Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 652, Section 66: The President's Route

"The most careless moment."

As V listened to Carl's words, he had a strange sense of déjà vu.

Whether it was his imagination or not, Carl seemed to have a bit of a jinx in some ways. What he felt would often come true, even though he always said it was just a 'guess,' 'inference,' or 'possibility.' But when things happened, there was always a strange sense of unexpected accuracy.

This uncanny accuracy of his predictions prompted V to tentatively ask, "You said that if it were you, you would strike when Miles is most careless. So, Carl, when do you think Miles is most careless?"

"In my opinion?"

Carl pondered for a moment, then said, “If we get into Night City, the guards from New America and Military Technology should already be ready. Miles can’t be hurt, and he can’t be hurt. Otherwise, in Night City, which is practically a company site, if something happens to Miles, it’s not just Miles’s life that’s lost, but also the reputation of Military Technology and New America. So, to avoid the ridiculous joke of Saburo Arasaka being killed on his own turf at the Azure Tower, if it were me, I would take action outside the city.”

"Make a move outside the city?"

Oliver became interested in the topic, so he picked up a projector and turned on a map of the Badlands.

"There are many places outside the city. Which one are you referring to?"

“Given Miles’s status, airships and airplanes are his usual modes of transportation.” Karl approached the holographic image, tracing a line across the Pacific Ocean with his finger. “This is Arasaka’s sphere of influence, and their aircraft carrier is still docked here. Even if we’re going to negotiate with Arasaka on this trip, we’ll still need to take necessary precautions—she would never come from this direction.”

Seeing Oliver's focused expression, Carl took over the controls and switched the map to cover the entire North American region: "There are only a few routes for entry. If we are using air, then depending on the air defense capabilities of each location, since California was conquered by the new United States only a few years ago and there are still dissenting people inside, there are only a few routes to avoid potential air strikes from military bases."

He drew three fluorescent trails, "and based on the safe routes for traversing the edge of the airspace, after eliminating the west, only the north, east, and south remain, but the south route can be eliminated first."

"Why? Why not the south?"

Oliver's questioning led Carl to pull up an old map of the United States, which he then switched to a comparison mode so that others could see the differences between the United States of the past and the new United States of today.

On the holographic map with its cold blue glow, the border of the Republic of Texas suddenly glowed a warning red, like an unhealed scar lying across the center of the projection.

“The southern route requires heading west from Washington, crossing the border of the Republic of Texas, then south around Los Angeles, and finally turning back north to reach Night City,” Carl said, spreading his hands. “This roundabout route is ridiculously inefficient for a busy president. Miles is seen by the public as a thorough pragmatist, wanting to squeeze every second out of her, as if her presidency isn’t enough for her to realize her ambitions—how could she possibly choose such a time-consuming and laborious route?”

"This route."

Jack stared at the map, his eyes bright.

He had spent many years on the Mexican border and was very familiar with the situation in the Republic of Texas. Although in his history textbooks, Texas and the new United States were once part of the same federation, their relationship had long since broken apart, much like England and Ireland on the British Isles—once part of the same country, yet this did not prevent them from splitting up and becoming hostile to each other after eight hundred years of unity, even going to war.

Texans have rebellious blood running through their veins; they are proud, stubborn, and scoff at the policies of the new United States. Armed forces from both sides are stationed along the border year-round, and occasional skirmishes escalating into small-scale firefights are commonplace. Letting the president of the new United States cross Texas's border airspace? That would be like throwing a lamb into a pack of wolves—even if Miles's hovercar and private aircraft are equipped with the most advanced security systems, Texas's anti-aircraft missiles won't listen to reason.

“Unless Miles has gone mad,” Jack chuckled, pointing to Texas, “she would never risk her life to gamble on whether the Texans might suddenly ‘slip up’.”

"So that's the logic. Coming from the south, there's only one route. As a result, we not only have to cross the border of the Republic of Texas, but we also have to detour to Los Angeles, which we've been to before. Unless Miles has something he needs to deal with in Los Angeles first, no normal person would choose this troublesome and dangerous route."

Carl continued to move the holographic map: "Both the north and the east are safe air routes that can be drawn from Washington. The routes are similar, but they will both pass through the Badlands outside Night City. And on that inevitable route, I happen to see a good location to make a move."

With a slight press of their fingers, a facility appeared before them.

"Satellite power station?"

V stared at the solitary facility in the holographic projection, not immediately understanding Karl's intention in choosing this location, but the next second, his pupils suddenly contracted—

Dry, open, and boundless.

The classic California desert terrain came to mind, where shooting down Miles's hovercar wouldn't even require considering cover, there were no city skyscrapers to interfere with, no complex electromagnetic environment to hinder, just a single precise EMP (electromagnetic pulse).

"Overload it, then EMP?"

Oliver's voice suddenly broke in, his finger drawing a glaring red line on the holographic map.

“Both of these flight paths will pass by, or rather, glide past, this power plant.” His fingertips tapped heavily on the projection screen, sending ripples of data through the air. “If anyone fires an electromagnetic pulse inside the power plant, Miles’s aircraft will be reduced to scrap metal, even if she’s equipped with Comptau’s latest ‘Anti-EMP Protection Module’.”

He chuckled. "We've tested that thing before—it only delays the paralysis by three seconds at most, and it can't withstand a saturation attack at all. In that case, the attackers just need to fire one more missile."

The scene seemed to flash before V's eyes—

A blinding blue light exploded in the desert sky, the hovercar's engine emitted a dying hum, and then...
--silence.

Absolute silence.

“If Miles’s opponents really want to take action, then the location you mentioned, Carl, might really be the most suitable place to do so.”

V said this, but at the same time he realized something.

Carl was able to so quickly come up with a method that actually had a chance of killing the new US President Myers, in other words...
For Carl, was it not difficult to come up with or implement the idea of ​​getting rid of the president?
(End of this chapter)