Anna stared at the briefcase sitting in her lap. It felt like the briefcase was staring back. What could be in this that's worth killing so publicly and indiscriminately for? she asked herself. Her gut was telling her to get rid of the briefcase as quickly as possible. Why open it? It would just be dangerous, because it would mean knowing. Maybe knowledge was power, but that was a two edged sword and she didn't fancy the idea of being skewered with it. And yet, here she was, sitting with it balanced on her knees, unable to take her eyes off it. She'd already looked at it astrally and found it had a nice ward surrounding the contents. The johnson hadn't known she was a mage, at least to her knowledge. If he was really ignorant of that fact, he had no reason to assume she would be aware of the wards or know that odds were, whatever was in the briefcase was magical in nature.

Mr. Johnson had friends in high places if he was a corp's and not some private citizen's. That wasn't the kind of collar she fragging wanted to piss off. So why was her thumb settling on the tabs to pop the latch? It would be so easy—

"I didn't know you were a mage."

Anna just about jumped out of her skin. "Church!" It was worse because she was still wired from earlier even though they were back at Ikon and relatively safe. The elf had stashed her in the empty dancer's quarters and vanished for a good ten minutes, probably letting Ikon's security know that someone might turn up with a fight in mind. The club was closed for the day, but the Russians still carried on business upstairs as maintenance cleaned the place and got it stocked for the next night. Now the elf was apparently back.

The thief-in-law looked amused rather than apologetic, though she did settle back into seriousness in a second or two. "Does anyone else know?"

"No," she said as her nerves started to slowly settle again. Anna had a hell of a time calming herself down these days without bliss, but it was a little easier knowing that Church had her back. She could feel the craving starting, an ache in her chest as she wished desperately that she could go to that great, floating, safe space where she felt warm and happy rather than terrified and more than a little angry with Mr. Johnson. "Would you have fragging told anyone if you were in my shoes?"

Church considered the question for a moment. "I don't know."

Anna sighed heavily. "I need to call Mr. Johnson."

One of Church's eyebrows arched, unspoken questions burning in those coal-like eyes. Even though she clearly wanted to ask, however, she refrained. Instead, she sat down at the desk in front of the mirror beside Anna, half facing the door. It was a tactical position. She could easily launch herself to seek cover between two escape routes, but she had table space to unload and clean her pistol. Apparently she'd taken the time while she was out to grab a tool to disassemble it, some oil, and a rag. Her movements were quick, but methodical. Anna was impressed by the precision and care the killer worked with more than the speed. The room was quiet for a long time, what felt like an eternity to Anna.

Anna was always grateful for the thief-in-law's restraint. Where Leto and the other girls wanted to know every little thing about her, Church gave her space to decide what she wanted to tell. She took a deep breath, but she knew she had the elf's attention. "This guy asked me just a little while after I started here to keep an ear out, listen to rumors. Called himself Mr. Johnson. I know the type. Probably plumbing for information to feed to his runners. But he asked me last night to pick up a package for him. It...didn't go well." She drummed her fingers on the briefcase. "I don't know what it is. I didn't ask. But somebody wants it bad. Some fragging hitmage came out of nowhere." She sat, waiting for Church to tell her she was an idiot for taking work from a Johnson without being a proper runner.

"Are you alright?" Church didn't look up from what she was doing as she asked, carefully checking each piece before she started to reassemble her gun. She hadn't broken it down completely the way she might have if she was safely ensconced in her office upstairs, where she wasn't expecting trouble, but it was still a thorough wipe-down.

Anna was reasonably certain that she was the only person Church ever asked that. The elf's question threw her for a loop for a second even though she'd heard it before from the Vory killer. "It's just a few bruises and some scorching. I'll be fine. How are you?"

Church shrugged in a noncommittal fashion. She checked her weapon and dry-fired it once just to make certain it was in working order before she loaded it again and returned it to the concealed quickdraw holster under her jacket. Anna had learned that while Church could and would shoot someone from a good distance, she excelled when things were up close and personal. Yuri had mentioned seeing her part some guys out before, and from his description, she hadn't waited until the chrome-dome or his buddies were dead.

Anna could see stiffness in the way she moved one shoulder that suggested something was wrong. She hadn't realized it on the ride, but then again, Church had probably started to stiffen up once they were back and danger was a little further away. "Let me look at it?"

"It's fine," Church said dismissively. "Just a bruise or two."

The dancer frowned deeply. "A bruise or two shouldn't be impacting your mobility. Let me look." Church glared at her like an ill-tempered cobra, but Anna refused to budge on this one. She owed Church. She owed the elf a lot, even if the killer wasn't keeping score. Where others would have started to back away slowly, Anna got up and locked the door before setting the briefcase down on the table where the gun had been, so it was in plain view of both of them. "I'm not going to stab you in the back or anything. Come on, Church, you know me."

"Do I?" Church said. It sounded more suspicious than hostile, which was a step in the right direction as far as Anna was concerned. "I didn't know you were a mage."

"And now you do. See, you know me better already. And it's not like you couldn't kill me if you wanted to. Mages break like twigs." Anna let her hands brush across Church's shoulder, feeling to make certain there wasn't an obvious break or something out of place. To her surprise, the assassin didn't immediately flinch away.

Church stiffened slightly when Anna's fingertips brushed over the point of her shoulder and down to her upper arm, but that was all. The area felt hot to the touch and painfully swollen when Anna felt a little more firmly, expecting to hear a sound of pain. She didn't get one. "There," the Russian said instead of whining or giving any sign of discomfort. She sounded resigned, as if reluctantly acknowledging that Anna should be allowed to poke and prod her.

"Let me see if it's dislocated or broken before I start this healing spell. Can I pull up your sleeve?" the mage asked, sounding a good deal more professional than she probably was. After all, she'd never drawn a salary for healing. She had just taken care of a lot of injured people before. She could see hints of bruising down the elf's arm once she looked at that tricep, dark color bleeding out from beneath the sleeve. She waited for the killer's tiny nod to pull up the white fabric to reveal Church's shoulder. It looked like a mess, dark purple bruising surrounding the outside of the joint. It looked like an impact to Anna, like Church had been thrown or had thrown herself. No abrasions, but if the Russian had been wearing that armored jacket when she got it, that would have protected her. Hell, if this was what her shoulder looked like with armor, Anna wasn't certain that she'd have had a joint without it. "Yeah, that looks pretty fragging bad."

Church shrugged slightly, disturbing the jarred joint without seeming terribly troubled by it. Anna didn't waste any time, immediately weaving a spell. It was powerful enough that she felt a definite twinge of drain, but she'd handled it well enough that it didn't suck nearly as much as a bigger spell. The bruising slowly faded away, golden light glowing between the hand hovering over Church's shoulder and the elf's discolored skin. It took only a few moments before the healing was done. "Spasibo," the Russian murmured.

Anna knew enough Russian to understand that meant 'thank you', not that understanding the language was required to get the gist. "You're welcome," she said, returning to her seat and picking up the briefcase.

"Call your Mr. Johnson," Church said firmly. "I will go with you."

Anna shook her head. "It's just a drop."

The Russian grabbed her armored jacket from where she'd draped it over an empty chair and motioned for Anna to come with her. "If this is how your pick-up went, I cannot imagine that your drop will go smoothly. Make him come get it, tell him they know you have it. It is the truth." Her dark eyes looked as yielding as basalt. "Call him."

"What if he tries to clean house?" Anna asked.

"Then I will kill him and his team," Chuch said simply, pulling on her jacket.

"Church, I hate to tell you this, but you can die. I already owe you way too much."

"You healed me." The accented words were pointed.

This time, Anna shook her head emphatically. "You saved me. More than once. I can't ask you to do this."

The thief-in-law did not look amused. "You are not asking. I am telling."

Anna met her glare head on, but she couldn't hold it. "Thank you," she said softly as she pulled out her comm. "No one ever does drek for me. Not like this." Without waiting for a response or looking at Church's face, she tapped on the screen to dial Mr. Johnson. Normally, he kept her waiting for at least three rings. This time, he picked up on the first.

His voice was as smooth as ever. "Anna, lovely to hear from you. Do you have my package?"

"Yeah," she said as she adjusted her earpiece. "Taken a look at the news lately? Somebody fragging knows I have it. Where the hell are you?"

"I'll give you the meet to drop it off and you can be rid of it immediately."

"And how am I supposed to know they're the right person? The last person you sent me to almost got me blown to bits, so you can bet your ass they know exactly who you're sending. I want to go somewhere safe and I want to meet with you personally."

"You're not really in a position to argue, my dear."

"Yeah?" Anna felt the anger come back with a vengeance. "I've got your fragging briefcase. If you don't want it enough to show up yourself, I bet I could find someone else who'd be happy to take it off my hands."

She could hear unease in his voice when he replied. "Anna, be reasonable. You're SINless in possession of corporate property. I could call and have you arrested."

"And then you can have fun retrieving it from the evidence vault. I'm sure they'd love to poke around your completely legal package. Turns out fire burns both ways."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line, no doubt a sign that he was trying to twist the situation to his advantage. "Very well, my dear. You have my briefcase, I have your nuyen. Kubota Garden, midnight tonight, Heart Bridge. Come alone."

"Fine by me," Anna said. He hung up on her, but she didn't really care. She was very much over talking to him. What the hell was she going to do without that five hundred nuyen a month? She was sure he was going to find someone else after putting the screws to him like that. Granted, that was provided Church let him live. She had a distinct feeling that the Vory killer had less than kind intentions in her heart. She looked at the Russian. "He wants me to come alone."

"How unfortunate for him," the elf said dryly. "I can move quietly."

Anna didn't doubt that. Church seemed more comfortable in the shadows of the night than under the day. "Can I go home and change?" the dancer asked. Her eyes ached with exhaustion. Normally, she would have been in bed asleep by this hour. There wasn't going to be a chance of that with this cloud hanging over her head, which was not the greatest thing in the world considering she was supposed to work come evening.

"It will not be safe if they know you." Those dark eyes were inscrutable. "We should not test that."

"Where am I going to fragging sleep?" Anna said, dismayed. If she wasn't going to be able to go back to her apartment, that meant she could kiss her stuff goodbye. The little life she'd assembled for herself had just been shattered in a few hours. "And my things…"

Church frowned.

"I need a place to stay, Church. I can't just...I don't know." Anna felt the tears suddenly springing to life. She put her hand up to her eyes to try and stem the flow, but they poured down anyway. "Fragging milk run, he said. Now look at me? This is my life, Church. Or it used to be. What am I going to do? Where can I go?" She sank down to the floor. She was exhausted and frightened now that her anger had been vented in part.

"I have a safehouse in mind," Church said. "You will be safe there until I can come back for you tonight."

Anna hated the idea of being alone right now, but she nodded despite the tears rolling down her cheeks. She managed to get her breathing under control before she choked or completely broke down into sobs. "Okay." She knew how to get her shit together. It was just six times harder when she was tired like this and starting to feel withdrawals on the horizon. She had a dose on her, a little autoinjector of bliss that Leto had given her a while back. It would keep the cravings off, but not forever.

For all her flaws, the Russian seemed to read right through the dancer's strong front. "Let me make a phone call," Church said. Without waiting for an answer, she pulled out her comm. She waited for a few moments and then...Anna watched a sudden transformation, like night suddenly becoming day, when Church heard whoever was on the other end of that line. She switched languages seamlessly, speaking in Russian. Her voice was soft and warm, unnaturally gentle for a weapon like Church. She was smiling suddenly, the soft special smile of a woman talking to the center of her world. Anna found herself looking at someone she could barely recognize, and it was honestly almost terrifying to see.

Church got off the phone after just a minute or two, her smile lingering for a moment after she shut off the comm. Then, like a light being snuffed out, it was gone. Dark eyes flickered back to Anna. "I'll stay with you until the briefcase is passed off. We should get you to bed. I will need sleep too."

"Who was that?" Anna asked.

The Russian's glare was a dark one. "That is not yours to know."

Anna knew when she was pushing at one of Church's boundaries—this one seemed ironclad. "Got it. Sorry."

Instead of smoldering about it too much, the elf shrugged. "We all have our secrets."

It made Anna wonder who exactly Church was protecting. She padded after the killer, wiping away her tears and taking a deep breath. It was time to focus on her own problem. Once this disaster was averted, there would be plenty of time to go back to puzzling away at Church.

Some part of Anna was certain that there would be no easy answer to her situation, however.