(Echelon) Capital G

She listened to the voicemail twice...then a third time before putting her phone down. When you create the right environment people wanted to repay their debts without the need for violence, and Matt owed just enough debt to make him highly motivated to get out of it. Too bad no one ever really got out of debt with the Doctor.

Before she knew it the courier had arrived, with a folder ready to be reviewed. The minutes ticked by as she poured over the documents in the folder and she found herself with concerns. Property was being bought, and overseas money was being used to do it. In any normal situation she wouldn't be bother by a fluctuating real estate market, but Rebecca knew that nothing was innocuous and what she was looking at was big. Luckily she knew just the person with the skills to look into it, and make sure it was not connected to the Prince's Domain. With a text sent out she organized the paperwork and waited for the Sheriff to arrive.

It didn't take Lina very long to show. She had been finishing up a surveillance call when the message arrived, so it was simply a matter of a drive.

Knock-knock, on the side of the doorframe.

"Doc. What's happening?"

Straight to the point. It wasn't often she got called urgently by Simmons.

Once the knock sounded on Rebecca's door her eyes landed on the direct woman. A smile spread across her face. "Sheriff Moretti, thank you so much for coming so quickly. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything important." Her hand grabbed the folder and placed it directly in front of her before opening it up. "A contact of mine brought something quite unusual to my attention, please take a look," she said, turning it around and sliding it to the end of the desk so Lina could see.

What Lina would see almost immediately is that all the papers seemed to relate to a company named 'Echelon'. "My associate works for a bank and learned that Echelon is buying up a substantial amount of property in the Rosemont Mather area. An unusually large amount. Now," she said, flipping over a few pages, "what got me interested is the fact that the money for said purchases are coming from shell companies and offshore bank accounts. All overseas. Unfortunately this was as far as he could dig without revealing himself."

She sat back in her chair, steepling her fingers. "Now all I know about Echelon is that it was founded in 2014 from a merger of two publicly traded companies and a privately owned one, and Sacramento isn't the only city they've been buying up land. They've been doing it throughout the United States. From the outside they seem to be exclusively related to buying properties, renting some for commercial and residential use, and reselling others."

Her hands laced together and slowly fell to her lap. "And normally I wouldn't care about a company, especially one outside my usually business concerns, making money, but my contact is insistent that there's something illegal going on, but I'm more concerned with a Kine company taking so much interest in the Prince's Domain. Buy up this much land...it makes me uneasy. Now I also imagine, as the head of the Ordo Dracul, you may want to look into the properties to see if there's some type of occult significance to them." Personal and professional interest. It was worth pointing out.

She paused for a moment, allowing the Sheriff to take it all in and to look through the papers. "Are you interested in looking into Echelon?"

Lina thought it through as Rebecca spoke on her concerns and worries about this Echelon company. Though she was less concerned about the company accidentally buying some random occult property, it was a little odd to see so much movement in a fashion that was both quiet and expansive. It could be nothing. Or it could be a supernatural interest, muscling in on the Prince's turf.

Her fingers steepled too, mirroring the Harpy as she finished.

"A look, at the very least. Mind if I take a copy of that file? I'm gonna need a bit, but I bet I can pull some finer details out of that. I've got some restricted investigative databases and contacts and whatnot I can dredge through that might help..."

As Rebecca listened to Lina's reply she smiled. "That's all I ask. If there's nothing concerning or problematic then no harm right? Let me make you a copy," she said, standing up and heading out of the room. To a normal patron Rebecca would not have had access to make copies, but she was a VIP member, with even more access than normal Kindred. It was good knowing the Prince. Even better being the Harpy. She quickly and carefully made only one extra copy, planning on keeping the original copy in her locked cabinet. Once she returned she took out an empty folder she had in her desk, placed the copy inside, and held it out to Lina. "Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help the investigation. My resources are at your disposal."

As the Harpy hands the file over the Sheriff, the paper still warm and the smell of toner coming off, the Sheriff will find a number of different documents. What stands out is the letterhead of Merchants National Bank.

If Lina would like to review the papers more thoroughly right now, she can roll an extended Intelligence + Investigation.

And it begins indeed and it isn't quick. Whiteboards covered with information, photographs, account numbers. Names of Echelon employees, board members and so on. Echelon has been centering its current work in the following cities:

Sacramento, CA (duh)
Sioux Falls, SD
St. Louis, MO
Phoenix, AZ
Camden, NJ

There is also information regarding Merchants National Bank. Merchant's National bank has a secure facility, they tout themselves as one of the most secure banks. They are one of the only major financial institutions to not have been hacked. All good information, information that makes things very hard. In cross-referencing the account numbers, Lina also found out that they are double blind. The accounts can be traced because they use a special encryption method that redirects account numbers. Matt was able to help give them the first step, but further steps will require more, it will require direct access to a secure room.

One thing is for certain, as far as Lina can tell, there are no laws being broken.

Going over it all in her head, staring at the whiteboards, running the numbers...

Yep.

She picked up the phone and called Rebecca.

"Wellp. Looks like we're gonna need some nerds."