Gun

Gun

Gun disconected the call. He reached over to the glass of water on the desk and took a sip. It wasn't really the money. Hell he had plenty of that. 7 years as an Enforcer for the top Don in Frisco made you wealthy if not rich.

The atmosophere though, the unkown, the precision of it all. That he enjoyed. And a extra week in Seattle, a town he was starting to like as much as Frisco, hell what could be bad about that?

Wormwood

Wormwood

Wormwood

If Gun was going to protect this man it might be a good idea to check out the place. It was well after dark and the Seattle skyline was vibrant and alive. Gun called the concierge desk.

"Hilton concierge, Carl speaking."

"Carl, I am looking for a club called Matchsticks, I would like a route on a chip for my rental in five minutes."

Gun disconnected the call and prepared for his trip. He ditched the black biz suit he had been wearing in favor of a dark blue shantung silk suit with a white Egyptian cotton shirt. He went without a tie to take the edge of the suit.

He picked up the route and was in his rented Eurocar in the promised five minutes.

Jacky Grabs his gun that was sitting next to his beer on the side take, With the nod from Ludi and not seeing Hank anywhere he gets up and walks up to the door from the side.

"Who's there?

Jack, Ludi, and (Hank)



Wormwood



Gun

Jacks going to reach over and open his light 3'x3' peep door, wait a sec then move his head over and look threw to se who's there.

Jack, Ludi, and Hank

Gun smiles at the ork. He longed for San Fran, where every club owner knew him by name.

"Thanks, Charles Gun, I have a pass." The ork checked his list and waived the well dress man in. Gun nodded and handed him a twenty as he passed. Etiquette was etiquette, regardless of what city you lived in.

Gun gets in just in time to catch the opening of the jazz number. He smiles as the music plays. The melody bringing back fond memories of his special someone in San Fran.

He gets a scotch, strait up, from the barkeep and knocks it back in one smooth motion. After that its just water for him. He keeps his eyes open and his ears peeked as he moves around the place. Body guarding in a club was always trouble, so many avenues of attack.

JAcky turns to Ludi,"Looks like the kids on the level, He appears alone and has a note of some kind cover me while I open up." Jacky unlocks his 2 deadbolts and opens the door and pulls the kid in fast and shuts the door behind him. locking it.

With a heavy sigh, Ludmila switched the safety back on her gun and holstered it before the kid could lay eyes on her. With a quick pace, she got next him, pulling the note right out of his hands without saying something.

Everyone could feel it: the russian was deeply annoyed.

Hmm...looks like my Armante wouldn't have been out of place here. Good, I hate going into these situations light.

Moving slightly in rhythm with the music, Wormwood heads in the general direction of the bar, surreptitiously glancing around the place to get a feel for the layout.

As he reaches the bar, he calls the bartender over with small gesture of the hand. While waiting for the bartender to finish fixing a drink for another customer, Wormwood makes a show of glancing around the place, but really he is paying most of his attention to the corner to the right of the entrance. Hmmm...the guy said his meeting would be over there, so where will be the best place for me to be during it....Maybe overthere? nah, I'd be too obvious there....maybe that place?...hmm...............

The bartender eventually comes over and interrupts his thoughts. Greeting him, Wormwood says, "Bonsoir, you wouldn't happen to stock Absinthe, would you?"

Jacky D, Ludi, and (Hank)



Gun



Wormwood

Ludmila red the note over and over. Once her eyes had been glued to the napkin for countless seconds, she red it again to make sure. As if moved by an invisible puppeteer, she watched her hand close around the message, transforming it into a tiny ball. Her fist was trembling; her kuckles we're turning white. Stone either had a mole in his crew... or he was the one who had doubled crossed them.

Lighting the paper on fire with her lighter, she threw it Jacky's garbage, before setting her gaze back on the boy. Gently and calmly, she walked to him and kneeled down to his level.

"Listen kid; you did a good job. Now, go home, and forget us."

She looked up to Jack. "Tip this young boy will you." Ludi smiled at the boy, trying to put him at ease.

It was once he was out that the russian woman exploded. Cursing in her mother tongue here and there, she violently punched one of Jacky's wall, not even carring about any damage she might have done.

"They think they frag with us like that? I dont give a damn about the nuyens any more... this is fraggin personal." she looked at both men "if you guys want out, its now... because if we go through with this, there is no turning back. We probably won't see a dime, and we are entering dangerous ground. It's either you stay and fight for your rep and to clean our names... or you run somewhere and start all over again. I sure as hell am not going to let some fruity high class pimp drive me out of my home and bloody my hands with a crime I never commited."

She sat down on the couch, trying to calm herself down. Her eyes fixated upon the carpet, she continued.

"This is probably.... no.... This IS going to end with bodybags.... it's up to us to see who's in them. Us... or Them. In one week, we aren't just going to meet with Stone... we're going to make him talk." she looked at the troll "if you have any friends of backup, now is the time. We'll get your decker friend to work on that Lars guy. We're going to lay low until I get my hands on the Star's report... and we can plan the meet at the same time."

She got up and started walking toward the door, quoting something in russian.

"May those who love me, follow me"

Jacky tips the kid any opens the door. "Latez " Locks back up and after Ludi makes her peace he says

" Frag yeah, lets get this fraggers dead". Jack goes back into his room and grabs all his gear and brings it out, "This is all i got here but we can always go shopping."

Hmm...looks like I could probably set one of my micro-camcorder under the table with the good view and set myself up at one of the others so I can record the audio and get the occaisonal photo. Wouldn't hurt to have a secondary camcorder set up there too. Its' always good to have a second perspective.

That decided, Wormwood relaxes a bit. He leans back in his seat and filters out the sounds of the other people in the club, to better enjoy the music of Celia Starr. Not bad. Not normally what I'd listen to, but I could certainly learn to appreciate it.

Wormwood sticks around for a while listening to the music. When the group finishes up for the night he makes his way for the exit with thoughts of getting some rest.

As he nears the exit, thoughts of the job interrupt his revery. Still not too sure about the security situation. This place doesn't seem too concerned about weapons. Oh well, not what I am being hired for. At least, with using the camcorders to record visual, I'll be able to keep an eye out for what's going on in the rest of the club.

With that thought, he leaves Matchsticks and heads back to the hotel.

Wormwood

Ludi, Jacky, and (Hank)

"Hank you can't even move atm man. I'll get you to a place to rest or if you have a back doc to fix you up i could drop you there. You have my # i'll keep you informed and if you get feeling better then maybe we can get you back involved." Jack then looks over at Ludi.
"I'll pack all this up and then we can move out"
Jacky starts putting everything in his big duffle bags

Ludi, Jacky D, and Hank

Giving him a once of look from head to toe, Ludi finaly agreed.... relunctuntly.

"Alright... but take it easy. I need one 100 percent operative in 7 days ok? We'll get to the safe house, and you'll get some rest... maybe put some ice on it."

Grabbing her own things scattered around the appartement, she headed for the door.

"We'll take Hank's van. You guys keep your head down and I'll get us to a safehouse."

Jacky grabs his bag in his left hand then helps Hank up with his right trying to move slowly so not to hurt him anymore then he already is.

Locking up and heading down to the van took some time because of hank's condition but they weren't in much of a hurry they just didn't want to draw much attention to them selves.

Jacky D, Ludi, and Hank

Ludi

The few days spent in hiding had gotten Ludmila in the most rotten mood: she was tensed, jumpy... but still profesional about things. She had called home a few times, getting Lana on the phone to ease her worries. To the young girl, her mom was simply "on a business trip" somewhere in the world. Zina was acting like her grumpy self... but she was there for Ludi, and took good care of the little one. Each minute that passed, Ludi missed her daughter more and more. She hadn't seen her in over a week... She was doing this for her: they desperately needed the money.

Talking to Miki on the phone was almost painful. She could feel her gut turning upside down. Ever since she had met him, she had loved him. Deep down inside, Ludmila carried the wish that he was Lana's father... but she wasn't sure. Which was why she had never gotten a paternity test done. It could have been very "dangerous" for Miki, due to his position. And to be honest with herself, Ludi was simply to afraid of what the answer might be.

"Miki.... please.... don't be like that... You know I'm not using you.... Its just that right now... I'm really deep... Too deep. I'm starting to believe I won't be able to come out on top. I promise you that I will repay every single nuyen this whole affair has costed you, and even more. I could... you know... drop by sometime soon. I miss you Miki... Tell your man, Esquire, to meet us out here, so we can introduce ourselves and brief him on the operation. If he has a subtle vehicle that can carry three people, one being a troll, have him bring it in. I'll discuss payment with him. Oh... if he has any hardware, tell him to bring it alone... things might get hot."

Once Varya came throught, she could do nothing but congratulate her friend. She was well aware that she was putting her in harms way, but Varya was eager to help.

"Thank you sister; I couldn't have done this without you. Don't you worry about anything during the meet. You just follow my lead, and everything will be fine. You're doing a fragging great job honey. I'm going over to the salon to get a total makeover from Zina, and then I'll grab a cab to your place. We'll go from there. Sounds alright?"

What she didn't tell her friend was that her and her runner friends were planning on getting some info out of Stone, and that the chances of things turning bad were pretty high up. Ludi simply hoped that, if something did happen, her friend would have the instinct of keeping her head down.

The last call was the one that made her uneasy. Alec was a good cop... as much as a dirty mafia payroll cop could be. Ludi knew that there was probably a certain price on her head, and that catching her might be good for Alec's career. The only problem was that Ludi knew he was a dirty cop, and so, he might simply cap her, and take the credit for the "arrest". But any info he had might help them... she had to meet him.

"Alec, you do realize what you're asking me. I'll meet with you, but on my terms. I like you Alec, you know that... but I'll have no hesitation in killing you if I believe you're trying to double cross me. You might be on Miki's payroll; but you're still a Lonestar cop. Meet me at 4:00 pm, today, main downtown metro station. Just after the ticketing booth. Come alone and stand in the open. Wear jeans and only a tshirt. I'll bring some cred for you... for the trouble. If I think you're carrying a weapon, I won't show up. If I think you're not alone, I won't show up. If I spot any undercover, or plain clothes, I'll make sure you never see another day... am I clear? I know you're doing this as a favor to me, but meeting you face to face at the moment is a very risky thing for me, and you must understand that. If you do come throught, you'll get paid in fresh nuyens, and I'll make sure to swing info, and a good word to Miki, by you. Trust me"

Now, they had to go pick up the asthma inhaler at Roland's and the weapons at Sasha's.

Man... I'm going to end up dead broke on this one...

Satisified that he had the layout of the club memorized, Gun knocked back the rest of his drink and headed for the door. Now just to spend a week enjoying the Seattle life.

Ludi, Jacky D, and Hank

Worwood



Gun

Wormwood confidently answers, "Ok, Saturday it is. I've checked out Matchsticks, the booth setup will make it a little difficult, but nothing I can't handle. Also, Friday will work perfectly for meeting with your security."

Come Friday, Wormwood dresses in his Armante suit and heads over to the Space Needle.

As he enters the Eye of the Needle, he thinks, Sure hope he's picking up the tab. Lunch will be expensive at this place.

"Sounds good, Friday it is."

Jacky, Ludi, and Hank



Wormwood and Gun

Frosty and Worm

It was now the time to get things going. In the few seconds that were to follow, anything could happen. For all Ludmila knew, these were her last moments. Jacky wasn't far behind her, and she knew that the Star didn't have his picture, at least not yet. Unless Stone had given them some video footage, there was simply no way that any outside observant could finger him.

With her sweater's hood on her head, she unzipped her light jacket to give her quick and easy access to her Colt. She used the few seconds she had left to scan the crowd for any signs of trouble.

As she approached Alec, all her toughts were of Lana. Once she was right next to him, she gave him a broad smile and grabbed him by the arm, quickly pulling him toward the incoming train.

"Good to see you could make it Alec... Now, be reasonable and follow me."

Please Lord, protect us on our journey.

Ludi



Jacky D

Jacky seeing the frag going south fast quickly slips on the train a door back.

Jacking trying to spot every possible threat so he would know exactly what he was up against.

Jacky then ducks behind a seat and put on his "Full Face Mask @cc.57" and ...

Frag. Frag. Frag. Frag. Frag. Frag.
Dear Lord; don't let me be cornered. Kote's death is enough on my conscience.

Holding Alec's arm tight enough to break it, Ludi reached down toward him, putting her left leg in front of his.

"You always have a choice. Don't get up. Don't make me come back for you."

Using all of her strenght she violently pushed Alec forward, with the intention of slamming him as hard as possible on the ground.

Frosty and Gun:

Frosty and Worm

Ludi



Jacky D



Gunther and Wormwood

Undercover. Tactical vest. Concealed SMG. Two teams.

Ludmila knew one thing: the Star was really out to get them. Since she was wanted for murder, and if, God forbid, Alec had talked... the blue boys probably knew they were dealing with a very dangerous and well armed individual.

Jacky... where the frag are you

She didn't even stop the to think. As people were starting to scatter, the command from the cop had the adverse affect on Ludi: she bolted as if the devil himself was at her heels. If the cops already had the train shut down, she'd be cornered, but at least, she'd have a better defensive position. It would also draw them away from Jacky, would could jump them from behind. If the train wasn't already under their control, she'd have to hop off of it before the next stop.

Dashing tru the erratic crowd, jumping over people, Ludmila ran like she had never ran; all her focus directed toward the still opened door of the train.

Frosty and Gun

Jacky making his way to the turnstile to try and get behind one the cops as they advance on Ludi.
He ducks down alittle as the rest of the crowd is as if he was afraid of the cops.