Guns for Hire - Script Two
Forlorn Hope 8.47pm 23/02/2015
Striker sat back & watched for their reaction, he'd watched these four for a couple of days, asked a few questions, pulled a few favours in, they were raw & in need of funds but from what he'd learnt they had the balls to complete the contract,
"Let me summarise it for you then, $75K for the lap top & the dossier in the safe, $40K for Joshua, alive if possible, you pick the time, the place, do we have a contract ?"
Vrasten looked at Mariusz, then Skinpin & Gonzales, all three nodded acceptance,
"We have a contract" replied Vrasten,
"There is one thing however, the exchange, this airfield you mentioned, fine, but don't call us, we'll call you, after all, we don't want a welcoming party do we.
Forlorn Hope 10.08pm 23/02/2015
"OK,
lets recap what we know" said Vrasten
"Somebody wants us to go to Pacifica, walk into the official embassy of the Central Goverment of the Afrikan Free States, extract the Ambassador, one Joshua Ryan Motobasmi, collect his lap top & the contents of the safe all before Petrochem's finest drop in eight minutes later - fuck"
"We need guns" said Mariusz "big guns"
Striker had seemed straight up with them thought Vrasten, or so his experience with dealing with the lying scum that inhabit this fine city told him so, he'd also told them that the embassy was situated in its own walled grounds in the hills above Pacifica overlooking the bay of Santa Morro, it was a seven story flat roofed building purpose built about ten years back. He'd added that it had all the expected features, CCTV, dogs, internal security, razor wire etc, but he'd also mentioned that his client had commissioned some preliminary surveillance which had confirmed Petrochem's response time but also that the motion detectors around the perimeter walls had a tendency to set off Petrochem's response unit in bad weather.
Vrasten sat back & listened to the others, this was all new to him, he'd spent the best part of his life pathetically battling against the low life's that inhabit Night City & now here he was openly discussing how to kidnap a corp', fucking ironic really,
"Look," said Vrasten "As bad as this shit hole is, can we at least try to do it without killing everybody on sight, yeah"
Rising from the table Mariusz trundled off to speak with Ringo, one of the bar tenders who doubled as a weapons technician for the above stairs, mumbling about grenades, some time later he returned with a small grey box containing a dozen grenades for the underslung launcher on his SK19G, grinning, he also handed Vrasten a belt holding 4 stun sticks.
Covert being the word, it was agreed that the operation should be carried out at the least under false identities, sitting back Gonzales considered the matter & suggested three days should give him enough time to procure the necessary materials & produce state driving licences for all four of them as well open a bank account linked to the false ID's that could be used by all. Mariusz, changing his eye colour with a simple thought, sheepishly murmured to Gonzales that he'd purchase a hair piece the following day to cover his baldness & add it to the false persona, seeing the sense of the matter the other three looked to what small changes they could make to modify their own appearance.
Vrasten added that he'd take a look through the "for rent" pages & rent a flat that they could use whilst things were put in hand.
Calling it a night they agreed to meet the following day once Vrasten had located somewhere suitable.
Bed Sit 11.34am 24/02/2015
Sat around the battered formica table in the kitchen of the bed sit rented by Vrasten that morning, the four friends run over what they know, Vrasten, adds a few snippets in respect of PETROCHEM to the pot having spent some time on one of the DAT's the abound the city as well as an archive photograph of Joshua Ryan Motobasmi captured by the Network 54.
(Petrochem's bread & butter is CHOOH2, the synthetic alcohol that has become the worlds standard combustible fuel; They are responsible for 60% of world supplies. The corporation remains on the cutting edge of chemistry & material research & production. By virtue of owning a huge fraction of the worlds arable land, it is also among the worlds largest agricultural concerns)
Mariusz's added that a trawl of the scandal sheets over the last few months brought up a reference to a body, a female hooker, in a swimming pool several months earlier at a private function held at the Bodakkan Performing Arts Center, within the column was a list of guests questioned at the function following the discovery of the body, one of those listed was Joshua Ryan Motobasmi, however it adds that obviously no charges were raised against the ambassador in view of his diplomatic status.
Finally Vrasten confessed that he'd tried a couple of his old snouts for information about Striker however he'd drawn a complete blank.
Forlorn Hope 11.27pm 26/02/2015
Sat in a side booth, Mariusz's mobile shrilled in competition with the house band, the Slaughtered Lambs, for Mariusz's attention, answering the call he mouthed to the others that it was Striker, Striker advised Mariusz that whilst there was no time scale on the contract, his client has intimated that if it can be completed by the first of March they were prepared to offer a $10K bonus.
Highway 828 11.37am 27/02/2015
Three days later, packed into Vrasten's failing motor they head out towards Pacifica, five hours drive away, some two hours later they pull onto & through the razor wire security fencing that surrounds;
Vrasten, having had to listen to the moans & groans of the others for the last two hours about the fucked air conditioning, lack of suspension & the cramped seating agreed that maybe they should by a bigger car, approached by Honest Joe himself they were given the full monty & Mariusz soon found himself longingly looking at a monstrous speedboat. Whilst Honest Joe through down his pitch, Mariusz, Skinpin & Gonzales grabbed a coke leaving Vrasten to watch & wince as one of the grease monkeys gives his pride & joy the once over.
When Honest Joe finally made a part ex offer against anything in the lot, including the speedboat, Vrasten realises that one, they've only got $1200 between them & two, Vrasten's wheels was legally registered in Vrasten's name & therefore any new vehicle against which it was part exchanged would be traceable to Vrasten some what defeating the object, with that in mind Skinpin & Gonzales squeezed into the back seat & continued to bend Vrasten's ear for the next couple of hours.
Finally hitting the outskirts of Pacifica around 6.00pm, they check into a cheap motel off Highway 126 for the night after having paid through the nose for parking Vrasten's aged sedan in a secure lock up on the out skirts.