"Of course, of course. Forgive my bad manners. Gomen Nasai." Konton dropped his now uncomfortable astral stare. He bowed again very deeply.

"I have something of an idea for the run, that involves astral projection. But I'll wait to bring it up later."

Konton swept his arm out toward where the others were standing.

"After you."

Raven stepped out of the van, much better able to deal with the hundred degree heat now that she had shed some of her armor. She tapped the button to close the side door to the van.

"alright people, leave the poor girl alone and lets get inside," Raven said loud enough for the two men to hear. She walked over to where the girl was being ambushed and held out her hand.

"Carmen right? Raven. Miho is the other girl on the team, and Grendels in the van playing watchdog. Lets get inside so we can get this show on the road."

"Hai Raven-San. Gomen Nasai. Forgive my lack of professionalism." Konton bowed twice rapidly.

In addition to living to fight the good fight, Dragon Slayer can also play and party without equal. Konton's tendency for this was the main reason he could never make it as a monk. It had gotten him in trouble before, and judging from what just happened, might do so again soon. He tried to focus his energies on the task at hand. Giving the totem something to think about besides Carmen.

Rescuing two damsels in distress. Walking into the lair of his enemies. Taking the fight to them, with bullet, blade, spell and spirit. He felt his ancestor's power stirring within him. Konton let the totem's energy build. The Slayer was always good to have nearby during the planning stages of a run. Not the greatest of strategists, but he was bold. And that sometimes allowed Konton to envision and achieve the impossible.

"Today is victory over yourself of yesterday" He quoted Musashi.

"Let's go give the Johnson his money's worth."

Miho awoke, everyone was already up and moving... Great... she thought, first time on a team, and I sleep-in on the plane

She checked her gear. Bow, arrows, nunchakus, gel packs, armour. Ok, noticing the gear everyone else had, she started to feel underdressed, and her body-fit armour made her feel practically nude, it was no wonder she remained unseen. She didn't exit the plane, instead, rolling to the top of the bison, and lying there, watching from the doorway the newcomers. She was greatful another woman showed up, women meant men not watching her, and that made it easier to be where she liked to be.... unseen. "Base....", she said, her first time saying anything over the comm, but at least remembering to use the code name, "I'm riding your Bison. Don't shoot.....", she said, a bit of a grin on her face. She lay there, chin in hands, feet crossed and bent up at the knees as she watched the cowboy. She could never understand the urge of people to walk in the open like that. The awful sunlight which burned annoyingly, and the open-ness, it was so.... open.

As the others headed into the hanger, Konton waved down Leblanc.

"Omae, Can I get one more swig of that brew of yours?" Konton remembered the flavor of the drink as overpowering, but the young decker didn't know that.

Konton hung back just outside the hanger doors. He just needed a minute to set things straight.

"maybe two, kudasai."

Four, Base, roger, but the roof of the Bison won't be a healthy place if things go south. You stay at your own risk.

Stopping in his track, Leblanc started fishing around his numerous pockets, once more. Apparently, the decker wasn't used to putting things back where he took them... and was always looking for trinkets and items in his pockets. After a few second, he finaly took out the small silvery flask and handed it to Konton.

"There you go mate!"

He gave the sorcerer a board and honest smile. Christophe knew he had reacted a bit rudely when Carmen had shown up. But now, he was already over the woman. Since he had recognize her, he had only been concentrated on not giggling to hard.

"Sorry about earlier; I didn't mean to brush up your style." he briefly took his sunglasses off to clean them. "No harm done I do hope. I was just kidding around." he puts them back on.

Looking around to make sure the others couldn't hear him, he leaned toward Konton with a large smirk on his face.

For Konton only

Konton's eyes widened in disbelief. "Honto?" he said quietly..."For real?"

"I want to apologize too. I normally don't act like that on a job. I'm happy to forget it if you are."

Konton raised the flask to lips. "Kampai!"

"If we get through this successfully, I'll treat us both to couple of days of the best hospitality the Floating World has to offer. It's the least I can do."

Konton returned the flask, and then extended his hand for an uncharacteristic western style hand shake.

"Sumimasen chummer."

The young man laughed to Konton's offer and firmly shook his hand.

"Sure thing chummer! There's no way in hell I'll refuse such an offer! Cheers!" he took one last drink from the flask before putting it away.

With the back of his sleeve, he wiped his mouth.

"How about we get down to business now?"

"Absolutely. We've got people to save, and bills to pay."

Smiling widely, Konton made his way into the hanger.

As the plan was landing Q held on tight. It was as rough as the fight was but would could you expect is a plane like this one, it isn't any commuter flight and he definitely isn’t in first class.

It took the plane a few min's for it to land and swing around to park out side a large hanger. The large hanger door was slightly open but he couldn't see anyone from the plane.

"That was a hell of a flight amigo . I'll fly with you any time" under his breath " just remind me not to eat before hand" the give the guy a big smile and starts to gather his gear up.

After getting his bags unhooked he opens the smaller one with his cloths and armor in it and puts on and new shirt and a pair of pants and his Secure Ultra-Vest. Then his holsters for his 2 handguns and over it all he throws on his big poncho. Putting on his dusty hat (old western sort of cowboy style hat, think dirty hair's hat) and picking up his bags he left the plane.

After he gets off he turns back and gives a nod to the pilot as to say goodbye. He the look up at the sun and gives it a nod.

Good day to you sir. Its not as hot here as at home but a little more humid not to bad thou, he knows how to deal with it.

Walking over to the hanger he stops in the doorway. Taking a min. for anyone in side to acknowledge him and to take a good look himself. Seeing the large plane and the van but not seeing anyone out in the open he gives a medium long yell

" Anyone home, my name is Marco Q, I'm here for a meeting"

"Konbonwa Q-san. I am Konton. When we met in the matrix, I introduced myself as Ki. Please come inside, we're about to start the meeting."

Konton gestured from the hanger door to the interior where the rest of the group was waiting.

"Do you have any other gear you need moved in here before we get started?"

Q looks to try and find while the voice came from. "No just these 2 bags I got here Buddy" Finally seeing the man he starts to walk slowly over to him trying to get used to the lighting in the hanger (lots of shadows with eh bright sun only shining through the big door and a few small windows towards the top of the walls.

Inside the hangar there was a table off to the side. It had a holoprojector setup, and well as some hard copy images of whom you could only assume to be the woman you were to snatch and her daughter. Along with those, were pictures of two other men. One was a suit, he looked like a million bucks and held himself as someone with a lot of power to dole out. The other was of a Azzlander who was obviously hired muscle or a bodyguard of some kind. The Texan took a final drag from his cigarette and flicked it away.

"Alright ladies and gents, heres the deal. From here on out, my name ain't Johnson anymore, yal can just call me Wraith. I'll be the point of contact fer this here gig."

He taps the holo and a 3D image of the doctor comes up. "This in Target Prime. She'll be comin' inta town soon an' can't want to meet yal. The problem is this guy..."

He taps it again and the suit appears. "This 'ere is her husband. He is the CEO of AzzTech Reasearch."

He pauses for a moment to let that sink in. "He's also one abusive son of a bitch. He keeps his wife on a tight watch and has told her that if she ever tries to leave 'im, that he'll kill their daughter in retaliation."

An image of the daughter comes up for a moment, she is cute, but not overly so, a mix of her moms caucasian and her fathers azzlander blood.

"Now this guy, he is the Big Problem..." The holo projector displays an image of the bodyguard. "This fragger is tough as nails and does whatever he is told. To the kid, he is Uncle Diego, but little does she know that he'd snap her neck if the boss says so. This guy is trained with the best of em, he's good with just about any type of weaponry he can get his hands on and most times he doesn't even bother with em. He is a highly graded Adept, but we're not too sure how high. There may be other underlings, but he is the hot potato."

"The good Doctor will be in town for an Omitech conferance with starts in three days and is being held at the Hilton. You've got two days to come up with a plan, not just on extracting the doc, but also getting down to the daughter within twenty four hours and gettin' her behind outta hell as well. The doctor is willing, but we have no idea on the daughter, who knows what her 'Uncle' has been fillin' 'er head with."

"Questions?"

Miho watched from her little perch, she knew she was suppose to be hanging out with everyone else, but that made her feel so vulnerable, so she watched the projection from the sanctity of the shadows.

It was wierd to listen to the Wraith guy, he never really said to kill the abusive father, but that would have been her first impulse. Men who beat women deserved nothing better, she may have grown up japanese in beliefs of complete servitude to the man, but she'd been in America long enough now to realize the wrong in that.

Then the big guy came on screen.... the "highly graded Adept", and she could feel her fingers tingle. The guy looked almost like an Orc with his size, the complete opposite of tiny Miho, yet still, Miho craved to taste the excitement of battle against him.

"Base", the quiet girl said over the comm, "why we take woman out first, not child? And is problem with Exec accidently good-bye life?", she asks.

Konton forwent use of the comms, not knowing wether or not Wraith was wired to talk with them. This was the part of the planning where he liked to just collect information from the rest of the team and all parties involved. Plans began bubbling up in his mind.

"Grendel-san, given the best case scenario, how long would it take us to get from the conference here in Corpus Christi, to the school in Monterey? Or Vica versa.

"And Wraith, do we know how often the Doctors handler's check in with their Azzie masters?

"Leblanc, how hard would it be to get a new student added to the roster at the school in Monterey?"

Q walks in and sets his bags down next to him. Everyone already gathered around a cowboy looking gentleman, looks like he has arrived just in time.

After hearing what the man had to say, Q chimes in with a question.

"Do you know if Diego will be with the mother or the daughter or with the husband? And will the Husband be at the convention with his wife or will she be here with just some other scientists from AzzTech Research.

Does her husband keep good watch over her at all times or does he feel that his treat of killing her daughter is enough to keep her on a loose leash? And as for the daughter what kind of school is she at and what kind of presence does he have there? Does he have a team watching her 24/7 or does he just over pay the school to do his dirty work?

Sorry to ask so many questions all at once but there isn't much time it seems to just stand around.

By the way I'm Q, for those who didn't see me come in."

Even in the darkness of the hangar, Konton could feel the decker smirking.

"Konton-san, I was thinking the exact same thing. So, who goes back to school me or ninja girl?"

"Anyways, to answer your question, if their systeme is like most respectable school, it shouldn't be a problem."

Turning toward Q, Leblanc gave him a little wink.

"Hola muchacho; welcome to the party."

"I was thinking Miho. She's more likely to be seen as non threatening around the girl. Also If the daughter does have an adept guardian angel, it would be best to put our own adept on the ground against him.

"Keep in mind, I am just brainstorming right now. I'd like to know what the rest think, and especially Miho.

"As far as the conference is concerned, do any of us know enough about bio-genetic whatevers to pull off being a convincing attendee? Leblanc, I know you mentioned skill chips over the comms earlier. Could you use something like that to come off as a scientific prodigy?"

Leblanc leaned agaisnt the table, taking a hardcopy picture of the young girl. Studying the picture carefully, he didn't even lift his head when he spoke.

"So, we've got two days to come up with plans for both extraction, and about 24 or so to accomplish them. I guess none of us are going to sleep for the next 3 days."

He threw the picture on the table, taking the next one and studying it with the same intense gaze. It was obvious that the decker was memorizing the face of each "participants".

"Alright; I've got a bunch of questions also... I take it that target Prime is staying at the very hotel where the conferance is taking place? If not, where is she staying? We're also going to need the medical files of both targets, and surrounding security personel. Everyone has a angle that can be worked... we just have to find it. We'll also be able to determine the general health of both target. I dunno about you guys, but I'd rather know now if the doc is epileptic... rather than find out when she's having a seizure because of a flash grenade."

"Unless you already have the floor plans for both location, Hilton and school, I'll get to work as soon as I can and get those. Same for the medical record, and exact security detail surrounding both targets. Like I mentionned earlier this morning, tranq patch would be a nice thing to have on hand... if things go sour of if the target ends up resisting, we can midly sedate it."

The young decker put the picture down, and turned toward Raven.

"You said we needed three plans of extraction: hotel, conference and transit. Transit is way too risky in my opinion... and since we're on a short time table, we could concentrate on plan Hotel and plan Conference. I can probably get us into both as clients, hotel workers, conference attendee, or conference workers. If we can grab her without anyone noticing for a good while, I'd give us even more time to make our second move. That being said...... We could always extract both targets simultaniously... but that would require a split up of the team."

He turned toward Miho.

"You're taking about popping a cap in the husband? right? I've got no objection if he's in our way, which I doubt he'll be... but we're not getting paid for that."

"Your right, two plans it is. But we are going to have to split the team. We are going to have to pull the doctor and the girl at the same time. Theres just no way around it. We pull the doctor and then head for the girl we will be walking into an army. By the time the husband gets told about the Doctors disappearance, the girl must already be in our custody. Lets wait for Wrath to answer the questions though before we postulate any more."

Hearing Konton's remark, the decker giggled.

"As a matter of fact, yes, I'm wired for datasoft and knowsoft of all kinds. Also got hard memory in the head, so I can copy chips and not "wear" them. And to be quite frank, I can honestly bullshit anyone into thinking anything. Give me a few hours of prep work, and I can act the part."

"If we split the team, that leaves us short handed, and without back up until we get back together. I really think if the travel time is short enough, and we're careful with our execution, we can keep the whole team involved in both operations."

"That being said, if we do split the team, we're going to have to do it carefully. If Miho is on the ground in Monterey, I'll be playing parent Unless any of the rest of you are natural Japanese speakers. To split our magical assets, that puts Carmen here in Corpus Christi. Which works, as she has the home ground advantage here.

"Grendel should end up where ever we think the extraction is gong to be hottest, and there is the largest potential for a firefight. Marco and Raven will balance out the short handed teams, and Leblanc, if you are our inside man at the conference, or the hotel, that would put you here."

Konton weighed those words heavily. In his past, whenever teams split up, some one wound up hurt, or worse.

"Still I think splitting the team is a bad idea. Wraith, is there any reason to belive that once we secure the doctor, that we'll have the full 24 hours to get the girl? Is that the check in time frame of the doc's handlers or something?"

"Yo mate, Konton; don't forget I'm also wired for languages... I speak whatever you'd like me to"

Again, the decker giggled.

Team, Base, I think Four has a good idea. We should look to pulling the daughter first and then the mother. First, because the daughter's in a fixed location with prepared defenses, it would be more difficult to make an intrusion if those defenses were alerted. Second, the mother is on the road, which means that there will be a delay in information flow from the father's security structure to the mother's exec sec detail. Also, when the information does come through, the exec sec team will have to move the mother from the conference to some secure location. They'll be vulnerable at that point to interception.

To make a decision on this, we should attempt to find out what the security's most likely response will be to an extraction attempt, both against the mother and the daughter.

Straightline distance between Corpus Christi and Monterrey is three hundred sixty kilometers. Unfortunately, it crosses one of the most militarized borders since Checkpoint Charlie. My recommendation is to make a waterborne intrusion, or rather submarine intrusion. We'll head south just offshore from Padre Island, then go ashore through Laguna Madre. We'll travel up the Rio San Fernando river to a point eighty kilometers southeast of the city before proceeding via surface roads.

Unfortunately this route takes us the better part of ten hours one way. Which puts us in something of a time crunch.

I'm against splitting the team in any way, though.

"I'm hungry..." the decker looked at his teamates. "How about a pizza?"

Konton recalled the last thing he had was a cup of tea, besides the Genki drinks. And that was hours ago. Pizza sounded very good. He doubted the others would enjoy Japanese style pizza though. Shredded Pork, Shimeji Mushrooms, Bamboo Shoots, Nori (seaweed), and Shiso Leaves. He would have to adapt to whatever passed for pizza in Texas.

"Hai Leblanc-san. Very good idea. We should find ourselves a place to eat once we are done here. I for one am starving."

Konton doubted that it would be wise to have a pizza delivered to airplane hanger filled with armed criminals.

"To hold us over, I have some Pizza-La chips in with my gear."

Konton gestured toward the Bison.

In his back, he could feel Raven's heavy stare. He turned around, giving her an unsure smile. He then looked at every single runner present, the Bizon, all their gear, etc...

"Ok..... just pretend like I didn't say anything."

Wraith blinks at the barage of questions and holds up a finger to halt conversation.

"Right then, lesse if I kin answer all them questions at once...

The deal with the girl is that shes got her Uncle with her at all times and who knows who else at the school to help him out. The husband won't be in town, so if you manage to snag the wife and take out her tags, I give it a day before he realizes something is going on. If you snag the daughter first, the husband will find that out faster and send for his wife. Its up to you if you want to split up, just get the job done...

Now then, you should also know that I will be helping you out where I can. I've been round the Shadows fer a long time an just cause I'm hirin' ya, don't mean I plan to stand back and let yal have the fun. So, figure out what yer gunna do while I go change into something more comfortable."

With that, Wraith steps into the bathroom, leaving you all to talk.

Two, Base, ask Wraith if the Hilton has a CCSS or if security is matrix run. Also, any details on the exec sec squad with Target Prime?

"Yo Wraith... Concerning the Hilton: is the Doc staying there? Do you know if the building's security is CCSS or Matrix run? Anything concerning the security detail around the Doc?"

The decker spat on the floor. As time passed by, it was obvious that the heat was bothering him. Not that he was sweating profusively... it was only his general demeanor that was changing. Less comfortable, twitchy, grumpy. His breathing even seemed shallow at time.

Once Wraith was in the bathroom, Christophe started pacing around the hangar.

"So... if I got the whole thing straight, we actually do have a 24 hours window. That is, as long as we grab the doc without popping everyone in our way. I understand why everyone would like to go for the girl first, but I doubt I employer would be happy. Here is the situation on the business side of things: we grab the doc, make a lot of noise and we loose the kid. Employer happy because he has the doc, doc pissed because her daughter's sleepin with the fishes. scenario two: we grab the girl, make a lot of noise, loose the doc. Employer majorly pissed because he's got jack shit. Great... we've got a kid on our hands. Big fragging deal. That kid ain't going to pay my bills. The way I see it, and I don't like to see it like that... the kid is a secondary objective."

He gave a quick look around the team.

"Yea... I know... it sucks. But we're paid to get the doctor... then the kid. I believe that a safe and clean extraction can be accomplished in both cases. I'm even convinced that we've got enough skills, hardware and mojo in this group to pull this whole thing without even firing one round and make a single wrinkle in our clothes."

"We could very well split the team, but that would stretch our resources thin, and the risks of something going wrong will shoot through the roof. Counting Wraith in; we've got an 8 people crew. That means we can go for a very elaborate serie of con to get both targets out."

The young decker stretched once more and yawned as wide as he could.

"So, unless someone has some brilliant idea right now... I'm going to find a secure line and get in my zone."

Leblanc, smirking over his shoulder at Carmen decided to shoot one last comment.

"I was thinking... we could always sneak Carmen in the girl's school. She could be a replacement sex ed. teacher. Right, Carm?"

Raven lifted an eyebrow at Leblancs last comment. She shrugged her shoulders and figured she would figure it out eventually.

"So we really do have 24 hours as improbable as it seems. Then we take the Doc first, and move on to the Kid. I have been to a couple of conferences like the this one and I can tell you security is lax. Any detail she has will be 1 or 2 guys, possibly not with her the whole time. Either way our primary extraction should be while she is in the hotel."

Raven looked around to see if there was any descent.

"Ok your with me so far. Heres what we do. The conference is going to be at least two days or she wouldn't be in a hotel. LeBlanc, first order of biz for you is get on the trix find out everything about the Hilton and see if you can crack their system, were going to need access to the security cameras and elevators. Carmen, you and Konton will need to find out what kind of magical security the place has, due astral and on the ground recon. I would say book us in the hotel, but if this is a convention weekend theres no way we will get a room. And we don't want to hack their computers any more than we need to."

She paused a moment to let it all sink in.

"Base, you will need to get familiar with the streets around the area, if you aren't already. Miho, you are our shadow. From the moment the doctor is on the ground at the airport you will be following her. We need to know how many guys shes got on her detail, the obvious ones, and the not so obvious ones. Q, your Mihos back up, you stay within a mile of her so if she gets into trouble you can help her out. Once we know what room and floor the Doctors on and what her detail is like we can make our move. And as much as I would like to do this without shots fired thats just not going to be possible. Her detail has to go, all of them. If they don't they will immediately report she is gone and we can't take that chance."

A few moments later a mexican man walks out of the bathroom.

"Alright, as to the rest of your questions...

The hotel is matrix run. The doctor always has people following here, but the details change depending on the situation. Something like this, I'd expect heavy guard, as she won't be under her husbands thumb. If you like, we could hop in my taxi and head down there. I'd even be willing to wait outside for you and wave my fare."

The mexican smiles broadly to you all.

"When we take down her security detail, it will have to be someplace private. It will also have to be a real quiet move. And we'll need to dispose of the the evidence. Those three things are no small order in a public place. I have an invisibility spell, and access to spirits concealment, but silence is an entirely different animal.

"And leaving the conference carrying a half dozen bodies is something I'm not looking forward too. However, Raven hit the nail on the head. Her whole detail must be eliminated, and with such speed that they are unable to contact their superiors in the process. My combat spells are silent, and i could stoop to sword play, but everything else I do is loud.

"We've got two days before the conference. I say first order of business is Recon. Carmen and I will sweep both the hotel and the conference room for magical security. We'll do them one at a time, and stick together. Leblanc, get every morsel you can on lay outs, security etc of both locations. And see if you cant get us some Conference passes, and hotel reservations. If not at the hilton, maybe there is a hotel next door.

"Raven, do you want to secure the rest of the comm gear to kit out the team? And then with Carmen's advice, you and Q can set up a forward position at a secure location near the hotel and conference center. We can use that as our base of operations.

"Miho, do you think you can start skirting the locations, and getting some on the ground intel. Get a feel for the places you'll be sneaking around when the target gets here? Grendel do you have any covert surveillance drones, like that little spider thing that was in all those Aztechnology bath soap commercials a couple of years back? If so, perhaps Miho could plant some of them inside the target area on her journey.

"Thoughts?"

"At least I could pass for one." she icily snapped back. If looks could kill, Leblanc would be a smear on the pavement. She had considered giving this...boy...the light of day. And this was how she was repaid. Did he have any idea what most men would do to simply get her to look their way? And he had the audacity to make fun of her former career. He was lucky they were on the job. Hopefully for his sake, she'd cool down some over the course of the next two days...but she doubted it.

Turning her attention back to the task at hand, she contributed "I have a spell that combines invisibility and silence. I also have an illusion spell, that could make boy genius there look like the target, at least as far as physical appearances go. Of course, both still are subject to astral sight."