There really weren't many options left.
First off, Westbrook was out of the question. The Tiger Claws had their main base of operations there, and the Westbrook fixer, Wakako Okada, had deep ties to them. She'd had multiple husbands who were high-ranking Tiger Claws, and her nine sons were all part of the gang. Heading to Westbrook would be like a Kennedy cruising around in a convertible—suicide.
That left just two realistic choices: Santo Domingo and Heywood.
In Santo Domingo, there were two top fixers. One was Faraday, a veteran who had been in the business for years. Leo had never worked with him personally but had heard from mercs in Santo Domingo that Faraday had a less-than-stellar reputation. Sure, he could get you high-paying jobs, but unlike other fixers, he hid critical intel and often used bottom-rung mercs as disposable fodder. He'd let them die without a second thought.
By contrast, the other fixer, Muamar Reyes, had a much better name in the community. He had only recently started working as a fixer. Supposedly, he used to be a corp drone but left for reasons unknown. Folks in Santo Domingo preferred calling him "El Capitán" rather than using his real name. If Chihiro still wanted to earn a decent living, working for El Capitán was certainly an option.
Aside from Santo Domingo, the other possibility was Heywood. That was where Leo and Jackie lived. The fixer there, Padre, stuck to old-school principles—if you worked for him, he had your back. He'd even been willing to go to war with the 6th Street Gang for the sake of one of his own. That alone said plenty about how he operated.
Leo laid out these considerations for Chihiro.
"A fixer, huh?" she murmured. "I don't know…I'm just so tired of living like this."
"I get it," Leo said, nodding sympathetically.
"Hey, I've got an idea." Jackie suddenly spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. He turned to Chihiro. "If you don't want to live by the gun anymore, how about working at El Coyote Cojo?"
Leo blinked. "El Coyote Cojo? Jackie, isn't that your mom's bar?"
Jackie slapped his thigh. "Exactly. Mama Welles is always complaining that it's just her and Pepe running things. When the place gets busy, they can't keep up. But you know how it is in Night City—finding someone reliable is tough."
Jackie shook his head dramatically.
"Sure, it won't pay as much as working jobs through Padre or El Capitán, and you'd be giving up the chance to make a real name for yourself. But at least you'd get away from this constant kill-or-be-killed lifestyle."
He looked at Chihiro. "So? What do you think?"
V, who had been quiet, chimed in. "I think Jackie's onto something. Heywood is Valentino territory, and even though they're fighting with the 6th Street Gang these days, no matter how arrogant the Tiger Claws or Masafusa Jotaro get, they're not about to pick a fight with the Valentinos. Besides, Mama Welles is well-respected. If anything big went down, she could make one call, and a whole bunch of Valentinos would come rolling in."
Chihiro thought it over. If she really wanted to leave that violent life behind, she couldn't think of a better option than working at El Coyote Cojo. Mama Welles had a reputation for taking good care of her own. Chihiro wouldn't have to worry about getting stiffed on wages. As for Ryoko's schooling and her future career—if going to Europe was off the table, then those other concerns would just have to be tackled one step at a time.
They talked it through and decided to head to El Coyote Cojo right away. But just as they were leaving, Leo asked:
"Oh, one more thing. About that smuggler who sold you out—how much do you know about him?"
He didn't plan to let the scumbag who gave Chihiro's information to the Tiger Claws get away with it. Even if the betrayal hadn't been against Leo personally, taking down a traitor was always good for Night City.
Chihiro frowned. "I know what you want to do, but…I don't think I can help much. I don't have any more info than you do."
She, too, wanted to see that smuggler pay. If not for Leo and the others, his betrayal could have spelled an unspeakable fate for her. Unfortunately, she had no idea where he was—he might have already left the city by now.
"Figures," Leo said with a sigh. "Lucky bastard."
Jackie snorted in disgust. Traitors were universally despised, no matter where you went.
Right then, Leo's phone rang, and a familiar face appeared on his tactical display.
"Leo, how've you been? Everything going okay these days?"
"McCoy?!" Leo's eyes lit up. "Man, what's this about? Didn't expect to hear from you."
On the other end, McCoy sounded energetic, which made Leo breathe a little easier. "What, I can't call you just because?"
"You know I didn't mean it like that."
"Of course I do," McCoy chuckled. "So you made it to Night City, huh?"
"Yeah, I've been here for a while now, doing pretty well. I've made some new friends—real ones I can count on, not just bar buddies."
"That's good to hear. Any era you live in, you always need friends—especially these days."
"What about you, McCoy? How's it going over there?"
"Not great." McCoy sighed before adding, "You guessed it—Snakes are pushing us ex-Bakkers out."
Leo's eyes widened. "Then why keep working for them?"
McCoy sighed again. "The Bakkers are gone. If we bail on the Aldecaldo…sorry, I mean the Snakes, no other Nomad clan will take us in. Plus, we can't bring everyone to Night City like you did. At least the Snakes haven't forced us into total cannon-fodder duty—otherwise, we could turn our guns on them at any time, and they know it."
Leo nodded, understanding the predicament. "If things get really unbearable, you know you can call me."
"Thanks, man. I won't cling to false pride if it comes down to that," McCoy said, sounding touched. "But yeah, there is one reason I'm calling—like I said, the Snakes aren't treating us right, so we returned the favor. We swiped a shipment during a recent job. Now we need your help moving it."
"That's all? Sounds simple enough. Why not use the old Bakkers connections?"
"After the Snakes swallowed the Bakkers, they took control of all our old channels. Using those would immediately tip them off. And as you know, we're not ready to leave the Snakes yet."
"Got it. All right, I'll ask around. What kind of goods are we talking about?"
"A bunch of cyberware—mostly second-gen models, with a handful of third-gen sprinkled in."
"Second and third-gen? How'd you even manage to hijack a convoy like that? Weren't the guards worth a damn?"
Leo sounded incredulous. Usually, shipments of that grade came with tight security. It seemed unlikely a ragtag Nomad band could take them so easily.
"Not everyone's unified, even in a giant corp. There are always insiders and traitors. We had someone inside the convoy, an old plant of ours. The profit from selling these implants once is worth more than he'd earn running a hundred routes."
Leo nodded. "I see. Hang on a sec."
He dialed Padre's number. Soon, the older man's kind face appeared on the overlay.
"God bless you, my child. What can I do for you?"
"Hey, Padre, I've got a batch of cyberware—second-gen, some third-gen. Interested?"
"All brand-new?"
Leo arched an eyebrow. "Do I look like a Scav? I don't pull things off corpses."
"Fair enough. I'll send someone to meet you. He can make a deal on my behalf. He'll be in touch soon."
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