After a bit more munching, the duo heads back toward their car. Carlos takes the wheel and they start heading out of the garage. The fly-spy is able to pick them up without a problem.

System adds, You do it your way, I'll do it mine.

The duo winds back around to the same place that Carlos picked up the girl. They both head inside and stay there about about two hours. Carlos emerges with a smile on his face.

System adds, Now what?

As the car pulls out Tank withdraws his fly-spy, actually picking it up en route. No sense taking a chance on outrunning the little bugger- He cost way too much for that.
-----
After arriving outside the girl's flat, as time goes on, the duo figure out what's going on inside. Tank grumbles, "Great. He's inside tapping some and I'm stuck out here with your ugly mug while its going down.. A he took the damn statue with him."

Book leans his seat back and closes his eyes. "Yea. Whatever." Just in case he summons a watcher to look over his sleeping body.

A few minutes later a rabid, cartoon looking dog manifests and growls at Tank. "Kidding... I was kidding." The adept goes back to watching for Carlos and catching up on the current issue of Fire & Maneuver Magazine.
-----
Two hours later the dog manifests again, growling menacingly at Tank. "Wake your happy ass up. The kids on the move. It looks like he has the statue."

Book rubs his eyes, dismisses the watcher and looks at the video feed. Noticing the time, "Two freaking hours? It couldn't have taken the little shit more than forty-five seconds... What's he been doing? Getting emotional?"
<<@Team [Book] System - You got anything more on Dumont?>>

I'm working on it. I've never seen private security go this far. I figure I've got another fifteen to twenty minutes before I finally break through all the crap he's laid down.

-----

Carlos, grabs his bike and heads out. He appears to be headed back toward the meat packing plant. However, he changes course and heads for a miniature warehouse storage area a few blocks away. He throws his bike into the back of a truck and starts loading some boxes by hand from one of the storage locations. Once finished he jumps into the truck and drives back to the meat packing plant.

-----

Got it! Damn, not what I was expecting. It appears that the club he and his honey knocked over is owned by the yaks. Dumont is a cover name. Best I can tell, they use the club to launder money.

The tug of Snake is overpowering. Yes. The secrets, I know.
"Tank. Follow him for just a moment."

As the truck pulls out onto the street and passes their position, Tank pulls out to follow it for a block.

As Tank pulls out, Book sighs wishing it could be just that easy with a Magic Fingers spell. Not having the spell, he instead summons an air spirit and works through a slightly more complex plan. He is amazed when the spirit arrives, pledging three services.

He then turns his attention to turning himself invisible, followed by rolling down the passenger window. He pulls on his gloves. "Guard me and carry me." he commands, committing the spirit to all but one of the spirit's services.

He directs the spirit to the truck, where he procures the statue. "Conceal this from prying eyes great spirit of air." he directs the spirit, "and carry me back to the Tank's vehicle."


Settling down back in the seat, he dismisses the spirit. "Thank you great spirit. You are released with my gratitude." He then quickly searches the bag to insure no RFID tags found there way there in.

Damn! System Error makes his amazement known. I didn't know you could fly.

-----

Book finds the statue easily enough. There are RFID tags all over the contents as well as the bag itself.

-----

Carlos and the truck continue on toward Dick's.

Letting the invisibility spell end, Book quickly peels off all the RFID tags back into the bag, being extra cautious not to miss or drop any. He summons a slightly smaller air spirit. This one comes easy, anxious to serve Book. He holds out the back to the spirit. "Take this. I will show you were to put it."

And with that, Book leans back into the seat and projects his spirit from his body. He guides the spirit to Dick's parking lot. He chooses a vehicle one of the larger vehicles and has the spirit stash the bag there. A larger car should be someone of more prominence. This should begin the boy's undoing.

Book's not for sure what will transpire, perhaps nothing. He imagines anyone of a dozen scenarios: The boy tracks down the tags and begins accusing or he tracks down the tags and seeks revenge or he forgets about them and the car's owner tries to figure out what the hell they are or.....?

The diminutive spirit of the air - in the form of a whirlwind tossing dirt and paper - appears in the astral when Book beckons. The spirit practically throws itself at his feat. Oh great one, how may I serve you? Upon Book's command the air spirit zips off to do his bidding and then returns. Is there anything else great one?

-----

Carlos gets out of the truck and heads in to the office, returning a few minutes later with the ork from earlier. They begin unloading the truck and its contents. Carlos appears confused for a second - he scans over the back of the truck for something. He then throws up his hands as well as a few curses toward the skies before getting back in the truck and heading back the way he came.

-----

The ork smirks at Carlos and takes the boxes inside the office.

Book smiles at the spirit's completed service then tilts his head, confused. He feels the spirit's connection as if bound to him. That is all for now. I will call you when I need you. He adds Thank you for your service.

As the youth heads off in search of his missing prize, Book keeps his smile in place for another moment. Tank continues on and away hiding out several blocks away leaving his fly-spy in the area to give him eyes.

Once parked Tank looks to the shaman again. "Ok. We've spent the day following this little twit, now you've swiped his prize. What next? Care to share the plan?"

Book takes a breath looking at his team mate. He could tell Dalton wanted a drink, but was holding it together well, if not a little anxious. "One step at a time. One misstep and junior figures out we're on to him. Then Daddy- Remember Daddy? The police captain?- Then Daddy takes an interest in us. Right now we can tie junior to a crime. We have video and physical evidence. Better yet, he robbed the Yakuza. This could work out for us in a number of ways."
<<@Team [Book] System - Can you start a watch on the boards for people seeking intel about the robbery of Bliss? It shouldn't be too long before the Yaks start looking for some payback. They won't pay a lot, but when we are ready we can sell them the information.>>

At that point Tank smiles a little. "You are pretty damn devious..."

Book looks over. "Oh, I'm just getting started... and when this is over you and I have one more little job to take care of."

<<@Team [Book] Its time to focus on Daddy. Any idea where we should start with him? System, you mentioned you had a friend tracking Junior, but there was some sort of limit. You got a drone or an agent or something like that?>>

System Error replies, Something like that. I'll see what I can do with my sources. I'll look into the boards for Yak offers on information. I assume that you want to find out what I can on Daddy?

-----

A few minutes later, Carlos comes roaring back into the parking lot on his bike. He heads into the store.

-----

A couple of hours later, System Error pipes up, Well, the Yaks are asking around for information. Right now, they are only offering unspecified favors. Daddy is set to receive a medal for meritorious service tomorrow afternoon. I haven't pushed hard enough into the Star's firewall to see his personal calendar. I don't think we need that kind of heat right now. What else do we need?

<<@Team [Book] Yea. Its time we started looking at how to angle Daddy in. I have an idea, but its pretty bold.>>
-------------------
As Carlos returns to the lot, Book continues to watch the feed from the drone and leans back in the chair. Day one; Things are going well so far, but this is a big one to pull off.
-------------------
after System Error provides the most current update, Book replies:
<<@Team [Book] Ok. Let's pull back, let's get a good night's sleep. We know where to find the kid and we know where to find Daddy at least tomorrow. Meritorious service? There is no end here. By tomorrow morning we need two things: We need to know where Daddy lives and we need fresh vehicles. System - Would you start looking at Daddy's place with a mind to pull a run on it? I'm thinking we drop the statue there... I'm also thinking I drop it masked as Junior. We can catch some video and have a package for the Yakuza. If we can have this in place before the ceremony, then they have a window to recover their statue and get pissed while Daddy is tied up.>>

System replies, On it.

-----

After breakfast the next morning System calls the group. Our mark has two places. His house isn't on file; however, from what I can tell, he spends a lot of time at an apartment near his precint. It took some doing but I figured out his home is in the same gated community where Junior picked up the girl. I have a line on three vehichles. A delivery van that is do for servicing at the end of the day, a cab cause they're easy and a little rental that thinks it is being rented by a little old lady to take her kids to the beach. What else do we need?

Dalton was the last of the crew to arrive to his apartment. Despite not having done anything he was tired.. and he wanted a drink. He was in the middle of a run though and technically, he was trying to quit- cut back. As he nuked a package of noodles, adding in the meat flavoring, he looked around his little dump of an apartment.

Then he smirked. Just the way I like it.
----------
Several neighborhoods away another runner sat eating his dinner. His thoughts were on secrets. The secrets learned today and secrets still in hiding. Looking down at the statue, he takes an opportunity to study it; Something he'd not really done yet, though he wasn't sure why not. Looking at the statue, he thinks about what will be happening in the next 24 hours.

Ruining someone's life wasn't unknown to Eric; Lucias had learned that the hard way. The difference is that then had been personal, this time it was all for money and positioning. Having the new police chief as a contact could work out very well, as long as they didn't make the mistake of trusting him too much.

He tossed the take out bag into the trash and made his way to a shower and bed, falling asleep to the lullabies of snake whispering about secrets.
----------
After getting System's report, Book takes a moment to consider the options. He had not considered two places.
<<@Team [Book] I think the apartment. The perimeter security will be easier to deal with since its not a gated community. I think we need to nab junior today. Once we have him, I will mask myself to look like him even down to the clothes he's wearing today. Using his comlink I *should* be able to access the apartment. I'll leave the statue there. We then take junior, give him his drug of choice, load some video onto his com- with an expiration, of course. We then drop him off near Daddy's event. We'll need to seed some of the information to the Yakuza about the robbery and where to find the statue. The only trick with this plan is that it does not implicate Daddy with drugs. We need more time... or we really have to make the most of today... perhaps that delivery van will be very useful.>>

Eric sits back looking at the plate of food that is breakfast. So close... so close. He knew he needed more information about the Captain's involvement in the local underground. Hell, he needed more info about the local drug trade. He moved his fork back and forth and finally tossed it down in disgust. Too many secrets not yet uncovered.

As Book examines the statue he notices that it is a carved piece of jade depicting an old oriental man with a cane and a dog by his side. The object feels familiar somehow.

Look closer. Snake whispers.

-----

System replies to Book, I have some off the wall friends in the 'trix but I have no idea what you have cooking. You mind letting me in on what you are thinking.

Book takes a few moments to assense the statue, trying several times.
----------
<<@Team [Book] I'm not sure what I'm cooking either. Let me think on it a few minutes.>>

Despite Book's trouble assensing the statue, he is able to determine that the staue focuses mana around itself. It seems likely it is linked to health; however, it refuses to give up more of its secrets.

-----

System answers, Damn. I'm beginning to think that you mages are insane. Flying, blowing shit up with your mind and who knows what else. Keep me posted.

<<@Team [Book] Shaman actually, but I get the point. What time is the ceremony? We have three runs to plan and execute today. Run #1: Nab Junior. Run #2: Piss off a Yak drug gang. Run #3: Plant some evidence with Daddy. When those are complete, we will drug up junior and release him at the ceremony.>>

Book looked again at the statue. Part of him wanted to keep it, study it. Another part wanted to just be done with it. Too easy to trace it back to the team. Looking at the time he grimaced. How the hell are we gonna pull this together in time?

System replies, Looks like things are supposed to kick off around 1500 hours with the mayor making a presentation around 1523 if the schedule I hacked is right. I figured that at some point your are going to ask me about Junior, so here goes: He crashed at his dad's house in the gated community and, if he holds to pattern, will head over to his girls house as soon as he wakes up. My guess is around 1000 hours. As for pissing off the Yaks. You sure that's a good idea? They don't play nice. Course, I'm not sure I really want a pair of concrete shoes either.

<<@Team [Book] Pissing off the Yaks is never a good idea, though the kid already started down that path with the statue. Besides if we play this right, it will be the old man taking the brunt of that.>>

Dalton looked the shaman over for a minute, something about him just ain't right.. At least when I take chances it 'cause of liquid courage....

Looking at the time, Book cringes. 8am. Never enough time. Never.
<<@Team [Book] If this is gonna happen, its all gonna happen fast. Any part of the run fails, we abort it all. Ok. First two steps are to locate Junior and a Yak gang. We gotta make sure Junior isn't anywhere he can be seen while we pull this little op. Hey! How about that pickup he was driving? Was it rigged?>>

The pick-up is ancient, no wires. His bike however, that's fair game. Give me a little time and I can cook up his location. Ten-to-one says he is asleep in bed right this minute. He pauses for a moment. Now a Yak gang. I assume you are wanting a gang back by the Yaks? OK, that shouldn't be an issue. What else do we need?

<<@Team [Book] The bike got a Gyro mount as well? A gang backed by the Yaks is it. They need to be known drug dealers..... and a border gang, as in on the border of yak territory. We need to make it seem like pops is working a power play. Gonna have to be a small power play though since we lack the resources to stage a large one... but I think I know how to make this play out.>>

About ten minutes later, System Error replies, OK, I've pinned down Junior's comm to Daddy's house in the gated community. His wheels have a gyro as well. No gyromount for weapons though. Looks like the girlfriend's comm is at Daddy's too. If you want the area closest to Dick's for a Yak gang, then you want Los Samurai. They an up and coming gang about ten blocks from the territory of the 51st Street Nomads. System pauses for a moment.

Now, if you want the biggest movers and shakers then we need to focus on a few members of Avenue J. They are freelancers but have strong Yak ties. However, it's gonna take some time to track some of them down. Preferences?

<<@Team [Book] Ok. The 51st Street Nomads are the gang that cover the turf including Dick's? And the Los Samurai are 10 blocks away and the closest Yak affiliated gang. That will work.
Here's the plan: (1) We need a van. (2) We need to scan the Los Samuari. Find out what corners they are dealing from and what they are dealing and where they hide the stash. Usually the guy on the street takes the money and someone else delivers. (3) By 10:00, we start looking to pickup junior. Hopefully he heads to the girlfriends, but if you can keep an eye on him then we'll pick him up when we're able. (4) Once we have Junior, I'll mask Tank as him, you control the bike. We'll hit a fence in the area who is Yak friendly with the statue. That should get some attention. (5) We then go back to the Los Samurai and we'll give them a shake down. That will give us the drugs we need for later and start pissing off the Yaks once word gets around. If you had a Lone Star drone for an assist, that would go miles towards selling my story line. (6) Drugs in hand, we hold out until close to 3:00. We drug Junior, we show him video of 'him' shaking down the gangers for drugs and drop him off stoned at Daddy's event. Hopefully he'll babbling, in any case, the Yak's will be looking for them, there will be a drug connection and the statue.>>

Book had strongly considered keeping the statue, but it was too unique, too traceable and an integral piece of the equation. If nothing else, Junior would stumble into the event carrying the damn statue and be caught on the media broadcast. If everything else failed, that should pull in the Yaks.

Tank had one comment, "You're expecting ME to stick my neck on the line for this?"

Book sighed, "You are a much better con man than me.... and I have to sustain the mask to alter your face and voice."

Tank's eyebrows squint with concern. This is a risky damn plan and my ass is out in the open.
<<@Team [Tank] System - Can you cover your end? How soon till we have replacement wheels?>>

The bike won't be an issue - I don't think. Do you want me to get it here or help Tank ride it? As far as the other goes. That won't be a problem. System closes his eyes for a moment. His lips begin moving silently as he concentrates. He seems winded with the effort. Say hi. An icon pops up in AR. It is a little drone with miniature tank treads and roughly humanoid body and what appear to be a set of binoculars for a head. It says, Hello. Turning to System it asks, What can I do for you? System thinks for a minute and then says Go find me a van, wipe its memory and connection to the Matrix and then bring it here. Don't hurt it though. The robot seems to move sideways somehow and is gone.

System repeats the process but doesn't seem as effected. Thank you, Miss Duckworth, could you help me find some information on a local gang names Los Samurai? I need to know where they store their drugs and which corners they deal from. The form of a cartoon librarian appears and sits down in at a desk that appeared from nowhere. She begins entering information into some type of device that has a screen and a keyboard. Perhaps it is some form of old data-terminal?

(( At this point I'm assuming all three are in the van together. ))

"Don't want to jump the gun on the bike. In fact we might extract Junior in route. We're gonna have to play that one by ear."

Seeing the pair of constructs in AR and System interacting with them, he muses how the interaction mirrors his own summoning of spirits.

Tank drives the team onward towards a parking garage. He finds one with lower quality security, cameras in disrepair and the like. Once inside, he specific targets an area to park where the camera is busted. "This should give us a place to change vehicles without a video footprint." Looking to System, "Now might be a good time to spoof some new access IDs for us."

Book is tense. The plan is thrown together on a thread with a lot of unknown variables. Today we see if we're as good as we think we are...

The duo kick back and try to relax, waiting for the van for the day.

System smiles, Here comes our new wheels. A van come around the corner and pulls into the space next to Tank's van. Let me edit the camera footage and we can be on our way. Seemingly to no one he says, Thank you for your help, please go about your business.

A few minutes later he adds, No more worries about the cameras for us.

Wheeling around in his seat he looks at the librarian who is standing there with a smug look on her face. She hands System what appears to be a sheet of paper with writing on it. Thank you Miss Duckworth. Please take the rest of the day off. Turning to the rest of the group he explains, Los Samurai appear to have contacts all over the area. The most likely location for their drugs is a pharmacy at this address. He pulls up a display on AR. The dots in red show the most recent deals. The ones in green show other high sale areas near the 51st Street Nomads.


Time: 0857

Book replies, "Excellent. I'm glad Digger hooked us up."

Checking the surroundings, Tank pulls on his gloves, then maneuvers the new van into position to best conceal the transfer of his doberman. The run now on, he didn't want to get caught short on defensive capabilities. Meanwhile, Book pulls on his gloves as well and tucks his hair into his jacket.

When they are all aboard, Tank locks down his vehicle and navigates the new van out to the street. His destination is the pharmacy. "Initial recon of the pharmacy?"

Book nods. "Yes. From there we can make some decisions about exactly how to make our play with the Los Samurai."

Tank responds, "Next stop Los Samurai turf."

The trio passes typical scenes in the city - a few prostitutes and a couple of muggings in progress. The old lady on the second mugging was packing a large caliber weapon and her attackers went down in a hurry. They pass some random elements along their way. Once they reach 51st Street Nomad territory the neighborhood actually starts looking better. Perhaps this group is better at controlling order than others?

They soon find themselves in Los Samurai territory. The area is far more rundown and dirty. They soon reach the pharmacy in question. It is a little storefront set in the bottom of a larger building. It may have been a commercial building at some point in the past. Now it looks mostly abandoned except for the top floors which still show some life to them. The windows on the pharmacy are darkened with grime and dust. Despite the seeming frequent rains in Atlanta, the windows don't appear to have been washed in ages.

A few young men in leathers are milling about in the area when a Japanese woman walks out of the building. She is immediately surrounded by the young men who escort her to a waiting town car as if they were her bodyguards.

The duo watch the scenes transpire. Tank looks for a parking spot nearby in order to perform a short recon.

Tank finds a nice spot with some overwatch capability nearby. It is also perfect for launching drones.

The town car drives away and the "bodyguards" return to their positions around the door. A man stumbles out of the pharmacy and walks away.

Tank sends his fly-spy on recon, though the two guards give him pause. Too much chance of them seeing my drone. He instead sends the drone around the building in search of an alternate entrance; a fly-spy sized entrance.

Book meanwhile takes flight to the astral. Time to check out what, if any, astral defenses are in the area.

Tank is quickly able to find an open window on the fifth floor; however, it leads to an other wise empty room. The furniture looks to be around 20 years old.

Trying again, he finds another window high in a hallway that is open. There are several people milling around inside. In contrast to the dust and dirt covered furniture this area seems clean and well cared for if old. There are several young women, girls really in thin, virtually see-through clothes who seem anxious to please the young men (and old men) standing the hallway as if inspecting merchandise. It seems unlikely that the drone will be noticed anytime soon.

-----

Book picks up on two well enforced wards on the top floor. They seem designed to cover the entire floor; however, there are two wards with a small gap between them. The oddity, is the low force ward around the middle of the third floor.

Book returns from his recon of the spirit-world to survey Tank's recon of the physical world. He looks over at System, "It would help credibility if a couple of Lone Star drones were available for our charade. What are the chances of that? Later, of course, when this goes down."

He knew the clock would start ticking as soon as the drones went off-grid. His plan would require keeping Tank in the line of fire for only a short time anyway, but they really needed to sell this.

Tank looked over at the shaman and began to wonder if he needed to tidy up his will before this run started in motion today.

System's normal smile fades a bit when Lone Star drones are mentioned. He replies, Can and want to are two different things. Those drones have a temper and don't take orders well. They also like to rat you out when they get a chance. Most things are happy to serve but Lone Star drones just seem built to punish. He takes a deep breath. That said, I can probably convince them to assist with a law enforcement action if we can sell it. What do you have in mind?

Book nods, "Let me elaborate on my current working plan. I will mask Tank to look like Junior. He'll ride Junior's bike in and deliver demands to the Los Samurai-"

Tank exclaims, "To hell I will!"

The shaman pauses, looking at the adept and making a face. "Hear me out." He turns back to System, "My hope is to use a Lone Star drone or two to take down the guards outside. Or at least distract them while the doberman takes them down. I prefer not to engage the doberman initially though as there will no doubt be other eyes that may cause additional complications to be dealt with."

The adept again interupts, "Ya!... and they will want to kill me."

Book again wrinkles his face and waits for Tank to finish. "Your message will be delivered quickly. It will simply be that they will begin paying 30% or face increase police activity in their turf. Then we cut and run. That should stir things up and even provide video on police drones incriminating Junior and by the message, Daddy."

Tank grumbles, "It's still my ass on the line."

"Yes. I will also have the most powerful spirit I can manage to protect you." He pauses, "I'm hoping not to have to resort to that though. Magic will bring doubt on the ruse though, but better alive with a failure than dead with it." He turns back to System a smile hesitantly on his face, "That, of course, brings us back around to the drones. Can you make that work?"

System Error visibly puffs up. I can do it. Just let me think. He spends a few minutes in contemplation before speaking again. Let me see if I can hack the goons guns out front first. That way, even if the shit hits the fan, they won't be able to kill Tank. Then I can start nailing the drones.

A few minutes later, he pops up and says, Got 'em. I can shut down the guns whenever I want.

Time: 0942

-----

System sits down in the back of the van finding a niche between the wall and the drone. He slumps over and begins muttering again. He ends up with his head in his hands. Oh, that's tiring. I came up with one high powered helper for the day. I'll bring in a smaller one to help pilot the drone while big brother tears the ice a new one.

Time: 1007

Book smiled at the news and turned to Tank. "Time for us to consider step number three of today's plan: Junior."

Tank eased the borrowed van out of the parking spot and onto the street. He was beginning to feel a little more at ease with the crazy shaman's plan. "So how do we nab Junior?"

"Still got zip ties?"

"Yea," Tank replied, "but how do we get him?"

Book continued, "Gonna have to be a little magic involved I think... and we need to be prepared to nab the girl as well. We're can't count on him being alone. Furthermore with Daddy's little deal today, we have to assume his schedule will change. Get us to her apartment."

"Ok" was Tank's reply as he set to figuring the best course and driving it.

The shaman put a hand on the ork's shoulder. "When we get to the apartment, we'll need to get access and have any surveillance video edited. You still up to working that out?"

I take it back. You mages aren't crazy, you're insane. And here I though the Resonance and those sprites I deal with are off the level. Hell, your thoughts don't even compute. System shakes his head. But, yeah. I got ya covered.

The trio makes the trip in good time. Far from record but great for the day. There was only one crash. A troll on an oversized trike is yelling at a dwarf on a motorcycle about something. From what the trio can see, neither side has anything to complain about; however, even the Star is having trouble with these two.

The roads get progressively better and the streets cleaner as they cross the distance to the gated community where Junior and the girlfriend reside.

System smiles as the gates swing open. We are now a delivery service, he explained. I'll edit in a company logo here in a bit.

Arriving at the house without incident the trio arrives to find that Junior's motorcycle is not in the driveway.

Time: 1049

Book smiles, "Secret paths. Emotions. Flow of the universe. Almost a feng shui type of thing."

Tank looks over, "Hog wash! You're just making this up as you go."

The shaman continues to smile, but it grows slightly. "Adapting. Improvising. Going with the flow."

Tank grumbles an incoherent response and focuses his attention back on the road.

-------

As they approach the gates Book asks, "Has Junior left Daddy's yet?"

10:49 Hours

"What the-?!" is Book's reply to the position update from System.

"Ah, hell..." Tank sighs as he looks for a place to turn the van around.

Feng Shui, huh? asked System. I knew that I should have been tracking him more closely he muttered to himself.

Tank, what do you think about the interection I'm highlighting on AR. It is in a run down warehouse district that it looks like he's gonna go right through. Between your driving, and my matrix skills we can nail him there.

The trio continues out the gate and down the road.

Tank nods to the ork, "Yea. I can work with that."

As the duo work through the specifics of where to nab Junior, Book focuses elsewhere for a moment to summon a spirit to assist them. Once the spirit arrives, pledging a service, Book turns his attention back to his team mates. "We need to pull along side him. As we are pulling up, I will stun him. My spirit will catch him so that nothing looks awry and bring him over into the van. I will then mask Tank and he can return to the bike. We then depart the intersection much as we left it, except the real Junior will be zip tied and wearing our mage mask."

Tank then states the obvious, "But he's not a mage."

"Yea, but we don't want him to hear anything if he awakens."

The driver then has an epiphany, "What if the girl is with him?"

Book raises an eyebrow, "She shouldn't be there, unless they are getting ready for another job. In that case we grab them both." He looks to System, "If you still own her com, we will want to block anything outgoing if she is there."

System Error adds in, "Not a problem. From what I can tell, she's not with him." System then lets his attention drift. Tank notices that there are no red lights in their way. Soon they reach the intersection in question with a red light. Within seconds Junior arrives coming up behind the van. He is alone.

Book adjusts the passenger side rear view mirror to watch the approach of their prey. He issues a quick command to the waiting spirit, Manifest behind him and catch him once I enspell him. Do not allow him to fall, insure he is unconscious and bring him in the van. Move him as if he was walking.

He then exhales and lets loose an extremely powerful stun bolt hoping to bring step three to an uneventful close.

Junior flies off the back of his bike and into the waiting arms of the spirit. After the second stunbolt, his head is lolled to one side. The spirit corrects the issue and "walks" his limp form to the van. System's eyes gloss over as he focuses his attention elsewhere. The spirit places Junior in the back of the van before vanishing into the astral. System adds, "I've edited the records - we shouldn't have any issues with a trace."

The bike is still sitting in a stationary position - the gyroscopes working overtime.

As the spirit dumps Junior into the opening door of the van, Book nods his head to the spirit. "Go with my thanks. You are dismissed." Looking back at the young man, Book feels a pang of regret as the youth is zip-tied and his head covered in a mage mask. Book sighs, This kid's life if about to get totally frelled. The kid is a bad kid from a bad family, but does he deserve this? It was times like this that Book was glad his totem is snake and not eagle.

When Junior is bound and moved to the back, Tank pulls his mask over his face. Book then casts a powerful mask spell, the strain showing in the sweat forming on his temples. Using Tank's fly-spy camera, he reviews his work. He is not happy.

The spell fades and Book takes a breath and a moment to clear his mind. Once again focuses his mind and energy and warps the mana around his companion. This casting, while easier than the first, is much more to his liking. "Junior. Get back on your bike before someone notices."

Tank-Junior nods, smiles and goes out to the bike. "Let's do this." he says as he drives around the van and onwards towards the Los Samurai pharmacy.

For Book, now comes the worry. This is the chanciest part of the plan. The most variables and least amount of control. He sincerely hoped he would not be burying the former tanker in a few hours, but dared not share his skepticism.

Time: 1109

System says, "I have a lead on an LS drone. Three blocks west. We should be able to nail it with the sprite I've got in tow.

<<@Team [Tank] Let me know. I sure as hell don't want to be driving in without enough support.>>

Book decides that now is a good time to call in his spirits of beast and air and having them standing by. He also decides to summon an unbound spirit to have it on call as well. I really hope it doesn't come down to using spirits, that could definitely cause some questions as to the validity of our ruse.

Book wrangles with a spirit, sweat again rolling from his brow. This time he fails. He sits a moment, contemplating risking the drain. Looking out the front window at his team mate about to head into a pit of vipers, he makes his choice. His second attempt at a summons is the opposite. While the spirit does not offer more than one service, it does so willingly.

Upon reaching the block in question the trio finds a hovering LS drone harassing a couple of young orks. System begins hacking the drone. For a second the drone pivots toward the trio and then stops. It dances back and forth for a minute then does a corkscrew manuveur before telling the orks to go about their business. The kids don't know what to do for a minute but then take off running down the street. The drone flies into the back of the van and settles down on the floor.

Drone procured, Book considers further refinements to the plan. He's prepared all that he can to protect his friend, now its time to earn some nuyen. He turns to System they arrive in the neighborhood, some half a dozen blocks from the pharmacy. "Send the drone ahead to the street the pharmacy is on. We want it in the area to keep their response minimized and record Junior. Just don't relay or broadcast the video." He pauses for a second to keep his thoughts straight. "The van goes next. Parking in sight of the Pharmacy entrance. Finally, when we are in place Junior will drive up."

Listening to the conversation from his fly-spy on the dash:
<<@Team [Tank] And do what?>>

"Improvise. You have no problem improvising when picking up the chickeetas. Your role is messenger for Daddy. He wants a 30% cut of the action or the Star starts to interfere with their business. The drone outside should lend some credibility to your claim. The will, of course, initially decline. I cannot see them attacking the messenger as they are currently unaware of the extent of the threat. Tell them to bring the first payment to the ceremony today."

<<@Team [Tank] Ballsy.>>

"Overkill perhaps. But it will surely make them curious."