Before he left, he needed to check for the mandatory cloning number, which was usually tattooed on the back of the head.
The house had a side entrance, made invisible from the neighborhood houses by nooks and crannies in the design. Valhalla Basin residents were encouraged to use the front entrance, in full view of the neighbors and the street. Most residents did, but Shindo didn’t.
She did a number of things that weren’t typical for Valhalla Basin residents, including a refusal to upgrade her House computer to the best model possible.
Yu’s hacker colleague had already given Yu the repair code for the House system that Shindo was using. All he had to do was touch it into the small security panel on the side door, and the door clicked open.
“Nice,” Nafti whispered.
Yu whirled on him. Nafti had prepared himself for this job by tattooing his entire face and extending the whites of his eyes so that his blue irises looked like mere slits.
“I was just saying…” Nafti shrugged.
“Nothing,” Yu whispered. “You’re saying nothing from now on.”
Yu knew that wouldn’t last, but it would cut down on the random chatter. He stepped inside the house. The side door opened into a kitchen that smelled faintly of real Earth coffee.
“We have not put in a request for service,” the House said in a kind, matronly voice. “I shall notify the homeowner of your presence immediately.”
“The homeowner requested our presence,” Yu said. That claim would stall the House system while it verified his statement.
He went into the living room—sparsely decorated with the provided Aleyd furniture and a few personal items—and opened the House’s control panel. One glance confirmed that Shindo had the system he expected her to have, with no upgrades and no internal modifications.
This was the system he had already disabled in his practices, and he did the same here. He set up the system to shut down any human’s internal links, so no one could contact the authorities from the inside. He left the House’s overall system mostly intact—so that environment, cleaning, and general maintenance went on as usual—but he dismantled every aspect of the security systems except the ones that would trigger an automatic silent alarm.
Which meant that the exterior security barrier was still active. All he did there was disable the cameras closest to the side door.
He saw that feature as a protection for himself as well. If anyone unexpected—even a police officer—approached the front door, the House would comment on it and ask him if he wanted to take action. The part of the House system that notified anyone outside of the house of an approach had already been disabled by the homeowner, probably because it would be annoying to be interrupted at work every time a neighbor came by.
Even though the work was easy, his heart was pounding. He was used to quick jobs. When he was recovering things, all he would do was enter, shut down the security system, and recover the item. He would already know where the item was, what it looked like, and how hard it would be to carry.
“Okay, we’re in,” Nafti said from the kitchen. “Now what?”
“You let me work,” Yu said. “Go to the bedroom and wait. The woman will be here soon.”
But not that soon. Yu figured he had about three hours to prepare the scene. He wandered through the common area. He had to set up the repeating holographic message that the Gyonnese wanted to leave behind. The message explained Rhonda Shindo’s crimes, in case the Valhalla Basin police did not know she was a convicted felon under Earth Alliance law.
The message would give Yu time to escape with his prisoner and get to the rendezvous point. Because even though the Valhalla Basin police department was on Aleyd’s payroll, it had to enforce Earth Alliance laws. And Earth Alliance laws allowed for the capture—or in this case, recapture—of a convicted felon.
The thing that the holoimage did not mention was that, as far as the Earth Alliance was concerned, the conditions of Shindo’s sentence had been met and there was no need to take her back into custody.
If the Valhalla Basin police force was like any other force, it would take them a while to access that information and even longer to act on it.
By then, Yu hoped to have already turned Shindo over to the Gyonnese.
The side door rattled, then banged open. Yu jumped, half expecting some kind of exclamation out of Nafti. But, for once, the big man said nothing. Maybe he hadn’t heard.
“Mom?” A young girl’s voice echoed through the silent kitchen.
Yu’s heart pounded. He had hoped to avoid the girl entirely. She should have arrived home long after her mother had.
“Your mother has not returned from work as of yet,” the House said.
Yu felt a half second of relief. The House hadn’t revealed his presence.
“What’s that smell?” the girl asked.
Nafti’s cologne. Yu had gotten used to it, but it probably trailed behind him everywhere he went.
“It is a mixture of yicia leaves and synthesized scent enhancers, probably initially sold in a spray form,” the House said. “I am unfamiliar with the brand name, but I could find it for you.”
“No,” the girl said with irritation.
Yu pressed himself against the wall. She walked past him into the nearest bedroom. She was as tall as he was, and rail thin. She also had the blondest hair he had ever seen.
“Just tell me where the smell is coming from,” the girl said.
“That information is not available to me,” the House said.
“What?”
Yu headed toward the bedroom, hoping it wasn’t the one Nafti was waiting in. He didn’t want Nafti to get to the girl first.
“What do you mean it’s not available to you?”
“Exactly that,” the House said. “Certain things are no longer within my purview. If you would like the controls reset, you must contact the homeowner and have her use the established protocols.”
“Homeowner?” the girl said. “What—?”
Her voice cut off suddenly. Then there was a large bang, followed by a female grunt. Apparently Nafti had been waiting in that room after all.
Yu hurried in. Nafti had his strong arms wrapped around the girl. Her eyes were a pale blue and they flashed with anger.
“Who the hell are you?” the girl shouted. Then she said, “House! House! Notify security! Call the police! Call Mom!”
“I’m sorry,” the House said. “My emergency system has been disabled. If you would like to reinstate the programming, you need to…”
The House system continued speaking, but the girl screamed over it. She kicked at Nafti but he held her tighter, cutting off her scream.
“You’re not supposed to damage her, remember?” Yu said. He had made that rule when he hired Nafti. Yu didn’t want anyone to get hurt on this trip, particularly the girl and her mother. Not to mention the fact that the Gyonnese wanted Rhonda Shindo to be undamaged.
Nafti let the girl go. She staggered forward, gasping for air.
“Grab her arms and hold her, but don’t hurt her,” Yu said. “I have to check something.”
Nafti reached for the girl and she slapped at him. The movement was ineffectual. She was still gasping for air.