[Irn0rchid]

"Sure, I can wait. No need for tea though, thank you." Rose idles about the store, alternating between looking at the various items up for sale and the AR feed from the drone showing the flow of foot traffic outside the building.

[Mercy Merchant]

The items in the store are very nice and have price tags that match, indicating that this is definitely not a place for the casual tourist.  The drone feed is showing nothing out of the ordinary outside the building.  A noise at the curtain gets your attention and you see Ni Ni emerging with a man.  The two bow to each other and the man nods at you as he leaves the shop.  Ni Ni comes to you and takes your hands for a brief moment.  "It is nice to see you safe.  I was worried when I heard that you had gone out the back door.  The alleys can be hard to navigate, especially to one not familiar to them.  Would you like to come back to my office?"

[Irn0rchid]

"Well one of the 88s was paying me a little bit too much attention on the main street for my liking, especially with what we'd been discussing, so I figured going out the back was best. It was... educational... but that's why I wasn't able to make it back yesterday. I did bring the item though, so please, let's go back to your office so you can give me your opinion on it." Rose follows Ni Ni back to the now familiar office where she places the ledger on her desk and sits down without comment, letting Ni Ni look at it at her own pace.

[Mercy Merchant]

Ni Ni reads several of the pages of the ledger before looking up at you.  "My, my.  Howard has been a very naughty boy.  It is usually considered very bad form to be taking notes about one's employer.  I would think this is probably meant to be his safety net, but such things rarely work out that way.  The Yak Oyabun probably does not really fear exposure but he would definitely take a dim view of Howard writing about him.  And most of this is so very unflattering.  No, I think it is more of a betrayal thing and that Howard is not going to like what his boss would do to him.  I will not bother reading more and would advise you to do the same.  I can certainly act as your go-between in this matter.  What are you hoping to get from this?"

[Irn0rchid]

"At this point, honestly, out from under it. Howard likely suspects we have it, or will certainly do so in the future, and we'd prefer not to have to deal with his attempts to recover them. Giving them to anyone other than the Oyabun has its own associated issues. Getting them to him though means there's little danger of him blaming us for wherever they end up and might even result in Howard being removed from the picture. Now, if he offered a gesture of thanks..." Rose grins.

"However, there's also another issue that's come up. Another hypothetical, let's say. Do you know anything about Flint Pharmaceuticals? They're big into engineered biowar products. There was some news awhile back that they might have... misplaced... some specialized anthrax clones. They denied it, of course. What if those samples were to turn up and someone wanted to be rid of them while causing the least amount of pain and suffering. What should that person do? Hypothetically."

[Mercy Merchant]

Ni Ni nods and smiles.  "I would think that he might be grateful for the book and for exposing treachery in his ranks.  I will see what I can do."  She listens to your hypothetical story and grimaces.  "This other bit is a lot more worrisome.  I am assuming that it is not really hypothetical.  How much did you find and was it with Howard's things as well?"

[Irn0rchid]

Rose frowns at Ni Ni's refusal to play along but quickly gives in, "Yes, it was with Howard's things. As for quantity, I'm not really sure how to estimate as it is contained in sealed vials, but the bag holding the vials is about this big." She holds out her hands and pantomimes the size of the sack.

[Mercy Merchant]

The other woman whistles.  "Quite a lot, then.  Would you be averse to turning them over to the KE?  I know a couple of good cops that would love to have this stuff off the streets and it would help their careers as well, which is never a bad thing if you want friends in the police force."

[Irn0rchid]

"I'm pretty sure we'd be okay with that if you can give assurances that it won't just end up in some corp's hands and leave us responsible for some atrocity down the road. I can deliver it and the other two ledgers whenever you're ready for them. And yeah, having KE owe a favor or two couldn't hurt." She grins.

[Mercy Merchant]

"Do you want to be the one that turns the rest of the ledgers over to the Oyabun and the bio-drek over to the KE?  After all, do you want them owing me a favor or you?"

[Irn0rchid]

"Uhm, I'm not sure we really want to come to the attention of the Oyabun, so I'm happy to let you take that one." She grins, "A personal favor from KE could certainly come in handy though, so I can handle that handoff if you set up the meeting?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Ni Ni nods.  "I can understand your reluctance and will make the arrangements as you wish.  I am assuming that I may keep this ledger to give the Oyabun a taste of what you have?"

With that, she looks at you and you get the feeling that the meeting might be over, but then her gaze lightens a bit.  "Am I wrong or are you bothered by something else?"

[Irn0rchid]

"If you think that's best, then sure. That's why I came to you. We didn't go through them in detail, so I'm not sure how representative of the other two that one is, but they appear to be similar at a glance."

Caught in the act of standing, Rose sits back down, "Bothered by something else? You don't think this is enough?" She laughs disparagingly. "Does she somehow know about Sian? Is that what she's getting at? There's so many factions down here I don't know if that's good or bad..." she thinks to herself. After a pause, she continues, "I'm not sure what you're getting at?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Ni Ni looks at you for a few moments.  "Nothing special.  I just have a good feel for people and it seems that something else is bothering you.  I could be mistaken, though, as certainly the ledgers and the poison should be sufficient reason to be concerned all by themselves.  I beg your forgiveness if I am mistaken as I do not wish to pry."

[Irn0rchid]

"Well, I did have that member of the 88's obviously looking for me yesterday when I left here. Is there something I should be worried about there? I've not had any dealings with them previously..."