Chapter 10

"You're saying I can have all this stuff? Plus the info chips when this run is over with? You guys can't use this and to get anything out of it we'd have to sell it. I'll tell you what I'll do. I know where I can turn these chips around. I'll copy they and sell the copies and I think I can get us nearly as much if not more for them as a good fence would give us for the Deck plus the chips. Not only that, I'll check these chips out and debug them so they'll be clean copies. That way we'll all still share in this find."

Looking at the others for conformation, Blake looked back at me and said, "Deal!". They were happy and I was ectatic.

"Put away all your toys and let's get some sleep. Tomorrow we want to hit the other two addresses for de Chateau and see if we can find some additional information. I need you people rested and alert. Normal watches," he said as he left.

The next morning we headed for Auburn, the closest of the other two addresses. It was in the Berry Dale area not too far from the Federated Boeing Facility. We were dressed like mid level Corps so that we would blend in with the people in the neighborhood. This time we pulled straight into the driveway like we were supposed to be there. With the Maglock Passkey Dane had us inside before anyone could react and we went in hot.

Again there was no one there. After checking over the place I headed for the location that had the telecom. While the others looked over the rest of the house I checked that area for anything I could find.

I found a drawer with several loose chips, another chip holder full and no hidden compartment. I disconnected the telecom after gathering all the chips and then started to check the rest of the room carefully. From our Tacoma visit we knew that he like to hide things so we looked carefully to find what he hid.

This time it was a chip case and several credsticks that were behind a panel in the bookcase. When I moved some of the books off of the shelf it slid open.

The others found a couple more weapons in the bedroom and a couple more credsticks. This guy wanted to be armed and have money available. After wrapping the telecom in several towels and one of his coat to cushion it plus disguise its shape, I placed it in a carrysac. We took the other things and left. Placing the sacs in the trunk of the car we headed for the Snohomish area where the last address was located.

This one was in the Edmonds area, again a middle class neighborhood. We had no way to tell what type of work the neighbors might do as there were several large businesses in the area. Not only that, the way he moved about he could be passing himself off as a traveling salesman of some sort. This time we had a problem. Someone had gotten there ahead of us and had trashed the place.

As before I looked until I found the room where he had his telecom and that's where I began my search. The telecom was junk, I couldn't save any of the memory. What data chips that had been found were crushed. I continued to check around that area while the others spread out to see what they might be able to find. Whoever had taken the place apart knew about de Chateau's fetish for hidden places. They had torn the desk apart, no books were in the bookcase and their backs had been ripped off, the chip files were dumped out and smashed, the room had been taken apart.

They had nearly found what they were looking for but not quite. When I straightened the desk lamp it rattled slightly. It had a large weighted bottom that didn't weigh as much as it should. I started checking and found out how to take it apart and there was room enough inside for a chip holder. When I looked inside it there were a full bin of ten chips inside. There was also two credsticks. I stuck these in my pocket and walked out to join the others in their search. They had found nothing, no weapons, no additional credsticks, nothing. I told them what I had found and we got out of there. We were just turning the corner when we saw another car come screaming up to the house. Several people were jumping out of the car as our view was cut off by the houses.

As we drove along we got to talking about the three places that de Chateau had stayed. "Did you guys notice that in all three places he had books? I mean old style paper books. Most people only have books on chips, they're easier to store and to handle," asked Dane. "There's no mention of him being a Decker yet he has a top of the line Deck and chips that 'Coon says take forever to program. Also each place had top notch telecoms not just a comm line. From the chips that I've read so far he even has a back door into Togiwara which isn't easy with their people always looking for such things. There's a lot more to this guy than meets the eye."

"What I can't understand," I commented, "is why they trashed the telecom and the chips? Why didn't they take them along and check them over like we did?"

The more we discussed all the enigmas the more confusing this thing became. We dropped off Dane and Cain so that they could check with some of their contacts and to pick up some more supplies. I also asked them pick up a few things for me and Blake and I returned to Tacoma.

After unloading the car I took everything into the den and started working. The first thing I did was slot the credstick from the two locations. Sure enough we had two more names to check on for possible additional locations, Allen House and Alaric Strass. After making a note of the information I would need to check these names out I checked them for amounts. Between the seven credsticks there was nearly 192,000 nuyen. Even if we just cashed in the credsticks we would each get over 48,000 nuyen and with the weapons, Deck and chips it came much higher. There was a lot of money in this operation.

When I pulled up the info from the Smart Frame there were two locations for Alan Manor that we didn't have. I pulled them out and then changed the name and search info and reinserted the chip to look some more.

With that out of the way I started to check out the chips from the Deck. I had to do a line by line read on the programming but that doesn't take as much time as writing the original program. It was taking me a little over two hour per chip and I was working on the third one when Dane and Cain returned and so far I had not found any traps.

They had a different car this time. To keep the rear yard from becoming a parking lot they moved Blake's car and Cain's car into the garage. I went out to help them unload so I could stretch and relax a bit. Sitting before the terminal screen and going over a program hour after hour can be hard on the back. After taking the things they had gotten for me into the den I returned to the kitchen and started to fix a nice dinner.

With Dawn Bird working all the time I had learned to cook in order to survive. I would have dinner ready by the time she got home and then we would clean up the kitchen together and go over our day. Somehow it didn't seem as much like work as it did mutual sharing. Uncle Jack, her husband had been killed in a stupid accident shortly before I had gone to live with her. We had helped each other over come our mutual grief. The talks while cleaning the kitchen were where we started and it became habit to recap our day during this time. That was one of the things I missed the most when I moved out.

When the others started to help I looked at Cain's hands and shook my head. He looked sheepish and washed them. As we worked on our meal they told us about the information that they had gotten from their sources. From Cain we learned that Basil Leafcutter, the Elven mage, was also a high up advisor to the Ruling Council of Tir Tairngire as well as working with the Seoulpa Council from time to time. It very well could be that the Seoulpa was just a cover. From Dane we learned that the captured Elven muscle, Simon Voltaire, was known to work with Jarred Windsong, an Elven Sioux, who was also the leader of a breakaway branch of the Ancients, the Elven Go-gang here in Seattle.

By the time we had learned all of this dinner was ready and while we were eating I told them about the two additional locations I had found, the two additional names I had pulled off the credsticks and the amount of the seven credsticks. We discussed the money and all the alias' while we ate.

It was decided that the other three would hit the two locations I had found while I stayed behind and checked over the chips we had already gathered. Cain didn't want to leave me there alone so before they left he called up a Hearth spirit. She was to watch over the house with me and keep me informed if we had visitors. After they left I propped a chair up under each doorknob to be on the safe side. I also took my H&K from the armory and took it into the room with me. I know how deeply I can concentrate and I didn't want someone walking in on me while I was working even with a spirit there to tell me.