Jax looked at the technology store again and turned to Naomi. “I have an idea, kind of.”
She raised an eyebrow. “It’s kind of an idea?”
He shrugged. “I guess, to be clear, it’s definitely part of an idea. Whether it’s good or bad hasn’t been determined.”
“But we’re about to determine, aren’t we?”
He pressed the button to open the sliding doors. “You wanted a partnership.” He grinned and walked in.
The store was not very busy, but it wasn’t empty. The lone salesman was helping a moderately well-dressed couple. He looked up. “I’ll be right with you folks.” He smiled and turned his attention back to the couple. “Where was I? Oh, so you’ll definitely want the BFG-9000 on an auto tracking base, somewhere kind of central to your property and main gate. You’ll get the most protection out of a single unit that way.”
Jax guided Naomi to a wall of tablets. She looked at the display. “Need a new tablet?”
He shook his head. “No. Think you can do your,” he held up a hand, fingers wiggling, “thing on these to make a call to the Imperial garrison?”
“You want to call in the Imperials?” Both of her eyes looked like they might pop out of her head. “Determination made. This is a bad idea.”
Jax just stared at her, then said, “Got a better one?”
She was silent as she looked at the wall of tablets. She looked at Jax out of the corner of her eye. “Nope. Cover me.” He turned slightly to keep an eye on the salesman. Naomi picked one of the lowest cost tablets. “Crappier firmware and likely no firewall. It’s always those with the least who get screwed.” She mumbled as she gingerly examined the device. She wrapped both hands around the sides of the device. Immediately her arms began to glow their now familiar blue from fingertip to wrist. She had rolled down the sleeves of her jumpsuit to help keep the glowing tattoos from attracting attention. The tablet’s screen came to life, first the graphical user interface, then a black screen with lines of code. She looked at Jax. Reaching up, she tapped his earpiece.
“Hello?” Jax heard over the line. It wasn’t any of his friends back at the Osprey . He looked at Naomi. She made a hurry up motion.
“Uh, hi. I’ve got information on the stolen ore modules.”
“Sir, this line is for emergency use only,” the bored sounding Imperial said.
“Asshole, are you listening?” Jax ground out. “I said I know where the stolen ore is and who stole it.”
“Sir, if you don’t show a little more respect, I’ll have to dispatch shock troopers.”
Jax sighed and rubbed his face. “Look, man. The ore modules are sitting a dozen or so kilometers outside town. Want to know where or not?”
“Please hold.” Before Jax could respond, the bored sounding man was replaced with an inane instrumental version of a song that was popular a year or two ago.
Without warning, the line went dead. Jax looked around to see Naomi placing the tablet back on its display shelf. The couple who had been with the salesman were exiting the store. The salesman was approaching. Rubbing his hands together, he said, “Hi folks, sorry for the wait. What can I help you with?” He looked at the wall of tablets. “Looking to upgrade or…?”
Jax turned, smiling. “Oh, sorry, no. We’re just window shopping.” As if to further explain, he subtly gestured to his jumpsuit, then Naomi’s.
The man’s face fell. His reply was frosty. “I see. Well, please try not to touch everything. I have to clean it all before closing.” He turned and walked away.
“Rude,” Naomi whispered. Jax nodded. She looked at him. “Didn’t sound like it went well.”
He shook his head. “No, we’ll have to try again.” He looked at the salesman, who was not at all subtly watching them. “Somewhere else.” He headed for the door, Naomi in tow.