"Break? If I don't hit something every day, I might forget how..."
"Not THAT kind of Break! Talk about a one-track mind,... Hey, is that them?" Danny says glancing down the 'hallway'.
It doesn't take long for the entire group to meet up out of sight in the garden outside. "I've got the information." says Laura, giving a brief run-down of what she's requisitioned.
"That was easy enough," Sal remarks, "Off to Whitby now? I'll follow somebody who knows the way."
Kenneth asks Laura rather carefully, "Aye, now dae ye want tae have your folk deal with this information, or should we pass it on tae ours... While most ay this network seems tae be normal vanilla folk, and thus very arrestable, 'twould just take one .. being... tae be there overseeing things tae make things rough for the bobbies. And, sadly, I dinnae ken if the folks we would send all this tae would play so nicely with your people..."
"We may have some new friends, too, who should be alerted. They'll do what they can, though it's different from what we can do." She's clearly reluctant to say any more in the presence of The Law.
"Well...." Laura says a trifle reluctant to give up all the control of the information; "Maybe if someone liaise's with me, it'd be good to be kept in the loop." she adds handing over the laptop to Sal.
"The best way to Whitby, from here...." pondering it she continues; "Probably through Thirsk and then up Sutton bank." she smiles at the thought of the beautiful views - even though it's sliding into twilight.
"Cool. Scenic Route. Road trip. SHOTGUN!" Danny blurts out at the end, glancing at Tangris with a smirk.
Carrying on like he hadn't just blurted out, Danny continues calmly.
"Why not both? The 'Bobbies' can arrest the most likely targets locally, meaning the Muggles. Letting the press know this was just part of a much larger operation. And they get the credit and not a bad bit of good press out of it. Our new 'friends' can help from the other end, making sure the lines of transit are well and truly shut down. As well as allowing them to take out the more dangerous end of it, with no Muggles getting hurt because they didn't know what they were facing." Danny suggests, ever the smooth-talking diplomatic deal-maker.
Kenneth nods, "Aye, I was thinking we could try tae dae something like that, but I wasnae sure how trusting our friends might be about working in concert... Though, I suppose we dinnae have tae give all the information tae either side... at least tae start with... and let them work from different ends and meet at the middle. Win-win."
He shrugs and turns to Danny, adding, "A'course, if ye care tae handle delicate negotiations instead, lad, I'll nae stop ye."
He smiles as he slides his helmet on, Aye, that might take some colour out of his cheeks..., and then says in a cheerful voice, "As much fun as that was... as the bonnie lass said, 'tis time tae crawl tae the next pub."
He kicks his Commando to life and revs it, taking a second to revel in the musical sound of the engine, before setting his mind back to the task at hand.
Getting into the trio of vehicles, the group slides out of the big city. Leaving behind the traffic, congestion, wide roads and rowdy populace. Soon they slide into the countryside, the winding roads leading into the lush green national park of the Yorkshire Dales. Even as darkness descends the last vestiges of the emerald green scene is consumed by twilight.
The lack of street lights at first is off putting with the narrow stone-walled lanes, but the nimble bike, Moriens driving and the solidity of Sal's Landrover glides through the terrain consuming mile after mile. Flicking past the market town of Thirsk and onwards into the countryside.
Until soon you get to the imposing form of Sutton bank, a huge hillside with a chalk horse scraped into the side. The steep incline puts paid to the most rapid progress, but still adds to the excitement of the journey. The bike bucks wildly on the slope, but Kenneth's skill creates a beautiful slide - which draws a whoop from Laura and she holds on tighter.
By the time the sea comes into sight it's inky black except for the glint of the occasional boat at sea. Upon the cliff face is the gothic ruin of Whitby castle, illuminated starkly in deep blue. The small town glitters like a jewel, the cool sea breeze brings a refreshing salt air and flicks the hair.
Danny stares out the window at the countryside.
"I love castles. I want a castle. You think if I won the lottery I could buy one of these?" He asks no one in particular, still staring at the majestic outline of the ancient castle on the hill.
"So, um,... where are we going exactly?" He asks Morien with only a hint of shame.
"I always wanted a yacht. Big boat, with hammocks and video games. Also a lot of weed."
The vehicles slide into the harbour, overshadowed by the towering cliffs to both sides. Pale moonlight glistens upon the murky water, whilst the lapping of the tides breaks against the stone waterfront. There's a row of pubs and chip shops, nestled amongst the souvenir shops.
Danny nods sagely.
"Boats are cool. Chicks dig boats." He says with a straight face.
There's ample parking on the streets, despite the narrowness near the harbour. Cobbled side-streets hark back to a begone age, with wheeze-inducing slopes to the cliff-tops. However the public house you are looking for is near the edge of the harbour wall and aptly named "Duke of York".
Kenneth stops to admires the scenery for a moment, 'Tis a lovely island that they named after ye, my Lady..., then sighs, clearing his mind of the verses that began to form in his head, ...though I'll best save those for later..., to focus on the task at hand. He turns his head and asks over his shoulder, "So, now that we're near enow here, is this one ay those take o'er the boat and accept the shipment, then bust the whole lot ay them sort ay plans? If so, we'd best be sure that Danny gets a good look at everything and everyone."
HAving arrived at their destination, Laura catches her breath - the smiles spread across her face. Exhilaration evident in her eyes, reflecting the bright moonlight.
"That could be the plan... if we think we can take them. Or it could be an information gathering mission. We could get our own boat and follow them, find out what they are upto and bringing in. (Since it's a distribution route than normal)." Laura smiles; "Or we could just stop your sister from getting another boat."
Morien smirks at Danny, "Don't you know? I'm just driving to drive." The Frost follows Kenneth into the parking lot and glides into a space next to his bike.
She's able to overhear the last bit of Kenneth and Laura's conversation through the open window, and leans out of it to add her two cents. "Hold up. Jurisdiction is a pain in the neck out at sea. If you're going to arrest anyone, do it with their feet on the dirt."
Morien smirks at Danny, "Don't you know? I'm just driving to drive." The Frost follows Kenneth into the parking lot and glides into a space next to his bike.
Danny leans back and tucks his hands behind his head, assuming a nearly prone, relaxed position.
"Carry on Jeeves, Carry on." He drawls in a snooty, richy accent.
She's able to overhear the last bit of Kenneth and Laura's conversation through the open window, and leans out of it to add her two cents. "Hold up. Jurisdiction is a pain in the neck out at sea. If you're going to arrest anyone, do it with their feet on the dirt."
Danny opens one eye. "Unless there not,... human. Then Jurisdiction is the least of our worries."
He sits up, all pretense gone as he leans towards the open window.
"So, what's the play?"
Kenneth says, "As much as I love a plan built on how it irritate Molly, I'm afraid it isnae a winning proposition. As much as we can ruin take her off script here, there are a few more boats out there than there are ay us, and she's like as nae got piles ay dosh tae throw at the problem. In the end, stopping the shipment works, for tonight, but it willnae be long before a new shipment's on its way... whereas dismantling things is likely a mite more effective."
He then nods at Morien's point, adding, "Aye, and what's more, the water is like tae make life hard for Danny and meself -- it isnae friendly tae our gifts. As such, it would be harder tae hide a second boat. I'm thinking the bluff may be the best way tae go -- this way we get two groups of bad guys and a shipment... all a'fore anyone can tell Molly anything's gone wrong and throw money or goons at us."
He then winks and adds, "But if ye dinnae feel that'll be quite satisfactory enow, we can always call her and tell her tae nae expect the shipment or boat crew afterward. I'm sure she'll find that even more annoying."
With Danny leaning into her space, Morien shoulders her messenger bag and gets out of the car. The Frosts' door closes behind her with an unusually solid sound. "If they're smart, they'll make the exchange in international waters, starting about two hundred miles that way." She flicks a hand out to sea. "Which doesn't take long to cover at all, with the land breeze and a halfway decent engine."
The selkie leans against the Frosts' hood, frowning distantly at the sky as she tries to read the weather.
Sal pilots the enormous vehicle behind the others, trundling by slowly when they pull over. Trip might not appreciate his vehicle being at the scene of a... crime? Mayhem? Whatever this is. She continues past, pulling into the next block and parking out of sight of the Duke of York. Taking only a moment to pop a leather jacket over her harness and grab her bag, she locks the Rover and saunters back towards the pub, watching for anybody who might be suspiciously loitering - besides her friends.
If nothing looks out of order, she saunters up to Frost and plops her butt against the fender, looking at the sky with Morien as if it means something to her. "What? Storm coming?"
Kenneth says, "I'm thinking the trip tae international waters may be a wee bit more ay a detour that they're likely willing tae take.... but then, I dinnae ken how tight the timelines are."
"Just a little rain, from what I can tell. Enough to limit visibility and make the deck slippery. A perfectly balmy spring evening, for the North Sea." Morien seems entirely serious, even about the last part. She tilts her head at Kenneth, "Two and a half or three hours? It's nothing. Look - even a small ocean is a big place. Precise timing is hard to pull off, even with GPS to tell you where you are."
Sal snorts. "Not if your mission planning and execution is good. But based on what we've seen so far, that's not so much the case here." She yawns and stretches, reaching for the dark skies. "So, what's the plan?"
"Plan?!? We don' need no steenking plan!" Danny quips merrily.
Shrinking back visibly from the eyeballs he's getting from both Sal AND Morien now, he holds up his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"But what the hey! I'll try anything once! Twice if I like it!"
"That's what keeps getting me into trouble." He adds sotto voice as an aside to Tangris.
"This is the pub where Molly is hiring a boat for tonight? Will she be here, or will she leave that to flunkies, do you think? And if it's not her, how will we know 'em?" Sal wonders softly to the crew in the parking lot, glancing around a bit to see if anybody is looking at them oddly.
Through Sals' subtle observations, no-one in particular is paying attention and in a tourist/fishing town like Whitby, it's not unusual to find groups of people loitering around. Thus the group doesn't seem out of place.
"She seems like a pretty forthright person, I doubt she'd be happy with the incompetence of others. So I'd guess Molly'd be here." Laura answers with a touch of optimism, with equal measures of cynicism and realism.
Kenneth winces, "Aye, that's as likely true as nae. That being the case, part ay me wonders if our best play isnae tae go have dinner and drinks with my sister... She did say she wanted tae spend more time with her wayward brother, as I recall."
Sal laughs. "Much as I adore the idea of that snooty b--... er, of your sister putting up with dinner with her wayward brother and his scruffy friends, I'm not sure how that helps us shut down this operation for good. It'll throw a shoe into the works for tonight, sure. But then what?"
Kenneth says, "Well, we dinnae all have tae go tae dinner, ye ken. " He winks and adds, "Though I cannae imagine the mischief the lot ay ye might get intae while Molly's all distracted..er, entertained by her little brother."
"I suppose with this much money on the line, the boat's already been arranged and this is just a meet-up. If you keep her distracted, we can go look around the docks for a ship -- boat -- that seems to be ready to rock and roll." Sal looks to the others. "What do you guys think?"
Nudging Danny, Tangris murmurs "Molly's hot, right?" In a louder voice, "I'll go! I'm distract... ooo check out that waitress! Rowrr!"
Danny shakes his head.
"I think you'd be better at distracting Molly's crew than the lady herself. She's not bad looking. But she also has taste." He tells Tangris straight-faced.
"I think we're a couple of days past neap tide, so they won't get as much of a boost from going with it as usual, but they'll still probably leave when the tide turns. - Around 22:00," she adds in response to the blank looks she receives from the non-sailors.
"It's 20:00 now. We've got time to eat before we go looking, then, don't we?" Sal asks plaintively, scrutinizing the specials board and practically drooling.
Kenneth adds, "Aye, and apparently she's also got a man that we left back at Trip's as well." And I'm still nae sure just how I feel about that wee thing. I cannae quite picture my sister as being a poor normal human being caught up in more than she can handle rather than a succeed-at-all-costs ice queen who got herself addicted tae power and venom and unwilling tae kick either habit...
He sighs, somewhat wistfully, as he tries to lock his mind on the task at hand, especially the whole "beating Molly" part, and then "Considering the time, mayhap we'd be best tae take a look at what's what before heading over tae have our dinner with dear Molly -- just in case things have already been set up and be already in progress. Nice as the drive up here was, 'twould be most unfortunate if we missed our window, ye ken?"
"Good enough for me." She nudges Sal with an elbow. "A sandwich, to go?"
Looking wistfully at the menu himself, Danny grins gamefully.
"Yes, 'Onward and upward'! 'Tally ho'! Or would that just be 'we've got a boat to catch'?"
Sal regards Morien mournfully. "It's just not the same," she sighs, "Let's get a move on."
Kenneth chuckles, "This is why we ate at the pub a'fore our first stop."
"Yeah, but that was hours ago. Or at least an hour ago," Sal grumbles cheerfully as they make their way towards the docks, jetties, and piers, "Now, where to start?"
Danny looks over the piers, trying to figure out how to tell which boat out of all of them has been hired for a dastardly deed. Which the owner may or may not even be aware of.
"One day, my ship will come in. And with my luck I'll be at the airport." He mumbles as he grumpily admires the expensive boats.
Morien ambles along the quayside, hands in her pockets, as she picks out the half-dozen or so ships that are making ready to depart with the evening tide. She pauses, leaning against a post, to consider whether any are acting out of character for the down-on-their-luck fishing vessels they appear to be.
Upon the quayside (visible from the Duke of York) there are a few pleasure vessels - mostly appearing to be moored up for the night. There's a mixture of fishing vessels, tourist boats and private clippers.
A few people are sat at the couple of tables outside the pub, the tasty aroma of warm food drifts from the doorway. Whilst a waitress moves around both inside the hostelry and out.
Glancing inside the Duke of York, there's a mixture of clientèle. A few obvious tourists, some locals, a table full of people with dark goth make-up, a few business people. However what draws the eye is near a sea facing window, Molly in a charcoal suit is talking to a bloke. From the heavy coat upon the back of his chair, the thick stubble, heavy-set build and pint in his hand it appears that he's a fisherman.
There's a central bar area and a trio of lounges, separated by simple screens. From the windows and veranda you can observe the harbour.
"Tally ho? Dude you people are like Living Monty Python skits!" Tangris grins lopsidedly at Danny.
"Well none of us have ex-parrots or smell of elderflowers." Laura adds in an amused tone, glancing inside the pub. "Should I get a round in?"
Danny thinks about that for a second.
"Meh. I've been called worse, Mind you I've been called better, but I've been called worse. And Monty Python had it's brilliant moments." He smirks at Tangris.
"And lookey there. Speak of the devil, and she appears! Hey Ken. Yonder she blows. Step 1 is complete, now all we have to do is follow the guy to his boat and we'll have finished Step 2. I guess we just need to decide, are we going to follow him in another boat? Or just sneak aboard his and join the party mid-stream?"
"Shoot 'em all and be done with it," Sal grumbles sotto voce.