The carriage pulled up in front of a warehouse, that was in a long line of warehouses. A large bodyguard exited the vehicle, followed by his charge, Red Apna. Even though he was spotless, he still felt the need to dust himself off. He looked around, obviously trying to find someone. He walked up to the door of the warehouse to find that the door was fine; but the lock had been destroyed. Pulling on the handle, he was able to walk inside without anyone or anything to stop him. The inside of the warehouse was empty, completely empty. No one was around, so he felt at ease to break out his most lascivious smile. Putting on his concerned face, he turned and walked outside.

Coming down the avenue was Genia King, looking unconcerned and handsome as ever. She was flanked by a large man who carried himself like a swordsman of some skill, and another man who was just plain huge. Red waited for Genia and her partners to come close enough to speak. He maintained his dour look, and it bothered him that she still seemed quite content.

“Mistress King, so sorry to be meeting with you under such circumstances.”, he said while nodding at the door of the warehouse. “It seems that you’ve been cleaned out.”, he said in his most fatherly tone. “I saw the broken lock and thought it best to have a look. Not only are all of the products that you transported from your recent supply run are gone; but they seem to have gotten the items that you keep in emergency inventory.”

“Is that so?”, she asked gaily, “I just looked, a few minutes ago, and everything seems to be in order.”

“Genia, I know that you are concerned about not having the capitol to cover such a loss; but you must grow up and face reality. You’ve been robbed, and you have a commitment to the trade group that you will not be able to meet.”, he was in full scolding mode. “It’s more than a breach of contract young lady, you will have to go before the board.”, he stepped a bit closer, tempting the giant behind her to make a move. “They will be fully within their rights to revoke your charter. Your protected markets will be divvied up amongst the other members.”, he had the slightest hint of a smile on his lips.

“That would be quite a calamity! We should check together, to see which of us is correct!”, she said calmly. He turned towards the warehouse, while she turned to head down the boardwalk.

“My dear, your warehouse is right here!”, he spoke to her like she was a child.

“No Red, my warehouse is down here a few. See that sign?”, she pointed to the number painted on a board that was mounted high above the door. The sign had the number ‘7’ printed on it. “My warehouse is number ‘3’, not ‘7’, you silly man!”, she lead them all a couple hundred feet down the road till they were in front of another warehouse that had sign with the number ‘3’, nailed above its door. “See, just like my charter says, I have warehouse number ‘3’. Let’s look inside. She pulled out her key that hung from a long iron chain. It of course fit the lock and let her in easily. She walked in followed by the rest.

The warehouse was stuffed to the gills with crates, barrels and finished goods. “Noaka, please hand me a torch.” The giant pulled a torch from a wall cradle and got it lit. She took the torch and led them down an aisle at random, putting the light close to a crate. The crate was marked with a stylized crown. “See!”, she said. “This crate bears my mark! In fact, every crate in this building has my mark. I will have to re-do my inventory though. It almost seems like there are a couple hundred more crates than I remember having.”, she said laughingly. “What can you say, I’m just a girl, right?”

“This is impossible!”, Red sputtered. “This is not your warehouse. Your warehouse was robbed, you are liable!”, his face was turning beet red.

“Listen here Red!”, no longer using her friendly female tones, “This building is marked with a number “3”, my paperwork all says building “3”. All of my stock is intact, marked with my seal.” She got in his face. “I may have been born at night; but it wasn’t last night. When we go before the board in a couple of hours, you will verify that King House is in full compliance with our obligations.” She stood there as he fumed, quietly to himself, then turned to walk back to his carriage.

“Red!”, she yelled after he had gone a dozen feet. He turned. “If you are thinking of tracking down and punishing that idiot Era Rutendo, start looking at the bottom of the bay.”, she nodded her head in the direction of the sea. He looked horrified, shocked, then turned and walked quickly back to his ride.