If this was some sort of trap, Kat didn’t care. She was more than prepared to get what she wanted by any means necessary. “Tony has never been the sharpest tool in the shed,” she said at the woman’s comment. “Dumber than a box of hammers. I’m not sure why they would even think of trying to send him to look after anyone.” She gave another shrug, “Maybe it says something about the one giving the orders.” Whatever ‘orders’ made her wonder if it was the same person, it would given them further evidence, but thought it best to play along so she didn’t say anything more.<br/><br/>The woman mentioning the territories went purposely ignored. It was easy to tell that Eric and, especially, Ryan were annoyed by this woman’s presence. To say that Kat wasn’t annoyed, of course, was a lie. Her annoyance was written all over her face. But she would rather not cause as scene at this time when there was so much they could get from this woman.<br/><br/>Unfortunately, Ryan had other ideas.<br/><br/>“It just so happens, I do have a place in mind,” he said, grinning. “I’m flattered that you would go through the trouble of burning half the city just so I could expand my territory. That was nice of you, perhaps you could join me. Oh, but just in case…” There was something about him Kat had not seen before, and it worried her a bit. But before she could say anything he pulled out his gun, aimed it at the woman, and blew out both of her kneecaps. “We just can’t have you running off after we take you with us, now can we?”<br/><br/>It took Kat everything she had not to flash Ryan a dangerous look as he advanced on the woman. He probably just ruined any chances they might have had in getting information. Violence and torture was not the way to go in this case. She got that sense from this woman immediately. There was that calm demeanor about her. To be honest, Kat was just as tired of dealing with these people as any of the other two were, especially those who were well-trained to handle pain, but… there was a time and place for everything. Unfortunately as much as she wanted to voice that, she didn’t want to butt heads and appear like they were not a team in front of this woman.<br/><br/>She decided to play along.<br/><br/>“Good thinking, Ryan” she said in a mock cheerful tone, trying to sound as pleased as possible.<br/><br/>“No problem, dear Kat,” Ryan said, not once taking his eyes off the woman to look over his shoulder at Kat and Eric.<br/><br/>------------------------------------------------<br/><br/>Three men met near an old factory in Adam’s abandoned territory. For years, they have been conducting these meetings, waiting for this very moment. Whoever had been here had caused quite a stir, which had worked to their advantage. It was a lot easier to move from place to place when everyone had their eyes on the destruction, attempting to put out the fires.<br/><br/>The dark-haired man let out a soft breath and approached his comrades.<br/><br/>“Sorry I’m--” he began, but was cut off.<br/><br/>“Don’t worry about it. Nice to see that everyone is accounted for,” said an average-looking man. He lit a cigar and took a drag from it. “Let’s get started then.” The others gave him a nod and followed him inside the factory, through a back door.<br/><br/>They entered a small meeting room after a ways and sat down at a rectangular table. There were only three men, but the table had five chairs. It was no secret that they had lost a few allies but that no longer mattered. They were able to function with the numbers they had as long as they worked as a team. Teamwork was going to be more important from here on out now.<br/><br/>The dark-haired man cleared his throat once everyone was seated, “Tony has been compromised. I had him executed.”<br/><br/>“Executed? Damn it… why? We could have used him some more!” The youngest man slammed a hand on the table immediately in response, snarling.<br/><br/>“It wasn’t worth the risk, James.”<br/><br/>“He was valuable… I hope you got rid of the body.”<br/><br/>“No, I’d left it in the open. This had been left specifically in the orders Thomas left for me, I was simply following instructions.”<br/><br/>Silence fell upon the room. The other two men were hoping the black-haired man was being sarcastic. But there hadn’t been a hint of sarcasm in his voice, and quite frankly that was worrying. Worrying and also very strange that such an order would be left. It seemed just like Thomas to do something like that… but still…<br/><br/>“I don’t recall anything being left in the orders I had received from Thomas,” said the third man, slowly.<br/><br/>“Of course not. He made sure we all had something to accomplish,” the dark-haired man said, frowning. He waited for a response, but only received silence, before moving on, “Now, let’s get down to business.” He reached into his pocket and removed what Tony had handed him.<br/><br/>“Is that?” The man called ‘James’ arched a brow.<br/><br/>“Yes. It was salvaged before Tony’s tag-along made a mess of the place. Now, all we need is to get Kat. Thankfully I have an idea of where she might have gone.” He leaned back in his char and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I’m hoping she’s managed to complete her end of the bargain.”<br/><br/>“She was reluctant to cooperate before… and she killed Walter.”<br/><br/>“I know. But that doesn’t deter me.” A pause. The silence that lingered seemed to share the same sentiment. The man continued, “In any case, we should get started. They have made their move. It’s our turn to make ours.”<br/><br/>“Shall I go grab the equipment? And, where are they exactly?”<br/><br/>“Somewhere on the edge of town, an old territory controlled by a small gang. Don’t know who runs the gang, however… I believe Ryan use to come around there. We’ll have to leave now, so grab everything you can. We cannot waste any time.”<br/><br/>There was a unified agreement.<br/><br/>“There is one small problem, however,” the man said, looking somewhat irritated.<br/><br/>“Oh?”<br/><br/>The man frowned deeply, “Ryan is with them.”