Thursday, 21 November, 19:59; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex #40

DES asked, "What are our strengths? Rocky and the young one fight close. What of you others? I am rescuing one child for the Warrior Woman, that one I can arrange to carry to safety with Drop Bear, the others we can leave to the authorities, who will be happy to return them to their homes, if their parents are informed."

DES was getting very strained, he hadn't been around so many people all at once for years. It was a lot of work.

Thursday, 21 November, 19:59; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex #57

"Good question: I can handle any equipment and any weapon that has autosoft support, I am a reasonable good demolition man and medic. I'm flexible as to what role you need me in.

But still: Where would you prefer to fight: Cemetery or warehouse?"

Thursday, 21 November, 2075, 19:59; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex

Being able to redirect the Korean's sounded good to Rocky, but he still wasn't sure about this John guy. He still sat and quietly listened as they bounced ideas back and forth, adding a couple thoughts on things he had experience with.

"Using one of their trucks is a good idea, but we need to have a truck we can move the children to close by incase they have a way to track it. We could possibly even keep the original truck moving with a surprise waiting for whoever chases it down, wasting even more of their time and resources while the children are moved further away."

Rocky stops to think for a moment and then directs a question at D-Pop, "So is the goal here just to rescue this one load of kids or make a serious dent in the trafficking operation?"

Thursday, 21 November, 19:59; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex #58

"I don't know about you, but I plan to put some serious dents into the skulls of those Koreans. If you guys are up for it we could even do a quick raid on their main office. For short term transport their own trucks should suffice. Long term I have no idea. My car only seats two + a Valkyrie Module.

But still: Where would you prefer to fight: Cemetery or warehouse?"

Thursday, 21 November, 2075, 20:00; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex

Realizing D-Pop was dealing with something else, Rocky considers the question of which location he preferred. Neither sounded like fun, but figured he should get the process started. "Warehouse."

Thursday, 21 November, 20:01; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex #41

DES almost sighed out loud, but he contained himself. This was no simple thing they were about to do. Not the ambush, that would violent and bloody, but learning to work with others. Something he avoided. He'd always avoided it. DES decided to speak.

"I care not which location. There would be advantages to the warehouse in that what happens inside it would be concealed from those outside. To survive this it would be good for our identities to be undiscovered. This might be easier using the warehouse."

"As for the children, while we will strive to save all, or I will, I believe if we can notify all their families and as many interested officials as possible they will be returned to their families. The more eyes that are upon the children after we free them, the less likely the forces which hide them now can keep them hidden."

"The Warrior Woman and the Witches are interested in one child in particular, an Audric. I think we only need to make plans to find and keep that one. The others we can make safe by revealing their presence far and wide."

"Given what we know, I may know someone who can give me information as to who most of these children are, and a means to release that information widely when needed to the right places. We may be able to leave the children in the Warehouse to be picked up. Safely."

DES stopped. He hadn't spoken so much at once in years. Red Eye Jill always knew what he was going to say. Gwendolyn was a companionable silent companion, though after the bullets flew she would chatter for a while reliving the moments so close to death. Silk just answered his questions and left instructions for how to grind the latest xp, And Bouncy Bobbi... just bounced. Brianna just talked shop most of the time, and Glen was best to ignore what he was talking about, or even worse singing. And Mr Kim was just short polite phrases as much as possible.

Thursday, 21 November, 20:01; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex #59

"Thanks Rocky, clear words at last.
And yeah, Mr. Pilot, that sounds like a plan - dispose all opposition and then send out an alert for the police.

I'll compose a report then."


<<Greetings, my surveillance has been successful: You ran afoul of a bunch of witches - Wiccan or Druid I can not say - who plan to target one of your operations. I was able to bug one of their shrines. Bad matrix connection out there, you find the files attached. The gist of it was that they are ready to move on a cemetery that they believe you'll be using as a place for clandestine transactions. They plan to summon a great form plant spirit for this occasion and have it together with a bunch of tree spirits booby trap the place. They are also very confident that they can conceal all this from astral surveillance. No information about the when, sorry.

I consider my debt to be paid by this service. No more freebies.>>

"Alright, the deed is done. Time to set up shop near the target - my message could spur them to prepone their plans, so we should be in place asap."

"Agreed. Im a decent sniper but I will need to check the place out before I make a nest. Im ready to go now." Vexboy said getting up.

Jan
Thursday, 21 November, 20:01; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex

Jan was thinking, only half listening to the others. "I think the point was to make it look like their isn't a move on them, just an incidental problem. One site is a cemetery, why don't we book an interment? Or an exhumation, if it's disused. Say we need to move a body...." he trailed off before picking up the thought again ...of course, if we want them to use the cemetery then we can arrange for renovations at the warehouse. Maybe we buy it..."

He changed topic, as if he'd only just heard the discussion taking place. "We don't need transport. We aren't getting kids out. We're getting kid out. Singular. Audric is the target, that's who I've agreed to retrieve. I'll carry him if I have to."

He turned to John, realizing he'd not been introduced. "Jan. Primary abilities include poor morals and not taking shit from people."

Thursday, 21 November, 20:01; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex #60

"Hello Jan, that's... remarkable unspecific - unless you want to tell me that you are an incompetent thief.

But you are a bit late about those sentiments. Especially since the Koreans already know that someone is targeting them. Better if they send their heavy magic users over to the cemetery to deal with the imaginary trap.

So chop, chop - I've got one seat free in my car if someone needs a ride."

"I'll take that ride. Id rather not be on a motorcycle if shit hits the fan in a road shootout." Vincent says.

Thursday, 21 November, 20:01; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex #61

"Alright, hop in. It's the small private off-road ambulance down the street. Don't forget your kit and armor. And just so you know: There will be no pee-pee breaks during observation, so better go now and bring a jar or two."

John's voice had taken on a slight mischievous vibe that he was quite proud of to have gotten it right.

Thursday, 21 November, 2075, 20:02; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex

Rocky was really hoping he would be able to grab a couple hours sleep before getting things started but it wasn't looking like that was going to happen.

"Any of ya got room for me?"

Thursday, 21 November, 20:02; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex #62

"If you don't mind a health check up, you could lay down in my Valkyrie Module."
John shrugged: "Better now than later, I'd say."

"I got my gear." Vexboy said. Holding a sack. "Ready to go when you are." He walked to D-pop and Bronwyn. "Please take care of my bike. It took forever to pay it off."

Thursday, 21 November, 20:02; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex #63

"Alright then, all aboard and full steam ahead."
Jack led the two runner to his Morgan. He had found the time to clean the worst of the mud of its sides, but it still looked more at home at a wilderness rally than the city. When all passengers had been placed inside, he drove at a sedate speed towards the
Warehouse and took his time to find a good parking spot where they could observe the entrances.
"Ok, how do you want to play this: Should we scout inside or do you want to wait out here until something happens?"

"Scout ahead. Id rather know the battlefield now then be surprised later." Vexboy said.

Thursday, 21 November, 20:02; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex #64

"Ha, I hoped that you'd say that. Ok, stealth mode it is. Do you want to pick the lock, or should I?"

Jan sat in the corner, hand on hit temple. "Those dates must give us something. Can we cross-check them against the shipping logs, border patrol points, against major events, against the Korean fokking calendar?!" He was frustrated that they still lacked so much information.

"Can we still tap into CCTV? If we can get a mile radius around the warehouse that could give us time to respond. There can't be many trucks like that around. "

"Best you do it." Vincent said. "Don't have any gear for it."

Thursday, 21 November, 2001; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex

D-Pop had returned from her errand and answered Jan's question: "You bring up an interesting question we asked ourselves. The fact that, as I explained to the others, we believe the Fates have detemined that no one outside this little circle can take a direct hand in this effort, combined with the fact that no one to whom we've been directed is a matrix jockey was a cause of some consternation. We recognize that your team as constituted is weak in that area. True, many of you have useful contacts in that world, but for the reasons explained it is imperative you not use them. However, it recently became clear - possibly - why the Fates led us to no one with that expertise. It seems that our opposition has gone to some lengths to maintain an extraordinary level of matrix overwatch superiority for this meet. So much so that any attempt on our part to enter that arena would have been extremely hazardous."

She sat down on the sofa and crossed her legs, the leather of her thigh-high boots creaking. Bronwyn carried on: "We recognize this is a problem, and we're working now on neutralizing their matrix capabilities indirectly. Once that is done, we will let you know and allow you to bring in your own matrix resources if you think it will be helpful, provided you strictly compartmentalize the information. Sorry, don't yet have a timeline on when that particular side job will be done."

D-Pop picked up the ball again: "All that is not to say that you can't research all the things you mentioned yourself, provided you limit yourself to safe, public sorts of searches and are careful not to generate any suspicious patterns. Also, nothing to stop you setting up physical taps on CCTV cams, provided you keep the feeds to non-WIFI communications."

Thursday, 21 November, 2032; Costco Drive & Andover Park East, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

A quick thirty-minute drive up I-5 had brought the scout team the vicinity of where they hoped the Yakuza/Seoulpa meet would be funnelled. Across the freeway to their west the thundering roar of suborbital take-offs and landings was almost non-stop. The autumn evening was full dark by now, though there were streetlamps aplenty alight here in this maze of warehouses, specialty wholesalers, and logistics centers. The streets were thus well lit, though more lights, as always, equalled more shadows as well.

Rent-a-cops crept throught the streets with some frequency, though they didn't look like the types to get out of their car without a good reason. The smart money was that they cared only about the integrity of the buildings, happy to leave any other disturbances to the Knight-Errant contractors - something they had as yet seen no sign of.

From Andover Park East, their maps told them that only a large lawn should be blocking their view of the site, though in actuality there was a screen of trees at the east end of the grassy area. They dismounted and crossed the grass on foot, sticking close to the shadows in along the north wall of some sort of mattress outlet. At a glance, the place was just as D-Pop had described it - a couple of burned out buildings, and even a few scorched hulks of cars no one had bothered clearing from the site. It was unlit, and they saw a distant bobbing light come into view as an old security guard meandered around the place, safe in the knowledge he was protecting nothing anyone wanted to steal.

Waiting for him to move off along the north side of the larger building, they crossed the street and moved along the south side just far enough to confirm that the space between the two old auto service buildings was ample for a couple of tractor-trailers to enter and exit. Looking for good overwatch positions, the large logistics centers directly to the north and south were choices that would be obvious to anyone. Both buildings were clearly in use. There were no windows near ground level, but plenty near the roofline, and there were lights within. Activity seemed limited, though. Still, the place to the south had an open loading dock facing directly on to the target site, and there were men with forklifts apparently laying out cargo for a pickup. The loading dock for the north building, on the other hand, was far up on the east face, without much view of the target site. That dock also was open for business, though like the first, it seemed to be operating a light night crew, and there were few cars in the employee parking.

Both buildings had a number of pedestian entrances, and the distant glow of LEDs was testament to active maglocks.

Thursday, 21 November, 2032; Costco Drive & Andover Park East, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex #65

"Hm, if I'm honest, neither do I - at least not for maglocks. I've got an autopicker and a electronics toolbox. If I make a mistake this could sound an alert real fast.
But before we do that: How good are you at freestyle climbing? Those facades look like they offer plenty of footholds. If you aren't so hot on that front, I can go up and let a rope down for you. You do have a rope in your bag, don't you?"

John had begun to accessorize: A helmet, forearm guards and a ballistic mask were added, followed by a sleak backpack containing his folded rifle.

"Or if you have trouble with that, you can wait in the car and give me updates on the rest of the environment, warn me if anything moves - that kind of stuff."

"Ah. Now we get to one of my trained specialities.I have a full set of gecko tape gear and I am quite agile and trained to use it well... Plus... I have a foci power thay literally sticks me to objects for up to ten minutes. Slow and steady I activate it and deactivate it a few limbs at a time I can climb literally any surface." Vincent said with a smile.

Thursday, 21 November, 2032; Costco Drive & Andover Park East, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex #66

Excellent. Than let's get ourselves up their, so we can see what's going on.

With a barely audible 'schning' sound John extended his climbing claws. "Last one up is a rotting meat bag."

"Your on." Vexboy took out his gecko tape and got it set up on himself. He began to climb the facades.

Thursday, 21 November, 2045; warehouse district between I-5 and Green River, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

After scoping the two logistics centers as best they could from the periphery of the old automotive center, the two runners went back to their ride on Andover and took it south to S. 180th and a block east to an access point for the Green River Trail. There was a parking area for trail users, but it had apparently been taken over by some sort of go-gang, which was staging an impromptu party in a ring of barrel fires. So they parked at the Speed-Taco across the street and then headed north on the Green River Trail on foot - it was public, with a fair amount of joggers and other foot traffic, so they could approach the river-side of the south building without attracting any sort of attention.

The side facing the river, which would be less exposed to passing traffic, turned out to be screened by a low wall enclosing a freight yard, so that was out. But near the southeast corner was a now disused retail entrance that rose to a one-storey height. The area was relatively unlit and easier to climb.

The two made short work of the actual climb, their skills and gear allowing them to ascend the side with apparent ease. Soon they were atop the structure, facing a huge expanse of rooftop roughly a hundred by a hundred-twenty meters. It was dotted by myriad HVAC units, along with the regular placement of six roof access structures. All that made it fairly easy to cover the distance to the north end overlooking their target site. here and there they passed gull nests, and there was an assortment of light debris skitterng in the breeze across the tar rooftop like dystopic urban tumbleweeds. In the northeast corner above the loading dock and near the best vantage point was a pile of larger junk. A glance at the rooftop access structures showed no locking mechanism on the doors' exteriors.

Thursday, 21 November, 2045; warehouse district between I-5 and Green River, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex #67

John had to hand it to the young runner: He was a pretty damn good climber - daring even - augmented by supernatural ability. So now he was the rotten meat bag. Typically.

While they sneaked down to their vantage point, John noticed the various roof entrances and nodded to the junk: "101 for this kind of gig: Always have an exit strategy and don't get surprised.
Help me drag some of this junk in front of those doors to block them. No need to let an enemy sniper join us up here - or a rent-a-cop for that matter.

Also, since none of us has brought a rope for a quick descent, I'll secure us an exit. Come with me, I'll need you to shield the flame."

With quick strides he moved towards the roof access close to their overwatch position and released the miniwelder from his forearm guard.

"Just a few quick cuts to the hinges, so we can kick off the door without bothering with the lock, but without having it hang open."

Once all this was done, he nodded to Vexboy and said: "Alright, now comes the un-fun part of surveillance - the watching while nothing happens."

With that John began to record a sensor feed of the environment, denoting dimensions and angles as well as movement patterns of passersby and guards, streaming the info directly to the rest of the runner team.

Thursday, 21 November, 2050; warehouse district between I-5 and Green River, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Vexboy was about to start moving junk to block doorways but they ended up creating their emergency exit at the nearest doorway first.

That done, John set up his sensor feed, and they got to the junk pile. It was very quickly apparent, however, that this was no junk pile at all. Most of the bigger pieces were actually secured together by baling wire, and once Vexboy got down for a closer look, he found an cleverly concealed entrance a man could crawl into and inside was a cozy two-man sniper-hide. It had water bottles, piss receptacles, padding to lie on. No weapons.

"Hey John. May wanna take a look at this. Looks like I found a sniper hole. Must belong to an enemy sniper. They weren't kidding about these guys." He took out his rifle and pointed it with the sight off. "This is great overwatch. Down to the padding." Vexboy took a look outside to see what he could cover from this spot. "They'll probably come back here once they arrange the trade. If we set a trap and are careful I could make a hell of a sneak attack. Of course once I fire on their guys I will have to get moving... Compremised position and all that."

Thursday, 21 November, 2045; warehouse district between I-5 and Green River, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex #67

"Well, what do you know? Seems like we aren't the only ones who know how to find a good sniper spot.
Change of plan - I'll try to repair the damage to the door and I'll hide a nice little gas grenade in this blind.
As soon as the snipers appear we can expect the deal to go down within half an hour or so. It's also pretty likely, that there is an identical nest on the other building, which means we'll be getting down there and prepare it too.
And since we don't know when all this will be going down, we have to do this sooner than later."

<<I hope you lot are getting all this. A little bit of support would be appreciated.>>

"Good idea. We could each take a nest and kill the guards. You got a sniper rifle?" Vincent asked.

Thursday, 21 November, 2045; warehouse district between I-5 and Green River, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex #68

"Nope, just a trusty Ares Alpha. But that will do at distances under 150m. And If we actually need one... I'm sure the snipers will bring one for us."

John tried to reverse the damage as good as possible, before he prepared his descent.

"Good point. We looking okay?" Vincent asked.

Thursday, 21 November, 2059; warehouse district between I-5 and Green River, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Once John left, Vexboy found a good hiding spot. Ten minutes later, John was back on the ground and making his way north toward the second building. He received a text. It was from his erstwhile Korean masters: <<Good work. Agreed, no more freebies. But we continue to require your services. We will pay your normal rate to assist us with security at an upcoming exchange. Report to me here at the restaurant immediately.>>

Even as John considered the message, he and Vexboy, from their separate positions, saw a nondescript van approach down the access road and stop briefly at the loading dock area of the southern building. Two Asian men in the same uniforms as the workers there got out. One was carrying a large sports bag. They walked through and past the men on the loading dock brusquely, without a word, into the building. The van then swung north until it reached the other big loading dock near the northeast corner of the northern building. It stopped there and a single Asian man in a suit got out of the back and went inside. The van stayed there, idling.

Thursday, 21 November, 2045; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex

As those at the safehouse proceeded with their various preparations, Bronwyn found Jan in a position watching the street. She had a large sandwich on a plate. "I don't recognize the accent. Are you Dutch or German?"

Meanwhile, D-Pop found Rocky in another room. "I just heard from our mutual friend. I wanted you to know that she was picked up by allies and is safe now. Thanks to you."

And then they all received incoming image traffic from the scout team, with the message: <<I hope you lot are getting all this. A little bit of support would be appreciated.>>

Thursday, 21 November, 2059; warehouse district between I-5 and Green River, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex #69
'You've got to be kidding me'
<<Guys, the Koreans just commended me for my good work and want to hire me for tonight's gig. This could be a trap for me or our opportunity to get some serious intel. It looks like they just deployed their snipers.
Vexboy, they'll be up with you in about five minutes. Get your ass into hiding.
So, what do you guys want: Should I prepare to take out the other sniper, or do you want me to meet up with the Koreans. My street cred could take a massive hit if word gets out I took paid work and turned traitor.

Choose wisely.>>

Vexboy messaged quickly... Very quickly he noted. His hands became quite nimble suddenly. "New initiate grade. New powers. Now get hiding!" "Im gonna get ready for a sneak attack. If I don't message in 20 assume Im dead or captured." Vexboy used hang time on and off and slowly made his way to the AC.

Jan
Thursday, 21 November, 20:45; 38th Avenue NE, Northeast Tacoma, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex

"Azanian, South African. Could be I'm Dutch you go back a couple hundred years. " Jan took a bite of the sandwich without really considering it might not be for him. His comm buzzed in his pocket, and he flipped it open to read John's message before considering the implications.

<<@John: Gotta take. Far too good to pass. Exact timing then possible, even a transit hit.>>

Thursday, 21 November, 2059; warehouse district between I-5 and Green River, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex #70

<<@Jan, yeah, that's what I thought. But honestly, be careful: There is now an unchecked sniper on the northern roof.
I'll try to keep in touch. If you tell the story, please add that I was hired by the witches to infiltrate the Koreans from the get go.>>

John composed himself and walked back to his car, sending a message to the Koreans:
<<I'm on my way. Should I bring heavy hardware or is it more scouting you want?>>

Thursday, 21 November, 2059; warehouse district between I-5 and Green River, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

A message to the whole group also came from D-Pop: <<Understood about your decision, John. Be careful. Vex - you're the only one on-site now. Should the others all move there soon? Give us your assessment, and we'll start moving just in case you give an affirmative. Also, be sure any action you take in next 20 minutes has no possibility of scaring them off this site. QUERY: John, you mentioned "tonight's gig." Do you have some confirmation the exchange happens tonight?>>

Thursday, 21 November, 2059; warehouse district between I-5 and Green River, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex #71

<<Only circumstantial evidence:
They want to talk to me now asap
They have deployed a sniper team to the site where they don't expect to be ambushed by tree spirits
They have been warned that someone wants to move against them.

I'm waiting for confirmation if I need to bring hardware. IF yes it's almost guaranteed to go down tonight.>>
John replied

Thursday, 21 November, 2059; warehouse district between I-5 and Green River, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

John got his reply: <<Cancel immediate plans, come prepared for close-in security.>>

"Roger that." Vexboy said hiding in behind the AC. He turned off AR and shook his head to get over the lightheadedness.

Thursday, 21 November, 2059; warehouse district between I-5 and Green River, Tukwila, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex #72

<<... and there it is. Close-In Security. Looks like I'll see you on the other side.>>

John had removed the face mask so he wouldn't scare the civilians around the parking place. He hopped into his car and sent another message for the team
<<I've stashed a gas grenade in the southern sniper nest. Activation code 008-Alpha, just in case you need to smoke them out before I'm in position. And now get your move on, or I'll have to hire on with the Koreans for real.>>

When he arrived at the restaurant, he left the rifle inside the backpack in the car.
With purposeful strides he moved through towards the two door guards and nodded at them: "'s up?"

Thursday, 21 November, 2137; Korean BBQ Restaurant, Capital Hill, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

The restaurant, despite what the ARO for business hours showed, was closed.

But the door had not been locked, and John had strode in.

The place was filled with young Korean men lounging everywhere, all heavily armed. Every grill in the place was fired up. He didn't recognize any of the men he could see, but they clearly knew him, as they had almost no reaction to his arrival.

"'s'up?"

A man lying on the floor amid a modest collection of empty beer bottles spread his arms expansively, indicating the whole of the seating area. "This what's up. Grab a drink, grab some BBQ. Make yourself comfortable. And we wait."

Thursday, 21 November, 2137; Korean BBQ Restaurant, Capital Hill, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex #73

"Thanks, but I don't drink and I got all the caloric intake I can stomach for today.
And since you made me drop a red hot lead to a lucrative business opportunity, I hope I can get some more mission details than "we wait".

Especially since this is no freebie. My time is valuable. So please, would you kindly tell me S' UP?"

Thursday, 21 November, 2138; Korean BBQ Restaurant, Capital Hill, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

Thirty or so armed Seoulpa thugs went from relaxed to just bit less so. One shouted, "Hey, 'caloric intake'! You know what we know, man. Just chill and have a drink."

All eyes were on John, then, but another man emerged from the back. It was the leader of the men that had scooped John up from the porn office. He motioned the living drone to follow. They went into the kitchen, where greasy-looking men in white were busily chopping meats and vegetables. The smell of kim-chee was almost overpowering to those without olfactory cut-outs.

There were three other guys back there - the way they stood said they were this guy's bodyguards. There was a back door - it was chained shut in a way that would give a fire inspector nightmares. Two guys stood by it.

"Listen, the boss thinks you're...interesting. So he might cut you some slack. I don't. And I won't. It's like you said. Your time is valuable. It's not a freebie. So you're getting paid, man, and the crazy rate you asked for. So that leaves us owing you nothing. When there's something you need to know, you'll know it. Oh, and no outgoing comms from now on. It's the same for all the guys...and don't think we ain't got 'trix jockeys monitorig the traffic."

He waved John away, adding, "I don't know who exactly you think you are, but I hope you're the smart guy who'll grab a bite and a drink and be ready to do his job."

Thursday, 21 November, 2138; Korean BBQ Restaurant, Capital Hill, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex #74

"I could be much readier to do my job if you told me what the job was. Radio silence is a given, but you certainly didn't hire me to be dumb muscle - you already have enough of those.
I'm am a fully trained operative - not giving me info on the job is like carrying a gun without ammo:
You can ready it once you are in combat - but you'll lose the initiative.

And this cuts both ways: I am a free agent - I don't go blind or I don't go at all. For all I know you guys plan to attack the headquarter of Knight Errant by bashing your heads against their nightsticks.

I'll even grab a drink if that is what it takes to get you to talk."

Thursday, 21 November, 2138; Korean BBQ Restaurant, Capital Hill, Seattle, Seattle Metroplex

The Korean underboss looked at the floor, sighed, shook his head. Looked back up at John. "All you damned freak runners, always think you're the smartest asshole in the room. Fine. I don't have time to deal with this shit. You were already told close-in security, right? We got a guy flying in. I am not saying who it is, or where he's coming in from. But he's one big ass fish, and anything happens to him, then we're all dead. But now we've got this thing with these witches. He won't call off his visit, though. Says it's our problem. So, abra cadabra, we hire some extra talent. What the fuck - better you eat a spell than me, so you're welcome to it. So when we get the call, we roll. Until then, we sit."