Laugh out loud when Nix pipes up. "Dumbasses. Aight, logging off. You're going to drop signal for a minute when I do. Spider figured out where this fool is at yet? I'd love to meet him."

Grab the steering wheel and order the vehicle to go to complete commo blackout. Turn off my throwaway commlink, everything. Give it about 12 seconds - two easy breaths - and have the vehicle log in the SATCOM system and route my big commlink into that.

Yell to Nix: "Vehicle is off the local grid and going sattelite. I'm staying offline, since now I gotta drive this thing. Let the kids in the chat room know that my commlink ran out of batteries. You can get access through the truck, or you can continue going through the commerical towers. If you want to send a message to this dumbass, have Spider do it through somewhere neutral."

<<@Spider [Nix] I'll hold off on his email for now. Physical location will suffice.>>

Nix

Caliph

@Spider

"I'm back online. Using one of my alternate serials that Spider set up and logging in via the Grey Ghost Shadow Servers." Nix slinks back into his seat and steps out into the matrix. This just feels so fake...

-------

The dragon steps back into the room. "My apologies for the disappearing act. Our local service provider seemed to have experienced a service interruption." His focus is on the leprechaun. The dragon extends a paw and sets down a gemstone ARO. "Here is a contact LTG for our SINS and passes. We'll need contact information for your resource to get the heavy gear in country and also the details for the immediate flights across the pond. We'll trust you to make the connections and provide the discounted rate you referenced earlier." He looks around the room before looking back to the leprechaun. "I trust you. You trust me."

He turns and heads back out of the room, snaking his head towards the hacker as he exits. "We'll see you soon."

The Raven bobs its head to the leprechaun and the UMSMan. "We'll be in touch."

Dingo listens to the Dragon's message and sighs to himself. 'Well that's not ominous at all... Or obvious.' He thinks to himself before logging out and beginning to clean up his apartment a bit, a plan forming in his mind.

Preparations:

Take the exit coming up, and start meandering towards our new friend's house. Shoot the gridguide code over to Nix. "Don't know a damn thing about this dude, save for the fact that he's playing way too loose with this shit. Made us look like idiots in front of the client. You wanna send one of them little disposable ghosts over there, and see how he's looking? You been doing the talking, and I don't really want to knock on his door in broad daylight; if w can get him out of his house, we're money."

I throw the car back onto gridguide, looking for an alley at least three blocks away with good access onto a main throughfare. I'm already dressed like some average schmuck, so no particular issues. While I'm working on that, I call up a list of squares/parks/shops/appropriate open meeting places.

To Nix: <<@Nix (Caliph) - Attachement follows shows some places we can tell him to meet us at.>>

Nix

@Spider

Nix listens as Caliph speaks, "I agree. I'll go personally."

Nix waits until they approach the house, then he slinks back in his seat and lets his spirit walk from his flesh. He considers bringing out a massive fire elemental and cutting his losses, but decides against it. We need to ascertain the threat. People make mistakes. He had to convince himself of the latter as much as anything. Utah was still too close. Too Hot. Too deadly.

His spirit crossed the short distance to the house. He proceeded inside, sizing it up. Technology everywhere, but to be expected. Finding the man inside, waiting, he considered his options. Then he decided on one.

For Raven, the 2 foot tall ghostly man in the tuxedo appeared from no where into the middle of the room. He is mostly insubstantial; Made from otherworldly fluff. It speaks in a deep voice with some slow, northern drawl. "Your car will be arriving momentarily sir."

Dingo stares at the two foot spectre tensely for a moment before deciding that it probably won't be trying to kill him yet. He slips his hand away from his gun and stares some more before finally responding, "A car? That I'm not drivin'? Ye've gotta be kiddin' me. Listen, tell your boss that he's welcome t'come up here for a drink, or I can meet him at the pub just down the street."

He takes a sip from his whiskey and shakes his head. "Sheesh. Ye try t' find a guy t' pick an easy meetin' place for him, and next thing ye know, he's sendin' ghosties t' tell ye he's commin' t'get ye. I would'a come t' him..."

Heave myself off the seat - these new cushy seats are so nice I don't want to move sometimes - and grab a few items. Got my pistols, just grab my assault rifle, pull the shotgun off the underbarrel mount, and shove the taser on there. Shove it in my trusty old gym bag, nicely padded with old sweaty shorts and cetera, and zip it up. I had thought about leaving the car with just the pistols and the taser, but - god, that would leave me naked without a long gun... shudder.

Wait for Nix to return to himself, then tell him: "I'll go stake out the door to his place and follow him wherever we're going. Give me a head's up where once yall work it out. I'll run cover, and just bag him up and dump him in the car if he does something sideways."

Meander out onto the street, looking for a discreet location between 50 and 100 yards away to camp out. End up sliding my gym bag under my feet and leaning against the corner of a building smoking a cigarette and looking like anyone else. Look around me while I keep an eye on the vehicle status and wait for input from Nix.

The watcher slides back across the thin veil that separates the astral and the physical to Nix. The two parley for a mere moment before it returns to the physical and Dingo, "The pub will do well enough"

Nix returns to his flesh, sitting up and addressing Caliph. "The pub down the street."

Dingo shrugs. "Righty oh, then. Tell yer boss t' introduce himself as th' Irish Orphans Foundation, will ye?"

Once the watcher leaves, Dingo grabs his knives and makes his way outside, looking around for threats(just in case his new teammates were reeeeeally unhappy about it) before altering the orders for his flyspies. That done, he heads out to his Suzuki Mirage and makes his way towards the pub.

The watcher delivers the message to Nix. Irish Orphans Foundation. Yeah. Right. He passes that info on to Caliph.

On the way to pub, riding in Caliph's truck, Nix casts physical mask on himself. For now, he looks like an unassuming middle-aged woman in casual clothes.

Nix tells me where the dude is, and a few seconds later as I'm walking down the street and setting myself up in a corner looking for the perpetrator I get a bling of the challenge/password.

My body does nothing, but continues looking, while my mind shrugs. Until I see the dude leave the building and walk for his motorcycle. At which point I just start snapping pictures. Record the door he comes from, videotape his movement, and peicifically capture indicative shots as he moves around.

Record everything about his bike. Smile happily about the ease of capturing this guy, if it comes down to that. Wait for him to roar down the street, run contingencies in my head.

Mickle

Quick message to Nix when I make our boy: <<@Nix (Caliph) - Target enroute, on a motorcycle. Pictures follow (attachment.pic). I can bag him or roll his squat pretty much at will.>>

Plan out a get-in-get-out route for the truck; forward it and the identifying info for the dude and his bike to my truck, in a burst fire message. Nothing rocket science - a quick pick me up spot for the impromptu meet, and instructions on what to do if our boy got beef.

Open a channel to sniff for the dude's comms, see if I can get anything. He's a hacker, so I'm rolling comsec heavy - encrypted burst messages to Nix and the truck, and aside from that I'm barely touching the net ('cept for the throwaway link, which is blinging along happily ignorant of everything, like everyone else on the street). Good thing he can't hear me listening...

Spider feeds Caliph a bead on the hacker as he exits the apartments, lighting up his icon for Caliph's eyes only with a bright orange halo. He takes a quick look around the area, then climbs onto a speed bike, taking off in the direction of the meet site he requested.

I begin meandering afterwards, trying to keep him in more-or-less view. Order the vehicle to move to a new spot, a bit down the road from the target pub.

As Caliph's truck begins to move, I lean back looking in the mirror at the mask, tweaking the look.

<<@Caliph [Nix] I can have a spirit bag him or whatever we want, but lets get this done and get in the air.>>

Once it parks, exit the vehicle and begin walking towards the pub. Nonchalant like. We have a job to do. I think our hacker needs an object lesson, but if we go over the top it will generate long term animosity. Rubbing my chin I a plan begins coming to mind.

<<@Caliph [Nix] Not sure how far you want to take it, but here is what I'm thinking. (a) We just bag him and explain that we are paranoid folk that take it personal when people jack with us. Matrix traces are personal to us. (b) I send two more watchers in to explain that if we had taken it uber-personally, they would just be fire elementals and he would be in the middle of an inferno right now. © We call it a wash, air him out and look for a replacement. or.. (d) Other?>>

Not really sure we need to go to #C, but at this point I've little patience for people who might get me killed.

Caliph - Roll Tailing

Slam a text back to Nix. <<@Nix (Caliph)- He can meet us outside. We ain't meeting on his turf, and we ain't letting him out of our sight once he sees us, after he pulls that kinda crap. We don't know this dude from adam, and we don't really know what kinda crap he's got on us. If he wants it another way, plan C is the way to go. If he can live with both of those, we're good for now. Unless he's thicker than a bull bison he should understand how frickin' exposed he is right now. . We can work out the rest of this shit in my car, on the way to the airport.>>

Meander to where I got a good view of the front of the pub and his bike. Try to track down a good location - that I can see - where we can meet outside, and pop it to Nix.

Caliph's Taling Roll

Good cop, bad cop.... WAIT! I want to be the bad cop! Curiosity about the bar gets the better part. Exit the vehicle and stroll down the street towards the bar. Head inside, look around and stroll up to the bar. Order a drink. Send over a watcher to visit the hacker.

The watcher materializes on the table in front of the hacker. He looks like a thick neck Italian that stands only half a meter tall, in a dark suit with shades and a crew cut. "The boss, he sez we gotta catch a flight and the bus is leaving. Time to fly professor." Curious as I am to see the reaction, I keep looking forward at the drink instead. The bar mirror provides enough reflection to see movement, without making out all the details.

Dingo sighs and lifts his beer, giving it a little shake in front of the spirit. " Ghostie, I'm sure ye don' drink much, but here's a word o' advice: Don' make a man waste his alcohol. 'Tis a blasphemy 'gainst all that is right in this world." He drains a bit of the beer and grins, "I s'pose that yer boss won't meet me in here, th' paranoid bastard. Well, tell 'em that I'll be out in a mo' or two, and that he's welcome to come join me for a drink. I'll pay, if he's willin' to drink what I'm willin' t' buy."

Watch as Nix, wearing an old lady for a face, walks on in. Get to sittin'. Pop a quick swig of corn-whiskey and coffee from my thermos. The combination is... well... lets call it 'motivating.' Gasp a little bit when it hits the throat.

Cue the truck to U-turn while I wait. I'm across the street from it, spending half a brain telling it where to go.

Dingo finishes off his beer and sighs. Guess I shouldn't have expected them to be willing to play by my rules. Ah well... Time to see if I can convince these paranoid psychos to hold their fire long enough for them to realize I wasn't aimin' to cause trouble.

With another sigh and a longing look at the bar, Dingo picks himself up and makes his way out of the bar, praying silently to half a dozen Celtic gods for any bit of protection they may offer a son of Eerie.

<<@Caliph [Nix] Inbound.>>

Finally. I was beginning to think he might outlast me. Watching the hacker leave the bar and not seeing any apparent gestures, nods or even a subtle hand movement, Nix is perplexed. Perhaps he is on the up and up.

As the hacker steps through the doorway, the woman at the bar finally rises and meanders towards the door.

Smile at the message from Nix, unzip my gym bag a little, and reach in and grab the pistol grip of the assault rifle. Play at rummaging around for a little, but I'm of course taking a risk here. Hell, if it comes down to getting the guns off, I'll have to aim the old fashioned way. The camera on my smartlink, as the picture-in-picture on my eyes is telling me, is staring straight at a sweaty pair of socks and a not-as-clean-as-it-should-be lump of boxer shorts.

I can live with that. See the dude coming out, tense as reasonable to expect.

Pop a message to Nix: <<@Nix (Caliph) - Gotcha. AR tag attached shows a good spot to put him. I got eyes on him and the spot.>>
Spot's an area on the side of the road, bout 100 yards from me and 75 yards from the door of the bar. My car is across the street, pointing towards the bar, maybe about 50 yards away. The autopilot on the car knows what's up - if he breaks for the bike, the bike ends up under my front tires.

The play of rummaging in the gym bag is obvious, but it's more for the consumption of the dudes on the street than him. If he got a quarter of common sense, he'd see through the gym bag trick in a heartbeat. My big concern is less that he makes me and more that he doesn't twitch out if he does. Gun ain't pointing at him. Don't want too much attention.

<<@Caliph [Nix] You want him in your truck?>>

<<@Nix (Caliph) - That's the goal, but I'm flexible with the street if it'll take a fight to get him in there.>>

The hacker steps out of the bar, with a helpful AR tag from Spider on Caliph's AR highlighting him. The cool Seattle air breezes through the tense scene as indifferent to the rest of the denizens of the street.

Dingo leans against the wall and waits, figuring that his ride will make itself known soon enough. While he waits, however, he composes a quick message and leaves it in his commlink's outbox without a destination.

<<Subject: Hey, Chief>>
<< Don't suppose you'd be kind enough to tell your boys this is all one big misunderstanding?>>

See the target pop out, and note it on the AR. Give it a minute, and hit a message to Nix: <<@Nix (Caliph) - Got him in view. Gonna move so he can see me. You wanna have a chat with him, or shall I?>>

Pop the kid's location to my truck, so the machinegun knows what to look for. Priority for the autopilot is still the bike.

Throw the gym bag over my shoulder, but leave the right hand in it, holding onto the rifle. If you were to imagine the gym bag disappeared, it would look like I'm walking with a slung rifle. I just try to pull it off like it's nothing... look in it, fake rummaging, that shit, mostly for the people on the street. My real attention never leaves our boy.

The middle-aged woman saunters over to the hacker leaning on the wall. She smiles, "Walk with me." She steps off. (Nix is careful not to cross Caliph's line of fire.)

She is wearing a tasteful, dark dress in a simple style and pattern. The hem reaches below her knees and the sleeves half down her triceps. Her shoes open toed with a low heel. Her calf muscles shapely, but not muscular. Her hair is dark brown, just past the shoulders and it is not quite straight; It is clean and kept. Her face is tanned, but she is a Caucasian. Wrinkles are just beginning to make their mark on her face. Most would place her age in the late thirties, maybe as old as mid-forties.

She hesitates several steps out, looking back to the hacker. Her voice is calm and soft; Almost motherly. "I won't bite. Promise."

<<@Caliph [Nix] I'll try nice. If that doesn't work, I'll step up to tag and bag.>>

Dingo studies the woman for a moment before shrugging and folding his hands behind his head, his easy grin still pasted on his face. "Aye, lead the way, ma."

He casually pushes himself off the wall and starts following her.

When I see Nix make contact I back off. I 'find' what I was 'looking for' in my gym bag, inspect the pair of drawers that I randomly pulled out, and put them back in. Shift the bag to a more comfy position.

Shift to a different spot on the road, maintaining clear visual contact with the group, and trigger a cue to the car to lot a new a route, meeting them both at a good pickup point.

<<@Caliph [Nix] Unless you have another idea, I'll taking him to the truck. We need to get on a plane.>>

Nix's mesage pops in, and I shrug. Good a plan as any. This "picking dude up for a talking-to-that-may-turn-hostile-but-we-don't-really-want-it-to-have-to" stuff is for the dogs. Give me the nice honesty of a bag or a couple bullet holes any day.

<<@Nix (Caliph) Truck's coming to you. Just tell him to play nice. I won't be as courteous as I was to Mr. Moustache in Provo if he f***s with my ride.>>

Pop an order to to the truck, tell it to swing around and meet them, pop open the back doors. I give them some time to get situated as I walk back to the truck. Kind of an annoying set up for talking to a dude, because Nix'll either be alone in the back with him, or he'll be alone in the back with Nix riding shotgun. Oh well. We make do.

The woman leads the man from the bar down the block to a waiting truck. She opens the door and slides in to the front, gesturing to the back door. She smiles before speaking in Nix' voice, "We have a plane to catch and we need to talk on the way. Establish some ground rules, if you will." The woman's eyes shift in color from brown to Nix's own bright green.

Dingo blinks for a moment before shrugging. "I do need to get my bike and some stuff from my apartment. Do we have time for me to do that before we get on the plane?" While he asks, he climbs into the van. "Were those ghosties yours, or is there someone else we'll be meeting?"

Accelerate the car, drive it about a hundred yards up the block before I rendezvous with it. No sense in giving the external observer the pleasure of seeing all of us in the exact same place at the same time.

Hop in the driver's side door and set the gym bag down, barrel facing the back of the car. Catch the new kid at the trail end of a sentence, not sure what he was saying. Plot a route on the gridguide taking us for about a 30 minute drive-around. Reach back and offer my hand - "I'm Caliph. Welcome. Play nice now."

Dingo shakes Caliph's hand. "Dingo. I'll be playin' just as nice as ye do. Although I'm startin t' think ye don' think much o' me, what with yer refusin' my hospitality an' all..."

After Caliph is on board, the woman turns around in the seat to face the hacker. The visage of the woman then melts away giving way to a male elf of indeterminate age with silver hair. The elf extends his hand as well, though he's not yet smiling. "Nix. We have to get one thing straight: Your little hacking stunt nearly caused an unrepairable fracture in this joint venture. We're gonna need to trust each other before this is over. Right now your trust levels are running low."

Dingo shakes Nix's hand then shrugs. "Ye don' have to worry bout it happenin' again. I figured ye'd like me t' pick a, equidistant meetin' spot. Most o' the teams I've worked with have enjoyed the easy meetin place."

"Not the point. You want to find out a convenient spot? Ask a question. Don't want to do it in front of the Johnson? Get a commcode number and meet us there. You want to make us not trust you? Trace us. What the hell would you think if some random dude starts trying to find out where you live?"

Pull onto another main street, start driving like a lost tourist, trying to flush out whether or not anyone is following us.

"Aye. I'll admit I made a mistake. Shall we start over?"

"That'll start, yep. What're you gonna do with your bike, and what kinda stuff you bringing?".

I do a quick check back, through the open tarp, into my living room, where the new guy is sitting on my couch (that, with a little help from the fold-up couch on the other end, turns into my bed). Eyes flick to the footlocker/gunsafe tucked under the other couch, just to check on it.

Nix nods at Caliph's reply. He then starts pulling up all the details on London he can absorb. Not much time to study and lots to learn.

Dingo shrugs. "I'll drop the bike off with a friend who'll keep an eye on it. Other than that, I just need to grab a handful o' datadisks, some clothes, and a lil' something for protection. Also have a couple drones that we can bring or I'll need to store. Any opinions on the drones?"

"What kinda drones we talking about? You be able to take 'em with you? or we talking big ones?"

In the mean time, pop a message to a local Eez-E-Storage franchise in the general vicinity of the airport, under Jason Whitaker (my day-to-day biz ID), and contract for a month of storage on a ground-floor, drive-up unit.