Ezra walked over to the other end of the bar and ordered a whiskey. Glancing over at Joplin he saw his muscled enforcer whispering into his ear as he saw down at a table at the rear of the room. Smiling at the bartender as his whiskey was delivered, he anticipated the moment the enforcer would tap him on the shoulder. Turning to glance at him, all the man did was nod to Joplin's table. Picking up his drink, he made his way over to the table. "Frank Rizzo says hello."

Gavin Joplin had watched the man walk across the bar. He was confident, sure of himself, and had an air of intelligence. That was a rare thing in his line of work. Usually the people he associated were lacking in the brains department. He gestured at the chair across from him. "What's Frankie up to?"

Ezra sat down across from him. "Trying to avoid being tied to an ATF investigation." He took a sip of his whiskey. "Which is why he asked me to look you up."

Joplin chuckled. "I heard his outfit had ran into some trouble." He took a sip of his beer. "Why send you?"

"I've brokered deals for him before." Ezra ran his finger around the rim of his glass. He looked over at Joplin and shrugged. "I guess he trusts me."

Joplin studied the man across the table from him, looking for any of the normal signs of a lie. Not seeing any he took another sip. "So when I text him to confirm, who am I saying is here?"

"Erik Simpson." Ezra took another sip of his whiskey and watched Joplin pull out his phone. He was about to find out exactly how good Mr. Dunne was at intercepting cellular signals. Sitting back with a look of disinterest, his eyes roamed across the room finally landing on Sophie. She had hazarded a glance in their direction but had turned her attention to one of the bartenders behind the bar. As his eyes continued to roam across the bar he caught the nod Joplin gave to his muscle and watched the man disappear into the crowd. He put his glass down and looked across the table at Joplin. "How is Frankie. I haven't talked to him today,"

"Frankie asked what's taking so long." Joplin took another sip of his beer, "I told him new relationships take time." He studied the man in front of him. "So how did a southern boy like you end up working with Frankie in Chicago?"

Ezra shrugged. "My expertise is in facilitating deals. I spend a lot of time everywhere."

"Ever spend time in Denver?"

He had been anticipating the question so he already knew how he would answer it. "About four years ago." Ezra picked up his glass and looked over the rim before taking a sip. "Rumor has it your created quite the mess there a couple months ago."

Joplin shrugged. "Just protecting the business." He nodded over towards the bar. "How long have you known Sophie?" Joplin stretched back in the chair and looked across the table.

"Long enough. We met in Chicago when I was up there on business for Frankie." Ezra took a sip of his whiskey. Bringing her into the conversation was dangerous. He didn't know enough about her or her motivations.

Joplin shifted his eyes to Sophie. "I mean, I get it. She's pretty, great body…but she's just so uptight."

Ezra finished his drink as he thought through his next step. When he had intervened before, it had been on instinct. He hadn't thought through the possibility that Joplin would assume they were more than acquaintances. Putting his empty glass down, he shrugged. "I guess she can be sometimes." He wasn't overly surprised when another beer and another glass of whiskey was brought to the table a couple seconds later. "You are taking over what is essentially her club."

Joplin shrugged. "Just protecting the business." He picked up the fresh beer and took a sip. "What exactly is Frankie looking for?"

"Armaments to start. His recent difficulties with certain agencies has left him short on means to defend his business." Ezra smirked. "Then we'll see. He has a couple deals in the works to create supply lines into Canada which is why he's being targeted now. They already limited his supply so he's looking for new sources." It would be interesting to see how Joplin would react. Everything he had just said was the truth. The ATF was targeting Rizzo but it was a joint operation with the DEA to stop a supply line of drugs into Canada.

Joplin leaned back and looked at his beer. "He's lost his supply lines?" If that was true, this could be a huge deal…bigger than anything else he had ever brought Reyes.

Ezra nodded. "But let's focus on the problem at hand. Can you handle it?"

Joplin looked up, He needed to be careful. Understanding what made Erik Simpson tick was important. Picking up his bottle he held it out. "To a successful partnership."

Ezra watched Joplin leave with his entourage around 2am. He had been invited to accompany them but he had declined, using an early meeting as an excuse. Looking around the bar he realized Sophie had disappeared. He didn't think she had gone past him down the stairs which really only left the back rooms. Based on the building plans JD had found, he thought there was an office. Having a conversation with her before things got out of hand with Joplin would be prudent.

Making his way to the back, he wound his way through the twisting passageway until he came to what he thought was the office. Knocking lightly, he turned the knob and pushed the door open. He had guessed right. The laptop was in stark contrast to the old, worn down desk that it sat on. He waited for the woman sitting behind the desk to look up. Once she did, he offered a smile. "I have a proposal that may be beneficial to both of us."

Sophie sat back in the desk chair. She hadn't expected to talk to the man in front of her again, but somehow she wasn't surprised he was here. "What did you have in mind Mr. Simpson?"

Ezra stepped all the way into the room and shut the door behind him. "Well, for starters…call me Erik."

Sophie frowned. "Generally I don't start calling someone by their first name until I know them a little better…or at all."

Leaning against the door, Ezra took a deep breath and looked across the room at Sophie. "Therein lies the problem…because of my ploy…"

Sophie smirked as she interrupted, "Interference."

Ezra frowned but ignored the contradiction. "Joplin thinks we know each other."

The smirk quickly morphed into a frown. "Exactly how well are we supposed to know each other?"

Pausing for a moment, he crossed his arms and met her eyes. "Intimately…and please believe me that it was not my intention. But, I think it can work in both of our favors."

"How?"

Ezra uncrossed his arms and walked across the room. Sitting on the edge of the desk he looked down at Sophie, not missing the fact that she minimized a spreadsheet she had been working on. Ignoring it for the moment, he leaned down. "When I said he was dangerous, I meant it. It's only a matter of time before you either do or say something that sets him off." He sighed as he sat upright again. "He's a sociopath and if you get in his way he will kill you…or worse…and trust me there is a worse." He studied her for a moment. "What do you need as it relates to Joplin?"

Sophie turned in the chair and looked at the man perched on the side of the desk. She had no idea how to answer. "We can start with him not interfering." The rest of what she needed was left off. She didn't know him well enough to trust him with all of it.

Ezra shrugged. "I can keep him preoccupied." He knew there was more, he was just going to have to gain her trust to get to it.

"And in return?" Sophie crossed her arms and watched him smirk. She got the feeling she wasn't going to love the response.

"Just play along. That's it. There's no reason for you to be involved but if anyone asks, just play along with the idea that we met in Chicago."

Sophie let out the breath she had been holding. It wasn't as bad as she was anticipating. "Play along. That's it?"

"That's it." Ezra hoped it extended to just a few questions from Joplin or some of his men. Keeping Joplin out of the club's business should be fairly easy because Ezra knew he was about to take up a lot of Joplin's time. Meanwhile, he could figure out what Sophie's angle was.