"Hard wood floors, stainless steel appliances, top of the line entertainment system, a studio that could just as easily serve as a gym or workspace. Combine that with the prime location and you're practically stealing this place from us."
Aliza didn't look at the real estate agent, which was exactly what the agent expected of her. To the nouveau rich day trader that she was claiming she was, the agent was little different from the bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket on her new apartment's kitchen table, a bauble to be popped at her leisure to help close the deal.
Hell, the mild curiosity in the agent's eyes told Aliza that she was surprised to still be wearing clothes. She'd most likely been hired for her appearance, a beautiful girl plucked from a city where looking like a model was considered the bare minimum. It was fairly common in wealthy circles, when you were paying as much as she was, the seller was expected to make the transaction as enjoyable as possible. She had to give them credit for researching her proclivities as well as they did, a less competent company might have sent a man.
"The amenities come with it?" She knew the girl wasn't a whore, no more than she herself was. The agent was just a person doing her best to get by and make as much of a profit as possible. Men do it, women do it, sex is just another asset to be used. Whether you were a honey trap baiting an Iranian nuclear scientist to his death, a drug dealer trying to establish a bigger contact network, or a real estate agent looking to close a deal, sex was a very effective tool for those who chose to use it.
"Private ten car garage with a racing quality mechanic's set up, a member's only swimming pool, and a concierge that can get you anything you want." The agent undid a button on her jacket, "anything."
Aliza smiled, not too subtle, but they both knew what the other expected, or in the agent's case, thought they knew. She spun around and stepped closer to the woman, the blouse was off before the jacket hit the floor
"I'll take it" she said, pulling the real estate agent in for a kiss. It would have to be quick, she still had a number of other appointments that she had to make. But why not enjoy the moment while it was there?
After all, she thought, expectations were her business.
….
"The Bati 801, not a bad bike, but for you, someone who is like a niece to me, you deserve far better-"
She raised a hand, cutting Simeon off, "Cut the bullshit Simeon, I know what I want, and you're not going to get me to buy something more expensive."
Naturally, he gave her the same offended look that he gave every resistant client, he was just about to launch into his usual rant when she took off her sunglasses and affixed him with a glare.
"Call me a racist, and I'm going to punch you in the throat." She was having a good day, the money from the hit had been laundered to the point that it was cleaner than the day it had been minted, now was the time to spend some of it. She had her new base of operations, the bike she wanted for work, her stuff was being moved out of the storage locker and into the new place, and she was actually looking forward to her last appointment of the day.
Needless to say, she didn't feel like having her day ruined with one of Simeon's sales pitches.
To his credit, Simeon managed to switch gears in less than a second. After being caught off guard, he recovered and was all smiles again.
"Why would I do that to such a valued employee, now let us discuss financing."
Aliza slid her shades back on and pulled a wad of cash out of her hand bag. "No Financing, none of that insurance scam bullshit. The price is fifteen thousand dollars, here it is"
She tossed the cash at a, once again, caught-off-guard Simeon. "Have it delivered to the address I texted you."
She turned to leave, but stopped and looked over her shoulder at the crooked car dealer.
"Oh and Simeon, if you do what you normally do, then I'll find the idiot who you hire to steal my bike, kill him, then come and put a bullet between those shifty little eyes of yours, kay?"
Simeon just stared, open-mouthed, back at her, she grinned.
"Good, glad we understand each other."
Then she was off to her last appointment of the evening.
….
"Excuse me, can you direct me to the Ishmael?"
"Um, Ma'm, begging your pardon, but I don't know if you're allowed back here. Could I see a pass ma'm, please?" The dockworker in front of her had a distinctly rabbit-like appearance, and a matching demeanor from the sound of it.
"I really don't have time for this, I was told by your supervisor that I'd been cleared, I'll just have to go to him and straighten this out. What was your name again?" She didn't actually have a pass, but if her read on this guy was right, he wouldn't dare call her bluff. As soon as she'd said supervisor, he'd glanced at two men who appeared to be arguing a few hundred feet away. She stepped around the dockworker in front of her, as if about to approach the men.
"N-Now wait a second ma'am, that won't be necessary. You said that you're looking for the Ishmael, she's berthed just a little ways down. I'll take you to her." Ah, that was the great thing about bureaucracy, nothing terrified a drone into ignoring the rules quite like the possibility of pissing off the boss.
"Thank you, lead the way." The dockworker did as he was told and started towards the ship berths, with Aliza two steps behind.
"So, I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name. What was it again?"
"Uh… Floyd, Ma'am, Floyd Herbert, unionized longshoreman. It's uh… a pleasure to make your acquaintance miss…" his eyes never met hers, when he looked at her it was always at her nose or over her shoulder, never making eye contact.
"Nice to meet you too Floyd. So, has anything interesting come through the port lately?" One of the things that she'd picked up early on as a katsa, if you wanted to know if anything major was happening in a coastal city, keep an eye on the docks.
"Well… there's this ship you're looking for. You're the tenth or eleventh person who's come looking for it. In fact a bunch of Chinese fellas came just a little while before you, are you with them?" Well placed rabbit with a sense of curiosity, now that could be a useful combination
"No, I'm a freelance agent with a heavy stake in the organization transporting cargo on that vessel." It was corporate leet speak, technically everything she'd said was true, but she hadn't really said anything. It also had the added benefit of confusing most people and giving her an air of authority that helped convince most people to listen to her. A combination of that and the four thousand dollar designer suit she was wearing were more than enough to convince most people that she was in charge.
"Well, I'm afraid I don't really know what that means ma'am. I don't normally snoop, but it's mighty strange the way people keep showing up and taking stuff off of the ship a few crates at a time." That certainly sounded like Isak.
"It's how it usually operates. The organization that owns the vessel specializes in providing high end merchandise to a specialized clientele. Anything else interesting happening around here?"
"There was that container out of Turkey that all those guys in suits were arguing about. Come to think of it, we been getting a lot more freight out of Asia than usual these past couple of months." Now that was an interesting fact, she'd have to remember that.
"Well this is it, if we could keep that whole pass nonsense from Don, and Jim, and Mick, I'd really appreciate it." The meek sincerity almost made her feel sorry for intimidating him.
"No problem Floyd, but how about in exchange, you do something for me?" It was a simple approach, not exactly MICE, but it was worked more often than not.
"Of course ma'am, anything you need, just ask." Relief that she wasn't going to get him in trouble, a sense of being indebted to her. It was the exact emotional state that you wanted your target in for the approach.
"The organization that I represent does a great deal of business in the port of Los Santos, we have a vested interest in ensuring that things run smoothly. Sometimes the people in charge miss things, sometimes the middle managers try to sweep problems under the rug, I'm not asking to perform a witch hunt. All I'm asking you to do is to tell me if you notice anything unusual around here, nothing deeper than the conversation we just had. You will of course be well compensated for your additional duties. Do you think you can handle that?" The best assets were those that didn't know that they were assets. They weren't taking bribes to spy on their friends and colleagues, they were being well compensated to go above and beyond the call of duty.
"Well… I suppose I could-"
"Great, wonderful meeting you Floyd. An advance, I'll be in touch." She shoved her business card and a bundle of hundred dollar bills in his vest pocket.
"Uhhh… thank you ma'am." She was already walking away toward the Ishmael's gang plank.
She'd succeeded in the recruitment. He'd agreed to do as she'd asked, and more importantly, he'd accepted her money. That was the point of no return when it came to recruitment, once the money changed hands, they couldn't say that they weren't cooperating.
It was asset recruitment 101.
There were armed guards at the gang plank, as she'd expected. Two men armed with pistols. It was the first line of defense. These guys were bouncers to keep out riff raff, in the event of a real threat, they were to sound the alarm and retreat into the ship. She knew every detail of the ship's security plans.
She was the one who designed them, after all.
"I'm here to see Isak." The guards didn't budge in the slightest, good, glad to see they were sticking to protocol.
"Alpha zero six, mike zero seven, lima niner ate, Juliette niner ate, need I go on?" The identification codes had their intended effect. The guards jumped to attention.
"No ma'am" they said in unison.
"Good, now take me to my uncle." One of the men set off up the gang plank, guiding her through the bowels of the ship. She knew her way around of course, but the escort ensured that none of the other new guards would hassle her.
They made their way to the cargo hold, and the guns the guards were changed from pistols to military grade assault rifles.
The cargo hold was illuminated by a number of flood lights. She leaned on the cat walk's railing and looked down at the two parties below.
One was a group of Asian men in suits, loose cut to help hide the guns. Triads most likely, considering they were speaking Mandarin.
The other group was more multicultural, consisting of a number of different races. Their unifying characteristics being their military fatigues, their above average physical condition, and the high end weapons they were openly carrying.
Two men stood across from each other with a stack of military weapons cases between them. One was an older Chinese man, the other was a behemoth of a man standing at six foot six with the frame of a linebacker.
That was Isak.
"Mr. Cheng, how about we cut to the chase, as my associates have just informed me that I have a pressing engagement to attend to. Either you pay the price that we agreed to, or I'm going to take these guns and sell them to the cartels at a discount." The Russian-Israeli arms dealer leaned over the cases, looming over the smaller Chinese man.
"You wouldn't dare" the Triad leader hissed.
Isak snorted, looking for all the world like a bull ready to charge. "And why not, the cartels have always been fair with me. Perhaps I should reward their loyalty by giving them everything they need to drive you and your Kkangpae friends right into the sea. Now, either pay me and take the guns, or go put on your bathing suits."
A few tense moment s passed as the two men stared each other down, each waiting for the other to crack. Arms dealing was just as much to do with willpower as it was intelligence, you had to be smart to survive, but to make a real profit, you needed nerves of steel. Cheng couldn't let his rivals get a hold of heavy duty fire power at a discount if he didn't want to lose all of his territory, and Isak couldn't give in and lower the price if he didn't want all of his other clients to expect the same.
That only left two options.
Either Cheng took the deal or…
Aliza's hand went to her pistol.
This would end in bloodshed.
She started blinking rapidly, taking deep breaths, lining up possible shots in her head. If this went sideways, she'd be ready.
Finally, the decision was made.
"Deal you mixed seed bastard, but you better not be expecting any more business from my organization."
Isak leaned back and crossed his arms, "wouldn't dream of it you slant eyed jackass, now take your guns and kindly get the fuck off of my ship.
She waited until the Chinese had left, then she climbed down the ladder.
Almost as soon as her feet touched the deck, she found herself enveloped in a massive bear hug.
"Aliza,' Isak yelled as he hugged her, "it is so good to see you again."
"Nice to see you too, Isak." She returned the embrace, she almost had to laugh. She'd seen Isak at his best and at his worst, he did nothing by halves. This was a perfect example, he could go from cold hearted merchant of death to giant teddy bear in three seconds flat.
"Come Aliza, we have much to discuss." Isak wrapped a colossal arm around Aliza and shepherded her out of the cargo hold, down a few hallways, and into his private quarters. She took a seat at the small dinette table while Isak poured some drinks for the two of them.
Like every meeting they had, it began with small talk. She asked how Aggie was, Isak told her how the kids were. Aaliyah had been accepted into the University of Jerusalem's medical school, Rania had just graduated college, Alile was marrying a legitimate diamond dealer from Liberty City, Josif and Mikel had become fighter pilots in the IAF, Laila had a new girlfriend and Ambre had a new boyfriend, neither of which Isak felt were appropriate things for high school junior, but he didn't get a say as Aliza was quick to point out. And her own goddaughters, Mary and Atsuko were starting second grade. And Aggie was looking into adopting two beautiful little twin girls from Colombia.
Isak wasn't actually her uncle, he had been one of her main contacts, and her landlord when she'd been working for the Institute. The uncle thing had started as a cover to help her gain trust in the arms dealing community. Eventually, it just kind of stuck and she became part of the family.
Finally, after they'd finished their drinks, Isak asked the question that she'd been waiting for.
"So Aliza, my solnyshko, I thought that you'd gotten out of the business. I'm assuming that this isn't just a social visit, which means you need weapons, which means you're back in, da?"
"Da" Aliza nodded, not much slipped past Isak, "but I'm freelancing these days and I need to be properly outfitted."
She pulled a slip of paper from her suit jacket and slid it across the table. Isak's eyebrows arched as he read it.
"Body armor, combat PDWs, assault rifles, tactical shotguns… a homing missile launcher? And those are just the ones at the top of the list. Solynoshko, are you preparing for war?"
Not exactly, but if she was going to go freelance, she had to have weapons to match her level of skill.
"No, but it's better to be as well armed as possible when expecting combat. Can you get a hold of them?" She already knew he could, but it was polite to ask.
"I can, it will be expensive, but I will make you a deal, I will provide you with these weapons at cost."
"If…" even Isak wasn't so generous as to offer her that good of a deal without any strings attached to it.
"If you promise to come to the estate for Passover next year. Aggie has been hounding me to get you to visit for quite a while." Isak smiled, "She misses you Solynosko."
"Deal," Aliza smiled, she should have guessed that Isak would ask that. It was true that she hadn't visited as often as she should have, but she'd been busy managing her new life in Liberty City.
"Good, now you must let me take you to dinner, I won't accept no for an answer. I found this perfect little café the other day on…" Isak kept chatting up a storm as she stood and followed him out of the room.
All in all, a very successful shopping spree.
I know this one is late guys, but my computer screwed up and I had to start from scratch on it.
I really do like this chapter. I want to hear some opinions on Isak, I have some interesting ideas for his character that got hinted at in this chapter. Tell me what you're thinking people, the only part I'm not sure about is the first part, I'm not entirely sure that I portrayed it the right way.
R&R people, new chapter next Wednesday.