Guns for Hire - Script Forty Seven

King Lam's, Night City 11.46pm 06/03/17

Still muttering about Vrasten's monetary donation to Idwal Alex slipped out of the armoured security of the RedCab, as she stood on the boardwalk with T-Bird & Vrasten the cab's leering driver keyed the cab's security system& the Red "We've never lost a passenger yet" Cab went into lock down until it's passengers return.

All three new the bar to varying degree's, Vrasten was undoubtedly the most familiar having attended a number of "situations" in his former law enforcement years, he new it to be a brash in your face kind of place that today's young guns, wannabe's & street scum liked to call their own, it also, to the right people had a reputation, for providing a similar service to the Forlorn Hope.

From the steps leading up to the glitzy front entrance a long winding slow moving queue wound around the bars mirrored security windows & around the corner, watching it for a few minutes it looked like they could be in for a long wait.

Impatient T-Bird sauntered up to the front & smiled at the humongous motherfuckers who barred the door, smiling like he found a long lost brother he palmed a several notes to the foremost of the bars doormen,

"So, how about me & my friends just mosey on it nice & quiet like then ?"

Grinning, the gorilla slipped the dollars in his pocket & politely suggested T-Bird should join the other waiting punters on the sidewalk, realising he was wasting his time T-Bird suggested monkey boy return the cash incentive to it's rightful owner,

"What money ?"

Sighing T-Bird considered making more of it however he did have to concede that the suited & booted doorman was one big son of a bitch & so were the three goons behind him, even if two of them were allegedly female, swallowing his pride he turned to join the bemused Vrasten & Alex who were waiting patiently for the line of punters to move along, as he turned his back & walked away T-Bird just couldn't resist a final dig, unfortunately the lead goon had unnaturally good hearing, realising his potential error T-Bird kept walking, perceptibly maybe a tad quicker.

King Lam's, Night City 11.49pm 06/03/17

Watching T-Bird's retreat Alex, for the umpteenth time, slowly shook her head & considered her ongoing acquaintance with Tweedle-dee & Tweedle-dum, she knew they had their uses, she knew she had more money in pocket than she'd had for a good few years but Jesus it was hard work sometimes, sighing she walked alone past the line of punters to where the RedCab was locked down, swiping the biometric recognition access panel she disarmed having noted the body scan system set into clubs entrance door frame.

Approaching the entrance she spoke to the chief goon,

"Sorry about my associate yeah, he can be a bit of ass at times, guess this is one of those times"

Eying up Alex's assets the big guy relaxed & smiled,

"No sweat, happens all the time, you get used to all the shit, so what you after then Miss"

Politely Alex explained that they needed to talk to a Mr. Wessell de Groot, at mention of the name there was a perceptible change in the attitude of Mr. X, after several minutes a message was sent via one of Mr. X's colleagues, five minutes later Mr. X lifted the Blue rope out of the way & ushered Alex into the main bar suggesting she grab a drink at the bar.

King Lam's, Night City 11.53pm 06/03/17

As Alex walked into the night club her mastoid unit went dead, tapping the minuscule transponder in her neck it was clearly being actively blocked, pausing mid stride Alex rummaged in her bag & dug out the disposable pre paid mobile phone she'd acquired from Vrasten, when Vrasten answered it was a relief to know that whatever went down she could at least ask the twins for help.

King Lam's, Night City 11.54pm 06/03/17

Stood near the back of the queue Vrasten ignored T-Bird's scathing thoughts of Mr. X his friends, he reckoned it would be at least an hour before they got to the front & then there was no guarantee that T-Bird's earlier performance would find them barred, making a decision Vrasten grabbed T-Bird's arm & said,

"C'mon, we're wasting our time, let's grab a beer elsewhere & see what happens"

Before sitting down at one of the numerous tables that littered the sidewalk outside one of the neighbouring bars Vrasten lead T-Bird around the block to refresh his memory of the lie of the land, with a cold beer in hand they waited to see how things would develop.

King Lam's, Night City 00.49am 07/03/17

Alex stood by the bar sipping a coke doing her best to make the diet coke last as long as it had to, she'd almost left when they'd charged her $20 but figured that in the big picture it might be worth it, at least, she thought, we can charge it back to expenses. Initially she'd tried to talk to one of the flakes behind the bar but as soon as she mentioned de Groot they'd blanked her.

Glancing at her watch Alex was slightly startled when a squeaky female voice blurted in her ear, glancing down she was surprised to see a slip of a rivethead sipping an outrageous cocktail, the girl smiled sweetly & chatted to Alex as if she'd known her all her life, after a few minutes the kid suggested Alex accompany her if she wanted to speak to de Groot.

Passing out of the main bar Alex found herself in the foyer to the rest rooms, the girl giggled & went into the john but pointed to a door marked as staff only, with nowhere else to go Alex tried the door. Finding it unlocked she flexed her wolvers just in case & quietly pushed it open, beyond was a poorly lit staircase.

Warily Alex slid up the first flight, at the half landing above were a couple of unmarked locked doors, turning back on herself there was a second dimly lit flight, at the top a heavily built grunt sat reading a magazine. Almost annoyingly the grunt ignored her as she climbed the second flight, as she reached the top step he simply adjusted his position so as she could pass & pointed along a corridor which she guessed ran above the main club below, several doors were located to either side with a single door ajar at the far end, when questioned as to where the hell she was meant to go Book Man simply pointed towards the far door.

As Alex approached she could hear muffled voices from the room beyond, calmly Alex knocked, from inside a voice confirmed she should come in.

Opening the door Alex found herself in a fairly large cluttered room, spread around the room were various crates & boxes, off to one side was a large old sofa on which a couple of dudes sat watching a CCTV screens as well as some crappy film, in addition three guys sat at a table playing cards surrounded by redundant fittings, chairs & paraphernalia from King Lam's bar area.

At a second table sat a man sat alone eating, mouth full of food he pushed a second chair back from the table & gestured towards it, Alex sat & waited, through the chair she could feel the throb of the music from below,

"Alex, may I call you Alex, sorry about the food, bloody starving" pointing towards a bottle of wine he indicated an empty couple of glasses "drink ?"

Alex poured them both a drink & took a sip, she was pleasantly surprised, it was pretty good, glancing at the bottle she noted it as being a 2012 Malbec.

"So Alex, I here you wanna' talk about some recent work I may have had an interest in"

Unsure how to play Alex decided upon simple honesty & explained that a third party had offered them a contract several months back but that they'd turned it down, subsequently one of their regular contacts had approached them to assist as one of their employees had met with a related "accident"

Clearly Wessell appreciated the straight forwardness of Alex's request but explained that, as she already suspected, he was unwilling to spill the beans on his client, equally he appreciated her unwillingness to drop Idwal in the shit even though he guessed he was the leak.

Sitting back Wessell clicked his fingers in recognition of something recalled,

"How's the shipping industry doing Alex, I hear you've been dabbling in the African market, making money ?"

Alex smiled & answered equally obscurely if not truthfully.

"Look Alex, you know I can't just pass out peoples private details to all & sundry but I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll make a call & see what can be done, no promises, maybe you can do me a favour sometime"

As Alex bid de Groot good-bye she thought she'd done better than could be expected, it wasn't much to go on but maybe de Groot would come good & give her a call tomorrow, he'd even promised not to slap Idwal's wrist to hard. As she walked along the corridor back towards book man he looked up & glanced past her then smiled, she got the distinct impression he'd got a thumbs up from the door behind her.

King Lam's, Night City 1.36am 07/03/17

At the bottom of the stairs Alex finally looked over her shoulder & listened, she was positive nobody was following her from above. Pushing open the door to the main bar she was assaulted by the wall of sound & as well as the odd smell of sweat, drink, sex & maybe a few other more illicit things, gliding across the dance floor towards the door her combat training kicked in, used to attracting attention however she new this was more than just the average sexual avarice, not stopping she scoured the bar & quickly picked up her watcher, at the bar was the trick who'd lead her through to the stairs, realising she'd been clocked the kid smiled sweetly & cheekily pulled her tongue at Alex.

Forlorn Hope, Night City 2.29am 07/03/17

Back in the Hope things were quietening down, the band were packing up but the jute box was still playing half forgotten songs to the remaining punters,

"I need a beer" said Alex

Forlorn Hope, Night City 3.38am 07/03/17

A couple of beers later Alex shouldered her jacket & headed for the RV intending to get some sleep, similarly Vrasten fished for the key for the apartment he still retained & looked at T-Bird, T-Bird however had other plans having made friends with some scarlet, as Vrasten headed out T-Bird continued to make out.

The Apartment, West Beach, Night City 10.33am 07/03/17

Vrasten glanced at the phone as he waited for the kettle, T-Bird had never made it back to the apartment so he'd either crashed in the RV or more likely was shacked up with the skirt he pulled the previous night, guessing he'd be at the Hope later he flipped flicked through the scream sheet savouring his coffee.

Forlorn Hope, Night City 11.49am 07/03/17

Alex & Vrasten looked up as some cycle kid blundered in to the Hope clutching a large envelope to his chest, nervously he scanned the bar before his eyes settled on Alex, or more accurately on her chest, somewhat hesitantly he sidled up to their table & the envelope he carried under Alex's nose, almost against his will he blurted out what was on his mind,

"Jeez, they really are big tits"

Realising what he'd actually said his face instantly reddened, stammering in embarrassment he proffered the his trackpad for Alex to sign trying to apoligise but admitting that it's how she'd described to him. Alex ribbed him gently before signing & even tipping him generously.

Forlorn Hope, Night City 12.53am 07/03/17

Vrasten finished leafing through the various copy documents Uriel had couriered over to them, in all honesty there wasn't a lot of substance, it contained a brief summary of the victims identity, immediate family, home & employment details as well a details of the hit itself & a few grainy CCTV stills. Looking through it all it was clear that who ever was performing the hit was making sure it was a very public execution whilst taking pains to ensure they were unrecognisable & that their escape was untraceable, it stunk of a professional hit.

Feeling peckish they tucked in today's offerings from the Hope whilst they waited for T-Bird to return, by 2.30pm he'd neither phoned or appeared.

Flamingo Motel, Night City 2.43pm 07/03/17

Ever so slowly T-Bird cracked open his left eye, the pain in head was intense & his mouth felt like somebody had shit down his throat.

Disconcerting thoughts of the previous evening filtered through the haze, he seemed to remember enjoying himself with, fuck, what was her name, he could remember tattoo's, lots of tattoo's, black hair & lemons ? come to think of it where the fuck was she ? Moments later, shit where the fuck am I ? as he lay naked sprawled across the bed hints of memories teased him into wakefulness, he was brought fully awake however by the apartment door opening & the cleaner pushing her trolley before her coming in, the cleaner smiled & gave him a wink.

Over the next quarter of an hour it dawned on T-Bird that he'd been turned over, his LAP, phone, rings, wallet & false ID were all gone as well as a handful of cash, fortunately he remembered handing over the bulk of his funds to Vrasten before leaving with the skirt, sixth sense maybe or just plain luck having intervened.

Stumbling into the bathroom T-Bird took a piss then swilled his face, it took him several minutes to see the message his night time acquaintance had left for him, now did that refer to last night thought T-Bird or what.

Eventually T-Bird found his clothes & pulled himself together, his head felt like shit but he figured if he didn't get out of here now he'd still be here tomorrow, T-Bird new he hadn't drunk that much, the only explanation was that she'd laced his drink before they left the Hope. Following his nose he found his way down to reception & made to leave, before however he'd crossed the thread bare carpet to the sliding glass doors a voice bellowed at him from behind the desk,

"Oy, dipshit, where'd you think you're going"

Spinning around T-Bird was greeted by a fat grinning face hovering behind a chest high counter,

"You ain't going nowhere until you've paid for the room"

T-Bird sighed, he could see what was going to happen, he new he just needed to get it over with,

"Don't suppose I can use your phone can I ?" queried T-Bird

Forlorn Hope, Night City 3.09pm 07/03/17

Vrasten couldn't help but smile as he listened to T-Bird plead on the other end of the line not to tell Alex what had happened, shaking his head he covered the phone & related T-Bird's plight to Alex before telling T-Bird they were on the way.

Flamingo Motel, Night City 3.40pm 07/03/17

Half an hour later, having collected the pimpmobile from Vrasten's lockup, they pulled up to the curb outside the main entrance to the Flamingo.

Walking into the reception of the cheap motel they could see T-Bird slumped on an old sofa nursing his head, Alex cheerfully wished him a good day.

Shaking his head T-Bird asked Vrasten to settle the bill, some $200 plus the cost of the rescue call, whilst waiting for Vrasten & Alex to appear he'd tried to argue with fat man that he hadn't booked the room & that it had been whatever her name was who'd sorted it out however the bastard behind the counter had happily shown him the CCTV replay of his grand entrance the previous evening as well as his signature in the reservation book & told him that the when the skirt had left she'd made it abundantly clear that T-Bird would settle for the room.

Alex happily verified it was indeed T-Bird on film, T-Bird began to wonder what else might be on film.

Forlorn Hope, Night City 4.49pm 07/03/17

Back in the security of the Forlorn Hope T-Bird staggered off in search of one of the resident medics.

A few minutes later T-Bird swallowed the pills proffered by the on call Ripperdoc, near instantly the moshing elephants in his head slowed to an easy waltz,

"Er, doc, it's not just the head that's a problem, I think I may of broke something"

As the doc pulled on a pair of gloves T-Bird dropped his pants, the doc took one look & shuddered, reaching for a syringe & a vial of ceftriaxone he instructed T-Bird to bend over, once injected he through T-Bird a strip of antibiotics,

"Take three a day for the next week, if it drops off come back & see me but whatever you do keep it clean & don't go scaring people with it"

Forlorn Hope, Night City 5.04pm 07/03/17

Whilst Alex & Vrasten waited for T-Bird to reappear Alex finally received a call from Wessell de Groot, to be honest she'd expected Wessell to tell her to go fuck herself, she was mildly suprised therefore when Wessell confirmed he'd got them a meeting set up for nine o'clock the following morning at a motel in Frisco, the downside was it was with the Bag Lady, having confirmed they'd be there Wessell reminded Alex she now owed him big time.

Vrasten sat back quietly when Alex told her who they were meeting the next morning, whilst she'd heard rumours about the Bag Lady Alex was a relative outsider to Night City, Vrasten however was far more familiar with the name, over his fourteen years in the NCPD the name had cropped up with more than a few times, fence, alleged agent provocateur, crime lord, drug baron, pimp you name it her moniker had been linked to it, in the dozen years her title had been banded about she'd never once been identified despite numerous attempts by the cities police agency.

Forlorn Hope, Night City 5.44pm 07/03/17

Despite their apparent ongoing success in tracing the source of the hits Alex was becoming increasingly frustrated, over the last year or so they'd made good money, this job, in Alex's opinion, was a waste of time, small payday, no action, no adventure; Vrasten reckoned it was that time of the month.

With T-Bird back at the table, albeit sitting uncomfortably, Alex referred back to the statement that had been put out to the press following the first couple of hits, she'd tried running a search on it but as usual had got so many references that it didn't really help, pushing the tablet across the table in disgust Vrasten picked it up & refined the search, after twenty minutes or so he cried bingo,

"OK, the reference to vigil for Lucifer, lots of references but it looks like the specific quote is attributed to an organisation called the American African Alliance for Life, specifically some woman by the name of Patricia Roseboro, she sounds like an unpleasant sort of witch & get this, the AAAL are dead set against fun, they abhor abortion, sexual promiscuity, illicit moral activities & cloning plus she testified against the Bioethics Advisory Commission in the early days of cloning research"

La Luna Inn, 599 Lombard St, San Francisco 8.41am 08/03/17

Sat in the RV in the parking lot of the La Luna all three watched the door of room 27, they'd been here maybe 20 minutes & seen nobody go in or out, the drapes were closed & the parking space allotted to the flat was empty. There were various people floating about but again nobody seemed to be remotely interested in room 27.

Room 27, La Luna Inn, 599 Lombard St, San Francisco 8.58am 08/03/17

From the RV T-Bird watched Alex & Vrasten warily approached the door of room 27, the plan, for what it was worth, was to simply play it straight, knock on the door & see what went down, still T-Bird figured, it wouldn't do any harm to keep an eye out & his MP2013 locked & loaded.

Room 27, La Luna Inn, 599 Lombard St, San Francisco 9.00am 08/03/17

At precisely nine o'clock Vrasten knocked on the door to room 27, from inside a slightly muffled voice told them the door was open & bid them enter, turning the handle Alex cracked the door open a few inches, inside all was in darkness, even the Lowlite feature of Vrasten's right eye detected only shadows & no sign of movement, checking pistols were appropriately concealed Alex cringed& & pushed the door wide, nothing happened.

Stepping into the front most room, a double bedroom, both could see why it was so dark, the sheets from the bed had been strung across the window behind the rooms closed drapes ensuring no natural light illuminated the room, glancing up Vrasten spotted that the bulb had been removed from the overhead lamp batten.

Across the bedroom another door lead into a second room, through the door all looked dark however the voice that had asked them to come suggested they close the outer door & come through.

In the smaller back room the windows had been similarly covered, a sofa had been pushed against the wall & what other furniture it contained had been equally pushed back to leave the center of the room clear. To the left a third door lead to what they assumed was the rooms bathroom. From the bathroom the voice invited them to take a seat.

Room 27, La Luna Inn, 599 Lombard St, San Francisco 9.02am 08/03/17

The voice that addressed them was clearly female, it sounded confident, in control & cultured,

"Gentlemen, I apologise for the cloak & daggers, but, well , you can never be too careful can you. To the point, I believe from what are mutual friend tells me that you have an interest in certain recent events, I'm intrigued to be honest, just what is is you believe you want from me"

Over the next few minutes Alex explained their predicament & the interest that their patron had in the deceased, the voice listened intently asking the occasional question. When Alex had furnished her with the details there was a pause & then,

"You understand what you are asking would normally be dismissed, in fact when I received your request my initial response was simply to chastise the asker's impudence, however . . . . . "

Just for an instant Vrasten felt there was a touch of embarrassment,

"Out of curiosity I requested clarification from a subordinate, the answer I I received displeased me, it would appear certain checks that should have been automatically made had been, please don't misunderstand me, the contract negotiations were acceptable however it would appear my erstwhile client had given information concerning themselves that had checks been made would have proved to be untrue. I do not like to be lied to, after all if there is no honesty between those who work outside of the law, what is left but chaos, it is for that reason & that reason alone I agreed to meet with you this morning."

She went on to say,

"As I said however, whilst I have been mislead the contract remains in force however I am, shall we say, happy to level the playing field somewhat, I have ensured that the financial transaction has been completed, obviously I would hate to be out of pocket, &, regrettably, certain employees have been suitably chastised for their lack of application."

The Bag Lady went on to provide two pieces of information, the first being the name of the contracted operative, Jarred Lee Loughner, the second the alias name used by the client, one Zsofika Cardiss, whilst this name was unknown to Alex & Vrasten, the Bag Lady's further checks had established that this was clearly false however the contact details for Miss Cardiss were surpassingly correct.

Suggesting that she would make further contact with Alex & Vrasten if matters developed the Bag Lady concluded the meeting but not before offering her condolences to Vrasten for his untimely demise from the cities police department,

"As I said Mr. Nordskov, whilst we may have at that time been on opposite sides of the fence I do not hold with deceitfulness, I am sorry your service to the city was so unfortunately curtailed."

La Luna Inn, 599 Lombard St, San Francisco 9.02am 08/03/17

Back in the RV Vrasten decided he could do with a very large drink.

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