[Irn0rchid]

Rose stares at the ledger in her lap, stunned. "This... wow." At a loss for words she flips a few more pages, not really looking at them. "Well, this changes things a bit. There's no way he's going to let you walk away if he thinks you might have these... and if he doesn't have them, he's going to assume you do." She closes the book and taps her finger on the cover while she thinks. Finally, she turns to Elaine and raises her eyebrows, "So... how much do you dislike Howard? If there were no restrictions on you right now, what would you like to happen as far as your future and Howard's?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Elaine opens her mouth to reply to your question but closes it to think about her answer.  "Well, I certainly want to be rid of him.  I feel rather strongly that he is hoping that I give him what he wants so that he can run off somewhere and abandon me.  Even if the Yaks leave me be, I would have nothing to fall back on except for the bit I have saved.  Oh, he deserves to be punished.  What are you thinking about?"

[Irn0rchid]

Rose laughs, "Well if you really wanted to be rid of him, giving these to the Yakuza would that, although I suspect it would be in a rather permanent fashion. If you just wanted protection, I could arrange to turn these over to a rival organization in exchange for them providing for your safety. We could possibly make it look like the ledgers were stolen from the locker to misdirect Howard, but he'll probably always suspect. A third option would be to hold on to them and keep Howard away by threatening to release to the information. Some punishment might be arranged by selective use of the data, but we'd have to spend some time looking into that." She looks around then shakes her head, "Honestly, I'm a fan of option one. I've no love lost for Howard and having the Yakuza owe me sounds like a great idea."

[Mercy Merchant]

Wednesday  13 June 2075  1122  Downtown District Transit Terminal  Seattle


Elaine scrunches up her face in thought then nods.  "Yeah.  I think I share that thought, actually.  He never really gave me anything I would not have had if I had not married him.  The marriage was a sham almost from the honeymoon on.  He never hit me, mind you, but there was no connection and now it seems he cares so little about me that he is willing to leave me in the lurch.  So, how do we do it?  There will be Yaks coming over to the house on the Weekend.  I could let them know I have something I think belongs to them.  Would that work?"

[Irn0rchid]

"We can't be positive who exactly is coming on Saturday. I think a better plan is to take these home and go through them to find someone who appears to be high up the food chain and then contact them directly. The higher up we can go, the better, if we're trading for favors. Why don't we go home now and do that and then you two can come back here with some bags for the money while I go to my meeting?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Wednesday  13 June 2075  1213  Elaine's House  Seattle


The others quickly agree and you return to the parking garage and car.  Once home, Elaine leads everyone to the living room.  "Do you think it better to read these in the hidden room?"

[Irn0rchid]

Rose looks puzzled for a second, "Why? I was figuring we'd leave that room alone till the people came to look at it this weekend. The more we're in there, the more likely it is they'll know we were?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Elaine shrugs.  "I was just thinking of the privacy.  We don't need to move anything, but we won't be bothered by anyone coming in on us, either.  You have a different place in mind?"

[Irn0rchid]

"I was just figuring here," pointing at the coffee table, "the cook is the only staff member left, right? I guess we could go to one of the bedrooms, we've never been disturbed there." She grins.

[Mercy Merchant]

Elaine nods and you go to her bedroom and sit around the reading table there.  The documents are pretty detailed and mention a number of illegal activities.  The oyuban himself is clearly implicated in much of the crimes documented in the ledgers.  All three of you are reading similar stories, only separated in time.  The ledgers provide an insight into the minds that control the Yakuza in Seattle.  All too soon, your internal alarm tells you that you need to leave for your appointment if you wish to arrive on time.

[Irn0rchid]

"Wow, this goes way further than I expected. I'm not sure who the best person to turn this in to would be. Anyone shy of the Oyabun might be tempted to use it for themselves... Giving it to the Oyabun seems the only solution to that, but I'm not sure where to even begin getting in to see him. With this much dirt, I'm starting to lean more towards giving it to one of the rival organizations." Engrossed in the books, Rose starts when her alarm goes off, "Okay, I've got to go to this meeting. If we did want to give these to someone other than the Yakuza, this would be a good time to get that process started..."

[Mercy Merchant]

Elaine nods.  "That is certainly something to consider.  I should have known that the oyuban was implicated in these notes.  After all, he is...............or was................Howard's only client.  There must have been tons he saw or heard and we have barely begun reading.  I am almost scared to read too much more.  Good luck at your meeting, dear."

[Irn0rchid]

"I knew he was working with one of the higher ups, just didn't realize it was *the* higher up! I'll see if I can't explore the other avenue without tipping our hand. Are you guys going to stay here and read or go empty out the locker while I'm gone? Either way, don't leave those unprotected. If you want to put them in the truck while you guys do things, Robin, just let me know." Waving to the two of them Rose leaves the house and gets into her car, directing it to the same dropoff point as before, "This is starting to become a regular thing..."

[Mercy Merchant]

 The drive is uneventful and you arrive in Chinatown with time to spare.  Ni Ni's shop is full of tourists, but you get a slight nod from the girl behind the counter and pass through the beaded curtain, where you are met by the sort man.  He escorts you the rest of the way into the building, depositing you at the tea table, where you are joined by Ni Ni.  She sits and pours tea before speaking.  I am very pleased with our association so far.  Things have gone as well as they could have.  Here is your payment and a nice bonus for doing well under a bit of pressure."  She slides a cred stick across the table to you.

[Irn0rchid]

Rose smiles and reaches out to grab the credstick, mentally checking the balance as she slides it into her bag. "Things have gone well indeed. I'm pleased that you're pleased with my work. I hope that the piece you were able to secure met your expectations?" She pauses with eyebrow raised. "You mentioned that there might be further work pending?"