Frosty and Worm

Frosty and Gun:

Ludi, Hank, Gunther, and Wormwood

Gun tensed at the sound of the door.

"Worm, get him in the living room and put him behind something he can use for cover if necessary. I'll get the door."

Gun carefully adjusted his coat and headed for the front door. He didn't need to check himself, he knew where every knife was and exactly how sharp it was.

He assumed Stone did want to talk to these people and was just worried that the talking might turn into shooting. He checked the monitor to the outside carefully examining the team. One of them looked hurt, but she could just be faking it.

He opened the door an inch. His foot, and right side of his body was braced against the door so if they tried to kick it in it would be like kicking him, not an easy proposition.

"Can I help you?" He said in his clearest voice. The one he used when enforcing for the mob. It usually meant "go the hell away".

Once more irritated by the necessity for speed, Wormwood says "Sacrebleu, sounds like we're out of time."

As Gun rushes off to the door, Wormwood says "Try to stall them a moment so I can set up the cameras."

Grabbing Mr. Stone's arm, he rushes him into the living room, saying "Come on. We need to get you in position."

Entering the living room, he tells Mr. Stone to stand behind the armchair. Reaching above his head, Wormwood places one camera atop the door frame.
Next he dashed around the room closing all of the drapes to protect against prying eyes. As he was doing this he told Mr. Stone "Everything should be fine, but if I give you the signal, duck behind that chair to minimize your exposure."

Finishing with the curtains, he quickly returned to the doorway to await the approach of Gun and Mr. Stone's guests.

As Gunther opened the door, Ludmila had a slight moment of hesitation. The man's face seemed strangely familiar. She had already seen some of Stone's men, and he didn't strike her as one of them. She could feel Hank tensing up behind her: the russian had one firey temper and she could flip at any second. She remembered his words: "Cool your jets with this fragger".

On a better day, she would have probably pounded a few hits in him, just to set things straight and let him know where he was in her personal food chain. The four bandages Hank had doctored were still pretty fresh. She opted for diplomacy; at least, by her book.

She looked Gunther straight in the eyes, giving him a smile smirk as she leaned slightly on the door, getting closer to him. All her movements were slow; no need to get the guy nervous.

"I see Rick's got himself some new blood to cover him. Good. The ones he usualy has lying around aren't really that good."

She was calm. Collected. After what she had faced today, she felt like nothing could touch her. Very slowly, she reached into her pant's pocket and took the fresh new pack of cigarette she had just bought. Pulling one from the pack with her mouth, she spoke again, her thick russian accent coming clear thru.

"Don't worry; we're not here to pop one in your new employer. If we wanted him dead, he'd already be. Plus," she light her cigarette, "I filled enough black bags for today."

She took a long drag.

"So.... you letting us in? Or shouldwe start growing roots?"

Ludi, Hank, Wormwood, and Gun

As Ludmila saw Stone half hidden by the couch, she couldn't help herself but smile.

"Relax Rick."

She extended her right arm forward, inviting him to grab a cigarette from her pack.

"Let's just say that things didn't go quite as it was planned. The four man element you had hired is now down to two..."

Her eyes started darting around the room, looking for an ashtray. Beside Stone, and the doorman, another man was present. Once again, he didn't strike him as one of Stone's usual goon.

"So... where's your usual security detail? This isn't the three men team you usualy have at your house."

Picking a couch at random she sat down. The woman seemed totaly comfortable, as if she controled every single element in the room.

"Get me a display device and I'll be happy to show you everything we have concerning the case. Seeing as how we are both still alive, I'm inclined to trust you. It is possible, after all, that we were all used in this little scheme."

She took a long drag from the cigarette.

"And we know who killed Kote."

Ludi, Hank, Wormwood, and Gun

Ludmila had started to make her way toward the terminal when Stone passed his remark. She froze on the spot, her cheeks getting flushed with anger.

"Why you little..." she turned around. If her eyes could have killed, Stone would have been dead 100 times before hitting the ground.

"The reason why we're taking all the heat for this is because it was a setup: you have a leak in your security detail."

She took a few steps toward him.

"We were able to trace the killer magically: he's one of yours. Does Lars rings any bells?"

Before Stone could react, she went over the terminal, pulling a fiber optic connection cable and jacking in. She started loading into Stone's terminal all the data they had gathered so far: all her notes concerning the affair, all the pictures she had taken, the content of Kote's harddrive, the pictures of her house, her dead body, those of Charles at the meeting, those of Stone's house from the exterior, those of him driving away with some man... Everything...

"There..." she unplugged herself "it's everything. All the rumors about you, Kote, Charles. His PD file, etc..."

She started lighting another cigarette.

"Now, what I want to know is: why didn't we find anything on Cain, at all, at Kote's? Why did you bail out Charles? Why was Kote under your management on one contract, and under his, on another? Why did you go thru Charles to get to us? And how the frag in hell are you still here and he's in jail while the cops have all our mug shots from the meet?"

She gave a quick look to Wormwood and Gunther.

"You guys have no idea what fragging mess you just walked in. I hope you're getting a good pay, because we sure as hell aren't."

Ludi, Hank, Wormwood, and Gun

All she wanted to do was pound his head in the wall until his skull broke loose. But... that would not have been a wise choice.

"If Charles had hired us, do you believe that we'd stick around? Would we still be running around trying to catch Kote's killer? Did you ever stop to think about that?"

She blew smoke in his general direction.

"Apparently not. Listen, if we were under Charles' employ, he would have had us frag you: and so, you wouldn't be here right now. Here is the deal: if you want us to keep with the investigation, we'd like to get paid. It's been over a week and we haven't seen a dime. If you want us off the case, pay us what you owe us and you'll never see us again. But if you really want to clear your name and get who fragged with you, then give us what we need and we'll go after Lars."

Gun was a little weary of the russian woman, she seemed prone to fits of anger. She also seemed familiar, like he had met her before.

He hung back and let the two runners enter before him. Once in the living room he stayed close to the exit, ready to spring behind cover if needed. When the woman became agitated he let a slim throwing knife drop into his hand from its concealed position in his cuff.

"Lets try to stay calm here people. No need to shout."

Hank, Ludi, Worm, and Gun

A smile smirk of satisfaction creeped on Ludmila's face. Since she had arrived, she had been in quite a bitter mood. For the first time in about a week, she was content.

"As long we still get the nuyens you already owe us, then I'd say you have a deal."

She approached Stone, keeping her hands well spread from her body.

"And as much as it might matter.... I'm sorry about Kote. My guess is Charles probably had the whole thing planned in advance. Some of the evidence we came across might even had been planted. Honestly, there could be a million reason why all this happened."

"But now" her eyes seemed to darken "I just want to get the fragger who did that to Kote."

Ludmila was in motion to take a seat when she stopped, as if she remembered something.

"By the way... we need what ever information you can give us on Keller. I believe there might be a connection between both murder... or at least, someone is trying to make us believe there is one"

Hank, Ludi, Worm, and Gun

As Ludmila sat on an empty couch, she crossed one of her legs and leaned forward toward Stone.

"The job was to protect Kote, and to investigate Cain: which we have been actively doing for the past week"

"The investigation was to facilitate her protection, which was the final goal. You didn't fulfill your part of the contract." Stone's abrasive side clicked in suddenly. "Besides, was killing that cop part of your investigation?" He smiled cruelly.

For a second, it seemed as if Ludmila was about to lunge toward Stone. All her muscles tensed up in the blink of an eye; her eyes burning with anger and her knuckles a deadly white.

If she had been closer, Stone would have gotten it. The mention of this morning's shooting gave her the impression that her abdomen was on fire, the fresh wounds reminding her of the price this mission was starting to cost her.

She turned her look to the crisp clean carpet, cursing and mumbling to herself in russian. The mention of the cop had also reminded her of something else: she would have to call Miki. Alec was under his pay, and had turned. It was quite possible that he had already sold out all his mob connections for a way out. Alec's coat turning was also partly her fault... and she would have to correct it on her own... which would probably mean kill him.

Looking back at Stone's smiling mug, all she could think of was how good it would feel to punch him until his face caved in.

After all that, she could only utter a single word.

"...........Fine."

"No, not fine. This is not part of what we negotiated Mr. Stone." The sudden, but flat interjection in from Guns litely accented italian seemed to overright all other conversation.

"We need to 're-negotiate' our deal. You want me to act as there bodyguards, and to assist in the investigation of a murder, with the Star involved, I will need a lot more than 20k. 30 will start it and I want half now. It seems you have some issues with paying your employees."

The dead pan look, and the knife resting in his palm, lent a deadly seriousness to his statement.

As Ludmilla and Hank entered the living room, he could see fire behind Ludmila's eyes.
If there's going to be trouble, she's going to be the one to bring it, he thought to himself.

At least she started conversing with Mr. Stone with an outward calm. However, the mention of lost members of their team did not put him at ease. Nor did Mr. Stone's mention of their faces being plastered all over the news.
Wormwood never watches the news because its all bogus propaganda put out by the megacorps and governments little better than the corps. So he hadn't seen any of it, but it certainly didn't sound like they had been acting like professionals. What kind of idiots get their face plastered on the trid?

Ludmilla's outburst in reaction to Mr. Stone distracted him from such thoughts as he tensed up and refocused himself on the job at hand.
As she loaded up the data on the terminal, he caught a few glimpses of it. But between watching her and Hank's movements, he didn't catch much. None of my business anyways. I'm here to protect the Johnson. If he wants me to help with that drek, he's gonna have to pay alot more than he's done so far.
The fact that Ludmila's address to Wormwood and Gunther mirrored his own thoughts so completely unsettled him quite a bit, but he refused to let it show in front of her.

Well really, the whole conversation was making him unease, especially the talk of killing a cop. This kind of thing could bring too much attention with it. They might hear of this and be able to find me. Can I risk that, even for 20k?

He had to agree with Gun here. 20k just wasn't looking like enough for this job.

Aloud, he said "First off, I don't like this situation. Not one bit. It is wholly unprofessional with the 'Star and trid news involved. Before I agree to anything I'm going to need a look at that data she just gave you."
With a gesture towards Gun "And like my associate here, I just don't see 20k as enough to get involved with this kind of heat."

"A second issue, is the job you've already hired us for. I'm assuming this would be in lieu of that, rather than in addition, but I'd you to clarify that."

Gently, Ludmila took the cigarette to her lips. Her brief flash of anger disappeared: Stone's henchmen were last minutes hire. They had no idea what mess they had just walked in. But Ludmila did know that, without them, running this thing thru to the end would be almost impossible. Plus... the pay wasn't all that bad. The only thing she regretted was the shootout at the train station. Apparently, it had been all over the news, and one of the three cops she had taken down was obviously dead. She knew it... his badge was in her pocket.

"Yea Rick; why don't you explain to these two fine men how you had a major leak in your entourage, which caused the meeting to be apparently taped"

Stone ignores the russian's comment, and instead focuses on Wormwood and Gunther. Attempting to conceal his concern, Stone's eyes dart nervously to the dikoted knife in Gun's palm. "Rest assured, you will be paid for your services here tonight. What I am offering is in addition." Stone glances with disdain towards the russian for a moment before returning to Worm and Gunther. "...and be assured, I have no problems with paying my employees so long as they complete the job they were hired for. Twenty a piece, certified cred, with ten up front. In addition, I place you on my company's payroll as field photographers...1 year's pay...paid in a single payment of course, for an additional twelve-thousand." After making his offer, Stone awaits a reply.

Still keeping an eye on the other three runners in the room, Wormwood responds to Mr. Stone without even looking at him. "That will be sufficient payment for me for said services."

Hank nods towards Ludmila. "If that's good for you, toots, it's good for me."

Ludi lifted her head toward Hank, giving the man a large and sincere smile. Even with everything that had happened, he had stuck with her. Since the very beginning of the run, he had been her closest "ally". After he had saved her back in the sewers, Ludmila had stopped seeing him as a runner she was working with: she now considered him a friend.

As she looked him straight in the eyes, she wondered what kind of man he really was.

"Thanks."

She looked at Rick.

"Da. We're in."

Slowly getting up, she clentched her jaw to suppres the pain. Her right leg was killing her, and she had a discreet limp. Her now finished cigarette was simply dangling on the left corner of her mouth, jumping up and down as she made her heavy russian accent heard. He eyes were now on Gun.

"What about you?"

Gun slowly turned the knife over in his hand. He paused for a moment looking hard at stone. the kind of look that was usuely reserved for people who were about to be in body bags.

"I'm in. Stone, you should arrange for some protection other than myself and Worm for the next few days. I also need a copy of all that information," he pointed with his right hand at the monitor.

Well, the team's number was back up to four. They all have to get aquainted with one another, and try to work as a group.... but time was already running short. Lars was probably either on the run or in hiding...

She felt like smoking yet another cigarette, but the smell of tobacco was already starting to reak in the living room.

Both her hands were on her hips. Her jacket slightly open, it wasn't hard to miss the Ingram submachine gun she was carrying in a quick detach harness. It was obvious she had came in ready for some heavy opposition.

"Concerning the data, I can make a whole report for you three, counting Mister Stone, in a few hours. Summary, personal notes, annotated pictures, and the rest."

She seem to wonder about something. Her voice sounded unsure.

"Or I can simply transfer the whole data, raw, from her", she tapped the side of her head.

Ludi then turned to Stone.

"I'm sure we'd appreciate any data you could give us on Lars. That should expediate things. Do you know his last name? Adress? Anything helpful?"

"Lars Renkin." Stone answered. "I have a home address on file. He's said that he's out sick. If he's fled though, I don't know where you can find him. I have a home and cell numbers as well." Stone opened his pocket secretary and placed the information on a small datachip, which he passed to Wormwood.

Hank, silent up until now cut into the conversation. "What work did Lars do before he started working for you? I like to know what to expect."

"I don't know." Stone answered. "I think he was a bouncer, though I've heard him talk about the Army on occasion."

"Great...a boot." Hank acknowledged.

Giving the others one last look of caution to judge their intent, Wormwood's eyes pause briefly on Gun. The steely glint in Gun's eyes certainly had some effect upon him, but he tried to hide it as he looked away to take the offered datachip from Mr. Stone.
Still averting his eyes from Gun, he pulls out his own p-sec and looks up the data on the chip.
Aloud, he says "923 Taylor St., in the Renton district. You guys want to start looking there?"

Ludmila had already begun moving toward the door. Her eagerness to get to work was obivous. She was running on this one for much more than money; she was also in for revenge.

"It doesn't really seem like we have a choice. We need to stake the place out... see if he's there or not. I have a few piece of gear I'm going to need to for that, so I guess we could always go our seperate ways and regroup somewhere else."

Looking at Ludmilla, Wormwood says "Well, I was thinking we could just try knocking and then break in if he's not there. Staking the place out wouldn't do much good if he's already on the run. We would just be sitting there wasting."

After a brief pause to think about it, he continues with a smirk"If he is there and you wanted to follow him we could always say we're Jehovah's Witnesses or some such nonsense."

"You actually might be on the ball on this one... last time we established surveillance, someone beat us to it..."

As Ludmila turned to face Wormwood, she winced in pain. He abdomen felt on fire. Without even realizing it, her right positioned itself to shield it.

"I..." she took a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain "I'm all for busting in if anyone feels up to it."

Seeing Ludmilla pained face and gesture to protect her midriff, Wormwood voices concern. "Are you alright? It looks like you need some rest."

After another moment to think, he says "Well I was thinking that only 1 or 2 of us should go in until first to see if he's there. The others can stay outside and watch the exits in case he tries to escape at the first sign of us. With the shape you're in, it would probably better for you to wait outside."

Wormwood continues by saying, "I've got some skill when it comes to duping people, so it would be no mean feat for me to be able to talk my way out of there if he is home."

Following Wormwood's remark, Ludmila gave him her darkest look.

"I don't need no fragging rest."

She averted Hank's worried gaze.

"I'm fine. I'm fraggin fine." she murmured to herself, as if calming herself down.

The rest of what she said seemed to be for her own peace of mind... and sounded russian. Ludmila then straightened herself, holding herself as upright as possible... but probably everyone could see she was favoring her right leg over her left.

Peering from under a few strands of rebelious black hair that were hiding her face here and there, she looked at Wormwood.

"I've had worst. I'll be fine."

She zipped her coat up.

"Lets go get this sucker now..."

"Bout fraggin' time." Hank said with a satified smirk on his face. "Mr..." Hank gestured towards Gun and couldn't seem to recall the name. "You ready?"

'Let's roll. Like I said Stone, get your self some protection."

Gun led the way out the door, his dark eyes scanning the terrain looking for possible dangers.

"I've got a ride around here, if anyone needs one, if not I'll meet you at the spot. Ludy, I think you should wait in the car and cover our backs once where there, your sharp eyes can serv us much better that way."

Wormwood follows Gun saying, "I'll ride with you, thanks."

Ludmila was about to make a comment of her own, but swallowed it. It was true that she was quite injured, and in no shape to get in a fight...

"Alright."

As they walked out of Stone house, she hurried her limp to get to Gun and Wormwood.

"By the way, I'm Ludmila." she gestured toward Hank "and thats Hank."

She shoved both her hands in her pockets and concentrated herself on walking as straight as possible.

"Do you have any comm gear with you? All I have is one micro transceiver, and a spare hand-held unit. If need be, I have a full array of surveillance and counter surveillance gear... but I doubt we're going to do in the subtle right now. I..."

She was about to add something but stopped dead in her tracks. Her head was turned a bit to the side and she was studying Gun's face.

"Hey.... Where do I know you from?"

Not sure what connection Ludmilla and Gun could have, Wormwood furtively glances at them both paying particular attention to Gun's reaction.

Attempting to break up any tension that might arise from her question to Gun, Wormwood says "I have been known by many names, but feel free to call me...Jacques or just Jack." He just isn't comfortable giving out his former handle to people he has just met. The wrong people might hear the name Wormwood.

He pauses, offering his hand, before continuing. "I've got a micro-transceiver also, so no problems there."

"I got a buddy named Jack." Hank cuts in. "Guess we'll see if this makes two. Good to officially meet you...Hank." He says while extending his right hand to shake.

Ludmila seemed to snap back to reality, turning her eyes away from Gun and to Wormwood.

"Jacques, da?" she lit her 4th cigarette in less than 15 minutes "you.... fransouski..." the russian was looking for the word ".... you french?" She offered him the pack.

Unclipping a small microphone from her collar, and taking out her earpiece, her left hand went under her jacket, as if she was trying to take something out. After a few seconds of struggle, she came out with a micro-transceiver unit and threw it to Hank.

"Use it. I'll keep the handheld with me in the van. Well, lets all set ourselves on the same frequency... might make things easier once in the field."

"Non. I am no frenchman." Wormwood says, spitting to his side as he says the word frenchman. With pride, he firmly says "I am Corsican!"

That settled, he sets his micro-transceiver to the same frequency as the others are using.

"I usually work alone so I didn't pack any com. gear." He smiles tightly at Lumilla. Generally he reserves smiles for when hes holding a knife.

"Not sure Ludy, but I get around. You ever get to Frisco or..." He stops dead in his tracks. His eyes narrow a bit...

"Portland, about two years ago our paths crossed. You still working for that guy or are you freelancing. ?"

She took a long drag, holding the cigarette between her index and middle finger. The woman had a slight sly look on her round face.

"Portland.... Makes more sense now. Feels like ages ago."

Blowing a cloud of smoke thru her nose, she let out a small laugh.

"That was fun... I was sure I knew you from somewhere. Reassuring to know I'm not going crazy."

Ludmila's usual agressive attitude was slowly slipping away; she was getting relaxed, comfortable. She knew her temper flared up on its own way too often, and she probably haddn't made a very good impression on her new associates. Now was the time to show some trust.

"Well, as you can see, I'm starting to branch out on my own. Simply worked with the Vory v Zakone for too long. I still run intelligence gathering for them, now and then, like I used to."

Brushing her short black hair away from her face, she gave him a once over look.

"Still quite the arm breaker, I see."

"Pays the bills doll, pays the bills. Good to see you are doing well, you struck me as a good operator when the drek hit the fan. You wanna ride with us or you got a ride?"

Ludi waved her hand, as if dismissing the offer.

"Spasiba. I will ride with Hank. I... need to pick some things up."

Nodding to Ludi, Wormwood says "Ok, we'll go on ahead and give the place a looksee. We'll wait until you get there by doing any thing else."

To Gun and with a gesture towards the car, he says "Lead the way, mon ami."

The car is a rental, but it is a nice rental, leather interior, total automation, the works. Gun drives it on manual though. No nead to leave a trail of where they are going.

During the quiet time on the way over he says, "a little more than we bargained for eh?"

Wormwood answers, "Yeah. Definitely not what I originally signed up for. But at least we're getting well paid for the new circumstances."