Crossroads

[Ishani]

Ishani frowns as she watches the other people arrive. What the hell did Ale have them doing tonight to need so many people? She began to get nervous and shifted her weight as Ale spoke to her contact. She eyed the two men as they came walking up. She recognized one of them from Court, but wasn't sure who the other one was. She hoped Ale had called them too, otherwise there was going to be a problem and she wasn't sure she felt like handling egos this evening.

She listened to the exchange between Ale and her "friend" but kept her mouth shut. She knew nothing of the current gangs in this city and wasn't about to stick her foot in her mouth trying to pretend like she did. Although she did know that explosive rounds were bad news, no matter who had them.

[White]

Oh boy, what did I get myself into? When the first topic of conversation was hardware that could finish a requiem in a blink of automatic fire it did tend to make one want to know the context, or, more at least. In contrast, the MOD money seemed less important, but losing details of the bigger picture could be fatal for an investigation. There wasn't a lot to add at this point, investigations would follow and he could help more then. For now, he waited and watched.

[Bea]

Well, okay, maybe that bit about gang members being dumb was just for the cop's benefit. Bea certainly hoped so. There was a big difference between intelligent and educated, after all. Still, there wasn't any use arguing with anyone over that point. Not until the favor was satisfied, anyways.

"You say things are about to boil over," Bea piped up, deciding that she didn't care about badgering the cop with too many questions. "Can you give us any names or locations? Lieutenants, hang outs, street corners, anything like that?"

[West]

"Sure, fingerprints."

Joe studied the late arrivals. Just how many people were showing up?

"They also left their dental records, last knowns, and Na-Na's secret sugar cookie recipe."

Alessandra gets the flat look of a seasoned veteran who's been accused of leaving out details.

"What you see is what you get. Everything was clean -- professionally clean. Evidence hasn't found anything to work with, yet. The real problem is the turf war this is starting. Full auto mil-spec is going to get kicked up to Major Crimes or Federal, anyway."

He glanced at Bea.

"No."

Colonel Nathan Jessup would be proud of the single syllable. Do your own leg-work, lady. The 'C' in CI stands for 'Confidential'.

[West]

Acheron is having computer problems, so let's not keep waiting for him

[Alessandra]

Eyes narrow, not impressed with the wise ass attitude.

“Can you share that recipe? I misplaced mine in the move.” She can be a wise ass too.

“Well, aren’t we lucky I have my own contacts in this.” Look like she’ll need to make some calls and visit some people. Cause if this was all the info he had, she could have just called him.

“Yes, the turf war is going to create some major headaches for a lot of people.” Herself included. A long breath was released, “We need to find the one pulling the strings. Most gang members don’t just go out and start shit without word from whoever is in charge. I think someone else did the hit and planted the evidence. Best way to start a turf war is to plant evidence, let the blame game begin and sit back to watch where the cards fall. What’s the address of where the bodies were found?” and whoever heard of a gang hit being done ‘clean’? They were messy.

Sorry...didn't get the alert

[Ishani]

Ishani watches O'Connell. He seemed to be telling them the truth, at least he believed what he was saying, so that was truth enough. She lightly touches Alessandra's shoulder, ignoring the 'witty banter' between them.

"This isn't the gangs. I know for a fact that kind of shit is kept off the streets and the reigns are tight. This is something new. We need to talk and find out who the newbies are in Sacramento. Chances are this will fall on their heads and then we can take care of it."

Finally, she looks directly at O'Connell. "Can we get an estimate of how much time we have? I know some people choose to retaliate faster then others."

Truth be told she didn't know these streets very well anymore, but she was tight with those who did. And frankly, anyone screwing with her city like this just flat out pissed her off.

[Bea]

Fucking amateur hour. You didn't start making hypothesis about what was happening until your asset had left. Control of your own information was as important during little meetings like this as learning what your contact had to share. It was all a part of the game. At the moment, though, O'Connell was winning that game. He'd given out far less information than they had, and that was not good considering the fetish the Prince had for the sanctity of law enforcement. If O'Connell decided to try and step into their shit, then this was going to get a lot messier than gangs running around with vampire killers chambered in their guns.

"Estimates won't mean shit," Bea cut in, carefully keeping her voice 'matter of fact', profanity aside. "All it will take is some Norteno who's been sampling a little too much product, or who's been the brunt of too many small dick jokes to get trigger happy and then the powder keg will be lit. We'd be better served doing our own homework now if we're interested in trying to implement some sort of civil outreach."

Because that's what they were, weren't they? Just a bunch of concerned citizens?

That would be something to laugh about later. And to think that she'd thought Sacramento was a bit dull when she'd first arrived.

[White]

At least I'm getting what I wanted. Alessandra posed a good question, it would lead them to a good place to start. Ishani was probably right, this didn't smell like the usual suspects. Unfortunately for them so was Bea, and Jacob got the feeling that was exactly what someone, or someones, wanted.

"Someone goes through the effort to make this 'professionally clean' but leaves behind MOD money and HEIs? That doesn't strike anyone else as a little odd? They left that behind purposefully or planted it. Either way, someone wants a gang war, this reeks of war profiteering to me." Jacob shrugged, it wasn't like he was an expert on these things, however.

[West]

"Bra... vo."

Joe's tired tone is punctuated by mocking clapping. If the scene weren't fishy as fuck, he never would have Made The Call.

"Now that we've all passed the practical lab for Manufactured Crime Scenes?" It's not totally their fault. Joe's cranky and wants a cigarette. Or wants to have finished the one he stubbed out. But for some reason he never can seem to reach for one or light it when talking to Mr. Guide's 'friends'. Or even wonder why that is. "Here's what I'm estimating. Two to three weeks for the gangs to shake their own trees, and deal with whatever shade falls out. Another two to three weeks to get paranoid, shake some more trees and make noise while they start to fold up and get ready for war. Deal with their supply lines, consolidate weapons and cash, the usual. After that? Anyone's guess. Best case scenario, two months. Worst case? Two or three weeks."

Joe gives Alessandra a long, loooooong look.

"It happened here."

This deserted lot bordering three territories? Joe didn't call the meet here for laughs.

"MOD is going to look at their money launderers, and Nortenos is going to try to figure out why their guys are dead. Neither the Bloods or Crips is going to want either in their territory. We might also have a fifth player on the board. Couple months ago Major Crimes popped Karl Sandberg for human trafficking. We've got zero solid on who's eating up Sandberg's piece of the pie, but someone is."

Someone other than the aforementioned. Race draws much sharper lines in the underground world.

"Smart money says that's where this is coming from, especially with fifty large spent to flavor a crime scene. Problem is, that's a hard sell to the gangs and they're not going to back off on 'Maybe' and 'What If'."

Joe looks around.

"We done? I've got a vandalism slash criminal mischief case* to follow up some leads on."

*

I really couldn't help myself for the sheer lolz and more tie-in/shared setting from Mage