Amber Log Sessie 5

First an addendum on the previous lore. All characters also have a trump of theirselves. That is to say, all characters except Alexander, his trump didn't get copied.

Then Angel's city. Dreary, bleak, gloomy, not a place any sane person would want to live. Still, Martin seems to feel at home here. He takes the rest of the gang back to his apartment and orders some food. Junk food of course.

With this attack on their health system well underway, the group starts thinking about more important matters. What to do next? There appear to be three threads worth following:

- Myrone

- the two corpses

- the lost hand

The decision to split the group doesn't take long. Alexander and Murlas will investigate Myrone, Adrian and Dorian await the thankless task of investigating carcasses, and Martin and Vincent will investigate the lost hand since that one requires contacts in this shadow.

Alexander and Murlas pay a visit to Myrone. A taxi poses no problem for them. Alexander takes a stand on the road and luckily for the first taxi-driver, he stops. The way he delivers his two customers near the Myrone building is best described as a continuing suicide attempt. The price is 14 bucks, Alexander pays.

The Myrone building isn't as big as expected, only twenty floors or so. It is surrounded by a fence and guarded by guards, dogs and video cameras. Inconspicuously our two heros let out their 'pussycat', a walk which takes them exactly around the building. Although the two don't actually see the dogs, Teena's uneasiness is proof enough of their existence.

After they have completed their tour around Myrone, Alexander and Murlas know that the place is mostly deserted. Still there are some lights on in the building. The main gate however is closed. The only legal way in seems to be the bell and intercom at that gate.

The two decide to split up. Murlas will remain there to observe the building, Alexander goes downtown to snoop around in the newspaper archives.

A quarter of an hour later, Alexander faces the archives, closed. The plate on the door makes clear why: Opening hours are from 9 till 12 and from 14 till 16 hours. To work himself in he then decides to buy a computer magazine and some newspapers. The newspapers don't mention Myrone, the computer magazine does. Myrone appears to be a large company, dealing in hardware, software and peripherals as robot-arms, cybernetics, etc.

As Alexander is the first to arrive at Martin's apartment (around 12 o'clock), he decides to shift for some local currency so he can take a drink in some sort of bar. The first one, with the pink neon, doesn't look promising, the next one, the Blue Hawaiian night club, does. Unfortunately stocks are obligatory. Alexander shifts a little to obtain one, but still his access is denied. He should have dressed more formally. As the sandwich shop is also not what he is looking for, he goes on with the next block. And there he finally finds an acceptable bar. The music is way too hard, but nobody troubles him or Teena.

Murlas' observation is boring. The only thing worth mentioning occurs around midnight. Somebody leaves the Myrone building. Murlas takes a good look at his face and makes a mental note of his driver's plates. Unfortunately the face was largely hidden behind a pair of mirroring sunglasses. Murlas thinks that one or two lights in the building went out around the time the guy left, but isn't sure. There are still about 10 cars left on the parking. The most are in the upper middle class category, although there is also a cheap little car present.

Around three o'clock Murlas calls it a day and goes back. Before going to bed he first needs a drink. Murlas isn't as dainty as Alexander in the choice of his bars. He just takes the one with the pink neon. The pink lipstick the bartender wears doesn't bother him. The guy who places himself next to hem and offers him a drink neither. That is, until this guy starts to paw. But Murlas doesn't need much cogency to let him stop. When Murlas leaves, that guy starts following however. This is not exactly what Murlas had in mind. It is clear, Murlas has to show him that it is no roll of dimes he is carrying under his raincoat. Nop, it is a shotgun! It is surprisingly how well the language of weapons is understood. Within no time the man leaves Murlas alone.

At the apartment Murlas meets Alexander, who arrived just before him, again. Alexander smells of liquor, but then, so does Murlas. As the others are still not back and Murlas doesn't like to wait outside, he opens the door (easy lock) and they both get in. Informing each other doesn't take long, and then it is off to bed. Sometime later Martin and Vincent arrive.

In the mean time, Adrian and Dorian investigate the two bodies. Martin points them to the 141 St., the location of the mortuary. With Alexander well out of the way, Adrian takes his change to ask Dorian a question of the upmost importance. Did his beloved brother only skip him in the distribution of his trump, or was it indeed not copied. The answer is satisfactory, Dorian doesn't have a trump of Alexander either. And if Alexander didn't give a trump to Dorian, he probably didn't distribute his trump at all. Provided that Dorian speaks the truth. But sure he wouldn't lie about such a thing to Adrian, would he?

The remains our two Sherlock Holmes want to investigate, listened to the names Farn and Torrell. The two get the bright idea to act as friends, families or whatever of the diseased. Unfortunately the door of the mortuary is locked. A plate on the door lists the opening hours: 9-12 and 14-16 hour. As it is 10 or 11 o'clock in the evening that means a long, long wait.

Typical that their first solution to this problem is destruction of the door. Only when they start thinking about a more subtle way in they notice the little bell near the door. You can always try, and a little later an old lady opens a panel in the door. "Whatd'ye want? We'r closed!" However, Dorian is a nice lad, so it doesn't take too much trouble to get in. Although the $100 bill sure did help. If the number of locks on that door is an indication of the safety in the city, you don't want to live there.

Finding the two corpses proves to be easy. The old lady just looks them up in the computer and guides them to coffins 212 and 213. In there Adrian and Dorian see 2 naked, blue men. Dead, that is for sure. One of them has his neck broken, the other seems to have died of knife-cuts or so.

Their belongings are also on display, but that isn't included in the admission fee. After paying another $100 bill (the two don't have anything smaller), they see two wristwatches, two empty purses and some clothes. However, the old lady also has the addresses where the two are registered.

Torrell lived in 51 St. 540. But first things first. Not being to fond of paying $100 for everything, Dorian shifts a little to obtain some change. The two are on the crossing of 141 St. and 75 St. They don't have the slightest idea where 51 St. is. But that isn't a real problem, every taxidriver probably knows it double blinded. But apparently they also drive that way. Not one of them notices Dorian's attempts to let them stop. They don't even wave back.

Lots and lots of taxi's later, the two give up hope and start walking. See, a non-moving taxi. They hurry to reach it before it drives away. A hurry which wasn't necessary. The only place the driver of that taxi will be going to is the mortuary. He is dead, stone dead. Dorian and Adrian don't know what to do. Here they have their taxi, but taking it from its dead driver, is that an act of stealing or not? But suppose they do take car and even manage to drive it. Then they still don't know where to drive to. The only advantage is that it will take them considerably less time to get completely lost. Only then they notice that the continuing police sirens in the background are becoming rather loud. The two flee away. Was the police first in doubt whether Adrian and Dorian were guilty, now they aren't. With police bullets flying all around them, the two run into a little, dark alley. An alley so little and dark that the police doesn't even dare to follow. Wild, Dorian's little pussycat, doesn't blame them, the cat definitely doesn't like it here. A feeling shared by Dorian, especially after he steps into something soft and discovers that it is a corpse. With their weapons ready, Dorian en Alexander clear the alley as fast as possible. They are lucky, without encountering trouble they find themselves in a closed shopping street. Almost all roller shutters are closed. They are in 84 St. One of the few open shops sells sandwiches. It is here that finally a taxi stops. Adrian and Dorian intercept the driver on his way back to the car. He has no objection to two customers. Eating his bread cost them $5, the total drive the answer and Dorian pays him $45.

38 St. is somewhat disappointing. There are more tramps, and they are in general of a darker skin. Their target, 38 St. 540, is an apartment in a flatbuilding. On the other end of the street a voodoo shop supports their suspicion that they are not in Kansas anymore. Carefully stepping over the tramps in the building they reach their destination. Especially Dorian doesn't feel comfortable. The apartment is dark, giving no sign of life. Adrian forces the door open. Within they find a slovenly and deserted living. A careful examination reveals a collection very interesting magazines, adults only. Now Dorian isn't the only one who feels uncomfortable. Luckily they also find a directory. And don't forget the suitcase below the bed. The rifle within would satisfy any sniper but Adrian doesn't feel the need to take the rifle with him. To prevent others from using it against him, he removes a small but essential part. The rifle is about the only thing of good taste present. Even the clothes have seen better times.

For the second address our two detectives are again in need of a cab. This time Adrian gets into a bold mood. He steps for a taxi and indeed, this works. The taxi stops and just before some other potential customers the two get into the car. 20 bucks poorer they arrive in 51 St. The neighbourhood isn't exactly chic, but at least you don't need the dirty books of Torrell. Just pick up one of the hookers on the street.

Number 1076 is again an apartment. The door of the stairs is closed. The intercom aside of it makes clear that you are supposed to ring your destination so they can open the door for you. On the other hand, you can also state that the door is a little stuck and needs some force to be opened.

Instead of the elevator Adrian and Dorian take the stairs. The apartment is again dark. Without thinking the door is forced open. Is it the burglary which still gives Dorian that eerie feeling, or is it something else?

The apartment has only one room. On the sofa a little whore is sleeping. It is a young, blond girl with blue eyes. Adrian keeps his hand for her mouth to prevent her from waking the whole neighbourhood, but clearly she doesn't appreciate this considerate action. The girl is furious and struggles and squirms to get free. Although Adrian is much stronger, he is severely hindered by his intention not to hurt the girl. Only after Dorian has turned on the lights and assured her that they don't want to hurt her, the girl calms down.

Dorian's inspection of the room only reveals ladies underwear, a ladies pistol, ladies underwear, indications that there lives also a guy here and ladies underwear. Then it is time for an interrogation. If you expect a screaming girl and much torture you are looking at the wrong team. No, Adrian en Dorian first try talking, and when that doesn't work bribing. For $100 the girl is a lot more reasonable. According to her John hasn't shown up for a few months now. She doesn't know where he is, but if Dorian en Adrian find him, she still gets $200 from him. John and she more or less lived together. The girl isn't unreasonable. For 100 bucks Adrian and Dorian can get a little more than only info. Their refusal of such a tempting offer makes you doubt their manhood.

But 100 dollar is indeed a lot of money for the little information the girl has. She only knows that John had some sort of small job with Fox. Fox is, according to her, the type of man you don't want anything to do with. He is short and blond, with a short militarylook haircut. And don't forget his mirroring sunglasses.

During their interrogation Dorian's feeling of trouble increases continually. The trouble originates from the window. At that moment Adrian suddenly knows that there is a shadow behind the window, pointing a weapon to them. He shouts: "DUCK!" and jumps unto the little whore. Dorian takes care of himself and jumps to the side. Just in time. Takatakatakatak. In the best traditions of Hollywood a girl empties a machine-gun into the room. The markswoman has long, darkbrown hair, and wears a leather jacket and tight jeans. Adrian manages to return her fire. Better than that, he hits her. Still, the girl manages to run away. What follows is a wild pursuit over the galleries, across the street, and into the alleys. Although Adrian is faster than his prey, he doesn't succeed in grabbing her. The girl knows the environment, Adrian doesn't. So it isn't surprisingly that Adrian finally looses sight of her under a bridge. The only other living soul present is a crazy old fool who is fishing there. The man is a drunk and talks the whole time of his fishes. But he also knows some interesting facts. Adrian's fishing for these facts is successful. It requires a lot of tact and patience but Adrian discovers that the girl he followed listens to the name Lisa. The fisher sees her regularly under the bridge. She uses the sewer to get to that building there, the Myrone building. According to the fool it must also be possible to reach it by boat (the man is fishing on a boat), something the people at Myrone don't seem to know. The man chats something about the many things which are there, not only fish. The fisher has forgotten his name, is not interested in money, throws back the fishes he catches and is here only at night, because then the little fishes bite.

Dorian advise his prostitute to grab some belongings and leave this apartment. After a moment of thought she agrees. Whether it has something to do with the fact that she fancies Dorian is unclear. Dorian asks her colleagues to watch out for Adrian and takes the girl into a pub. Her name is Lush.

In the man's room Dorian uses Adrian's trump to discover what has become of his partner. The answers he get are a little vague, with a lot of fish in it. But apparently Adrian is safe. They agree to meet each other back at Martin's apartment. As he doesn't know what to do else with Lush, Dorian takes her with him. He arrives at the apartment. Stories are exchanged and suddenly Murlas knows who he saw leaving the Myrone building: Fox!

The luny man offers Adrian to bring him to the Myrone building, but Adrian hesitates. Instead he asks and gets permission to return next evening, provided he is careful, otherwise he chases away the fishes.

The way back is a little bit problematic for Adrian, as he doesn't know where he is. But after paying $16 a cab leaves him in front of the mortuary and from there the route is easy. The thought of using his trumps didn't even arise.

At Martin's apartment a clearly tipsy Lush throws her arms around his neck. He asks her to go to bed and she agrees, but only if she may lay close to him. Such a young girl of 17 against your body is tempting, but Adrian keeps it properly. It looks like the behaviour of Lush is more uncomfortable than tempting to him. Lush is young and cynical. But the cynical part is more an attitude to survive than her real self.

Of course Adrian's information is also discussed. The name Lisa doesn't sound familiar to Martin, but her description makes Lush think of Fox' girl. Furthermore the group discusses what to do next. The idea of taking two boats and invade the Myrone building, is clearly the favourite.

In the meantime, in another shadow, Algo was still mourning his loss.

Maurice