The Run Down Under/Gettin' Giggy with Shadowrun - Thursday, March 1st, 2007

Sonny pulled over to see why Rainbow had stopped the van. After clarifying that everything was all right, he returned to his car, and Giggy took over driving.

They proceeded to Canberra, and arrived shortly after 1. Nova and Michelle had been arguing over what hotel to get, but Giggy settled it.

"That one," he said, pointing to a hotel off one of the highway on-ramps.

"Dave's Hotel and Bait Shop?" Nova asked. "They don't even have a review on Travel Australia."

"Yeah, well, they're close to the highway, and they're unlikely to ask any questions," Giggy replied, pulling into the parking lot and up to the office.

"Wait in the cars, I'll be back in a minute," he said, heading to the office door.

"Hello, how can I help you?" the heavy-set ork woman behind the counter asked when Giggy rushed in, looking rather harried.

"Yeah, um..." Giggy replied, acting flustered, "do you have any of those rooms with two bathrooms?"

"We do have suites on the third floor," she replied. "Those have two toilets and run 200 nu-yen per night."

"Great, you're a life saver," Giggy said, fishing for cash in his wallet. "We ran into some bad c-store burritos a ways back, and it'd probably be better if we stopped here for the night."

Giggy passed her the money for three rooms, and headed outside. They made their way up to the third floor, Giggy and Sonny taking the first room, Nigel and Rainbow in the second, and Nova and Michelle in the third. From their rooms they had almost no view of the parking lot, other than the fenced pool area. They did, however, have a good view of the ugly warehouses across the street.

Giggy turned the trid on, but it only had news of recent corporate warfare in Canberra and a forecast for rain.

They all got cleaned up, and then Giggy and Nova went down to the car, got the package, and brought it up to the rooms. They put it in Giggy and Sonny's room.

A few hours later, they decided to go find food. After some discussion, they found a steak and sushi restaurant. Giggy took orders and he and Nova went and got carry out. With the Saki, they ended up spending more on food than on the hotel rooms.

They had all settled in for the night, agreeing that they would leave mid-morning. It shouldn't take long to get two miles out of town.

---

At four in the morning, they all suddenly awoke to an explosion loud enough to shake the rooms and crack Rainbow and Nigel's window. The warehouse across the street had just exploded, and the remnants were burning.

Rainbow got up and jacked into his RC deck to confirm that the van was fine.

Giggy got up and threw on his jacket and, grabbing a couple of towels, ran downstairs to see the cars.

Nova and Michelle got up and went out onto the balcony with several other guests. They leaned over the rail to watch Giggy below.

Sonny banged his shin on the package when jumping out of bed. Deciding that the cops may be showing up, and he didn't want it out where it would be easily seen, he hid it in the closet.

Looking around through the van's sensors, Rainbow saw a black Saab speeding away from the scene.

Giggy got downstairs to see that the roof of Sonny's convertible was burning from debris that had been thrown across the street. The parking lot was strewn with similar debris, but it appeared that only a few cars had been hit. Giggy used the towels to try to beat out the fire, but it wasn't working.

Seeing what Giggy was doing, Rainbow called over the radio, "There's a fire extinguisher in the van, and the door is unlocked now."

Giggy kept at the car with the towels until he realized that they had caught fire, then he threw them into the pool.

"Giggy," Rainbow said again, as Giggy was looking around, "there's still a fire extinguisher in the back door of the van."

Giggy went and got the fire extinguisher out of the van and was able to get the fire out quickly.

Once the fire was out, Giggy went over to the hotel office to complain about the damage to the car. However, the night clerk just pointed him to the sign next to the door which read, "Dave's Hotel and Bait Shop is not responsible for damage to or loss of any items or vehicles left in the parking lot unattended, or for loss or theft of any items left in unattended vehicles."

Nova and Michelle went into Sonny and Giggy's room where Nigel and Rainbow joined them shortly.

"So, what are we going to do about the cops?" Nova asked.

"I really don't think it will be a problem," Michelle said, "at worst, they'll knock on doors and ask what people saw. Sine everyone was asleep, nobody will have anything coherent to say about it. However, since they probably expect that, they'll probably just ask people who are out wandering around."

As Michelle predicted, when the cops got there a few minutes later, they did questions some people, but they didn't even canvass the hotel. However, Giggy was one of the people who they stopped as he was walking across the parking lot.

---

It wa after ten when the detectives finally cleared out. Sonny and Giggy carried the package bock down to the burnt out car and loaded it as it was beginning to rain. They drove to the rest area, following Rainbow's van.

They arrived just after eleven, leaving nearly an hour before the package was supposed to be picked up. Rainbow parked the van where he could reasonably cover as much of the parking lot as possible, while still being able to get out easily.

Shortly after they arrived, Nigel got out of the van and walked over to the restroom. There were several carloads of people having picnics in the various covered areas, and some people just stopping to use the toilet, but nothing out of the ordinary.

As Nigel made his way back from the bathrooms, Nova got out of the van and walked over to the building herself. They still had over half an hour, and other than meeting someone named Martin, they weren't sure exactly what to expect.

"Nigel," Rainbow said as Nigel slid the door shut, "do you see that grey van at the other end of the parking lot?"

"Yeah."

"They've been parked there since before we pulled into the lot," Rainbow continued. "They actually have a better vantage point than I do. Can you go check it out?"

"Sure," Nigel responded, and went astral.

Nigel headed toward the other van. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary in the van, and once he got to it, he could confirm that there was just a rigger, who was currently jacked in. He returned to tell Rainbow and Michelle.

Rainbow let the others know his suspicions about the van. Nova returned from the toilet, and they continued to wait.

About five minutes after twelve, a man in a wide brimmed hat started toward Sonny's car. To Giggy, he looked somewhat nervous. Giggy got out a map and started fumbling with it.

"Excuse me, sir," Giggy said from the passenger seat, "we got turned around here somewhere, and aren't sure which way we need to go to get back to Sydney."

The man approached the driver's door.

"You Martin?" Sonny asked.

"Yeah," Martin replied. "You Sonny?" he continued, keeping a wary eye on Giggy.

"Yeah," Sonny echoed. "Don't worry about him," he inclined his head toward Giggy, "he's mostly harmless."

"That's the package?" Martin asked, looking in the back seat.

"Yeah," Sonny replied. "Where do you want it?"

"Just load it in my trunk."

"Where ya' parked?"

"Two cars over, mate. Blue 3220."

Sonny backed the car around, and he and Giggy got out and loaded the package into Martin's trunk.

"Well," Giggy said over the radio as he and Rainbow started to pull away, "we dropped off the package, now back to Sydney to get paid."

Rainbow started up the van and followed sonny out of the parking lot.

"Sonny," Rainbow asked, "did you see that other van pulling away s we pulled out?"

"Yeah, but they don't seem to be following us," Sonny replied, "so I wouldn't worry about it too much."

They headed back to Sydney. On the way, Sonny called ahead to make arrangements to have his car repaired.

They arrived in Sydney that evening, and Sonny and Giggy dropped off Sonny's car. While they were waiting for Rainbow to come and pick them up, Sonny called Trinny about payment.

"Hey, mate, what the hell happened to you?" Trinny asked when he answered the phone.

"Not much, just a little fire," Sonny replied. "So, when can I collect the cred?"

"That's ballsy, mate. I just got off the phone with Martin," Trinny responded.

"Yeah... and..."

"You call expecting cred when you never showed up to the drop?" Trinny continued. "You may not be real big on maintaining your own rep here, but I got my rep to watch out for."

"Wait. What do you mean? We met the guy. We loaded it into his car. Clockwork chummer, clockwork."

"He called about an hour ago, wondering why you never showed."

Sonny scratched his head, starting to pace, "What does he drive?"

"A '54 3220."

"Blue one? Black trim? White interior? Three spoke wheels?" Sonny asked.

"Yeah."

"We loaded it into his trunk, chummer," Sonny continued. "He's fraggin ya. Don't push this on me, you know I wouldn't do this."

"Look, he's got his finger higher up the ladder than us," Trinny replied. "I'm getting pressure to produce goods - goods which I left in your hands. You can see where this is going."

"Yeah. Let me get back to you," Sonny hung up.

"Giggy," Sonny continued, putting away his phone, "we got a problem."

"Next time, you need to work out some way of identifying each other. Make him carry a parrot or have one leg or something."

"Yeah, that's all good, but for now we need to figure out how to get paid."

Giggy grabbed his phone and dialed. "Hello, detective Syth, please," he said when te line was connected.

"Lois, baby, it's Gig!" he said a moment later.

"What's your beef this time?" she replied.

"Look, do you have surveillance cameras at rest stops on the major highways?"

"Some, not all."

"How about the one two miles this side of Canberra on the Federal Highway?"

"I don't know about that one."

Could you look?" Giggy asked. "It's kind of important. I'd be looking for footage of the parking lot from 9 this morning to 3 this afternoon if possible. I'd definitely make it worth your while. Prime rib, red wine, those little carrots in brown sugar..."

"It may be worth a little more than dinner, babe."

"Well, let me know," Giggy hung up as Rainbow pulled up.

---

We'll have to see what's in store for next time...

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