The Ex-Criminal (Open)

[jsneill]

John was lucky to be in the position he was in right now. And no, that wasn't sitting on a stool in a bar in New York, a good drink in his hand, with at least half the room's women ogling him. He was out of prison, had been for two years now, he had a great apartment, steady income, and he could visit his Mother in hospital without disguising himself in a cap and sunglasses. She had missed him the four years he'd been in prison, but it had all been worth it in the end. She had the best medical care anyone could wish for, and her son was now free to see her whenever he pleased.

Who would have thought such sentimental thoughts would be going through his head?

A woman approached him at the bar, a glint in her eye. She was gorgeous, there was no denying that.
"Looking for something?" he asked, smiling a sly smile.
"For someone to refill my glass." Well, she was direct.
"Shame the bartender isn't around. Otherwise you may have been in luck."
"Yes, such a shame." She focused on him with her big brown eyes. "So, what's a guy like you doing in a bar like this, alone?"
"I'm waiting for someone actually."
"And who would that be?"
"It depends," he said, "I'm waiting for someone to catch my eye."
The woman smiled at him, "hasn't someone caught your eye already?"
"Quite possibly," he said, not letting anything on, watching as the bartender came over to them, looking at them expectantly, "refills for both myself and the lady, on my tab."
The waited nodded as sorted both their drinks.
"Thank you," the woman said, "Mr?
"Neill. John Neill."
The woman left with a smile, taking her drink with her.

John smirked to himself, taking a sip from his own glass, letting the gin trickle down the back of his throat. Now for the real reason he was here. Looking at his watch, he waited for his contact to arrive. Someone aboard the new Star Ship, the Venia, had requested to meet him, something about picking his brain over something. He was being paid for it, so why not? If the contact ever turned up, that was.

[Evangeline Irvine]

Why had they sent a Communications Officer, of all things, to meet with a new liaison? Ciara simply couldn't understand the logic behind it. Maybe it was some sort of initiation run? Put the newbie on the ship through their paces by sending them on a little run down to Earth and back, see how they did? But that didn't make much sense. Maybe John Neill didn't speak English, and that's why they sent her?

Whatever the reason, she was here now. She walked briskly down the street, her heels clicking against the pavement with each step she took. How much time did she have, anyway? She was supposed to be meeting up with this new liaison in about... glancing at her watch, she bit her lip to stop from swearing. She was almost ten minutes late already.

Picking up her pace, she turned onto the street that matched up with the address she'd been given and began looking for the right building number and coming to an abrupt halt when she found it. They were meeting in a bar?

Shaking her head a little, Ciara pushed the door open and stepped inside. The bar itself looked like most, nothing too special or too plain, and thankfully she didn't stand out amongst the patrons overmuch. Now to find her contact. She scanned the men sitting in the bar, thinking back to the picture of Mr Neill she'd been shown.

After a moment of searching she finally spotted him seated on a barstool at the counter and hastily made her way over to him. "John Neill, I presume?" she asked unnecessarily, holding out a hand to him. "I'm Ciara Gallagher, part of the Venia crew. It's a pleasure to meet you." Well, sort of.

[jsneill]

John was beginning to think the contact wasn't going to show. This is what he got for letting the head office be vague with the details that he was given. He'd done more daring things on a mere whim, this didn't seem too bad. At least, if the contact didn't show, he could search out the woman from the bar maybe, or find someone else to make conversation with. It wouldn't be hard, it never was.

Finally, he heard a brisk voice say his name. Turning, he looked to find a woman in her early twenties holding out her hand to him. There was an air about her that said she didn't want to be here. Her hair was tussled from the rush, and she looked a mixture of flustered and irritated. "The one and only," he said, taking her hand and shaking it firmly. "And you are?" The office hadn't told him exactly who he'd be meeting, the Venia could have sent anyone. "Pleasure to meet you also."

"Drink?" he asked, gesturing for her to take a seat. He didn't know how quickly this meeting was going to go, or what exactly she wanted, so she might as well sit and be comfortable. The drink would help to take the edge off. "So, why exactly was this meeting arranged?" he enquired, taking a swig of his own drink, "I wasn't given much information as to why I was supposed to be here."

[Evangeline Irvine]

Confirming that he was, indeed, John Neill, the dark-haired man shook Ciara's outstretched hand. She offered him a half-hearted smile before taking the seat next to him as he'd indicated. The bartender came over, welcoming her warmly and asking if she wanted anything. "I'll take a Four Score, straight," she said lightly. While he bustled off to make it for her, she turned back to John.

"They didn't tell you?" In truth, Ciara hadn't been told all that much herself. She'd hoped he might know the exact purpose of this meeting. All she'd been told was that she needed to get to know him so that when they needed his help at least one person on the Venia could get through to him and he'd trust them because he could put a face to the voice or something like that.

But she'd never been good at getting to know people. How was she supposed to get to know him when neither of them really wanted to be here in the first place? Clearly John felt he could be off elsewhere, doing more important things than jabbering with a girl he'd never met before. Ciara couldn't really blame him. If she had the choice, she'd probably be back on the Venia settling in properly like she'd been before she'd been sent off.

The bartender came back over and handed her a cocktail glass, which she took gratefully. Taking a small sip, she considered what to tell John. If she told him the truth, he might up and leave, and if he did that she wasn't sure if her superiors would be upset with her or not. "Well... I was told that they wanted someone to assess how good of a liaison you are," she invented wildly.

How good of a liaison he is? Really Ciara? He wouldn't have gotten the bleeding job if he wasn't good! If she could have slapped herself, she would of, but then John would get suspicious. Well, more suspicious than he no doubt already was, what with her making a complete fool of herself.

[jsneill]

Ciara's drink made John's seem quite sedate in comparison. But then, he hadn't come here to mix his liquors and get tipsy, he'd come here because he was sent here, because it was supposed to be business. His gin would do him just fine for now. It whetted his apetite for later, and gave him something to do. A man with his appearance could never look bored, he'd be instantly swarmed by women, all wanting his attention.

"I wouldn't be asking otherwise, now, would I?" he said, looking across at her with a smile. Everything he said generally had a purpose; sometimes even waffle, if he was trying to keep someone distracted, or buy time. Her reaction had been natural, and it had been very telling. He had a feeling that she knew about as much as he did. That wasn't going to help them progress this meeting very far.

John smirked, polishing off his drink. "Believe me, they know how good I am." The UGAP didn't arbitrarily hire previously convicted criminals. There was always a purpose. He helped them catch criminals, he knew how their minds worked, and that made him more qualified then nearly all of the agents they had at their disposal. "You're not a very good liar," he said, looking at her with slightly raised eyebrows. "I think you're as in the dark as I am."

Ordering another drink, he looked at her. "Lies have to be clever," he told her, "pulling something from thin air rarely works. You have to work with what you've been given and think fast. Make it believable. Don't doubt the lie, despite it's untruthful nature." She hadn't come for a lesson in how to lie, but if she wanted to be sure he knew what he was talking about, he was sure that would work towards convincing her.

"As far as I know," he said, getting back to the point, "they're looking to have me on board ship. Now that R4 is involved, they want someone to liaise with you wonderful people who knows how these criminals work." It was no secret, the business he'd been in before. If she figured it out, he didn't mind much. That business was behind him now, or so he told himself.

[Evangeline Irvine]

John managed to call Ciara out on her lie practically the moment it fell from her lips, and she was glad that she had dark skin or her blush would have been immediately obvious. When he explained how to properly lie, she mentally copied it all down. While growing up with a priest had taught her how to appreciate life and how to be respectful and all that, it hadn't exactly improved her acting skills any. Lying had been frowned upon.

Once he'd finished with his teaching, he told her that he was fairly certain that she was to take him back to the ship with her, and she pulled a face at him, setting her drink back on the counter. "If they'd already told you that, then why did you even bother with asking me?" she inquired disbelievingly, shaking her head a little.

How was it that John had looked so clueless beforehand, but was suddenly telling Ciara what was supposed to be happening? Had he been lying about not knowing what the purpose of the meeting was? It made sense, she supposed, considering what an expert liar he claimed to be. Not that he'd exactly claimed any such thing, but what with his little lying lesson she'd gathered that he knew a thing or two.

But why would he bother lying about that? What would be the point? Maybe he'd just heard that was what was supposed to be happening, but wasn't sure if it were true or not? Well, it made more sense than anything else she'd heard or could think up, so it could very well be right.

"Okay," she agreed, nodding. "What all do you know about what's happened with R4 so far?" Even though she'd only been on board the Venia for a few days, she'd already heard most of what there was to know about the terrorist group and the crew's actions against them.

[jsneill]

Ciara seemed to be taking mental notes as he basically instructed her on how to lie properly. That wasn't exactly in his job description, he wasn't supposed to be teaching people to be liars, but sometimes it came in handy, especially in tricky situations. Maybe she'd be able to use it to better effect in the future when she needed to. It was certainly a handy skill to have for getting out of trouble.

"They didn't tell me anything," he said, "other than a time and a place. I had to infer the rest." There was a lot of talk that went around the office, and they'd been following the Venia's escapades for a while now. They'd got themselves into a fair amount of trouble so far, but had done a lot of good as well. If it wasn't for them, they never would have discovered that R4 were behind these attacks, and hundreds of lives wouldn't have been saved.

Now they were getting down to actual business. She wanted to know facts, that he could do. "I know that R4 is a terrorist cell. At the moment, all evidence points to them starting these rifts, they're using them as weapons of mass destruction, possibly as vengeful attacks against the government - at the moment, we're not entirely sure, as they haven't made any claims and they haven't stated what it is that they want. They're using this to shroud themselves in mystery. No one knows where they'll strike next, and it's causing anxiety amongst the populations of the various planets, and within the government."

"I'm no stranger to criminal activity," he said, "the government want to know all that they possibly can about this group. They want to know how to bring them down. They believe that the Venia will be instrumental in this. But, also, they need me to find an angle. A way in. Something that they can use in order to disband the group, or ultimately, arrest them all for their crimes."

He made it as straight forward as he could given the circumstances. John wasn't sure how much she knew in return, but hopefully that information would prompt some sort of response.

[Evangeline Irvine]

As it turned out, John was very good at explaining things, laying out the situation with R4 far more understandably than anyone else had. Ciara nodded occasionally as he spoke whenever he said something she already knew of made something that had been questionable made sense.

"I can see that you're well informed," she said, taking a small sip of her drink. The flavour didn't agree with her as much as she'd first assumed it would, and she set it down on the counter after a moment. "At least this spares me having to work up some sort of explanation. My ability to explain things to someone who doesn't know anything is worse than my lying skills."

She was quiet for a moment, playing with the stem of her glass and chewing on her lower lip, thoughtful. "So, you're an expert on this sort of thing, I take it?" she asked redundantly. Obviously he was. "I know you've been taking down criminals for a while. Heard you're insanely good, too." She was just babbling now, and she knew it, so she closed her mouth and rolled her eyes at herself.

"Look, unless you can think of anything else we should discuss right at the moment, how about we head off? I can wait for you while you get your things, and then we can head off to the Venia. I'm sure everyone will want to meet you."

[jsneill]

Judging by the look on Ciara's face, John had managed to explain everything sufficiently well. He did his best to keep himself in the know, he much preferred that he knew all the facts, and that other people were kept guessing, rather than the other way round. That way, he always had the advantage, which meant that he was always working at his best.

"Thank you," he said to Ciara as the bartender pushed his new drink to him over the counter, "I try my best." How modest. He chuckled a little as he sipped his drink, "surely that's not possible?" he said, teasing her slightly. He doubted that she was as bad as she claimed to be. People were always putting themselves down needlessly, it was much better to focus on that which you were good at, it made life a whole lot easier.

"Yes, I am," he said simply, looking at her. She'd known the answer before she'd even asked the question, but he humoured her. "Insanely good? Is that what they're saying?" he smirked, flattered. "Let's hope I live up to my expectations then." Of course he would. He had knowledge than only he knew on the inner workings of a criminal. He would be a lot of help.

Ciara obviously wanted to get out of here, which was fair enough. He'd had enough to drink now anyway, and the woman from earlier had perched herself in the lap of an older business man, giggling and batting her eyelashes. Money hungry was a completely unattractive trait. Not that he was really interested in the slightest. John downed the rest of his drink, "lead the way," he said, sliding off the stool and gesturing for her to go first.