Thursday 30/06/61, Location: 35.14575, 67.11577, Time 05:00

Tads had been woken two hours ago, leaving her little nest of warm blankets and wrapping up well against the pre-dawn cold as she wandered along the paths between the houses. The area was almost silent, just the gentle sound of the wind wafting over the rocks making the occasional faint moan. It was odd, how the near silence could be so different – back home, there was the faint sound of wind on the snow or ice, or rustling through the fir trees, so quietly as to be almost inaudible. Here the quiet had a different feel to it, crafted by the change in environment.

She felt the spirits depart as dawn broke, and called on the mountain and sky as part of her morning rituals, replenishing her stock of guardians. The words of her prayers were second nature to her now, requiring little conscious thought – though her meaning was still clear and her request for service still respectful. As each of the spirits answered her call, they were detailed to one of the still sleeping members of the team in the rough stone house, assigned to be their guardian for the day.

She glanced around as she heard a noise, spotting Aswon coming out of the house and stretching, extending his long arms up and out as he tried to work out a kink from his back. Seeing him up, she gave him a cheery wave and pointed down to the valley floor, before activating her radio briefly.

"Heading back to the aircraft to check on Hunter, and give him a new spirit." Aswon nodded and gave her a thumbs up, not bothering with a verbal response. Moments later she was striding down the stairs as she headed towards the valley floor, making good time down the slope and wondering just how many twisted ankles or worse there had been in the years the village had been here, with people having to scrabble up and down the sixty-degree slope. Well – no more, she thought to herself. At least that was something she had done since being here that she was sure was going to last!

Reaching the bottom of the slope, she checked in on the small catch basin she'd created, checking that it was filling up nicely from part of the river's flow. She would need to expand the basin downwards, probably several times, but it should allow the villagers to store and have access to water for longer in the season, and help them grow more crops – which should also help in the long run.

With that done, she headed back down the valley, turning into the side spur that lead off and climbing up until she reached the aircraft, finding Hunter sitting out with a fresh cup of coffee. He offered her a cup, but she shook her head and wrinkled her nose – it wasn't a drink she'd ever encountered back home, and she'd never warmed to the taste once she started to travel. It wasn't even just the cheap soy versions most people put up with – the few times they'd been offered 'real' coffee, it hadn't smelt any nicer to her either. She did however briefly drop into astral space and assign over the new spirit to Hunter, asking it to guard and assist him through the day.

"Morning, Tads. How was it last night?"

"Not too bad. The houses are pretty draughty and cold – I'm going to try and fix that a bit today. But they're welcoming and hospitable enough. Tried to cook us a banquet last night, but they really don't have much. So I'm going to make them some food as well later."

"Oats for days…" He smiled at her, mocking her in a way, but with good nature. It'd been a while since all she had been able to make was oats with her magic, but even she acknowledged that they'd probably had more than their fair share of oats and then oat-based foods to keep them going. "Oat cakes, oat bread, oat cookies, oat stew, fried oats, boiled oats, oat porridge, oat surprise… it's just oats…"

"You seem obsessed. Maybe next time I'm making steaks for everyone, I'll just do you some oats. For old times' sake…" She smiled at him sweetly while he responded with a look of mock horror. "But otherwise… everything ok back here? I actually don't think the village is going to have a problem with you, you know. They seemed fine with magic. I get the impression that their version of the Muslim faith isn't anything the same as the stuff we saw in Iran."

"Fine, I'll head over. I think the aircraft can probably look after itself just fine. I wanted to talk to everyone about the situation here…" Hunter cleared away his mug and the remains of his breakfast, grabbed his assault rifle and tactical pack and then hit the sequence on his pad to close up the doors and ramps and engage the anti-theft systems. He wasn't entirely sure what was involved in that – it wasn't going to be like some of the cars he'd seen where the entire outer skin could be electrified to physically shock people trying to break in, and Marius hadn't mentioned anything about pop up turrets – but there was some kind of mechanism involved. Hopefully they'd never have to find out.

They walked down the spur into the main valley, then turned and headed for the village. As they approached, Hunter stopped and put his hands on his hips and stared up at the mountain side, and the snaking path climbing back and forth.

"Yup. That's what I was afraid of. It's dead obvious. Really, really obvious."

"So?"

"So the next warlord that comes through here is going to see that, and know it wasn't there last time. And that it represents what seems to be a fraking lot of effort. Effort that these people can't put in, not and keep doing stuff to keep 'em alive. So that means someone else is involved. And they're gonna ask themselves – why. What's worthwhile here. So they're gonna stop, and unload all of their soldiers, and come a knocking on the door wanting to know what's going on. And when they find that the villagers swear blind there's nothing going on, they're gonna look at all the paths and stuff, and know that ain't the case. And they're gonna start breaking fingers and legs, thinking people are hiding something."

"But that's not…"

"I know. But that's gonna make it worse. There ain't something hiding, and they're telling the truth. But that'll just make the thugs dig harder and more violently, convinced it's gotta be something really good. Something worthwhile hiding. And then someone's gonna lose their shit, fire a gun, and it'll turn into a bloodbath." As Hunter painted out the scene, Tads shivered in horror, realising that while what he was describing wasn't a certainty, it was a possibility – and a strong one too.

"I can… put things back I suppose."

"Nah. Just need to do it a bit smarter. Like, from the bottom, you can see the trail, nice and clear. So you use that spell of yours to make the outside edge just like big and small rocks. Disguise it. Conceal the path so you can't see it from the valley floor – never give them something obvious to look at. Raise some boulders and stones and stuff on the outside edge. Make sure stuff doesn't go straight up – make it zig zag, behind concealment. At least until it's high enough up that you can't see frak from the valley floor. If they come over airborne, you can't hide it – but you can't do everything. And I reckon most stuff round here will be using four by fours or big ass trucks. So we can fix that. Just need to be smart…"

"Or work out who the local warlord is, and try to find them, and strike a deal with them?" Aswon had wandered over, and caught enough of Hunter's explanation to have an idea of what was going on.

"Maybe. Chances are round here though that power is fleeting. I reckon there's gonna be a lot of turnover. Not exactly a safe business at the best of times. So you could just be tipping them off. Ain't saying you're wrong, just I don't think it's as simple as that."

"True enough I suppose. People who rule through fear and violence tend to find they live in that world, and die in it, too." Aswon considered for a moment, staring off into space with his eyes unfocussed, thinking through options. "I wonder… if we met someone at the smuggler meeting. Found someone high up the food chain – maybe that might be worth investigating. Get word passed down that people should just not bother the people here. If it's from the local Mafia, that might be enough to carry weight with the warlords or tribes.

"Can you help me, please?" Tads asked. "I can make a start on disguising the path now." They both nodded to her, heading down to the valley floor to stand a few hundred metres apart and give directions to her over the radio, advising her on how visible the path was in response to the changes she made, as she let mana flow through her into the rock slope and started to morph and meld the landscape to her will once more.

That took most of the morning, but eventually they had all the paths concealed pretty well, making the mountain side look as inhospitable as it could be, with the houses scattered over the side, looking like they were hanging on for grim death with no flat space at all. Not unless you happened to be in exactly the right place, anyway.

Once they were done, Hunter started to wander around the village, passing each house slowly and taking careful sniffs, his cyberware working at maximum sensitivity as he sampled the air and analysed the chemical composition. The sensitive receptors placed into his nasal cavity drew in small amounts of the mountain breeze, feeding it into the system to be broken down into its parts and carefully measured, then fed into the specialised processor that checked over the chemical composition. It took a while to wander the hillside, but there was no rush – Marius was still fixing a variety of ancient and broken things with occasional help from Tads, Aswon had gone wandering the mountainside looking for telesma and having a good look around, while Kai and Shimazu were still working on health checks for everyone in the village, doing a job as thorough as any hospital would have achieved.

As he wandered around, he found a small bunch of children following him – they varied in age from about five to somewhere in early teens by his estimation. They seemed fascinated and terrified of him in equal measure, pointing and whispering at him, and scattering away from him when he turned to wander in a different direction. But they seemed harmless enough, and didn't get in the way, so he mostly ignored them. When he was done, he did a second run by the one location of interest he'd found, just to confirm his findings, then headed to the large table that Tads had created on their arrival, jumping up onto it and letting his legs dangle over the edge, while he stared across the valley to the far ridge, and fired up his commlink.

"Ok, wandered around past every building, and I've got one that's got some really funky smells coming out of it. I mean, the others have some weird smells, but it's stuff they're cooking, or things you'd expect to find around here. But this one – well, it's pretty unusual. No reason I can think of for someone to have piranha solution in a place like this."

"And what the hell is piranha solution? Is it made out of fish?"

"Well, you're not far off the mark, Kai, weirdly enough. Piranha solution or etch is a very volatile mixture of sulphuric acid and hydrogen peroxide. It's a very powerful oxidising agent, well known for decomposing pretty much most organic matter. In industry, they use it for cleaning stuff like silicon wafers before etching circuits and computer chips into them, or as a cleaning agent for glassware in precision chemistry production. It can also act to make other items hydrophilic, or more easily compatible with water-based solutions. It does have a proper chemical name, but it's often referred to as piranha solution as it will strip a limb to the bone, just like the fish can. It's nasty stuff – and I can't think of a reason for it to be here."

"We've not seen anyone with burns or scars that would indicate spills or exposure to something like that. And the only lung damage is due to things like inhaling stone dust from grinding and carving – nothing indicating inhaling fumes." Kai responded.

"And I have not seen any signs where such a solution has been used to clean electronics or devices. In fact there has been no attempt at cleaning anything that I have encountered so far." Marius' voice carried his disdain for such neglect across the radio clearly, bringing a smile to their faces.

"How dangerous is this stuff otherwise?"

"It's nasty, Kai. Not just in terms of spilling it on flesh and watching your body dissolve away. It's a bugger to mix too. Very exothermic reaction, and you have to mix it right, or you get a very nasty explosion. Lots of high pressure corrosive gas given off. It's just not fun stuff. Very effective though, which is why it IS used."

"And where did you find this stuff?"

"The house with the green front door, and the small stone slab bench."

"That's Mary-Pat's house!" Tads exclaimed, her attention suddenly snapped away from the spell she was casting. "Are you sure?"

"Went back and checked it carefully. It's not a strong smell, but I confirmed it. Can give you the molar concentration of the sulphuric acid if you want?"

"No, I believe you. Sorry. I'm just surprised. What would she be using that for?" Hunter didn't answer at first, figuring it was more of a rhetorical question, but it did start his brain ticking as he tried to work out use cases for it. After a good thirty seconds of silence, he kept coming back to one likely use…

"Tads, something I have thought about. If they're refining drugs here, making heroin or some other type of substance… it might be used during that kind of process. Hell, it might even be a shipping aide. A weak solution that's brushed all over the outside of a sealed package to get rid of any forensic material or traces. Maybe the smell helps throw off chem-sniffers or dogs at some border checkpoint somewhere…"

"I think we need to find Mary-Pat. Can you come along, Hunter?" Tads heard him grunt an acknowledgement and they met up, then started to look around for Mary-Pat, finding her a few minutes later as she climbed up the steps with a container of water.

"Mary-Pat? We've found something in the village that we're a little concerned about. Something that might be dangerous to the villagers."

"Oh, what's that?"

"It's something called piranha solution – a mixture of acids and hydrogen peroxide." Tads looked over to Hunter to make sure she had that right, and got a nod from him. He didn't bother correcting her – it was close enough, and he was far more interested in watching how she reacted. Both he and Tads noticed a look of annoyance and concern flash over her features, before she managed to relax a little and give them a slightly nervous-looking smile.

"Well, that's a bit odd. Hmm, maybe I've been a bit careless with something. We sometimes use acid from old batteries to do etching on stonework and things like that, to make our trade goods. And the peroxide? Well, I have some of that – hydrogen peroxide stuff – for er… dying my hair."

It didn't sound particularly convincing, and both Tads and Hunter's gazes flicked up to her very natural looking mid-brown hair, that showed no signs of bleaching or colour shifting.

"Riiiiiiggggghhhhhtt." Hunter drawled. But then he shrugged – it was up to her if she wanted to mess around with the stuff, or keep secrets. And he was pretty convinced from her reaction that she did know exactly what she had.

"I'd best go check inside. Maybe there's been a leak or a spill or something. Better to be safe." She hurried back towards her house, spilling a little water as she quickly strode along the path her arms swinging the bucket back and forth.

"Anything, Hunter?"

"Yeah, Kai. She knows what she has. Seems a bit bothered about us knowing."

"Is there any danger to us?"

"Nah – not unless she really fraks up and blows her house up, causes an avalanche that buries us all. But otherwise we should be fine."

"Well, her business I suppose. She didn't ask us to be here…" It went quiet for a few moments, then Kai's voice resumed. "When you get some time, can you try doing a bit of a search, see what you can find out about the marketplace we're going to. Any history we need to know about, special rules, protocols or behaviours… that kind of thing?"

"Sure, can give it a try. I'll head back to the bird though – get a better signal from there." He turned and started to make his way towards the stairway that led down, when he felt a fairly soft kick impact from behind. His reactions kicked in, and he turned with viper-like speed, seeing one of the older boys that had been trailing him around still turning away after delivering the kick to his bum. His tuned reactions were still ramping up, driving his legs forward while his hand dropped for his weapon out of sheer reflex. He managed to stop himself from his drilled responses though, instead reaching out and grabbing the young boy whose wide eyes and look of panic bought the beginnings of a smile to his mouth. No doubt it had taken a while to drum up the courage to follow through on whatever 'dare' had been extended, and the kid probably thought he would be able to outrun the lumbering ork.

Clearly he had no experience with cyber-augmentations, and had never run into someone with a full upgrade package, as he'd been completely unprepared for the sudden burst of speed as Hunter closed the distance faster than anyone should have the right to do so. A high-pitched squeal of fear and alarm burst out of his mouth as two large hands grabbed his shirt, and bodily lifted him into the air. Further back the other children, safe at range, let out a ripple of laughter as their appointed point man was caught and apprehended. Hunter barely had to flex to lift the lightweight youth up and bring him in close to him, the child's face ending up only a few centimetres away from Hunter's twisted and malformed visage.

"Boo." He released his grip, letting the child drop, even as the scream started to form, then smiled as the youth scrabbled for purchase as he fled for his life from the terrifying sight. Most of the people out in the village stopped and looked as the youth scrabbled along the path, slipping and sliding as he tried to run as fast as he could away from the scene. Up on the next terrace, Tads had seen just enough to have an idea of what was going on.

"Hunter, best check your pockets, just in case. I don't think it was malicious, but you never know."

"Should be good." Hunter gave a quick visual scan just to be sure, but didn't spot anything that caused him alarm. "Kids just being kids, I'm sure." He turned back to the stairs and started to head down at a jog, taking the stone steps two at a time and rapidly descending the mountainside as he headed for the bottom. He headed back to the aircraft, retracing his path from earlier, and once he'd deactivated the anti-theft systems climbed back aboard, settled into one of the bunks and then jacked into the matrix, starting his searches running.

The rest of the team carried on much as they had before – fixing the village up and trying to make things better for the people there, though somewhat more mindful now of the appearances of what they were trying to do. Another banquet was cooked for them that night, with Aswon again running back a pot of food for Hunter and doing a quick visual check in on the area along the way – but the food this time was noticeably better, Tads having had more time to fill up every available jar she could find with simple foodstuffs.

On the Friday morning, Aswon went out early and spent several hours combing the mountainside looking for interesting things. It was obvious they weren't going to find much in the way of herbal materials here – but minerals and gems were a distinct possibility. He was unsuccessful, though, in the searches as he ranged up and down the mountain, a point that he complained about to Marius when he returned to the village, quenching his thirst and resting his legs as he sat next to the pilot while he worked on an old radio that one of the villagers had bought him. The villager excused himself and took off back to his house, returning a minute later with a fairly large rock, weighing several kilos.

The rock looked to be of the same type as the mountain they were on, but it was banded – sandwiched between two layers of rock there was a thick seam of what looked like quartz – and as Aswon hefted the rock up into the air to examine it more closely, there was a flash of yellow inside the quartz. He laid the rock down on the table, gently turning it until he could get the sun to strike it at just the right point again, illuminating the gemstone hidden deep inside the quartz band.

With careful movements and twisting, he managed to get the rock turned again, the sun refracting through the quartz and striking the gem inside, making the translucent material sparkle with flashes of yellow. He took a video to send to Hunter and Tads, asking for their thoughts on the find. Tads was the first to respond, coming over for a look and giving it a careful examination.

"Looks like a citrine. Only a small one, but looks nice – high quality, to reflect the light like that. Not massively valuable, but if we can get it out without blasting or destroying too much, it might have magical potential…"

Aswon turned to the villager, and started negotiations – trying to establish if the rock was for sale, and if so how much. His Pashtu was still limited to some very basic words, and the villager's English was broken and hard to understand, so it took some time to try and establish what was wanted – but eventually he got over what he wanted. Then it was Aswon's turn to try and understand what was going on, as the villager tried to explain what he wanted in return. At first it seemed that he wanted to just give them the rock as a gift, but Aswon didn't feel that was right. Even if the citrine wasn't that valuable in the grand scheme of things, it would still fetch a price – and out here, that might be a week or more of food for an entire family. He wanted the gem, sure – but not at the cost of depriving someone else of their livelihood.

Back and forth they went, the villager pressing Aswon to take it as a thank you for all the medical aid provided to the village in general and his family in particular, the food, the steps and stonework done. Eventually though they found a compromise both sides could live with – Aswon would take the man's AK series assault rifle and break it down, show him how to clean and service it properly and also teach him how to shoot it well. That at least made Aswon feel he was providing something of genuine value in return – even if he couldn't eat or earn from it directly, the man would be much better placed to defend himself and his friends if needed.

"If there's some gems been found, there's bound to be more." Tads pointed out. Looking around the mountain range and thinking about the crumpled landscape she'd seen on the flight over, she knew that these mountains were fairly young, geologically speaking – but made in the same way and the whole area consisted of similar rock types.

"Been doing a quick check on the area, and I've got reports of a wide variety of gems being mined all over the area of former Afghanistan – though many of the stones are low quality it seems. We've got beryl, including emeralds, corundum including rubies, lapis lazuli, pegmatites, tourmalines, kunzite and other spodumene, aquamarine, garnets, sapphire, topaz, flourite and quartz – all found in the past few years and exported, most of them illegally." Hunter checked on his deck again, then continued. "Looks like a lot of the cutting is done externally, so only the cheaper raw product ships out. So little money coming into the country – the real money is made elsewhere, when they're cut and polished, then laundered into legitimate channels."

"Well, it might be worth asking them to keep their eyes open for stuff. But we should be wary about making it obvious, or getting them to focus on mining or extraction. If there's anything that will bring down the local warlords, it's going to be that. Tiny gemstones with a high value, easily shipped." Aswon shook his head. "Yeah – that's going to put them on the top of any target list. We need to be real careful here…"

They stayed another night in the village – finding the house slightly warmer now that Tads had straightened up the door frame and gotten rid of most of the draughts, and with a massive meal consumed that had laid low most of the village, it was a quiet and content night for them all.

By Saturday morning, they were up and about, starting to ferry their own gear back to the Broadsword and making plans to depart. Kai had indicated that there was little else they could do for them medically, and Marius had fixed every piece of junk they'd bought to him. He'd scowled and muttered about the awful state of them all, but the rest of the team could see the gusto with which he'd attacked every task, relishing in the challenge of saving devices that were hovering at mechanical and electronic death's door. They'd picked out a spot in the mountains about twenty kilometres west of the smuggler market, a nice spot that would give them a very short run in when they decided to approach, but allow them to stay out of the way until then – and away from the village so as to not risk being found.

"I've dug out some info on the market. None of it is exactly reliable, most based on single sources or open to some debate between different commenters on the SIGs. But I'll tell you what I've got – it's better than nothing." Hunter warned them. "So, the market is almost certainly being run by the Kabul Mafia, the primary organised crime outfit around here. They are pretty much the main people to deal with all across what was Afghanistan, though they've spread their wings wider now the country has merged with the neighbours – but they've also had to cope with inroads from other gangs and organisations."

"They're pretty brutal and draconian." Hunter paused for a moment, looking around at the rest of the team as they sat in the padded chairs of the passenger compartment. "They will absolutely not hesitate to get bloody and personal with those people interfering with their business, and they're happy to make examples of people. More important, they're pretty much wired into the government such as it is here. So it's not so much having police and politicians on the payroll – it's more they're one and the same thing. We should try to avoid trouble as much as we can. Pissing these people off will get us dicked about by the authorities and get the book thrown at us. On the other hand, we don't have to worry about the police raiding the market – they're probably the ones guarding it. So that makes it pretty safe and legit, in terms of business going on there."

"Technically the area is strongly Muslim, and depending on the time in history, fairly strict with their interpretations of dogma and rules. At the market though, from what I can pick up, the rules are pretty much ignored. Woman can walk about freely, no guards or escorts needed, they'll buy and sell drugs, people, stolen goods… it's all going to be lip service, and business comes first. Likely they'll be some there that it pisses them off, but they have to go with whatever the Mafia says. So again, we'll not be at too much risk, but we should try not to be too noticeable."

"I'm planning on going with a Burka or Niqab anyway – best to stay low key." Tads gestured to one of the overhead bins where her kit was stored. "If it helps, so much the better."

"Cool. But also, based on that permissiveness, we're going to find cyber-enhancement and weapons clearly on display and not causing a problem, and likely magic. Of course they still lean towards the hermetic stuff rather than the animal totems, but they'll let that pass by too, unless they get really riled up. Whatever keeps the business flowing, will be pretty much ignored it seems. Otherwise, the usual things – be careful about touching anything without permission. Being offered a drink is a start of bartering and negotiations, so say yes and be polite, even if you don't want a drink. Pretend to sip it, as you haggle. Prepare for nasty insults about your parentage while talking prices, and don't take it personally."

"Ok – so much like the other market, but turned up a bit in intensity by the sounds of things." Kai asked, getting a nod from Hunter in return.

"If that's the case, is it worth contacting Anahita do you think, Kai? She seemed to know lots about the market and what was going on."

"I'm not sure it will be." Aswon answered, before Kai could speak. "I think she's going to know plenty about that one just because it's in Tehran and it's her turf – she's been there several times, and experienced it. But this is a different country. The cultures are somewhat similar, yes – but I don't think that will count for much. At least that's my opinion."

"Well, let's just play it by ear then."

With that, the team got ready for departure, bringing in the cammo netting and stowing all their gear, and waiting for Marius to finish his pre-flight checks. He was still getting used to the new aircraft, so he took his time, making sure he followed the procedure exactly and observing the status of the aircraft, working out what he could shorten in the event of a scrambled launch, and what was really important. Soon enough though the checks were done, and the team lofted into the air, heading east on the relatively small hop to the isolated and quiet looking valley, a little west of Paghman. They settled down again here, covering up the aircraft and then settling down to wait, each finding their own activities to do to pass the time.

After another uneventful night and quiet day, they packed up once more and did the final flight to the market, covering the last twenty kilometres to the specified location. Tads cast an illusion around the aircraft, disguising them as a generic tilt-wing. It changed the position of the wings, and their geometry didn't quite match properly, but it would cover them against casual inspection.

On arrival they found the sprawling estate nestled atop the thin spur of land, jutting out of the highlands in an easterly direction. A large field had been divided up into sections, and they landed in one of the rough squares laid out, setting down next to other tilt-wings and choppers, spotting a large car parking area further west that had a number of trucks and off-road vehicles already present.

As they landed, Kai's commlink buzzed as he received a message – a curt text from Mr Kulkachev's aide or PA – they still weren't sure of his status – asking on their location. Kai responded quickly, letting him know that they had just arrived at the market, and were getting ready to enter.

"I will have the dealer come and find you. Head to the small helipad." Kai read out to the rest of the team. "Well, he seems to want things taken care of quickly!" They disembarked from the Broadsword, sealing the aircraft up behind them, and started to wander down the spur of land. To the north and south the ground fell away quite steeply, broken into several terraces that were covered in very low level foliage.

"Looks like a nasty place to try and assault by ground. Lots of good killing fields…" Aswon noted, gesturing down the slopes at the hundreds of metres of almost open terrain. "Got to come in by air, or just from the west, on a very narrow front." As they looked around they spotted guards on the first terrace down, patrolling back and forth at widely spaced intervals, cheap assault rifles on battered slings hanging from their shoulders, and inevitably a cigarette in either hands or mouth. They didn't look alert, and their presence seemed almost pro-forma.

Wandering east they passed the first of the large houses present on the spur of land – dressed in white marble, it seemed to be an edifice to tacky and tasteless excess, with ornate features from multiple periods of history all crammed into one building in a garish mish-mash of design styles. Just past it though was a large clear area, and a helipad – stood on which was a portly man, apparently waiting for them. As they closed in on him they took in his rough clothing, unwashed appearance, his swarthy skin and raggedy beard competing for coverage on his pudgy face, while deeply recessed eyes stared out at them darkly. His features were ugly and unwelcoming, and as they closed in on him they smelt him before they heard him – a strong smell of body odour that made their noses wrinkle – and Hunter to shut down his sense of smell entirely. There were disadvantages to having top of the line sensors some times…

"He looks like he should be in a trid-movie as the evil bad-guy…" Tads whispered over the comms. She saw a couple of wry grins from the others, but nobody commented, and they closed in on the man.

"Ahh, good, you are here. I have the artwork in the building here. You should come and see." His English was heavily accented, difficult to understand as he slurred his words together into a mushy sound. But, the meaning was clear, and the team followed him into a small stone building that looked to be a storage area for servicing whatever aircraft might land here. Inside were several more men, that had been clearly cast by the same trid-director as 'evil goons' – and were doing their part to look and act appropriately, standing with what they probably thought of as intimidating stances while they tried to menace the team with their weapons. It unfortunately didn't have quite that effect, as each of the team members did their own private estimation, and realised it would take less than three seconds to take out the people gathered here – one way or another.

"Here. See." The pot-bellied man waved, and one of the goons twitched aside a sheet, revealing five pieces of artwork leaning against the wall.

The first was an oil painting, just under a metre in each direction, in a fairly simple frame. It showed a scene of a river with lush vegetation on either bank, trees rising up to frame them and act as a backdrop. It was painted in a somewhat impressionist style, imprecise and more hinting at the scene rather than being a reproduction of it.

Next in line was a rectangular painting, taller than it was wide, though not much above a metre high. It too was in an impressionist style, showing bright yellow flowers arranged in a blue glass jar. Like the first, it was stylised, but didn't seem to be anything special.

In the centre spot was a marble statue, about two metres high and nearly a metre wide. A female figure stood atop a rectangular dais, clad in robes and carved in the style of an ancient Greek goddess. It was a nice enough statue, but also didn't seem to be noteworthy in any way.

The fourth object was a landscape, painted in the format of the same name. It was less than a metre high, but easily three metres long, but unlike the first two paintings appeared to be in watercolours rather than oils. This one showed a boat on the water beneath a setting sun, but the forest and foliage on one side of the river appeared to be disintegrating and floating away in a very surreal fashion.

The last painting though – that one caught their eye, and they struggled to keep their faces non-committal. It was a large canvas about two metres high and over a metre wide, painted in oils on a canvas and in a carved wooden frame. As the team looked at the image of the single boat heading directly towards the painter of the scene. None of them had any idea why the 'Jewel of Muscat' was here, but they remembered chasing the painting and the crew that had stolen it halfway across the Arabian Peninsula not long ago, only to find it sold out from under their noses. And now it appeared, Mr. Kulkachev was in the process of buying it – and the other pieces.

"We will get these boxed up and ready for shipping. They will be ready later."

"We'll need to check them again before you put the final seals on. Just to make sure – I know you understand why. But our employer insists on such things. I am sure they will be pleased though." Kai gestured at the row of art pieces. The other man grunted at him, but didn't act particularly surprised.

"Ok. We will get into boxes, but leave ready to seal. You can check and collect later."

"Fine. We should go and tell our employer we have seen the art pieces and we are getting ready to take them from you." Kai smiled at him with his mouth, but it was a perfunctory symbol, lacking any warmth or sincerity. He waved for the team to head back outside, and waited until they were a little away from the building, before asking.

"That was what I thought it was, right?" They nodded to him. "So question is – are we delivering this back. Or letting Germaine know?"

"We do the job for the original bidder." Aswon said quickly. "No betrayal."

"Let's not be hasty now. Lots to think about here. Let's wander the market, and have a good think about how this would go down… and revisit the situation later…"