Heaven's Crime (gxg) ✓

thirty-three. breaking bad has nothing on us

           C10H15N12.

           I figured it out. I figured it out.

           I stumble back from the white countertop, breathless.

           "I did it!" I shout. And there's only one hour left to spare. "I did it!" 

           I've always been better at math than chemistry, and I've always been better at hacking than math. But figuring this out, solving this formula . . . this is a rush.

            "We have blackmail!" I cheer.

             Well, those are three words I certainly never thought would come out of my mouth.

             "Quiet down!" Mai's voice is raspy from across the hall of Veah's penthouse. "We're busy!"

              "Busy? Doing what?" And suddenly all those rattling noises make sense to me. "Never mind! Don't answer that―um, cool! Sex is great―"

              Veah strides into the room with two swords on her back.

             Sex is great dies on my tongue.

              I suddenly can't breathe.

              "You look . . . you look . . . wow."

              An IQ of 159 and I can't come up with something better than you look wow. 

              She is wearing a dark grey suit that brings out the storm colour of her eyes. From the inside of her jacket, I can see the smooth expanse of her chest with a low-cut silk top. She cuts a striking figure, and I am reminded of the fact that she is feared throughout all of Tokyo city. My girlfriend, the deadly assassin. 

              Except the lapels of her suit are a little crooked. Without thinking, I am moving towards her. Straightening those edges, my fingertips accidentally brushing against bare skin.

              Electricity shudders through me.

              I look up at her. I am about to say, You promised to fuck me in the cab ride home, remember?

              But Veah grins. And I remember I have the chemical formula of the drug Okami was so desperate to keep a secret―and it didn't even require hacking.

               "I did it," I breathe. "I figured it out."

               Veah's eyes brighten. Grey rain. "We have something against her. We can threaten to tell the Cais this."

                "Your plan is crazy," I warn. "You know that, right?"

                "Oh, I know," she says, leaning towards me. "But I do need one more favour."

                "Anything."

                "I need you to breach the Drakon."

                "The . . . firewall?"

                "Okami needs to believe that we have the formula. And if you take down that firewall, if you hit her where it hurts . . . later tonight, she'll know we aren't bluffing."

                 "The strongest firewall in all of Asia? In all of the world?" 

                 "Please, Kaya," she says. "I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. But you're the only hacker left who is capable of it. We already have the formula, so you don't have to go deep―you just have to make her scared."