Gregori Grinned as the woman snapped up the pocket computer. You could get cut, being so sharp Gregori he chuckled to himself. As they stepped out of the office, He spoke to the others quietly, practically murmuring.

"I think we have things to say to each other first, yes before we get started?" .

"My name is Gregori, it is pleasure to be working with you all...." He left the statement hang, an offer for others to introduce themselves.

Os adds, "Likewise. I'm Os."

And then he looks at Gregori and says, in Russian, "How are things in your homeland, friend?"

The ork's eyes follow Dawn's hands as they pull the electronic device off of the table. He liked that she was taking a lot of initiative. He knew that he was no leader and a strong central figure was something he liked, as long as they didn't use their power to abuse the other team members.

"I'm Razz." he states, following Gregori's lead. He doesn't feel like revealing much more about himself at the moment. He nods to the Russian and to Os.

"What's your name?" he asks the beauty.

"You guys can call me Lethe. Anyone who doesn't have a vehicle is welcome to take a ride in my RV."

"Thank, I have a ride." Dawn said to Lethe. She looked to the others as they gave their names.

"Call me Dawn..."

Gregori nodded solemly at Lethe's declaration, saying,

"I will take you up on that I think." He turned to Os and rattled off in Russian.

"What a pleasure to speak in Russian! You've been there? I won't ask for what. Things there are much the same as always at home."

He turned to Razz and Dawn, "Well, I suppose now that introductions have been made we can get started, yes?"

"Indeed. If Dawn would lend me that PDA so that I can transfer the relavent data to my pocket secretary, and everyone who wants a ride would follow me, then we can get underway."

He will then turn towards the RV and pull out a keyless entry unit, unlock the RV, and open the door when he gets close enough.

"All right folks, if you want a ride in my RV, there has to be a few ground rules. First, don't touch the turret unless I tell you."

As he says this, he points at the turret hanging from the center of the roof, a loaded machine gun pointing towards the front of the car.

"Second, don't touch the drone unless I tell you."

He then points to an obviously armored T-bird drone in the back, cradled in a holding device. A machine gun is mounted under its nose, and a pistol appears to be mounted in its nose. A long pod is mounted along the top of the drone, though what purpose it holds isn't apparent.

"Other than that, feel free to sit back and enjoy the ride."

He will then walk up to the driver's seat, insert the keys, start the car, and plugs one cable from the dashboard into his pocket secreary, and the other into the side of his head.

Gregori takes only a passing appreciation towards the vehicles bristling with weapons. They might come in handy, but they just weren't the Russian's thing. He finds a seat, as far as possible from those things he was warned about, and leans back.

"We will follow Dawn to the location?" he asks the Lethe.

"That's what we're being paid to do, isn't it? Granted, bodyguarding isn't my usual line of work, but the job's paying well enough."

"And your usual line of work is?" Gregori asked, a wry smile on his face.

Os passes on the ride. After getting the particulars on the safehouse, he makes towards his car.

"Just got to pick up a few things. I'll see you lot at the safehouse in an hour."

"I'm in the same baot as Os. I've got to get some stuff. I'll be there soon."

Razz takes note of the safehouse's address and goes on his way, taking a cab to save time. He'll be pulling down some cash soon he could afford to splurge a little for speed.

Lethe turns to Gregori.

"Smuggling. Not half bad at it, either."

well that's interesting. Gregori thought to himself. He'd never done anything in the way of smuggling. Of course his friends used smugglers all the time, coming across the bering strait in all manner of souped up VTOLs and lighter than air ballons, and ships, and all sorts of nonsense. Anton, back at home, had done alot of business with their type. He wondered if they all had attitudes that just wouldn't quit. Probably. makes you wonder if they've ever heard the phrase 'we eliminate the middleman'. Or perhaps that was the reason for their nature.

"No kidding." was Gregori's long delayed reply.

"Well, if noone else is going to come, we might as well get going."

He then transfers the relevant data from his Personal Secretary onto his autonav, and gets the RV going on to the pickup of the package. He then pulls an earphone out of his coat, and dials his fixer.

"Hello, John? It's Lethe. I would like to set up a meet after this run, with other adepts. Three or four days from now. Why? To start an initiatory group. No, you shouldn't need to pay them anything. Joining the group should be enough of an incentive by itself. Yes, I know I will have to pay you a commission. Well, bye."

Gregori nodded, he was anxious to get on the move. He didn't think their principal was going to enjoy being kept waiting. And Gregori didn't like the way his partners were treatin this like a... what was the american expression? cake walk. One could end up counting the chickens early. Sounded like Smuggler Lethe was already making preparations to spend the money they hadn't earned yet. although on what Gregori didn't hear.

What Gregori thought, was that any thing important enough to bring a man like Tamburo out of, if Gregori was right, what should have been his sick bed, was important enough to concentrate on. But perhaps the others knew better. He didn't know. They'd not taken the time to speak about the biz-ness before hopping in their seperate vehicles.

Gregori closed his eyes, as he waited for the RV to reach its destination. He murmured to himself, Maybe Comrade Wolf was right.. Two legs business does stink.

When Lethe finishes his phone conversation, he will turn to Gregori.

"So, if we're going to be working together, we ought to know a bit more about each other's abilities. I'm an adept, and my magic enhances my vehicular skill."

Dawn downloaded the contents of the pocket secratery into her personal memory. Never know when something may happen to the original in this line of work. She took stock of the men she would be working with and found the abilities of some to be useful. The only draw back was that she didn't know either of them personally. Time would fix that and hopefully they could be good partners in this scheme.

Mr. Tamburo really played up the fact he couldn't pay them more for this job. A member of the Finnigan Family could at least offer a bit more money for a job. She suppossed the fact they would be sitting on the couier in a nice safe house was going to be all the inititaive they would need. Not likely, but she didn't want to overplay her card and appear greedy. She wanted to get in without showing off any apparent weaknesses in her character.

God knows, she had enough of them as it was.

She signaled to the rigger that she was ready to go and slipped into the gun gray Eurostar. She plugged into and feed the autonave the address as to where they would be going. The car immediately started up and began to take the bust course to their destination.

Gregori just nodded. "I knew the first part, and guessed the second." He'd leave it to Lethe to figure out just how he knew it, but knew he did.

"Wolf has blessed me with a small showing of the ways to use nature to help myself and my pack." Gregori said. He didn't elaborate on what pack that was, but as he pulled off his leather jacket to use as a pillow, the cheap black prison ink tattoo of a snarling wolf's head on his bicep, peeking out from under the armored vest might offer a clue, along with his accent. He rested his head back.

" But Razz, he's the ork. He's a mage. Both Dawn and Os are just mundane. Though she's got a hot little aura." Gregori said, chortling a little at his own joke.

10:51/Thursday June 12th, 2064/Razz's Apartment

Razz left the cab a block from his doss, preferring not to give the exact location of his home away to anyone. He ducked down an alley and used the back door to Jack Lee's Gun shop. He input the keypad code to get through the door, then made his way up the narrow stairs to the tiny apartment above the store. It was not a bad place to live. Not many people expected there to be a living area above a gun store and Razz got the benefit of the shop's security system without having to pay extra.

He entered his apartment by pressing his thumb against the lock's pad. Once inside he grabbed a duffel out of his closet and filled it with a few more things. FIrst he broke his Ak-97 down into a few different parts and wrapped each in a cloth. THis allowed the rifle to fit into the bag without making any tell-tale impressions on the fabric. After the gun was in he added two clips of regular ammunition and a single clip of explosive bullets. Then he filled a small shaving kit with some toiletry items and put it in with two changes of clothing and his half-suit of form fitting body armor.

Satisfied that he had what he needed, the ork closed his bag and left the apartment through the back door. He took a nearby busline to a more populated area of town where he caught a cab to the neighborhood of the safehouse. Once there Razz pays the cabbie to slowly cruise around the block while he takes a look around, and then has the taxi drop him a block from the safehouse.

When Gregori finishes speaking, Lethe grins.

"Uh huh. You follow Wolf? I follow Gargoyle, and that's someting your assensing can't tell you."

Gregori shrugged. He didn't know that much about Gargoyle. But he wondered what he thought of Lethe's 'ware. Wolf would not care for it one bit. Personally Gregori didn't think much of it either. But apparently it was the fashion. The Ork was the same way.

If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one. Gregori thought to himself. But all he said to the elf was,

"Wolf breaks up the snow banks, and if I follow in his path the travel is easier."

10:33:09/Thursday June 12th, 2064/Evergreen Point Bridge

Lethe and Gregori

10:33:09/Thursday June 12th, 2064/Evergreen Point Bridge

Dawn

7:30 PM/Tacoma/Ragnarok's "home" to 10:33/Bellvue/condo

The sounds of the ork prostitute and her newest client woke Ragnarok. He sighed and rolled out of bed, headed to the john.

His phone rang. It was Dexter, his fixer. He answered.

"Howdy, chummer. Boy do I have a sweet deal for you. Unfortunately, I got word of this a little late, and everything's all settled. It's a babysitting job - some guy and a package. Your Johnson on this is a guy by the name of Tamburo. I've passed along directions to you, and I'll let them know if you're in. You in?"

"How much?"

"1900, plus some real honest-to-God agro-chow."

Ragnarok closed his eyes and nodded his massive troll head. "I haven't eaten like that in a long time, chum. I'm in."

"Excellent." Dexter flashed his cosmetic fangs and closed the channel.

Ragnarok got dressed and packed his gear fairly slowly. Lace-up combat boots, green-on-black night camo pants, Secure Ultravest ™. Most importantly, and always donned ceremoniously, is a combat helmet given to him by his merc commander. Always a sucker for theatrics, chummer, he thought to himself.

He then proceeded to pack up his combat gear into an oversize black duffel bag, ticking off a mental list.
HK 612a3z folding stock assault rifle, Never leave home without it.
heavy combat armor, 'cuz my hide won't stop bullets
5 kilograms of Compound 4, radio detonator and timer If it got me a nickname, it can't be bad
8 clips of ammo with tracers, 2 clips of gel never know when you'll get more ammo
and my mitts...

Ragnarok left his apartment, locked the half-dozen locks and hopped a bus to Bellvue

10:33:15/Thursday June 12th, 2064/Evergreen Point Bridge

Gregori looked out the back of the RV at the coupe, a few vehicles back, than at Lethe. When they changed lanes, so did the coupe. Still on them.

"I am thinking," Gregori began, "That this must be subtly handled. With mussor , security aroud, we do not wish to be drawing attention to ourselves."

He then went back to looking out at the coupe, trying to see what he could make out about the vehicle.

10:33:15/Thursday June 12th, 2064/Evergreen Point Bridge

Dawn adjusted the mirror, letting the autonav take on the important task of driving the car to the destination. Obviously her companions also noticed the coupe' that was following them. And it was very obvious this car was following either the RV, her, or both. Here's the problem, one coupe wasn't going to be able to follow both Dawn and the RV should she decide to take an alternate route. The part whree it becomes a bad idea is that if they are following Dawn, she could be possibly out gunned while the RV was laden with all sorts of toys and other nasty surprises.

Problem two, she didn't really want to lead this coupe' to the safe house. At that point, it would stop being a safe house and make their job much more difficult. Dawn had chosen a point that wouldn't exactly take her directly to the safe house, just damn close enough. There was no way to contact the guys in the RV at the moment. So the only thing to do was go to the Starbucks and wait it out. No one to piece the location together from there seeing as she was going to get a cup of coffee and it would afford the oppritunity to see who was following them. Hopefully the others would take the hint.

"Don't worry, Gregori. I'm a smuggler, remember? Getting away from people is what I do for a living."

He will then order the navcomp to shut down over the datajack, and turn down a sideroad, trying to lose the pursuer.

10:33:23/Thursday June 12th, 2064/Evergreen Point Bridge

Gregori ignored Lethe, and focused his attentions on the coupe. If they noticed Lethe's evasive manuevers they might decide to become hostile. So Gregori summed up his mental focus, and kept a watchful eye for any magic coming at the vehicle or its occupants.

"Getting away from people is what I do for a living." Lethe said as he switched of the vehicle's auto navigation system. There was a slight shift as it went to manual. Lethe gripped the wheel and slowly began accelerating. Not that Gregori noticed, he had already began marshaling the mystic energies necessary to fend off any magical assaults lauched from the car. His will set, he decided to take a good look at their new tail.

The sleek black vehicle was definitely high end; a Porche maybe? Low to the ground, it glided like a hawk on thermals behind Lethe's wildebeast. Gregori tried to get a look at the driver, unfortunately the mirrored tint prevented it. THere was something unusual Gregori noticed though. The vehicle had no markings; no "Porche" markings, no license plates, nothing.

Suddenly the vehicle jerked to the right as Lethe accelerated down the Evergreen Point Road exit. Gregori watched as the shadow continued past the exit...

Dawn watched as Lethe's RV suddenly lurched down the exit ramp. She wondered if they had been attacked or driven off the road. Then she looked in the mirror and saw the black racer just as it whipped past her, doing at least two-hundred kilometers per hour. The force of the passing car buffeting her westwind so much that the auto nav sounded a collision alert, began slowing and pulling ot the shoulder...

"Well, that was strange." Gregori said, ruefully scratching his head through the black cloth of his hat. "No marks to pick up on I'm afraid. Cruising around with no license plate in front of all the law enforcement? You or I would not be so comfortable as to try this I do not think, yes?" Gregori said to Lethe.

10:35:15/Thursday June 12th, 2064/Evergreen Point Bridge

Dawn canceled the autonave attempt to go to the side of the road after the coupe passed by. A frown creased Dawn's face as she watched the car disappear down the highway. At the moment she was the only one of the group on the highway. The coupe knew now that they were on to it, but he gave up the option to follow them too. Dawn started to wonder if that was the whole diea at all.

Might be a warning for them. Probably one meant to gell them to get off this job, or it was just corperate dad whose son had too much money and too much time. Dawn was going to err on the side of caution and continue with her plan to go to the cofeeshop and try to meet up with the rest.

"No, I wouldn't, unless I had the local police in my pocket. Or I had connections that would render my arrest inadvisable, like being a corporate or national highup. Or diplomatic immunity, for that matter. We've got to tread carefully, I think."

He will then switch the autonave back on, and tell it to take them to the pickup location.

Ragnarok got off the bus a quarter mile from the safehouse. He started walking, but before he took seven steps, Dexter called him.

"Hey, chum, I got you contact information for 2 of the runners, Razz and Dawn, a hot little elf number. I'd reccommend giving them a call - don't want your head blown off by your teammates!" Dexter grinned and told Ragnarok the contact info.

Ragnarok dialed Dawn and concentrated making a good first impression.

The 'tic-tic' of Dawn's wristphone broke her of her pondering. Flipping the screen up on her wristphone, "Dawn here..."

Ragnarok's face splits into the goofiest grin a troll probably ever have. It fades after he sees Dawn's displeased look.

"Yeah, sorry I missed the meeting - name's Ragnarok. Can I get in without getting fragged?"

Dawn blinked, wonder for a moment why a troll was calling her. Maybe she was getting paranoid after the coupe, but it was a safe bet she was going to need to play fast and loose. "Nice to meet you Ragnarok. I'm Dawn, and if you know where we're going to meet, then meet me at this coffee house..."

Dawn rattled off the street address where she was going to arrive. This was turning out to be interesting. Hopefully she didn't set herself up to get geeked by whoever was playing games with the team.

10:35:15/Thursday June 12th, 2064/Evergreen Point Bridge


Gregori nodded. "This is my point as well. I think it would be advisable to tread carefully. Anyway, Let us pick up our Principal, and get this over worth sooner rather than later."

Gregori was uncomfortable with how events were turning out. They were seperated from Dawn. They had no contact from Razz or Os and they'd had their first encounter with what may have been opposition doing some kind of recon work. Course it could have been some little rich kid playing games, or some kind of drek-headed suit.

He just wanted to grab the Principal, stuff him in the apartment and sit on him for a few days. Nice and peaceful like.

But Gregori was beginning to suspect that perhaps there was more to this story than he'd been told. So he plugged his earphone in,

"Sergei," He said, the voice dialer doing the rest.

"Da," came the groggy voice on the other end. Gregori spoke in Russian,

"Do you know anyone who works for the Mafia named Tony the Tooth? Should be an associate with Mr. Tamburo. Sorry I can't give you any other possible connections, sorry. Sure, let me know what you find out when you find out. Of course I appreciate it. Yes I know I woke you up. Well I'm sorry I woke them up, but you can always go for round 2 yes? Oh, round 4? You lie Sergei." Gregori laughed.

Sergei fumbles with something off camera, you can see two women sleeping on the other side of the bed. He leans up and is now holding a perssnal secretary. He grunts and says "The Tooth? Da, he is runner just like you. He is wheel man, pretty good, not too bright. He works freelance, not for Mafia. He is big, big troll." He looks off camera and smiles. "Don't worry my pretties, there is plenty of Sergei to go around. His smile fades as he once again looks into the camera. "Look Gregori, because we are such good friends, I will overlook the fact that you interrupted my... entertainment, and only charge for the lost... entertainment time. Say, five hundred? I'll even ask around and see what Tony is up to, deal?"

Gregori sighed in falsified exasperation,

"But Sergei, this job you find me, it does not pay as well as perhaps you think. Why don't we say, 150 for the trouble, and if you find out more on what Tooth is up to, then I will do the rest to, and if you have no luck, and find out nothing, then we even? Cool?

There was an audible groan.

"C'mon Sergei. I am good for it. And I you KNOW i'll keep you in loop about anything the Mafia has going down. Maybe some business you can get involve in eh? Information is as good as script."

Sergei sighs mockingly. "Very well then, I will expect something... wonderful." He looks back toward the women in his bed and smiles. The line goes dead...

Lucky Bastard Gregori thought to himself as Sergei hung up on him. He gets to sleep in with the ladies, while I'm out here doing the real work. But shadows, like all things, have hierarchies, and Gregori's place was not high in the food chain... yet. Gregori figured he would have to be especially careful to see what information he could pick up. Offering Sergei nothing was never a good idea.

Gregori turned to Lethe, and spoke:

"Our Principal, this Tony.. Is a wheelman. Maybe rigger, like you, I'm not sure. Troll, big. Not a Mafia man, a 'runner. That's all I've been able to figure out. Are close yet?"

"Uh huh. Well, I'm not a rigger, though magic makes me as good at the wheel as one. As for nearly there... I think we are."

huh.

"Well, You learn something new every day I suppose." Gregori said sheepishly.

"eitherway, He's a big tro...ll. Shouldn't hard to see." Gregori almost said Trog, but stopped short. You never knew how touch some people were about it, so he figured it was better to remain polite.

Ragnarok hung up the phone and thought about the address for a second. Fragger's aren't here yet. Weird, he thought. Well, I guess I'll bus it over there. You gotta get some wheels, chum.

22:45:35, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Red Sun apartment complex, Redmond

Os pulls up to his usual parking space in the underground lot of his apartment complex. He gets out of the car and starts to walk to the elevator bank.

"Bang!" comes a voice inflected with a french accent. "Sloppy, Bones. Now you're dead." Os stops dead and turns around, vision cyber-mods on and gun drawn, as inconspicuously as possible, at his hip.

Although the intruder is cloaked in shadow, to Os, the man is plenty visable.

"Relax, Bones," the man begins. "If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it already."

"You'll get me killed quickly enough if you keep on using that fuckin' name, Anselme. What are you doing in Seattle anyway? Russia didn't work out for you, either?"

"Kind of. Actually, I only left a little while after you did. Although, I didn't burn my bridges quite as spectacularly as you did."

"That bridge was pre-burnt. You want to tell be what you're doing here?"

"In Seattle, or in your parking lot?"

"Whichever."

"Well, I'm in Seattle for very much the same reason as you are. Shadow-work, as you call it. And your garage? Well, I'm here to tell you that Russia is coming back to haunt you. Stanakov has bought the services of two bounty hunters, Russians, to pick up your scent."

"What can you tell me about them?"

"Not much. I only know because one of my Russian contacts mentioned it in passing. Still, I thought you could use the head start. Just try not to get killed, huh?"

"I'll try my best, mate. Thanks for the tip-off, by the way. I'd offer you a drink, but I'm just shooting through."

"Nevermind. I'll see you later, hopefully."

With that, Os re-holsters his gun and starts for the elevator again. Already, he begins to ponder whether Tamburo has anything to do with this.

22:40:21, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Starbuck's Cofee shop, Redmond

When the two cars arrived at the 196th street they noticed the streets here were decidedly unlike those of Bellevue. It wasn’t just trash that littered the streets, but the trashcans, and child-swallowing pot holes as well. Trash day must be tomorrow? thought Dawn. They drove past the pick-up spot, to scope things out. At NE 90th place they turned around and drove back. Parking across the street from where they were told to meet “The Tooth.”

The auto nav. computers shows no record of a 5650 ½ 196th Avenue NE. The best it can offer is either 5650 or 5670. But there, parked in the alley between two, four-story apartment buildings, sits a highly modified utility van. A matte black monstrosity with obvious troll mods. The door, nearly twice the size a normal van would have, looks to be on rollers rather than hinges. The roof has been extended as well as the mirrored windshield and side windows. Blister pods mounted above the rear wheels suggest pop-out weapon mounts. The tires are oversized and bear obvious armoring. Dawn pulls to a stop across the street, next to of all things, a star buck’s coffee shop. Lethe pulls up behind her and takes a good look around.

196th Avenue NE runs North/South. An alley divides the block, East/West into two buildings. Both are apartment complexes, old but still in serviceable condition and mostly occupied by the look of things. The North building has a fire escape on the West end, behind the van parked just inside the alley. A second fire escape can be seen on the other building at the other end of the alley. Two large green dumpsters sit mid-way down the alley against the south building. Immediately to the west of the vehicles is a string of stores ranging from the Starbuck’s beside them to a Hammer’s Hardware at the north end of the block. The power is currently on here as the street lamps are working. Most of the shops are closed. Only the Starbuck’s and a Stuffer Shack near the Southern end of the block are open. There are no people on the streets, though that isn’t a surprise when you consider the neighborhood.

After a moment of sitting, scanning the area, the driver’s side door to the van slides open and an immense troll climbs out. This guy is easily three meters tall, three-hundred kilos easily, shaggy green hair hangs half way down his back. His mottled gray skin looks, in the light of the halogen street lamps, to be moist. He looks toward the groups vehicles and they understand the moniker “The Tooth.” Out of the left side of his mouth juts a large tusk, possibly three to three point five centimeters long. The giant turns, pulls out a pack of smokes and lights up, waiting.

Gregori looked around the area, peeking out the window of the RV.

"We'll I suppose this is it." He said. Not really to Lethe, more just in general.

Gregori scanned the area, looking for anyone or anything, out of place... besides the huge troll and his warwagon of course. Things about this job we're getting stranger and stranger. Cause Tooth didn't look like he needed any body's help staying safe. Gregori went to the door of the RV, and leaned against it, waiting for Lethe to follow before stepping out.

22:40:21, Thursday, June 24th, 2064/Starbuck's Cofee shop, Redmond

Dawn was quick to scann the area for trouble. The troll was pretty impressive and she wondered why this guy needed to have bodyguards. Alot of things weren't clicking into place, but she was pretty sure they would be soon.

During the drive through the area, Dawn had pulled off her blouse and slacks and remained in the bodyarmor and overcoat. She put the clothes in her carry bag and checked her gear. She hated to get her nice clothes dirty and it was half expected that trouble was going to show its head before they get to the safe-house. It was better that she didn't ask for trouble in this biz but it look like it decided to look for them instead. Dawn stepped out of her car and looked around the area for Ragnarok hoping the troll wouldn't be late getting to the pick-up spot.

She also waited for Gregori and Lethe to come out and join her.