I was considering shutting up shop and dragging myself over to The Atomic Wrangler when she knocked on my office door. I thought about telling her to come back but before I got a chance the door swung open to reveal a woman in a black dress with legs straight from a pre war showgirl poster and a face that would make even the most feral of ghouls stop for a second look. She sashayed over to my desk and extended dainty hand.
"Mr Barnes, I'm Jessica Taylor and I'd like to hire your services."
She was all business I thought as I stood and shook her hand.
"Please take a seat. What do you need with a private investigator?" I asked returning to my seat as she sat down opposite me.
"I need to recover an item and require assistance. I understand you're quite capable when it comes to locating things."
"I usually do people, bad debtors and that kind of thing. What do you want me to find?"
"A Package, or rather the contents of a Package."
The dame was talking in circles I thought as I pulled a cigarette out and offered her one which she accepted.
"So what's in the package?" I asked after a long drag.
"Can't tell you." She said simply.
"So what, am I meant to speak to the kid out by the 188 or do you know a mind reader closer to home?"
"They told me you have a mouth on you."
"Yeah? Well they told you right Miss. I only take serious cases, now get outta here before I throw ya out on that pretty face."
"I'll take that as compliment Mr Barnes, but I assure you I'm very serious." She reached into a bag she had carried in with her and produced a fistful of caps, then two more. "250 caps, we could call that a down payment for your services, with more when you recover the suitcase."
I tore my eyes away from the small pile of caps sitting on my desk and back to her gaze. "Ok I'll listen to what you have to say but only because you're easy on the eyes and got the caps."
She smirked at the remark, straightened up in her chair and flicked a stray lock of raven black hair behind her ear.
"First off I wasn't completely honest with you earlier, my name is Doctor Jessica Taylor and I'm from the University of Shady Sands where I teach and study Archaeology."
"So you're not a real Doctor then?"
"If by 'real', you mean 'medical' then no, but I have received a doctorate. My work is mainly to do with discovery and reclamation of pre war artefacts. It is this work which brought me to this delightful little hole in the ground."
"Unfortunately we can't all be play pretend Doctor in Shady Sands."
"It's shame because if someone was playing doctor here maybe I wouldn't have had to hitch a ride with a goddamned caravan but it fell to me to preserve our history. I received word that an ancient relic from the old world was here in New Vegas. This item is so powerful and important to human civilisation that it cannot be allowed to fall into anyone's hands but the NCR's."
I snorted at that last part to show my derision but figured now wasn't a good time to discuss the moral authority of the NCR. "If you're NCR why not just get some soldiers to help ya out? Why me?"
"The republic is still primarily a military organisation, my work is of no interest to men like Kimball so I find myself depending on donations from benefactors and having to hire contractors like you."
I nodded and took another drag on my cigarette.
"So can you help?"
I glanced at the pile of caps on the table.
"I'll get my coat."
#
All she knew about the package was it was going to be in some kind of shady exchange taking place somewhere in Vegas. I liked that part kept everything nice and local with no need to be running around wastes. What I didn't like was the timeframe, the deal for the suitcase was going down within two days. That meant I had to get names for the buyer and seller as well as the location of the deal. I needed to visit with a few contacts I had but Jessica didn't want to let me out of her sight she said she needed to be there to confirm the package was genuine. I protested but in the end the one holding the caps is the boss.
The first stop was the Atomic Wrangler which was a short trip from my office in Freeside, as usual the thugs were lurking on the street corners but they knew that approaching me would buy them a fresh .44 wound. Jessica did attract a few menacing whistles as we walked through the streets while the setting sun cast long shadows across Freeside.
"Watch yourself in here they see strangers as marks."
"I'm sure it's not that bad, Mr Barnes. What's the worst that could happen?"
"You may hear some naughty words." I said with a shrug, she couldn't say I didn't warn her.
The Wrangler is a drive bar in a dive part of Vegas which made it my kind of place. When I first arrived in Freeside I had stayed in the flop house above the small casino, it was there that I learned a secret about James Garrett he would rather I didn't know. Given his position as a bar tender and the skeletons in his closet he was always a good place to start for information. I walked up to the bar with Jessica in tow and ordered two drinks from Francine Garrett, James' sister.
"Where's James? I need to speak with him."
"He's sleeping." She said sternly. Francine knew I had something on her brother but had no idea what. If she ever did find out the shame would be liable to kill James.
"So go wake him. Trust me he'll want to see me." I said as I took a sip of the whiskey she had poured. Francine glared at me before leaving the bar to rouse her brother. I sat back and looked around the bar while Jessica eyed her glass suspiciously.
"Does this glass look clean?"
"As clean as it's gonna get." I said offhandedly. I wasn't listening because a group three of men in the corner had got my attention. The leader was man called Memphis and I knew he was there for me.