QF Chapter 3 – Moses Lake
Moses Lake was once a sprawling rural town with a respectable tourism industry. Then the Great Ghost Dance happened and the white man was evicted from the city. While many of the tourist traps remained active, there were insufficient residents to keep the town fully functional. The parts of the town that clustered around the waterfront were maintained, while the outskirts fell into disrepair. In order to keep things moving, some whites were permitted to return, but the prime real estate is still in the hands of the assorted tribes that have held the power for the past thirty to forty years.
"I have to remember this place…" Burn said as he rolled into the outskirts. "Look at all these abandoned homes. I could squirrel away a decent nest egg in those places."
"Provided someone else hasn't beaten you to them," Magnus said. "Remember, those have been vacant for a long time, chummer."
"Where do we start?" Cabras asked.
"According to Peter's purchase history," Ada said, while scrolling through his transactions, "He rented himself a cabin at the Moses Lake Waterfront Gaming Resort. We should start there."
Burn linked his car into the local navigation grid. A map of the town appeared on the screen in his dashboard with a red line, showing the best route to the resort.
After a short drive, the dilapidated buildings gave way to the resort town. Everything was well maintained and manicured; a polar opposite to the outskirts. People came and went at all hours in the resort portion of the city with a respectable police presence.
"I can see why people like us would remain in the outskirts. The cops are everywhere," Burn stated.
"Which is why we have to be careful. We can't afford to bring heat down on us before we even find our guy," Ada stated.
As the car rolled up outside the rental office, the waters of Moses Lake were visible beyond the parking lot. The log cabin exterior offered up some insight as to what kind of lodging the resort offered its potential clients. Despite the late hour, the office was still open for business.
"OK, I'll do all the talking. You guys hang back," Ada ordered, as she climbed out of Burn's van.
"Whatever," Burn muttered, as he turned off the vehicle and stepped out.
The runners walked up into the front door of the rental office to find the interior looked vastly different from the exterior. Inside was lavishly decorated, with art and a deep stained wood floor. The walls were an off-white colour, dotted with tasteful-yet-nondescript artwork. The counter top where the clerk stood was a blend of wood construction and holographic advertisements, showing that the resort had the latest in Matrix equipment available for all visitors.
"May I help you?" the clerk asked, with some degree of hesitation, as he looked over the people spread out before him.
"I certainly hope so," Ada said. Leaning on the counter, she smiled warmly at the man. "My associates and I were told a mutual friend of ours was staying here. He offered to take us into the woods and show us some fine hunting. Any chance you can tell us which cabin he's in?"
"I'm afraid not. Our renters' confidentiality is one of the things we guarantee. We get celebrities and politicians down here often. We can't risk exposing anyone or our reputation will suffer."
"I can understand that," Ada said.
"I'll get him away from the terminal," Cabras said over her subvocal mic.
Cabras turned back towards the parking lot and began shaping the mana around her. She felt the magic running through her body, as she channeled the energies outside.
"Hey!" the clerk said, looking over Ada's shoulder. "What are they doing?"
The team followed his gaze to see a band of teenagers running through the parking lot, shaking cans of spray paint.
The clerk briefly said "Excuse me, miss," before rounding the counter and running towards the parking lot.
As the man threw open the door and began yelling at the illusion Cabras created, the magician animated the illusion to behave in a manner appropriate to what was being yelled. Taking her cue, Ada pulled out a cable from a hidden compartment in her commlink and plugged it into the clerk's terminal. The holographic display popped up, showing the assorted icons associated with the business. Clicking on 'Bookings', it popped up one icon per cabin. Unable to sift through it properly, she made a quick lasso motion around all the icons and dragged it to her root bin. All the data transferred to her commlink and she disconnected her cable, replacing it in its compartment.
Cabras had her make-believe youths run away before having the illusion dissipate.
The clerk returned to his post. "My apologies. Was there anything else I can assist you with?"
"What time is your morning wake up call for hunters?" Ada asked.
"6:30."
Ada groaned. "That early, huh? All right, I'll try to reach him on his commlink around then and hope we can link up then. Thank you."
The runners returned to the parking lot and climbed inside Burn's van. "Good thinking, Cabras. I didn't want things to get unpleasant," Magnus stated.
"What'd we get?" Burn asked Ada.
The face simply raised a finger, as she was placing a call. "Hey Octal. Listen, I just had to do some impromptu data theft at a hotel in Salish and I didn't have a chance to see if the lobby had a camera. Could you go in and delete any camera footage of us from their archives? Great. I'll slip you some cred when I get back to the plex. Sure thing."
Magnus' face woke a smirk that read I'm impressed as Burn impatiently waited for the results of her efforts.
"OK," Ada said, as she went through the booking information. "It would seem that Peter Walsh has Cabin 6 rented."
"Great, lets go get him," Burn said.
"Hold on," Magnus said. "We don't even know if he's still here. His financial transactions showed he hasn't done anything for a few days. We should get some rest, stake out the cabin to search for any activity and then go in."
"Agreed," Ada said.
"Sounds smart," Cabras stated.
Burn smiled and shook his head. "Yeah, good call. Always makin' me look bad."
"You make it easy for me," Magnus said with a wide smile.
Burn gave the troll a shot to the arm before starting the van and heading for a nearby cheap hotel.
