"Hang on," Kellan said. "All I'm asking is for you to listen to what I've got to say. If you're not interested, that's fine. I'm sure there's plenty of other shadowrunners around willing to make some money."

Liada paused and looked at Kellan more carefully. She glanced over at Silver Max, who nodded slightly.

"Okay," she said, sinking back down into her seat. "You've got five minutes. Then I'm gone. What's this supposed run about?"

"Payback," Kellan said with a smile. She told the others what she'd discovered about Brickman and their run on the Ares shipment, and about her encounter with Green Lucifer and Orion's sudden departure from the Ancients, although she left out the details of the fight.

She explained what she suspected about Brickman selling weapons-or the routes of weapons shipments-to both the Spikes and the Ancients. She also showed them the data Jackie acquired from the Ares system.

"So what's this got to do with us?" Silver Max asked, and all eyes shifted back to Kellan.

"Simple," she replied. "I've got the information on the shipping route Mr. Johnson-Brickman-supplied, and Jackie has data from Ares about a shipment of weapons coming in along that route. The Ancients are set up to take that shipment, but we could hit it before they do."

"And what's in it for us?" the dwarf rigger persisted, though the tone of his voice said he was intrigued.

"The shipment," Kellan said. "It would be worth plenty to the right people-after we get first pick, of course."

Silver Max nodded sagely, his thick beard parting with a tight smile. Liada shook her head.

"Why should we cross Brickman, or the Ancients?" she asked. "That's a lot of potential trouble for just a shipment of guns."

G-Dogg spoke up before Kellan could answer. "You mean, aside from taking away Brickman's advantage over us?" The ork counted off reasons on his fingers, leaning forward and resting his elbow on one knee. "There's cred to be made off that shipment. Nobody's going to be expecting anyone else to go after it, since they figure nobody else knows. It hacks off the Ancients and, if we do it right, Brickman isn't even going to know it was us. The Ancients might, but I know how you feel about them, Liada."

The elven mage glanced at Orion for a moment before returning her attention to Kellan. "Who else is in on this?" she asked.

"Just us," Kellan said, "and Jackie Ozone. She helped dig up the data and she can provide the Matrix overwatch, same as last time. Shouldn't be that hard-after all, we already did it once, right?"

"What about Lothan?" Liada asked. Her expression remained guarded, but Kellan figured that since she was still talking, she must be interested.

"He already made it clear that he didn't want anything to do with this," Kellan said, "but if you're not interested, Liada, we probably will need another mage:."

The elf broke into a slow smile. "You really think that's going to make up my mind?" she asked.

"I don't know," Kellan said smiling back in spite of herself. "Depends on how willing you are to take a chance: and how much better than Lothan you think you can do the job."

There was a long pause as the two women regarded each other, then Liada grinned. "Well, since you put it that way," she said, "why not? I'm in."

"Me, too," Silver Max said and G-Dogg nodded, affirming his interest. Kellan looked around at the gathered shadowrunners, a combination of triumph and anxiety fighting inside her.

"Okay," she said, "here's what we're going to need to do. First, I think there's one other person we should talk to:."

They found the Street Deacon sitting in his customary spot at Crusher 495 in Redmond. This time, Kellan went with both G-Dogg and Orion, the elf warrior insisting on being there for the meet. Same as last time, the Deacon didn't acknowledge the arrival of the shadowrunners as they approached him. He simply sat at the bar, nursing his drink.

G-Dogg offered to do the talking, but Kellan insisted on doing it herself. If she was putting this run together, she wasn't going to do it by halves.

"Deacon," she said. He showed no sign that he heard her. "I've got a job," Kellan continued.

"Find someone else to play with, kid," the Street Deacon replied, taking a sip of his drink, not even looking in Kellan's direction. "I'm not interested."

"I think you will be when you hear what it's about."

"Doubt it," the Deacon replied calmly.

Kellan forced herself to lean in closer. She put one hand on the bar in front of him, and spoke quietly so only the Deacon could hear her.

"I know what Brickman is up to," she said. "He's playing us all."

The Street Deacon turned to look at her, and Kellan forced herself to not flinch from the flat, dead gaze of his artificial eyes.

"Is that so? You don't even know half of what Brickman is about, little girl," he said.

"I know enough," Kellan replied firmly, straightening up. "I know he's setting up something between the Spikes and the Ancients, and I know he used us to test out a run to snatch some weapons, maybe even set us up to take the fall for the next hijacking."

"So? That's what guys like Brickman do."

"Now I'm giving you a chance to so something about it." The Deacon started to turn away from her, and Kellan said, "I didn't take you for a fall guy."

"I'm not," he sneered. "Not for Brickman, and not for you, either."

Kellan played her hunch. "Not anymore, anyway." The Street Deacon's attention snapped back to her with a look that made Kellan's blood run cold. She wondered for a moment if she'd pushed him too far.

"No," he said flatly. "Not anymore."

"Now's your chance to prove it to him." She paused, looking down at the bar, then met the Deacon's cold gaze again. " 'All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.' "

The street samurai just looked at Kellan, unblinking. Then he set his drink down on the bar.

"What's the run?" he asked.

As they left the Crusher, G-Dogg asked Kellan, "What was that you said to him? Is it from some book?"

Kellan shrugged. "Beats the frag out of me. Just something I saw in somebody's signature file online. Looks like it worked, though." G-Dogg grinned and nodded.

"You understand the Deacon better than I thought," the ork said, "though I think you were taking a real chance."

"I still don't understand why we need him," Orion said.

"Because we might need some extra muscle," Kellan replied, "and I've already learned it's better the devil you know."

G-Dogg gave her a tusky grin. "Nice to know you've been payin' attention, kid," he said.

They cut through the alley next to the Crusher to get to where they'd left G-Dogg's car. The roar of engines cut through the night, and the glare of motorcycle headlights stabbed down the alley. Kellan squinted against the sudden brightness, which rendered the bikes and their riders black silhouettes against the darkness.

"Hey, makkaherenit," a voice called out over the thrumming of the engines. "Green Lucifer sends his regards." The bike engines revved.

Orion turned to Kellan. "Go," he said, nodding his head toward the other end of the alley. "Now."

"I'm not going to just-" Kellan began, then the go-gangers drew their weapons and raced their bikes forward, like knights on eager steeds.

"Go!" Orion yelled, and G-Dogg grabbed Kellan's arm and dragged her toward the other end of the alley, just as two more bikes rounded the corner, cutting off their retreat.

"Aw, fraggit," G-Dogg muttered, reaching into his jacket and pulling Kellan toward the alley wall as the other two gangers roared toward them.

Orion stood his ground as the two bikes closed in on him. One of the elves whirled a length of heavy chain over his head and the other hefted a metal baseball bat, both of them laughing and hooting war cries.