Moonstrike 28

“I think we should go somewhere secure to talk.”

Ji Min nodded grimly. She didn't know what to do from here. It wasn't covered in the government onboarding. “Any suggestions?”

‘Especially since this was illegal. Technically that was just breaking and entering. If I do anything about it, that's vigilantism, which is worse.’

Reporting it was always an option.

Of course, it wasn't a great option. Alex had already tested that for her. He'd delivered a tip about a genuine, demonstrable dangerous crime, and it seemed like management was more interested in bullying his source out of him than anything else.

It was better than nothing, and better than being prosecuted for vigilantism. But it still wasn't her first choice.

“Your hotel room should be fine.”

Ji Min gave her passenger a sharp glance for that. He smiled back at her.

She rolled her eyes. Maybe he just meant that she was from out of town and therefore was probably in a hotel. Maybe he knew where she'd been staying for the last couple of weeks. Maybe he knew where she'd gone this morning. “You know my name?” Ji Min asked, casual.

He sat a little taller. “Ji Min Cain. 2X years old, two siblings, parents are doctors-”

“I know my personal information,” she cut him off. When he flushed, she waved a hand in his face. “You're a creep. Good work.”

“...Thanks,” he said. It came out like a question.

“You good with hacking?” She asked. “I need someone to withdraw my brother from school.”

He snorted. “I can do that.”

“Neat.” She turned into the street with her new hotel. Out of the corner of her eye she watched for his reaction. He reached for his seatbelt before she put the turn signal on to go into the parking lot.

‘Top notch creep,’ Ji Min thought approvingly. ‘Definitely a good person to know.’

“You wanna give me your name?” She asked. She backed into a space. “Or give me something to call you in public, at least. I won't be offended if it's a substitute name.”

“Cal,” he offered. “We've met before, actually.”

Huh. She had been trying to avoid thinking about that. “...At the planetarium?” Ji Min asked. The kid she'd got a ticket for, that Ari hadn't seen until Ji Min talked to him directly.

“And once before,” he said. He was nearly apologetic about that.

Wait, really?

“Were you following me around all week?” Ji Min wondered, a little annoyed. She should have noticed a tail.

He snort-laughed. “No, no.” He splayed his hands out defensively. “At a costume party. Like two years ago. Mr. Grivus introduced you as his art dealer. That was how I figured you out, actually.”

“....Okay,” Ji Min said slowly. “Can you elaborate on that?” She looked over at him, engine still humming under their conversation.

“I thought it sounded like a euphemism and I was curious,” he explained easily. “It was right after that big museum heist and I was uh, thinking about the topic.” He shot her a mischievous look. She looked back at him placidly, like a person who had never robbed the British museum. It was the funniest crime she'd ever committed and she was going to stand by that.

“I looked you up afterwards and found that your online professional background didn't match that at all. But your travel records put you in the U.K. at the time. So I checked a few other notable dates and cross referenced them with your business trips. That was less conclusive, but the general areas lined up more than once.”

‘I might not be that subtle. No wonder Mom always found me.’

Ji Min sat in silence for a moment. “Are you telling me that you also hacked the insurance company?”

“Yeah, but hacked is a strong word. I phished a manager.” Cal scratched at his hairline. “Are we gonna go in, or…?”

Ji Min turned off the engine. “Yeah, okay.” Bemused, she grabbed her stuff and set off. She shook her head to herself as she walked. Man. She'd been caught out.

Ah. Right.

“Why did that make you think I was a good person to reach out for?” She asked. It was one thing to know that a new hero recruit was a cat burglar. It was a very different thing to choose to trust that person. Being a criminal should have made her less appealing as a contact.

Cal looked at her and then to the office. They were a good twenty feet away, but she took his point. Right. Inside.

With the distinctive bits of their respective outfits tucked away, they simply walked in as if they hadn't been breaking and entering. No one gave them a second glance.

‘He’s used to that,’ Ji Min realized. ‘He’s either extrahuman or has some kind of tech that makes him hard to notice until he interacts with you.’

…She only now wondered why she was an exception for that.

Well. She wasn't being paid to think. She wasn't being paid at all. So she forgot the topic on the way to her room. If he wanted her to know he'd tell her about it.

When they got in Cal did a sweep for listening equipment. Ji Min popped in a mint and heaved herself up on the desk to wait it out, one leg dangling idly and the other pulled up to her chest. She leaned her chin onto her knee and waited patiently.

“No one is spying on you,” he decided. He took a seat in the one chair. “I didn't think anyone was, but it's better to be sure.”

“I do know how to sweep for surveillance,” Ji Min agreed mildly. “Although if we are gonna be friends I might like some tips on infosec.”

“Tell Brent Marksmen to stop opening attachments from unknown senders,” Cal said casually. He dangled his knees over the side of the chair.

“Not exactly what I meant.” Ji Min rolled her eyes. This fucker had immaculate little sibling energy. “But for now. We thought that was human trafficking. I suppose it still is, in a way. But what did we miss? Does what we saw give us anything useful from the documents you dug up?”

“Not yet. We need to find where the funds are coming from.” Cal scrunched his face up. “I knew there was serious money involved in a facility like that. But they're not getting it by selling people for profit.”

…They could still be. Maybe not everyone made the cut for experimentation

“Some sponsor?” Ji Min guessed. “Organizational. Very few individuals have that kind of funds available, I think. I don't exactly see Hercules Castille using his free time that way.”

Cal full body twitched. “Definitely not him,” he agreed. “You have that hard drive, right? That could have everything we need.”

Ji Min only hesitated a moment before handing it over. “This is more your operation than mine,” she said, halfway reminding herself not to be a control freak. “Do you wanna borrow my laptop to take a look?”

“Probably not the best idea.” Cal turned the hard drive around in his hand and then carefully put it away. “We don’t know what’s on this. You can come with me to look at it if you want.”

Honestly that was super unappealing. She had so many problems already that she couldn’t afford this. “I’d like that,” Ji Min said, because she was in this now.