Unit Seventeen

Unit Seventeen 5 Agreements

It had been a week since Blake had been suspended from the Birmingham Police Force. She had started pulling four-hour shifts in the afternoons at the Smoking Pipe, the bar beneath her apartment.

"Sari dear," came the voice of Mrs. Capelo from the kitchen, "Can you pick up a night shift tonight? Barry called in with a nasty bug and we don't have another person to cover it."

"Of course, Mrs. Capelo, I can handle that."

"Thank you, dear! You are a peach."

The past week had been spending four hours at the bar, working out, and then spending several hours a day at the local Hindu temple praying and reconnecting with her roots. She wasn't an overly spiritual person, but with her gift of seeing the dead and the constant images of extraplanar beings on the news, it was hard to not believe that something was out there.

That night she was working the happy hour crowd and making light conversation with the customers, mostly mages and other magic connected people. The Smoking Pipe was the open secret place for magic practitioners to meet, network, or just unwind.

"Hey boss, how goes the battle?" came the voice of Shinagawa from just down the bar.

"Hey Shiny, not bad. Everything alright? How's the team?" she inquired.

"We're good, a few callouts but nothing beyond the normal stuff we're used to. I figured I could use a brisket sandwich, some homemade mac and cheese, and a baked potato tonight, and seeing you is a bonus."

Blake took down the order and placed the ticket in the window, "Can I get you something to drink while you wait for your food?"

"Just a beer. Roger is pressing for release. His lawyer is saying that he was tricked into the collusion charge and that as he has only had minor offenses in the past, he's not a threat to the public."

"He's a damn thrall now. He's a threat by just being out. The infernal are drawn to their own. The judge has to know that any kind of contract makes all of the persons bad traits even worse. He may not be a threat now, but he'll become one if he falls in with the crown that had his debts." She said in a frustrated tone.

"I know that you know that, but the lawyer is playing it down. He's most likely going to post bail and then that's the last we'll hear of him. Everyone who knows anything about him knows he's going to rabbit." Shinagawa said as he took a sip from his beer.

Blake sighed, "I'd like to believe that this will be the end of it but the universe doesn't like me that much. He's going to find a way to involve me deeper into this and then I'll never get my badge back."

"Don't talk like that boss, as soon as all the facts shake out, that you have nothing to do with him outside of him being a sponge, you'll be back on the force and we can get back to work."

"Here's hoping." She spoke as she lifted her soda in a salute, the bar door opened with a chime and Blake looked up, "More customers, I'll get back over to talk when I have a chance." She said as she waved and made her way to the end of the bar to greet the new people.

As she approached the three men who had just entered, she took a quick stock of them. Business suits, sharp cuffs, the blazers cut to hold a side arm, and really expensive shoes. Not the normal clientele by a long shot. The one in the lead looked at her and said, "Are you Sari Blake?"

"I am, what can I get for you tonight?"

"We're here as a courtesy. We'd like you to let this whole Roger Blake situation go. Drop the criminal surveillance charges, without those the collusion charge is invalidated. We're more than willing to compensate you the money that is owed to you by Mr. Blake, to the tune of fifteen hundred dollars and you'll never hear from him, or us, again."