Leo knocked again.
A woman's voice ca from the speaker beside the door. "We're closed, handso. If you're looking for fun, co back after six in the evening."
Leo glanced up at the security cara mounted above the entrance. It was staring right at him.
"I'm not here to party. Regina sent . She said soone's waiting for inside."
"Regina? So you're the help she hired. One sec, cutie."
Half a minute later, the door swung open. A woman with her hair in a bun, holding a spiked tal bat, leaned against the doorfra.
"Follow ."
She led Leo through a curtain made of woven plastic strips. The main hall was dimly lit, and the stage was practically deserted. A few employees who had worked all night lay sprawled on the couches, exhausted. A handful of people sat at the bar, smoking and drinking in silence.
Soone caught sight of Leo following the woman with the bun and frowned. "Thought we were closed. Why'd you bring him in?"
She snapped back without missing a beat, "Not your business. Go sleep. If you're too restless to sleep, go find sothing else to do."
Then she guided Leo into a darkened hallway next to the main hall and finally opened the door to a private room.
Inside, the lighting was dim. A large woman sat on one of the sofas. Her arms were covered in tallic implants that resembled spiked maces, and her face also bore signs of cyberware. She motioned for Leo to sit.
"Want a drink?"
"Just a cola, thanks."
"Bring a cola and a bottle of whiskey," the big woman said to the one with the bun. Only then did she turn her attention back to Leo.
"You probably guessed who I am, but I'll introduce myself anyway. Na's Susie Q. I run Lizzie's Bar, and I lead the Mox."
Leo nodded. He didn't beat around the bush. "Regina told you have a high-risk job you need handled. What's it about?"
"Straight to business. I like that." Susie placed the cola in front of Leo and cracked open the whiskey bottle, taking a swig before continuing. "Have you heard about the string of kidnappings in Watson lately?"
Leo didn't touch his cola. His expression turned serious. "Yeah, it's all over the news. I was just watching a rerun of Night After Night, and Ziggy was talking about it. What about it? Did sobody from the Mox go missing?"
Susie set the bottle down and wiped a bit of whiskey from her chin. "Yes."
Leo thought for a mont. "So you want to help find them? Why not hire a private detective? They're better at that kind of thing."
Night City had more than one detective agency, and there were so with solid reputations. As long as you could pay, they usually got results.
Susie shook her head. "I don't need you to find soone. I want you to kill soone."
"Kill soone?" Leo looked puzzled. If her request was for an assassination, why bring up the kidnappings?
"I want you to eliminate the mastermind behind these missing persons cases."
Leo's eyes lit up in understanding. "So you know who's responsible?"
Susie nodded. "I do."
"Mind telling ?"
"There's no reason not to. You need intel to get the job done." Susie paused, then straightened her posture and stared Leo in the eye. "His na is Jotaro Shobo. Have you heard of him?"
"Jotaro Shobo? So it was tied to the Shobo ring," Leo thought. He recalled Chihiro and Ryoko, the mother and daughter hiding at El Coyote Cojo—they had escaped not just from the Masafusa-gumi, but also from Jotaro's crew.
The two groups operated separately, but at the end of the day, they were both part of the sa larger organization—the Tiger Claws. No matter which branch they ran from, they were still running from the sa beast.
"Are you sure?" he asked quietly.
Susie had been watching him closely, and when she said the na Jotaro Shobo, Leo's only reaction was the faintest flicker of emotion. That surprised her. Jotaro's reputation in Watson was anything but gentle—he was feared and reviled. Plus, he was an officer of the Tiger Claws and ran his own division under his family na. So parents used his na to scare their kids into behaving, finding it more effective than the NCPD.
Either Leo was too green to know fear, or he was truly capable. Given Regina's recomndation, Susie suspected it was the latter.
"Absolutely," she said. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation. My ti is valuable—running a bar that pulls in thousands of eurodollars a minute."
Leo confird once more, "You really want to kill Jotaro Shobo?"
"That's right."
He imdiately shook his head. "Can't do it."
Susie froze. Just monts ago, she'd thought Regina's contact was the perfect choice. Now it felt like she'd been slapped in the face.
"I know what you're worried about, but you really don't need to be that scared," Susie insisted. "Apparently, the Shobo ring recently took a major hit. They lost a lot of people, including that so-called 'Dragon of Masafusa,' Nantō Masayuki, in so conflict. Right now, they're at their weakest. You don't have to worry."
Leo thought, I know more about that than you think—since I'm the one who took out that 'Dragon.' But for Chihiro and Ryoko's safety, he didn't say it aloud.
"With all due respect," Leo replied, "if it were really that simple, why wouldn't the Mox handle it yourselves? Why spend money hiring rcenaries at all?"
Susie flinched at the question.
Leo smiled a bit and went on. "Sure, the Shobo ring is weakened, but the Tiger Claws in Night City aren't just that one group. The entire Tiger Claws presence in Japantown is still sharp enough to shred anyone who dares provoke them."
"Don't worry. You won't be fighting alone. The Mox can back you up," Susie said, trying to argue.
Leo waved a hand dismissively. "That's not the point. If the Tiger Claws decide to retaliate from Japantown, the Mox will be wiped out too."
Susie's expression turned grim. Indeed, she'd done so digging before Leo arrived, quietly asking around about the cost of a job targeting the Tiger Claws. She hadn't been stupid enough to reveal her actual aim, just dropped hints and asked how rcs would handle it.
Much to her surprise, nine out of ten flat-out refused. The Tiger Claws were different from other gangs—they were more unified. Even if only a low-ranking mber got killed, the entire Tiger Claws force might mobilize. In their eyes, murdering one of their own was a direct provocation against the whole gang—absolutely intolerable. They'd co down hard to defend their na.
So now seeing Regina's rc also backing out, Susie felt a crushing disappointnt. "Is there really no other way?"
Leo rubbed his thumb and fingers together, as though weighing coins. He looked conflicted. "We'll need more money."
Susie's face imdiately softened. If money could fix it, it wasn't really a problem.
"How many people are in your crew?" she asked. "After it's done, I'll pay each of you ten thousand eurodollars. Each person. That's fair, right?"
She considered that a generous sum, higher than most rc rates, so Leo had no reason to refuse. But he had a different idea.
"Fifty thousand eurodollars for each mber of my team," he said firmly. "And the Mox must provide support throughout the job, follow my lead, and be at my beck and call whenever needed."
Susie's eye twitched. She had no issue with offering support—in fact, she planned to, given who they were up against. A fight with the Tiger Claws called for maximum caution. Helping Leo and his team was in the Mox's best interest.
But… fifty thousand per head?
That was a much bigger pill to swallow.
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