Chương 25: Cruelty had long stopped meaning anything to him

Over the course of the morning, Thiago and Davi briefed Ivo about the gig's details.

The target was Xavier Kuroda, a high ranking engineer in one of Parallax's tech development branches. Their goal was to render him temporarily unconscious, for no longer than one minute, and hack his system in that time, leaving no trace behind.

"How will we know we have the right data?" Ivo asked, thankful it would probably fall to Yunmi to figure that out.

"Vital's intel says Kuroda is working on something big," Thiago said, gesturing in annoyance. "But of course he didn't go into specifics. His datachip will have conversations, schematics, that sort of thing. That's what we're looking for."

Ivo shot a meaningful look at Davi leaning against the wall in front of the sofa. "Could it be related to why I ended up in that box?"

Davi shrugged. "We can't be sure, for now. But we'll get eyes on the data before passing it along."

He didn't sound convinced but Ivo couldn't help feeling hopeful. By now he understood that Parallax was like a vine that stretched its tendrils all over the city and the country; and just because he was found in one of their labs, and this gig involved one of their engineers, it didn't mean the two would be connected.

But Vital wanted something from that lab, some kind of tech, of course he would follow its trail. Ivo was sure the end of that trail might hold some answers for him as well.

Sitting by the computer rig on the living room, Thiago tapped away at the keyboard, making several different images and video feeds pop up on the different monitors.

"The good thing about this job is that it's going to be easy to get the three of you in," he said, flipping a screen towards the sofa to show them a view of a busy street decorated with rows of red streetlamps made to look like lanterns. "Liberdade is an odd neighbourhood."

Davi sat down on the sofa's faded armrest and pointed to one of the tall, derelict buildings. "The sky lounge is in there right?"

"Exactly what I meant by odd." Thiago tapped a key and the video switched from the busy, dilapidated street view to the lavish opulence of the upper levels of apartment blocks that had looked completely nondescript at ground level.

The streets were busy, littered with market stalls, street vendors, hawkers selling counterfeit clothes, pedestrian crossings where people sat over the railings talking with each other, and attempted daring skate tricks on access stairs.

But the sky views looked transported directly from any of the city's lux neighbourhoods. The rooftops of most Liberdade buildings had been lavishly made over into elegant clubs, restaurants and even penthouses. The buildings they rested on were crumbling, but the rooftops had pools inlaid in marble.

"The lux think Liberade is cool, they like the carefree vibe." Thiago made derisive air quotes as he spoke. "They also like its history as a neighbourhood where japanese immigrants settled when they first came to Brasil, and in the years since as a hotspot of asian culture. It makes them feel "trendy" to hang out in clubs with paper lanterns, being fed sushi by a server wearing a qipao."

"But qipao is a chinese outfit, sushi is a japanese food," Ivo interjected, pulling the information from the recesses of his mind where all kinds of general knowledge lived -- unlike memories of what his parents might have looked like.

Thiago raised his eyebrows meaningfully in a silent 'my point exactly', and Ivo understood that for the lux, much like their empty apartments, their interest in Liberdade too was all about aesthetics.

Davi smirked. "Don't forget lux like Kuroda who just like towering over their inferiors."

Thiago chuckled. "Yeah, a lot of those around Liberdade too. Anyway, usually it's hard for people like us to have access to lux spaces, but Liberdade makes it easier. The streets are for the rabble but the skies are for the lux, so they usually arrive in helicopters and walk around using the sky bridges between rooftops. "

Ivo gave him an incredulous look. "And where do you guys have an helicopter hiding?"

Thiago swivelled around on his chair and nodded to the monitor to his right, where the promotional video for a sleek fleet of silver helicopters was playing.

"We don't, but we know a guy who works as a pilot for a rental company. It fits our cover: Alina is a rich tourist stopping by on a trip to somewhere else, you are her newest toy, and Davi is the local hired muscle for the duration of her stay."

Ivo nodded along as Thiago talked but he felt tense at the reminder of what his role would entail.

Davi must have noticed some of his apprehension because he turned sideways on the armrest and said, "You'll be fine. We won't leave you alone with Kuroda."

Ivo cut his eyes to the picture of the man in one of the monitors. He had slicked back dark hair, golden skin and a finely trimmed beard that spoke of careful attention. His face was almost as unremarkable as Ivo's, if not for his golden optics. His irises were a bright solid gold, with the pupil being two shades darker.

He couldn't be sure if it was the eyes, but there was something eerie about his gaze. Completely different from the 'mean glint' Davi mentioned. Kuroda didn't look intimidating, he looked bored. Disaffected. Like violence and cruelty had long stopped meaning anything to him.

It sent chills down Ivo's spine just to look at him. He was glad he wouldn't be alone with the man.

Just at that moment the apartment's door slid open with a rusty creak, and Alina walked in.

"You won't believe the kind of night I had," she said, walking in with a plastic bag with cartoons of food dangling from the crook of her elbow.

Ivo got up from the sofa and walked up to the kitchen to help Alina with the food. He was grateful for the interruption of her arrival, and for the distraction it provided from Kuroda and his empty gaze.