“What the fuck, Blutschläger?!” Were Kaleb’s first words after he tore the blindfold off and jumped out of the garbage truck.

Blutschläger scanned the garbage truck before he responded. “Since Otto and Finn are not with you I assume things went poorly.”

“Yeah, you could say that!” Kaleb said as he stomped over to the well-suited man.

Blutschläger tensed up and hissed quietly as Kaleb hovered over him. “I… apologize if things did not go well. But I lost two of my employees.”

“And if I knew of the presence of security, I could have prepared properly.”

Blutschläger smirked, shaking his head condescendingly. “It is a government-protected dump site for one of the biggest tech companies in the world. Why WOULDN’T there be security?”

Kaleb was about to retort angrily when he noticed a shadow fall across him and Blutschläger. Turning he saw their driver standing there, not menacingly. But he shuffled and coughed wanting to make his presence known. Blutschläger saw his returning vendor and visually relaxed, pointing to Kaleb’s communicator on a nearby table Blutschläger went to talk to his man.

“Deiter, what happened?”

“It was Lesendi, sir. She arrested others. If not for lizard…” Deiter trailed off as Kaleb put his communicator back on and rejoined the conversation.

“Ahh, K-Tech Security. Not a frequent occurrence, but it happens.” Blutschläger said to Kaleb.

“Yeah, well, I can’t speak for the others but I didn’t gather much.” Kaleb sighed loudly as Roy and Daivor stood and hovered nearby.

Daivor tapped his chariot fondly while Roy gave a noncommittal shrug in response to Kaleb’s unasked question. Blutschläger didn’t seem bothered by their lack of success, he merely instructed Deiter to unload the garbage truck. He returned his attention to Kaleb and pointed to a nearby alleyway.

“The teams from the other sites may have had more luck. Now if you three will follow me, I have a worktable and some tools for you to use.” Blutschläger said leading the way toward the alley.

Kaleb begrudgingly fell in line followed by a floating Daivor and Roy. When he entered the alley Kaleb stopped a sigh. The opposite end of the alleyway had been sealed off, and they had transformed the narrow area between into a shoddy work area. Several large lamps lit the area and a wooden stool sat before a metal worktable. He noted briefly that it was like the one he used at home.

On the table and leaned against the alley walls were several power tools and a small generator. What depressed him is that the set-up was not that far from his lab. The narrow alley was just big enough to fit him and Roy side-by-side. As Kaleb and his two companions looked over the workspace, Deiter brought in their meager haul. Blutschläger gave Kaleb a curt nod and walked away talking into his wrist.

Kaleb looked over the bits and pieces of equipment. There were several bits of different colored metal and circuit boards, the arms he had grabbed, and six black and silver boxes with antennae. When Kaleb held it up for Roy to see, His assistant smiled.

“I found those in a one of the garbage mounds. They looked like they all contain transceivers, speakers, and channel displays. So I assumed they were two-way radios.” Roy explained.

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Kaleb nodded at his assistant. “Nice pull, it will give us something to work on at least. Though I don’t know how well, they’ll sell.”

“They should sell fine. Remember: Players that don’t join the HLO don’t get a wrist-mounted communicator.” Farrah spoke up from Kaleb’s wrist.

Kaleb nodded as he sat the six radios on the table. He looked over their meager winnings sighing loudly. The sigh caused Daivor to float over and ask.

“Do you think we should have brought the Enchantment Gloves.?”

“I don’t know, I was hoping to hold off on that and work out a better deal with Blutschläger.” Kaleb answered as he used a screwdriver to remove the back of a radio.

“Yeah, instead, you got in a shouting match. It may be better to hold off until later.” Roy smirked.

Kaleb looked over the inner workings of the radio as he nodded at Roy. “Yeah, well I wasn’t expecting to get jumped by creepy cat-lady.”

Farrah snorted. “What did you expect? You weren’t exactly engaged in honest work.”

“Yeah, but she said there was a legal way to go dumpster diving on their property. Are you aware of such a way, Farrah?”

There was the sound of furious tapping as Kaleb worked on the radios with Daivor and Roy’s help. He figured he could probably repair three or four. As he took a busted piece of circuit board and replaced it with one from another radio, he exhaled deeply. Working with his hands almost seemed to put him in a trancelike state.

“I can’t find anything on dumpster diving on K-Tech property.” Farrah said after her typing had stopped.

“So cat-lady was lying?” Roy asked.

“Or she was talking about an off-the-books deal.” Farrah said.

Kaleb connected the wires from a battery pack to the motherboard completing his first radio. “So K-Tech security is taking bribes under the table allowing scavengers to access their dump sites. But for whatever reason Blutschläger’s people didn’t pay up.”

Roy removed a transceiver from one of the faulty circuit boards and passed it over. “So we can’t go back unless we bribe someone or sneak in.”

Kaleb shook his head. “No, we pass the information on to the HLO then investigate the different dump sites. All I have to do is upload the video from my headband and we have proof that at least one of K-Tech’s security teams is taking bribes.”

“That… is surprisingly well thought out.” Farrah said surprised.

Kaleb completed the second radio and picked up the third. “Yeah, well, those dump sites are a hell of a resource. So if I can get in them in any way I want to.”

“And taking down a criminal element in the city is good for the whole community.” Farrah said.

“Yeah, that too.” Kaleb said replacing an antenna.

“Boss.” Daivor spoke up, drawing Kaleb’s attention to the alleyway.

Blutschläger was at the end of the alleyway flanked by three other Quinica. Two males and a female and they were all holding armfuls of junk. Blutschläger adjusted the cuffs of his expensive suit and asked in a quiet voice.

“Planning something?”

Kaleb glanced at Blutschläger and his associates before he went back to work. “Nothing that will affect your business. But will probably prove very lucrative for me.”

Blutschläger strode forward and squeezed his way next to Kaleb. Once he was beside Kaleb, Blutschläger picked up one of the new radios. After inspecting the radio Blutschläger turned to Kaleb and gave him a pointy-toothed grin.

“I thought I heard you mention K-Tech.” Blutschläger said.

Kaleb shrugged, trying to act natural, and handing Blutschläger the third completed radio. “Of course, we did just rob them. I was wondering about how one went about visiting those dump sites.”

“It is a long process. And they only accept the most… prestigious organizations.” Blutschläger said gathering the last radio and moving back to the alleyway entrance.

“and you just happened to miss paying your… membership dues?” Kaleb asked as he lifted one of the metal arms he had collected.

Blutschläger laughed. “HAHAHA! You could say that.” He turned to leave as his employees dumped off their hoard in the alley. Blutschläger paused for a second before saying. “Leave K-Tech alone. They are too big to be trifled with.”

Kaleb smiled wide as he dug through the new tech the Quinica had brought. “It’s okay, I’m used to biting off more than I can chew.”

Blutschläger laughed again as he walked away. His laugh echoing throughout the dark alley.