Book Two, Chapter Seven: Interlude

[dakota]

Khris made no comments as he entered the names into the search parameters. He hit the enter key, have hoping nothing would come up. He knew that not only were open jobs listed and contact, there was also a database for closed contracts for the past couple years.

[albatross]

Even with wildcard searches and varied spellings, no contracts on Jeckle's brother are found.

There is a closed contract for Jeckle. $13,900. The entry seems odd, even beyond the implication of the contract being closed. And, though he didn't notice it in his cursory search, the two entries before it - also closed- seem similar. One for $13,500 and the other for $13,000. The names are meaningless: Timothy and Mandy. The other parts of the entries seem nonsense as well. Edited. Scrubbed.

[dakota]

" That's odd." Khris said, scratching his chin. " Jecks, why would someone put a price on your head. Has to be a lo..., Jeckle, is your brother overprotective? Is he the type to hire someone to track you down just so he'd know what you were up to?"

He looked at Tiger," Seen that before, wasn't my style. Post a soft target for a little intel to spy on someone to check up on them. If Heckle's the sort to do that, it means he is in the system under another assumed name we don't know. There's two ways to use that. One, we post our own soft target on Heckle, or two," he looked at Jeckle so she knew it was her decision," we place a hard target on Jeckle and I take it. I'm still well enough known in the system that if he's watching, he'll know she's in trouble. Might be enough to lure him out to at least make contact." He said as he opened the marshmallows, taking out two. He ate one, and tossed the second one towards Strongbow, aiming for her cleavage with a chuckle, though he was watching Dante's reaction

[str=19]

[Dome]

Dante see the marshmallow land in Bel's cleavage, being a little tipsy from all the beers he reaches out and says, "I'll get it."

Right before his hand gets there her stops and blushes, smiling he says, "umm, maybe you should get it. That is one lucky marshmallow though."

Realizing what he said, he covers his mouth with his hand. "Sorry Bel," he says before turning towards Khris. "Thanks alot man, we were having a good time."

[albatross]

Bel glances towards Tiger, but seeing nothing more than amused surprise, she sticks her tongue out at Kris. She puts her hand around Dante's neck and pulls him in. "Body shot?" she asks as she leans towards him. Tiger makes a soft,"Ahem," towards Kris. "Nice shot." She says wryly. "And here I thought you prefered smaller more challenging targets." Her voice is playful.

[Dome]

With the alcohol clouding his judgment, Dante doesn't think twice about letting Bel pull him in. He dives in after the marshmallow. He digs around for a moment, and comes up with a goofy grin and the marshmallow sticking half out of his mouth. "Mmm, that's a good marshmallow," he says as he begins chewing it. "Can I have another?"

[shiivster]

'nope. don't think so. i got us free of our aunt and uncle. they wanted the money from the inheritance. i found a loophole and got us emancipated at a really young age. just over .. 5 years ago. just after i got out of the hospital. why?

*she watches Dante and Strongbow and shakes her head before looking away. 'bought the truck about 3 years ago and loaded it with my tools. been a mobile base since then. but you already know that much. do what you want about the contract. it will get me out of my slump about him. think i'll camp out here tonight, you can all bunk in pairs. i got me some designing to do'

*it's the uneasy look she's giving hte fire that seems to be giving her away. even a contained small one is a bit much. not enough to stop her cold in her tracks, just to put her at an uneasy state.

'don't like to remember the car bomb. that's all .. see you in the morning' *that said she starts moving away. not rushing, but with a sense of direction and pauses long enough to pick up a slender stick to go scratch in the wet sand

[dakota]

“ Oh come on Tigger, I’m just teasing them a little.” Khris replied defensively, his grin gone at Tiger’s reaction. “ It was only a little harmless fun. I’ve thought of no one but you since the old team broke up…, well, okay maybe I fantasized about my ex-fiance in a fit of pain induced insanity when she set me up and shot me in Miami , but other than that it’s been nothing but you. I swear.” He set the laptop aside. He tossed the bag of marshmallows to Dante,” Help yourself, I’m done with them.”

[shiivster]

*scratch scratch drag squiggle ~pause and study~ nod scratch drag drag* it's clear that she has something in her mind as she plots something out. stepping back she nods once and then the wave washes the plan away.

'oh yeah .. wash it away, but its still safe ... ' *chuckling she pokes the air a couple of times as she 'accesses' a section of her mind to pull up older schematics and compares something before scratching it out and adjusts it out on something solid.

*she will keep herself entertained for the next 30 minutes. scratching out something before the tide rushes in to erase it from existence. finally content about something, she nods and then moves off down the beach another 50 yards to sit on a low branch of a tree and moves along it to settle down where it splits off and covers up with the coat.

*like an oversized bird in an uncreated nest, she sleeps. drifting deeper and deeper into the murky depths and curls up to slumber away. her mind is a maze of formulas, tables, magazine articles and ancient school papers. the bits and pieces that make up various 'creations' are broken up and scattered here and there for safety. somewhere in this mess is a sense of a friend. the spirit of the ring seems to fill in a void from time to time.

[albatross]

Tiger looks at Kris, "Lets hold off on putting a hit on anyone for a little while. We can discuss soft options after we try a few other search methods."

"Sleepy?" She asks Kris, glancing at Dante and Strongbow's antics with a smile. "Or should we walk the beach just you, me and maybe a whiskey bottle?"

[Dome]

Dante catches the bag of marshmallows, and holds them up to Bel. "Want I should feed you some," he says as he waggles his eyebrows up and down.

[dakota]

" a walk sounds good." Khris said, still feeling a little defensive. " Yeah, let get out of here and let these two be. " He took the computer and set it by Jeckle, then held his hand out to Tiger," start on the beach and see where we end up." He smirked.