I am not certain, that I have ever met a Johnson at 6pm at a coffee shop in Downtown. What I am certain of, is that I have never met a Johnson who wasn’t called Johnson, but Andrea DeSomething. I forgot what exactly he said.
Actually, as we walked in we first noticed the well dressed, and slightly too well fat Human who greeted Romeo as if he was part of the family. Some kind of Lawyer-type, as I gathered from his way of speaking. He then introduced us to Andrea, a middle aged Italian in a linen suit and a shirt unbuttoned far enough to show some chest hair. Not exactly a kind of look I find attractive in a guy, but it kind of suits him. As we get served a fancy cup of coffee the Lawyer leaves and Andrea starts telling us what it is that we can do for him.
He wants us to help him find a book. Do I look like a librarian?
Okay, it seems to be an old, rare book, and he actually knows where it might be. Someone has posted an add trying to sell it. He is just worried to go there alone, since the address is in the Barrens, which is not exactly the nice part of Seattle. Mostly gang territory. To be honest, I would be worried about him, if he went there on his own.
He tells us the book is a transcript of the sixth book of Moses, whatever that is. Of course, we have questions about the job:
“Is there any danger involved?” - “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Is there any payment involved?” - “Yes, of course.”
“What does the book sound like?” - “Ahhhh,… Rustling, I assume?”
So, it turns out that if we just walk him to the seller, all goes well, and we return him without any trouble, the payment isn’t great. But then that’s also a job for an afternoon, so I guess it would be perfectly fine.
But there is a chance, that there may be trouble. The seller might not want to sell the book after all, or already have promised it to somebody else. In that case, the Italian would employ us to take whatever measures needed to still retrieve the book for him. And then payment would become significantly higher.
When we ask why he wouldn’t know if the seller wants to sell to him he explains that he has tried to contact the com number given in the add a few times, but no one answered. That indeed seems a bit strange.
By now it is getting a bit too late for a civilised visit at someones address, so we decide to do it tomorrow afternoon. Since we will need a car I call Hunt0rKill0r69, and he agrees to be our driver again. And Discord finds out for us, that the part of the Barrens that we are going to visit isn’t part of any gangs territory, actually. Instead it belongs to the Rastas. I am not sure if that is any better, or worse.
So the next day, in the early afternoon, we pick up Andrea DeSomething and drive to the location. It’s an uneventful ride and I spend my time looking out of the windows, watching the scenery change from shiny glass fronts surrounded by neon-lit adverts and the occasional live tree, to grey rundown walls surrounded by garbage and the occasional dead squatter.
We park directly outside the address and 69 stays in the car, as usual. The Italian comes with us though.
Already when getting out of the car there is a sweet smell in the air that I would recognise anywhere. We truly are in the neighbourhood of the Rastas.
The sellers address belongs to a bar called Marley’s Hut. It is open already, so we go in.
As soon as we walk through the door the smell intensifies and I feel slightly nauseated by it.
There are only three people at a table and the barman behind his counter, all happily - and slowly - chatting with each other while smoking their Jay’s.
Discord walks over to the bar, and buys one for himself. Okay. I mean, whatever he wants to do with his evening… Then, he joins the Rastas at their table and lights it up right away. I have to admit, that that throws me off a bit. We haven’t even asked about the book yet!
He tries to hand the Joint to me and Romeo, so I more or less politely decline the offer, while Romeo approvingly accepts it. There was a time in my life when I would have taken anything I was offered to drown out what was happening to me, but now I prefer to stay in control of my senses. Especially on a job! Usually when I do not take a job seriously, somebody gets hurt. Me if I am lucky, someone else if I am not. Discord tells me to chill a bit, but I just mildly frown at him and decide to talk to the barman, as my team mates are getting visibly high. What must our Johnson be thinking?
So this time I take over the talking part, but it is quite exhausting. I have to tear every piece of information out of the guy. He doesn’t even remember ever having had a book in the beginning. Only when I show him the add on DeSomethings comm he remembers.
Piece by piece I get out of him, that he already sold the book. To some people in fancy suits. Four of them. And he keeps rambling on about the book being the wrong one, that it was evil and the Spirits did not like it. I also really don’t like this conversation. It feels like being the only sane person in a madhouse. Discord, in the meantime, starts playing billiard with the Rastas.
Finally I ask the barkeeper if he has any surveillance where we could have a look at the buyers ourselves, since he mostly remembers that they seemed to have arms and legs. “Yes!”, thank god! “Can we have a look at it?” - “Yes! But… no. I don’t remember the password.” This must be a bad trip…
Romeo is still clear enough to offer hacking the Hut’s surveillance system, also offering to reset the password for the Rastafarian. He happily agrees, and then they spend what seems to be ages coming up with a variety of funny new passwords, giggling away. This must be the first Run where I honestly wish I could shoot someone.
But then, maybe I am not really annoyed because of the guys. Given where we are, they are probably even observing proper etiquette. I’m just in a bad mood today. The whole thing with my Mom is giving me nightmares again, and I spent most of last evening staring at an almost empty chat history on my commlink. There is just one message:
“can you pick me up? i don’t think i can walk on that leg…”
He called me. He picked me up, and he took care of me. I could at least have written ‘Thank you!’ after slipping out of his place. Would be a bit weird to follow that up with ‘hey man, how are you? wanna grab a drink?’…
Maybe Discord is right and I should try to be a bit more chill. I mean, not about taking drugs. I don’t have any interest in ever doing that again, not even the fun ones. But, you know, about other things that I want to do so badly.
After this book-job, I tell myself.
Then finally Romeo and the barkeeper are done picking a password and we get to have a look at the surveillance footage. Already a few weeks ago those guys showed up and left with the book shortly after. All were nicely dressed, as the Rasta had said, and they drove up in quite a fancy car. A limousine, that has TFS written on it’s side, including a nice logo.
Romeo quickly checks the Matrix and finds out that they are from the ‘Taurus Future Solutions’ consulting firm, and they have an address in Downtown.
Finally we can leave this place! I feel like I’m getting hight just from breathing in here.
Back in the car Romeo calls his Lawyer-type. According to him Taurus Future Solutions is a very respectable firm consulting in matters of some magic shit. Something about Feng Sui and Mana Flow. I really hope someone else in the team has the slightest idea what the guy is talking about!
TFS are in fact known for acquiring magical artefacts. What they are not known for is ever giving them up again…
I confirm with Andrea that he still wants this book, even though the Rasta had said it was the wrong one, and evil. He absolutely does, so we have to come up with a plan.
Since this is a firm dealing with magic all the time, I am sure they will not rely on physical and Matrix safety alone. They must have some magical protections as well.
While Discord is magical in a way, neither of us is really an expert on these things, so we ask the Italian what he can tell us about it. He mentions two kinds of magical safety measures that we may have to deal with. One is a magical barrier. That should not be a problem for Romeo and I, since we are as mundane as can be, but it might very well detect Discord if he isn’t careful. Luckily Discord has some experience with those. He mentions that even Marley’s Hut had one of them. All he needs to do is switch off his powers and weapon focus - don’t ask me! - and he can walk through it without the magician who set it up noticing it.
Then, there might be Ghosts? Spirits? Something like that. For them to interact with us here on the physical plain, they also have to manifest in it. That means we can see them, and we can hurt them too. But they are quite resilient bastards, especially if you cannot use one of those weapon foci, which only magic users seem to be able to do. So for me that means ExEx-Ammunition and trying to put out as much damage as possible.
The best case we could hope for would be to completely avoid a conflict. So maybe it is worth giving Romeo a chance to con them into selling us the book. They may not be known for giving away their artefacts, but Romeo can be quite persuasive. And even if they do not sell, we might be able to gather useful information about the layout and security of their building.
But to walk in and talk to them, it would be advisable to look somewhat more professional than Discord and I currently do. Of course we could send Romeo in alone with DeSomething, but if they run into trouble, I’m not so sure that they will come out again. Also, Romeo is still stoned, and it is getting late. Probably best to call it a night and regather tomorrow morning.
After we separate I go buy a nice suite. Since those things are not the very best protection I also order some fitted body armor to go underneath, but that stuff will take a week until I can pick it up. I will feel a bit squishy in that suit tomorrow, but I do look awesome in it!
It is not too late yet, as I leave the shop. I could go home and do some more research about Magic and Spirits, knowing fully well that I won’t find out more than what I already know. I could also put on my nice new suit, go out, and look for someone willing to take it off…
But, holy hell, you know, I could die tomorrow. And Discord is right when he says I should take things a bit more easy. I have the night off, and I know exactly who I want to spend it with. - He also doesn’t live far from where I am.
As Nathaniel opens the door he immediately asks me what’s wrong. “Nothing.”, I reply, “Absolutely nothing.”, and start to kiss him.
To be honest, we didn’t talk much last night, but I was able to tell Nathaniel that I appreciate him always being there for me when I need his help. He just grinned at me and said he had noticed.
I really wanna try to be better from now on! Who knows, maybe I’ll even stay for coffee one morning.
At least today for once I have a good reason for taking off early. I have to get ready for our visit at the TFS.