Day 264 - Thursday, September 11th
[Max sleeps; has as he'd thought, he achieves nothing, and he's not even a small-talk source of comfort or somebody to soothe Ash's nerves before his two AM meeting with yet another Chinese teenager. Something about Chinese teenagers seems to always spell trouble for Ash, and now he's in a mess involving no less than four of them.
But Max doesn't move. If Ash comes to see him, setting that pill counter and the note about the smoothie, he may notice he hasn't so much as shifted a finger. Ash has had to turn to painting, but there's no need to lock that room before, or even for a long while after. The only one in this house besides him is a breathing corpse.
But Shawn's ready and waiting for him at one, prepared to be decked out a wires that Ling's likely to hang him with if he finds out about them.]
But Max doesn't move. If Ash comes to see him, setting that pill counter and the note about the smoothie, he may notice he hasn't so much as shifted a finger. Ash has had to turn to painting, but there's no need to lock that room before, or even for a long while after. The only one in this house besides him is a breathing corpse.
But Shawn's ready and waiting for him at one, prepared to be decked out a wires that Ling's likely to hang him with if he finds out about them.]
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He's gotten weak. He should have traded Ling.
Instead, he's heading toward the shopping center itself. ]
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He is a monster, after all.
Although, with his hood up, it's only the particularly perceptive ones, those who notice someone trying to be inconspicuous. Others still go about beginning their day.]
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The shopping center has to eventually come into sight. ]
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They'll probably be looking for him. ]
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And Max says there's no reason to stay so skinny. He can fit through tight spots. ]
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But Shawn should be here. It's going to be slow. Maybe he'll luck out and Shawn will be sitting all tied up in front of the window.
Time to get started. Instead of looking into the window, he'll use his phone to take a photo of what's inside if a window shouldn't have curtains. He'll have to make use of the rooms that do and come back. ]
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With open windows, he can listen before risking the photo. At the very least, he did hear the men talking. ]
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The window is open by what looks like a washroom. There's no formal bathtub there, just a large tin washbasin, which has brownish water and bloodstains on it. There's a rusted sink and a toilet without a seat, and quite a lot of packaged trash, from pill bottles to plastic containers to needle caps and probably needles.]
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They've been up all night. They'll need to sleep soon. It's still darkish so Ash does have some cover.
Sitting on his hunches, he starts his translator app. It won't be perfect for the distance, but maybe he'll get some idea of what's being said. He'll also try to discern how many men are inside. ]
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For the first ten or so it sounds entirely like only one person is there. Then eventually, there's another: familiar, slurred, as if drunk, but still saucy.]
I'm gonna brag at home I'm worth more than a Ling. Which would mean something if anyone knew what a Ling was.
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One person down.
Ash is still silent as he comes into the window. He needs to figure out where the man is in in the apartment. ]
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It'd be hard to drag bodies through, but as the boy before noted, if you're just bundling them up and not caring too much if they get hurt, one could force it.]
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He moves slowly down the hall. ]
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That there's only one other room, on the opposite side of the hall, beside the stairway, also narrows that down a lot.]
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When Ash slowly opens the door, he's still prepared in case he's wrong.]
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It's annoying, but Ash can't keep waiting around. There will be other men.
Open the door. The guy will turn around to see who is coming in. A knife throw should plant the blade into the man's head. Curiosity will be his first response and even if he gets a moment of realization before the blade kills him, his instinct will be to point the gun at Ash, not shoot Shawn.
Planning out the movements inside, he opens the door to follow through with just that. ]
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An hour of questioning later...
he was well paid for it
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