It took a few hours for Brad to finally accept that, for the time being, they were safe. The message from Jefe asked them to come to the meeting at the clock tower together, assuring that they would be left alone until then. Didn’t do much to address the broken window situation, something Brad was still quite irritated about, but he and Jolene decided together that now was the time to count their blessings, chief among them being safety.

While waiting, Brad decided his next order of business would be dealing with the body of the assassin. Something that was going to be a huge mess to deal with no matter how he approached it.

The man’s height was certainly a problem, as finding something large enough to smuggle him out of the building with was proving to be quite the challenge, Eventually Brad got the idea to wrap him in a blanket and a full roll of duct tape. Two things Brad wasn’t exactly thrilled to have to replace.

Outside the building there was a receptacle for recycling organic material, primarily used for mulch, some would be used for farming efforts beneath the colony, some to be sold off-colony. Material would be processed down to make decomposition easier, and it usually smelled like death anyway, so Brad felt reasonably assured that nobody would notice.

It didn’t make the premise any less disgusting, but that was just the beginning of his irritation.

Once the body was taken care of, Brad was going to end up spending a lot of time trying to scrub the blood out of his carpet. He got it mostly presentable by himself while Jolene focused on cleaning Elaine and getting her into some clean clothes (borrowed from Brad’s closet, naturally). However, he realized he was going to have to rent an industrial strength steam cleaner to get the stains completely out.

Once he was as close to satisfied as he would be, Brad collapsed on the sofa in the lobby of his office. Well, step one was complete. He didn’t feel like vomiting anymore, too tired, so step two was probably going to be skipped. Now for that stiff drink.

—

Eventually Elaine woke up, in slightly less pain than she was before, and before long Brad filled the others in on the plan.

“I don’t like it,” Elaine said. “It’s obviously going to be a trap of some kind. Why did you agree to this, Brad?”

“I’m not sure if it’s a trap or not,” Brad admitted, “On the one hand, an open area like the square would be a good place to ambush us. But on the other hand, it’s a really public area that would get in the way of any covert operations they’re trying to pull off there. Plus, I think if Jefe really wanted to get rid of us, he wouldn’t have bothered to meet us in person. We’re in the same place already. Blowing up the building would solve their problem with us in no time flat.”

“They’ve got a lot of people under their employ,” Jolene began. “You don’t think they’d want to hire us, do you?”

“I guess it’s possible,” Brad replied, with some doubt. “What would we be able to do for them?”

“Not go forward with what evidence we’ve already got,” Elaine muttered.

“I dunno,” Brad began. “The whole thing is fishy, I agree, but a meeting clear things up. Plus we’re dead if we don’t show up anyway. May as well just go for it.”

“I’m packing,” Elaine said, her tone suggesting that this wasn’t up for debate.

“Yeah,” Jolene agreed, “I don’t feel comfortable going unarmed.”

“That’s what I was hoping for,” Brad replied, nodding. “Especially since I’ve got nothing. Yet.”

—

The impromptu shopping spree might have gotten more attention than Brad was comfortable with, never mind how expensive it was, but Brad needed something.

Purchase one was a new jacket Brad had been eyeing for the last few months. It wasn’t as if there were seasons on the colony that would necessitate a variety of clothing options to meet the needs of an ever-changing climate, but the temperature within the dome was often lower than Brad would like.

Well, that was one excuse anyway. The truth is he found the style, a green military jacket with a variety of pockets on the front, side, and inside, to be a perfect mix of style and utility. Perfect for carrying a variety of tools and other knickknacks while investigating a case. Or, in this case, weapons.

It wasn’t much, but he was able to find a variety of self-defense items. s knuckles. A collapsible billy club. A can of pepper spray. A hunting knife. A dart gun.

Nothing would be lethal, except maybe the knife, but they would at least do in a pinch.

Elaine and Jolene got some new clothes as well, unsure of when, or if, they’d be able to go back to their own homes in the near future.

—

Eventually, Brad, Elaine, and Jolene found themselves at the meeting spot about fifteen minutes ahead of time. Even at this hour, there was still plenty of activity at the square, with people coming and going between different businesses or just relaxing near the tower itself. Brad thought the clock tower was a bit ridiculous in a colony that didn’t have much tourism, especially considering how everything else in the colony was very utilitarian in design, but it was charming in its own way, though Brad never got around to researching its history.

Brad looked around the square. Nobody looked particularly suspicious. Nobody looked particularly dangerous.

Eventually Brad sat down at a bench, resigned to the fact that, assuming Jefe was being honest, he would be along eventually.

“Mr. Asher, I presume?” asked a raspy voice behind Brad, startling him. Brad turned to see an elderly man with dark skin, wearing a dark suit, a fedora, and thick spectacles.

“Are…are you Jefe?” Brad asked awkwardly.

“Jefe? Is that what that fool had for my name in his communicator? I never understood Felix’s sense of humor,” the man replied. “You can call me Rami. Shall we begin?”

“Out here?” Elaine asked. “You’re not gonna take us anywhere?”

“Oh, this is fine,” Rami answered. “I have no intention of harming any of you. In fact, I mean to ask for your help.”

Jolene smirked. “I was right.”

“Look, we don’t want anything to do with this arms smuggling thing you guys have going on.”

“Arms smuggling?” Rami asked, raising an eyebrow.

Crap, did I accidentally give more information than I should have? Brad thought angrily.

“Wait, what are you asking us to help you with, then?” Brad asked.

“Why, I’m curious about the information you got off the hard drive. I’d be willing to pay a pretty premium for that information. More if you could provide the hard drive itself.”

“What do you plan on doing with it?” Brad asked.

“Why, there’s something in that mine. Something Matsumoto and his allies want very much. I mean to get to it first,” Rami said firmly.

Brad opened his mouth to respond but had to quickly rethink his response.

“Wait, you’re not on Matsumoto’s team?” Elaine asked.

“I suppose I should start at the beginning. Shall we head to a diner? I own one nearby where we can talk safely,” Rami said, starting to walk away. “Come on now, you don’t look like you’re well-off enough to say no to free food.”

Brad wasn’t sure how to process this, but he stood to follow, with Elaine and Jolene trailing behind.