Roy

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Shitshitshit.

Nola where are you at?

Little busy right now. You've got this

I most certainly do not! What is more important?

Gang fight spilled into the street. Among other things. I'm busy.

Ok, fair enough. Nobody is dying here. Yet.

When it rains it pours doesn't it.

Where are Dave and Kathy? I don't see them mingling. Isn't that their whole purpose of this thing? I start scanning the crowd full of people I don't recognize looking for any one of the people I know who can help me.

"Yo. Roy. Follow me. We have a problem." Tyler said quietly from behind me as he put a hand on my shoulder and started leading me out of the gate. I have awareness in my domain, how do I keep getting snuck up on. But we found each other, and I guess they already knew. That's good at least.

Should we be abandoning our own party though? Leaving Verdandi and Burt alone seems like a bad idea. Oh I guess there's Cole. Cole is the only human representative inside.

What could possibly go wrong.

I think things sometimes and then immediately feel dumb for thinking them.

Murphy have mercy on me for my transgressions. Please don't invoke your law.

We slinked out the gate past the mingling smokers and the bouncers and down the street to a fast food parking lot. Tyler lead me in a fast walk that evolved into a jog as we moved. Not quite a run, but as close as we could get without setting off alarms. I felt a twinge of anxiety from Nola as I broke our connection, but not as bad as before. Being busy must help. One positive to the whole situation.

I resisted the urge to tell her to expand and follow me to the parking lot. If she's busy, she's busy. Let her work. Hopefully whatever is happening is over quickly and safely.

I saw Dave and Kathy leaned into each other near the shrubbery as we rounded the corner of the burger joint. The were talking hurriedly and quietly, with Kathy more agitated than I had ever seen her. Meeting Burt had been less impactful on her mood.

We hurried over and Tyler broke off at the last minute to keep watch on the perimeter. He had one large hand covering something in his dominate hand. Guns were out already. So he is on edge too.

"Roy, we have a major problem." Dave said as he turned to face me. He was sweating through his hair gel.

"Yeah, I heard. NOAA knows about us and they want to talk." I said. No need to waste time on the recap.

"I fucking told you the shadow government would be here!", "The who? Is that the nautical charity?", and "Wonderful, more paperwork to forge." Came from the 3 of them nearly simultaneously.

If that isn't what has everyone up in arms...

"We'll do ours first, then yours. You may want to call Burt over" Dave said taking back control from everyone's little outburst.

"We are off the domain here and Nola is busy." I said in response, motioning with my hand for him to keep going anyway. I didn't want to be away any longer than I had to. And apparently our problems were breeding while we were distracted.

"Who does Melvin work for?" Dave asked pointedly, he clearly wanted to ask a question, but understood the rush.

"Some dude bro investment firm. I don't know. We went to high school together and I knew his dad from when his place was open. I didn't look into him more than that." I said

"Dude bro" Kathy said with a pained laugh as Dave continued "Almost certainly he isn't working for a small firm any more. You should do a bit more research into your partners in the future. The regional boss of Obsidian Capital just threatened Kathy." Dave was very unhappy about that. I can see why.

"Is that an name I should know?" I asked.

"They manage about 4 billion locally. Not the biggest firm, but enough to cause some damage to us. And they know we aren't legitimate. They have surveillance of our comings and goings, financial records on all of us, hell, they even have everyone but Tyler's bank account" Dave said

"Cause I don't have one. Banks are tool of the deep state." Tyler said from his place at the edge of the shrub.

"Shut up." Dave shouted quietly.

"I thought you cooked the books?" I said.

"Yeah, against a casual audit. They know something and are going in for blood. Our defense is not that strong. We need more income than we can fake to cover all of that." Dave said. Crap.

"Well what does he want?" I asked

"A piece. A large one." Kathy said, re joining the conversation. Dave followed up, "They don't have a legal claim to it, but with enough pressure they could tie our hands and bog us down in legal fights till we choke on them. It's even worse for us because we are actually guilty of what they are going to push us for. Then they get a bought judge to force a sale of assets. Of the real company, not the one we rented the land from."

"It shouldn't matter though? We don't actually have any tech. We can just have Nola eat the flower and move out if it gets that bad." I countered

"Not really a good defense against a judgement." Dave said, "We could be arrested for that."

"What sort of jail are we looking at?" I asked. I'd never been, but I think I could handle it. Especially if Nola follows.

Dave cope laughed before continuing "6 months per count, plus whatever the judge throws at us for contempt. And it would destroy your reputation forever. I would be disbarred, probably do 1 to two months. We could argue ignorance for the others. We would not get any of the contracts we just developed." He said back to me

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Then we get a cut out and run the business that way. I was never the best face of this thing anyway. I am just doing this for Nola." I said. Dave frowned at that.

"Let's not shoot straight for jail. There may be something we can do about this. Cyrus may be moving aggressively, but he isn't all powerful. If we can stall him long enough to... fix... things, we can maneuver ourselves out of his reach." Kathy said. She was pissed. More pissed than I had ever seen her. I noticed for the first time that her mascara had run out of the corners of her eyes.

"You want to work with that ass hole after he assaulted you? Hell no. I will not allow it." Dave rage whispered back

"It's the best option and we both know it. It will make it all the sweeter when we stab him in the back. Besides..." She said while pulling her hair back into shape. "I wanted to play power games, I can't quit first time it gets ugly. I have to get even first." That was a scary smile.

Dave was turning red, enough that I could see the change in the dim florescent light of the burger sign. He was not happy with the way that had gone. He wanted to go punch Cyrus in the balls, not smile and work with him. It's what I'd do. But I would never cut it as a lawyer.

As I was pondering that, a jolt came through the connection between me and Nola. We weren't connected, directly at least. And I still felt it. Not good.

"We need to talk this closer to the street. I need to re connect." I said and started moving before the rest of them responded

Nola, you there bud? Are you ok?

why would he do that

Do what? Are you all right? What happened?

I didn't get anything back in words. Sadness and shame through the bond. I would have to keep half a mind on that, listening and comforting while I finished up here. After that, I would likely need a deep dive into the connection to see if I could help.

"Is Nola alright?" Tyler asked, slightly panting as he caught up. I hadn't been that far away from him, why was he panting? Was he running after me? I saw Dave and Kathy jogging towards me, hand in hand. They were in almost the same space I had been a second ago.

How fast had I been moving?

"I think someone died. I don't know who or where. But I felt a lot of energy pulse through before. And now Nola isn't being responsive."

"Hurt?" Dave said during an exhale as he arrived.

"Physically, I think she's fine. The rest, I don't know. I'm staying attached and listening. But we should continue."

"Fine. Who are NOAA?" Dave asked.

"No idea, something government by the sound of it and the dudes behavior." I said

"I knew it." Tyler said definitively

Dave started slapping him about the head. Brave move all things considered, but Tyler took the beating and backed away like he wasn't holding a pistol.

"Enough." Kathy said at her husband. Her phone was in her hand. She was probably looking up NOAA. That... probably would have been a good idea to do earlier, wouldn't it. Oh well. It is happening now.

"Its a glorified weather station." Kathy said while illuminated by the phone screen. Still scrolling furiously. "Of all people why are they catching us?"

"So the weather people found us. OK. What did they want?" Dave asked

"They wanted to know what our intentions were with California. They knew we had moved into there today. Also... I think the gal who they were with saw me as I was placing all the heavy equipment." I said with some shame

Dave gave me that 'disappointed father' look again. I hate that look.

"Any reason you failed to mention a potential witness to the cover up of our crimes? Do you want to give me an aneurism." Dave said

"She was far enough away! And I just thought she was flirting." I said

"Ha, honeypot. Classic shadow government." Tyler said. Dave raised his hand to slap him again and he flinched, returning to silence.

"Did they give any indication how they knew?" Dave asked

"The air monitors they have all over the country." Kathy said as she held out her phone. The static map showed little red dots all along the highways.

"And they noticed with that? How." Tyler asked

"Nola. She must have been cleaning the air around her dungeon with her plants. And since she's mostly on highways..." I said

"The air pollution dropped. You should ask her about that, when she's back." Dave said

"Ok, so the air is cleaner. How does that lead them to us?" Tyler asked again.

"I don't know, maybe bad luck. I am sure we can ask them. Assuming they aren't here to arrest us." I said. I really hope they aren't.

"Where are they?" Kathy asked

"Hovering near the wall. They said they would wait till after the party to speak." I said.

"I'm going back in, I will see if Dominic knows them. He's the highest ranking and best environmentalist in the state. If anyone knows them it would be him." She gave Dave a quick peck on the cheek and started fixing her makeup in a compact as she walked. I hope she gets something

"I am going with her. I think we are done here. We should plan on speaking again after the guest leave. We need to talk with the government people, not shadow government Tyler, and prep for our meeting with...Cyrus." He said putting all his distain for Cyrus on the last word. "We need to be present at our own party, people will start asking questions otherwise. Lord knows we don't need more of those" Dave said

Leaving just Tyler and I behind in the dark.

I sat down on the curb, keeping one foot in the road. Still nothing from Nola.

"She doin ok?" Tyler asked above me.

"Not really. But I will let you know when I know more." I said as I pushed the bond some more. "We were doing so well there for a second."

"Yeah, maybe, but this was always gonna happen. That's why you had me design your kick ass fortress." Ty said as he put his gun away. "All in, I expected worse."

"How?" I asked in disbelief.

"The Cyrus guy is a dick, but he's just a dick. Sure he's got some money. But if we want to you can just collapse his office on top of him. Or zip in using Burt and shoot him. Or have Verdandi eat him" Tyler said with a smile

"Why does everyone think he eats people? People have been saying that since he got here and he's been eating the same stuff as the rest of us." I said with a chuckle

"He looks like a werewolf dressed up like a tiger. I'm just going with my gut on this one." Tyler said

"And now he's in a bear suit. We just need to get a lion involved somehow and we can get the trifecta complete" I said, humor returning

"Quadrifecta, I'll see what I can find." Tyler said with a devious smile

"And what about the government? If anything I would expect that to be weighing on you more than me." I asked

"The chick was in a cheap red dress?" He asked.

"Yes. How'd you know?" I said back

"She was out of place. Younger than everyone else around, not moneyed, and she was too curious about the machine while pretending not to be. At least the other people who were excited were honest about it. I flagged her and he boss a few minutes after they walked in." He said. Sometimes you still manage to surprise me Ty

"Ok, so they aren't good spies. Still doesn't explain why you're calm." I said back

"They aren't good. They can't be part of the shadow government unless you are a master of your craft. They're just a normal set of system pigs. I'm not a fan, but I'm not too worried. So long as they didn't leave to big a trail we can just give em the same treatment as Cyrus, ya know, if it comes to that." He said. It sounded like he was joking

"Still not interested in murder" I joked back

"But this is just good old self defense buuuddy" he said drawing out the last word humorously.

We both sat staring at the street chuckling at the bad joke

After a beat I asked "Got any tips on grief counseling?" The Nola thing was weighing on me

"You are on your own there." He said back. Of course not. "Wanna head back?"

"Might as well. Close out the night strong. At least it can't.." The smack upside the head was warranted.

I almost said it again.

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Vahin

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"How many have you deciphered acolyte?" The black robed figure asked. No one dared look at him directly

The cost of failure would be high.

"We have found the 4th layer master." One exceptionally brave or stupid acolyte said timidly

"And the points?" He questioned

The brave one was silent this time

"ANSWER!" The shout filled not just the room, but our very minds. His focus drew on one unlucky soul.

"sss..ssix..teen sir." She said stuttering

"And yesterday?" He asked the room as a whole

The answer was not ideal. We had not discovered a new point since yesterday. He knew that.

"The symbols were deliberately obscured, and poorly made. if we could only...."

He lashed out in anger and several of my compatriots were nothing but smears on stone. I survived on luck alone.

"I will be back in the morning. And if there is not progress the next group will take notes using your blood as ink and bones as quills." He said as he turned and left without looking back

An air of quiet, determined desperation settled over the room.

And all remaining members got back to work