Nothing's Free in the Free Zone (IC), Adventure 1: Broken Star Options

[Lobo0705]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:12 PM August 2nd, 2075

Nodding, Overkill makes a quick circuit of the room, both he and his agent sweeping the area for any tell-tale matrix icons, but discovered nothing but the vibrating bed and the hair drier.

To make doubly certain, he quietly removes the bug scanner from his pocket and goes over the room again, when he is done he shakes his head and says, "The room looks almost clean enough to sleep in. Should be good for what we need."

[Jack VII]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:12 PM August 2nd, 2075

"Thanks, Overkill." Jack replied following the decker's report. Setting the tool bag on top of the floor A/C unit, Jack pulled out his H&K and checked the magazine, making sure it was loaded. Satisfied, he slung the SMG over his back. "One more drone outside the door and a spirit should do it for security for the time being. I think we should figure out what we're going to tell Ramirez."

Pulling out the thermos, the ork said, "I definitely think we need to show him the video of the ambush, but I'd rather not show him the footage that put us onto the sacrifice site in the first place. I don't know the guy who gave it to me well enough to turn his stuff over to Lone Star. I'm also planning on giving him the thermos, the thumbs and hair should help Johnson figure out who all was involved in that deal, both victim and perps."

"That's probably the easy part, I think the harder part is what to do with the stuff we learned from Stinger. Thoughts?"

[DrZaius]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:12 PM August 2nd, 2075

"I want to share with him the bare minimum. Probably best to let me do the talking." He pauses. "Obviously, we want to avoid showing footage of any crimes we committed. He's a Johnson, but he's also a cop."
Grease ducks around the room, looking for bugs or any other listening devices. "We let him know that Lynx is our hitter; we show him the footage we have of him being involved in these crimes. We add that Truck was part of his team." He smiles. "We point out that the team has gotten wind of us, and has already tried to take us out. Truck made a move on you and missed, after all. Taking him out in those circumstances was not only the right thing to do, but it also was an act of self-preservation."
Finished with his cursory check, he straightens his suit out of habit. "We then say the next part of the plan was following members of Lynx's team. We managed to get this footage after searching one of their houses. A lie of omission that does little harm, and a lot of good."
He grins. "Bradshere we have dead to rights. We've got the conspiracy. After this meet, all the other material we have we give to Chapel to hold in case anything happens to us, with instructions to pass it along to Ramirez if he gets word from us, or doesn't hear from us in a month."

[Chrome Head]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:13 PM August 2nd, 2075

Amy was often restless, fidgeting, twitching. Her reactivity was an asset in stressful situations and she was very quick on her feet, but it could be slightly unnerving when there was no cause for her to be that way. Right now, in the motel room, she was unusually calm, almost zen. Sam, I know you'll be safe, Hubert is taking good care of you. Don't worry, I'll be back soon, and we'll spend whole days together. We'll get our normal life back.

Amy nods at Grease's offering to be the only one to speak. "You seem to have this all figured out, Grease. We might still want to show him some footage from Stinger for extra proof of Bradshere's involvement, though, or to show that it's Lynx who is really the mastermind behind the killings. It would be nice to have brief video slices that you could use without showing anything of what we did to him. Just in case you end up wanting to use it, even though it shows that we somehow let him escape."

"The best for us would be to frame the whole thing as being only Lynx and Bradshere's doing, that the rest of Lynx's team are just following orders and that the rest of the cops possibly involved are of no importance compared to Bradshere. It makes it easier on us to have only Lynx to bring back alive. I doubt Ramirez'll buy that only Bradshere conspired though, but it's worth a shot."

[Jack VII]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:13 PM August 2nd, 2075

"One person speaking makes the most sense, less chance of us getting our wires crossed. Considering what happened here last time, I'm not so sure that Grease is our best choice, but you don't seem to be high at the moment, so what the Hell..." Jack replied. "With that said, I don't think we can get away with showing him any of Stinger's interrogation. Johnson is a professional investigador, he's going to want- drek, probably demand- to see the rest of that video. What reason do we have not to show it to him other than we're hiding things from him?"

Jack scratched his chin before continuing, "I think we just have to leave that part out... for now. If we're not going to close the deal with Ramirez tonight, maybe a few things change over the next day of two that would let us get away with showing him all of it."

[DrZaius]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:13 PM August 2nd, 2075

Watching Grease closely, Jack is surprised he doesn't flinch at the cutting remark about his previous behavior. Nodding along with the rest of what he said, he adds, "That is my plan. We are going to share the minimum to let him know we are making progress, that we have identified a conspiracy, and get his commitment on the funds if we are unable for whatever reason to finish the rest of the job. Once payment has been received.." He adds, grimacing at some dust on the small desk unit inside the cramped motel. He quickly rubs his hands together to clean them, finishing his thought. "If he seems on the level, I am planning on giving him the rest of the information AFTER we get paid. Our deal with Stinger was to give him a head start- not let him off scott free. Mr. Johnson can make his own determination if he's worth going after once we take out the rest of the crew." Frowning suddenly, "We're sure there are no bugs in here?"

[Jack VII]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:15 PM August 2nd, 2075

Jack looked at Grease quizzically, wondering if his assessment about Grease's mental state had been accurate. "Overkill swept it twice, once with his deck and once with his bug-sweeper. Short of someone having a laser-mic pointed at the window, I think we're clean."

Crossing his arms, Jack finished, "Sounds like we're in agreement then? Let's relax a bit before Johnson gets here."

Pulling out his commlink, the ork conducted a quick matrix search to see if there were any good GobRock shows coming up. He hadn't hung out with Jason in a while and figured they should catch up a bit.

[Chrome Head]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:15 PM August 2nd, 2075

"Good, we have a plan, then."

To complete the security detail, Amy summoned a spirit capable of physical combat, just in case. It took the shape of a lion in astral space, appearing passively next to the shaman. Amy instructed it to perform surveillance without manifesting for now, just to alert them of any potential threat that may come their way, and assess how dangerous they may be.

Satisfied, she then sat down on one of the beds, leaning against a pillow, with no hesitation about it even in this crummy hotel. She took out her commlink, started playing in her earplugs the current top ten hits that the masses were being fed these days, and closed her eyes while waiting.

[Lobo0705]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:50 PM August 2nd, 2075

The team waits in silence, Grease going over in his head the presentation he is about to make, , the other three lost in AR.

Their experience is strained at best, as the public grid always is, and the connection in the Warrens doesn't make it better, but as long as one didn't stay on too long, headaches weren't that common.

The drone outside was the first warning the team received that Ramirez was on his way. An unmarked Americar pulled up into the parking lot, and Ramirez got out. He looked around cautiously and walked slowly toward the motel, straightening his tie as he did so. He disappeared from the drone's view as he entered the lobby.

A minute later, the lock on the door cycled, and Ramirez stepped in. Clearly Jim had informed him you were already there, as he does not look surprised to see you.

"Hello again. I'm glad to see you all in one piece. What updates can you give me on the job?"

[Jack VII]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:50 PM August 2nd, 2075

As Ramirez entered the room, Jack finished up a text and put his commlink away. Nodding to Ramirez with a polite "Mr. J", the ork looked in Grease's direction, somehow both looking forward to and dreading what was to come.

[Chrome Head]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:50 PM August 2nd, 2075

Amy straightens up in the bed, taking off her earphones and looking up, waving hello with her hand. As she did so, she also opened her third eye to look onto the Lone Star's emotions, in case there was something off.

[DrZaius]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:50 PM August 2nd, 2075

Grease places his hands behind his back and nods at Ramirez. "Thank you for coming. There's a number of developments in the case we wanted to keep you abreast of, and determined that the risk of meeting was worthwhile given the nature of the information we've found." Grease nods at Overkill, who walks forward with the burner commlink. "There's a number of files here we have queued up we'd like you to watch while I explain how we've been proceeding on the case." Ramirez reaches forward and takes the earbud offered from Overkill, and looks intently at the small screen display.

"I apologize if I go over anything we've already discussed. It makes the most sense to try and present the case as a whole, and explain how we got here. First off, we were tipped by an informant at one of the crime scenes that they had recognized one of the hitters." Grease nods, and Overkill plays the portion of video outside the QXT club, where Argent fires back against Lynx's crew. "He identified Lynx as a runner who had a crew of hitters, outlined below."

A brief dossier of each, including Truck, Gutter, Stinger and Falcon display across the screen.

Ramirez nods for Grease to continue. "After that, we started trying to track them down. We were able to follow up on several leads from a number of the crime scenes. The crew was very good about covering their tracks. There are a number of witnesses who appear to have had their memories altered. Video files were destroyed or databombed. The girlfriend of the Officer murdered outside of the nightclub is missing. Jack and I were going to talk to another witness at this location.." Grease indicates on the display, "But when we got there they did not answer their door, and there was a.. foul smell coming from the apartment." The elf frowns, shaking his head. "We determined that it wouldn't be any good for us to find a body, so we moved along. However, if you wanted to follow up, I believe the crimes are related."

Ramirez grunts something to himself, and Grease takes his pause to indicate a desire for him to continue. "We were so swift in following up on these crime scenes the suspects got wind that someone was on their tail. In addition, one of Jack's contacts let him know that they were in trouble. At this point, our group was attacked by two different hostile forces. A number of Lone Star officers serving a phony warrant appeared at a rally and attempted to arrest a community organizer. We stepped in and made sure that he was able to escape safely. I believe that they were working in conjuction with Gutter, the team's rigger. At the same time, Jack was ambushed with his contact by the Troll Truck."

Grease stops, and takes a drink of water. It's clear that Ramirez is waiting on the edge of his seat, but it's a moment before the elf finishes his thought. "Jack escaped. Now that we were in danger it was even more important to try to track these criminals down. We got a tip that Truck was involved in some particularly shady side-activities. I don't believe this was related to the crimes we're investigating, but I'm also not ruling it out. I'll give you a minute to watch the video, but I trust you'll agree with our decision."

Grease nods to Overkill, who plays the video of the group's ambush of Truck at the Arsenal preserve. The clip is short but to the point, taken from the angle of Grease's fly-spy, and shows clearly the mortal danger the young woman was in. "Nasty stuff." Grease nods at Jack, who proffers the ice-bucket. "Uh... you may want to wait to open that until later." Grease adds quickly, as Ramirez has a confused look on his face.

"After that, we were able to search the van that Truck arrived to the site in, and determine some clues about his teammates. One in particular was the address of the team's hacker, Stinger. We knew that Stinger had a drug problem. We tailed him to where he went to get high, and made sure he was going to be in there a while. Incidentally, there's a BTL-den at this location, if you guys want to get on that." He grins. "With Stinger occupied, we had a chance to search his apartment. We hit the jackpot. He had recorded a series of conversations he had witnessed between Lynx and his employer."

Ramirez's eyes widen, and Grease nods to Overkill to play the clip. "As you can see, this is a video of Lynx meeting with Lt. Bradshere, discussing a murder Lynx is going to carry out. The timestamp indicates this was days before the actual event. If that doesn't prove conspiracy, I don't know what does." He smiles, triumphant. "Lynx is working with Bradshere to get drugs into the UCAS zone. Each and every officer murdered was getting in the way somehow. Through some legwork Amy was able to determine that they are also using a gang for distribution, the Los Mags. This was confirmed by evidence found at Stinger's apartment."

Grease takes his hands out from behind his back and spreads them open. "Now that I've laid this all out, I'd be curious for your thoughts. Additionally," he adds, looking around, "If anyone remembers something I forgot, feel free to volunteer it now. There's a lot to keep together."

[Jack VII]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:55 PM August 2nd, 2075

Figuring it wasn't entirely material to the case at hand, Jack pointed with his chin and said, "The thermos contains DNA and, in some cases, fingerprint evidence from the people killed at the sacrifice site. The thumbs belong to the murderers, the big one to Lynx's guy named Truck. The hairand index finger belong to the poor creature whose body is hanging on the wooden scaffold. By the way, did a young woman named Mary get a hold of you? She's the one we managed to save that night; she's the sole survivor of that attack on the Sisterhood of Divinity from the other night."

[Lobo0705]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:50 PM August 2nd, 2075

Ramirez takes his time, listening to Grease and replaying the videos. Pacing around the room as he thinks.

"It seems that you have more than enough evidence to put Lynx in jail. Good work." He continues going through the footage, and pulls up the files you had given him earlier as well. "That and the video evidence of Stinger shooting Officer Jackson should put those two firmly in the bag. If we grab them we can attempt to get them to put Falcon and Gutter in it as well. While I can't officially condone what you did with Truck, privately I applaud you."


He pulls out his own commlink and starts making notes. "When this is over I'll alert Vice about the chip house. Thank you. I'll also send officers to the apartment building to follow up on the crime scene there." He continues to enter data, and says "I don't suppose we could have the witness or Jack's friend agree to testify?"

Before the team could answer, he continues. "It all seems to make perfect sense, but for me there is one thing that doesn't track. Bradshere and Lynx are clearly in on this. But I don't think it follows that Lynx is the one behind this." He starts calling up files for the room to view. "By your accounts, he is responsible for coordinating multiple people inside Lone Star, the Los Mags, and whoever he is getting the product from. I'm not saying it is impossible, but this video you've shown me," the scenes of the meet with Bradshere, the murder of Officer Mitchell, and the murder of Officer Hawthorne begin playing, "makes it look to me that this guy is muscle. High end expensive muscle, yes, but not the type to be able to pull those sorts of strings."


Turning to Jack he says, "Yes, thank you. I have her under protective custody from one of my officers that I trust. As far as I can tell, the two cases are unrelated, but it doesn't hurt to be cautious."

[Jack VII]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:55 PM August 2nd, 2075

Jack nodded when Ramirez reported that Mary was secure. If nothing else came of this run, at least they had managed to rescue the girl. The ork waited to see how Grease was going to tap dance around the Stinger issue.

[Chrome Head]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:55 PM August 2nd, 2075

Amy was wondering what would happen next. This was all very new to her, and all that she was thinking about was how long she'd have to wait to finally put her hands on Lynx.

[DrZaius]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:50 PM August 2nd, 2075

Nodding along with his questions, Grease responds. "I see what you're saying about it not making sense for Lynx to be running the show. I happen to agree. Could this be something that Bradshere is running? He would have connections to the street through informants. It wouldn't be hard to make a series of criminals act... criminally."
He pauses, scratching his chin. "Or even without their knowledge. His CIs could think they're working something for him for a bust, but really they're just moving product around for him."
He looks up, as if something dawned on him. "And what about the other cop- Brown? The one with the bogus warrant?"

[Lobo0705]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:50 PM August 2nd, 2075

"Bradshere is too low on the chain for him to mastermind something like this. If he were that smart he would have been Captain by now." He gives out a low, mocking chuckle, and goes back to reviewing the evidence.

"Brown is definitely someone worth looking into - you don't have anything more on him except his name on a warrant?" As he waits for the team to answer, he continues, "And that still begs the question about the smuggling. Why would they risk bringing in the ZDF when there are drug manufacturers here in the UCAS zone?"

Scratching his chin, he says, "It isn't like the Los Mags haven't dealt drugs before. What is so special about this drug? Why not have them just deal the stuff they already have on hand?"

"I feel like there is a piece of the puzzle missing. I think, given what you've told me, you've got the Los Mags doing distribution, Lynx and his crew for muscle, and Bradshere, and potentially Brown for cover from the Star should we take an interest."

Turning off his commlink, he looks at the team and says, "What is missing is the prime mover for all of this - and the money. In my experience it is always the money that moves things. Where are they getting the money to do this? The drug just hit the scene not that long before the hits started happening, and I'm assuming that Lynx doesn't work cheap."

[DrZaius]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:52 PM August 2nd, 2075

"Well, if we manage to get our hands on Lynx, it's possible he'll cough up that information. Everything we've seen indicates he's a professional, but most of his team seem to be loose cannons."

Grease looks to each of his fellow team members subtly, eyebrows slightly raised. How far should I go?

"Per the witnesses testifying; I know one wouldn't be interested, and I imagine the other wouldn't as well. I'd defer to Jack on that; they're his contact." Grease says, nodding at the Ork.

[Jack VII]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:52 PM August 2nd, 2075

Jack nodded, figuring the conversation would eventually turn to Honeypot. "Highly doubtful. Even if she were interested, my contact's business isn't exactly lícito. On top of that, she's only connected because I asked her to look into people who were tailing us. She never got a response from her contacts, so I don't see how she could help."

Jack snapped his jaw shut, almost biting his tongue. He realized he had just revealed Honeypot's actual gender to the rest of the crew. Well... it's not like they shouldn't understand if I'm trying to keep a few things to myself... he thought to himself.

Thinking through the situation, Ramirez was showing himself to be a capable investigator. He seemed to have figured out that there was a bigger player in the mix and was probably going to work that thought out like a devil rat on a thumb. By the ork's estimation, their best shot might be Gutter. So far, the rigger didn't appear to have committed any murders and might be able to get by with a lighter sentence, if he rolled on Lynx. If Lynx knew he was getting rolled, maybe he would provide a way to get to his Johnson. It was unlikely, but seemed their best bet.

[Lobo0705]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:53 PM August 2nd, 2075

Ramirez sighed but nodded. "I didn't think we would be so lucky to have anyone able to testify."

He looks around at the crew. "So, where does that leave us? Are you looking to get paid and move on, or are you still planning on working the rest of the job?"

He pulls out his commlink again. "If you are finished I can authorize payment of 37,000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) from Chapel to your accounts. Thirty for identifying the killers, and another fifteen for what you've brought me on Bradshere and Brown. Minus, of course, the eight I've already fronted you."

His eyebrow raises questioningly, "If you are still interested in the job, and track down the money behind this, whether there is another player involved or if you can prove Bradshere or Brown is the limit of the conspiracy, that gets you the other fifteen. Bringing them in, Lynx, Gutter, Stinger, and the other party can net you the other sixty."

[DrZaius]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:53 PM August 2nd, 2075

Grease nods, all business. "We are not cashing in just yet. This job isn't finished, and we would be remiss to leave it in it's current state." Seeing Ramirez nod in approval, he continues. "Part of the reason we wanted to meet with you today was to show you what we have. The next part of the job will be significantly more risky. If you don't hear from us, at least you have this information to go on going forward."

Grease nods at Overkill. "We'll provide the recordings we've shown you today to Chapel, to be released to you if we don't surface within a few days."

Grease pauses, considering. "If there is a larger player, a puppet master behind all this, and we're able to capture him with evidence; would you consider that to be sufficient to finish the job? Lynx is a mercenary. I'm not going to say hitters like him are a dime a dozen, but for him it's not personal, just business. Capturing him could be very dangerous for us, whereas if we are able to get the ring leader who can sell him out, you can authorize a city-wide manhunt with your resources."

Grease smiles. "After all- it's a lot easier for you to arrest Bradshere after the fact than it is for us to kidnap and detain a Lone Star officer."

[Lobo0705]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:53 PM August 2nd, 2075

Ramirez considers this for a moment and then says, "Capturing the other player would get you forty-five thousand: fifteen thousand to identify him/her, and thirty thousand more to bring them in. To collect the remaining thirty thousand, you would need to bring in Lynx and his crew for trial. I understand that he is dangerous, and you may or may not want to do it. The thirty thousand is your incentive, although I understand should you wish to walk away."

"As far as Bradshere, you've given me enough on him, that is why I am giving you half of the thirty thousand payout for identifying the conspiracy. He isn't going anywhere that I can't touch him. If, however, the other player is, as I suspect, outside the UCAS Zone, it will be a problem for me to able to extradite him."

[Jack VII]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:54 PM August 2nd, 2075

Grease silently contemplated Ramirez's offer. Weighing his available drug supplies, the time it would likely take to finish the run, and the pay out, the elf popped his collar and replied, "Sounds fair. Anyone else have anything?"

Leaning against the wall, Jack directed his attention to Ramirez and spoke up, "Let's say we manage to bag Lynx and his buddies. Do you have any contacts at the ZDF that you could call to pick them up? Something along the lines of you having been tipped off by an informant? Honestly, that part seems like it is going to be the most difficult thing for us, short of tossing them over the valla fronteriza after we take them out and hoping the ZDF bothers asking questions before shooting."

[Lobo0705]

Motel 6, 1500 E. Smoky Hill Road, Aurora, 8:55 PM August 2nd, 2075

Ramirez scratches his chin and says, "Yes, if you can give me a time and a place, I have a couple of friends in the ZDF who can arrange to pick them up. Send a message to me on the burner."

He fixes Jack with a keen eye, "It isn't going to be a SWAT team, so you can't just find him and call me, they'll come get him, not take him down. Any other questions or information for me?"