The lead he had wasn’t what she expected, though honestly she was’t sure what to expect to begin with. Some upstart local gang was stealing jewelry in the neighbourhood and the amulet just happened to be one of many. It was clearly something they were being hired to do based on what Bandi overheard of them, and what she knew of the gang itself. The Blood Drakes: they were too new and frankly unorganized to be scheming anything by themselves, and their targeted goods seemed a bit suspicious.
It was enough to work off though and she was certain she’d find him some new leads soon. All that was left was searching her database, hacking into others where necessary, cross-referencing the information, yada yada yada—and she’d get the full picture on this “amulet” if that really was what it was.
The whole thing would take ten minutes, tops, and she told him as much. He nodded, finished his smoke, got a drink from her cellar. She stared down the glimmering screens before her, taking notes, putting together the pieces of his latest puzzle.
The picture it made was a strange one.
“They’re after asuran tech.” Dwag said decisively.
Bandi nodded like he was some wise asuran scholar. She wanted to cuff his ears.
“You already knew?! I told you to tell me everything!” She snapped.
“Was just a hunch. I didn’t actually look into it.”
She sighed. “You really rushed this job, huh? Just dove in and chased the Drakes themselves. Then lost them on top of it.”
“Rent’s comin’ up.”
“Of course it is,” she grumbled. She liked Bandi but he could be real stupid sometimes. “Well, your hunch was right. There’s a bunch of news articles showing the stolen goods: they’re not all asuran made but they all look awfully similar in shape. They look like data crystals.”
“A data crystal?”
“Yeah, you know, it’s like a memory container? You store information in it.”
“So is that what this is?” He pointed to the poster of the amulet of Bolli with its little cube pendant.
“Yes. Most definitely. It’s an odd shape but that’s a data crystal for sure. This Bolli character looks to have been an asuran pirate who worked on the same crew as your client’s grandfather. Didn’t have family. Her obituary says she passed her legacy onto her crew.”
“So the Allemans didn’t steal it.”
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