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Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 7:39:47 GMT -6
It had been over three days since Prime Minister Khayyam had last heard from the elusive Director Drulović, and usually it was no more than one, perhaps two on a rare occasion. When the director was not providing daily intelligence briefings to the Prime Minister and her council, that duty fell to the Terran Intelligence Bureau's deputy director, who invariably loathed the task. For one, it meant not checking the stats on his latest MMORPG quest on his phone, at least not while Khayyam was looking at him. (If, however, she happened to leave the room for, say, a minute or two, it was fair game.)
Ahmad Fazari was a slender man with wavy dark hair falling in disarrayed tufts over his ears, a thin beard growing about his jawline, dressed in a suit he seemed entirely unaccustomed to donning but when minimally required. It still had the original folding lines from the store where he'd bought it off the rack.
During the briefings with Khayyam, Ahmad kept to the important themes of the day, as he'd been asked to do by both his boss and the Prime Minister, and provided a neat summary of actionable items requiring Khayyam's decision, dutifully noting and passing along her input, before thanking her for her time (this was a lie) and heading as quickly as he possibly could away from the ornate Government Center building, and back toward the offices at Fort Veritas.
On the way, to a chorus of irritated car horns and irate pedestrians, one of whom slammed a fist down on the hood of Ahmad's car while screaming in a language he vaguely recognized as Erutrino (he was pretty sure his mother had not fornicated in the manner described), he keyed in a familiar number on his comm, hoping Aerilyn would answer.
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Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 7:48:18 GMT -6
Aerilyn picked up on the second ring, and ran a finger over her hearing aid to make certain it was turned on. It wasn't like it was loud here. She also kept an eye on her screen so her transcript would be visible. It made it easier to keep up with and she absolutely loved the app that managed it. "Ahmad? did you finish the briefing already?" She knew he was on call for it when Drulović was out, but she had thought that the director would have been back in the saddle today. she had been gone two days, according to her husband.
She had to be back by now. The woman placed her phone in a stand where she could see it and began to braid back the front strand so her ears were visible. As far as she was concerned, the hearing aid being uncovered made it easier to hear. She didn't care if that was possible all in her head. It worked for her. You have to work with what you had.
At least she hadn't headed off to work yet. Not that she was particularly needed until much later, but she had talked her boss into letting her work an earlier shift so she could actually see her husband. Otherwise, they'd end up working opposing schedules and she hated when that happened. she liked feeling his heartbeat, and watching him play those ridiculous games. She didn't like playing them, but he did and the stories were interesting enough she wanted to watch more.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 7:54:16 GMT -6
"Hey, yeah, I just finished up," Ahmad replied, swerving suddenly to avoid hitting the screaming pedestrian, who, rather than taking the evasive maneuver as a positive, proceeded to add further invective. "One sec - " Ahmad rolled down the window a smidge, and shouted an equally profane response right back at the offender, realizing a moment too late he'd picked an Anquietas string of swears instead of an Erutrino one. The pedestrian turned, and at the look on his face, Ahmad promptly gunned the gas, and rolled up the window. "Um, sorry... Traffic's really bad."
Several red lights later, Ahmad finally slowed his speed. "So, I don't know how things are with you right now, but I'm starting to get kind of worried about Director Drulović. It's not usually this long, and I don't have any messages at all from her. Security hasn't seen her either. Would it be creepy if I drove by her house on the way back to Fort Veritas? I don't want to be creepy, but I am starting to wonder..."
That's when he saw flashing blue and red lights appear in the rearview mirror and realized about ten seconds too late that his current speed was about thirty kilometers over the limit.
"...Shit."
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Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 8:02:01 GMT -6
"I don't think so. If she's been gone this long, someone should at least check on her house, make certain she hasn't been hurt or something. She is kind of a massive target." and Aerilyn was never satisfied with her security measures, but then again, it took a lot for Aerilyn to be satisfied with anyone's security measures. Ahmad put up with a lot when it came to making her content on that.
"Ahmad. I heard that string of cursing." Well, for a given value of heard. It was more of an expression than anything. More like his comm had caught it and her comm had done it's best to give her a transcript. "What just happened?" The problem with not being there, was not knowing what had just happened. She had no doubt something had just happened to. Eyes narrowed, her hands dropped and she picked up the comm unit.
"Are you okay?" He better be okay. "Do I need to get my rifle?" If someone was coming after her husband, they had another thing coming. Aerilyn was possessive. No one was allowed to hurt her husband and she would react with lethal force. No one ever expected her to, unless they actually knew her, but she used that misconception to her advantage. Let them be taken in by her small size and long hair. She still could kick ass.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 8:10:11 GMT -6
Ahmad slowed his speed and moved to the shoulder, slumping back in the seat and pressing his head against the headrest. "No..."
"It was some maniac trying to cross the street in front of moving cars at 45 kilometers an hour, having the audacity to cuss me out for his incompetence and stupidity..." Ahmad looked at one of his mirrors through the corners of his eyes, watching the officer approach. "...anyway, now, I just got pulled over because of my stupidity." At least this time he hadn't been playing Final Fantasy when the cops showed up.
The officer came to the passenger side window, tapping on the glass. Ahmad tensed, smiling in a way that absolutely did not communicate happiness, and rolled the window down on that side. "Hey..."
"License and registration, please." The officer, whose nametag said Olkhonud, was not smiling. A thoroughly unimpressed expression colored the tall, broad-shouldered East Asian woman's face.
"Right, right... Sorry." Ahmad scrambled, opening first the sunglass compartment, then one of the cupholders, then the glovebox, digging out the registration card for the car, and handing that to Olkhonud. "Um, I've got to get my license from my wallet if that's okay."
"License and registration."
"Yeah... um... how much trouble am I in?" Ahmad fished in his pocket for his wallet, first dropping a set of house keys, then a wad of crumpled receipts, then a couple of candy wrappers, then some loose Taiyou change, then finally grabbed hold of his wallet, triumphantly retrieving his license before offering it to the officer with a shaking hand.
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Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 8:16:36 GMT -6
"Oh my god, Ahmad, really?" Aerilyn fell silent, unimpressed with him and the situation. He would get pulled over. It sounded like he had a stressful day at leas ans she sighed heavily, so he could hear it on the other side of the comm and went back to braiding her hair back. He got to deal with the officer. At least she could tell what was happening. Aerilyn didn't trust cops. they kicked up a fuss about her being heavily armed.
Given where she worked, being heavily armed was the wisest choice she could make. Finishing up her braid, she tied them both back and looked in the mirror checking her appearance. To bother with makeup or not? she had time before her shift, and it would work to disarm any trouble makers, but it was also a hassle to put on.
The real question was did she want to bother. She probably would still wear some of the bracelets from her wedding at least, so maybe some makeup to match. The woman knew all to well how to take advantage of her appearance when it came to a fight.
At least it didn't seem like the officer was being anything but professional.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 8:27:50 GMT -6
Olkhonud reached wordlessly for Ahmad's license, taking both it and the registration card as she walked back to her squad car now parked a bit behind Ahmad, lights still flashing.
"...She's running my plates now." Ahmad squeezed his eyes shut, curling fingers into fists. "...Is it bad that I've vaguely considered the possibility of trying to call the Director to ask for a favor to maybe get out of this mess? Does that make me as bad as those corrupt assholes all over the evening news?"
He opened his eyes after a few more moments, leaning as far back as he possibly could, though it did nothing whatsoever to drown out the sound of other cars whizzing by at speeds near equal to his own before he'd finally been pulled over. But of course he was the one to get pulled over. Of fucking course.
The officer frowned as she looked at something on the screen in her car, then began making her way back toward Ahmad.
"Sir, I'm going to need to have you step outside the vehicle, with your hands visible."
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Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 8:31:56 GMT -6
"Be safe. Do what she says." Aerilyn was now concerned. "and I'll call her myself if you get arrested, and be there as soon as I can." Aerilyn had never been pulled over, but she lived in fear of it. Of the two of them, she was the much more careful driver. His plates should at least be clean. The worst that could happen was an arrest, she hoped.
The woman headed to the bedroom to grab her hat and jacket, keeping her eyes on her comm. She wasn't catching every word anymore. If he was stepping out, she didn't know if his comm was sensitive enough to capture everything. She hoped it was. If he was arrested, she needed to know.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 8:38:37 GMT -6
Ahmad's stomach dropped. He stared at the officer seemingly uncomprehending for a moment.
"I'm sorry... What?"
Olkhonud was standing slightly back from Ahmad's door, one hand on her hip, dangerously close to her service weapon. "Sir, you need to step out of the vehicle with your hands clearly visible."
Ahmad gingerly grabbed at the door handle, pushing it open, and lurched to his feet, then promptly vomited the contents of his breakfast at the officer's feet. To her credit, she showed almost no reaction, but swiftly turned Ahmad around, frisking him from top to bottom. Luckily, he didn't have a firearm on his body, at least this time.
"So... um... what did I do?!" The panic was self-evident.
"Sir, you were speeding at 85 kilometers an hour, in a 40 zone. That's criminally reckless operation of a motor vehicle. You undertook evasive maneuvers when an officer approached, and, unfortunately, it looks like your plates are stolen."
Ahmad twisted his head around to try to get a look at Olkhonud. "...what?!"
"I'm going to have to take you downtown until we sort this out. The judge will probably be able to see you this afternoon, if you're lucky."
"No, wait, I'm still stuck on the 'stolen plates' thing. That's absurd! What the hell?!"
"Sir," Olkhonud replied, rapidly losing patience, "the plates came back as stolen. We're going to have to investigate. Unless you have something you'd like to confess to."
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Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 8:43:38 GMT -6
Aerilyn's comm didn't catch all of that, but it did catch his panic. Stolen plates? The car wasn't stolen at all! She was there when they bought the damned thing. She swore and grabbed her own car keys, pulling her jacket it on in the same move and grabbing the beret so she could hear better than the hearing aid did. This was not good.
He was innocent at least. Still, the idea of him spending all day in jail was not exactly a good one. she didn't want to think about what it would do for his clearance either. Could being arrested get that revoked? The charges were false, but maybe that didn't matter?
Being a bouncer and part time bodyguard was so much easier. At least things made sense for her line of work. "Which station, Ahmad?" She asked, hoping he was close enough he could still hear her.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 8:51:25 GMT -6
It would have been true that the car was Aerilyn and Ahmad's, had Ahmad actually taken their Vrozdor that morning. But when Aerilyn ran into the garage, the Vrozdor was still there. It even had the little parking tag that let Ahmad park in priority spaces at Fort Veritas.
Ahmad would realize his mistake right about the same time as Aerilyn.
"...oh fucking hell."
"Sir," Olkhonud spoke sternly," if you're not going to cooperate - "
"I'm cooperating! I'm... Oh no. Oh fuck." Ahmad felt the cold metal handcuffs snap around his wrists, and then the officer started walking him back to her squad car.
It was a Wednesday, and it still felt like a Monday, just, Monday: Round Three, or some shit.
Ahmad distinctly noticed a few other motorists slowing their speed for the sole purpose of gawking at him, since it wasn't every day that an average roadside stop turned into an arrest. It also wasn't every day that a seemingly normal interaction with an accidentally criminally offending driver would also turn up three firearms, including a military-grade beam arc weapon, in the backseat (which Olkohonud had inexplicably not glanced into when she'd first approached the car), or, that a seemingly normal (if eccentric and overly enthusiastically geeky) government official would be caught accidentally driving a vehicle originally seized as foreign contraband during counterintelligence operations.
He'd grabbed the wrong fucking set of keys in the office.
Of all the days.
And to top it all off, the esteemed director herself was still missing, a thought lingering languid and heavy in Ahmad's mind as the officer calmly helped him into the back of her car.
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Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 8:57:13 GMT -6
The vrozdor was still there. That...wasn't good. What car had he taken! Hers was still in the garage and she was in it in a flash. "Ahmad? Ahmad!" No response. Oh no. She had no clue what station he was going to go to. she sat there uncertain, then took a deep breath and opened the garage door. She didn't know where he was, but the main station down town was a safe enough bet, and if he wasn't there, they'd be able to tell her where.
A moment's hesitation and she swore, then got out of the car again to move the various guns into the trunk at least, so it was slightly less obvious how many she tended to have on her for work. Annoyed, she also disarmed herself, a process that took several minutes, given her policy of there was no such thing as being too armed.
Given where she was a bouncer at and the fights she had to step into and break up, it was a good policy. It just meant going to the police station or to her husband's work involved some planning ahead of time.
Once done, she got in the car again and headed out.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 9:06:29 GMT -6
He'd never been through a booking before, but the part where it was apparently supposed to be humiliating and monotonous and anxiety-provoking in the extreme, all at once, definitely stuck.
Ahmad had his shoelaces and belt confiscated, pockets contents sealed in ziplock baggies that he had to sign and initial for, and a few sheets of paper shoved at him confirming the intent to press charges as Olkhonud had explained. A few hours later, in a large holding cell with about a dozen-odd other people and sentients of other species, many in various stages of inebriation on a garden variety of illicit substances, one of the jailers finally let Ahmad use the phone.
Naturally, he tried for Drulović first. After the tenth ring, he heard a familiar recording say, "Good day, you've reached Arianne. I'm not available to take your call at this time, though you're welcome to leave a message if you'd like."
Ahmad disconnected without leaving a message.
He tried Aerilyn's direct comm next, and tried to ignore the rising bile in his stomach from the smell of unwashed bodies, regurgitated meals, and alcohol wafting from many of his temporary companions.
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Post by demikara on Sept 2, 2019 10:18:31 GMT -6
Aerilyn picked up halfway through the first ring. "Ahmad!" Please let it be her husband. They hadn't been willing to tell her anything and she had called Gambit's to let them know that she was unavailable due to a family emergency. She hadn't given more details than that. All she knew was that this entire place was hell on her hearing aid, and she had switched to the pin, which picked things up clearer, but it also picked up more.
She was pacing in the lobby, hoping to hope that she was at least in the right building. They better be treating her husband well, at least. She may have had to be unarmed to come into the building, but no one had checked her trunk. At least this wasn't under Aschen control. She would have come in guns blazing if it was. She didn't have patience for Aschen or Scatterran nonsense when her husband was in danger.
Please let this be her husband.
Please.
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Post by Ylanne on Sept 2, 2019 10:23:09 GMT -6
There was no such thing as privacy in the city's central cellblock. All around Ahmad, police officers and jail staff meandered about, some rushing to rush and others seemingly trying to stretch their walk as long as conceivably possible. He was one of three recent arrestees (and the only one in a business suit) huddling around the phones by the booking officer's desk, and he could hear every word of the Jhoryn woman's conversation next to him. Something about leaving her wife.
When Aerilyn answered, a brief message played warning her that calls from the police station cellblock were recorded.
As soon as Ahmad heard her voice, he interjected. "Hey Aeri, it's me." He looked around the bustling space, clenched his teeth, then spoke again. "Looks like I have to wait until the judge is ready to hear cases from this morning, but, um, apparently I got into deep shit. Have you heard from the director? I tried calling her, and no one answered. Again."
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