Post by darkstar on Apr 20, 2006 13:20:58 GMT -5
As speculations and conversations die down, Monk stands and leads
the group over to the Venetian room. Standing at the door is a
familiar figure. A tall husky man, nearly equal in height to Hellion
and Tank, stands at attention in front of the door leading to the
Venetian room. "Good evening," Gino politely greets and then
smoothly moves to open the door. "Mr. Braxton is expecting you." As
usual, Ashi will trail the group through the entrance.
The Venetian room, like the other "meeting" rooms throughout
Vitto's, is more conducive to conducting "business". The rules here
are pretty simple; Conduct your business as you see fit just as long
has no treat is placed upon Vitto's or its patrons. The band on
spell casting is lifted here, with the above-mentioned kept in mind.
Astral project is possible, although somewhat pointless being
limited to this room. All rooms are devoid of any cameras or
surveillance equipment, at least none placed/used by Vitto's. The
rooms are hermetically sealed and completely sound proof from the
outside. Each room is equipped with its own credstick
verification/transfer station (hidden) and audio/visual
players/monitors (also hidden out of sight). The windows are
ballistic treated with touch-activated polarization, complete with
noise generators on the outside to prevent laser sound
reconnaissance from outside the room.
As you enter the stylish room, you see the backside of a lone squat
man standing at the far end of the room with a glass in his right
hand, framed by an exhilarating view of the Seattle skyline,
complete with the famous Space Needle off in the far distance.
Instantly you realize that indeed you are unfamiliar with this
individual. Upon your entry the short man turns toward your
direction with a large smile materializing on his face. He lightly
taps the glass framing the spectacular view, the windows instantly
turn stark black, then moves to greet each of you personally with a
hearty handshake and introduces himself as Mr. Braxton.
Keeping towards the center of the group, as is his habit, Bang
enters the negotiating room and quickly looks around out of habit.
As the others step forwards to shake hands, Bang conveniently
continues to step behind others so as to avoid a handshake.
Chain grips Braxton's hand firmly, "Chain."
Wandering Star bows slightly to Mr. Braxton at just exactly the
right depth for greeting one she doesn't know and does not have any
reason to show disrespect.
"Please…please," he gestures towards the plush furniture. "Have a
seat, make yourselves comfortable if you wish." The gestures towards
the couches in a European accent.
If the restaurant looked to be devoid of modern accoutrements, this
room would be considered a vacuum. Real mahogany wood accents the
finely crafted velour cushions on the couches and chairs, with
matching mahogany tables and cabinets that scream elegance and
class.
On the center table lies a silver briefcase, its handle facing
towards the windows, and now towards Mr. Braxton as he takes a seat.
A small finely crafted wooden box lies in the center of the table,
its contents brilliantly displayed; cigars, lighters, cutters. Next
to the cigars, is a gold tray with empty glasses and crystal
decanters filled with cinnamon colored liquid. "Please make your
self at home. The cigars are from my personal collection, the brandy
imported from Bulgaria," he says proudly.
Monk takes advantage of the Brandy and Cigars, savoring both for
their quality and nods a thanks as he takes a seat on one of the
plush couches.
Star gracefully takes one of the preferred seats, her eyes briefly
scanning the room as she does so. She does not partake of any of the
brandy nor accept a cigar. In fact she does her best not to turn up
her nose at them when offered.
Tank partakes of the smooth brandy and cigar. His posture announcing
his calmness and savoring of the flavors and aromas. Yet, his eyes,
black as they are, you know to have not stopped surveying.
Upon settling into the room, Ashi accepts Mr. Braxton's offer for
brandy and a cigar. Rather than sitting, Ashi lightly leans against
the side one of the sides of a sofa. His left hand cupping a glass
of brandy, cigar in mouth and his right hand making note of the
mahogany and velour's texture.
As Braxton continues with his introduction, Chain moves across to
the brandy. Pouring a half glass he turns and looks around the room,
before walking back toward Braxton.
"Thank you very much for taking time away from your celebration to
meet with me. I would not have done so if it wasn't for good
reason." He shifts in his seat, leaning forward in an effort to make
sure everyone can hear him clearly. "At least I hope you will find
it to be for good a reason. I have a business proposition for your
group." He places his glass down on the table and claps his hands
together. "This job is quite delicate and requires the utmost care
and professionalism, as I'm sure you will agree. My clients need you
to apprehend someone and hold them for three days, then release
them." He nods, "Capture and release. This person is well known in
the media and they must not be harmed during the time they are held.
You will be required to travel by tomorrow morning, but not outside
North America. My clients will provide transportation, to and from
said location, provide the holding area, two rental cars, and
prepared to pay your team," He reaches inside his coat pocket, holds
up a certified credstick that digitally reads 100,000Y. "One hundred
thousand nuyen up front, and another hundred thousand when the job
is complete." Then places it back inside his coat before
continuing. "Because of the sensitive nature of this job, I cannot
give you any more details until we have an agreement with these
terms." He stands and grabs the handle of his briefcase. "I will
wait outside and give you time to discuss this amongst yourselves.
Let Gino know when you are ready for my return." Mr. Braxton bows
and leaves the room.
As the doors seal shut behind Mr. Braxton Ashi begins to speak, "One
may say that the nightlife never stops. Sounds like a very clean and
easy operation... Too clean, too easy. Without more information, I
am not comfortable with the setup. Besides, it would ruin Monk's
night under the stars." Ashi then stands casually puffing on his
cigar, waiting for everyone's response.
"Of course it sounds clean and easy, they always do, at first. When
we find out who it is this gringo wants out of circulation, then we
know how bad its gonna be. I don't know this Braxton hombre from
anywheres, or who sold him our names. That's one strike against him.
Twelve and half up front makes up for one strike though." With a
slight pause, "I'll go with Monk one this one. Feliz cumpleanos,
man."
"Twelve and a half? Is that a counter offer...?" Monk smiles.
"Nah, man, its one hundred k split eight ways. That's what we're
looking at right?"
Chain takes a seat on one of the larger couches and downs his brandy
in one swallow before sitting the empty glass back on the elegant
mahogany table. "That's a lot of money to kidnap 'someone'
from 'somewhere' and sit on them for three days. No doubt that
briefcase could tell us who and from where." Chain turns toward Star
and Bang, "Have either of you verified that we're actually alone in
here?"
Wandering Star blinks her eyes three times then turns to look at
Chain as if he must be daft, "Of course we have." Chain rolls his
eyes and slightly shakes his head side to side as he looks back to
the rest of the group with a look of amused indifference. Star
continues, "Unlike the rest of Vitto's this room is currently devoid
of spirits. There is a barrier around it, so we do not think any
will be joining us soon. "This job bothers us however. Their are far
too many unknowns and no time to make contingency plans. We would be
placing ourselves into a situation in which we do not have control.
And worst of all, we would be leaving while the Sun rides the sky,
an ill omen at best."
As usual, Bang allows others to speak and remains quiet while
Braxton talks. Then, once the question is posed about the magical
nature of the room, he says "I agree with the lovely lady. There are
no spirits or other magic in this room besides ourselves and Braxton
appears to have several minor cyber enhancements."
Taking a small drink from the brandy snifter and then dipping the
end of the cigar in the same before lighting it, Monk sets the glass
down and takes a deep draw. After exhaling the smoke slowly, he
looks at the group. "It is always a simple fact that the Johnson's
will always make the job sound easier than it is... and will, if at
all possible, try to get the best for their money... that is just a
given." Shrugs slightly. "We are not currently in a bind for money,"
looks slightly at Bang and raises eyebrow in question, " but the
payment sounds reasonable as a starting point."
Leaning forward and picking up the glass, Monk takes another sip of
the excellent liquor. Smiling as he sets the glass back down,
savoring the flavor, he says, "I think we should get a better feel
for this Mr. Braxton and how he came to know that we would be here
this evening. Unless one of us has neglected to mention it to the
rest," said with obvious doubt dripping in his statement, " then I
would very much like to know where Mr. Braxton came by his
information regarding our group."
"I for one, have not heard of Mr. Braxton and know of no one that
would know of our plans to be
here tonight," Ashi responds.
Continuing Monk says, "And we will have to keep in mind that this
mission is likely to take us well outside our normal venues of
action. This is not a problem, only poses the fact that we will be
in unknown territory and cut off from the majority of our
resources.." looks at Tank and then Tortuga, "..most notably those
wonderful vehicles you take such care to keep in good running order.
I think we should ply him for answers to the questions of, one - how
he found us, and on this particular evening. Two - a better idea of
the size of the target, and three - approximately what distance from
here, or better, what city, we will be running in...".
After a final drink from the glass and a draw from the cigar, he
casually says, "All prices, after all, are negotiable." With an open
hand gesture to the rest of the group, Monk quietly awaits further
input from the others.
During the discussion on pay Bang moves over to stand behind one of
the couches and once again returns to silence to watch the other
members banter back and forth.
"And to go through the expense of bringing in out of town runners
this thing has got to be huge," Chain adds. "I like Monk's
suggestion of a counter offer. If this thing is so hot local talent
can't touch it then it's got to be worth more than twenty-five each."
Hellion pours himself some brandy and sits on one of the
couches. "Chain and Monk are correct. I like the idea of a counter
offer. This Braxton creature should pay more for what sounds like a
job that could turn ugly real easily."
"Maybe they can't go with the regular talent, not because they're
not good enough, but because they are associated with who we are
going after," Tortuga adds. "If this is some kind of Political
kidnapping. The home team may not be able to do it for political
reasons, or it may just be cleaner. You know, harder for this
Braxton gringo, or whatever Politico he is working for, to be linked
to the deal. That doesn't make it inherently more difficult. I could
think of lots of reasons to hire out-of-towners. I'm more worried
about how he got into contact with us. I don't think it's a sting
though. If they to catch us, it would be more of an offer we
couldn't refuse. But renegotiation of the price is still fine with
me. I just want everyone to be aware that it may go sour because of
it. I mean this guy sounded like he thought he was offering a lot of
money for this deal."
"It's not the difficulty of the job or talent of the locals that I'd
question, it's the power of the target, Chain says in
response. "With this being a 'bag and release' job, locals may run
the risk of reprisal after the run. If that's the case, how far does
the target's influence reach? We know it's a prominent figure, but
that really doesn't tell us much. Any case, local runners would be
easier to trace than an out of town team like ours....but we're not
necessarily impossible if that is the case. I too would like to know
how Braxton found our team. I am curious how we where located."
"Chain brings up some excellent points," Monk adds. "The mark might
well be very influential, and vindictive. Which, should we decide to
accept the run, would mean we would need to take care with our
identifications among each other..." Smiles, and tilts his
head, "..maybe call signs other than our norms..."
Straightening up in his seat, Tank's face once again serious, "While
this is short notice and much too unknown, it is still a high
initial offer for a job that should not last more than five days.
That alone makes me wary." Contemplating for a few seconds, he
adds, "Anywhere in the two hundred and sixty to three hundred range
should be an acceptable counter. That brings somewhere between
thirty-two and a half to thirty-seven and a half split eight ways. I
do not feel safe utilizing rentals that are provided, but will if no
other option is available. Possibly we could negotiate a spending
allowance on rides of our choosing instead?" Tank sits back and
returns to sipping his brandy.
Ashi, sets his glass on the table after enjoying a slow spit of
brandy. "My biggest concern is that our trust and safety has not
been addressed by Mr. Braxton. The allowance for us to make the
arrangements would address this." He pauses to take a puff from his
cigar," If not, a considerably larger amount of money up front
would be necessary to secure my trust. Even then, I still wish to
know where it is, what time we will leave and whether by ground,
water, air, commercial or private at the very least."
"Especially if we must leave tomorrow morning," Star asks. So how
much more are we asking?"
Chain responds, "Push it up to three hundred thousand? That's thirty-
seven and a half thousand each. I'm not crazy about an early start
either and an extra twelve and a half would make getting out of bed
that much easier."
"This amount is acceptable to me," Ashi adds. "Preferably with two
hundred thousand down instead of half. I trust someone other than
myself will be negotiating?"
"I think that we can get at least 300K from Braxton for the run,"
Monk responds confidently. "We can probably get up to 500K because
of his current, very needy situation - he is, after all, coming to
us for a job that starts tomorrow morning. Star and I will endeavor
to get more, but it really depends on how we can negotiate with the
man." Gesturing with his glass to tank, "I also agree with Tank's
perceptions about the transportation situation. That is not the only
problem, and I think we should have them all addressed."
Monk continues, "I think it would be best to determine what we can
do about the transportation situation - both to and from the action
zone. I also find issue with the fact that Mr. Braxton, unknown to
any of us and none of us having been contacted by any of our normal
contacts regarding this meet, has intimate knowledge of myself and
our group. How, for instance, did he know that we would be here this
evening? That does not bode well, in my opinion."
Taking a sip of the brandy Monk concludes, "I think we should bring
in Braxton and begin negotiations. At this point, we need to inform
him that we will need a bit more information to make a decision and
based on the short lead time, which we find wholly unprofessional,
though understandable, and the other factors, our price is a bit
larger than his original estimate..."
Chain stands, "Unless anyone is completely against asking for more,
lets get Braxton back in here...see what we can work out and get
this show going."
"For all of the unknowns and especially if our concerns are not
addressed by the contents of Mr. Braxton's shiny briefcase nor by
his answers to our questions, than his offered price is too low by a
fifth to a tenth," Wandering Star adds. "We do not know him, but he
obviously knows us. Three hundred thousand is selling ourselves
short and not taking into consideration the possible desperation of
his clients. We are not obligated to take his offer at all, and we
will make certain that Mr. Braxton is made aware of this fact."
Witha slight bow of the head to Ashi, "Monk and our self shall
gladly take care of the negotiating. Would someone like to
fetch our would-be employer?"
Chain turns and gives a nod to Star, "Showtime." Chain walks over to
the door, and opens it. "Gino, could you tell Braxton we're ready?"
He then closes the door and returns to his seat to await Braxton's entry.
the group over to the Venetian room. Standing at the door is a
familiar figure. A tall husky man, nearly equal in height to Hellion
and Tank, stands at attention in front of the door leading to the
Venetian room. "Good evening," Gino politely greets and then
smoothly moves to open the door. "Mr. Braxton is expecting you." As
usual, Ashi will trail the group through the entrance.
The Venetian room, like the other "meeting" rooms throughout
Vitto's, is more conducive to conducting "business". The rules here
are pretty simple; Conduct your business as you see fit just as long
has no treat is placed upon Vitto's or its patrons. The band on
spell casting is lifted here, with the above-mentioned kept in mind.
Astral project is possible, although somewhat pointless being
limited to this room. All rooms are devoid of any cameras or
surveillance equipment, at least none placed/used by Vitto's. The
rooms are hermetically sealed and completely sound proof from the
outside. Each room is equipped with its own credstick
verification/transfer station (hidden) and audio/visual
players/monitors (also hidden out of sight). The windows are
ballistic treated with touch-activated polarization, complete with
noise generators on the outside to prevent laser sound
reconnaissance from outside the room.
As you enter the stylish room, you see the backside of a lone squat
man standing at the far end of the room with a glass in his right
hand, framed by an exhilarating view of the Seattle skyline,
complete with the famous Space Needle off in the far distance.
Instantly you realize that indeed you are unfamiliar with this
individual. Upon your entry the short man turns toward your
direction with a large smile materializing on his face. He lightly
taps the glass framing the spectacular view, the windows instantly
turn stark black, then moves to greet each of you personally with a
hearty handshake and introduces himself as Mr. Braxton.
Keeping towards the center of the group, as is his habit, Bang
enters the negotiating room and quickly looks around out of habit.
As the others step forwards to shake hands, Bang conveniently
continues to step behind others so as to avoid a handshake.
Chain grips Braxton's hand firmly, "Chain."
Wandering Star bows slightly to Mr. Braxton at just exactly the
right depth for greeting one she doesn't know and does not have any
reason to show disrespect.
"Please…please," he gestures towards the plush furniture. "Have a
seat, make yourselves comfortable if you wish." The gestures towards
the couches in a European accent.
If the restaurant looked to be devoid of modern accoutrements, this
room would be considered a vacuum. Real mahogany wood accents the
finely crafted velour cushions on the couches and chairs, with
matching mahogany tables and cabinets that scream elegance and
class.
On the center table lies a silver briefcase, its handle facing
towards the windows, and now towards Mr. Braxton as he takes a seat.
A small finely crafted wooden box lies in the center of the table,
its contents brilliantly displayed; cigars, lighters, cutters. Next
to the cigars, is a gold tray with empty glasses and crystal
decanters filled with cinnamon colored liquid. "Please make your
self at home. The cigars are from my personal collection, the brandy
imported from Bulgaria," he says proudly.
Monk takes advantage of the Brandy and Cigars, savoring both for
their quality and nods a thanks as he takes a seat on one of the
plush couches.
Star gracefully takes one of the preferred seats, her eyes briefly
scanning the room as she does so. She does not partake of any of the
brandy nor accept a cigar. In fact she does her best not to turn up
her nose at them when offered.
Tank partakes of the smooth brandy and cigar. His posture announcing
his calmness and savoring of the flavors and aromas. Yet, his eyes,
black as they are, you know to have not stopped surveying.
Upon settling into the room, Ashi accepts Mr. Braxton's offer for
brandy and a cigar. Rather than sitting, Ashi lightly leans against
the side one of the sides of a sofa. His left hand cupping a glass
of brandy, cigar in mouth and his right hand making note of the
mahogany and velour's texture.
As Braxton continues with his introduction, Chain moves across to
the brandy. Pouring a half glass he turns and looks around the room,
before walking back toward Braxton.
"Thank you very much for taking time away from your celebration to
meet with me. I would not have done so if it wasn't for good
reason." He shifts in his seat, leaning forward in an effort to make
sure everyone can hear him clearly. "At least I hope you will find
it to be for good a reason. I have a business proposition for your
group." He places his glass down on the table and claps his hands
together. "This job is quite delicate and requires the utmost care
and professionalism, as I'm sure you will agree. My clients need you
to apprehend someone and hold them for three days, then release
them." He nods, "Capture and release. This person is well known in
the media and they must not be harmed during the time they are held.
You will be required to travel by tomorrow morning, but not outside
North America. My clients will provide transportation, to and from
said location, provide the holding area, two rental cars, and
prepared to pay your team," He reaches inside his coat pocket, holds
up a certified credstick that digitally reads 100,000Y. "One hundred
thousand nuyen up front, and another hundred thousand when the job
is complete." Then places it back inside his coat before
continuing. "Because of the sensitive nature of this job, I cannot
give you any more details until we have an agreement with these
terms." He stands and grabs the handle of his briefcase. "I will
wait outside and give you time to discuss this amongst yourselves.
Let Gino know when you are ready for my return." Mr. Braxton bows
and leaves the room.
As the doors seal shut behind Mr. Braxton Ashi begins to speak, "One
may say that the nightlife never stops. Sounds like a very clean and
easy operation... Too clean, too easy. Without more information, I
am not comfortable with the setup. Besides, it would ruin Monk's
night under the stars." Ashi then stands casually puffing on his
cigar, waiting for everyone's response.
"Of course it sounds clean and easy, they always do, at first. When
we find out who it is this gringo wants out of circulation, then we
know how bad its gonna be. I don't know this Braxton hombre from
anywheres, or who sold him our names. That's one strike against him.
Twelve and half up front makes up for one strike though." With a
slight pause, "I'll go with Monk one this one. Feliz cumpleanos,
man."
"Twelve and a half? Is that a counter offer...?" Monk smiles.
"Nah, man, its one hundred k split eight ways. That's what we're
looking at right?"
Chain takes a seat on one of the larger couches and downs his brandy
in one swallow before sitting the empty glass back on the elegant
mahogany table. "That's a lot of money to kidnap 'someone'
from 'somewhere' and sit on them for three days. No doubt that
briefcase could tell us who and from where." Chain turns toward Star
and Bang, "Have either of you verified that we're actually alone in
here?"
Wandering Star blinks her eyes three times then turns to look at
Chain as if he must be daft, "Of course we have." Chain rolls his
eyes and slightly shakes his head side to side as he looks back to
the rest of the group with a look of amused indifference. Star
continues, "Unlike the rest of Vitto's this room is currently devoid
of spirits. There is a barrier around it, so we do not think any
will be joining us soon. "This job bothers us however. Their are far
too many unknowns and no time to make contingency plans. We would be
placing ourselves into a situation in which we do not have control.
And worst of all, we would be leaving while the Sun rides the sky,
an ill omen at best."
As usual, Bang allows others to speak and remains quiet while
Braxton talks. Then, once the question is posed about the magical
nature of the room, he says "I agree with the lovely lady. There are
no spirits or other magic in this room besides ourselves and Braxton
appears to have several minor cyber enhancements."
Taking a small drink from the brandy snifter and then dipping the
end of the cigar in the same before lighting it, Monk sets the glass
down and takes a deep draw. After exhaling the smoke slowly, he
looks at the group. "It is always a simple fact that the Johnson's
will always make the job sound easier than it is... and will, if at
all possible, try to get the best for their money... that is just a
given." Shrugs slightly. "We are not currently in a bind for money,"
looks slightly at Bang and raises eyebrow in question, " but the
payment sounds reasonable as a starting point."
Leaning forward and picking up the glass, Monk takes another sip of
the excellent liquor. Smiling as he sets the glass back down,
savoring the flavor, he says, "I think we should get a better feel
for this Mr. Braxton and how he came to know that we would be here
this evening. Unless one of us has neglected to mention it to the
rest," said with obvious doubt dripping in his statement, " then I
would very much like to know where Mr. Braxton came by his
information regarding our group."
"I for one, have not heard of Mr. Braxton and know of no one that
would know of our plans to be
here tonight," Ashi responds.
Continuing Monk says, "And we will have to keep in mind that this
mission is likely to take us well outside our normal venues of
action. This is not a problem, only poses the fact that we will be
in unknown territory and cut off from the majority of our
resources.." looks at Tank and then Tortuga, "..most notably those
wonderful vehicles you take such care to keep in good running order.
I think we should ply him for answers to the questions of, one - how
he found us, and on this particular evening. Two - a better idea of
the size of the target, and three - approximately what distance from
here, or better, what city, we will be running in...".
After a final drink from the glass and a draw from the cigar, he
casually says, "All prices, after all, are negotiable." With an open
hand gesture to the rest of the group, Monk quietly awaits further
input from the others.
During the discussion on pay Bang moves over to stand behind one of
the couches and once again returns to silence to watch the other
members banter back and forth.
"And to go through the expense of bringing in out of town runners
this thing has got to be huge," Chain adds. "I like Monk's
suggestion of a counter offer. If this thing is so hot local talent
can't touch it then it's got to be worth more than twenty-five each."
Hellion pours himself some brandy and sits on one of the
couches. "Chain and Monk are correct. I like the idea of a counter
offer. This Braxton creature should pay more for what sounds like a
job that could turn ugly real easily."
"Maybe they can't go with the regular talent, not because they're
not good enough, but because they are associated with who we are
going after," Tortuga adds. "If this is some kind of Political
kidnapping. The home team may not be able to do it for political
reasons, or it may just be cleaner. You know, harder for this
Braxton gringo, or whatever Politico he is working for, to be linked
to the deal. That doesn't make it inherently more difficult. I could
think of lots of reasons to hire out-of-towners. I'm more worried
about how he got into contact with us. I don't think it's a sting
though. If they to catch us, it would be more of an offer we
couldn't refuse. But renegotiation of the price is still fine with
me. I just want everyone to be aware that it may go sour because of
it. I mean this guy sounded like he thought he was offering a lot of
money for this deal."
"It's not the difficulty of the job or talent of the locals that I'd
question, it's the power of the target, Chain says in
response. "With this being a 'bag and release' job, locals may run
the risk of reprisal after the run. If that's the case, how far does
the target's influence reach? We know it's a prominent figure, but
that really doesn't tell us much. Any case, local runners would be
easier to trace than an out of town team like ours....but we're not
necessarily impossible if that is the case. I too would like to know
how Braxton found our team. I am curious how we where located."
"Chain brings up some excellent points," Monk adds. "The mark might
well be very influential, and vindictive. Which, should we decide to
accept the run, would mean we would need to take care with our
identifications among each other..." Smiles, and tilts his
head, "..maybe call signs other than our norms..."
Straightening up in his seat, Tank's face once again serious, "While
this is short notice and much too unknown, it is still a high
initial offer for a job that should not last more than five days.
That alone makes me wary." Contemplating for a few seconds, he
adds, "Anywhere in the two hundred and sixty to three hundred range
should be an acceptable counter. That brings somewhere between
thirty-two and a half to thirty-seven and a half split eight ways. I
do not feel safe utilizing rentals that are provided, but will if no
other option is available. Possibly we could negotiate a spending
allowance on rides of our choosing instead?" Tank sits back and
returns to sipping his brandy.
Ashi, sets his glass on the table after enjoying a slow spit of
brandy. "My biggest concern is that our trust and safety has not
been addressed by Mr. Braxton. The allowance for us to make the
arrangements would address this." He pauses to take a puff from his
cigar," If not, a considerably larger amount of money up front
would be necessary to secure my trust. Even then, I still wish to
know where it is, what time we will leave and whether by ground,
water, air, commercial or private at the very least."
"Especially if we must leave tomorrow morning," Star asks. So how
much more are we asking?"
Chain responds, "Push it up to three hundred thousand? That's thirty-
seven and a half thousand each. I'm not crazy about an early start
either and an extra twelve and a half would make getting out of bed
that much easier."
"This amount is acceptable to me," Ashi adds. "Preferably with two
hundred thousand down instead of half. I trust someone other than
myself will be negotiating?"
"I think that we can get at least 300K from Braxton for the run,"
Monk responds confidently. "We can probably get up to 500K because
of his current, very needy situation - he is, after all, coming to
us for a job that starts tomorrow morning. Star and I will endeavor
to get more, but it really depends on how we can negotiate with the
man." Gesturing with his glass to tank, "I also agree with Tank's
perceptions about the transportation situation. That is not the only
problem, and I think we should have them all addressed."
Monk continues, "I think it would be best to determine what we can
do about the transportation situation - both to and from the action
zone. I also find issue with the fact that Mr. Braxton, unknown to
any of us and none of us having been contacted by any of our normal
contacts regarding this meet, has intimate knowledge of myself and
our group. How, for instance, did he know that we would be here this
evening? That does not bode well, in my opinion."
Taking a sip of the brandy Monk concludes, "I think we should bring
in Braxton and begin negotiations. At this point, we need to inform
him that we will need a bit more information to make a decision and
based on the short lead time, which we find wholly unprofessional,
though understandable, and the other factors, our price is a bit
larger than his original estimate..."
Chain stands, "Unless anyone is completely against asking for more,
lets get Braxton back in here...see what we can work out and get
this show going."
"For all of the unknowns and especially if our concerns are not
addressed by the contents of Mr. Braxton's shiny briefcase nor by
his answers to our questions, than his offered price is too low by a
fifth to a tenth," Wandering Star adds. "We do not know him, but he
obviously knows us. Three hundred thousand is selling ourselves
short and not taking into consideration the possible desperation of
his clients. We are not obligated to take his offer at all, and we
will make certain that Mr. Braxton is made aware of this fact."
Witha slight bow of the head to Ashi, "Monk and our self shall
gladly take care of the negotiating. Would someone like to
fetch our would-be employer?"
Chain turns and gives a nod to Star, "Showtime." Chain walks over to
the door, and opens it. "Gino, could you tell Braxton we're ready?"
He then closes the door and returns to his seat to await Braxton's entry.