There was a knock at the door and Sara opened it to admit Gabriel
Bowman and the promised pizza. He was wearing one of his more subdued tee
shirts under a paisley button down that was probably vintage and definitely
loud. She shook her head and let him into the apartment, directed him to
the kitchen, taking the pizza from him and putting it on the coffee table.
"Get us some drinks, and we can get down to business."
"No problem. Hey, there's food in here," he commented, grabbing a couple bottles of water from the refrigerator.
"It's a refrigerator, there is usually food in it, smart guy."
"Yeah, but it's yours, this is real food, not like old take out containers and milk."
"Well, I have had a friend staying with me for a few days," she told him. "Now you had better get over here or there won't be anything left for you."
"I'm coming. Man, you get testy when you haven't eaten, you know that?"
"Hey, I asked you here to offer you a job, don't give me a hard time." Sara opened the box and started to dig into the pizza. Gabriel joined her and the next few minutes were spent stuffing themselves with hot food.
"So about this business deal you have for me? It's not exactly like you to go out and pick up clients for me." Gabriel started as he watched her finish another slice of pizza.
"It sort of fell into my lap." She took a deep breath and tried to find a good way to ask. "How would you like to get paid to look into this thing?" she asked, pointing to the Witchblade where it sat quietly on her wrist.
"I don't get it, I told you I would look into it for you, no big deal. You are a friend. What's up?"
"This is something a little bigger. I need someone I can trust, for something very serious."
"And you thought of me? I think I am flattered, but what are you getting me into?" He was getting a little nervous about this. Sara was usually running a mile a minute and expecting him to keep up. Now she was beating around the bush and that bothered him, a lot. He covered it by grabbing another piece of pizza and starting to eat, waiting for her to explain.
Sara decided that being blunt was the best course of action. "I need someone to look through the Vorschlag collection." Gabriel tried to talk, eat and breathe at the same time, resulting in the pizza going down the wrong way. He started coughing and sputtering, smacking himself on the chest as his eyes started to tear.
Sara jumped off the couch and started pounding him on the back, trying to help. Gabriel started breathing, trying to get his brain working again. "Did I hear you right? I could have sworn that you just asked me to get into the Vorschlag stuff. That is like, legendary. I know some of what Irons bought, the stuff that I sold to the guy I suspect of being his middleman, and some of it that people I know got for him. But how exactly am I going to get near enough."
"Just a minute, hang on and let me answer one question at a time. I'm not asking you to do anything illegal. This is all up front. It's complicated."
"Yeah, no kidding. Now you want to explain this to me a little better? I mean, Irons is big time, not someone that I want to get in trouble with. Besides he's dead, isn't he?"
"Yes, although you keep that to yourself? OK? And just because Irons is gone, that doesn't mean that Vorschlag is just going to fold up and go away." She sighed. "Listen, I'm asking you to look through the stuff, learn anything you can about the Witchblade. Sound like a good deal?"
"I'd give my right arm to get close to that stuff, you know that. But what's the catch? And who's paying me for this?" Gabriel was torn, Irons scared him, dead or not, but the prospect of getting to go through the collection and getting paid to do so was the chance of a lifetime. And he did have some interesting things or so the rumors went.
Sara was trying to find a way to explain. "Listen, Gabriel, I have a friend who is kind of in charge, now that Irons is gone. He knows about the Witchblade and wants to help, but he doesn't have the time and neither do I. I figured you would be interested so I asked him if you could help."
"And just who is this friend?" He asked, having a sinking feeling he knew the answer.
"His name is Ian Nottingham, why, do you know him?"
"I may, there was a guy who used to pick stuff up, tall, black hair, no sense of humor? That the guy?"
"Sounds right, and he knew about you." She said calmly. No wonder Ian had wanted her to do this. She wondered what Ian had done to Gabriel, other than intimidate him.
"Sara, what are you doing with that guy? I mean, you didn't exactly like Irons and he worked for him. What's the connection?"
"I told you it's complicated, but I trust him, and I'm asking you to trust me."
"You I trust, but still, that guy gives me the cold shivers. I tried talking to him once when he was making a pick up and he just looked right through me, like he was wondering how many different ways he could kill me without breaking a sweat."
He probably was, she thought. It was easy to see how the hyper Gabriel could get on Ian's nerves, and visa versa. There was something intimidating about him at the best of times and in the confined space of the shop, she could easily imagine how he would scare Gabriel. She sat back and began to lay out her plan to him.
An hour later, when he left, she had secured his promise to call Ian to make the arrangements. Now that she had done the set up the rest should be no problem. Gabriel's curiosity had won out as she knew it would. That boy would give just about anything for the opportunity, and getting paid for it only made it better in his estimation. She figured that once he and Ian got talking about that stuff they would get over their differences pretty quickly. Sara got up from the couch, throwing out the box and straightening up a little. She was not sure when Ian would be back, but she knew he would at least be thrilled that she had managed to get Gabriel's agreement. She wondered how long it would take Gabriel to call him. Considering his barely controlled excitement, she didn't think it would take too long. She put on some music before returning to the couch.
"No problem. Hey, there's food in here," he commented, grabbing a couple bottles of water from the refrigerator.
"It's a refrigerator, there is usually food in it, smart guy."
"Yeah, but it's yours, this is real food, not like old take out containers and milk."
"Well, I have had a friend staying with me for a few days," she told him. "Now you had better get over here or there won't be anything left for you."
"I'm coming. Man, you get testy when you haven't eaten, you know that?"
"Hey, I asked you here to offer you a job, don't give me a hard time." Sara opened the box and started to dig into the pizza. Gabriel joined her and the next few minutes were spent stuffing themselves with hot food.
"So about this business deal you have for me? It's not exactly like you to go out and pick up clients for me." Gabriel started as he watched her finish another slice of pizza.
"It sort of fell into my lap." She took a deep breath and tried to find a good way to ask. "How would you like to get paid to look into this thing?" she asked, pointing to the Witchblade where it sat quietly on her wrist.
"I don't get it, I told you I would look into it for you, no big deal. You are a friend. What's up?"
"This is something a little bigger. I need someone I can trust, for something very serious."
"And you thought of me? I think I am flattered, but what are you getting me into?" He was getting a little nervous about this. Sara was usually running a mile a minute and expecting him to keep up. Now she was beating around the bush and that bothered him, a lot. He covered it by grabbing another piece of pizza and starting to eat, waiting for her to explain.
Sara decided that being blunt was the best course of action. "I need someone to look through the Vorschlag collection." Gabriel tried to talk, eat and breathe at the same time, resulting in the pizza going down the wrong way. He started coughing and sputtering, smacking himself on the chest as his eyes started to tear.
Sara jumped off the couch and started pounding him on the back, trying to help. Gabriel started breathing, trying to get his brain working again. "Did I hear you right? I could have sworn that you just asked me to get into the Vorschlag stuff. That is like, legendary. I know some of what Irons bought, the stuff that I sold to the guy I suspect of being his middleman, and some of it that people I know got for him. But how exactly am I going to get near enough."
"Just a minute, hang on and let me answer one question at a time. I'm not asking you to do anything illegal. This is all up front. It's complicated."
"Yeah, no kidding. Now you want to explain this to me a little better? I mean, Irons is big time, not someone that I want to get in trouble with. Besides he's dead, isn't he?"
"Yes, although you keep that to yourself? OK? And just because Irons is gone, that doesn't mean that Vorschlag is just going to fold up and go away." She sighed. "Listen, I'm asking you to look through the stuff, learn anything you can about the Witchblade. Sound like a good deal?"
"I'd give my right arm to get close to that stuff, you know that. But what's the catch? And who's paying me for this?" Gabriel was torn, Irons scared him, dead or not, but the prospect of getting to go through the collection and getting paid to do so was the chance of a lifetime. And he did have some interesting things or so the rumors went.
Sara was trying to find a way to explain. "Listen, Gabriel, I have a friend who is kind of in charge, now that Irons is gone. He knows about the Witchblade and wants to help, but he doesn't have the time and neither do I. I figured you would be interested so I asked him if you could help."
"And just who is this friend?" He asked, having a sinking feeling he knew the answer.
"His name is Ian Nottingham, why, do you know him?"
"I may, there was a guy who used to pick stuff up, tall, black hair, no sense of humor? That the guy?"
"Sounds right, and he knew about you." She said calmly. No wonder Ian had wanted her to do this. She wondered what Ian had done to Gabriel, other than intimidate him.
"Sara, what are you doing with that guy? I mean, you didn't exactly like Irons and he worked for him. What's the connection?"
"I told you it's complicated, but I trust him, and I'm asking you to trust me."
"You I trust, but still, that guy gives me the cold shivers. I tried talking to him once when he was making a pick up and he just looked right through me, like he was wondering how many different ways he could kill me without breaking a sweat."
He probably was, she thought. It was easy to see how the hyper Gabriel could get on Ian's nerves, and visa versa. There was something intimidating about him at the best of times and in the confined space of the shop, she could easily imagine how he would scare Gabriel. She sat back and began to lay out her plan to him.
An hour later, when he left, she had secured his promise to call Ian to make the arrangements. Now that she had done the set up the rest should be no problem. Gabriel's curiosity had won out as she knew it would. That boy would give just about anything for the opportunity, and getting paid for it only made it better in his estimation. She figured that once he and Ian got talking about that stuff they would get over their differences pretty quickly. Sara got up from the couch, throwing out the box and straightening up a little. She was not sure when Ian would be back, but she knew he would at least be thrilled that she had managed to get Gabriel's agreement. She wondered how long it would take Gabriel to call him. Considering his barely controlled excitement, she didn't think it would take too long. She put on some music before returning to the couch.