Play@YSDC

This thread currently for Andrei, Elizabeth & Caroline only, it will contain spoilers for all other player, so please keep out.

EDIT: Thomas is here now as well.

If you're meant to be here scroll down....

Approaching Andrei’s Apartment
9:15pm – Thursday 15th January

The trio pass slowly by Prospero House in their taxi as they make their way to Andrei's Apartment, but nothing appears to be amiss.

As the taxi approaches Andrei’s apartment building however, the big Russian notices a car outside, with two black guys sat in the front. Glancing up towards his apartment window he can just make out the flickering of flashlights inside.

Elizabeth became tense as they approached the publishing house, and relaxed once they saw no signs of trouble. As they approach Andrei's apartment, she yawns and says, "It's so early, but I'm already about to fall asleep."

Andrei tenses up as the taxi slows in front of his apartment.

"Damn it" he growls.

"Keep driving, keep driving!" he hisses at the cabby. "Put your heads down!" Andrei tries to duck down, which is a tough thing to do for a man of his stature.

As the cab continues driving, Andrei whispers "There were men parked outside. I saw flashlights upstairs in my window." Still ducked down, he asks the cabby, "Did a car just pull in behind us? Keep driving, go to... just go anywhere!"

Many thoughts buzz through Andrei's mind: How did they find my place? Did the police tell them? Maybe it -is- the police. The Russians and Johnny are coming here later tonight, we need to find them. Thomas might be in trouble too. We need to call the police, first, though.

"What?!" Elizabeth is surprised but obediently ducks down when Andrei tells them to. "How did they...? Nevermind. We should go find Thomas, he left on his own. What if they found him?!" She tells the driver to head toward Thomas' office.

Good heavens, Caroline thinks. Will this day's troubles never end? As she ducks down, following Andrei's instruction, she wonders quickly about what might have happened if she'd gone with Maksim to her own apartment and then wonders whether Thomas was all right by himself.

"How could they have discovered my apartment?" Andrei wonders out loud. "And how are we going to tell Timour, Maks and Johnny? Where did they say they were going, again?"

He watches the expressions of Caroline and Elizabeth, as their faces are momentarily lit up by passing car headlights and street lamps. I hope they're doing ok. These bastards are going to pay for this.

"I think they were going to investigate something? Or play cards? I really don't recall. Anyway, I'm sure those three will be able to take care of themselves. But Thomas is on his own. Oh! What if they're following us?" Elizabeth will ask the driver again if he sees anyone following. The adrenaline is starting to pull her out of her exhaustion, and fear has begun to tickle her spine. For all everyone has been talking about danger and taking precautions, this is the first time Elizabeth recognizes that people actually are after them. She suddenly feels vulnerable and grasps hands with Caroline and Andrei.

Caroline feels Elizabeth's grip. "I think there are two possibilities. We can assume either that these men know about all of our individual residences, or we can assume that somehow they know about Andrei's apartment--perhaps from his connection to you, Beth--but not about mine or anyone else's.

"If it's the first one, we might consider picking up Thomas. If it's the second, he's probably safer if we stay away for now. We could try going by my apartment, see if there's anyone about. Now that we know what we're looking for, we might not be caught unawares."

Damn, I feel useless. Look at me, sitting in the back of a cab, holding hands and running away. Thank God none of the men can see me now. Maybe Timour is right. We need to find out who these people are, and take the fight to them.

"Lets drive by Thomas' office see if anyone is waiting outside. No matter what we see, we could phone the office from elsewhere. In fact, maybe we should stop the cab on the way and phone him from somewhere. Just to warn him."

"That sounds like a good idea," Caroline says. "Should we try to telephone first, perhaps from a very public place?"

"But what if they are already there? Calling him won't do any good then," Elizabeth says. "Couldn't we just drive by first, to make sure he's okay and we're not too late again? And then, if everything's okay, we could call from a public place."

"'Damned if we do?'" Caroline asks rhetorically, managing a grim smile. "I see problems with either idea, but I think yours is better, Beth. I just thought we might end up drawing attention to his place by going by first, but the attackers may already have known where his office is.

"I say let's go now."

"Sure."

Andrei doesn't see a problem with either idea, but he doesn't want to go knocking at Thomas' door to contact him.

Andrei is silent for a few minutes during the ride, then speaks up quietly, hesitating, like he doesn't want to say, "Ellie... we need to check up on your parents soon as well."

Near to Thomas’ Office
9:25pm – Thursday 15th January 1925

Andrei gives the taxi driver new directions, for Thomas’ office, the driver shrugs and says, “You’re pay’in bud.”

As they approach the right block the taxi almost passes Thomas, he looks like he’s heading for a pay phone booth.

Andrei quickly looks behind Thomas, down the road, to see if it looks like anyone is following him.

"Slow down, slow down!" Andrei hisses at the cabby. "Stop the car!"

Andrei unrolls his window, and calls, "Thomas! Get over here!"

coffee demon wrote: Andrei is silent for a few minutes during the ride, then speaks up quietly, hesitating, like he doesn't want to say, "Ellie... we need to check up on your parents soon as well."

After Andrei's comment Elizabeth becomes very quiet.

...

Andrei unrolls his window, and calls, "Thomas! Get over here!"

"Hurry! Let him in!" Elizabeth scans the street, automatically suspicious of anyone out walking on such a cold night.

Thomas carefully looks around as well, then quickly enters the taxi (providing he doesn't notice anything suspicious that could make him change his mind).

"Thanks for dropping by. We need to get away, and preferably call the cops. My office is being searched. I'd really like to know how they got the address, since I haven't been there ever since we started the investigation, and my face is not particularly famous so I doubt they were able to figure out my identity back at the Chelsea. Unless the cops are with them but I have trouble buying that. But we'll get to that later. How about you?"

Nobody spots anybody tailing Thomas.

Once the lawyer has climbed into the taxi the driver asks, "Where now?"

Thomas wrote: Unless the cops are with them but I have trouble buying that. But we'll get to that later.

I'm not sure that Thomas would take that view (given his leaning towards civil rights).

As far as I can tell (and as far as I'm concerned), corruption and brutality in the NYPD was commonplace during the 1920s (indeed throughout much of it's history).

They were condemmed for the commonplace use of torture to extract confessions in 1931 (coining the term 'the third degree'), and their close ties to the Irish community (who's Mafia dominated the NY bootlegging industry in the 20s) created a culture of easy bribery and corruption.

Although these cultists obviously aren't Irish-American, once you cross the line and become 'corrupt' do you really care where the next bribe comes from? It's also worth noting that a lawyer with Thomas' strong liberal views probably isn't very popular with the 1920s era NYPD. They won't think much of Russian immigrants either.

I'm not saying that the cops are responsible, that's for you to decide, but after talking for most of the afternoon to everyone except Johnny, they do know all of your addresses, including Thomas' office, and the Rukov's hotel room(s).

I do promise that I've thought very carefully about the amount of information the bad guys have on you all, and I'll continue to do so.

Cheers,

Gary.

OOC:

You are 100% right that Thomas isn't fond of the cops, he made this comment not because he trusts them, but mainly because he doesn't believe they would accept bribes from cultists who commit ritual murders involving disembowelment, rune carving on the forehead, etc. I figure the cops would be scared of these guys since they (I assume) don't understand their motives and don't have the grip that they would have, for example, on alcohol bootleggers whose motives and behaviour are considerably more predictable and more "American". And don't worry, Thomas is just trying to understand where the leak came from so that we don't repeat the same mistakes later on.

Raiko wrote: Once the lawyer has climbed into the taxi the driver asks, "Where now?"

Elizabeth looks at the others questioningly.

[OOC: oops, all that police corruption stuff was supposed to be in a PM]

"If they've found Thomas's office, they've no doubt found my apartment," Caroline says. "Seems like a hotel none of us is associated with or some highly public place would be the best place to 'hole up' for the evening. What we do after that, I don't know.

"Just a thought. I'm not really experienced with all of this, as you all know."

"What about the others?" asks Thomas as he lights a smoke. "I take it you just shared a similar experience? Do you have any idea where the others are? Chances are the cultists are on their backs as well."

"We only went past my place. There was a car waiting outside with some dark-skinned men in it, and I could see flashlights in my window. I agree, we should call the police immediately. I was thinking, though.. who would know your address? The assassins may have found mine after seeing my name in the papers with Ellie, but yours..?"

(To the driver, Andrei impatiently says, "Just keep driving for now. Just anywhere - until we decide. Thank you.")

"If we call the police, I don't think we should tell them where we're going to spend the night. I don't think we can trust anyone now. Maks and Timour and Johnny said they were going to cruise downtown..." Andrei shifts around, and pulls the sheaf of notes and cards out of his pocket, flipping through them.

"I think they were going to look for the Stumbling Tiger Bar. Cabby, have you heard of that bar? Or a 'Lantern Street'?"

[OC: Assuming he hasn't heard of it]: "Well, they're going to return to my apartment eventually. Do you think these people will be waiting for them? We could keep an eye on my apartment and wait for them, I suppose. Or we could drive to the Downings, and wait for them there. Let's stop and call the Downings right now, actually, and... warn them."

"Cabby, can you drive into a busier area and stop near a phone booth, please?"

Andrei is talking more than usual - he even interrupts Thomas at one point when Thomas tries to interject. It sounds like he's talking faster than he's thinking.

[OC: Andrei was already suspecting the police, and if Thomas' place was being searched, it verfied his suspicions. Didn't have anything to do with the supposed-to-be-Private Messages!]

Elizabeth will agree with Caroline's suggestion that they find a hotel and then Andrei's suggestion that they call the Downings. At his mention of the bar, she says, "Wait, there's no Lantern street in this city, and I've never heard of a Stumbling Tiger Bar."

Elizabeth is obviously out of her element, and will go along with any reasonable suggestion.

"I'd love to see what would happen if we called the police, and told them we were staying somewhere.. and see who showed up..." Andrei mumbles.

Thomas is secretly pleased to finally see Andrei get a grip on himself instead of allowing himself to be a victim; so much that he lets it go when Andrei interrupts him, something for which he would normally make a comment.

"Calling the cops and giving them a phony location to see who shows up ain't a bad idea", says Thomas, "the only problem I see is that the police telephone could be tapped. There was a white guy amongst the cultists back at the Chelsea, so we can assume the cult has a local branch here. We don't know how organised they are. Our priority should be to find the others. And this time, we'll stick together. Driver, please drive around Chinatown."

"Thomas, lets stop and make a quick call to Downing Manor, if you don't mind. I think they should be warned before we start looking for the others."

Andrei watches his breath misting the cab window, lost in thought for a minute.

"I don't care who shows up if we set a trap somewhere", he finally says. "We need to get some answers, and if we can't trust the police..." After a second's thought, he looks at Elizabeth apologetically, "Excuse my brutish thoughts, dear, but this is too much. They're going to ruin our lives. We're going to have to lock ourselves up, like Mrs. Carlyle, I suspect - unless we decide to do something about it."

All this talk about relatives and friends in danger makes Caroline suddenly realize that her office helper, Hazel, may be in danger too. And she could probably just forget about seeing clients again for ... ever? For the foreseeable future, anyway. She cast a hard glance at Beth then stops. No use getting mad at her, Caroline thinks. It's not as if she knew what was going to happen, that she's not in as much danger as the rest of us.

Privately, Caroline had agreed with Andrei's sentiment. Action was better than being passive, waiting for something terrible to happen to them or to someone they cared about. She just felt inadequate to the task, was all. With some of the police potentially wrapped up in this, with Elias dead, there hardly seemed anyone they could turn to, no recourse.

[OC: I thought we were just around the corner from Thomas' office building, I'll assume its far enough to be safe to make a call.]

"Ellie, lets quickly call your parents, OK?" He helps her out of the car, noting her uncertainty.

As she waits for the operator to connect her, Andrei says, "It might be best to tell them exactly what happened. Tell them the people have guns." He swallows hard, trying not to think that the worst had happened. "Maybe you can suggest they stay at a hotel for now."

coffee demon wrote: "Ellie, lets quickly call your parents, OK?" He helps her out of the car, noting her uncertainty.

As she waits for the operator to connect her, Andrei says, "It might be best to tell them exactly what happened. Tell them the people have guns." He swallows hard, trying not to think that the worst had happened. "Maybe you can suggest they stay at a hotel for now."

Elizabeth nods and climbs out of the car, pulling her coat more tightly around herself. As she stands there, waiting for the operator to connect her, she nervously glances around the street, feeling more vulnerable out of the car.

After a few seconds, that seem like an eternity, the ringing telephone is picked up by one of the Downing House staff.

They quickly put Elizabeth's father on the line for her, «Hello Elizabeth, what's the matter?»

"Hello father. Are you okay?" Elizabeth pauses, and then quickly says, "The men who were responsible for killing Jackson now seem to be after us. We're not sure how they found out our names, but there are suspicious people searching Andrei's apartment and Thomas' office. We're fine, we're going to go stay at a hotel somewhere, but I wanted to make sure that you and mother are okay, and know to be careful, because dangerous people might show up at the house."

As they wait for Beth to finish her call, Caroline says to Andrei, "How do you think she's bearing up? I sometimes worry about her, but I've also sometimes been surprised at how tough she is underneath the surface."

Andrei talks to Caroline while scanning the streets, hands in his pockets, touching the sheaf of notes. They're standing next to the cab, getting a bit of a stretch after sitting in the cramped vehicle for the last 20 minutes.

"I think she's doing fine," he says, and falls silent for some time. Police sirens and the sounds of the city drift over from busier streets. Caroline thinks he's not about to say anything else when he glances at her and asks, "What are you going to do? About your practice? It's probably not safe for any of us to be in public by ourselves until these villians are caught."

"Ah, well, that," Caroline says. "I need to let my assistant Hazel know that we won't be in business for ... well, for a while, anyway. I'll miss the work, really, but I can't very well risk my life or other people's lives just to keep my work going.

"Besides, I owe my practice to Beth, really, so it's fair enough that I give it up for her." It's clear that Caroline isn't entirely resolved to that, but she's doing her best to be a good sport.

Andrei nods, and falls silent again, scanning the streets and sidewalk.

Amazing, Caroline thinks she's just helping Ellie. Is it just me who thinks all our lives are completely changed now? We're either going to have to wage a war on these assassins, or leave New York entirely, before our lives go back to normal. I don't even know if leaving New York will help - it seemed like Jackson knew the assassins were after him, even before he headed back to New York.

Andrei imagines different resolutions to this mess. Foremost on his mind is tracking the assassin's ringleader in some dark Brooklyn basement, tying him up at gunpoint, delivering him to the police, and finally living their lives again.

He also wonders about dealing with the police. Should we trust them? Try to trick them and weasel out anyone who's giving the assassins information? Or not talk to them at all...?

imme wrote: "Hello father. Are you okay?" Elizabeth pauses, and then quickly says, "The men who were responsible for killing Jackson now seem to be after us. We're not sure how they found out our names, but there are suspicious people searching Andrei's apartment and Thomas' office. We're fine, we're going to go stay at a hotel somewhere, but I wanted to make sure that you and mother are okay, and know to be careful, because dangerous people might show up at the house."

«Good grief Elizabeth, what has that man gotten you into? You really must call the police at once, and then return here to Downing House, you’ll be much safer at home.»

"Maybe, but I think we're just going to stay at a hotel here. Look, I've got to go, but I'll call again in the morning, okay? Be careful tonight... and sorry about any press that come in the morning." Elizabeth hangs up.

She climbs back into the taxi and tells the driver to start heading downtown. "Father said to call the police and go back to the Downing House, but I guess they're okay for now. So, are we going to try to find Johnny and the Rukovs, or go to a hotel, or what?"

"We could look, but I'm not sure how much help we'd be," Caroline says. "It seems they're better prepared for trouble than we are, and they also went out expecting to find it."

"I expect the others will eventually return to my apartment. If they don't find us there, they'll probably go to your parent's house, Elizabeth."

Thank God Johnny is with them. Andrei imagines the Rukovs swilling Vodka until the early hours and falling asleep while wrestling, with Mr. Downing happening across the mess they made in the morning.

"I wonder if we should wait for them near my apartment. What if someone lies waiting for them in my room?"

Andrei thinks for a minute.

"We should at least warn them that something's wrong at my apartment, in case they show up and we're not there. This might sound ridiculous, but... Thomas, what would you think about firing a shot through the lobby window of my apartment? That way, if they drive up, they'll know something might have happened."

"So you actually don't even want to go and look for them?" says Thomas to Caroline. "I don't like the idea of the Rukov twins on their own, handling trouble by themselves. They may have Johnny Wong with them, but they'll need more than that to settle down. You can step out if you want to - but I don't want to leave you on your own either."

He then continues for Andrei: "I'm OK with driving near your apartment and see if they're around. But I'm not going to just forget about it and go to sleep if we don't find them; otherwise we might very well wake up tomorrow and learn of their death in the newspapers."

"Lets drive by my place. We need to leave some sign that things aren't all right, because I doubt we're going to find them by driving around."

There's a tinge of challenge in Andrei's voice. There's a certain way that Thomas talks that sounds demeaning, in a way, like he thinks he's better than the rest of them. Andrei is having a hard time ignoring it.

"Thomas, you act as if I'd suggested we let them die or some such nonsense," Caroline says testily. "My point was that the three of them were expecting trouble and are probably better able to deal with it should they come upon it. We, on the other hand, are hardly equipped for a fight, assuming we could find the three of them anyway. It seemed more likely to me that we'd end up driving around aimlessly in search of them. Should we come across them, we'd probably just draw more unwarranted attention to them.

"And I'm not asking to be let off at the next corner, either, if that was what you were intimating."

Thomas shrugs and lights another cigarette. It had been a tiring day for him too and he was not in the mood for arguments, even though he was contributing to starting them, perhaps unconsciously. He decided to just shrug it off, as there were more important things to take care of.

He will stay silent during the ride and wait for the driver to reach the vicinity of Andrei's apartment.

Middle East Side - New York
9:30pm - Thursday 15th January 1925

The taxi begins it's journey back to Andrei's apartment building; it's only a few blocks so the trip should take less than ten minutes.

[OOC: Spot Hidden rolls from everyone please]

[OOC--Elizabeth sees nothing: Chapter 1 - Spot Hidden (at 25) (1d100=99)]

A couple of times during the conversation Elizabeth looks like she's about to say something, but uncharacteristically remains silent.

[OC: Andrei Spot Hidden - took it out of the global OC thread I have a feeling one of us really needs to spot here...]

Rolled 33, needed 25.

Thomas is tired and, sadly, also fails to see anything.

Lost in thought, Caroline drifts along while the car speeds along, attending to nothing in particular.[/url]

When the conversation drifts into silence Elizabeth tries to think of something to say. She gives up with a sigh and leans her head on Andrei's shoulder, tucking her arm through his.

Near Andrei’s Apartment – Middle East Side, New York
09:36pm – Thursday 15th January 1925

The taxi approaches Andrei’s apartment building again. The other car is no longer parked outside the building, and there doesn’t appear to be any torchlight flickering inside Andrei’s fifth floor apartment any more.

"Are they gone? Should we go inside?" Elizabeth asks the others.

"Is there some way to leave a sign without actually going in so that the others know that something is amiss?" Caroline asks. "On the other hand, we do want to meet up again with them eventually, so we don't want to scare them off completely."

"How about we drive around the corner one more time, paying careful attention to all the surroundings?" asks Thomas. "For all we know, these guys might be hiding inside and planning an ambush. I'm not liking this."

"I agree - lets take another look. We're pretty obvious in this cab, though. Maybe we should park further away and one of us can casually walk by, on the opposite side of the street."

"My old Officer's pistol is up there, in one of my trunks... If they didn't take it, it would be nice to have with us."

[OC: Does Andrei know of a back door to his apartment building?]

Elizabeth remains silent, waiting for the others to come to a decision.

"Right. Let's get out of here, but I suggest we get out all together. We're all in someone's line of fire now..." says Thomas. "Metaphorically... I hope." he adds with a slight smile. "I reckon splitting up is a bad idea."

He pays the cab driver and exits. He will object to anyone staying on their own. As much as he disliked telling other people what to do, he believed he had their best interests in mind and would feel guilty if he just abandoned them to a grim fate.

"Let's walk around the block first, around the back side of my building. There's a rear entrance. We can just walk past it, and see what it looks like."

I have a bad feeling about this, Andrei thinks. Only one of us with a gun. This doesn't feel safe.

Sorry, I didn’t get chance to post last night.

Yes there is a back entrance to Andrei’s apartment building, and he does know about it.
There is also an external fire escape from the end of the hallway outside Andrei’s apartment to the ground. This is at the side of the building.

Caroline follows Andrei and the others, remaining silent.

Assuming that it might be best if Andrei's hands were free right now, Elizabeth will take hold of Caroline's hand and silent follow with her.

imme wrote: Assuming that it might be best if Andrei's hands were free right now, Elizabeth will take hold of Caroline's hand and silent follow with her.

[OOC: Oh no! Now Andrei will be jealous of Caroline as well.]

With Andrei leading the way the four investigators make their way around to the back of the building. As they pass the fire escape they notice that the ladder at the bottom has been pulled down. Glancing upwards they see that the door to the fifth floor seems to be ajar.

Thomas first has a good look around, trying to spot any further clues.

"Looks like the trail's still hot." he says, dropping his cigarette butt and stepping on it, ready for action. "I still think it smells like an ambush. Do we have a good light source? If they're trying to be sneaky, we can just cut them short and turn all the lights on. What do you say, Andrei? You know your own apartment better than I do."

[OOC-- Elizabeth is scared. Deal with it. ]

[OC: Sorry Elizabeth, but as soon as Thomas got in the car, the group hand-holding in the back seat stopped. Andrei would have put his arm around you, or a hand on your lap though.]

"This is probably how they entered my rooms," Andrei whispers, looking up at the fire escape, hilighted with a frosting of snow. "Theres a light switch in the hall near the stairwell, but I don't know about the back part of the hall, where the fire escape leads to. The light switch in my rooms is just inside the door."

Andrei pauses for a minute, inspecting the fire escape from afar. Can Elizabeth and Caroline climb that? In all this snow? He looks around the street for a late-night cafe, or other busy public place where the two ladies could wait for a few minutes.

"I suppose you should go first, then Thomas. I'll follow. Ellie, what do you think? Do you think you can climb the fire escape? It might be slippery."

[OC: Are there any late-night cafe's or speakeasy's that I know of in the area?]

[OOC--Okay, no hand holding, got it. Oh, since we left the taxi I guess Caroline has her medical bag with her and she and Elizabeth have the bag(s) they packed, right?]

Elizabeth looks down at her feet. "Yes, that shouldn't be a problem. These shoes aren't too slick. What should we do with our bags?"

"I would have thought it'd make more sense if you went first since you know the place by heart." says Thomas, slightly irritated. "But what must be done must be done, and someone's got to do it." He then starts climbing the ladder as silently as possible. He will pause as soon as he hears something, or when he's near the fifth floor.

Andrei follows Thomas, also irritated. He makes an effort to calm himself down, and on the first landing he whispers, diplomatically, "I'll help with the lights, and anything else. I'll do what I can."

At each landing, Andrei will look behind to ensure Caroline and Elizabeth are doing OK, and watch the back road and alleys to ensure no one is watching or sneaking up behind them.

(OOC: Thanks for the bit about the bag. I'm always forgetting to remember not to forget it.)

Caroline thinks she catches a bit of an incredulous look from Andrei, which she interprets--perhaps wrongly--as a negative assessment of her climbing ability. Well, she'd just see about that. Thankfully, she was wearing decent shoes. Clutching her bag, she makes her way as best she can up the fire escape, hoping that their precautions will prove unnecessary, though she's grateful for them just the same.

Elizabeth also grabs her bag and ascends the fire escape.

The fire escape isn't too difficult to climb, the ladder is only between the second story and the ground, above that is a traditional 'zig-zag' metal staircase. The snow does make it a little slippery though.

As Thomas approaches the door into the fifth floor, he can see that somebody has used a crowbar to force it open.

"Lights up, Andreï!" whispers Thomas, as he quickly moves beside the door and stands as close to the wall as possible, so that anyone leaving through the door will not notice him at first... making it possible to take the first person to go out by surprise if needed. Thomas keeps his pistol ready in his pocket but does not take it out for now.