[i]i have a job for you
$15000 if you accept
more if you complete
see you there[/i]

Emmi read and reread the email, her fingers tapping out an anxious beat against the desk. Beneath the text were a set of directions leading to a place called [i]Lucy's Lovehouse[/i]. No doubt it was some brothel down in the slums of The Circuit. But why meet there? In fact, why meet in public at all? Most people requested the aid of K4B00M through hacker chatrooms and indirect contact. But to meet privately and directly? It was suspicious. A quick check proved the original sender untraceable. Oh yeah, definitely suspicious. It was trap made for idiots...

...or the utterly desperate.

[i]$15000[/i].
Emmi cast the duct tape covered monstrosity she called a table dubious glance. Piled high on top was a stack of bills, with some envelopes already overflowing to the floor. It was a miracle the landlady hadn't kicked her out yet. Emmi's eyes switched back to the monitor screen. [i]$15000 and more...[/i]

With a resigned sigh, Emmi switched off her computer. She grabbed her laptop and, after a moment of hesitation, a kitchen knife. The blunt edge was probably as harmful as a fly against a lion, but where she was going, being armed was better than nothing.

[hr]

The Circuit was, much to a her chagrin, as loud and crowded as ever, if not more. Emmi gripped her laptop case closer to her chest and pulled her jacket hood farther over her head as merchants called out in an attempt to sell their illegal goods. A couple of prostitutes, mistaking her boyish looks, gave flirtatious winks while showing off more than Emmi needed to see. A couple of pickpockets eyed her with interest, only to be shooed off with a sharp glare. How she hated going down here. Then again, Emmi held a deep contempt for going anywhere. It was the online Circuit that Emmi preferred, where she became the infamously arrogant K4B00M and not an anxiety filled hermit. But sacrifices had to be made.

A bright, neon pink light caught Emmi's eye. Nestled inbetween a rowdy bar simply called [i]The Saloon[/i] and a shady pawnshop was a rundown establishment painted with faded shades of pink and red. [i]Lucy's Lovehouse.[/i] Save for a handful of pickpockets and drunkards lingering around the front, the location was mostly empty, if not abandoned.

Emmi slowed, doubt flickering across her mind. This was either a trick that led to death, or a reward of an easier life. With one hand gripping her laptop and another clenching her knife, Emmi pushed through the door and stepped inside.