Apricot relaxes a bus hunched over on the small window sill ridge. She watches the buildings and cars below pass by as the bus continues down the long stretch of roadways. Deep in thought, her mind spirals with worries and fears. She realizes she sure as hell was not getting her hands on a gun, not legally that is. However, even illegally, it is not like people advertise that sort of thing. She thought about wandering around the more shady parts of town, however without knowing what she was doing she figured she would be in danger of being trafficked. She could ask Cortez but she was positive he wanted nothing to do with her after the whole camera incident.
Her thoughts turn to identifying people she may know that knows something about illegal firearms. That is when her mind lands on Solenne, she is an officer. Traffic cop most of the time but an officer none the less. Though she considers her reaction to asking her about getting a firearm illegally. If she were to do something like that, she may find Solenne handcuffing her. She has to uphold the law after all. But being a journalist she could offer the idea as being for an article. Apricot smiles to herself taking out her cellphone.
“So why did you want to have tea with me at this hour?” Solenne asks sitting back in a private secluded corner. The fabric of the lounge chairs in the teahouse are gray matching the carpets in the cafe’s center. The floors on the raised platform where Apricot and Solenne sat are a warm hardwood. Above them hung large red ball lanterns with golden tassels hanging from its light. The cafe had a yonic shape to it. A live pianist serenades the air with background music.
Apricot sipped her tea with a flushed smile. “You don’t waste time.” she chuckles.
Solenne nods. “Rarely do we go out for tea just the two of us. So I got enough intuition to know,” she says lowering her gaze to Apricot. “What exactly do you want to know?”
“To know?” Apricot says innocently.
“Well, your text kind of made it obvious. Solenne, I am so stressed about my next article. I can’t think of anything to write about,” she mocks Apricot rolling her eyes. “Want a scoop?”
Apricot nods. “I kind of want something specific. I was looking through the official reports about that bank robbery.” Solenne nods her head. “Well, they had illegal firearms. How does a criminal get an illegal firearm here?”
“Oh, there are black markets all over the place girl.” Solenne gesturing with her hand. “You would not believe how many there are. We have an entire department dedicating to busting up illegal markets and almost all of them have firearms.”
“Yeah, so how do you guys find those guys?” Apricot asked.
“Well, they don’t make it easy. It’s not impossible to find them, but like I said it is difficult. Especially for police. They know who is a cop and who is not normal. A lot of our officers get messed up looking for them. We use undercover cops. Infiltration is the best method.” Solenne explains taking a sip of her tea.
“So, how do the undercover cops find these groups?” Apricot sets her tea down grabbing her notepad from her side.
Solenne chuckles seeing the notepad come out. “Oh, I am being interviewed now.”
“Something like that,” Apricot says. “Completely anonymous of course. Just for my own research.”
“Well, the first thing to look for is their calling card. It’s normally a bar with a crown with a pitchfork going through the crown. That is how you know it is an illegal arms seller. However, you just can’t ask to buy a firearm. They won’t like that. So we have to find these spots, the symbols can be hard to find but normally the pitchforks base is the arrow pointing in the direction of the ship. You can search all over town until you find the specific shop.” Apricot bobs her head as she jots down Solenne’s words.
“So how dangerous are these places normally?”
“Hey, you’re joking right?” Solenne says smirking “Dangerous. I know I would not want to be on assignment anywhere near those types of people.”
Apricot nods her head. “I know right. I can’t imagine having to do something so dangerous on a daily basis.”
Solenne pauses straitening her posture. “Apricot,” she says in a firm tone looking her in the eye. “Don’t do anything crazy with that knowledge. I think that is enough to give you an article.”
“Plenty,” Apricot punctuates. “Thanks, Solenne.” She puts down the notepad placing it back into her coat pocket. “So, tell me, how are things with you and Arjun?”
The constant clatter of the decorated glass plates and small teacups and the murmurs of distant conversation fill the room. A group of men sit in a distant corner of the teahouse. A house servant pours their drink from a large kettle. She bows as the men raise their drinks to her with a smile. With a chirp and a giggle she makes her leave to the men in their private section of the room.
“Now we are alone. Let us begin the real conversation. Something needs to be done about Kyo. She has no respect for the order.” A man with short, fading black hair says. “We all watched her murder my brother and everyone celebrated because of old stories written by a senile woman. I can’t allow this to stand.”
Another man nods his head his head a field of gray. “Yes,” he coughs. “I agree, Naju. Yet, what can we do? She has the support of the lesser order. If we were to remove her, people would blame us for the failure of the rituals.” He takes a sip of tea.
Another man speaks up. “The four of us know what needs to be done. Ujima, don’t act innocent. We need to kill her. The question is who will carry it out?”
“I will.” Hegia states. The other men turn to face him. “I already planned to speak with her. We are going to the theater to discuss plans for the future. I will push her off the balcony. The fall will kill her for sure. I will do this, for Mitsura’s honor. He did not deserve that death. May his soul find peace.”
“Then it is settled.” Naju says. “This meeting must be kept secret. If anyone were to find out our discussion took place it would be rather ill received. Do we have an agreement?” The other men nod their heads. “Good, then let it be considered no more.”
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