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Thomas was startled awake by Nadia sitting down on the couch beside him and silently chided himself for falling asleep again. He watched as she bent over his summary of her notes and read over his own thoughts without a word. Finishing, she sighed and noticed he had woken.
"So you couldn't find anything either, huh?"
Thomas shook his head. "Sorry. There really isn't very much there that sounds like a criminal to me. Obviously Orion had issues with alcohol and women, but those don't sound like great things for anyone in organized crime to be known for; at least not when you're as bad with them as Orion seemed to be."
She laughed softly. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I didn't really like the stories of his death, either. I mean, being taken down by a scorpion created by the earth because he was boasting seems a little harsh. Though I can't sympathize with him if he did try to have his way with Artemis or those other women. Drunk or not, he brought that on himself. To be honest, though, I prefer the version where he and Artemis were in love."
"It does make Orion more likeable, that's for sure. He didn't seem like a bad guy, exactly but a lot of his stories involved him making an ass of himself through some really bad decisions."
Nadia nodded. "Yeah, no kidding, you would think he'd realize how easily drinking got him into trouble. But my problem with that version is actually with Artemis."
Thomas cocked his head to one side. "Oh? Why's that?"
"She accidentally shoots and kills her beloved, so she puts him into the sky to honour his memory. That much I understand. But that's it, that's where it ends? She dedicates herself to chastity, never loving anyone else and doesn't even get the slightest bit angry with her brother?"
"I guess she never found out that Apollo knew it was Orion he was asking her to shoot at?"
Nadia frowned. "I don't buy it. He's the god of the sun, the most far-reaching thing in the sky and obviously he could see well enough to know what it was he had asked her to shoot at. Seeing as she's his sister, I think she would know it, too."
Thomas chuckled quietly. "Well, it's sort of an unsatisfying ending I suppose, but then the overall story of Orion is sort of short, too."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I guess I'm a romantic; I prefer stories where the couple overcomes the odds and find happiness and all that cheesy stuff. I know things don't usually work out that way in real life, but it's a nice idea." She stood as she spoke and moved into the hallway, pausing for a moment. "Odd. There's something stuck under the door."
Thomas craned his neck to see. "Do you get mail all the way up here?"
She shook her head. "No, it's all delivered to the boxes downstairs."
Stooping to pick it up, she frowned for a moment as she read it over. It was gibberish. Oddly familiar gibberish. Walking back to her desk, she found her pencil and began circling every third word, as she had the day before on the bulletin board. When she was done, she fixed up the grammar and flow of the sentence and read it aloud to Thomas.
"Lawson. Burgess has placed a price on my head and works to find you as well. Neither of us is safe. I will meet with you in private to discuss terms and information. Have your friend meet me outside your building at ten o'clock sharp tomorrow morning and from there he will take me to the location of your choosing so you may feel confident I am not setting you up. Black."
Thomas whistled softly. "He's desperate, if he's asking us for help. I wonder how he knew we had cracked his boss' code."
Nadia shrugged. "I don't know, but this is major. I'm tempted to have the police meet him tomorrow morning instead of you, but then we would still have to deal with the local thugs. Having Black's help in getting hard evidence to take Burgess down would be a big step forward."
"Agreed, but this sounds pretty risky. If Black shows up armed and dangerous tomorrow then I'm in real trouble."
She frowned. "You're right. But if you don't tell him where you're leading him to, he can't do anything untoward until you arrive, at the very least. I can dial 9-1-1 pretty quickly."
"Maybe, but I'm pretty sure bullets travel faster than police cars do."
She sighed. She knew he was right. This was risky, very much so. But she couldn't just let it pass her by, not when things were finally heating up. It was at times like these that reporters got the best stories, from the middle of the action! At the same time, she had to admit she was at least a little afraid. Not just for herself, but for her new friend. She didn't want to thank him for all of his help by getting him killed. She sighed again and looked to Thomas, pleadingly.
"What should we do?"
He looked at her for a long moment and slowly shook his head. "I'm going to regret this, I'm sure of it, but... Fine. I'll meet Black here tomorrow morning, so you can have your meeting. But I'm going on the record right now saying that this is a very bad idea and I think we're both crazy for going through with it."
She had to agree with him on that point, but knowing it didn't stop her from breaking into a huge grin and hugging her reluctant companion in gratitude. "You're the best, you know that?"
Thomas chuckled. "Uh-huh. And you're a bad influence on me. Now... we have planning to do before tomorrow, there is no way I'm settling for last-minute improvisation on this."
Nadia laughed, disentangling herself from his side and moving toward her computer desk. "I accept your terms, good Sir. Shall I find a map online, or would you prefer I find the nearest cartographer so we can have it hand-drawn?"
She yelped as a pillow grazed past her. Diving into the kitchen to avoid the second, she retaliated with oven mitts and potholders and the pair spent the next half hour of their so-called planning session pelting each other with harmless objects. It was, admittedly, not very productive, but it was nevertheless a welcome period of relaxation amidst the tension.