<strong>The Crawford Tavern</strong><br/>"Because they're not nuts. It's a misnomer. They're legumes. They're closer to soybeans than walnuts. It's a common mistake."<br/><br/>A bowl of the peanuts in question sat close to his left hand. A similar bowl, half full of shells, sat at his right. Between them was a tall glass one-third full of tonic water. No lime. It was his third of the evening.<br/><br/>Across from him sat a gorgeous woman. He knew she was gorgeous. She knew she was gorgeous. Most importantly, she knew that he knew she was gorgeous. There was at least one fact more important than that: She worked for him. Which meant he could talk to her. Which he was doing.<br/><br/>The waitress, less stunning but still attractive in an working class way, worked for him only in the sense that she was bringing him drinks, and would later acquire a tip. This was not close enough to his threshold. He avoided her eyes, stopped talking when she drew near the table, and allowed Aden to handle ordering what would be a final round of drinks. When the waitress had left, Alan Blackwood continued.<br/><br/>"But that's not important now. It could be later. We're going to help Mr. Wickerman, you and I. We're going to help him because he needs help, and because he's offering us a sum of money that is impressive to him if not overly impressive to either of us. And we're going to help him because he has an eight year old daughter named Sophia who doesn't deserve to have her father killed, which is what will happen if the Longstreet Boys discover that he had the balls to come to us for help. So we're going to help him, but we're not going to do it alone."<br/><br/>He selected three peanuts from the left hand bowl. One by one he pushed them forward to the center of the table as he spoke.<br/><br/>First peanut. "We need a hitter. Someone to work the inside. Good enough to handle himself without backup. Needs to be able to fake being local."<br/><br/>Second peanut. "We need a hacker. Scotland Yard databases are some of the most secure on the planet. There's a pattern to the Longstreet activities, and we need to find it."<br/><br/>Final peanut. "And we need a thief. This isn't the first job this crew has pulled. They've taken a lot of money from a lot of people. We're going to get it back."<br/><br/>"You know people. Help me find the people we need." He picked up a peanut, cracked the shell, and dumped the contents into his mouth. After a moment he looked down at the shell in his hand almost apologetically, then back up at Aden. "The illustration portion was over. These are just peanuts again. Don't read anything into it."<br/>