can't withstand that amount of high-velocity bullets that long, but for a second it holds still, allowing the driver to duck and hit a panic button. And this time the system goes on alert. Next it'll call the police - or try to, unless Nuke stops it.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:46, Tacoma, Seattle

Looks like Nuke got held up a bit..

Jasper switches gears, he pulls up "Charlene's" Hardware driver's . He directs her wireless transmitter to dump static into the bandwidths coming from the limo.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:46, Tacoma, Seattle

The distress signal, if it even got out, would be drowned in electronic noise put out by Charlene. Others in the vicinity will be pressing panic buttons any second now - Bud's fire is almost impossible to mistake for anything else. Still, enough time to grab the mark and run, if things go more or less according to plan - and if that door gets open soon.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:46, Tacoma, Seattle

Nuke grinds his teeth and he continues working on the security lockout.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:46, Tacoma, Seattle

Nuke makes some progress but isn't there yet - he is almost there though, the security node's defenses must be exhausted now, nothing short of a military node could baffle his programs that much!

Stray ducks down, avoiding some riccohets from Bud. The adept prays the door opens soon - evne though it's been only seconds they feel like hours to her, hopped on adrenaline.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:49, Tacoma, Seattle

Aw hell, I can't just sit here..

Jasper jumps out of his virtual rocking chair through the Screen into Buds small metalic body. He pulls his Ingram up and squeezes off a burst before he even adjusts to his new environment.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:49, Tacoma, Seattle

Trying to block out the chaos around him, Nuke continues fidgeting with the digital screwdriver, trying to find the right virtual cable to sever to de-energize the maglock representing the security protocol.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:50, Tacoma, Seattle

Jasper's burst cracks the weakened armor glass, and bullets rip up the inside of the driver's compartment. The driver himself screams when his shoulder gets hit, and blood sprays over leather seating. Dazed he still manages to try to flee, pushing the door open and stumblung out.

Nuke finally manages to open the door, and Stray raises, shotgun ready - only to drop back when a shot is fired from inside - looks like Gannings is armed too. The adept snarls and fires her Remington into the ceiling of the car, then jumps inside.

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:50, Tacoma, Seattle

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:50, Tacoma, Seattle

04-Apr-2071, 02:16:53, Tacoma, Seattle

Jasper crawls to the limo, Bud's gecko paws snag the door and he pulls himself up to the window, scanning for targets.