The radio was quietly playing some maudlin love song when Chris
walked into the kitchen to find Josiah hunched over a cup of coffee at
the farthest end of the long table, looking bleary-eyed and surly.
"Mornin', Josiah," he greeted low, moving down the grey
worktop to the coffee percolator.
The grunt he received in return could have been his name but was more
likely a curse word.
Paying no mind, Chris picked out a plain white mug from the cupboard
above the sink and poured himself a coffee before refilling the cup
Josiah held blindly out to him.
"Four times," Josiah growled in his deep, early morning
gravel voice. "Four times that thrice-damned alarm clock went off
in my head." He took a sip of coffee then rubbed his eyes.
"Even after I threw it out the window, the visions kept
coming."
"See any images of tonight?" Chris leaned back against the
worktop, sipping his coffee.
"Not a thing," Josiah replied. "Still got that nagging
feeling that we're missing something, though." He shook his head.
"It's so damn strange that we couldn't find out anything last
night. Not even a whisper."
Acknowledging this with a frown and a nod, Chris turned to check the
cupboards for breakfast inspiration.
"Don't bother," Josiah sighed, staying his hand. "The
choice for our most important meal of the day comes down to two things:
frozen waffles or frozen pancakes. If it isn't frozen and can't fit in
the toaster, it ain't on the menu."
"All right." Chris moved over to the freezer and opened the
door to scowl inside at the bags of frozen foods cowering in the corner.
"What did you have?" he asked suspiciously.
"Pancakes were all right," Josiah replied ambiguously.
Chris had chosen a couple of waffles and was crossing to the toaster
when Vin came into the kitchen looking almost as weary as Josiah.
"Mornin'," he said softly, sparing a frown for Chris'
waffles before getting a mug of coffee.
"Didn't keep you awake, did I?" Josiah asked him with
concern.
"Nah." Vin shrugged, pulling out a chair to sit at the
table. "I'm just not used to Ezra yet."
"He was moving around?" Chris asked, surprised.
Vin shook his head. "Not really. Just dreamin'. But his scent's
all screwed up with them drugs in his system and I guess it was making
me paranoid."
"You? Paranoid?" Josiah grinned just as the toaster pinged
up Chris' slightly underdone waffles.
"Don't start with me, esp man." Vin smirked back.
"Least ways I don't worry when I don't sense something."
"Touché." Josiah toasted Vin with his coffee.
"Everyone else up?" Chris asked as he tugged off a sheet of
coffee bean patterned kitchen roll to put his waffles on and vaguely
wondered what had happened to the roll of dancing farmyard animal paper.
Swallowing down a mouthful of coffee, Vin nodded. "Nathan and
Ezra are talking in his room. Buck and JD'll be along any minute."
He paused to listen. "In fact..."
"Mornin', boys." Buck breezed into the kitchen, making a
beeline for the freezer. "Josiah, Vin, it's hard to tell which one
of you two were beat harder with the whooped stick all night," he
continued with a grin before raking out a good handful of frozen
pancakes and crossing to the toaster as Chris took a seat at the table.
"I take it you slept well?" Josiah returned dryly.
"Like a baby!"
"You sure don't snore like no baby," Vin grouched
good-naturedly. "And don't go turning up that dial none
neither," he went on as Buck made a big show of fiddling with the
toaster settings. "I don't want the stink of burnt pancakes hanging
around me all day."
"Well, someone got out the wrong side of the bed this mornin'."
Buck looked to Chris. "There's something wrong in the world when a
man can't even set his toaster just right without rubbing someone up the
wrong way."
"Amen to that!" JD charged in and was queuing behind Buck,
waffles already in hand, scant seconds later.
"What did I tell you about rushing around first thing?"
Buck blocked JD's attempts to slip his waffles in the toaster before his
next round of pancakes. "You're making my head spin before I've
even had my breakfast, boy."
"Oh, quit complainin' an' hurry it up, Buck. A man could starve
to death waitin' on you cookin' breakfast."
"That's not cookin', son," Josiah said sagely. "That
is toasting."
"Well, we need another toaster," JD concluded then groaned
as Buck put yet another round of pancakes into the slots. "We can
afford another toaster, can't we, Chris?"
Chris shrugged. "Depends on how many winners Josiah picks this
week."
"You gonna eat those waffles?" JD returned hopefully after
spying Chris' untouched breakfast.
Shaking his head slightly, Chris leaned away from the table to let JD
swoop in just as Ezra strolled into the kitchen looking impeccably
turned out in his fancy tailored clothes.
"Good morning, gentlemen." He smiled, nodding thanks to
Buck for the mug of coffee he handed him. "Mr Jackson asked me to
relay the fact that he will be joining us shortly."
"You're looking a hang of a lot better today, Ezra," JD
said around a mouthful of waffle as Ezra sat down on the opposite side
of the table from Chris. "You looked like hell last night."
"Thank you for reminding me of that fact, Mr Dunne," Ezra
returned distractedly, suddenly looking a tad paler as he averted his
gaze from the handful of butter soaked kitchen paper and pancakes Buck
plonked down on the table beside him.
"If you want something to eat you'd best get it before JD goes
back for seconds," Buck told Ezra cheerily as he sat.
Ezra edged away from the butter oozing across the table towards his
shirt cuff. "Haven't you gentleman ever heard of something called a
plate?"
"A plate?" Buck grinned. "What's that? It's not one of
those new fangled inventions, is it?"
"A plate, Mr Wilmington, happens to be a very cunning device
designed to separate one party's repast from the table and, indeed,
another person's clothing. I hear they have achieved a great popularity
in some circles."
"Is that so?" Buck replied in mock awe. "What will
they think of next!"
"It's wonder, ain't it?" JD chimed in from his toasting
marathon just as Vin shook his head before addressing Ezra.
"Usin' plates means that someone has to wash 'em."
"And washin' other people's plates can create a powerful ill-feelin'
in a man," Josiah explained.
"Ah, I see." Ezra nodded then took a sip of coffee.
"You gentlemen have sacrificed table etiquette for the greater goal
of domestic harmony." He grinned. "How idiosyncratic."
"Oh, that's us." Josiah smiled. "Idiosyncratic to the
bone."
"And the rest," Buck added.
"Rest of what?" Nathan asked as he came in, heading
straight for the coffee.
"We're idiosyncratic," JD told him.
"Ah-huh." Nathan poured his coffee then took a seat at the
table. "Surgery's all set up and ready to go, Chris."
"Let's hope we don't need it," Buck said, getting up to get
another length of kitchen roll.
"Amen to that." Josiah nodded as Chris realised what had
happened to the roll of dancing farmyard animals.
"All right," Chris began, drawing their attention. "We
do the same as we did last night only this time we lean on them harder.
We're running out of time. Try working it from a different angle. Find
out who's not in their usual patch and why. Someone out there has to
know something."
"Josiah and me can head down Beggar's Row." Nathan nodded
at Josiah's consent. "See which way they're movin' today. Them
folks can smell trouble comin'."
"Me and JD'll work the punks at the docks," Buck said.
"If there's bribe money rollin' around it'll be there by now and
we'll trace it back to the source."
"Good," Chris agreed, looking speculatively at Ezra who was
frowning at his coffee cup. While the abilities of an illusionary
telepath would no doubt come in useful in the strong-arm department, he
was reluctant to employ Ezra's talents so early in the game. As with his
own pyrokinetic abilities, Chris' instinct was to keep Ezra as an ace up
his sleeve.
"You all right, Ezra?" Vin asked before Chris could ponder
his own motivations on the subject any further.
"Fine, thank you, Mr Tanner." Ezra blinked then smiled.
"I assure you."
"You don't look all that fine." Chris studied the man who
was almost fidgeting under his scrutiny.
"Well...I'm sure it's nothing..." Ezra trailed off
uncertainly.
Chris' voice dropped warily, "Tell me."
Ezra frowned uncomfortably. "Well, the other night, when I had
the good fortune to meet you gentlemen," he began ruefully,
"the miscreants I had the ill-judgement to play poker with were
discussing moving their nefarious activities to a more suitable location
they had on good authority would be emptying of prying eyes soon."
"So?" Nathan said. "People come and go around here all
the time."
"It's hardly the Promised Land," Josiah added.
"It was more than the intention." Ezra shook his head.
"It was the manner in which they spoke. They actually used the
phrase 'on good authority'. Not diction common to them, I assure
you."
"You think they meant the Meta Cops?" Chris asked, narrow
eyed.
Ezra nodded. "Without a doubt, given the advantage of hindsight.
I didn't think much of it then, of course."
"All right." Chris looked to Buck. "You and JD
get--"
"And there's something else," Ezra continued reluctantly.
"At that club last night--"
"You found something out and didn't tell me?" Chris erupted
from his chair, jolting the table and spilling coffees.
"I didn't think on it then." Ezra kicked back his own
chair, standing up to shake coffee from his cuff. "It was
just--"
"You don't think on much, do you?" Chris snarled as Nathan
stood up to take hold of his arm.
"Calm down, Chris. The man was drugged. You can't expect him to
remember everything."
"I expect him to do his job." Chris shook himself free.
"All right, tell me," he snapped at Ezra.
Ezra scowled back stubbornly. "I received no intelligence from
the barmen whatsoever, unless you count my supposed likeness to a
certain celebrity when naked. However, I did overhear a conversation
between the bar owner and a 'friend' of his who were discussing the
possibility of opening a new bar for Metas in a property close to the
main Meta thoroughfare that they thought would become available soon.
Obviously, this means little on it's own but taken with the--"
"Hell!" Chris bolted for the phone, almost yanking it off
the wall as he shouted at Buck, "You and JD get down to Mary's now.
They're after her place by the train station."