Know who you work with [Brann]

The music was loud, the beating an animated thump that could probably be heard from outside, some people were quickly getting drunk, others searched for a more secluded location for a more intimate moment, his bartended talked with some customers, quickly going back and forth to anyone who demanded attention. It made Ryan happy to see this place becoming so popular. Perhaps this was not the best place to have any sort of conversation, but everyone was so distracted, the music was loud enough that it would make it difficult to anyone eavesdrop without being obvious, and most importantly, this was Ryan’s territory, anyone who dared to try any funny business here would have a bad time.

His eyes darting all over the place, it wasn’t hard to see his guest enter the club. Tall and imposing, he quickly made his way towards Ryan, who lifted his glass of whisky in the direction of the man as a greeting, a relaxed smile on his face.“Smoke, glad to see you could make it.”Not that he expected the man to refuse to come, that would be rude. He motioned for Brann to sit beside him, finishing his whisky and quickly pouring some more into the glass.

He wasn’t sure what to think of the man yet, he was tall, imposing and seemed quite capable, but that was just superficial things anyone could see, who was he? That was what Ryan wanted to know. “So how have you settling in goo’ ol’ Chicago?” he asked too casually, pushing the whisky bottle towards him as a peace offering. From what he’d heard this man had come to the city quite recently, no ties with anyone around here, which meant no ties with the Bianchi, always a bonus. “Did you find any trouble yet? Or trouble found you? It’s a thing that tend to happens a lot around here.” Or maybe that was just Ryan who like to cause chaos.

Suspicious, or perhaps just cautious. Ryan caught the look the man shot him, no greeting, no hello, not even a simple wave, just sizing Ryan up from head to toe. Sometimes dealing with shady people was so tiring, everything you did had to have some sort of second or third intentions, was it so hard to believe people asked for a nice chat?. He could understand the hesitance though, he doubted it was common for people to call him over like this, anything was possible when meeting with fellow criminals, from an ambush, to actual business, and many things could go wrong.

The first thing Smoke said was a question about how Ryan knew how he got there. As previously stated, cautious, it probably kept the man alive, so Ryan couldn’t begrudge him for it. “Oh you know, word travel around the city and I have my contacts, a mercenary showing up, no connections, couldn’t pass out the opportunity.” He answered lightly, grabbing the bottle back since the man seemed to no want it, more for him, then. “My name is Ryan King” he would have offered his hand for a proper handshake, but he felt the man wouldn’t want it anyway, so he settled for just a smile.

If the man wanted to stay standing, that was his call, Ryan wasn’t about to comment on that, but he hoped Smoke would loosen up a bit eventually. He leaned back against the bar, thinking of the best way to explain who exactly he was, just a name probably wouldn’t ring any bells, Ryan King was just a business owner after all. “I don’t know if heard about the recent bombing, the harbor one, I mean.” He had nothing to do with the police bombing, unfortunately. “Enigma, the responsible are called, what do you think about that?” He shot a glance at Smoke, looking for any reaction that might show on his face.

Terrorists, really? Rude. Ryan would like to think Enigma was much more than that, he made this organization to rule, to make the very much needed changes in Chicago, if they had to bomb a few places to drive their point across, that’s just business, and if the public thought of them terrorist for that, it just meant they were too comfortable in their corner, letting the big dogs run everything from the shadows. Smoke’s little speech made Ryan shoot him a smirk, now the man finally was showing the face behind the facade, gone was the uncertain newcomer who looked more lost the PD trying to catch a criminal. He seemed more sure of himself, his body language more free.

He wondered what caused the sudden change, did Ryan say something or he simply grew tired of playing dumb? The man was not wrong though, Ryan had no intentions of let things get heated, especially not at his club, nor did he have a specific job for the man. If he wanted to just hire him once to make some run of the mill job and never see his face again, he would have sent another person to deliver the details. But this was more than that, it need his personal touch.

The knife came fast, Brann’s hand striking quickly until the blade was buried deeply on the counter. Ryan blinked in surprise, leaning slightly away, his hand going to his concealed pistol, before aborting the reaction, his eyes narrowing in a glare on the man’s direction, he waved his hand dismissively at the bartender who immediately had a gun discretely pointed in their direction, ready to shoot at any sign of trouble “I see you’re very observant.” He commented taking another sip of his drink, purposely stalling in giving actual answers to the question. “Though I would appreciate if you didn’t destroy my club, or scared my customers.” He run his eyes through the room, trying to see of anyone had witnessed the man’s actions, but it appeared everyone was too busy having fun to take notice, the music helping to drown any noise that might have given it away.

Ryan sincerely hoped he was making the right call in hiring this man, that he wouldn’t cause many troubles down the road and was willing to do what he was paid for, but that remained to be seen, it was like some sort of gambling game, pick your people carefully, or they may shoot you in the face. “I’ll cut to the chase then, if you’re done damaging my bar.” He said finally, shooting a slight glare to the dagger still buried in front of them. “What would you say if I told you I wanted you to work with me?” He asked, cards on the table. “I want to take down the family running things around here, and you seemed to have the right sort of skill set to help me with that.”