"Sorry, Honey, but that's as low as it gets. Discounts are for repeat customers.
But if it's too rich for you: Consider leaving the Trackstopper. Honestly, you are better off filling gas grenades with hold-fast adhesive. That stuff is only 50 Nuyen per dose and you can get it at over the counter without permits."

Rachel has been in the background most of the time. Gun shops weren't exactly places she would visit usually.

But, obviously, she understands the need to stop the three high-level mages in some way, that hopefully does not end in a bloodbath, and mundane methods would likely be their best bet here.

She replies to Mato: << I have 5k plus some change, if that helps. >>

Mato notices and silently nods to Rachel's offer.

He's a bit taken aback that Bobby Ray would suggest dropping the Trackstopper, as that (plus the autosoft) is practically half their total. But he nods at the suggestion of putting the hold-fast adhesive in grenades instead.

"That's a good idea," he tells Bobby Ray, acknowledging the wisdom of it.

<<Any objections?>> he asks Tamarind, unsure if the rigger had her heart set on a new toy.

"Thank you, Bobby Ray. You have been most helpful."

"Don't mention it, ma boy. I've known a runner or two in my life. Having successful customers is far better for longterm business than squeezing whatever you can from them. Keep me in mind if you need more hardware - I'm also delivering my stuff by express drone."

Bobby Ray grinned and winked.

I am a bit disappointed in myself for not getting a discount while being an elf. I guess the social stigma really kicks in eventually. I don't mind buying the hardware, but I look at Tam to guess if to be supportive of her to side with Mato. I don't want anyone to be disappointed.

Curious I ask Bobby "Anything worth knowing about hold-fast?"

"Hold Fast was developed in an attempt to cash in on Dunkelzahn's call for a non-lethal alternative to firearms. Didn't win though.

Still, if the liquid comes into contact with oxygen, it turns into a clear, very hard substance. It takes about 30 seconds to harden, but after that, it's almost guranteed to keep your target in place. I'd suggest using the grenades as landmines to stop whoever you are after."

Bobby Ray replied.

"Yes, the hold-fast grenades are proably the better option. Do you have a grenade launcher, by any chance, and do you think one could be mounted on a firing platform if we were interested?"

"Tricky. Grenade launchers are particularly well regulated. I can't sell them legally - even with loopholes.
Though you could rather simply attach a drone arm to a smart plattform. You'd have less range but otherwise it would be perfect.
Lots of agriculture drones have them by default for fruit picking."

Bobby Ray replied

"Noted." Tamarind has doubts about getting that many drones procured in time, but at least they can, as the man said, use the grenades more like mines. And maybe Mato has some throwing skill? Or less likely but one of the magicians might have a spell to throw things?

"How about half a dozen of the grenades then. The normally thrown kind, of course. And if we don't take the Trackstopper we won't need that autosoft for it, but I would like one for the AK-47s. And one more AK with external smart link, if you have another of each available. And do you have extended clips available? I'll take them for all three AKs if you do -- extended or not, a clip of stick-and-shock as a starting point, and for the third one also supplies for my friend to assemble something with more penetration." That should cover the weapons, she thinks.

But concealment. "Do you have any 'ghillie tarps'? Something we can cover firing platforms with? In a pinch we'll get some basic tarps, but something a bit more advanced would be preferable. And does everyone on the team have a suit or other options lined up? I wanted one, certainly."

"Tarps are no problem - I'll throw two in for you. Another AK and extended mags are no problem either.

Anything else I can interest you? A riot shield for mobile cover? Flashpacks, stun grenades, sensor tags?"

Bobby Ray continued his sales pitch.

Tamarind is not much of a shopper when it comes to clothes. Know what she wants before she even heads out, finds it, checks that it meets requirements, buy it, leave without looking at other things.

But devices? That is a whole other story. A weapon's shop isn't as captivating as a good used drone workshop, but it was still pretty fun. Still, she's a bit mortified that she gushes "Oooh, Flashpaks!" She can see what she wants to do with two of them, interpose them between the ambush points and the firing platforms to make the latter harder to target. A third one makes sense to set up elsewhere, like a back up ambush on the farm. "Thank you for the suggestions. Three Flashpaks sound like an excellent idea. I don't expect to make good use a riot shield, but would any of the rest of you want one?" She is thinking of the mages, who maybe won't have both hands full of rifle. Although, like herself, both of the other women might struggle to handle the size and weight of the shield effectively.

But that does bring up the subject of personal protection. She prefers to stay well out of the line of fire, managing her various drones. But in this case being close enough to see what is going on, move to a new site quickly if needed, and even provide some extra suppression fire seemed essential. So she probably should think of protecting herself before the fireballs started flying, and while her lined coat offered decent protection, and maybe even fit the scenery, an upgrade might be in order.

"Do you also carry personal protective gear? Armored jackets? Combat balaclavas? If you do, and have anything that will fit me, I'll take it. If non-conductivity is an option, or insulation against fire, I'll spring for that, but I accept that you have the stock that you have."

"I've got only the basics: Helmet, armor jacket, protectors and one riot shield. Against burns I can offer you only insulation blankets like the one fire fighters use.
But if you are going out there to hunt something that spits fire and throws lightning, I'm afraid, I can't really help you."

He added three flashpacks to the growing pile of materials.

"I second the need for armor accessories; protectors would be nice, don't think I can carry that shield though."

Then it hits me, I am not that far from handling a riot shield with grace. Wow - it is difficult to grasp.

Mato drops his voice a bit, almost conspiratorially.

"Do you have any hats?" he asks. "Like a cowboy hat. But maybe lined with ballistic cloth."

This is silly and he knows it but he can't resist asking. There's some idea inside of him that he can't quite suppress. He would regret it if he didn't ask, so he asks.

"I don't suppose there are any cowboy boots around here either..." he says, glancing about as if they might be hiding.

Bobby Ray laughed so hard it turned into coughing.

"You've got humor, I'll give you that.
If you want stuff like that you got to visit my great cousin Cyrus. He sells rodeo equipment - for rodeo clowns."

How long can people shop for weapons, Rachel wonders. To be fair, she could probably spend whole days going fashion shopping.

<< @Mato: Looking for souvenirs? Surely, there must be places where you can get "Texas fashion". If you want, you know, originals... Otherwise, we could probably make you those. >>

"Alright, magic it is then.

"Let's pay the man, then pay a visit to his reloading press on the way out. I can do it so that nobody will say that our kind proprietor here did anything amiss."

Mato has the credsticks, so this is mostly a public announcement that they're ready to pay.

While Mato works the press, Tamarind puts a call in to her drones still back at the hotel, and has Stitch put Uncle into a box attached toToothless's back. Then she sends Toothless off to near the farm. She gives Uncle instructions to fly out of the box when they get there, then call her.

When it comes time she'll fly Uncle in through the drainage culvert, then have it fly around the buildings, mapping optically and and with ultrasound. And she'll send Toothless to patrol all the roads near the farm, taking images, gathering images of the whole area that they can analyze for points of interest.

Bobby Ray fit all the equipment into two large boxes and presented his link to finalize the transaction.

"Pleasure doing business with you - don't hesitate to order from me in the future."

While the team drove back, Tamarinds drones made a discovery: once inside the farm it wasn't hard to enter the buildings.
Inside the large barn, two huge agri drones dominated the space. One appeared to be a utility machine to be outfitted with heavy cultivator attachments, the other was a harvester.
Above them on a long rack, 24 quad copter drones with articulated arms set in their charging stations. Those were accompanied by 12 small walker drones - also with a pair of arms each.
Finally there were three anthro drones. Unlike the others those were active, cleaning and maintaining the inside of the barn.
Power was provided from a large battery bank that in turn was provided by the large solar array on the roof.

The farm house was harder to get into, but the wide chimney allowed access.
Inside, flies buzzed and it didn't look like anyone had come here in months. Dust and grime as well as a generell, comfortable disorder made it look like the owner had just stepped out a minute and a year ago.

Tamarind patches the feed through to the others in the team, then asks AM "Think you could hack those drones? My grandmother had this whole collection of 'fantasy' novels from before the awakening, when they had no idea how magic would really work. I remember one where this mercenary unit has to deal with a powerful wizard commanding the opposing army, and they send a stampede of war elephants at them. The wizard didn't have tricks ready to deal with that, I forget exactly what happened but the lesson stuck with me, it is hard to argue with high mass, large size, and momentum. I don't care how good a mage you are, you aren't going to easily stop a harvester headed straight for you. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but it seems like it could be a useful fall back plan ... and one we need to make sure nobody uses against us. It would be good to know who is in command of those drones currently, if anyone."

Mato nods.

"Yes, good points. They might be able to neutralize a huge agri drone with a lightning bolt, but that doesn't cancel out the high mass plus momentum.

"But the reverse is also true. Since the X-T can summon any spirit, they could be riding a swarm of task spirits to take over all that machinery and lock down the place physically. Maybe they get some interference from the spirits on patrol, but they can overwhelm them with numbers. These are folks who think nothing of binding spirits with the chain and the lash.

"Remember, they're just concerned with getting in and conducting their ritual, not getting out. If they can open the astral gateway and establish the pipeline of shedim to this world then their work is done. They're not concerned about an exfil plan. They'll be willing to burn bridges behind them, metaphorically speaking."

Mato takes a breath as he centers his mind for the task ahead.

"It's a farm," he says, which at this point should be a statement of the obvious. "It's a working farm is what I mean. Two huge agri drones, two dozen quad copters, a dozen walkers, plus three anthro drones. All that says that it's an active farm, which means that there must be procedures for taking deliveries - fertilizer, or whatever the quad copters are spreading - and delivering produce to the outside world. The ground is pretty barren in Seattle in March, but this is Texas. This time of year, they could be harvesting oranges, grapefruits, carrots, cabbage, asparagus, peas..." He trails off, having exhausted his culinary knowledge.

"My point is that there could be things entering the farm or leaving the farm, things approved to pass through the fences without the spirits on patrol freaking out. We'll need to be mindful of those windows and how these conservation-of-mass researchers might take advantage of them. AM, if you could get us any additional info on what the upcoming farm routines might be, then that could give us some advance notice."

I say to Tamarind , With direct access to the drones in question and no security spider breathing down my neck to call for reinforcement if I am discovered... quite easily hacked, yes. and then comments The term wizard encapsulates anything from Karl Kombatmage to the fairy godmother. Our point of strength here is that it is challenging to complete a ritual while the air is filled with Pepper punch, and you need to dodge drones smashing/spraying stuff; innovative firing platforms are firing while also under an astral assault with barriers and spells trying to connect. They can dodge, get out of the way but it is difficult to run a ritual like that.

I nod at Bobby's request and then look for the Trix side of the farm to see how approvals are handled, which drones are in working order, and where it would be best to enlist them for illicit use.

Once AM passes on the information about the RCC, Tamarind suggests that she try to Trace its physical location. "The question is, it is abandoned, but plugged in, somewhere in the farm? Or is there someone still actively controlling it? Makes all of the difference. I'll also point out that with this many drones and some creative programing, one could have a nasty combat swarm. So if we can't take control of, or neutralize, the drones, then we have to be read to deal with it as best as we can. This makes me really wish I'd dedicated the nuyen and time to finding someone who could hack a bit more hacking potential into my RCC. I know AM can handle the hacking in general, but if things get hot she'll likely be busy with magic.""

"They must be farming something very special here, though, given all the attention and secrecy and everything. Or this was a farm, and now it is on stand-by, due to some weird magical incident that happened here. Maybe even related to the accident. We do not know since when this place is abandoned, or do we?" Rachel wonders.

I prepare my mind for hacking the RCC, and then crush into the chair at the car closing my eyes and letting all this world fade while logging in to the trix in hot simulation. I slap a quick mark on the ICC which goes without a hitch as far as I can tell, and then use my basic access permissions to check if the RCC is being routinely used, or if it is abandoned.

AM noticed immediately, that the device had been running continuously for the last 193 days - no user input had occured for the same time and the registered owner was one Maria Lopez. A log in her account showed a total of 366 missed calls and 4033 unread messages.

"Let's piece it together," Mato says.

"We know Victoria is interested in this place. With the ley line, this seems like a likely spot where the shedim managed to poke their way through the veil and bodysnatch Victoria.

"The powers that be figured out the threat. To guard against bodysnatching, everything is now drone automated. The house is abandoned and there are spirit sentries on both sides of the border to make sure that whatever's inside the fence stays inside the fence. So we have something scary enough to wall it off, but not so scary as to erase it completely. Or, not as scary as the legal fighting it would take to figure out who's responsible for this chunk of no man's land.

"I can't say things are looking promising for Ms. Maria Lopez, who - according to AM's research - has been offline since September. 183 days is half a year, and Victoria is scheduled to arrive tonight, not sure if there's any magical significance to that.

"Let's see if we can find out what Ms. Lopez looked like, just in case she - or something looking like her - makes an appearance."

<<Gladius, do you know what Victoria was doing six months ago? The farm owner has been offline since then. I'm guessing that's before Tien IV and Phillip were roped into this, since IV didn't meet Victoria until the MIT&T Christmas party.>>

Without leaving the hot simulation, I text >> Alright, I can reliably move the drones briefly before GOD notices. There is nobody there managing the drones and no spider to react. I am cross referencing Maria's latest picture and time of death with the so-called accident in six months of nothing.

---
and that is what I do, I cross reference the dates, and the picture and try to make sense of it all.

AM collated the events into a rough timeline:

February 22nd 2077: Arione's highly suspicious accident happens

September 8th 2078: Maria Lopez dies in a supposed robbery gone wrong

December 23rd 2078: Xien IV meets Arione at the MIT&T Christmas party

March 18th 2079: Xien steels the XT

The photo of Maria Lopez shows a good looking latina in her early fourties. Work and worries had left their mark on her face, but she looked like a very determined and driven individual.

Gladius replied: <<As far as I know, Arione was at MIT&T at that time. The abandoned farm is actually a detriment to their plans as the group can no longer gain legitimate access by asking the owner.>>

"Okay," Mato says, "let's get digging.

"We need to start prepping the terrain. We'll assume that they're coming down the road, but we'll set up close to the farm to give ourselves a chance to respond quickly in case they slip past us.

"Who owns this land just outside the farm? Is this county property? Hopefully nobody bothers me but maybe Raven can fashion me to look like a day laborer, or a county employee. I'm half Aztlaner so I might pass for a local. I'll dig some slit trenches for cover and concealment. We should also position our hold-fast grenades to see if they can gum up a passing vehicle. Hmm, how loud are these going to be when they detonate...

"First things first: I gonna go buy a shovel."

".ShovelS. Scarecrows if we can get them, or some boards and hats in a pinch -- I want those nearish the firing platforms, humans tend to look for humanoids as threats. If we get lucky those draw a spell or distract a spirit -- if the ambush works."

"Drones are not necessarily there because of body snatchers, many farms work that way. I looked at going for that sort of work at one point, but, ugh, I didn't think I had the right temperament. But if there are body snatchers, are we in danger if we go into the farm?

"One way to contain the drones, if we don't want to make use of them, would be to use an adhesive grenade on the door, sealing them in. But assuming that the opposition is as tech blind as we think, if AM can put marks on the RCC at the key time, she could spoof commands to the drones, including telling them to shut down for a specified time. If Ghost Walker had waited another couple of months to kick us all out of the FRR I'd have had a sleaze dongle and maybe could have managed that myself, but the guy I was dealing with convinced me to buy the attack one first and I hadn't saved up enough for the sleaze one. And I haven't hired anyone to butcher some sleaxlze right into my RCC."

Tamarind doesn't have the tech to be able to trace the RCC, but she can at least try and see what programs are running. Not likely to be anything too odd, but it doesn't hurt to know all of their options.

I comment "I can do whatever with the RCC, so we can use these drones if you wish. Without a person on the RCC I can reprogram it to give me access if I want something reliable or just spoof its instructions for a quick hack... And I suspect that Tam is right and the agriculture industry is mostly drones. It saves a bunch on salaries and logistics."

As the team moved back to the staging area, the sun had already rissen high in the sky, promising scorching heat in the afternoon.

The farm continued to lay there, dusty and undisturbed.

A call from Gladius reached the team:
<<I just ran another divination - the numbers have changed. Some kind of information must have reached our opponents that was based on the original divination. You might want to talk to your employer.
The three mages now seem to arrive already during the afternoon. They are likely skipping breaks to achieve that.
Whatever you do, finish up and get into position.>>

I begin working on the RCC, to reprogram it to give me full control.

I take the first mark from direct contacting one of the drones. Then I need two more, I directly hack the RCC.



The next task is to modify the software so that it extends me marks whenever I ask for them. It cannot do that, but it can try to slap three marks on the persona that sends it a randomly generated 10 alpha numeric signal, with another 10-digit alpha-numeric signal followed by an autopilot instruction to reiterate. That way, I'll get my marks when I need them through my back door, and Tam can indirectly and likely with a bit of delay control the autopilot. Without technically hacking it.




"I think I subverted the RCC, two back doors - one for getting marks, and the other to remote control the drones. We can spoof commands if it is something we did not think about, but for autopilot, we can just have the RCC issue legitimate commands.

Tamarind, I am sharing a code to the backdoor just append it before you send an autopilot command and the RCC would comply. It is yours for the next several hours. "

The hack took AM a few moments longer, but without anyone but GOD caring about the device, it was just a matter of trying again, until the freshly formated device extended anyone three MARKs that happened to contact it in the right way.

Now it was time to set up the ambush and wait...

This isn't the worst news in the world; it saves Mato from digging all afternoon in the sun.

<<Why would we contact Tien III?>> Mato asks Gladius. <<Do you think he tipped off Tien IV by letting him know that he's in Texas?>>

This seems within the realm of possibility to Mato. The III would be trying diplomacy up until the last minute.

"What would I do if I knew I was heading into a trap..." he mutters to himself before deciding it doesn't matter. "I'm not a shedim, nor am I sleeping with one; what do I know."

<<Gladius, where are you going to be during all this?>> he asks. <<Are you on overwatch or do you have some other plan in mind?>>

Since they were all in one truck, and time was getting tight, Tamarind made free with the remaining one. She had Stitch load up drones as appropriate, then himself, and sent that truck off to deliver monitoring drones. At the most likely point she had the truck pull over near the station, and the Stitch deployed Lazybones, one of her stealth balloon drones. It could slowly get itself into position.

Then the truck pulled up near a back wall, and Stitch reached out a window to drop off a Kanmushi, which then worked it's way to watch the door.

Then the truck also headed towards the farm, stopping near the most likely turn off, where Stitch deploys Mimic, her other observation balloon drone. She has it stay comparatively low, so as not to trigger border security radar, she hopes.

In the meantime, she sends Uncle, the flying eye already in the farm, to search search for the RCC. She has it use its ultrasound to look for concealed locations in the house, assuming that the RCC is not readily apparent.

Gladius replied: <<Operational security - I'm pretty sure he somehow sent him a message. Unless one of you made unintentional contact.

During the ambush I'll be close by. Once the barriers have done their job, I'll likely drop most of them, if not all and try to shield you as best as I can. You are a team and I'm the outsider. Without extensive training, I'm sure we'd get in each other's way. I'll try to act as a reserve should one of you get into trouble.>>

Tamarinds surveillance drones deploy without a hitch.

Finding the RCC is a bit trickier, but nothing an Electronic Warfare specialist couldn't handle.

I augment my intuition by Iktomi's cunning, and then I make a go at tracing the RCC.
>> Wasn't me... but I'll talk to him, no biggie. Interesting that they are rushing here, if I was walking into a trap I'd take it slow and suspicious.


I make a call to Tien III, and ask him if he uploaded any photo or did anything to indicate his location because the son seems alert. I keep it polite, and corrective intended on closing the leak of information, or at least figure out where it comes from.

If Tam shares with me that she wishes to trace the device I'll happily oblige. I did not feel the need to physically know where it is, but why not.

When I wake up from my matrix slumber I ask Mato "So did you get shovels? Lets go hide the platforms and set everything."
I look at Mato

<<Roger>> Mato confirms to Gladius.

"Alright, let's go talk to III," Mato says. "And get some tacos. Then we'll get digging."

If it's going to be his last meal, tacos sound good.

~~~

Mato also listens in on the call to III. He's not angry or accusatory, but - like AM - he wants to make sure there isn't an ongoing leak.

<<Our intel suggests that your son will be here sooner than expected. Did you indicate to him that you were in Texas? If so, they may have deduced that you are not here by yourself.>>

<<We just want to make sure that you're not exposed to any danger, and to manage any risk if we've lost the element of surprise.>>

"How are we going to mitigate that?" he asks to the team. "How do we know that Victoria won't take Tien III hostage in order to get us to stand down? That could complicate matters. Should we bring him with us, keep him near Tamarind?"

"If they know something is up, everything will be notably more difficult. Our biggest asset is... was... surprise. Hopefully, this can still work out."

Rachel cannot prepare much. Her biggest contribution to whatever is going to happen will be her summoning, and she can do that at a moment's notice. Very liekly, she will only have one chance, anyways, because of the dangers involved with summoning high force spirits.

She does cast a spell to strengthen her ability to fight the Drain. And when the time gets close, she will call her two bound spirits to her side. They won't be able to do much against the powerful mages, but maybe they can still contribute in some meaningful way.

Tien III replied:
<<Yes, I tried once again to reach my son and warn him about his girlfriend. He did not reply and I did not tell him about where I am or who is with me. Though I did call her out to be a Shedim.>>

Rachel has to take a deep breath to not start screaming into her comm, well screaming thoughts, but still.

<< Sir, are you even aware what you did there? You completely tipped them off, that there is an investigation into them, that we know what she is, and that there is a lot of knowledge about what they are doing and where they are heading, and if they have connections to some hackers, and they surely have the money to pay them, they can easily figure out where you and your jet are now. You are putting everyone's lives - and that includes your son - in jeopardy. Your son is not thinking straight. He might not even be himself. Words will not reach him. The whole operation is based on taking them on by surprise, so we can knock them out safely without harming them, him especially. The more awareness they have, and now they have reason to scout ahead even, which they might not have done otherwise, and the more defenses they build up, the more difficult everything becomes. In a straight up confrontation against these magical powerhouses we might just lose. If it comes to that, safety concerns for your son will be absolutely secondary, as we cannot afford to pull punches then. I am not even sure we should try this anymore, as it might already be too dangerous now, and I very much value my own life and that of my friends. We have to seriously reevaluate the altered situation now. >>

Mato, as usual, is more muted. Perhaps he's lost too much of himself to his cyber to feel strongly anymore.

<<This does complicate matters>> he agrees, although he starts angling on a good-cop, bad-cop tag team. He keeps his contributions more measured.

<<What Raven said is correct. That does tip our hand and makes things more challenging, and that means additional risk for everyone involved, including both your son and ourselves.>>

<<It's possible your son may be magically compelled. We should save reason and rationality for the recovery period; I think he's beyond their reach for the moment.>>

<<In the meantime, we need to reevaluate our approach.>>

So, basically saying the same thing that Raven did, only nice.

To Raven, he says, "Do you remember what you did at the IV's apartment, that monster you conjured? Do you think you could do that again? Before, when they were arriving around sunset, there was a risk of any summoned friends disappearing right before their arrive, or right at the moment of their need. But if Victoria and company are arriving for sure in the afternoon that means anything you summon forth now will still be around when they arrive. That seems like it would give you an opportunity to go for something bigger and bolder than usual, especially if you have some time to absorb the shock of it."

"Oh, I do plan to go high here, anything else won't do it. But there is no reason to do this too early. I will have, most likely, one try. In the appartment I got really lucky. The spirit clearly heard my call and wanted to help. Unfortunately, that is something beyond our control. I would not count on it to happen twice in a row. Summoning a spirit of that magnitude is dangerous, and will very likely keep me in pain for several days, and also impair my abilities during that time. This isn't something you can get rid of with a few hours of rest. Magic of this level takes its toll. Just to be completely clear, what we are talking about here can kill the person attempting it if things go wrong. I am confident, that I can do it once. Not so sure about more than that. That fully depends on how generous the spirit will be."

Mato nods at Raven's explanation.

"Understood. I trust you to manage your resources optimally." Ahh, spoken like a true accountant with a Math SPU.

Tien replied:

<<I understand. Sorry, I didn't consider that this would make things difficult for you. I'll make it up to you.>>

There is a part of Mato, deep (deep) down, that still feels the flicker of emotion. It's triggered most strongly by things having to do with children, or - conversely - their parents. Perhaps it is an echo of Mato's own childhood, and his distant father who (rightfully) suspected that Mato might not be his own flesh and blood. Mato was thin and sickly and generally not much of an ork, and his macho Sioux ork father was not impressed as a result. So to hear Tien try to save his son... Mato is oh-so-slightly moved.

<<I understand what you were trying to do.>> This is a bit of an exaggeration, but Mato can at least imagine. <<If it were me, I wouldn't want to look back and feel like there was something I could have tried but didn't.>> This is a straight-up lie but sometimes Johnsons needed a bit of coddling.

<<But we're here in sunny Texas to take down a shedim and save your son. We are his best hope now. Put some faith in us and you'll find it well-placed.>> More bulldrek, but it smells sweet.

Of course this was going to get more complicated. But that is emotions, they make things complicated.

"It is possible that this is something that they were, if not planning on then at least hoping for. That you would tip your hand about whatever investigation you made or recovery measures you were taking.your son knows the bond you have, and was likely relying on it to some extent."

"Now the issue is how to mitigate risks that have been created by your actions. One risk is that they will be looking for us, or at least people like us. Another is that they take action against you, realizing that is a way to neutralize us, too. The safest thing you could do for yourself, us, and this entire operation would be to get in air asap, and don't tell us where you are going. At jet speeds even spirits would struggle to find you. Failing that, finding a high end hotel that offers heavily warded rooms might slow down their tracking of you for long enough that they give up. Third choice would be to come with us, and we hide you away as best we can. Leaving you in this room, unprotected, would be my last choice."