Tanya joins you for the walk back. By this time there are more people on the dirt road and they appear to be tourists by their clothing. As you enter the restaurant, you see two women standing in front of the porch having their pictures taken by another woman. The dining room is crowded and there are no vacant tables, but Eugene holds up a hand to motion you over to where has your loaves of bread stacked on his table. When you come over, he asks, "How was your walk?"

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Cajun Town, Seattle] #372

"Fine. But now, I've got work to do." She looks at her bread "And I think it's past time I rescued my bread before you eat everything."

Eugene laughs and wipes some imaginary butter from his chin. "And it sure was tasty, too." He stands and offers you the wrapped package of loaves. "Headed back to the sprawl or staying here for a bit. You know, the quiet here is very conducive to work, and no one will bother you while you are on the matrix."

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Cajun Town, Seattle] #373

Cynthia takes back her bread with a nod "I know. But sometimes, you have to be near whatever you want to access to get in. Or to be sure you get into the right stuff." She pauses, then frowns "Oh, and if you try to tag my car or spy on me, you'll end up miserable. Okay? I thought I was safe from games like that yesterday, but I won't make the same mistake twice."

Eugene looks genuinely surprised and sits up, apparently quite interested. "Not sure what you mean about tagging your car or spying on you. I did not do either of those things, but am concerned that you think someone did. Can you tell me about it?"

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Cajun Town, Seattle] #374

Cynthia snorts "You admitted spying on Roger and me yesterday. So now, I'm being a bit paranoid." After a couple of seconds, she shrugs and adds "Given what all this is about, it might be for the best anyway. But no more games today. I will pay attention, and I will bite anyone looking at me too closely."

He will lift up his hands and not say anything, but a look of profound sadness crosses his face for a moment before he smiles and nods. "Duly noted. No games. Please be careful."

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Cajun Town, Seattle] #375

"There will be times for games later." She shrugs "Just not now. And if you feel the need to spy on anyone, maybe you could try to make sure about Roger. I'd like to trust him but..." She shrugs, then looks thoughtfully at Eugene for a moment "If I go down that road, I don't even know if I can trust you... But somehow... Well, I ended up telling you a lot more than I did Roger. Not sure what that says..." She sighs "Anyway, I'll talk to you later. I have you code after all, and you do mine."

Frowning, she considers the question "Unless only Roger has them? Uh..."

Eugene thinks for a second then shakes his head. "If you give me yours, I can send you mine. You are a clever and beautiful woman and I expect that you will do well at any task you set yourself. Call me if you need anything and I will come to help you."

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Cajun Town, Seattle] #376

Cynthia sends her code, then chuckles "I don't play the damsel in distress very well, but maybe if you make a convincing knight in dire need of help, I could find in my heart the magnanimity to come to the rescue." She shakes her head, and her smile fades "I'll be going now, take care. Pretty sure I'll be back around here soon enough anyway."

Eugene nods without saying anything more. When you turn around, you almost bump into Tanya, who has come into the room after you. She smiles and moves to the side. "Have a nice day and good hunting, Cynthia. I will send you what I find out." She takes a seat at the table as you make to leave the building. At the door, you hear a girl's voice from behind you. Turning, you receive a hug from Jeanette. "Thank you, Miss Cynthia." Then she is gone, back towards the kitchen.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #377

Before she can even think to hug back Jeanette, the girl is gone. But it doesn't really help Cynthia, who stays there, immobile for a few seconds, wondering what this was about. She considers for a moment going after her, to understand, but she feels it would be even more awkward, and, a bit cowardly, decides to leave. After all, she'll be able to ask later, won't she?

Getting in her car, she sets it to go in the direction of the offices she's targetting this morning. On the way, she studies a map and the matrix layout near said offices, in order to find a spot where she will be able to park without raising attention to herself. And from where she can leave quickly if need be. She will take care to hack the cameras of the place where she parks to avoid being registered there. It might be too much, but... Maybe there is no "too much" considering the stakes.

When you near the archway leading away from the small town, you meet a man with a large metal star on his chest. He is younger and thinner than the man you had seen the previous day and he tips his hat to you as he wishes you a safe and pleasant day. Stepping through the arch is like nothing you have experienced before. The feeling of peace and quiet, of a slow way of life, just seems to melt away as you once again are bombarded by the noises of the outskirts of Seattle. Turning, you see the deputy wave at you and something tugs at you that is easily pushed aside as as you turn to your car.

Avila Transportation has an office in a small business park not too far away from Cajun Town and you arrive in the general location within twenty minutes. There are two bars in the neighborhood that you could park at, or you could simply park along the street.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #378

Cynthia hesitates a moment, but then decides to park in one of the bars, in a corner. She should be out of sight, and should anyone notice her, she could just be someone who had too many drinks the night before and is sleeping on it.

Once parked, she slips happily into VR. She checks her messages, to be sure she didn't miss anything, makes sure no one is paying attention to her, and starts to look at Avila's offices and mainly the 'links in there.

Matrix Perception (TM+2, VR+2): 16d6t5 8, sadly limit is 6

Matrix security at the building is scant and easily circumvented. Before long, you have free access to several file locations. On the surface, the office is pretty much a small transport hub that specializes in moving heavy equipment from place to place, although they will take smaller jobs if trucks are available. Are you looking for anything in particular or just scanning files?

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #379

For now, Cynthia is just scanning the files. She goes with the assumption that wherever Avila's main Host is, it was probably designed in a similar way as this one. Or more likely vice-versa. The goal is to familiarise herself with the way things work or feel in there.

Once she has done that, she will try to find more specific things, especially regarding possible shipments to or from Seattle organised in the recent past. She doesn't really expects it, but maybe the mercenaries - or at least their weapons - were shipped by Avila. And if they were... They could be a lot easier to track. Another thing she's looking for is any possible link with Phil Tanaka.

If this is a host, it is laughable. The "secure" files are easy to crack and you find out lots of things in the time you allot yourself to be in the files. You find that the office was opened about three years ago and has achieved a very modest share of the heavy lift contracts offered by local construction companies. Until recently, most of the work has been small stuff, but that changed a bit four months ago when orders for large equipment transfers began to come in. First a trickle then an average of three or four a day for the past month. You also find hidden files on the office manager's personal folder that quite explicitly indicate that the married father of three is having an affair with his also married secretary and is filming their sexual encounters on a security camera placed in his office. The young woman in question does not seem to realize that she is being filmed.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #380

Cynthia doesn't care about the affair. Oh, she will make a copy, and she'll transfer it to Tanya when she has everything, but as far as she's concerned, she just files that under the "Men are pigs" folder. Though of course the secretary being married too kind of complicates things. What she's most interested in however are the recent transfers in the last months. She's careful to not fall in a trap, but digs deeper into that, especially interested in the final destination, the source and most of all, the end point contact.

Another thing she will try to find is the resources of the office, mainly as far as vehicles go. If she can find those vehicles, maybe she can learn a lot more. Few people go as far as wiping the internal memories of their trucks, even if they pay attention to leave as few traces as possible otherwise.

It appears that about four months ago a company named in the file as Franklin Construction had been taken on as a client and had quickly become the major source of income for the local Avila office. A number of additional trucks were requested from the home offices and sent to Seattle where they apparently stay quite busy moving heavy equipment and construction supplies for the company. The vehicles are stored in a converted bus barn leased by the company from the city. There is a file of text communications between the office manager, Nathan Grover, and corporate headquarters in which there are numerous references to money sent to him to have the office security upgraded, both physically and on the matrix. Grover has several replies on record as having spent the funds appropriately, but that would be a lie.

You also not that Grover has informed his superiors that he needs additional office staff to handle the increased business and was sent a large sum to make that happen. You find a copy of an add for a person with good secretarial skills that has been sent to the major press and trid services.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #381

Before anything else, Cynthia makes a small research about Franklin Construction, to know if they are under Samspon too, some kind of shell corporation, or something legit at first glance.
Matrix Search (+2 VR): 16d6t5 4

After that, she makes sure no one is paying undue attention to her, cleans her overmatched score and writes a small report to Tanya.
>>Nathan Grover, office Manager. Steals a lot of money from his company, (attached file 2) screws his secretary (both are married. See attached file 1).
Sent an add to recruit office staff due to a big business increase (attached file 3). It could be interesting to have someone work there. Maybe warn the company about the stealing to get the manager's job? Some blackmail could work too I suppose.
The increase in business is due to big contracts with Franklin Construction (see files 4 through 9).

I'll go take a look at their vehicles now, I hope to get more interesting stuff soon. I thought you might want to know all that as soon as possible in case you want to do something about it.

PS: I feel like a wageslave writing reports like that...<<

Her message sent, Cynthia leaves her current parking spot - making sure to erase any trace she may have left - and has the car take her nearby the repurposed bus barn.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 12th, 2075 - 0900 - Seattle Business District]



Your small research pays off. Franklin Construction is a family-owned business that has been in the Seattle area since before the UGE, but has never really been more than a smallish company doing mostly residential construction. Earlier this year the patriarch of the family, Liam Franklin, died and his three grandchildren - Matthew, Mark, and Luke - took over the company after a short legal process that forced two granddaughters out of the picture. Since then, the company has changed tactics and gone after larger, more lucrative projects, winning several bids. They are currently involved in four major projects for the city.

You receive an almost immediate response from Tanya. >>Lovely work, thanks. Here is some back to you. Attached file one (1) is a com code and address for both Phil Tanaka and Akira Notomi.

I will look more closely at the data you sent me, but want to say that this was fast work. I knew you were brilliant at this.

Please go to the attached file two (2) in the next thirty minutes and download the code there then talk to me about wageslaves.<<

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #382

Cynthia is a bit pissed off by the way the three men took everything from the women. Should she find anything wrong in there, she probably won't hesitate long before she sends that to the two granddaughters. But that's for another time.

For now, she notes the two codes Tanya sent her. She probably won't need Notomi's, but with Tanaka's, she should be able to find him. And from that, to learn a lot more about all of this. Of course, she expects he has at least two 'links, but if she can find him physically, she will be able to see all of this. Curious, she looks at the thing about wageslaves Tanya sent. Probably something to reassure her that she's far from a wageslave, but...well, she's curious.

Once near the bus barn, parked not too far, she begins by looking at what's in there. Given the hour, she expects to see all the vehicles, plus hopefully, some central console or the local manager's 'link were dispatches are decided. Once she has that, her goal is to get the vehicles itineraries and cross-reference those with the official dispatches in the first time, to see if there are any discrepancies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some rolls for all of this:
Matrix Perception (TM+2, VR+2): 16d6t5 6
On the trucks: FAQ [6]: 15d6t5 7 (limit is 6)
Hack on the fly: 17d6t5 5

The second file Tanya sent you is a very temporary link to a funds transfer of fifteen thousand nuyen that is in your name. The code she provided you will be in effect for the next twenty-eight minutes and fourteen seconds. All you have to do is input the code and transfer the funds to any account you want. Alternatively, you may direct the funds to be placed in a credit stick to be picked up at the main Seattle branch of the Bank of England, for which you will need the code again.

The bus barn is a hive of activity. You see a number of men working in the area; some seem to be working on building new, covered parking sheds for large vehicles and others are busy loading some construction materials onto large flatbed trucks. As you come up, three of the trucks are pulling away from the yard and onto the street, presumably headed for some job site. The yard is fenced in with some rolled barbed wire fencing on the top and two uniformed men man a checkpoint at the gate. A quick scan of the matrix here reveals a number of security cameras and some mobile drones inside the yard. Apparently, this place takes a greater care of at least the physical security than Avila does. What is your fist step here?

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #383

With three trucks leaving, Cynthia starts by hacking their internal systems, to retrieve the log of their trips in town. The yard won't move, but she'd rather not hunt down the trucks themselves.
Hack on the fly: 3#17d6t5 5 8 6 (limit is 5)
Once she has them marked, she looks for the correct files
Matrix Perception (TM+2, VR+2): 3#16d6t5 6 8 2 (limit is 6)
Now that she has them, she copies the files, and cleans any traces she may have left (including her overwatch score).

OOC: Did you download the money?

The trucks are easy to hack and their internal GPS lets you know where they have been for the last 24 hours. All three have been taking materials to the same job site, which is a new office building on the edge of Seattle. They apparently made several trips yesterday and are going there again this morning.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #384

As she transfers the money to her account, Cynthia answers to Tanya >>You know, I'm not really doing all this for that... But thanks. That'll be my down payment for the bioware...<<

Regarding the trucks, Cynthia is a bit displeased to see their log only go so far as twenty-four hours. Hopefully, it means there's some kind of synchronisation / maintenance done in the yard but while it would make her job easier, it would also make any attempt to hide anything easier too.

With a grunt, she erases the marks she put on the trucks, and goes back towards the yards. There, she goes silent, and tries to find if there's an Host taking care of operations. Otherwise, she will look at the best 'links in the area, making the assumption they would belong to managers of some sort, or maybe the head mechanics.

There is a host at the yard and it is putting out an invitation to enter. Inside, you find a bevy of five avatars intent on helping customers. Most of the icons are in the form of young, attractive women, except for one equally young and attractive male. Three of the girls are busy dealing with the avatars of clients, the young man seems to be acting as the dispatcher, and the remaining girl is just sitting at a desk, waiting. The lobby of the host seems to be self contained and you can see that the greater portion is shut off and there is no invitation to enter there.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #385

In the host, Cynthia looks around for a moment, but soon decides anything she's looking for would be in the shut-off portion of the Host. Carefully, she proceeds to add marks on the Host, to get access to what she wants.
Hack on the fly: 2#15d6t5 5 7 (limit is 5)

When she sees the Patrol IC, she threads a Resonance Veil on it, to make it believe that her marks are legit, so there's no need to look for her.
Resonance Veil [6] (Hide marks): 12d6t5 4

After that, she hopes to have the freedom to look at anything going on there.

Your attempts to hack on the fly and create the resonance veil seem to go easier than expected. You get enough marks to enter the host and can look around. You can easily see the IC scouting through the systems but it seems to ignore your presence for the time being. Your avatar glows with an outline of brilliant blue, a color that nags at you as something that should be familiar but remains tantalizingly just out of clear thought. As it is, the entire host seems to be open to your tender ministrations.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #386

Before doing anything else, Cynthia studies the threads of resonance of the Host, to get a feel of how things works and what is going on in there.
FAQ [6]: 15d6t5 5

Looking around a bit, you see that the resonance threads are..............different.............somehow, from what you are used to. You had felt something a bit off each time you entered the matrix today, but could not really put your finger on what might be different. Now, you can tell that the threads appear cleaner and almost solid. Your avatar's body picks up a slight hum from around you, a hum that seems to get stronger the closer you step to any particular thread and a slight tingle runs through your body.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #387

Almost forgetting why she's here in the first place, Cynthia plays a bit with the Resonance, to try to identify what it means: the cause of this, as well as how it affects what she's here to do.

You feel almost at home with the resonance, as if you could mold it to your desire, but trying to do so results in only a slight modification to the thread you are working with and that modification seems only temporary as the thread slips back to what it was. It is frustrating, but you feel that if you only had a bit more knowledge or experience you could make the changes permanent.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #388

After the first few experiments, a bit frustrated, Cynthia decides to put Tue question on the side. Whatever this is, an hostile Host is not the place to be experimenting in. She'll be to test whatever is going with the threads at length, possibly when she waits for Tanaka to be vulnerable, but for now, she goes back to the immediate problem of finding past and future deliveries, especially those that they're trying to hide, or disguise as something else.

After some searching, you can find some of the delivery records. It appears that there are three large projects getting the bulk of deliveries right now. In order from biggest project to smallest are the Goldstein Building, the Arawak Tower, and the new Saks Department store. At first look nothing seems to be disguised as anything other than it seems to be.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #389

Not being one to believe much into first glances, Cynthia digs deeper into the Host. She has the official dispatch order, but that doesn't mean much, she was not expecting they would allow her to find what she's looking for. She will check later, but looks at two other angles: the first one, is about the trip logs of the trucks. Hopefully, she'll be able to find unofficial trips.

No matter what she finds on that front, she then looks at the reported paid expenses of the drivers, like meals, coffees, etc. By looking at the places those expenses took place, she hopes to find some discrepancies. And if she doesn't... Well, she can try to hack each driver's link. But that will be only if she fails to find anything in any other way.

You find no records of driver or truck allocation that look to be unofficial or hidden. Pne thing that catches your eye, though, is the cumulative quantity of truck loads of dirt that have been moved away from the Goldstein Building site. You are not an engineer, but it seems like a lot of dirt has been moved and the number of trucks dedicated to that has recently been increased again. The company has purchased several additional heavy side dumpers to help with the load. It is not suspicious in itself, but it is something a bit...............well, odd.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #390

Goldstein Building, eh... Cynthia seems a bit lost for a moment. And a bit pissed she didn't find anything more solid. Even if she at least found something. Maybe. With a grunt, she leaves the Host, erasing again any trace she may have left. After all, the best hack is one in which no one knows you did it, even days after the fact.

After that, checking once again she's not followed, marked or anything, she has the car take her one block from the construction site of the Goldstein Building, curious to see what this is all about.

A lot of very public information is available about the new Goldstein Building. It is advertised to be the governor's flagship effort to revitalize the outer edges of the sprawl. He has made very public that this is a combined effort on the part of the city, state, and federal government to breathe new life into some of the larger cities of the UCAS. Artist's renderings are spread all over the sprawl's matrix AROs. On paper it is to be a nearly self-contained community, which has brought up unfortunate comparisons with the diseased Arcology building. The governor and a horde of PR people have gone to exceptional lengths to show that the lessons from that failed enterprise have been learned and not the disaster will not be repeated.

You can get to within about five blocks of the construction site before you are stopped at a barricade and told by uniformed KE officers that you can go no further without an appropriate pass. The nice man is backed up by other officers in full body armor who do not look so nice.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #391

Cynthia doesn't even try to go farther than that and instead goes the other way. She'll turn soon, double back a bit but not so much that she would be in view of the restricted area. She was not expecting that much security, especially not from KE. But maybe, if the people she is after really have a high-ranking officer in their pocket... Before she parks, she makes sure she's not followed by any drone.

Once parked, she slips into VR in silent mode, and start by looking around at what she can see on that side of things.
Matrix Perception (TM+2, VR+2, Silent -2): 14d6t5 6

Your immediate look into the matrix from your current location lets you see that you are a good distance from the construction site. You see what looks to be a group of three other avatars standing a bit closer to the construction, all of whom appear to be facing the site and not really looking about.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #392

Given the level of physical protection, Cynthia decides to call some help. She hesitates a moment, between Arsène, Sherlock or even Al, but finally settles on Arsène. After all, it's not the time to search the matrix for data, and it's not, hopefully at least, a combat operation. And since it seems to be a high level operation, she also calls Arsène at a high level, pleased to see that she managed to do so skilfully, without hurting badly because of it. Maybe the bread has the same properties as the juices...
Crack Sprite [6] (Compiling, Defense, Fade): 12d6t5 4 6d6t5 2 13d6t5 5

While she observes in more details the three avatars, she explains to Arsène what she's doing here and what she hopes to find behind the important diggings going on in there.
Matrix Perception (TM+2, VR+2, Silent -2): 3#14d6t5 6 5 4

Arsene nods. "But of course, Cherie. I will return soon." In a flash he is gone and you can turn your attention back to the other avatars. All of them seem to be looking at the site from a distance, much like you, actually.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #393

{Be careful. Note, if you're not, I'll show you some of the things I learned recently. Maybe you should not be careful...}

With a chuckle, she turns back to the three Avatars, trying to judge the level of risk she has to be discovered if she tries to mark them.

One of the three is a large-breasted, beauty that is common among teen-aged and twenty-something hackers and TMs. Her device rating is 2 and her firewall a pathetic 3. She is practically broadcasting her com code. The second is a male avatar and is considerably better protected with device 4 and firewall 5. His com code is also available, but not so freely offered. The third avatar gives the appearance of some sort of android. The device rating is 6 and the firewall is a good 9, so it must be reinforced in some manner. His com code is not available. At the distance you are from them, they do not appear to observe you.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #394

Cynthia is really surprised to see those three together. Had they all been roughly in the same league, she could have found a reason. But here? What could make them band together to look at what is going on there? Especially that last one, not everyone can get that kind of stuff. Only people like Tanya...

She hesitates for a moment, then decides she will mark the second avatar. She doesn't trust the first one, and it would be a pain in the ass to hack to last one, but the second one should be reasonnably easy. Plus, since she's running silent - and thus hidden from sight - she has a bit of time to decide. Before she does anything, she checks no one is, once again, looking at her or worse, marking her, then proceeds to mark her target, in order to listen in on any conversation he may have.

Hack on the fly (+2VR, -2 Silent): 15d6t5 5
Snoop: 11d6t5 6 (limit is 5) against Logic + Firewall, to intercept traffic sent to and from the target.

Apparently the three are in conversation. You get the impression that they do not know each other, but only met here. The gist of their conversation seems to be that they are all watching what is going on and trying to decide if they should ignore the warnings and try to get a better look. There is a mention of other watchers scattered about the perimeter. By her words, you think that the girl is the avatar of a teen-aged boy while the others are at least in their twenties and college educated.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 11th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #395

While she hesitates, Cynthia sends a message to Arsène {Careful, there are a bunch of people here, and they're talking about warnings. I'll look around a bit but wait for me before you do anything important. We'd better be two there than just you.}

After that, Cynthia will try to find the other watchers, but mainly, she wants to know what warnings they are talking about. She looks quickly into the files of the one she hacked to see if there are any references about those in case he recorded anything, then advances a bit, still running silent.

You can look at his message log and see that there are references to some sort of matrix force field a short distance ahead of where they are standing.

[Cynthia Rawson - Tuesday June 12th, 2075 - Downtown, Seattle] #396

Well that she has to see. Before she does so, she sends a new message to Arsène {Hey, you're okay in there?}