2012.07.13.The.Courier

Shady Grove - Smoke Jumpers - The Bar

This early in the evening Smoke Jumpers has only a few people in. Not being a bar that specializes in Happy Hour or Ladies' Night, it is mostly populated by middle aged, working class men that handle the dirty, dangerous jobs around the docks. The bartender is lazily making his round, pouring boiler makers almost exclusively. Markus is alone in his customary booth, reading a large, leatherbound book. One eye is on the book, the other eye is on the door.

A hunched creature enters the bar, its features hidden by a long-draped cloak. Not particularly subtle, but then, Griggs does not have a plethora of options available to him in terms of disguises. The Ravnos moves towards where Markus sits, having been pointed in his direction earlier tonight, presumably.

Markus motions for the hunched figure to join him at the booth. Once Griggs has made his way to the table he pulls the curtain closed to give them some privacy. "LaVey told me he was sending another, I assume you are he?" the vampire asks as he slowly removes the glove on his right hand. The sigil of the Black Hand is shown, then the glove is replaced. "Tell me who you are, and what you can do to aid our efforts in the Crusade of Shady Grove."

Griggs takes the offered seat, pulling back the cowl of his cloak. "My name is Griggs, of the Ravnos Anti-clan. I am Proven to the Sect, and recently participated in a mass embrace and assualt against a bookstore the Camarilla were using as a front. I like to be in the thick of the action, though my proficiency is mainly diversions."

Mary comes on in, after a while. She moves to Markus and Grigg's table, bowing. "I see you have met another of us?" she asks quietly.

"Excellent. Our strength is not only in our resolve, but also our diversity of blood," Markus tells him in his thick arab accent. The creature taps his fingers on his table and nods at Marion. "Indeed I have, and I may have something for you to do." Reaching down beside him, he pulls out an iPad, flicks it on, and begins to manipulate its screen. "Did you have something in mind you would like to do, or did you want me to assign you something?"

Griggs nods, reaching out to look at the iPad. "By all means. What did you have in mind?"

Mary nods "I would be honored." the fiend says. "I am fine with observation. Though if there is something you need of me, I will fulfil it as well."

The iPad has on it a building layout and some background information on the Grove Towers complex downtown. "The brujah are sending a courier to deliver a message to the Giovanni Primogen. That particularly disturbed Kindred operates out of a suite of offices on the top floor of tower one in the complex," Markus explains as data scrolls across the screen in front of Griggs and Mary. "It is a letter suing for peace and disavowing any knowledge of the attack on the primogens favored Ghoul. They do not trust this letter to normal channels, and they are using a newly embraced Brujah to do the job. I do not have any reliable information on him, therefore you will have to identify him on your own."

Griggs thinks on this for a time, nodding his head slowly. "We should set up a watch outside the building. I'll rig a hidden camera best as I can out front to cover daytime. Night time, we should come up with a good cover to hang out and case the place."

"How you accomplish this is up to you. As he is embraced, I expect he will come at night, as the daylight would likely render final death upon him," Markus explains with a ghost of a smile on his face. "Most likely, he will be arriving tonight a few hours before dawn. To complicate things, you must not kill him nor let him know that you are Sabbat. I cannot stress enough how important that is. Now, when you locate him, you are to exchange his missive with one of our own." Reaching down again where he had his iPad, the arab pulls out an elegant envelope sealed with wax in an intricate pattern. "This should be an exact replica, save that it has a different message in it."

Van blows on in, dusty, dirty, and flaunting his suntan in an oil stained white wife beater. Goggles rest upon his forehead and his ever present olive drab backpack is clutched in his left hand, dangling, much like the guitar case was from his right. Plodding over to the table he stands a bit away, a respectful distance, with his eyes to the ground.

Griggs takes the envelope carefully, then reaches into his robe to retrieve a plastic baggie. Envelope safely sealed away, he asks Markus, "This Brujah--is he local to Shady Grove, or if not, do we know where he'll be coming from?" He shifts over as Van joins their conversation.

"The prevailing theory is he will be coming directly from the Brujah haven. Unfortunately, as with most of the Havens, it has not yet been identified. Our people believe he will be there, again this is not confirmed, between 3 AM and 5 AM when the tower is open but almost empty. In an effort to remain inconspicuous he may disguise himself as an actual courier, work with a delivery crew or driver service, or have some other type of cover. However, the Brujah are not known for being terribly subtle, so that may not apply at all. Any other questions?" Markus looks expectantly between the trio.

Mary nods "Right. As you were." She looks at Griggs. "This is your show tonight." she says. "We'll be at a disatdantage that close this sunrise. Perhaps we shoudl take some of our eyes with us."

Van the Man keeps quiet for most of it, furrowing his brows, and then glancing up. "do you have any details on the security of the building itself?" he poses softly.

Griggs nods to Van in agreement. "We'll have to make the exchange before we're in the building, or anywhere close enough to be on their cameras. Fucking Giovanni probably bugged every floor."

Mary offers "I can seap into the walls, in ways they cannot see me." she says. "And perhaps take out the cameras?" Van the Man hmms softly. "Security being...mysteriously destroyed, might spark some red flags.."

"I'm thinking we need to intercept the courier en route. I could invoke a police checkpoint, but we'd have to figure out their route," Griggs thinks aloud. "Maybe you could create some... conveniently timed and placed roadblocks, so that they'll only have one way to the building?"

"The details are all on the iPad. The main lobby has a half-dozen security guards manning desks and metal detectors. There will be four more rent-a-cops on the loading dock, signing off on shipments. Once inside the building proper, there will be very little security. Only a few guards making regular rounds of all sixty floors." Markus gives a nod to both Van and Marion. "Something that looked like a temporary outage would be fine, destruction would not. As Griggs pointed out, the Giovanni are paranoid, but they feel safe in their towers. Electronic surveillance will be no more then a standard building of its type will have, and likely no one in the know watching live feeds."

Van the Man crosses his arms and nods. "well, times is wasting...We need to find out what they are driving and cut that shit off. We don't need to fuck around with that tower unless we /have/ to. Griggs is right.." he says, blinking rapidly and then biting his bottom lip slightly. "At least, in this ones humble opinion."

"I leave it to your discretion as to how to proceed," Markus says with a bow of his head. "Boots on the ground always make the call in the Hand, and I will not second guess your decisions."

Mary pauses. "Sounds lke we need to get to their generators." she says. "Time's a wastng, like Van said. Let's get this show on the road."

Griggs nods to Mary, then says to Markus, "We will make the switch without the Giovanni or the Brujah catching wise. The Brujah will think it just an impediment, if we execute this properly."

Van the Man tightens his grip on his gear, and looks to griggs as if he expected the man to give him further instruction. He was, after all, just a ghoul...and he sure as hell wasn't about to look to /Mary/ for direction.

"Excellent," Markus says, stroking his goatee. "When you have completed your assignment, come to me for a debriefing. I will see you later this evening." With that, the arab pulls the curtain open and gestures for the other Cainites to leave him. Once they are out, he returns to his book.

Mary grumbles to herself. "Right. Let's get this over with." she says softly. SOmething about this situation seems to disturb her. Or is she always disturbed?

Griggs proceeds with Mary and Van. "We know where the building ith, and we have a map of the thtreetth in and out." He pulls out the iPad and taps the screen to bring up the diagram of the building again. He squeezes the image, zooming out. "No matter which way they're coming from, they need to end up here," he points to Grove Tower. He continues zooming out to show the surrounding streets, oriented around the cardinal directions."

Van the Man looks over Griggs shoulder, hming softly. "Then yeah...Road blocks. Slap some DEA logos on some Vans...Call it a narcotics check point." he offers in suggestion.

Mary nods "That's not a bad plan, Van." she says. "I second it."

Griggs nods to Mary. "I have an old Van. I can dithguithe it well enough. But I'll need thomeone to play the cop." He turns to Van.

Van the Man furrows his brows and pulls on a face like he might be constipated. "Sir, i'm going to need you to step out of the vehicle." he says, hurrumping slightly. "Mary...Can your fancy flesh bullshit give me a stash?" he says, wiggling his nose and upper lip slightly.

Mary Smiles. "But of course." she says. "Where would you like it?" she eyes Van's abdomen, thoughtfully.

Griggs nods again to Mary. "A 'thathce would be motht appropriate," he adds, pointing to Van's nose with a gnarled finger. "At leatht one here. The retht are dithcrethionary."

Van the Man just stares at Mary like she might be retarded. "mustache. Hair. upper lip." he glances over to Griggs then and nods, biting his bottom lip again as he holds back a spurt of laughter. The fuck did he just say?

Mary frowns "Ahh not a stash to hide things. A mustache. I can do that." she says. "Come here. Lemme stache you." she says.

Griggs continues walking with Mary and Van until they are somewhere away from prying eyes and ears. "Mary, can you cover the three roadblockth? Then, when we have them at one, I'll make thure Van'th backup lookth convinthing."