From the times when the investigator split up.
Includes Private Message Transcipts
All of these threads are hyperlinked in and out of the main Chapter One IC & OOC threads.
This thread currently for Maksim, Timour & Johnny only, it will contain spoilers for all other player, so please keep out.
If you're meant to be here scroll down....
Timours Car Central Park West, Heading South 9:00pm Thurday 15th January, 1925
Maksim hasnt driven very far from Elizabeths apartment before he and Johnny both notice that they are being tailed. A Packard Touring car pulled away from the sidewalk as they left the Dakotas garage building, turned after them onto Central Park West, and has stuck closely now for over a mile.
Its too dark to tell how many occupants the car has.
"Somebody loves us," Maksim says with a tight smile. "I'm worried about the others now but it's better we don't draw attention to them while we have a tail. What do you figure I should do? Attempt to double back on them? See what we got? Or assume they're armed with machine guns and ready to fire? I can shake 'em, I can try to get us in a better position to check them out, I can draw them into an ambush. What do you want I should do?"
OOC: Raiko thanks for handling the rolling for me. The death cold still has me in its tight grip.
Johnny nods at Maksim, Good eyes.
No. Nothing drastic yet. Last time we were trying to keep them from finding out who we really were. They know now. No. Its time to take it slow. Were just some fellows out to have a drink or two. Were heading to my neck of the woods anyway.
As the drive continues Johnny casually keeps track of the car behind him, trying to see anything.
The question is: who are they. And what do they want? They could be with the voodoo nuts. They could be with the Carlyles, though that seems passing odd, her security force was quite tight and its possible that having gotten her name, they got the address of her apartment and are staking it out. Of course you wouldnt normally follow us, youd follow herMiss Downing.
There is also the possibility that the police are following us. Nine deaths is quite a few, and this most recent one is sure to set off a panic. Could be that someone has panicked and is looking for someone to pin the blame on. A couple of foreigners and a Chinaman make worse targets.
If its cops theyll just follow us. If its not this criminal conspiracy that Jackson was worried about may be trying to clean up the mess from this morning. Theyll probably drop their voodoo shtick and come out with guns blazing. If that happens it would be better to do it in Chinatown. Im not keen to make any more headlines tonight.
Grafster wrote:
Theyll probably drop their voodoo shtick and come out with guns blazing. If that happens it would be better to do it in Chinatown. Im not keen to make any more headlines tonight.
Johnny glances over at the brothers, "Unless, of course, you're worried we can't take them. Then we could go to the police."
"I'm unarmed, but for this car," says Maksim. "I'm not sure if Timour brought the BAR but I know he no longer has his handgun. Wherever we park, let's do it public enough to scare off two-bit hoods but private enough that we don't get a dozen civilians shot. Unless you'd prefer we circle the block a few dozen times."
"Is anyone else worried about the others? The way I see it, we might not be the only ones followed. If each of us is followed, that shows they've got a lot of money and a lot of men. Of course, I don't want to just swing by and get the others in trouble."
Timour grins and racks a round into the machinegun's chamber, "unless that car holds twenty one men I can take them all," he says refering to the twenty bullets in the clip of his weapon. "Turn around the others are in danger and I was a fool to leave them."
You sleep well tonight because rough men stand ready to do violence on your behalf...
Maksim nods and scans around. He's either going to attempt another bootlegger's turn or, if he recognises a decent alley that is not a dead end, pull through quickly to ensure the other car is forced to continue on by the line of traffic. Either way, he drives warily and with an eye out for pedestrians.
Maksim sees his chance just south of the park. As he drives away down 8th Avenue from the busy junction with 57th Street and Broadway Maksim swerves to the left, across the a small gap in the oncoming traffic onto 56th Street.
Horns blare all around in the busy evening traffic of the Theatre District, but the tail doesnt have a chance to follow, the gap is gone, and they are forced to continue south for now. Another quick turn and Maksim is heading back north, this time on Broadway.
Now he must choose a new destination, before the pursuers have chance to find him again.
[OOC: Maks could head back onto Central Park West, or Columbus Avenue to approach Elizabeths apartment from the front or the back.
Or he could turn east on 57th Street at the next junction, turning south again later and heading towards Andreis apartment, or Thomas office which are both in the nicer parts of the Lower East Side (close to downtown) Chinatown is also down there, but not such a nice part]
As he assumes his position, left hand clenched on door, right clutching hat and cane Johnny makes a mental note. No teasing them. Their culture apparently doesn't include teasing. At some point I'm going to need to get them to start following instructions.
Johnny smiles wryly.
OOC
If he knows where Andrei's apartment is he'll suggest going there. I think it's the kind of thing Johnny would keep up on, but that will be Raiko's call.
Maksim starts heading towards Andrei's place since that was the last place he remembered hearing they were going. "Don't suppose anyone knows where Thomas lives? That one's on his own but then ... the others aren't armed."
He will drive exactly on the speed limit where possible.
Timour looks at his pocket watch and then over at the speedometer, at this rate they'd arrive just in time to stop the assassin's from cleaning the blood off their machetes.
"Uh," he mumbles looking at his brother and motioning for him to speed up with his hand, "do you want to save them or bury them?"
You sleep well tonight because rough men stand ready to do violence on your behalf...
Maksim drives right on by. "Okay, looks like they knew where to head. Before we assume they've got the others, let's find ourselves a phone booth and call the apartment. If the others are kidnapped, I think the gangsters will want to 'ransom' them - get us to come to some convenient location. If the others saw those rather obvious signs and hot footed it out of there, well, the bad guys will let the phone ring out. We go in there guns blazing and the others are caught, we might just end up walking in on an execution."
If the others admit to not having seen the bad guys, Maksim frowns. "You didn't see...? Oh, there were these two men in the front seat of their car. Black men. And upstairs there were flashlights going about."
"Wait!" Maksim snarls, but slows down just in case. "I'll let you out but you wait. If they try and leave, watch for our friends and stop them only if you see them coming out with a gun to their back. If they don't leave or you don't see them, then wait for my signal. If they get executed because you couldn't let me make a phone call..."
At which point, Timour's either leapt out at 20 miles per hour, or they've passed the building.
