The warehouse off the caravanery in Zagreb was loud and full of activity. Work gears and fork lifts moved stock onto cargo pallets while workers were busy taking inventory totals. A mature-looking man, possibly in his early 50's (cycles) nodded as he watched. He had brown hair, cold eyes and was dressed in the finest work clothes from Zagreb's factories.
"You see Mr. Delacroix, this is our business. It doesn't seem like much, moving knock-offs out of Timmins to Zagreb and then across the North, but it is in fact a multi-million mark operation. The Forzi are grateful to you and your caravan personnel, Mr. Delacroix. We heard that you fought off a Federation team," he said with seriousness, "and while I might question your sanity, I do appreciate what you did."
"Thank you, Mr. Forzi," Kain replied, standing behind the Forzi cartel head in Zagreb.
Roman Forzi nodded and then continued: "your proposal is in line with our interests. The Forzi are looking for a consolidated shipping outfit for operations across the Badlands. This Caravan Guild you're involved with will be useful, and we will support it. You will have to visit our headquarters in Wounded Knee, however. I will arrange a meeting between you and the Capo, Constantin Forzi."
Roman turned and shook Kain's hand, "I expect that we will be seeing more of each other, Kain Delacroix."
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The Caravan Saloon stood in a busy corner of the Caravanery, guests from across Terranova raising glasses and telling tales as they relaxed from the long haul caravaning lifestyle. In a quiet private room off the main saloon hall, Bill Pearce sat on one side of a table with Dr. Chambers, Kain Delacroix, Gade Voneran and Avatanya Brom.
Across from them sat Ulrich Gellin. Behind him was a massive bodyguard who could easily have been mistaken for a GREL.
"The Granis Cartel is very concerned about your endeavour, Mr. Pearce. We have always maintained a network of affiliated caravans for mutual defense and profit. It is clear to my superiors that you have little interest in joining our cartel," the smaller man, a lean and predatory fellow in a nice suit, said. His eyes never left Bill's, "thus I have been instructed to inform you that the cartel would like a 10% cyclical cut of all your Guild's gross shipping incomes. Failure to pay this ... authorization fee ... would be bad."
"So it's extortion then?" the Doctor said indignantly.
"It is," the smaller man got up as the bodyguard glared at the others, "you have two weeks to either shut down your operation or begin payment."
Friday, July 4, 2008
Two meetings in Zagreb
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1 comments :
Cleaned up and edited to reflect Bill Pearce's figurehead role among other things.
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