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."

Mary nods "I can." she says. "I've got your back, brothers." yes. She called the ghoul a brother. Weird.

Van the Man nods. "Well, how will we know when we have the right vehicle stopped? I...Well, i can scan them.. They're cammies full out? Not ghouls...? I can see the lack of aura on them.." he says all this as if he doesn't quite want to admit to having the skill.

Griggs tilts his head slightly as he considers the gravity of Van's statement. "Well fuck me. That'th good. I figure we thet up the thtopth," he pauses, realizing that was barely even discenable to himself. "roadblockth, at ten minuteth to three. Thouldn't be too much traffic then."

Shady Grove - Downtown - Outside Grove Towers

Even in the dead of night downtown is alive with activity. Light foot traffic is accompanied by the occasional bicycle messenger. Most of the vehicle traffic consists of vans and light trucks servicing the commercial community. The streets are well lit by sodium lighting throwing off that vaguely disturbing orange glow. People move quickly, and with purpose here. Not out of fear for their safety, even though this would be the time for it, but Shady Grove is known as an extremely safe city. The three streets leading into the tower complex are mostly devoid of traffic, except for the occasional truck making its way to the loading dock.

Griggs grabs his van from the Argent, and makes an emergency stop to an old tow-yard. It's been converted to store the temporary concrete blocks that are used to restrict traffic around construction sites and such. With Mary and Van along, he opens up the back door and starts loading blocks. Once the task is done, they distribute the blocks at the three points, each of them taking up a position at one of them. Griggs provides them each with a simple two-way radio. "Three thhort clickth for a nobody," he demonstrates with the 'talk' button. "One long click for target. Three long clickth for real copth."

Mary nods "Confirmed." she says. "Should be easy enough." note to self: Get paramilitary training.

Van the Man loads as much as he can. Maybe all of it, being the only ghoul...Physical labor was sort of what he was made for, no? hming softly. "Right, you guys keep a close eye...I'm going to scan everyone who comes through my end of it." once all the briefing is done, is sets up shop..He even got himself some proper "im a narc" clothes. The stash? Really pulls it together...

The fauxlice do not have long to wait before their first customer arrives. A large white van marked with advertisements for a food delivery company comes up to the roadblock and stops. The driver rolls the window down and a middle-eastern man sticks his head out the window. "What are you doing!" he grumbles in a barely understandable accent, "I have deliveries to make! Food go bad! You not know this?!"

Mary is in proper narc attire herself. "I'm sorry. DEA." she syas showing fake credentials. "Random check. This won't take long." and yes. She does her best to hold up the driver.

The driver's aura is one of someone extremely annoyed to be held up, but is otherwise perfectly normal. Stepping out of his vehicle, the driver makes his way to the back and throws open the door. "See! I have fish, veg, steak! You want steak? I give you steak, you let me go. Ok? Ok." The man grabs a few packs of cube steaks, the cheap bastard, and thrusts them at Mary.

Griggs stays low and off to the side. At the signal received from Mary, he dashes from his roadblock to hers, and once within sight of it, begins to render a proper illusion, just in time for the van to roll up to it. Two cop cars, with lights rotating.

Van the Man keeps posted, chewing gum, thumbs hooked into his belt loops. Looks like a real fucking asshole...Showing his holstered gun as if to make up for the fact he was a wee little man. Oh yeah. total cop shit.

In the mean time, a large white van for a pharmeceutical company rolls up to a stop at Van's location. The driver sticks his head out the window and looks curiously at the moustachioed man. "There a problem officer?" he calls over to him.

Over at Marion's station, the man walks a few feet away from the truck while grumbling and still clutching his stakes. With body language screaming pissed off, he stands there as his truck gets warmer and waits for his load to spoil.

Van the Man comes comes slooowly and lazily ambling on up. "Sir, I'm asking the questions. Pop the back of the van...What are yall hauling today?" he inquires, perking his left eyebrow slowly as he gives the occupants a good long stare.

"Got a full resupply for the RiteAid in tower three," the delivery man says and waves his hand towards the tower complex. "Watch out back there, needles and some shit has to be kept cold. Lots of fragile glass to boot." This one seems cheerful enough as he pops the lock on the back doors and waits for the inspection.

Mary nods She looks up from the truck. "Clear!" she calls. to her radio, as she waves the guy on.

Van the Man hops into the back of the van and says. "I'm going to need yall to step away from the vehicle while I search it. Safety protocol." he then proceeds to search everything carefully. Pocketing some painkillers as he does...And then goes over to the drivers. "Ok, looks clear. Just need to do a pat down." and then attempts to search the occupants pockets and whatnot.

Both of the drivers close their vehicles up and get back into the drivers seat. Produce man puts the pedal to the metal and burns rubber in Mary's face. The pharmeceutical driver is almost... pharmeceutically calm as he heads out at a laxadaisical pace. Nothing happens for the next ten minutes, until a bicycle messenger rolls up on Van, hits the curb, and ignores the roadblock as he heads for the towers.

Van the Man is quick to pull out his gun and let the bike-boy know by yelling. "WEAPONS HOT! FREEZE!" and then clicks on his radio. "BACKUP NEEDED AT CHECKPOINT ALPHA! FREEZE, FUCKASS, ON THE GROUND!!" as he runs after the biker.

The biker looks up in terror and manages to slam his bike into a telephone poke. Bike and rider both hit the assphalt hard and his messenger bag goes flying across the pavement. Raising both hands the kid, certainly no older then 16, is clearly scared shitless. "Don... don't shoot mister!" he pleads, hands still up, "Look I was just doing as I was told! I didn't have any choice!"

One of the two patrol cars spins up its siren as the bike approaches. Griggs, having no means of appearing to be anything other than a monster, stays out of sight as he manipulates the illusion. When the biker hits the ground, he moves quickly to the bag, conjuring yet another illusion as he does so. A straight-laced police officer stepping out of the squad car, bending down, and picking up the bag to rifle through it while Van attends to the rider. Meanwhile, Griggs makes the switch and ducks back out of sight.

Mary curses and runs to the checkpoint, faster then most men should be able to move. "Right! Problem!" she tries to make it there in time to assist.

Van the Man rushes the kid, gun still aimed at him. "WHERE ARE THE DRUGS?!?!" Van screams like a fucking madman. a sadistic, homicidal gleam in his eyes. "Empty the bag! EMPTY THE FUCKING BAG!" but then griggs illusion is doing it, and Van just keeps the gun pointed. Making a big fuss, trying to make sure the kid is paying attention to HIM and not the bag, if a switch needs to be made.

"It's only weed man! They said it would be ok, all the guys on the nightshift gotta get stoned to get through the night!" the kid squeals as tears start to run freely down his face. As if things could get any worse a large, dark stain appears in the crotch of his pants and begins traveling down his right leg. The sniveling kid starts babbling about his mother and is on the verge of completely losing it.

And a wrinkle. With everyone away, a black sedan is cruising up to Mary's roadblock, and does not appear to be slowing down for it either.

Griggs does not make the switch. he three-short-clicks his radio instead.

Van the Man snatches Mary by the shoulder and shoves her in the direction of the van. "Stop it! Throw yourself in front of it, do something!" he yells as he aims his gun and runs for it himself.."PULL OVER!" he yells. "DEA, STOP THE VAN!"

Mary runs at the sedan. Yep. Right at it hands extended. "I dare you. Hit me mother..." oh yeah.

Three squadcars tear around the corner and cut-off the black sedan, sirens blaring. Three spotlights shine on the approaching car and a voice comes through the intercomm. "STOP THE CAR OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE!" Griggs takes cover behind a dumpster and orchestrates the chicanery.

Well that craziness sure as shit stops the sedan dead in its tracks. It is impossible to see inside of it due to the extremely dark tint even with the spotlights on it. Instead of opening the windows like the rest of the drivers did, this one simply sits there idling.