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In a secluded table in the corner of the top floor of the club sat a small girl with a table full of empty glasses. She would look like easy pickings for the large, rather drunk men that wandered around aimlessly looking for women to pick up. This illusion was shattered when she would grin at one on the approach, her pointed teeth flashing in the strobing lights of the club.

Upon closer inspection she wasn't drunk at all, and was, in fact, looking for someone. Her pale grey eyes were dancing around the club, darting from face to face; in contrast to her body, which was slumped bonelessly in the booth's seat.

'Mr Johnson's late...' She voiced quietly, apparently to herself.

Across the club, a ghoulish looking man was standing in a dark corner. He nodded imperceptibly at the voice that spoke into his headware, his silver/chrome eyes scanning the crowded room icily. He looked so out of place, the pressing throngs of people had managed to leave a gap of several feet between themselves and him.

The ghoul's eyes finally settled on the bland face of a well-dressed corp-man that was headed for the small girl. For an instant the man looked over towards the bar, giving the ghoul a good look at his face. It was the man they were looking for.

"He's here. Headed your way."

Hideo had given this girl and her partner good marks, Abraham reflected, but upon looking at the small girl and her table of beer glasses, he might have been duped.

He mentally pulled up her dossier, reviewing the highlights as he made his was casually through the crowded club. Rade Selip. Metatype unknown, presumed elf. No street name. No cyberware. Adept. Young for her power level and connections. Partner: Tripp, the file on Tripp imposed itself over the last file, Tripp. No real name on file. Human. Extensive cyberware, full capabilities unknown. No further data.

Such useful files. Abraham shook his head, looking the girl over again. She looked completely wasted, collapsed in the booth like that. And her partner was nowhere to be seen. With a distasteful glance at the table he sat himself across from her and gave her his best, 'I'm here because I have to be, I can take my offer elsewhere' look. Which earned him a very surprising reaction from the girl slouched in the booth.

"You think I'm afraid of you walking away?" Rade leaned forward, suddenly awake and flashing her teeth at the suit. "You can't walk on us, it's bad for business." She smiled as he flinched away from her and the predatory smile. Her partner appeared behind the suit, making the corp-man jump visibly.

"Now, I think there's at least one more person to wait on, Mr Johnson, then you can begin your spiel."

Tripp turned his chromed eyes to the newcomer, nothing flickering across his face as the fixer's file on her popped in front of his eyes. She was the one they were waiting for.

Silently he turned to Rade and nodded

"Good, we're all here now. And I'm a busy girl, so make it to the point."

"Yes, well," Abraham was taken aback by the sudden shift from wait to talk and had to collect his thoughts quickly before the girl walked out. "I'm going to be honest with you, I'm looking for a distraction run. We've got another team out there that is going to be making the real deal happen, we want you guys to make sure that all the security is elsewhere."

"To the point. Good pet. I suppose there's other things that we should know about this run that will be filled in after we agree to it, correct?" The suit nodded, "Fine. In that case, the ghoul and myself are in. We will want all the information you have there, chummer," She leered, "Because if you don't hand it over, we'll just have to find it ourselves, and that could endanger your other team."

"Done. I'll give you everything I can to keep you away from the other team. Will I need to give all three of you files, or just them, Miss?"

Abraham turned to look at the late-comer expectantly. He didn't know too much about her, in reality, she had just been informed of the run and he hadn't had time to do his own homework on her. Trusting Hideo usually worked, but there was a chance...

He mentally shook those thoughts. Not the time for that.

"Good, good." Abraham handed each of the runners a small data-chip, which the ghoul slotted immediately and got a far-off look in his eyes as he scanned the data.

Abraham pulled a small pocket computer from his, well, pocket, and slid another chip into that, waiting patiently as the small machine hummed it's complaints about having to work today before projecting the information he wanted.

[{[The run is on the Aztechology Mall. Make as much noise as you want, casualties as well. We want the security to be all over you and not the other team.

In order to do that, we need you to stage your small riot on the south side of the mall, in the garage if you need to get some place for cover. Make sure that the security is unable to leave you alone. If Lone Star is called or another type of security that isn't the mall's, you have permission to slot and run, the only penalty being that we will dock half of the promised pay if the other team cannot succeed in their job because of the evacuation.]}]

There was more to the document, but that was for the runners to read on their own time, he just wanted to make sure they saw that disclaimer.

"Interesting. A slot and run clause. I haven't seen that before. I assume that it's preferred that we stay and tough it out..." Rade tilted her head slightly and lared at the suit man, "What happens if the other team frags up all on their own? Do we still lose our pay?"

She's a lot smarter than she looks... Abraham noted sullenly as the shark-toothed girl shook him down for all his information, "No, you will still get full pay that way. And other questions from the others before we have to call this meeting closed?"

Tripp glanced at Rade, a dark look in his eyes as he heard the suit cut his partner's negotiations short. That weasel either had something to hide or wasn't used to being out of the driver's seat. Either way he shouldn't have done that.

Tripp was reaching for the man's neck when Rade shook her head slightly, calling him off.

"No, the two of us are set..." Rade turned and looked the other girl right in the eyes, her predator's smile back to it's rightful place on her face, "You?"

"The pay is--" Abraham halted as his comlink began buzzing. He accessed the phone and stared off into space, "Yes sir, I'm in the meeting... No, I haven't seen the trid--" At this point his eyes bugged, "Yes, I see. I'll tell them at once."

Abraham came back to the runners with an unhappy look on his face, "We have a problem. The place that your run was supposed to occur at was just attacked by a loner, then some gang-bangers. We've had to call off the whole run, both of them." He shook his head, mildly irritated with the inevitable, "We will be giving you a severance pay for the waste of your time and ask that you not hold this against us... We will be back for your assistance in the near future." Abraham produced three certified cred-sticks from his jacket and set them on the table, the produced a portable reader, "The sticks should contain 62,500 nuyen." The reader agreed, "A quarter of what the original pay was going to be. I am very sorry for wasting your time."

Rade watched the suit stand, bow in a slightly awkward fashion and then walk away from the table.

"Well, damn. At least we got something out of this..." She looked at her partner for a moment, the pair exchanging silent words about how the meeting had gone and whether this whole thing was part of the plan. They both agreed that is was not.

"I guess that we'll be leaving too..." Rade looked around for a moment and hesitated, "Okay, I lied, we'll leave after a few more rounds... You gonna scram or what, girlie?"

Rade leaned back in the booth, a grin creeping across her face. "The mall can't be nearly as interesting as people think. Just the gang-bangers acting like nutters again. Like usual."

With a serpentine movement, Rade was out of the booth and headed for the bar, Tripp following behind her silently. He still had the effect of making people jump away from him, like whatever he was was contagious or likely to cause instant death. Even in this world, one that looked like him tended to bring out the fear in people.

The bartender handed the small girl her usual drink, double whisky neat, and the ghoul his Bloody Mary. Rade couldn't help but grin as ever the man that saw them the most of anyone in the club grimaced as Tripp downed the blood-looking beverage.

"What now, what now..." Rade muttered to herself as she waited for a barstool to open up.