Date Thursday 19/02/2060, Location 40.42662, 49.81593

After lunch they checked over the decks. Marius ran the scanner over them carefully, with Nadia watching over his shoulder. The display showed only background signals, twitching more when Aswon turned on the music player in the cab than when he scanned the decks.

"They look clean, both of them." Marius carefully disassembled the scanner and returned it to the packaging, wrapping the leads carefully in the original tie-wrap and putting everything back in the box like it was just unwrapped.

"So, now we've got some hardware, we're going to head back down to Shirvan and do some research, deal with Mammadova and then deal with the politician chap, hopefully on the same night," Kai summarised, nodding to Shimazu at the last part.

"Nien. We still need to secure a masking chip and sleaze utility, otherwise the deck will just let us be captured quicker. We need to source that here too, I think. As to the plan, I still think the politician's wife has to go too." He held up his hand as Kai took in a breath and waited until Kai nodded, exhaling slowly instead of interrupting. "Someone cannot be married to a man like that for so long, and still be ignorant. She must be at least aware of his corruption, if not actively involved. To me that makes her just as dangerous – she will likely know many of his secrets and may wield his power to strike back at us."

Kai cocked his head as he considered this though, then nodded agreement.

"I hadn't thought of it that way, but I suppose you're right. She moves in the same circles, knows the same people. Ok, one to consider." He frowned as Tads leant over and picked up one of the decks, shaking it in her hands and then holding it up to her face closely so she could peer at the connector ports.

"How do we know it doesn't have one of those thingies that you can turns on when you want?"

"An AOD? Activate on Demand? Well, it might – but I found no trace of it at all. They can be subtle, but I wouldn't expect a department store to use such a thing. In fact a decent tracker would probably cost as much as the hardware here, so it's very unlikely. And please don't put your nose in the connector port, it's a precision connector…" Marius looked pained as her nose slid along the edge of the deck as she tried to peer into the innards. She pulled the deck away from her and burnished the edge with her sleeve and then handed it back to him.

"So, we're in a rush – and we need a masking thingy. Who do we know, and who can we call?" Kai looked around the team and each of them pondered their contact list.

"I might know someone – but the downside is that they currently think I'm still dead. Might take some explaining. So I'd rather someone else." Aswon looked over at Marius in despair.

"Not everyone is going to sell you out to the corp, you know. Contacts are only useful if you, well, use them. But anyway, it's your choice. For me, it's obvious – we put in a call to Germaine. She's a fixer, this is her town – this is her specialist area. The only bad side is that it probably comes with strings – personal strings. We'll probably have to get her a present. And make sure it smells of lavender, and has the right shade of gift wrap or something. And stop Kai flirting too much with her." Kai spluttered at the last part.

"I don't flirt. We just have an active discussion including some pleasantries that can have more than one meaning."

"Yes, flirting." Nadia coughed, and then addressed the rest of the team.

"Flirt if you have to. Buy fancy ribbon if you have to. But we need that chip."

"Could we… could we send a message from Ulvi to his dad, asking for a masking chip? I'm sure he can get hold of stuff illegally, and that would add a certain delicious justice to the whole thing." Aswon grinned at her, but slowly shook his head.

"I like the concept, but I think it would be very much out of character for him. I just couldn't see him needing something like this in his line of work, and I'm sure it would involve some further conversation and the chance of something being spotted.

"I agree – very out of normal behaviour, and likely to cause some raised eyebrows" added Shimazu. "I couldn't see him just arranging something like that. Guns, knives, drugs – yes. But not computer hardware for hacking the matrix. It's not a key area of theirs as far as we've ever seen."

"So, other than Germaine, nobody has anyone in town or the area that deals in tech, or that could help us out?" Marius looked from face to face, but didn't get any positive response. "Well, I guess it's time to call her…." Kai pulled out his phone, and paged through the contacts list, then took a subtle but deep breath and hit dial, then speaker.

"Hello?"

"Good afternoon Germaine, it's Kai."

"Kai! Oh good afternoon! How are you?"

"I'm good thank you, Germaine. Very good. Especially as we're in lovely Baku at the moment."

"You are? Marvellous! Always good to see people in my little corner of the world."

"Yes, it's so lovely here, we just can't stay away. However, as it so happens, we're in need of a little thing, and we thought 'who could help us get hold of this rare and difficult to get hold of thing' – and only one person came to mind!"

"Oh, well that's good to hear. One tries, one tries. So what is it that you are in the market for?"

"Let me see if I can get my computer expert to talk to you and describe what it is we need…"

"STRIKE!"

"Sorry?"

"Oh, don't mind me." Kai looked over at Marius and proffered the phone to him. Marius made a throat slicing motion and Kai hit the mute button just in time.

"I don't want to talk to that witch. Just ask her for a masking chip and utility, suitable for a Sony CMT with base memory." Kai frowned at him, then pulled his arm back and hit the mute button again.

"Sorry about that, he's busy with a data search or something. But he says we need a masking chip and a program. For a Sony CMT."

"Oh, is that all? Well, that should not be a problem. Of course a masking chip is an illegal modification – but I'm sure you're just wanting to look at one for educational purposes."

"Of course, yes. We just love learning."

"Well, I don't think that should be an issue. Give me about 5 minutes and I'll come back to you."

"Great, thank you Germaine, speak to you soon." He hit the disconnect button and relaxed, leaning back into the corner of the truck and twirling the phone in his hand idly. Aswon turned in his seat to face Kai, watching him carefully.

"Germaine will no doubt want to have a face to face meeting if she can arrange this item. When you go to meet her, do TRY not to take another job, unless it pays very well!"

"And doesn't start for two weeks, or more!" added Tads.

"Yes, we should be done with the politician and the mafia thug by then, including whatever intel gathering we need to do, and escaping any fallout or retribution."

"I had a thought – do you think the mob boss will have the politician on speed dial, like Kai has Germaine. And could we get one of them to invite the other over. Or at least use the phone to impersonate one of them to the other?"

"We probably could – but even then, no doubt they have codes or specific things they refer to when they are discussing things, to avoid discussing clearly illegal activities over the public network. No doubt they are both aware that their communications could be recorded or intercepted."

"Assuming they are in contact at all" Kai added.

"I'm sure Tads could influence the mob boss to initiate the call. It would fit his profile – to take control of a situation and feel like he has the upper hand and is in charge of the situation." Tads nodded, then spoke again.

"Surely, they will be in touch. When you get to that level of power, everyone is an enemy or competition, and you have to deal with them? They no doubt move in the same social circles or go to the same functions, so will probably have at least intermittent contact with each other."

"If we can get the mob boss under some level of spell control, we can maybe try to work out some of their friends and enemies, and come up with some kind of story or scenario to justify what is going on, something appropriate perhaps?" Aswon mused, starting off into the distance as scenarios danced through his imagination.

"I think we need to isolate him from the outside world completely. Like we did with the mooks in the other town – just make them disappear without trace." Kai shifted in his seat. "Just make an information black hole, that is harder for someone else to investigate or find loose ends."

"I don't want to have to hurt the servants. They have a bad enough life already, and get treated like rubbish already. So whatever we do, we shouldn't hurt them if we can help it, at all. In fact, we should make efforts to try and avoid hurting them, or putting them in a place where they will get hurt."

The phone rang, startling Kai, who quickly hit the connect button and held the phone to his ear.

"Yes, yes. Oh – how nice. Of course we can. Yes. That should be fine. Right. Ten, for both? Now, that's fine. Ok, we'll see you then. Yes, no problem. Until later then." He lowered the phone again, then addressed the team.

"Right, she's out fishing at the moment, and we're meeting her at the marina at five this afternoon. It's going to cost about ten grand, and she'll have it with her." As Kai spoke, Hunter pulled up the city map and found the marina, finding the best route to it and working out where they could park the truck, and then started to highlight items in the local area.

"I need to get a presentation case for the gun. Does Baku have a music shop? Maybe a musical instrument case would do?" Aswon trailed off as he thought. Hunter scanned around and found a listing in the Baku matrix, and plotted it onto the map, adjusting the proposed route to the meet.

"Well, we've got a meeting with Germaine in a few hours then, so everyone make sure you're spruced up and looking presentable."

"I'm not going to meet her." Kai looked over at Hunter with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not going." Kai waited, but there was no further explanation or expansion, so he shrugged a little and just accepted it.

"And are we still going to speak to Turul about getting this family jobs? The ones in Shirvan, that is."

"No, please. This is such a bad plan. Please don't do this." Nadia clutched at Marius with her hand, but looked straight at Shimazu. "I just don't think you can lie to him convincingly. What will you do if he asks you about me directly? Please, no." Shimazu looked at her, and it was obvious he disagreed, but Nadia sounded so sincere he couldn't dismiss her out of hand. He nodded at her, acquiescing, at least for now. Silence spread for a moment, and it felt a little uncomfortable in the cab of the truck, the air charged with emotion. Kai looked around, evaluating body language and mood.

"So Tads. We think…. Or rather you think that Elk is angry with you for killing that kid, and leaving his family without support?" Tads nodded at him. "Can you ask him? Her? 'It' just sounds rude… But can you cast a spell and ask them what is going on? Are you sure you're going down the right path?"

Tads took a deep breath, opened her mouth, then closed it again and cocked her head, thinking for a moment, before she spoke again.

"Do you follow a particular religion, Kai?"

"I watch a bit of Movieflix here and there, but I don't do it religiously" The humour flew straight over her head, and she looked confused for a moment, thinking he was being sincere. She ummed, then tried a different track.

"Imagine if you were home, with your clan, working with your clan elder, or leader. But somehow, your clan elder had the ability to take your voice away, and remove your powers. Would you want to anger him with silly questions?" Kai looked at her, trying to see what she was getting at, but clearly not getting the analogy. Hunter turned to Tads.

"So – can you ask, or not?"

"Yes, I can. But we need to work on the basis that it would take twelve hours of uninterrupted time, and we need some peace and quiet and a place of safety – ideally back at the trailer. And while we're asking Elk, we need to make sure we're safe and don't have to move or get attacked."

Hunter listened, and as Tads added more and more qualifiers, just looked more and more confused and annoyed.

"I just don't see the logic in what you're saying. Why can't you just ask, then work out what to do!"

"No. I'm not going running to my totem and begging for help whenever I'm confused. I'm not relying on my totem for answers. I have to think for myself, and act for myself. My totem is a guide, an ideal. Something to live up to. Not an easy answer. So, when there is a problem, I need to TRY something first, and fail if need be. Then, and only then, do I think about trying something else or asking for advice." She sounded as much exasperated as angry, and it was clear that she didn't have the answers, and was just as confused as the rest of the team, but determined to solve the problem in her own way. Kai decided to deflect into the other thorny conversation once more.

"So, Nadia…. Why can't we ask your dad for help with getting the family sorted and into a new life?"

"Because…" she sighed, "because it's not a life or death situation, which means you're going to fuck it up. Because although you pull the most bizarre things out of thin air between you when people are shooting at you, or chasing you in helicopter gunships – when it comes to the small stuff, you're like stumbling buffoons. Sorry, but I just can't see how you'd talk to dad without slipping up and letting him know something important. Or worse, my uncle." She shuddered as she contemplated that concept.

"Can't you just find them a new place, give them a chunk of cash and leave them alone. Let them manage on their own. I still don't understand why you need to do this," she held up her hand to Tads, to ward off the reply – "I accept it, but don't understand it. But surely setting them up with enough money to live for a year is more than enough, you don't have to tuck them into bed each night as well!" Kai looked at her.

"I think we're not that bad! Well, granted, we've had our off moments to be sure. But I think you're remembering the worst, not the best. Either way, we can sort this out, I'm sure of it. Shimazu – have a think about this, and talk to Turul, see if we can sort out a place for them." Shimazu nodded at Kai, and waited for him to turn away then looked at Nadia.

Nadia looked at Shimazu and felt her stomach churn, fearing that her new life was about to come to an abrupt end and that everything she had worked for would be undone. She was about to speak, to burst out and say something to Kai, regardless of his position as the team leader, when she paused. Shimazu had winked at her. Or at least she thought she'd seen him wink. Kai was looking over at Aswon, on one side of the truck, and Shimazu was in the other corner. Had he winked at her, or had she imagined it? Shimazu just gave a tiny, fractional, smile and leant around her a little, apparently paying her no attention now.

"I don't see how you're going to get this family uprooting and following you anyway. What possible reason do they have for trusting you, Kai?"

"I was thinking we just rock up to the house with the Doctors without Borders IDs, and do a random health check – announce that they have some kind of communicable disease and need to be quarantined for their and everyone else's safety, load them into the truck and drive them away. And on the way explain that we're here to help, and they can trust us – and then get them settled." Aswon considered his words and then nodded at him. It was a little thin, but they could probably pull that off.

"Shimazu, I might be able to help with the conversation with Tural. I could, if you're happy, cast my influence spell on you and try to prevent you talking about Nadia. Make you change the subject, and steer away from talking about her at all?" Shimazu considered this for a moment, his eyes closing as he worked out the implications of what Tads had offered.

"Thank you for the offer, but I don't think that is a good plan. Not at all. Psychologically speaking, if I'm asked about his daughter and keep deflecting or evading without good reason, especially if I'm asked a direct question that I should answer – it would be incredibly obvious and damaging to our relationship. If he asked me if I thought his daughter going missing was a sign of his parenting skills for instance, and I changed the subject…I might as well just slap him in the face."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of it like that."

"It was a good idea, but I think something like that you need the flexibility. Maybe better to influence him not to ask, rather than me to not talk about it – but then you're talking about casting magical restrictions on our friends and contacts, and I don't think that's a good idea either, for a very different set of reasons."

Meanwhile, Kai and Aswon were continuing their conversation.

"Kai, you need to be careful when discussing this stuff I think. Germaine is a fixer, and a lady of style – but she's not a charity. Without explaining the context and revealing a lot about what we've been up to and why, it won't make sense."

"Yes, granted. I think she'll like a little bit of charity though as our way of helping people and looking after folk, providing we don't go silly."

"Yes, like I said, I think Germaine has plenty of style, but we need to be careful not to overplay the charity angle. Keep it subtle."

As the conversations petered out, Kai looked around at them, then poked Marius in the shoulder.

"Ok, let's get rolling, go find ourselves a new car." The truck started up and headed towards Achmed's, a second hand car lot they had spotted while driving around that morning. As they drove down the street, the conversation picked up again. They discussed what they were going to use the vehicle for – if it was going to be used for actual illegal activity, then they certainly didn't want a paper trail leading back to themselves or rather their fake IDs. However, it appeared that mostly it was for observations and for Rusudan and his family to use on the farm, so tying it to an ID wouldn't be too bad – and at least then they could get the car serviced without tripping alarm flags or needing to pay cash for everything.

Marius determined that they ideally wanted a car that was mechanically very sound, with a decent chassis and engine in good condition, but poor bodywork or other damage that made it look less assuming. It also needed to be at least four-wheel drive and have decent ground clearance to work effectively on the ranch. They arrived at Achmed's lot, and looked over the rows of cheap second hand commuter cars and small saloons for a few minutes, but this place clearly didn't have anything close to what they wanted.

When it was obvious that they weren't going to buy anything from him, the presumed "Achmed", a scruffy looking middle-aged man directed them to go to his cousins place, "Pritak's". They followed his directions, heading out of town a little and into a lower class area and found the place. It was less of a car showroom, and more of an abandoned lot that someone had strewn cars over – a grim and filthy looking cabin at one end of the yard disgorged an equally filthy looking man wiping his hands on an oil-covered rag.

The yard was rutted and badly kept, pools of water with the tell-tale shimmer of chemicals laid over the top filling the roadway and the vehicles lined up in crude arrangements around the worst of the obstructions. There were all manner of vehicles here, from battered first generation solar commuter cars to decrepit old tractors, from delivery vans to….an old and battered Land-Rover 2046. Marius and the team drifted over to it and started to check it out. While it had originally been a creamy white colour, the long wheel base off-roader had at some point had the two front doors replaced – one was a deep green and the other a navy blue, making it look battered and decrepit. Working his way around the vehicle, Marius checked the wheels, what he could see of the chassis and the exhaust, finding them all acceptable.

Pritak arrived, giving them what charitably might be called a smile, revealing yellowing and rotting teeth and started to describe the Land Rover to them. His descriptions bore only a passing resemblance to reality and both Marius and Hunter just turned and fixed him with a stony stare. The salesman continued for a few more moments before he faltered under their gaze, his speech trailing off into silence.

Marius asked for the keys and unlocked the car, starting the engine and listening carefully to how it sounded when he revved the engine, checking the gauges and instruments and poking around the driving area to check the internals over, giving the steering wheel a quick check over and testing the gearbox. There was no electronics or datajack in the vehicle, but at least it had tinted windows and seemed to work fine.

Marius turned to the salesman. "I'm interested in the vehicle. How much?"

"For this fine example of engineering? I could not possibly let this go from my collection for less than fifteen thousand!"

"Unacceptable. This is an old model, without the upgraded gearbox, the doors don't match and there's no electronics port."

"True, true, but it is still a thing of beauty, is it not. The colour gives it a unique charm. But, you seem like a nice guy – I could let this go for thirteen thousand, for you."

"Very well, I accept. I have a credstick with the funds."

The salesman seemed to lurch, having been thrown off his stride by the sudden cessation of haggling. He recovered though, and went to fetch the ID chip with the log book and vehicle history, such as it was, and retried his cred-terminal, and he and Marius finished the deal. Hunter came back to the group with a disgusted look upon his face, complaining about the lack of negotiations on the part of Marius.

The team drove off, testing the new Landy out, and found it to be a reliable and reasonable vehicle – at least so far. They found a place to stop for a while, and worked out who was going to the meeting with Germaine later, and who was staying behind. In the end only Kai and Aswon were going to the meeting physically, with Tads going as an astral observer or spotter, whilst Hunter, Marius and Nadia stayed behind. As such, the three of them got the two new decks and their old hardware out, and started to do some of the research that was outstanding on the job in hand – or at least the queries that were unlikely to trip alarm bells.

Aswon and Kai headed out to find a music shop and spent a while looking for a large case suitable to house the gun Aswon was going to take to Germaine. He'd had his eye on the combat shotgun since they'd "acquired" it, and had spent a long time polishing up the gun, cleaning it thoroughly and tinkering with the mechanism to ensure it worked smoothly and trouble-free. It wasn't a patch on the Purdey in terms of artistic style, or quality of workmanship but it was a solidly built weapon and it was unusual – there were very few weapons commercially produced that had selectable twin magazines in the shotgun catalogue. Aswon figured that while she liked quality, Germaine also prized originality and the unusual, and this would make a somewhat interesting gift for her, to keep her onside.

They headed down to the quay once they had the shotgun boxed up, walking past the waterfront restaurant they had met Germaine in for their last meeting and then down the narrow jetty heading out into the bay. Huge concrete caltrops were piled up on either side of the path, with the waves crashing and breaking through them. As they meandered down the path towards the lighthouse at the bottom, they saw a sleek grey motor yacht slicing through the water towards them. It was about twenty five metres long, and about four or five across the beam. A row of portholes about a metre above the water line indicated a number of rooms below deck, and then a large curving observation lounge enclosed in glass lay atop the main deck. A smaller flying bridge lay above that, and then a tower with the antenna and radars crowned the vessel.

It slowly approached, leaving a narrow V in the water, the sharp lines of the bow slicing through the water as the momentum pushed them through the water. The pilot swung the wheel and the boat heeled over, turning to run parallel with the mooring bollards, and Aswon and Kai caught sight of the boats name – "The Elegant Urchin". With a deft touch Germaine's chauffeur – and apparently Captain – put the engines into reverse and killed the forward motion, and the boat gently slide towards the rubber protrusions on the side of the walkway as he bought to the boat to a perfect stop.

"Coo-eee!" The shape of Germaine was unmistakable, standing in the top bridge with legs spread wide and a huge fishing road jammed into a holder on her waist, her arms holding it out to the side. She looked like a bronze of some conquering warrior goddess, bathed in the fading last rays of sunshine. As they studied her for a moment, they noticed that the tip of the fishing rod was still bent, the line under tension – she still had something on her line, it appeared. "Come aboard, my friends!"

Gingerly Kai and Aswon stepped onto the yacht, climbing the short flight of steps to the deck. Aswon struggled a little with the bulky case, and in the end had to climb a step or two and then use his height and reach to lift the gun up onto the deck and then let go, climbing the steps and recovering the box. Germaine looked at the box with curiosity for a moment, then turned to face Kai, smiling broadly at him.

He returned her smile, and approached her to give her a large hug, surreptitiously slipping a credstick into her pocket as he did so. In return, he felt her slide an envelope into his trouser pocket, her fingers lingering for just a moment too long, before she stepped back and then put some more tension on the line, the reel clicking as she dragged in whatever it was that was hooked. With a bit of efforts she started to reel in some more, and the tip of the rod dipped further and further until a large fish emerged from the water, spinning and thrashing on the end of the line. The last rays of sunlight lit up the flanks of the fish, making the scales reflect all the colours of the rainbow as it spun and flexed on the line, trying to disgorge the hook from its mouth.

Germaine reeled in further, raising the fish to her level, expertly removed the hook and dropped the nearly metre long fish into the huge coolbox on the deck below that was now almost full of fish. It dropped in and tried to swim around in the water, barely able to turn in the tight confines and between all the other fish.

"So, what's in the box, Aswon?"

"Ahh, I have bought you a little gift. Something I hope you may find interesting." He lifted the box and held it on his raised forearms, supporting it from the base to allow Germaine to open the lid towards his body. She did so with a look of curiosity, that turned into a smile when she saw the contents.

"Oh, marvellous!" Pulling out the shotgun, she looked it over, checking the breech, mechanism and after confirming that both the magazine wells and breech was empty sighting down the barrel. Her hands moved quickly and with assurance, and probed the levers and controls of the gun, establishing where the safety, mode select and other functions were. Aswon watched carefully – though it looked like the gun was in no way familiar to her, the speed with which she catalogued the capabilities and performed a basic safety check was impressive – and spoke of a good working knowledge of shotguns at the very least, and probably a broader familiarity with all firearms. Interesting.

His mouth dropped open though as she selected one of the magazines, inserted it into the deep well on the bottom of the receiver and slapped it home firmly, then worked the action, letting the charging handle slap forwards. Dropping her rod to the deck, she turned slightly and jammed the stock into the rod harness, securing the gun against her hip. She glanced out to the seaward side.

"PUUUUUUULLLL!" With that, she stabbed at the lever, setting the shotgun into burst mode and pulled the trigger. The gun barked three times in rapid succession, the deep boom of the shotgun shells exploding rolling out across the harbour in a thunderclap sound. "My word, that has a kick like a mule, but the action is lovely! Thank you Aswon, that's a lovely gift."

Behind them a uniformed man burst from the small lighthouse wearing a Coast Guard windbreaker, his pistol in hand. He skidded to a halt, glowered at Germaine and then holstered his pistol. She smiled and waved at him, as he spoke quietly into his lapel mounted radio, then waved back at her with a slight glower. Aswon watched him for a moment, then turned back to watch as Germaine cleared and safed the weapon, returning it to the case. Even more interesting – not only did she know how to pick up a brand new weapon and figure it out within a few seconds, but she could also fire the weapon in the poshest part of town and have the local law enforcement come out and just give her an exasperated look and then tell everyone else to stand down. He reappraised just how well connected – or how much dirt she must have – in or on the local movers and shakers.

Germaine finished putting the gun away, then picked up the case and turned to the chauffeur, who was now standing patiently by her side after having finished overseeing the mooring of the boat. She handed the case over to him without a word and he turned to stow it, whilst Germaine enveloped Aswon in a big hug. He returned the hug gently, ensuring his hands didn't stray anywhere they weren't supposed to.

"So, how are you and your team doing Kai? Well I hope?"

"Yes, we're doing fine thank you, Germaine. We've actually found a nice little ranch down to the south that we're currently working on.

"Sangachal? Qobustan? Down that way?"

"Actually a little further, down near Shirvan. We found a family running a business there. Well, um." Kai paused for a moment. "May I ask you a personal question?"

"You can ask my dear, but there are some things that a lady should never discuss!" She laid a hand on his arm and grinned at him, adding a little wink to the mix.

"Indeed, and I wouldn't be a gentleman if I asked *those* sorts of questions, now would I! No, I just wondered – a lady such as yourself with such an active circle of friends and acquaintances, I'm sure you come into contact with all manner of people. Some of them with a reputation less savoury than others. I just wondered if you had 'business dealings' with any groups that might not be traditionally approved or looked upon with favour by the authorities."

Germaine's hand tightened on his forearm a little and her eyes narrowed slightly as she considered the meaning behind his words.

"Well, one does speak to a lot of people, and sometimes one finds out things only after one gets to know someone…"

"Of course, and I meant no disrespect. Well, let's say we found a family running a fine upstanding business, a holiday home if you will. And the locals had taken a dim view of them. They were acting like it was their job to protect them, like a local police force, and a fire department too – they were apparently experts on how flammable the building was. But we had a chat with them and it seems not to be an issue any more." Kai studied her face carefully as he spoke and chose his words with care, keeping his tone light as he fenced with her verbally. Her hand relaxed and she stroked his arm gently, and she replied with humour returning to her voice.

"Oh, well that sounds like a very chivalrous thing to do. Looking after people in the face of oppression has a certain style to it, and I'm sure no one could fault you for that! But you should be careful where you do that sort of thing – some places are more dangerous than others." There was a look that passed between them. Kai nodded a bit, keeping a broad smile on his face for anyone watching, but he decided that Germaine had just warned him off doing the same kind of thing in Baku.

"So, this holiday home… it's a new venture?"

"Well, it's been running a while, but we're going to use it for some relaxation we think, once we've got them on their feet, maybe as somewhere to base out of?"

"Oh, speaking of bases…the places I suggested?" she let the sentence hang in the air. Kai had sudden flashbacks to how annoyed she seemed to have gotten about them not calling the talismonger quickly after she'd passed the details on, and realised that there was a good chance she would view the base in the same way.

"Well, we've been looking at those thank you, and that was the next thing we wanted to discuss." The words slipped out smoothly, and he controlled his voice with absolute concentration, focussing on making them sound natural and flowing. "The theatre was a very stylish place, but we felt it was very close to the centre of town and had a number of issues as a result. The factory however although it needs more work from a comfort point of view has a lot of space and other factors going for it. So we're looking into that and we think it would be ideal. So thank you very much!"

"Oh, no problem my friends, no problem at all. What is this farm like then? Does it have much game on it?" Kai suddenly thought of an idea, and his face lit up in a huge grin.

"Actually Germaine, that was the next thing on our list. We need to do a little bit of work to finish it off, but then it's ready to reopen – and we'd love for you to be our guest of honour. We'd like to offer you a few nights of free accommodation and amenities. They have a few horses and a large plot of land with some rolling hills and more challenging terrain for the more proficient riders – which I'm sure you are. And as it happens we've discovered a whole nest of strange ape like creatures that are vicious little pests infesting the hills that make for excellent hunting targets."

"That sounds simply marvellous! I'd love to come, thank you so much. I'm sure I can find a couple of days to come and view this place."

"Excellent – it's a nice, quiet place, off the beaten track. A great place to lay low, and just disappear from the stresses of the modern electronic world. To get away from it all. Leave your troubles behind, as it were." Aswon watched and listened as Kai stressed certain words, making it clear to Germaine that it might be a good place for other teams like themselves to hide out for a while, realising that as a fixer well wired into the local scene, this could be just the foothold needed to get Rusudan firmly back on his feet. Of course, if people managed to actually track the guests down to the ranch, it could also get an air to ground strike launched on the whole place and the ranch destroyed in short order. Oh well, rough with the smooth…

"I'll give you a call when I've managed to get a few days clear in my diary, if that's ok dear?"

"Of course Germaine, we'll look forward to your visit, whenever you can make it." They continued to chat for a few minutes, Kai flirting with Germaine a little, and her responding in kind. Eventually though, they made their excuses and climbed down from the boat, back onto the jetty. As they wandered off, Aswon waited for just the right moment, when he figured they were just about to go out of earshot, then turned to Kai.

"I've never been sea fishing you know. I wonder what it's like?" He spoke a little louder than normal, just to make sure his voice carried and winked at Kai, who returned his wink and kept walking, heading back for the rest of the team.

Meanwhile, in the truck, it was quiet and calm. Hunter, Marius and Nadia were busy scanning matrix archive sites, using their gear to slowly page back through databases and news sites, looking for information. Restricting themselves to physically just browsing through pages they avoided searches being tagged by the bots and data spiders that operated on the servers, but it made for slow progress. With three of them on the job though, the work was progressing smoothly and they'd found a couple of articles from some years ago detailing public protests outside "Government House" in Shirvan, with photos of a large group of people waving placards and signs. The report detailed that the police had come in and disrupted the protest, violently, with a number of people ending up in hospital. The article was spun significantly though, pitching the police as responding to a breakdown of law and order when protestors turned violent – though it lacked detail of exactly how they'd done that. With a date to work on, they searched more carefully around that and found several examples of police brutality and heavy handedness, all responding to protests over vote rigging, kickbacks and bribery allegations.

Now with the reporters names and some idea of publications, they spread out their browsing, and slowly uncovered a number of reports over the years showing how Ilham Aliyev had been implicated in union breaking, vote rigging, organised crime and a host of other activities – none of which had ever stuck. In every case vital records had disappeared, key witnesses had suddenly changed their minds or key bits of evidence had been lost or destroyed. Along with the politician's long reign of power in the area, they found the chief of police seemed to have also enjoyed an equally long term of service, which raised further suspicion.

Hunter stretched, working out the kinks in his back and realised he'd been hunched over the screen too much.

"Anyone else for a drink. Bad coffee anyone?"

"I'll go grab some. I'm not working on the computer, and I saw a place down the road that looked interesting," Shimazu offered. He slid from the truck and headed down to a coffee shop, which had a number of brand new advertisements pasted all over the window, showing steaming mugs of coffee and pastries. When he arrived he pointed at the large cups, and managed to ask for four cups of coffee without mangling the request too badly, watching as they used a new machine to decant the scalding black liquid into the plastic cups. Adding a small bag of nibbles, he paid and picked up his takeout tray, along with the promotional leaflet for the new "Krill-caf – a taste sensation" with half a dozen translations splashed all over it, and headed back to the truck.

Opening the door, he lifted the drinks up into the cab, pushing them into the footwell to make space as he climbed up into the high cab. As he did so, his eyes fell across the quiet and still form of Tads, laying there with blood trickling from her nose.

"Err. Why is she bleeding? Hunter? Marius? Nadia?"

They broke off from their work, confusion on all of their faces, and exchanged looks. It was clear they were baffled, not having heard or seen anything, and unsure when it had happened. Shimazu grabbed a napkin and gently wiped at the blood as the flow continued, the nosebleed rolling down her cheek. The blood tracked down into her ear where a pool had caught in her ear lobe, then overflowed and dropped down into her hair and the seat below, slowly drying.

"She's been bleeding for half an hour or more – look, a lot of this has congealed!"

Kai and Aswon climbed up into the truck, chatting away and they too stopped, seeing Shimazu tending to a bleeding Tads, and they both blurted out the same question, repeating what he'd said only moments before. Climbing in and looking around at the concerned faces Aswon quietly reached for his gun. Moments later there was a swish as Shimazu drew his sword and activated his astral sight, carefully looking around in case there was a spirit or mage attacking in some way. Around the cab there was the sound of quiet clicks and metallic noises as various firearms were readied – just in case.

Marius got ready to start the truck, and looked at Kai.

"No, we stay here, unless we come under actual attack. If she's out of her body, and in combat, the last thing she needs is to come back horribly wounded and find her body isn't where she left it – in that condition it would be much harder for her to track it down. If she turns up with company, I'm sure Shimazu can deal with it." Shimazu tightened his grip, his head slowly scanning back and forth as he watched around the area, looking for any kind of astral creatures that might indicate trouble.

They waited, the seconds ticking by, turning into minutes. The krill-caf sat unnoticed in the cupholders, slowly going cold and congealing in the cups. Kai took a breath and was just about to speak - at that moment, Tads' eyes fluttered and she groaned, then struggled to sit up.

"Well, that wasn't part of the plan."

"What's the matter Tads – why are you bleeding? What's wrong? And do we need to move? Or attack something?"

"I don't think so. I think I lost them. Pretty sure anyway. Oh, thank you." She took the proffered cup of water from Aswon, not commenting on the monster rifle cradled in his other hand. "Well, I followed Kai and Aswon out to the marina and had a look around. Nothing unusual there, and it all looked clear, no sign of magical attack or surveillance. So I headed over to the temple, stopped and checked for people following, and then headed back to Shirvan." The others nodded, aware that she liked to zoom around the world in her astral form at speeds that made a jet liner look slow – although she really needed to go to somewhere she'd been before to navigate efficiently.

"Well, I got down to Shirvan, and checked on the house. The kids were there, but the mother wasn't. Otherwise much the same as before really. So I thought I'd go check on Mammadova's place. Same as before really – there were three servants there, cleaning the place up. No sign of the boss. No changes in magical defences or anything. So I moved on and went to check out Aliyev's place."

She sat back in her chair, and rubbed at her temples, closing her eyes as she did so. When she spoke again, it was slow and measured, as she recounted what she had done, step by step.

"I found the place easy enough – the shape is quite distinctive with the stables and the exercise yard. I watched from up high for a few minutes first, getting a feel for the place. It's not that polluted really, but not that nice either – just like any other house. I couldn't see any spirits or wards, no sign of magical defences or anything. High wall all around the property, and I think it has cameras – lots of grey blobs that look about right. Hunter had pulled up the map they had started of the house, and she pointed to where she had seen things, Hunter quickly adding the icons for the surveillance system.

"Then I moved down, carefully. The doors were closed, and I couldn't see any open windows, so I pushed through the roof here, into the attic space. It was quiet and normal in there. Fairly dead, just some insects and things really. About normal. Then I moved down into the house, being careful. No sign of wards still, or alarms. Moved around for about thirty seconds, and saw a couple of rooms." She grabbed a stylus and roughly sketched in the shape of some walls and doorways on the map, leaving Hunter to neaten them up and turn them into a proper floorplan. "I didn't want to stay too long, didn't want to push my luck. So after I had a look at this area, I pushed out through the front wall, and that's when I saw them"

"Them? Plural them? And what them?" Kai asked with concern in his voice.

"Well, there was a mage and four spirits, coming down towards me at high speed. So I ran. But they were too close… one of them swung at me as I turned to fly off, trying to snag me and grab hold of me. I wriggled free and left as fast as I could, heading towards Tashkent. I flew as fast as I was able, and got there in about ten minutes." The others exchanged glances, still finding the concept of being able to move at 2 kilometres per second bizarre and almost beyond imagination.

"They followed me. In fact the mage was slowly catching me up – ever so slowly, but surely. I turned at Tashkent to check I was away, and he was right on my heels, and attacked me magically, trying to batter my astral form. I twisted and dodged, but he managed to get a punch into me, and I think that's when I must have started bleeding. His spirits were just about to catch up with me, so I ducked underneath him and just ran, not going to anywhere I'd been before. I just went as fast as I could. Went another 10 minutes or so, just flying to the south or south east, flying blind. I stopped by some massive mountain, and checked again, and that's when I'd managed to lose them. So then I headed back to Constantinople, then back here to report."

Hunter had plotted a rough time / distance graph, and then had some vectors built up on the map – allowing for some fairly loose margins of error, that meant that she'd been pursued over two thousand kilometres after emerging from the house, and had finally lost the pursuer somewhere in the Himalayan mountain range.

"They were pretty serious about following you then, by the looks of things."

"Yes, and I still don't know how they knew I was there. Maybe there was something I missed?" Tads opened her eyes, turned to look at Kai and frowned. "I'm sorry. I guess they know we're coming now. But honestly, I didn't see anything. I didn't touch anything either!"

"Don't worry about it Tads – and I'm sure they must get false alarms, whatever they are. Speaking of which, what were they?" She closed her eyes again, racking her memory for the fleeting glimpses she had caught as she turned to flee.

"Watcher spirits. Pretty powerful ones, but only watchers. I'm certain of it. But all four belonged to the same person, the man who chased me. And he was as powerful as me – maybe more. Must have been to have kept up with me. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. What's done is done. But, now you're back, let's get moving, just in case they are searching." Within a minute the trucks were started up and they were on the road back towards Shirvan, driving just below the speed limit and trying not to attract attention.

As they hit the motorway, Kai remembered the envelope in his inside pocket, and pulled it out to examine it. Inside was a small module containing a single programmable chip, with a sticker on it displaying a holo-logo of a smiley face, and a small optical disk. Aswon peered over his shoulder.

"Can you fit the chip into the computer whilst we're on the road, or do you need a workbench?" Marius responded over the intercom.

"A workbench – you don't want to bend the pins, otherwise you can break the chip. And we need to compile the code and run it, so it will take a little while I think. It could be done on the road, but will be much easier to do when we're stopped."

"Right, back to the ranch, let's get this installed and the thingy compiled, whatever that means. Then we've got some work to do, fast." Marius accelerated as Kai finished speaking, pushing the truck to its top speed and they hurtled down the highway in the gathering dusk, heading towards the ranch. The journey was uneventful, Shimazu sticking just behind them in the new vehicle like glue, and just over an hour later, they pulled off the highway onto the dirt track, heading up to the ranch.

It was time to plan the assassination.