A Talk in the Park

[Bucket]

The contact kicked the dirt by the tree he was leaning against and looked up at the dark night sky, dazzled by the moon. He was high, but not completely out of it. His addiction was crack, so he was hyped enough to be aware all night without losing his faculties. The druggie was another pawn of Nikolai, the boy with the Russian accent. The crackhead thumbed the two items in the pocket of his oversize jacket, which he wore to ward off a perceived chill in the air. The first item was a switchblade, and was mostly for his own protection. The second was a cheap tape recorder that he would use to record the conversation he had with the Red Moon Group rep he was supposed to meet. Jumping up and down restlessly, the addict looked around the memorial park, checking each spot of lamplight for another person. Supposedly the Red Moon Group guy would know where he was, but he wasn't convinced. Maybe this time the Russian hadn't planned everything perfectly. He knew after the meeting he would leave and make a dead drop to trade and material he received and the recorder for more crack, but thinking about missing his fix by screwing up here made him nervous.
"Oh man Oh man," the crackhead muttered under his breath, twitching against the tree, hoping no cops noticed him lurking around in the shadows. In a few moments he was circling the tree, wearing a little circle into the dirt as he worked off the nervous energy his drugs gave him.

[COZ♥]

Raymond had been told no one was watching this job, that it was up to him not to screw it up.
He didn't believe a word of it. That fucker Tsen had eyes and ears everywhere. No way was he letting his guard down for a minute - except maybe around the stupid bitch he was toting around. She, no doubt, had quite a clear picture of Raymond Curtis by now - slimeball suck-up extraordinaire. Not that she really had any right to complain at the moment.

"Sir." He said, approaching the contact. As promised, he was present and tripping balls. If he wasn't so worried about it getting around, he'd probably laugh at the idiot. "Curtis, here in place of Mr. Tsen. I am to deliver a message."

[Bucket]

Jerking back to attention when he heard another voice, the crackhead looked around frantically for any cop being called sir. It took several seconds for it to dawn on him that it was he himself being called "sir".
"Ehm," the man began, bouncing on his heels and still looking around, "I wasn't told about a girl. Who's the girl? Is the girl for the Russian dude? I didn't hear about a girl. He didn't say I was meeting a girl. he said I was meeting a dude, contact, something. Who's the girl? Why is there a girl?"
It was obviously confusing to the addict that there were two people. And were those handcuffs on the girl's wrists? "Ehm... I should..." he stuttered, turning on the recorder in his pocket, "Well, you should say something... About something... There's a letter..." A few seconds of fumbling passed before the letter was produced and shoved anxiously into the hands of Raymond. The crackhead didn't say anything more, but rather bounced and looked around like a nervous meercat.
The letter from Nikolai wasn't terribly long, but it contained the basic script of the transaction.

To the representative of the Red Moon Group-
I believe there is a business for us to conduct. I trust that your counterparts have enjoyed and profited from the use of the samples I provided you with, and so this eve my pawn here will be recording an offer from your organization. If you wish to gain my services there are two basic conditions to be met; you must provide me with absolute safety, and you must also provide me with any materials I request for use or pleasure. Keep in mind while proposing your offer that you will be in competition with the other two organizations offered my services; the Black Dogs and Azulus. Please do make a suitably temping offer now.
If I choose to accept your terms, then I will have a dead drop left at this location tomorrow night detailing the conditions in which I will meet your organization. I look forward to meeting with your prestigious Red Moon Group soon.
-Nikolai Karchov

[COZ♥]

Raymond frowned. Did he really have to deal with this clown? It was getting harder and harder to look professional. "The girl's purpose will be explained in due time, sir." He said, voice condesending and a beat too slow.

The note eased his tempers considerably. Azulus, hm? Never heard much of them. Maybe he'd be killling them soon. He sort of liked that idea. "Well then, I have an offer as promised. Please record this as you are instructed, sir."

After the recorder was set up, he pulled out his own note and read it dutifully, keeping a tight grip on the girl's chains.

"Hello, I am Mr. Tsen, Red Moon Group's second-in-command. As I could not be in attendance, my dear friend Mr. Raymond Curtis should be relaying this message. You will have to forgive me for sending a replacement, but I had prior obligations. I'm currently obtaining a vast amount of prescription medication - I'm sure you have uses for such things, correct? Ask for anything on the market, and it's yours. Red Moon Group has had hold over this city for years, and has not lessened it's grip. The underground is our plaything. As for protection, our weapons and strongholds are state-of-the-art, with military-strength defense measures. I will ensure full security detail, including a hand-picked personal bodyguard. You need not worry one bit. Of course, you must understand that while we will provide you with anything you need or desire, you and your profits are ours. I'm confident that you'll see what an amazing deal you're being offered."

"Also, I'm sending you assistant. Consider her a gift. She has been securely restrained merely for your own comfort - Leah has no choice but to be harmless and obedient. However, I wouldn't recommend sleeping with her. She can get a bit feisty in bed." Raymond resisted the urge to groan. Tsen had fucked her? Really? Great methods, but no taste at all, that guy. He folded the note and pocketed it again, shoving the girl and the handcuff keys in the crackhead's direction. His job was done.

[Bucket]

The high contact of Nikolai was obviously startled, and fumbled both for the key and girl. He had no idea what to do. The Russian hadn't said anything about a girl, but now this girl was here, and he didn't know what to do. All he could think was to simply take this "Leah" to the guy and hope he wasn't mad. All the crackhead wanted was his promised drugs, and he didn't want to piss off the Russian dude and miss out on his next hit. Watching Raymond turn and leave didn't do much to help him decide what to do. "Ehum... Come with me, I guess... Leah? Yeah, Leah... But why are you even here? You aren't supposed to be here... Oh well... I hope you can understand accents.."
The crackhead took a hold of her chain and started walking off in what appeared to be a random direction, not even thinking to check if he was being followed. "Yeah, you had better be able to understand accents... The guy, the dude you know, the guy with the drugs?" A loud sniff interrupted the speech, "Well he has a really Russian accent, I mean, James Bond shit. He sounds like some Nazi or something, but Russian not German, you know? Like, seriously wow..."
The rambling continued pointlessly as the crackhead led on through the park, down several deserted alleys, and finally to one dead-end pocket between three buildings. There was a man there in a coat and hat. Leah was able to assume that they were Nikolai. When he looked up, he veritably jumped from the start the sight of a pair of people gave him.
"You тупица, vhy is girl here?" Nikolai demanded, stepping forward with one foot. It became abundantly clear that the crackhead wasn't joking about the accent. The Russian was so think in the boy's voice that it did sound like a movie. It made him somewhat challenging to understand. "I say make sure you are not followed, and you bring girl? Vhy is this? Is there anyone else?"
The crackhead took a step back, startled by the violent response. "Hey man, the dude there just said that this chick is an assistant who gets sexy in bed, alright? It's all cool, she's chained up and everything."
The defense obviously did little to curb Nikolai's temper, but his pose did relax a bit when he saw the girl was indeed restrained. Not an immediate threat. He let out a sigh and a soft Russian curse as his single eye roamed up and down the girl's body. A slight blush tinged his cheeks and warmed his face as he thought about her being "sexy in bed". He considered it lucky that his face couldn't be seen in great detail while in the heavily-shadowed alley. "Girl, vhat is name? Vhy are you here?"

[Mr. Stranger]

Leah felt a tinge of irritation crawl up her spine. Had she seriously been dressed in uncomfortably tight clothing, handcuffed, sexually humiliated in front of some of the worst trash to ever grace the face of this earth, and dragged halfway across town by a rambling crackhead, just to have some sassy, paranoid immigrant kid shout in her face in a barely intelligible accent? Then again, she was used to this shit.

"I'm Leah, as if you really care." She felt eyes on her. God, how she wished she had her familiar jeans and hoody.

"No need to get your panties in a knot. Shihong, I mean, the honorable Mr. Tsen thought you might be more comfortable in the long run if he gave you a wimpy, unarmed girl before throwing a whole mob of sweaty men armed to the teeth in your direction and dumping you in some basement. Think of me as a symbol of trust. I'm like your fucking slave of trust. Your 'vish' is my command." She said with a bitter sigh, giving Nicolai the best sardonic curtsy she could manage through her restraints. "Or you can just send me home. I'm flexible."

[Bucket]

An audible growl emanated form the Russian boy. He was young, naive, and not ready to deal with slaves. Trusting himself to be safe with gang members was enough of a stretch. It took him several moments of furious muted muttering to decide what to do. "Your pay is in dumpster, get it yourself," Nikolai barked at the crackhead, who released Leah instantly and rushed to Nikolai, shaking his hand and kissing ass in hope of getting another hit later. The key to Leah's restraints and the voice recorder traded hands, and then the sycophantic crackhead scurried to the dumpsters behind Nikolai, eagerly searching for the three grams of cocaine that were his pay. Once the druggie was off his hands, Nikolai adjusted his cap and began to walk towards Leah.
"Girl,"[/b] he began, moving with intent towards her, "I do not vant to hurt you, but vill if
you resist. No talk now, just silent. I take you to home, make memory go away. You go home then, no talk about this. Understand? Be silent and follow."
With that, Nikolai took her chain leash and pulled his cap low over his eyes, so his eyepatch was harder to make out. His remaining right eye scanned the corridors between the buildings as the crackhead behind them cried out in triumph. The sound of abject glee contrasted sharply with the palpable tensions between Nikolai and Leah. Without a word more the young Russian began to head back to his room in the tenant apartments.

* * * * *

The trip back to Nikolai's apartments was uneventful, and precious few words were exchanged. Upon entering the small room, Nikolai promptly pushed Leah down onto a disused couch that seemed about to fall apart. Addressing her with the question "You good girl now, yes?", Nikolai turned away and went to his dresser. He began rummaging as he explained what he was looking for. "I no vant slave girl. Slave girl get in way, make trouble, expose me. Nikolai must be safe, vill erase your memory and send away. I make mind blank like paper, then you go home, yes? Good."
Having located the ingredients he wanted, Nikolai turned with a small knife, three bottles, and a small beaker in hand. He took them to a small, rickety table against a wall, arranging them with an almost professional ease. "You better at home, yes? You go back, no problem. Everyone happy," Nikolai commented over his shoulder, turning to check that Leah was still situated on the couch where he left her.

[Mr. Stranger]

Leah looked around Nicolai's remarkably humble abode, eyes narrowing as they fixed upon the young Russian at work. Erase her memory? Yeah right. She might not have the first clue about chemistry or magic potions or whatever he was doing over there, but she wasn't born yesterday, either. It was time to start talking him out of it, or she was done for.

Fidgeting in her handcuffs, she pulled the first card from her deck. Pity was always a good way to go, before bringing out the big guns. He was dead wrong about her fabulous home life, at the very least. "You seriously think I want to go back 'home'? Are you stupid? They traded me off like a fucking dog! I'm a piece of shit to them. A toy. They're criminals, remember? Sure, if they consider you valuable, you get treated like a king. But if you owe them something, you're pretty much better off dead." She paused. Okay, so sympathy probably wasn't going to work, kid or not. But murder was a pretty heavy burden at such a tender age. No more playing dumb, then. She decided to try it at a new angle."Don't you think it would've been easier to just have your crackhead lackey ditch me somewhere? I couldn't see you, anyway. Killing me seems a little harsh. And more likely to bite you in the ass later on. Besides, I'm completely harmless. It's not like Red Moon Group would need me to get to you, if they even wanted to." She tacked on the small threat for good measure - it was an obvious bluff, though you never knew with Shihong, the fucking bastard. But she could tell it still wasn't enough.

Hoping he was ready to crack, Leah calmed herself for one last feeble blow. "You know, I was just kidding about the slave thing. How about a friend, instead?" she offered in kindness. It was worth a shot.

[Bucket]

The pleas of Leah did give Nikolai pause. He wasn't sure what to do. It had been his assumption that she was kidnapped and forced into this mockery of slavery, but if she originated from the Red Moon Group then it was against his moral code to send her back. His morals had been corrupted by the life he felt he was forced into, but he didn't want to hurt another person through his own actions. the person in question, Leah, was obviously older than him, Nikolai guessed her to be about twenty-two, and didn't look terribly threatening, but Nikolai had learned not to underestimate people. Underestimating his opponents was how he had lost his left eye.
"I see. I not send you home. Erasing memory is vaste of material if you run with the Red Moon Group, so I vill refrain. You stay here, be good girl. I not vant to kill you, never hurt. I not trust you, but you do not look threatening. Maybe I dose slow poison and control you vith antidote? No, have run out of psudothymineates. I leave you then," Nikolai rambled, his accent somehow thickening even more. It was clear that he truly had no intention of harming Leah, but didn't know what to do. He gave less than no credibility to her claims of being a friend, but her story did provoke his pity. He hated to see her chained. it reminded him too much or his own childhood, his long and cold nights in the factory. In the end his sympathy overcame his sense, and he decided to take a small gamble. He had a small pocketknife in his back pocket, so if the girl did attack he should be able to protect himself. Especially because he always poisoned the blade. The antidote was a pill he kept in the opposite pocket, in case he himself was stabbed.
Storing away the knife and other materials he had retrieved form the drawer Nikolai strolled over to Leah. His face was much easier to see in the light of the room. He was unwashed and generally unkempt, but his emerald-green eyes were unexpectedly soft as they met with Leah's. He produced the key to Leah's chains from his pocket as he began to propose a new course of action to her.
"I do not like see you in pain. Cuffs and chains must hurt. I vill take zhem off if you promise me you vill be good girl and not fight me. You can sleep in bed, I will take couch. Tomorrow I decide vhat to do vith you. Yes?" Nikolai suggested, nervously fingering the tiny key in his right hand. He bent closer to Leah, awaiting her response and preparing to unchain her.
"Also, you never tell name. Vhat is it?"