New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

A set of blueprints with both the mansion and its underbelly appeared. Then another, with the layout of the exterior, with all the security measures in place.

The blueprint looked to be interactive, as Alex could see all the security measures as locked out on the screen.

Katherine grabbed a small remote and started pressing on it, making the images swap out to camera views.

She showed him a layout rapidly, before showing the yard outside the mansion, and then the tunnels under it.

When the image showed the south gate from which he would enter from, he saw many people gathered at the front of it.

"Looks like they are expecting me. Why is that?" Alex asked as the feed switched to another one.

"Worry not. They aren't expecting you. Those are the men we got to surrender. They are waiting for the gates to open so they can leave. Of course, we aren't letting them escape so easily. We already tied them up to crimes committed by the Bianchi family, and all of them are being sent to jail for a long time."

Alex was almost disappointed with how easily they got out. But if he could save himself some trouble, he wasn't against it.

Katherine ignored his disappointed pout and kept going through the feeds. Until she found what she wanted.

"There it is."

She gave a small nudge on the back of Timothy's head.

"Why did you put that feed at the end of the list? You knew it was the first one I would show."

Timothy smiled sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. It's the last feed we got, and we haven't had time to rearrange the order, with all the work we had to do."

Katherine pulled out her tongue at him.

Alex looked at the interaction and laughed internally. These two must have worked together for a while, with the familiarity of their interaction.

"In any case. This is your target," she said, zooming in on the feed of a large and lavish room.

A man was sitting at a table, eating some pasta, and drinking wine, his face calm but containing traces of annoyance.

"This is Francesco Bianchi. The new head of the Bianchi family, who runs things on the Quebec branch of the mob. They appointed him after his father died in a hit. We suspect he might have orchestrated it, but have no proof of this. But, suffice to say, he's a shit stain."

Alex chuckled at her words.

"Nevertheless, he is the one that leads the family, and getting to him wouldn't have been easy if we hadn't starved the men for weeks. Very few of them willingly remain loyal to a man who keeps acting like he's a king, while they have to ration their food.

"As of this morning, about eighty percent of his men amassed at the gate, ready to come out of the gate and abandon him. This leaves him with only sixteen able bodies, still willing to defend his mansion. You have your work cut out for you, I reckon."

Alex looked at the video feed of the man, eating in his bunker, alone, and his blood boiled.

'How little do you care about others, that you would let even your men down?' he seethed inside his mind.

Katherine felt a slight mental pressure while she stood next to Alexander and took a step back.

"The men spread out around the mansion, and they have set up some booby traps with grenades and such gadgets. Unfortunately, from here, I cannot disarm those. You will have to be careful," she declared, showing a few of the traps the cameras could catch.

She knew there would be more in some corners where the security cameras couldn't see, but she assumed the kid would be careful enough not to get himself blown to pieces.

Katherine then showed him the blueprints of the mansion so he could memorize his path to the hidden bunker without wasting too much time. Even if their op was secretive, once gunshots started echoing through the place, it wouldn't be too long before someone alerted the cops.

She and her techies would do their best to intercept the calls, but if too many of them went out simultaneously, there wasn't much she could do. Blocking out an entire sector from the satellites would most definitely alert the government, and the army would then drop in.

So they had to intercept the calls manually.

But she believed in her team. They were her best team, after all.

Once Alex declared he had memorized his path, Katherine tapped her remote again. This time, an image of a 3D reconstruction of the bunker appeared.

"This is an estimated copy of the bunker and its defence measures. We can't say for sure what you need to expect once you head in there, but this is an estimate, judging by how much power the generator is giving, versus the consumption."

A few things lit up on the screen, in bright red, and Alex recognized a few of them.

There were some wall-mounted and hidden mini-guns, as well as flamethrowers, and other things he couldn't recognize.

"We found some liquid fuel tanks while looking at the blueprints, and no other place requires liquid fuel, so we assume this bunker uses it for defence. The turrets will also pop out the walls and ceiling, and track anyone who isn't registered in the system. Some of these measures, we aren't sure what they do. They look jury-rigged, like some ass hat with an engineering degree tried out some deadly ideas he had in his sick head. So expect anything."

Alex looked at the placement of everything and memorized it.

"How do I get in there?" he asked.

Katherine grinned at him. She pulled out a small SIM card from her pocket and handed it over to him.

"That is a very simple answer. There will be a security checkpoint when you reach the door. Find a keypad or any other electronic device that authenticates the person trying to get in, and slide that into any port you find. I will do the rest from here. Unlock the door, disable the traps. Hell, I'll even clog his toilets if you ask me to. I'll have complete control over his bunker," she said, with a wide smile on her lips.

Some of her techies stifled a laugh at her toilet comment and kept working.

Alex looked at her, then at the blueprint. He put the SIM card away.

It seemed like she had planned for everything.