The Blood Market Chapter 14

"So you said that you knew what June meant?" I said to Harbinger as we left the Sun Yat Sen Club.

"It's not what it meant, but who." Harbinger answered, "I realized from our conversation with Zhang that people will do dangerous, even suicidal things to protect their loved ones, their family. I went looking for missing person reports including the name June. I had Rudy zero in on wealthy missing persons based on what we knew about the victim. and lo and behold, a name popped up. June Albrecht-Price; a young girl of eight years who went missing along with her mother, one Julia Albrecht-Price, a few weeks ago."

I raised an eyebrow, "Albrecht-Price was the name that came up? Didn't your sister just say that the head of the Song of Perun was some guy name Gunter Albrecht?"

"Yes, and he was mentioned in some of the reports Rudy found. I didn't think much of it until Cassie added that little gasoline fire to the equation. Apparently this is his sister-in-law."

"So, this was somebody leaning on Mr. Gunter Albrecht then? Or a revenge killing, blood feud and all that? Presumably this relates back to him." I said.

"Oh yes, I very much assume so. Li Jing is now dead. Gunter Albrecht has seen his sister murdered or likely rather induced to commit suice to keep her daughter from harm. This stinks of a gang war. The commentary of the Red Flag Fleet folks who attacked us suggests that the war is at least partially between the Red Flag Fleet and the Sons of Perun. But then the matter of los Hijos de la Guerra and the Hummingbird lurk in the background. Zhang mentioned this Hummingbird, as did our Mr. Buster Brand. He seems affiliated with los Hijos, but they have been back and out of the way during all of this. They have been present by reputation alone, and I do not know why."

"Wait a minute," I said, "Brand must be los Hijos, because he answers to the Hummingbird, correct? And it was Brand that had been ordered to watch the child, the one we think was June. And June is the niece of Gunter Albrecht. What is the motive behiind that? Antagonizing the Sons of Perun?"

"We are missing pieces to the puzzle. Control of the human smuggling market seems at the center of all of this. I'm still at a loss regarding the suicides, some piece of the grenade are missing. I can see the damage caused by the shrapnel, but not the shrapnel itself."

"That's morbid metaphor."

"But apt I think. We have walked into a room where a grenade has detonated. People are lying dead around us. And now we have been asked to determine the make of the grenade by examining the damage and working out from the spray of the shrapnel what the thing looked like before it went off. "

"People are still dying." I added, "It would be more apt to say that we've been sent to a mine field to find out what kind of mine went off, but have to do so without setting off the mines still in the ground."

"Oh, very good, I like that better. I mean not living it, but I think that it better describes our situation."

As we walked I noticed that Harbinger had turned away from the Baker's district. Streets became fancier and buildings grew more upscale as we continued.

"So where are we going?" I asked.

"Mr. Brand chased young June back towards the wealthier parts of town, but not the fanciest, near where your new girlfriend lives. But the young girl doesn't live in that area. I had Rudy do a little research. Julia Price married up quite successfully from nouveau riche to old money. The Albercht family is one of the very old German descended families that controls so much of the Mountain District. The Price family, on the other hand, made their money by attempting to revolutionize larger scale beekeeping to decrease the number of hives lost to things like mites and parasites. They haven't quite succeeded onthe scale that they wanted, but they made a fair bit of money, and have done well enough to by a house near Mrs. Darrington and her daughters. They own several houses, as it happens, and just moved from their original home in the district into a newer and fancier home- probably thanks to Julia marriage to Gunter's brother."

"So she was running for the home she grew up in you think?"

"I do, and based on Mr. Brand's method of hiding in homes of that sort, I suspect we will find the young girl in the walls."

"How will we get in? Walk up and tell them that the missing child of their dead relative his maybe possibly hiding in the walls of their old house? Do you have anything other than a hunch on this?"

"Wouldn't you want any help you could find in order to save your daughter or niece?"

"I wouldn't want a manipulative stranger digging through my house on a promise and guess."

"Then I guess we'll have to sneak in."

"breaking and entering. Brilliant. How could that go wrong?"

Arriving a the house in question, Harbinger instructed me to look for tracks and evidence of a child sneaking in through an avenue other than the front door. This took very little time. Children generally lack training in counter tracking, and we soon found ourselves looking at a side window.

I pointed to the window, "That window's been forced open from the outside, and those are June's tracks beneath the window. Your hunch seems correct."

Harbinger nodded and marched around to the front of the house. I followed.

"Do we have a plan?"


"Follow my lead," Harbinger said as he approached the door.

Harbinger knocked loudly on the door and then pulled the bell and waiting. We waited nearly three minutes before the door opened and a hispanic couple in serice uniforms answered the door.

"Hello sir, madam? Are you my clients?: Harbinger said, speakinga little louder than I thought necessary.

The two people looked at each other and then back to Harbinger in clear confusion.

"I see that you are not, my apologies. My name is Professor Freeman Harbinger, perhaps you've read my pamphlets upon supernatural possession or haunting of a location by unquiet spirits? In either case, the owner of this home contacted me through an intermediary and asked for my assistance in performing an exorcism in order to remove an excessive amount of negative energy and the accompanying malicious spirits residing within the walls. The ritual should take no more than two hours, and then location should be safe to inhabit after that. I am impressed by your loyalty to your employers staying in a house so heavily haunted by such vicious spirits. you must have very strong auras to resist the nightmares. You haven't been too put off by the sounds in the walls have you?"

The two looked at each other and then back to Harbinger, their faces registering visible growing alarm.

"They should be entirely incapable of possessing human beings based on my initial investigation. In fact I estimate less than a forty five percent chance that the spirits will attempt any violence at all during the exorcism, it should be almost totally safe as long as you don't show fear. In fact you would be welcome to stay and watch, and perhaps assist in the rituals if you like. It's a very good show, very little blood and only a littel screaming from beyond the veil. So how did you want to proceed."

And thus we found ourselves inside the entry hall of a home that didn't belong to us, while the house staff waited outside huddled together like children. On a low table in front of us sat a large heavy wooden casket that appeared to be made of hardwood, making it very expensive.

"How did you know that would work," I asked as we began looking through the house, from room to room.

"Did you see the brooch with the occult looking pattern that the woman was wearing? That was the veve of Ayida-Weddo, one of the Loa of Haitian Voudou. Practitioners of Voudou understand the dangers of spiritual possession and uncooperative spirits."

"We aren't looking for a spirit." I pointed out.

"Details." Harbinger said.

"What happens when the owners come home?" I asked.

"I'll handle it."

"Well," I said tapping the casket, "I guess we understand why they were so ready to believe in unquiet spirits. Followers of Voudou minding a house witha coffin in the front room. Who's in here do you think? Is this relevant to our business?"

"Let's check!" Harbinger said, prying up the lid and swinging it open, hinges locking into place and nearly tipping the casket off the coffee table. I flinched and waited until the table had stopped swaying before I approached and looked into. The man inside the coffin looked a great deal like Gunter Albrecht, right down to the mustache. He had been dressed in a similar cut of suit, but without the pin-stripes. The body appeared serene, save for the missing eye balls and the poorly concealed entry and exit wounds on his temples."

"I'm guessing that was June's father then?" I said cautiously.

"We should start looking for June," Harbinger said and then nodded, "I'm starting to sense a pattern in all of this."

"Really?" I said, joining him in the search, "Just now? Maybe I should be the senior partner."

Harbinger turned away and began knocking on the wood panelling of the walls. We swept the entry way and moved into a nearby drawing room.

"I mean, that I can feel the pieces of this whole great flying mess fitting together. The picture isn't clear yet, but I feel that I am very close."

"Well, when you find it, let me know," I answered, running my hands along the walls feeling for seems.

"Maybe," He said with a grin.

Eventually we found the room with the window through which June must have entered. Muddy tracks had been ground into heavy rugs and streaked across the hardwood floor. I followed the trail to a laundry room, and then to a panel of wall with concealed hinges and wear on seams that should never have moved, were the panel simply part of the wall.  I looked at the panel and then nodded quietly to Harbinger. I felt around, found a latch with little difficulty, and opened the panel. Sitting in the space in the wall, with her hands around her knees was a girl off about years old by appearance, dressed in a perrywinkle blue and white summer dress now stained with dirt and grease and blood and torn in at least a dozen small places. The hirls face and arms and knees all bore scrapes or purple bruises. Her hair had been strawberry blonde before this began, but was now grey brown from the mud caked into her half exploded french braid. As she saw us, she scrambled back further into the hidden chamber.

"Honey? Are you June?" I asked dropped to one knee to put myself at the right height to address the girl before me. She nodded, but didn't say anything. "We're here to help you."

"We're friends of your mother," Harbinger added

June scowled at Harbinger, "No, you're not. They took me and my mommy away and I had to run and hide. She said it was going to be okay. But it's not okay. She showed me the guns, but she still went away. Even though she didn't lose. And Daddy is in a box in the front of the house."

"You're right honey. We don't know you mommy, we're trying to help find the people who took her. My friend wanted to make you feel safe. Adults do that, they lie when they want children to feel safe. Can you tell me about the guns, the ones your mommy showed you? Can you tell us why she thought that they meant she would be okay?"

June was quiet for a solid sixty four seconds before nodded and crawling deeper into the compartment. After nearly one hundred and thirty seconds she called back, "Follow me."

Harbinger shook his head, "There is no chance that this belly is fitting through that opening. You will have to follow the child."

I smiled and nodded, "I'm coming June."

I dropped to hands and knees and squeezed into the compartment. I just barely fit and experienced a brief feeling of claustrophobia before emerging in a room that appeared had been constructed to serve as a panic room, probably during the Banner War. A small table had been mounted on the wood framing of the walls, along with two small chairs. On the table sat five beautiful custom built ornately inlaid flintlock pistols.

"When they let me talk to mommy, she would show me the new gun she had and would tell me that she only needed five guns to go home. She let me keep them when she got them," June held up and open hand with all five fingers displayed to make her point, "But then she got five guns and they wouldn't let her go, said she had to stay. Next time she saw me, she told me to run away and hide in here as soon as they weren't looking. She told me to run fast and hide and not look back. The guy they made watch me was a dummy so running away wa easy. But mommy never found me. I don't know what happened to mommy."

I looked at the flintlocks on the table, and tried not to visualize my only memory of June's mother. I confirmed with a quick examination that each pistol had been fired, but examination of the barrel showed something bizarre. The pistols had been fired, but there was no scraping to indicated that the guns had ever been loaded with anything besides paper wadding. The guns had all been fired without a lead ball ever being rammed down the barrel. My mind processed the information. Five guns. All fired. None ever loaded with a live round. Julia Albrecht-Price died of a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head, but all previous guns had been fired empty.

"They were making her play Russian Roulette." I said.

"What's Russian Roulette?" June asked.

I started, realizing I had spoken aloud. I paused a moment, and then answered, "A very mean game. We need to go sweetie. A lot of bad things are happening, and we need to fix them."

"I can't fix anything," June said.

"Not yet," I said, "It's our job to fix things, but we need your help to do it. My name is Dahlia, and the man outside is Mr. Harbinger. We help people, that's what we do. That's our job. And right now we need to help you, and we need you so that we can help other people. Can you come with us honey?"

After a moment June nodded and we extracted ourselves from the wall. I showed Harbinger the flintlocks and explained my theory. Harbinger nodded and opened his mouth to speak when movement out the window caught my eye and I turned to see what was happening. Outside, in fron of the house, an array of large men and women in sheriff deputy uniforms had assembled with pistols drawn.

"That looks like Constable Priest." Haringer said, eyeing the familiar figure at the front of the group.

"Are they coming to search the house?" I asked

"More like raid it," Harbinger said.

"Why?"

"Did they get a tip?" Harbinger asked, "I don't see Hurley with your ex-girlfriend. In fact the other deputies are all unfamiliar to me, and I know all of Hurley's staff."

"new recruits?"

"Unlikely."

"Conscripts?"

"More unlikely."

I raised an eyebrow, "Imposters? I do see more than one prson in the little army with 'Hijos' tattooed on their knuckles."

"That's a troubling thought."

"Shall we go out the backdoor?" I asked.

"Let's," Harbinger agreed.

Fortunately for us, Violetta had not secured the back entrance, and we slipped out and the front door slammed in. We stuck to side alleys as we made our way back tot he Baker's District, as neither Harbinger nor I was sure what this raid meant for us personally.

We arrived at harbinger's office to find a brown paper package stuck out from the mail slot. We opened the first door, and Harbinger pulled the package free and inspected the postage.

"It's from Rudy," He announced.

June jumped up and down trying to read postage, "It says its from a William Wentworth Wiggins from someplace called Wallaby Way." She said.

"Rudy doesn't like to his own name on documentation. He isn't a fan of formal systems of government."

"These days, I'm less of a fan than I used to be as well." I said.

Harbinger pulled out an archaic old pen knife from his breast pocket and slit open the package as we walked up the stairs. He peered into the oversized envelope as we walked back into Harbinger's war zone of an office.

"This is really messy. I don't keep my room this messy." June said, "I didn't think anybody kept their room this messy."

"I'm going to have to clean this, aren't I?" I asked, "You're never going to get this place in shape."

Harbinger looked up from the mass of papers and photos he had removed from the envelope, "Don't worry about that, we're probably about to get killed in the line of duty. So with any luck, neither of us will ever need to address the condition of our office."

"Until this place is clean, it's your office. What do you mean 'killed in the line of duty?', what did Rudy find?"

"Who's getting killed?" June asked.

"Hopefully nobody," I answered, "Harbinger, what did Rudy find?"

"Several things. He has followed a trail that leads to some sort of illegal event that seems to be occuring at horse track in the Arba District. And he has plenty of suggestive photographs of people going in and out of the place."

"Is that the location of our Russian Roulette game do you think?" I asked.

As harbinger nodded, I heard the sound of the lower door open, and then listened to the sound of pounding steps moving up towards the office door. I reached for my pistol. The steps stopped abruptly at the inner office door. A black shadow visible through the frosted glass began pounding on the door.

"Mr. Harbinger! I know you are in there! This is your fault! They have taken him!"

"Well get in here then!" Harbinger said, and I watched as the door swung open and the man with the pompadour and the burgundy pin stripe suit from the blood market stormed in.

"They have taken them both!" The man said,

"He's loud," June said.

"Mr. Hanjaya?" Harbinger said, his eye brows crowding together in concern, " I presume you mean your husband and your son? And, based on what you are involved in, and what we are investigating, I presume that 'they' means either Los Hijos de la Guerra or the Sons of Perun."

"Wei spoke to you. You convinced him to say too much. The Hummingbird cannot punish me directly. I am too useful. And so he will hurt me through my family. Because of you, he has taken my son! Because of you, my husband will play his game of death!"

"They've taken him to play the Russian Roulette game?" I asked.

"As a way to punish him for saying too much! And they've taken Ricky to force him to comply. He must play or they will kill our son!"

I stood up, "Or I kill him," I said, "I am going to stand over that monster's corpse and kick his skull in."

Harbinger stood up, "Go to my sister. Tell her to expect a communication from me. Tell her everything that you know. She will be able to protect you."

"Are you certain that she's not involved in this?" I asked.

"Absolutely. I'd make a deal with the devil long before she would. Her methods are dark and shadowy, but she doesn't compromise."

hanjaya looked between us and then spoke, "If you are serious, I can give you the location the nasty little blood sport. The next show is tonight. And so you must hurry."

Harbinger nodded and pointed to the address on Rudy's note, "Is this the location?"

Hanjaya nodded quietly, "Yes, how did you know?"

"My agents have been tracking people who could suddenly afford medical treatment," Harbinger answered, "And the trail led back to events held in that location, rich and powerful people go in the front door, the poor and desperate go in the back door. Only half the poor and desperate come back out."

"And this is what you're helping to run," I added.

Hanjaya nodded silently, and then suddenly seemed to notice June, "That is Albrecht's niece! How did you find her?"

"Clever detective work."

"She is the Hummingbird's leverage against the Sons of Perun."

"That sounds right," Harbinger said with a nod.

"Are we telling Hurley or Cassandra now?" I asked.

"No time to do that, and anyway, I have other reasons to leave their respective organizations in the dark for the moment. We don't know if you ex-girlfriend was acting alone or upon whose behalf she was acting when she raided that house. We have to assume everyone is against us right now. Leave me be. I need to write something. I'd prepare as though you were going to war Dahlia- because we quite possibly are doing just that."

I could have argued with him, but he had sat down at a metal desk. He stared at the mess and then swept the rubbish off the desk in a clashing clattering that must have been audible outside. June leaped back at the sudden action and stood behind me. Hanjaya sat quietly, looking sick. And June stared at me intently.

"If we survive, I will help you clean this." He said, "Now. If we have any chance of walking away you will need guns and knives and swords and whatever other nasty military toys you have left over from you days of service. And I? I will need paper and an ink well."

I looked around," You just knocked it on the floor and broke it." I said.

"Are we going to get in trouble?" June asked.

"I think Mr. Harbinger is always in trouble June honey."

"Oh, well so much for dramatics." Harbinger's shoulders slumped, "Can you find me another please?"

I shook my head, "Are you sure that this is the best option?"

He looked over at me, "We don't have a best option. I have speculations and gambles and if they are wrong, then we are dead. And if they are right, we may still be dead. I will tell you what you need to know, but please- as my partner- I need you to trust me. Anything that I keep from you know, I do in order to help our chances of survival. That's not a pleasant prospect for a soldier who's been so badly betrayed by commanders- I know. But if we survive this, you will see what I mean. And if you think I was wrong, and if we are still alive, I will apologize."

I found an inkwell on the ground that had survived Harbinger's dramatic flourish and handed it to him, "You're the boss." I said.

"No no no," He said, "I'm your mentor. If we find ourselves toasting our success tomorrow, then you will be nothing less than my partner- you'll have earned it."

And with that, Harbinger turned back to his desk and began to write. I nodded and stepped across piles of rubbish to my duffel bag and hard frame backpack.

"Are you going to get in a fight?" June asked me as I unpacked my gear.

"It does appear that we are going to start a fight," I said, "And from what Mr. Harbinger says, we may be in a lot of trouble. Bad people will want to do bad things to us."

"So you're going to kill them first?"

I removed the Ehrenfeld 9mm checked the gun,  chambered a round, and topped up the magazine, and then cocked and locked the gun and slipped back into my hip holster.

"Well that's not the first choice," I said, but I suspect that we aren't going to be given a choice." I removed my Wittegenstein .32 rimfire Pepperbox holdout pistol from it's wooden storage case and strapped on the spring mounted wrist holster and then holstered the little pistol. It would escape detection in a pat down, but still might surprise an unprepared enemy. The Eccelston T-handle knife was already in my boot sheath.

I picked up my .315 Mosin-Hayha Rifle, still in it's leather should carry case, and opened the case.

"That's a big gun," June said.

"It's not that big for a rifle, not really," I said, "This is the Mosin-Hayha. It's bolt action rifle originally intended for hunting, but it's really reliable and it doesn't break easily and when the rifle does stop working, repairs are much easier than on other rifles. The military issues Mosin-Hayha rifles because all the rifle designs that they commissioned weren't as good. This gun was designed based on two really popular guns from before the fall. This gun belonged to my father before it belonged to me. And he hired a gunsmith to make this gun even better than other Mosin-Hayha rifles."

The magazine my father had commissioned held fifteen rounds, where the convention magazine held only 5. I loaded the custom magazine into the rifle, and filled three standard magazines as a back up and strapped them into the bandoleer strap of the rifle case. I chambered a round and then topped up the magazine of rifle before checking the safety and putting the rifle back into the custom case- this time in the quick draw configuration. My sabre was resting against the back and I strapped it back on, I could apologize to Victoria if she found out, if I was alive to be sorry.

"You have a sword." June said.

"I do. This is a cavalry sabre. The blade is shaped for cuts over thrusts, because it's easy to cut when you're riding a horse."

I removed my jacket and drew my concealed armor vest from my backpack. In the heat of the dry season, the armor was truly unpleasant to wear- but so are gunshot wounds. I put on the vest, most of its protection came from small ceramic plates, and a certain amount of kevlar. the ceramic plates could deflect blades and bullets. The kevlar would only help again the small arms fire. The vest only protected my torso, front and back and lower torso on the sides, but that was preferable to nothing. I put my jacket back on, and now appeared to have gained ten pounds or so of unflattering weight. If they knew me, they might realize I wore armor- otherwise I was just a big woman. I was a big woman, a bigger woman then. I strapped on the shoulder carry case for the Mosin-Hayha. I turned back to Harbinger, who was sealing four envelopes. I watched as he wrote out the addresses on the backs of the envelopes.

He looked over at me and I saw his eyes widen, "Well that's a terrifying image. We might just get out of this yet. By the books of Solomon, you look like death come down to collect in person. Now, it's time to talk with our landlord. Young lady," Harbinger looked at June, "Would you like to meet a real live knight of New Jericho?"

June nodded and harbinger continued, "Now he's been a knight for a very long time and he isn't young anymore, but this man has fought for New Jericho longer than most people you know have been alive. That we are not under the thumb of the Bannerlands is partially his doing and you can thank him for that if you like. But treat him with respect, he's fought long and hard and earned the right to rest and enjoy his retirement. And since I'm about to drag him into yet another fight, politeness is important."

June nodded and Harbinger reached forward and tussled her hair.

"Mommy is never coming home is she?" June asked.

Harbinger opened his mouth and then closed it again without speaking. He turned away and then turned back and once again opened and closed his mouth in silence.

"Your Mommy is never coming home." I said, "Bad people took her away, and in order to keep you safe she made a choice that means she'll never get to come home."

"I miss her."

"I know. I can't bring your Mommy back. But Mr. Harbinger and I are going to go make sure no other Mommies have to make that same choice to keep their children safe. And we're going to make sure that the people who did this realize just very very bad a mistake it was to take away a little girl's mommy."

Harbinger gave one letter to Hanjaya with instructions to seek out his sister and ask for her protection.

"Talk with nobody else, not below her or above her in the chain of command. We cannot trust anyone else."

"I know that very well," Hanjaya agreed, "But can I trust your sister?"

"You can, Now go, before the noose tightens."

Hanjaya left, scurrying from alleyway to alleyway, trying his best to keep out of sight.
We found Harbinger's landlord, Sir Henry Barchester in his modest little suite. The suite sat across from Harbinger's, over a pastry shop that also paid Mr. Barchester rent. He opened the door, a small fragile looking man with a gentle smile and eyes that told people not to cross Sir Henry Barchester.

"Hello. Young Freeman, are you actually delivering your rent early? That would make a wonderful change. And who are these beautiful ladies by your side. I thought you were past all of that."

Harbinger smiled a thin smile, "I am past all of that. Too old for another kick at the can. Here," Harbinger handed Mr. Barchester the envelopes. "If we don't surface alive within a week or if we do surface, but not alive- well, you know the procedure."

"We? Are you dragging these ladies with you on your latest attempt to spit in death's face. Hmm, I imagine death doesn't have a face, at least not if he's the typical skeleton looking death. Hmm, I imagine death wouldn't ahve a gender either. Ignore me. I'm old. But why would you drag these two fine ladies to their doom?"

"I'm only dragging one of them to their doom. I apologize, I should have introduced you sooner. This is Dahlia Crowe, my new apprentice, new partner if we survive what's about to come. And this beautiful young lady is June, and she is why I am knocking on your door. The rent will have to wait to see if I am alive to pay it. If not, my will bequeaths the publishing rights to my pamphlets and books to you as a way of making up for past late payments and complications."

Mr. Barchester tilted a head, "We've done this before. You give me letters and then I burn them when you inevitably surface alive. Why the drama this time?"

"I can't tell you. Ignorance is my leverage in this case. Take the usual precautions, but in this case what people don't know- but might if I opened my mouth- is what's going to keep us alive if everything else goes wrong. But this young lady needs a place to hide. And I do mean hide.Tell nobody that she's in your care, don't even keep her here if you can help it. Put her somewhere nobody will check if they look for where I might have hidden here."

"well, good luck then young man. And young lady," He looked at me, "I would wish you good luck, but I suspect that you have run out of luck if fate brought you into young Freeman's employ. So I will instead tell you this- make the best of your bad luck and make the enemy wish they had not crossed you. And you young lady," Mr. Barchester looked down at June, "Do you by any chance play that wonderful African board game with the two lines of pockets and the chips that walk up and down the line things?"

"Mancala?" Harbinger asked.

"Yes, mancala." Mr. Barchester said. June shook her head and Mr. Barchester clapped two wrinkled hands clad in paper thin skin together in delight and continued speaking, "Then I must teach you. It's a wonderful game where the trick is to force your opponent to give you the victory by their own actions. You can't win by acting directly, but by making your opponent take bad moves. Wonderful fun, I'll teach you- we will visit a friend of mine. I doubt anyone will find us there. Run along Freeman, a pleasure to meet you Dahlia dear. June and I are going to explore military tactics through that classic method of learning by playing. Run along."

Mr. Barchester ushered June inside his suite and closed the door. Harbinger looked at the door as it closed and then nodded once and turned to face me, "Now, are you ready to get into a lot of trouble with substantial risk of bodily harm?"

"I'm a soldier, that's my job description. So now we go, find an illegal Russian Roulette stadium, confront a high ranking member of the Royal Commission about his likely ties to human trafficking and illegal blood sports, somehow come out alive, and then find a different way of earning Mr. Barchester's rent?"

"Something to that effect."