Where: Parking Garage, Top Level
When: August 11th, 2012
What: Bailey is rewarded with a bullet in the leg, when she passes over her misbegotten thumbdrive.
It has been a day since Bailey has contacted him. The Shadow. The one who gives her the heebie-jeebies at the best of times. She hasn't spoken to him in some time. Especially not since beginning her work at The Corinthian. But if she wants to know what's on that mysterious thumb drive, she could only think of the one guy to talk to.
It's late evening, a multi-story parking lot, level five, the top of the parking lot. It's always a different location with this guy, but she understands why. She stands near a lamp, looking around at the various surrounding buildings, the various casinos and hotels. She wears worn out blue jeans, a white shirt and a light, black jacket. Her hands are in her jacket pockets, waiting for the arrival of a certain man, who will hopefully man the wait worth it.
He's there, emerging from a stairwell, pausing as he seems to track across the top story and then make his way over to Bailey. It's been a while since she's seen him, but by all accounts, she's been behaving. Right?
Behaving….yes. That's exactly what she's been doing. Though if Bailey is here tonight, it can be difficult to tell. "Glad to see you still make it to your meetings." She takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly. "So, I need your help. And as I may have alluded to on the phone, it ain't my usual type of fare." She pauses, looking at the man quietly for a moment. "I need help decrypting an encrypted thumb drive. Don't know what's on it, but I sure as hell wanna find out."
"You aren't the only one" He replied, easing his hand out from a pocket, palm up and waiting for the drive to be produced so he can look at it. "Where did you get it?" Puzzled.
Hand slowly inching out of her left pocket, Bailey holds it up. "I'm not the only one as in…you're curious as well, or you've been hearing of others who want to decrypt encrypted thumb drives as well?" She too curious not to ask. She's sure that he's just curious as well, but she feels the need to ask. "Does it matter where I got it?" She asks in reference to his question. "And before we move forward with this work, I wanna know how much this is gonna set me back."
"Your life if you don't hand it over" She's holding it up, and he's holding up a gun. Pointed at her.
It's then that the hat is lifted off and face exposed. It's likely not her regular fence, the odds are pretty good that it's someone else. 'Tell me Ms. Lincoln, how badly do you want to live?"
"Well, this ain't how these meetings usually go." Bailey raises an eyebrow at the man pointing the gun at her. "Now, what would be soooooo important that someone would replace my fence with someone else?" Well, she figures he's not her regular fence. He's never shown his entire face to her for anything! Tapping the thumb drive gently on her chin, she says, "Maybe we could come to some sort of agreement? You see, I'd really like to know what's on this." She flashes him a wide smile. "Why don't we work together? We can sell whatever information is on here," she taps the thumb drive with her index fingernail, "and we can split the money, let's say seventy-thirty?"
Boom
The answer to her proposed splitting of money and not more than a split second later, there's pain in her thigh that matches up with the sound she heard. He raises the gun, leveling it at her chest. "The agreement is this. You give it to my compatriot who's standing beside you, and I won't shoot you in the chest. In fact, we might even drop you off at a hospital"
There is, easy enough to see, no one beside her.
A scream emits from Bailey as she drops to her knees, hand rushing to her thigh. She looks from her thigh, from which blood is seeping, up to the either side of her, before her eyes finally land back on the man with the gun. Her breath shakes as she breaths in and out through a clenched jaw. And, through that clenched jaw she spits out in anger and annoyance, "There's…no one…beside me." The hand with the thumb drive is clenched around the tiny device.
And then something is wrenching her fingers from around it, unpeeling with enough force that if she doesn't comply there's a potential for a dislocated if not broken digit or two until the drive is exposed. And then it's gone, disappearing from view, much like whomever was doing what they did to her.
"You'll be fine, you'll still be able to walk. A flesh wound as they say. I wish you had just passed it over. Now, did you make a copy?" The gun still leveled at her.
Wincing with pain as her fingers are forced open by some invisible being, Bailey's eyes widen as the thumb drive seems to disappear once taken from her hand. "What the…" She murmurs. "What does it matter whether I made a copy of that or not?" She scoffs. "I'm sure if you figured out how to get to me through my contact, you've probably got people search my stuff already." She chuckles, though there's no humour to it. "No. I didn't make a copy." Though she seems to regret that fact.
"Yes. It's an interesting hovel you reside in" And with those few words, the gun is being tucked away, a motion made in a circle above his head and he's heading for the stairwell that he came from. "I'll send an ambulance. Have a good evening Ms Lincoln" As nice as one can have when their leg has been shot. But already, one can hear the sirens splitting the air, on their way.