Tads sat quietly outside the tilt-wing, wrapped up warm and listened to the sounds of the mountains. Wind blowing across rocks, the rustle of grass and heather, the occasional grind or pop of ice from the nearby lake. Almost at the edge of hearing, there was the very rare chirp or sound of some tiny creature, mice chewing on seeds or large insects flitting around, their wings beating fast in the cool mountain air.
She had last watch, as normal – waiting for the dawn so she could greet the spirits of the new day with respect and reverence, before asking for their protection against those that sought to harm them. When she thought about it, she could also hear the faint rumblings of snoring coming from the tilt-wing – muffled by the fuselage, but not entirely shielded. She smiled at the thought of them all wrapped up warm and safe under her watch, and let her senses drift – it wasn't often they were in a place as naturally beautiful as this, mostly unsullied by the wrack and ruin that had been visited on so much of the planet. Her smile faded a bit as she thought about why that was – the lack of desirable resources and the inhospitability of the land, rather than any desire to protect the earth upon which they all lived… she tried to push the thought out of her head and regain her centre. Focus on what she could achieve, and not let the weight of the actions of others bear down upon her and crush her soul.
She'd just managed to relax again, when a sound sent a jarring alarm signal up her brain and made her spring to her feet, raising her mental shields with a flickering thought and grasping for her staff.
Tap. Tap-tap-tap. Tap. Screeeeeeeechhhhh!
She ran to the side of the aircraft and looked up, spotting the Imperial Eagle flapping its wings as it started to slide down the side of the aircraft, talons scraping across the paintwork and leaving a series of shiny metallic scratches behind it. It looked… disgruntled, annoyed that the aircraft was more slippery and sheer than it had expected, and just before it actually fell it managed to beat its wings hard enough to become airborne for a moment and make its way back to the centre of the fuselage. As it strutted around a few more steps, she heard the talons tapping on the metallic skin, with a deeper and more powerful thump as it pecked down at the surface with the long-hooked beak, just in case some of the aircraft's skin might happen to be steak-flavoured…
With a quick flick of mana, she made a small patty of meat appear in mid-air, letting gravity grasp at it and bringing it down to earth. The sudden movement attracted the bird's attention, and it leapt to the side to pursue, sliding down once more and adding a few more scratches to join the first set, before swooping down to land on the lump of meat, spearing it with a vicious talon thrust. A moment later, the beak ripped and tore a small lump off, and the bird hungrily devoured it. Now that it was off the aircraft, she concentrated again, and made a few more lumps of meat, close to where it had landed. The sudden appearance of food so close didn't alarm the bird anywhere near as much this time, as it examined the sudden appearance. Wings half-extended as it hopped over towards the new food, the remains of the first lump stubbornly grasped in one leg. It speared another lump, and then furiously beat its wings, struggling to take off in the confined space, before heading back up to its mountain perch with breakfast, leaving the remaining food behind it.
She heard someone stirring inside the aircraft – most likely Aswon, given his ability to get by on a ridiculously small amount of sleep. Sure enough, a mass of dreadlocks emerged out into the crisp morning air, followed by his body unfolding and rising above her. He nodded to her respectfully.
"Morning, Tads. Thought I heard something."
"You did. The eagle came down and was walking across the roof. Then it nearly fell off, and scratched the paint. I'm hoping it's not broken it."
"Oh – oh, yes, I see." He examined the scratches. "Well, for long range stuff it shouldn't matter. At least I don't think it will. We'll still be mostly the right colour and design, and a few scratches shouldn't make any difference."
"That's good. I was worried it would have broken the computer or the wires or however it works."
"I don't think it's that fragile. Otherwise they couldn't put it on the outside skin of vehicles, where they're going to get pelted with dirt and stuff. But I bet Marius is going to be upset. You know how he is with the vehicle…"
Their talking woke Kai, who also came out to see what was going on, and Tads explained once more, pointing out the scratches to him.
"Can you communicate with it? Explain what we want to do with it?"
"I don't think so, Kai. Its mind works…differently. It just doesn't see the world the same way – it's much more instinctive. Very basic. I'm not sure I could even begin to explain about the concept of moving to a zoo." She paused for a moment. "I could probably make it think of the roof of the aircraft as something dangerous though. Like a swamp or something covered in biting insects. It should understand that." She grabbed the bits of raw meat left on the floor and headed outside of the enclosure, throwing them a little way away. A flicker of motion up on the cliff helped her spot the eagle, and she cast her spell, sliding into the primitive brain and trying to convey a sense of danger to the tilt-wing. She pulled back as it dropped in a swooping dive, making sure it wasn't distracted as it zoomed over the meat, spearing the lump before rising up in a triumphant arc back to the perch on the rocks above.
The sounds of movement from inside the tilt-wing intensified as the rest of the team started to rouse, grumbling and grousing about the toilet, the lack of a decent kitchen, how comfy their beds weren't and all the other usual things. Aswon gave a little start as Tads floated up into the air next to him, then watched her carefully as she drifted up towards the top of the fuselage. Her tongue protruded slightly from the corner of her mouth and her brow furrowed as she concentrated, part of her brain keeping the levitate spell under control and focussed, while her other hand moved over the scratches. Small twinkles of light shone and glittered from the fuselage as she passed her hands over them, fading from view over the course of a few seconds. When she was done, she floated back down towards him and gave him a smile.
"Wasn't sure that was going to work. I'm not actually sure it has worked – at least not properly. I wasn't sure if my fixing spell would work on something as big as the tilt-wing. But I think because the paint was put on in sections, it's a lot of smaller things all joined up together. And as far as the magic is concerned, it's small things not a big thing." She shrugged. "Weird. But it looks to have hidden them, if nothing else. Probably worth it."
Marius appeared at the doorway, rubbing at his head and jumping down to the ground with a frown.
"Definitely worth it, I think. He looks grumpier than usual. I wonder if he's still having new symptoms with his cyber-ware." Aswon lowered his voice, making sure only Tads could hear him.
"So, how long are we staying up here?" Kai addressed the team, one hand indicating out to the mountain-side beyond the tarp.
"We were going to stay for one week, and then leave." His voice was as grumpy sounding as his expression.
"Yes Marius, but that was to let any alarm from the theft go down, and as far as we know, there hasn't been any." She glanced over to Hunter, who nodded in agreement. "And we were going to do some talismongering – which we've done, and we've got a bunch of raw materials from that. And last of all we were looking to get an eagle – which we've at least found, if not decided if we're going to take it. So our reasons for being here are all sorted, from my point of view."
"I've just done another update, and there's no flags or alarms showing for any of the keywords I set up. Nothing buzzing on Shadowland or any of the auction sites or anything like that." Hunter confirmed as he checked for the most up to date status on his deck. "Against that we have Marius who is having issues with his 'ware, and some surgery that needs booking in."
"Ok – so if we wait for the eagle to come down again, Tads, can you slap it with your spell and then keep it unconscious?"
"Um… maybe. I'm not keen on it, though. As a magical creature I could harm it quite badly doing that. Don't forget we need to fly out of here to wherever we need to go to drop off the gun, and then all the way to Paris – that's a lot of time to keep something knocked out."
"I'll check the Matrix out, see if I can find any techniques or anything. I remember seeing a bird once that had a tiny leather hood on – something custom made for it, I think – but it seemed to keep it calm." He jacked in again, eyes defocussing as he fired up a search bot, entering the details he was after. Kai nodded to him, then pulled out his phone and started to dial. Half-way through he paused, then hit the cancel button, then pulled up a time-zone map and checked the time over in India, before restarting the dialling sequence.
"Ganesh? Kai. Listen, that Imperial Eagle you wanted – I think we have a lead on one, and we're working on a plan to get it. Do you want it still?"
"Kai, my friend! Excellent news. Of course, of course my friend. Is it a good specimen? And can you get it to Paris?"
"Yeah, shouldn't be a problem. We may need to stick a sock on its head or something, though."
"My friend, that is between you and the bird, I don't want to hear about your sexual fetishes."
"Shut up, Ganesh. Seriously though, if we get it, can you get us paperwork to get into France. Courier documents or something?"
"No, that's not something I deal with. If you get me the details of the bird, I can get some import paperwork sorted out – fake details about breeding programs and health checks and such like – but only to do with the specimen itself. And I'll need as much detail as possible on the creature to get that done. But you'll have to sort out getting to the location."
"Ok, we'll get on that… you still going to be up for a few hours?"
"Yes, my friend, why?"
"I'll get you the details of the bird over as soon as we can. We're on a bit of a schedule, so once we get the bird, we're going to have to head straight over to Paris, so we'll need the paperwork fairly sharply."
"I'll wait for you to send the information, and then contact my lady and let her know we need it quickly."
"Right, speak to you later then, Ganesh."
"Yes, my friend."
Kai filled in the rest of the team on the other half of the conversation with Ganesh, letting them know what they needed to do, and shortly afterwards they had exported the sensor logs from the tilt-wing and downloaded footage from Hunter's cyber-eyes via his router, assembling a fairly comprehensive set of shots of the bird, along with information on size and estimates of weight.
"We can get a box or a crate or something warded up in a couple of hours, which should stop it using its powers on us in flight, if it wakes up. And it should help with any weird weather nonsense it tries, too." Aswon suggested.
"But we'll need to sort out entry into Paris, I guess? Is that a hard thing?"
"No idea, Tads. But I bet the Zoo will have landing pads for air-taxis near the main entrance, and almost certainly a goods in area for bigger craft, maybe even zeppelins." He saw her momentary look of confusion. "A big balloon craft, but with some engines on the side. Slow, but quite fuel efficient, and though they don't carry a lot of cargo, they can carry bulky stuff, and they're very quiet, so they sometimes get used in cities. But either way, I bet there will be landing facilities of some sort at the zoo."
"And if we're going in after nightfall, which would be my choice, I'm sure they've got a big car-park, that we can use." Kai added. "Do we know where we need to drop the gun off by the way?"
"Yes. While you were on the phone, I tried to call Halys. I had to send a message, as they were busy on a long call – but they have just sent back the information needed. We need to head for the city of Iasi in Romania. On the south side of the city we need to head for the Strada Tel Firm, and then contact someone called Cosmic – I have a matrix contract number." Marius tapped the side of his head when Kai looked at him, reminding him about his internal link to his sat-phone, but Kai just continued to stare at him for a moment. "What?"
"Cosmic? Name rings a bell for some reason." He frowned deeply as he tried to dredge his memory, but nothing came to mind. "Never mind. Ok – what about fuel ranges and stuff?"
"From here back to Sochi is a hundred kilometres. We could top up the tanks there, replace the two hundred litres we've used, but it is not essential. From there, we fly out over the Black Sea, cross the Romanian coast and swing north, heading for the top part of the country. Total journey is around twelve hundred kilometres. We do not have any nearby fuel spots, unless we come all the way south down to Bulgaria, to the place near the airport."
"From there we head west, across Hungary, Austria or Slovenia, skirt the northern parts of the Italian Confederation, through the Swiss Alps and into France, which is a bit more than two thousand kilometres. So we would need a full tank to do that trip. If we refuel from the barrels in Iasi, we can make it to Paris ok, just. Then we need to use the remaining fuel reserve to get up from Paris to Eindhoven. Assuming we are landing at the airport there, we can refill the internal tanks and the reserve barrels for our next journey."
Kai and the rest checked over the map as Hunter plotted a route, looking at the border crossings and working out the best route. With the number of border crossings they needed to make, Hunter was fairly adamant about not flying 'legit', pointing out that every country would need their own paperwork completing, and it would bury him with work for hours trying to insert their falsified insurance and air-worthiness certificates, pilots' licences and the host of other details needed into multiple national systems. Eventually they settled on a route that would take them slightly further north, running through Slovakia towards Austria, allowing them to keep to the hilly uplands that lead to the alps, using the terrain for cover as far as possible.
"I just want to check again, for how much we're being paid on this job – is it worth the hassle? I'm not saying it's not, but I think we should be clear."
"We need to travel almost that far west to reach the clinic for Marius." Aswon responded. "And this does at least cover the cost of the fuel for that journey, which helps a lot. It is a bit of trouble, yes – but I do think it's worth it. We should still make a small profit, as long as we don't run into trouble."
"Fair enough. I guess then we can start to lure the bird down, with much smaller lumps of meat, and get it used to us, to being closer to us."
"Sounds like a good idea, Tads. Maybe we can drug it, rather than using a stun spell. Would that work, Kai? Is there anything in the med-kit that might work on birds instead of humans?"
"I'm sure there is, but I'm not an expert on bird anatomy. I'd be worried about it having a very different reaction to the drugs. I mean, I can have a guess, I suppose – but there's a reason people pay a lot of money for vets…"
"Ahh… fair enough. Though… hmmm." Aswon thought for a moment, before turning to Hunter. "Can you check the matrix to see if we can get a veterinarian knowsoft chip? Something either you or Marius can jack into to get some knowledge from? Or maybe even link it to the med-kit to get some alternate medical information put in there."
"I can have a look. Likely to be a bit pricy through – specialist knowledge." Hunter jacked in and started to set up his search terms.
"It might be expensive, yes – but worth it, I think. Especially if we're going hunting more paracritters after. Like those bears in Poland? Or just think about the number of other weird critters we've run into? Having some expert knowledge on them might really help us out in the future. I'd think of it more as an investment…"
"Ok, let's see what Hunter finds."
"I still can't believe the Admiral hasn't noticed the switch myself. I'd have thought there should be something noticed."
"I'm not, Aswon. Think about how he had them stored. In cases, with a controlled atmosphere. I bet that unless there's some reason to add or remove from the collection that mostly he's wanting to look at them – or just to know they're there. Art and antiques collectors are a funny bunch, you know. Sometimes it's just about having the thing, not using it or holding it."
"On the basis that we seem to be getting ready to depart, I have also contacted Ares Eindhoven on the number we were provided, and have warned them that we will be arriving in a few days." Marius announced.
"Good. Ok. So we just need to wait for Hunter to find some details on a vet chip and look at getting that, while the rest of us work on making a warded box to hold the eagle in, then we can look at capturing and moving out. Let's get to work…
It took the magical part of the team several hours to construct the large box to keep the Eagle contained, and then cover the outside with the protective runes, marks, sigils and designs to create a temporary ward around it. Pulsing with power, they could see the odd wisp of mana already starting to break away from the wards, indicating that it wouldn't last more than a week – but until then it should be plenty strong enough to stop any powers the bird may try to use, assuming it was conscious. Hunter found a supplier for the para-critter knowsoft, though the seven thousand price tag was much higher than they'd anticipated. After a little hemming and hawing through, Kai eventually agreed to it, and Hunter paid for the software and started the lengthy download process over their satellite uplink.
Once the software was downloaded, they loaded it up into Hunter's deck, and then crosslinked the deck to the Saviour med-kit, making a franken-monster knowbot system. There were occasional glitches as the med-kit rejected data because it was way outside meta-human norms, but Hunter managed to cobble together a translation application to act as the interface between them. Within an hour they had persuaded the med-kit to spit out a small amount of drugs that would, according to the information they had, act as a strong soporific for the Eagle, based on their estimation of the bird's weight.
Kai was interrupted from his analysis by his phone buzzing incessantly, as a priority message arrived. He checked the display, and saw Germaine's name flash up, and his breath caught for a moment.
"Marius, can you patch me through on your link, please? Germaine is trying to reach us, but she can't get a voice call through. Says it's urgent… Oh, and you may want to link this up on the speakers for everyone to hear." He waited a moment while Marius connected his comm-link through the tilt-wing's systems and boosted his signal through the much more powerful transmitter on the aircraft, patching through to the sat-link.
"Germaine? You have a problem?"
"Kai, yes indeed. I do. But first things – how is the baby?"
"Um.. the baby is fine, and so is the mother. All good."
"Excellent, that is good news. Glad to hear it! I've got the baby a little hat, for when I next see you."
"Err, that's very kind, Germaine. I'm sure Nadia and Marius will be very grateful. But you mentioned something urgent?"
"Oh, yes. You know I asked you about a job – heading south and recovering some art-work for me? But of course you were busy with the birth and all, so couldn't do it?"
"Yes, sorry about tha…"
"Don't be silly, man, you had other priorities. And besides, there are other teams out there. Which of course, I availed myself of. So off they went to go and do the job, and as far as I can determine, they did indeed recover the artwork. And now, they've disappeared with it, and are refusing to deliver it to me."
"Oh."
"I am most displeased."
"Ahh, yes, I can see that. Very bad form. And this means you want them found, I guess?"
"Indeed. And making an example of."
"Ahh. I see of course. But you've caught us in a really bad situation at the moment. Marius is… sick. And we're heading over to a clinic in the next day or two to go and get him treatment. It's affecting him quite badly unfortunately. But it depends on how urgent this job is."
"I want them found, Kai. These are supposed to be professionals, and they are acting in a most disrespectful fashion. It's already been a few days since they disappeared, so I don't think a few more will really make a difference. Get your man fixed up, and then hunt these people down for me. I'll send you a dossier."
"Right, of course." Kai shook his head, aware that the negotiation wasn't going quite as he wanted it to. He was good at negotiating, when he wanted to be. He knew he was. But he always felt that negotiating with Germaine was like trying to negotiate with a tsunami. He shrugged his shoulders, and decided to surf with the elemental force of nature and try to get ahead of things, rather than be swept under. "If you send the dossier through, we'll get Marius back in top condition, and then go looking for these people."
"I want it done openly Kai. Somewhat publicly even. Word has to get out. You do not betray your employer. There are CONSEQUENCES." She enunciated clearly and firmly, brooking no arguments.
"I'm not sure we should be hanging them in the market square, Germaine…"
"No, silly. Word has to get out in the shadows. Not for the sheep – but for the players in the scene. Word has to get out to them, that once you agree to do a job, the job gets done. Otherwise it's bad for business all over. Make it happen." Kai was about to respond, but the line went dead as Germaine disconnected.
"She sounded annoyed. Really annoyed. I wonder if the other team know just how badly they've fucked up?" Aswon shook his head, and then commanded his body to relax. He couldn't help himself – whenever he heard Germaine he found himself correcting his posture and on his best behaviour. "Though if they were a pro team she hired, I wonder if there's more to this? Maybe they were already on a retainer from someone else, and were put in a position to take the job from Germaine as part of some bigger plan?"
"Oh, now that's a horrible thought…. Thanks, Aswon."
"No problem, Kai. I didn't hear any mention of pay on this one. But I guess we're doing it to keep Germaine on side."
"Yeah, I think so. But I also think she'll pay us. It's… business. And just like you don't betray your employer, I don't think she'll expect a freebie. I don't know in what form we'll be paid, but I think we'll get something. At the very least, expenses and fuel costs."
As the evening drew in, the team settled down, wondering what this new job might bring for them in the way of troubles, and just who or what might be involved.
The night passed uneventfully though, and the eagle didn't come and land on the bird again – so whatever Tads had managed to convey had seemed to work. They did see it circling above them though, so soon enough they were lacing tiny cubes of steak with drops of the concocted liquid, and starting to throw them out onto the rocks. Soon enough the Eagle landed and was hungrily ripping the meat into morsels that could be easily swallowed. Tads and Aswon had a small pile each, and made the bird work for them a little, flapping and strutting between them to receive each one, getting the meat to land a tiny bit closer to them each time. By now, it seemed somewhat comfortable with their presence, barely flinching as they reached inside pouches or clothing to pull out another piece of meat to feed it.
As the day progressed, the Eagle slowed significantly, becoming lethargic and responding to the food more sluggishly, as the dosage of the drugs gradually increased in its body. Eventually it waddled over towards Aswon and almost took the meat from his fingers, reactions dulled and blunted. It threw back its head, swallowing the meat with effort, leaving a few strands of sinew hanging from each side of its beak, and the eyes were half closed and looking heavy. As it struggled to swallow the meat, trying to pack it into an already engorged crop, it shook itself and then swayed slightly.
Moving slowly and carefully, Aswon reached out with the makeshift hood they'd fashioned. The bird watched him with an expression similar to a drunk – a slightly defocussed peering as if it couldn't work out what was happening at all, but maybe if the world would just stop swaying from side to side, it might all make sense. As the hood descended over the head, the bird stopped moving for a moment, then shook itself slightly and somewhat hesitantly tried to pull up one leg into the mass of feathers. It was dark – clearly it was time for sleep. With equal care and caution, Aswon pulled out a spare jumper and wrapped it around the bird, swaddling it and stopping the wings from extending or the claws from raking him. He need not have worried though, it seemed – the bird almost collapsed into his hands, leaning carefully as the drugs took away the last vestige of balance and self control.
He gently picked it up and carried it to the tilt-wing, and they placed it into the box and closed the front up, ensuring that the air-holes were uncovered, and they wouldn't suffocate it during transit. As soon as the bird was safely stowed, the team swung into action, pulling down the cammo netting and tarp, and stowing all their gear, making ready for take-off.
The take-off was noticeable for the team – though perfectly safe, it lacked the normal poise and smooth fluidity they had become accustomed to. Several of them exchanged glances as the craft wobbled slightly, Marius having to constantly adjust the power to the engines to balance the lift, their glances betraying their concern for their team-member. Nothing was said though – by unspoken consensus they had all reached the conclusion that Marius not only didn't need the distraction or hassle, but also that he was unlikely to take any of this in good humour – and that having a weird, creeping debilitation foisted upon you as part of your body just started to break down and decay was probably one of the worst things to happen to an individual.
"I'm going to start work on a legit flight plan from Paris to Eindhoven," Hunter called out. "If we're wanting to land at the airport and spend some time there while Marius gets his surgery, then it's probably going to be a lot easier if we arrive legally. The rest we can run the borders, but I can sort out the last leg."
"Good call, Hunter. Right, I'm going to call Ganesh and get some idea of what's going on with our paperwork." As they dropped down out of the mountains and powered towards Sochi, they came in range of the standard cell-towers, and his comm-link picked up normal service. Making the call, he quickly established that the permits and import licences were coming along, and should be ready in the next three to four hours, and he also grabbed the details for the contact at the zoo, then quickly redialled that before they left the coverage of the city.
"Allo?"
"Hello, my name is Kai. Do you speak English?"
"Oui. Yes, I speak it." Kai grimaced, picking up on the disdain in the voice. No matter how different some aspects of the sixth world were from that which had come before, some things had carried over without hinderance – and the legendary levels of animosity between the English and French were one of those things. Kai modulated his voice a little, making sure his English was accented, too, and trying to establish that he was speaking it as a second language as well. "We are animal importers. I understand you have a requirement for a specific item. We have a mature Imperial Eagle, available for delivery. Are you interested in a deal?"
"Aigle imperial? Vraiment? Really?"
"Yes indeed. We have one available for delivery, at short notice. A mature female, in excellent health and condition."
"Who did you hear this from?"
"A gentleman by the name of Ganesh."
"Ahh, oui, oui. Yes, we are interested!"
"Good. We are travelling west across Europe now, and could potentially be with you tonight. We would prefer a late night delivery, with no…complications with the paperwork."
"Oui! Indeed. We can arrange for a transfer after zoo hours. When do you want to be here? And how are you arriving?"
"We have a helicopter, so if you can arrange a cleared landing area, that will be good."
"We can clear off some of the air-taxi pads after dark?"
"Yes, that will work. Shall we say – half past midnight?"
"Magnifique!"
"If you send me the co-ordinates and some contact details, to this number, we will meet tomorrow morning then for the hand-over. Cash on delivery."
"Oui. I am Pierre, I will meet you. I will send map numbers to you in a moment."
"I will see you later then." Kai heard the mumbled goodbye, and then a yell, somewhat distant as the man dropped the phone from his ear towards his pocket, just before he hit the end-call button.
"Nous en avons un!"
He ended the call just in time, watching as the bars on his comm-link faded away as they headed out over the Black Sea, swinging southwards to maintain some distance from the Crimea, before streaking across the sea at five-hundred knots, leaving Russian airspace behind them with nothing but a faint ghostly image on a few radar screens that faded away before any of the operators could determine what they were looking at.
As they were closing in on the shores of Romania, a thought surfaced from the back of Kai's mind, dredging itself free of the quagmire of random art trivia that cluttered his subconscious.
"Ahh, Cosmic – yeah. I remember now." He called out over the team frequency. "I knew I heard the name before. Big time dealer, mostly in weapons and combat stuff, especially the older gear. Like the 1911, I suppose. Anyway, he's generally supposed to be a pretty laid-back guy most of the time, but there's rumours I heard from a few contacts that the guy is an absolute psychopath underneath it all. Some deal went bad in '57, and the buyers for some gear tried to pull out of a deal and steal his gear or something like that. They made the mistake of kidnapping the guy's family, and he apparently went ballistic." Kai thought for a moment, then resumed. "Think like someone smashing the panels up on the truck, then leaving Marius a card with their name and address kind of ballistic... He turned the whole city upside down, and put a bounty on the heads of the people that stiffed him big enough that org-crime in half a dozen countries were looking for them. When they got found, he put the whole lot out of business - permanently. Word got around, Cosmic might seem chill, but don't cross the line with him."
"I see no problem with this. I approve of his methods. And we are not planning on double-crossing him, so there should be no problem." Marius called out.
"I hope so," Aswon responded. "But let's be on our toes, and be careful with what we say. In fact, let's not say anything we don't have to. Deliver the gun, get paid. Leave." Aswon pointed a long black finger at Kai. "And we don't offer to do any free work for him, or anything else for that matter. We have to get to the Netherlands to sort Marius out."
"Don't worry, I wasn't going to. Not this time." Kai responded. He grinned at Aswon though, just to let him know the warning wasn't unfounded.
They slipped across the border into Romania, flying at low altitude with Marius and Hunter both carefully watching instruments and sensors, while Shimazu monitored the astral environment through the prisms. The marsh-land they crossed was the massive delta of the Danube river, and barely looked drier than the open sea behind them, but teemed with life of all kinds – unfortunately much of it mutated and distorted thanks to the high levels of toxic pollution washed downstream from the ten countries that the river meandered through on its nearly three thousand kilometre length.
They banked gently, turning northwards and getting ready to do the run up the length of the county to the city of Iasi.
