Day and Night
Chapter 23
Mace Malone was a young-ish looking man, and stylishly dressed. He also travelled with bodyguards, two gorilla-like men with no necks. He claimed to just be just a rising star in the import and export business.
"What do you mean, no more energy weapons?" Mace asked coldly.
Preston Vogel flinched slightly. "My employer, Mr Reynard, is aware of our activities. He has cut me off," the bland minion replied.
Mace scowled. Cyberbiotics was THE source for advanced, experimental energy weapons, but it was fully controlled by it's President, Halcyon. He trusted Vogel, but now it was apparent that trust only went so far.
"Are the existing shipments still coming?" Mace demanded.
"Yes," Vogel promised, "they're on their way now, via the usual methods."
"All right," Mace sighed, "you'll be paid as usual. Keep your head down, I may need you later."
"Thank you," Vogel said then hung up.
Mace scowled as he read the other report. He had been muscling Scaletti... but the middle tier mobster was dead. Worse, his daughter was the clear heir and was already working on making a deal with Tony Dacon.
"Used to be, you could pay someone off and they'd stay bought," Mace grumbled.
"Oh, don't pretend to be honorable," Dimitri remarked, a former member of the local Russian mob. His bosses had run into the Gargoyles, alas...
"Ha," Mace smiled. "Is there a way to let young Miss Scaletti know we're unhappy with her?" he asked aloud.
Anna, one of his hitters, offered, "Not necessarily a great idea, boss."
"Oh?" Mace asked.
"We're in talks with several gangs. If it gets out you off anyone who disagrees with you, it'll firm up the resistance," Anna said.
"Or scare them into flipping for us," Demetri suggested.
"Possible," Anna admitted.
"Ok, not now anyway...," Mace waved that off. "Tell me some good news, for once..."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Tony Dacon smiled wryly, "Nicely done, team."
"Thank you," Jackal answered, nodding.
They were doing a video chat, over an encrypted line. Neither group wanted to be directly connected in a tracible way, though for obviously different reasons. While the cops knew Tony was crooked, they couldn't prove it, so he clearly couldn't be seen with the Pack. For the Pack, they were operating under the cover of being pro mercenaries, so again didn't want the public to know Tony was really running them.
"Did our diversion work out?" Hyena asked.
"The operation went off without a hitch," Tony said. He was not going to say what he had used them as cover for... not even on a secure line.
"I was.. kind of surprised at how much money we each ended up with via the bank job... are you sure you got your cut?" Coyote checked.
Tony snorted, "It was worth every penny."
Jackal had checked the news, and was moderately certain they had been a cover for a hit. Well, it wasn't their problem...
"Do we need to be ready for another job?" Jackal asked.
"No, but keep your phones handy, just in case," Tony said. He added, "Keep your heads down... I don't want to have to bail you out."
"Will do," Hyena mock saluted as he signed off.
The group was based out of a converted werehouse, with a main room, kitchen, two bathrooms and five 'apartments.' Panther suspected it had been used to house 'working girls' at one time, but the place had had a deep clean since then.
"Hey, did we get on TV again?" Coyote asked, checking the TV. He, Wolf and Panther were on the couch, while Hyena and Jackal had been over by the computer running the meeting. He flipped through stations, then stopped, "Ha!"
"... and was marked by a daring daylight robbery by former TV stars, The Pack," the newsreader continued.
"Only two of us were ever on TV," Hyena noted.
"Yeah, the rest of us are just scabs," Wolf joked.
The newsreader continued, "A unknown amount of money was stolen digitally, and the bank has promised to retrieve the funds."
"Do they have a chance in hell?" Hyena wondered aloud.
"No," Jackal said bluntly, "just tracing the money would be nearly impossible, plus the money landed in numbered accounts."
"We have to be careful dipping into it, though," Wolf noted.
"Just don't be stupid and wave big wads of cash around...," Jackal shrugged.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"What are our chances of catching them?" Matt Bluestone asked.
"Unless they start waving huge wads of cash around? Not a chance," Elisa Maza admitted.
"I thought the bank said they would catch them?" Goliath rumbled. The group were meeting up at the Castle, since the Gargoyles had tangled with the pack before.
"That's mostly for public consumption," David Xanatos noted, "the banks don't want people to know they can be taken that easily."
"Makes sense," Matt conceded.
"Do we know who's accounts they raided?" David asked curiously.
Elisa hesitated, then said, "Don't spread this around, but they hit accounts belonging to several New York mobs."
"THAT was ballsy as hell of them," Matt noted. "Smart, though."
"Oh?" David had to ask.
"None of the victims are cooperating with the investigation," Elisa admitted, "I think none of them want us to take a close look at where they made the money."
"Which will make our investigation even harder," Matt agreed.
"Won't that make your... mobs go after the Pack?" Goliath asked awkwardly.
"They're not really equipped to fight combat cyborgs and mutates," Elisa pointed out.
David realized with some amusement his own company might be hired to stop the Pack. Ironic, considering he created the first group...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Take a week off," Dominique said gently to the other woman. "You were in the middle of a bank robbery, it would stress anyone."
Jessica Nicholes looked up at her with slightly watery eyes. "Thank you," she said, "I'm just.. it's so weird."
"There there," Dominique awkwardly patted her shoulder.
Once Jessica left Alicia came in with their usual lunch, sandwiches and chips. "That was kind of you," Alicia noted.
"She's too jumpy to work," Dominique just waved that off, "it's just practical."
"Uh huh," Alicia smiled.
"Hmph," Dominique cleared some desk area for the food.
Alicia wondered at times how Dominique just seemed unwilling to be viewed as good or kind. She had SEEN her fighting to save lives, and Dominique treated her employees with respect. Plus she counted some of the richest people in New York as friends...
"We got an odd email from Cyberbiotics," Alicia noted as she opened her footlong sub. "it just read, 'It's done.'" She frowned, "What does that mean?"
"Ah," Dominique paused in opening her food, "Reynard's minion, Vogel, has been engaged in various shady activities. I, Xanatos and a few others pressured him to rein the man in."
"I see," Alicia mused quietly.
Dominique anticipated her, "It's not because it was the right thing to do. Vogel's activities were endangering our companies."
"Uh huh," Alicia agreed, amused.
Dominique grumbled and went back to eating.
Alicia fought back a smile.
"It occurs to me, SOMEONE has to take over Jessica's job for the week," Dominique noted, "I thought I'd just add it you your workload."
"You wouldn't," Alicia pouted. She sighed, "I take back anything nice I ever said about you..."
Dominique just smirked...
To be continued...
Notes: I keep meaning to bring in the mutates as well as Angela, Demona's daughter, at some point. Well, we'll see.