Chapter 17 Part 8

Rips were considered a distasteful hack mostly because they were not all that elegant, and usually people didn't use them and those that did were often looked down upon. Sal wasn't all that concerned about his status in the eyes of other hackers. He was more concerned about getting away from where he was. In real life, one did not need an aesthetically elegant solution so much as any solution that would accomplish the ends sought. Sal called up his interface and formed a crude rip in about the middle of the wall. he dove through headfirst into what he guessed was a small utility shed that shared the restroom wall. The rip closed behind him and he found himself encased in darkness. he took a few moments to collect himself--just long enough to notice the extremely bright glow permeating the shed. The PMP pulse had been set off. Sal had just caught the edge of it, and so his disguise only barely wobbled. His clones that had been left behind in the bar were probably not so lucky.

Sal weighed his options. the man inside would be monitoring the effect of the pulse for a while. If he stayed where he was, they might just leave of their own accord. Since Sal knew they were Inner Sanctum, however, he figured they would likely form a search perimeter once their concentration inside had yielded no result. Undoubtedly, they would search this shed. Sal needed to press his time advantage while he could. He found another wall in the shed that was clear and formed another rip, and found himself near the back side of the bar outside.

As Sal got to his feet, he discovered that a piece of his disguise was not as unscathed as he had presumed. As he caught a glimpse of himself in a nearby puddle, he noticed that his face was part businessman and part Sal. The rest of him was distinctly businessman, but the face was arguably the most critical part. It was almost at the same time that Sal felt something press into the small of his back. 

"Mr. Grimone, I presume. I wouldn't do anything silly. I'd have to have to use this on you.

We are just going to take a nice trip down to Inner Sanctum Processing and have a little discussion. I hope you didn't think your little puppet show back there would be enough to keep us from finding you. After all, a simple matter of signal triangulation in retrograde time gave us your position near those gentlemen playing Bubble Joust. Once we scrubbed through the footage and saw your disguise, we could trace its movements to the restroom. We were a little surprised that you resorted to using a rip, but desperate times call for desperate measures, don't they Mr. Grimone?"

Sal sightly slowly. "Since you guys know so much, I assume you know what I need right now the most."

The voice behind him laughed. "We are sharp, Mr. Grimone, but we are not psychic. If I were you, I'd probably want to get away the most right now."

"Close," said Sal. "I want you assholes to blow me!"

The man broke out into a convulsion of a belly laugh. "We'll see what we can do abou..."

Sal suddenly felt the man's hand go slack. Then he heard a new voice.

"Mr. Grimone, I don't have time to explain to you who I am, and I can't hold this gentleman for very long. I suggest you make your escape now. Inner Sanctum gets particularly ill-tempered when they find their security has been circumvented. Since they will continue to look for you, you are going to have to trust me. Come to Underside in the Old District. When you pass by Iron Bastion, you will find a cottage. You'll know it when you see it. RUN!"