Jet's shift at the warehouse normally ended around midday so he was kind of concerned when Brick showed up a couple of hours before that and hung around looking more than a little shady. Jet's boss kept shooting Brick uneasy looks, so Jet apologetically asked for a few minutes to send the guy away.
"Something important?" he asked, pulling the nervous refugee away from the warehouse and past the freight wagons and smaller carts being loaded and sent out on their deliveries in a steady stream. Brick shifted his feet. There was sweat at his temples and his eyes kept flicking around at their surroundings. "We need to talk. In private."
Yet he showed up in the middle of my workday. "Word from those two?" he asked, not hiding his displeasure.
"No! They can't know we talked."
"Can this wait two hours? If I leave early it'll attract attention."
Jet could see that he wanted to argue, but Brick got a hold of himself and nodded unhappily.
"Good man," Jet said, clapping him on the shoulder. "We'll meet at Pao's in two hours, then."
Brick heaved in a deep breath and nodded. "Two hours."
When Jet and he met later Brick was calmer but not really calm, Jet assessed. From the motion of his jaw he might be grinding his teeth and was only pretending at the confidence he'd shown when they first met. Back then it was all secret meetings and thinking we had a cause. Before the fire. Before we got trapped by those stinking blackmailers.
Jet started to lead the way to the tea shop's entrance, but Brick shook his head. "No one can hear us, Jet. This is Dai Li disappears you stuff."
His narrow eyes and slightly hunched body showed how much tension remained. Jet knew when someone was ready to either fight or run. Instead of adding pressure, he asked, "Where'd you have in mind, then?"
The older man looked uncertain. "Your apartment? I live with some guys. They're all right but they don't know anything about, um, anything."
"It would look weird. I'm never there during the day and nobody knows you. And the walls are thin." They might manage if they kept their voices down, but he didn't want Brick to know where he and his friends lived. When things went bad that disastrous night, Brick had panicked. Jet certainly wasn't going to bring him to the Jasmine Dragon. Coming to a decision, he said, "Let's go to the zoo."
"It's too crowded." Brick objected.
"It's crowded on the street, too," Jet replied, starting to walk. "Trains would be worse. Any people at the zoo will be there to see the animals. They won't be looking at us."
Remembering the panda-bats' location in the zoo, he decided that their enclosure would be a good place to talk. Since they were mostly nocturnal they wouldn't draw many visitors at this hour of the day. Soon he and Brick were standing near the high, mesh-covered enclosure. The other man still seemed uneasy.
Jet didn't let himself sigh. "Nobody cares as long as we don't block their view of the animals."
"Right." Brick must have gotten the unspoken order because he straightened up, turned his eyes to a nearby walled field, and finally spoke. "They have explosives, Jet. Some are like overpowered fireworks, but they've got that stuff the Fire Nation uses too."
"Blasting jelly?" Jet managed not to raise his voice, although he was already imagining the chaos the Movement could cause if they blew apart a factory or train station. To manage his own shock, he took a few steps to get a decent view of the animals in the nearby field. They were small grazers of some kind, the adults graceful, while the gamboling youngsters had drawn a small crowd of cooing admirers. He turned back and rejoined Brick. "How'd they get it?"
"I don't know. Kono bragged about having connections but his sister shut him down before he could tell me what kind."
He'd misjudged those two badly, but Jet had learned early in life that his judgement about people was usually sound. Brick wanted out of this mess as badly as any of them. Deciding that the answer wouldn't be a trap, he asked, "Any idea where it's being kept?"
Relief flashed across Brick:s face before he stepped closer, though not close enough to look suspicious, and said, "They're Inner Ring. The stuff was delivered in what looked like wine casks. It's hidden in the wine cellar under their house."
"Address?"
Brick told him and looked ready to take off, so Jet asked him in a conversational tone, "Gazelle somethings, aren't they?"
"Impala goats, I think." Brick took the hint and mumbled more detailed directions while they walked to the exit with occasional stops to look at an interesting animal.
Jet thought frantically. He and the others needed to come up with a plan to offer the Movement that Kem Tong and her brother couldn't resist. It also had to be one where using the explosives wouldn't tempt them.
"I don't want another fire," Brick whispered before they separated.
"We'll make sure there isn't one," Jet promised.
Components, he found himself thinking as he walked to the train station. They don't want to be caught throwing bombs. The jelly's heavy, too heavy to lug around barrels of it. If we offer a shipment of stuff they could use to make compact bombs we can plant they might go for it.If the Freedom Fighters offered their expertise to make homemade explosives, the siblings were likely to reveal that they already had better. Unless they're up to something bigger. Maybe the Movement's never been more than a diversion for them to hide their real goals. I'll need to run this by General Iroh. I can't afford any more stupid mistakes.
He was a couple of hours later than usual when he got to the Jasmine Dragon, so he made sure to offer Smellerbee a casual wink on his way to the back. She relaxed at the familiar signal that all was well.
Relatively well, but that's not so different from growing up with Fire Nation colonists moving in. If we aren't being attacked or tracked today everything's fine. Jet wondered sometimes what it was like to live without constant threats. Even in Ba Sing Se, most of the inhabitants knew no real peace. That's tomorrow's problem, he told himself. One crisis at a time.
Both of Mushi's hires were working today under Smellerbee's sharp eyed supervision, so he and Iroh could plot undisturbed.
He smiled as a bowl of stew was placed before him when he sat at the table, but it was the General who set it there.
"My nephew went to work at the barracks for the rest of the day. He will be there tomorrow and the day after as well, so you will see him tonight." Jet almost blushed at his twinkling eyed look.
He knows how I feel about Zuko. I bet he's not thrilled, he'd love grandkids and his own son's dead. Iron's expression was still kind and friendly, though, and he felt himself relax. He's not going to let it matter between him and me. Neither should I. He thanked the old man and dug in.
Keeping his voice low just in case, he described Brick's visit to his job and the information he'd offered.
"It may be a lure," the tea master warned softly before handing off a pair of trays to his servers. "This may be a test of loyalty."
Jet grimaced. "It could be, but ignoring what I've been told could be a disaster and not just for me and my friends."
"I agree," Iroh said. "I helped seek out the smaller fires that night. Another such attack could cost lives."
"It would. They'd plan it that way. The last time didn't do enough and the fire burned away most of the messages we left."
"While these siblings crave attention," Iroh finished.
"Exactly." Jet outlined his own conclusions and the idea he'd had to tempt them into action.
"Very good," the General said. "It offers what they would wish and shows that you have accepted their power over you and will do your best to serve."
"It doesn't give our informant away, either. We'll offer our own skills and see how they react."
The old man looked at him differently than he ever had but there wasn't any sign of hostility. He'd feared that a bit. Proper soldiers wouldn't approve of the dirty, honorless tactics his Freedom Fighters had learned from watching their desperate elders. Instead, Iroh gave him a sad smile. "I wish you had never learned such things."
"We needed to."
The old soldier simply nodded. "There are developments you also need to know about. The Avatar and his companions will be having a private party at the Jasmine Dragon tomorrow evening after we close for normal customers. They have been granted special permission to be out late and will be given a pass. My nephew has agreed to cook for the event."
Jet could only give him a wide-eyed look of alarm. Would they recognize Iroh? They'd certainly know Zuko on sight! Working past the panic, he asked, "Should we stick close to get you guys out before any extra visitors come?"
Iroh looked amused at his euphemism for the Dai Li. "The boy already knows and has reached an understanding with my nephew. The party is in fact a meeting to inform his friends of it. He asked me to ascertain whether you and your own companions were willing to attend as well."
He wasn't thrilled at the thought of an angry Katara, but said, "I'll be there, but I'll give my friends a choice."
"Smellerbee has already made her thoughts known," Iroh told him.
Jet chuckled. "I guess we'll all be there, then."