"I ain't the middleman, I'm the supplier and that makes a whole lotta difference when you're movin' restricted military hardware" He said exasperatedly as memories of his last stay in Sugarland flashed through his mind. "And not knowin' who I'm working for just sets off alarm bells, you know?"
Jimmy took a small breath and continued in a calmer tone "Look, I ain't doubtin' you Maren, you say you didn't want all the info and I believe you. Now I might be able to get these things, it all depends on how many of each your guy wants."
Taking an inward sigh of relief, Maren leaned back. She'd never been in prison and thus could not really emphasize with Jimmy's exasperation, which seemed almost preposterously overblown to her, yet she showed none of that. "I can't say that I've ever moved into the same waters as you did, Jimmy. Never been caught or anything myself, so I guess I can't emphasize." She took a rather big gulp of her drink, more to collect her thoughts and formulate an answer than anything else. The sour taste combined with the smoke that permeated everything was dizzying her, and she would really like to leave and get a fresh breath of air.
"I haven't been given specific numbers, only that they won't be taking more than three Hummels and six Zwillings." God, this drink was atrocious. An unvoluntary shiver went across her body, which made her almost spill the drink. Okay, better place that down somewhere, and she did so on the table before them, folding her hands afterwards. "In other words: Up to this number and you'll be paid for each you manage to get."
"Three Hummels, Six Zwilings" Jimmy repeated to himself tapping his jaw with a thumb. He'd need to make contract with a commander in the military to even dream of getting his hands on those guns. "What kind of payment are we talkin' about here and more importantly where would I be delivering?"
There were so many things that could go wrong with this deal but the more he thought about it the more that familiar tingle in the pit of his stomach grew. The thrill of the job, the fear of the outcome, all that was needed was the payoff.
Now that was a little more promising. Giving an inward sigh of relief, Maren nodded at his words slightly. She didn't have the slightest idea how Jimmy planned to get his hands on those weapons, but she didn't care either, since ignorance was bliss. "Payment would of course be credits, and a favour for later, in case you ever need anything." She withdrew the PDA again that she'd used to show him the specifics of the requested weapons, taking a brief look at it. "We are talking twenty million per Hummel and fifteen for each Zwilling." Lowering the device, she looked at him, turing it in hands. "Delivery depends on you. Either a face-to-face delivery could be arranged or another deposit like on Freeport... six, was it?" For a moment, she wasn't sure which number the Freeport in Omega-41 had. "Well, something similar to how we handled the other stuff could be arranged somewhere."
Jimmy raised an eyebrow "A favour huh? Well as my Uncle Gino once told me 'A favour is nothin' more than a promise with fine print' so you're gonna need to lay out exactly what you mean." He picked up the pad containing market prices and began searching through the listings, seeing no mention of Hummels or Zwilings he threw it back down.
"Credits wise I think we're in a good place but seein' as I've only got hardware like this once before we might need to readjust the prices a little when it comes to the exchange." He leant forward and picked up his drink "Though why a Maltese family wants hardware taking to Freeport 5 has the old alarm bells ringing again..."
"I know, right?" Maren asked suavely in return, figuring that displaying a bit of scrutiny might be called for. "I don't even know if this is for the same guys who wanted the, uh, Hull Panels, was it? Yeah, I don't know if they're the same." With a bit of apprehension, she eyed his drink. It was probably even more disgusting than hers. With those uplifting thoughts in mind, she lifted her own to her lips, emptying it halfway. It had to go somewhere. "And regarding that favour—" She had to interrupt herself to cough daintily, holding hand before her mouth as the alcohol burned her throat. "Pardon me. Regarding that favour, it is exactly what it says on the tin. If you ever need something tricky to find, you tell me, and I relay it to the right people. Simple as that."
"Uh huh" he replied sounding enitrely unconvinced "just one big coincidence."
Jimmy took a long pull at his gin and tonic.
The conversation was going round in circles and it was beginning to get tiresome, how could anyone be conned into thinking all this wasn't related? He needed a smoke.
Putting down his half empty glass he began patting his jacket pockets, finally locating the packet Katya had given him so long ago for that...tobacoo delivery.
A brilliant idea struck him as he fished out one of the remaining cigarettes, he'd call Maren's bluff with one of his own.
If that crate had been in her hold this entire time then chances were she'd not opened it and whose to say he hadn't slipped a tracker in there before he handed it over?
He smirked as he covered the cigarette to light it.
"See" Jimmy began, picking up the second pad in a flash of inspiration and scrolling it to the star chart "I've noticed your ship has been making a few interesting stops since my little delivery" he took a drag, blowing the smoke high above his head before smiling at Maren.
Unaware of his deception, Maren's mind went into overdrive. What did he know? Was it possible that he had been watching the ship or had it watched? On the outside, Maren arced an eyebrow. It was perhaps feasible that Jimmy had hired a man to keep the Corvo under watch, but then again, where had the Hoffnungsschimmer even moved? It was mostly docked on Gran Canaria or occasionally made a trip to Barrier Gate, where Jimmy had delivered the tobacco as well. "Jimmy," Maren began slowly, tilting her head to the side slightly and narrowing her eyes in an uncomprehending manner. "I'm wondering what is so conspicuous about Barrier Gate and Freeport 11."
Where else? Where else had they gone? The Corvo had never been taken into a situation that could become dangerous, at least not on purpose, which is why they mostly used snubcraft. "I guess we also headed to Tau-37 once to meet a Maltese woman on the Freeport there. Treated her to dinner, too, but she just refused to eat, saying she couldn't do it at work." Her voice through all this was steady, yet it was slower and more deliberating than before, something that Jimmy could notice.
Deliberately, she placed the drink on the table as well. It was possible that Jimmy was lying, though the thought didn't occur to her in the moment. She deemed it safer to assume that he didn't. "What is this, Jimmy?" she asked him, flatly. "Do you want me to make so grand confession here?"
Stunned that his gamble had actually worked, it took Jimmy a moment to process what Maren had said. If she'd only visited those three places then he was screwed, so why hadn't she called him on it?
He took a slow drag on his cigarette to buy more time.
Either Maren was calling his bluff in some kind of mindbending double bluff or he'd actually hit gold. Not that any of it mattered, his reckless streak had already taken hold.
"Well I ain't ordained so hearin' confessions is a bit outside my talents" he said exhaling smoke from his nostrils like an old dragon "what I want is an overview, you gimme that and I'll make this" he tapped the pad with his thumb "disappear and we seal this deal."
"But if you've only been to those three places then I might go on a little vacation" Jimmy tapped titled the pad so the top rested on his chest "maybe ask a few questions. drop your name here and there. Nothin' would come of it though right? You've only been to a couple of Freeports and Barrier gate after all..."
By now, it was clear that he was trying to apply pressure to her. Where had the Corvo been? Maren was desperately trying to come up with something that would put them in a bad light, but she couldn't come up with something. The ship had only been docked at Canaria, made the occasional trip to Omicron Delta and Coronado. Even when they had fetched Cardamine, she and Vertiga had been in small ships, not wanting to put the Corvo in danger. "You can do that, sure," she replied to him, shrugging and taking another gulp of her drink, emptying the glass. At least the mental exercise had gone some ways to distract her from the awful taste. "And I'm unsure what overview you want. I told you all that I know, Jimmy. I can very well understand if the job is too hot for you, and if that's the case, I'll just mosey along and see if I can give this-" She tapped the PDA now as well. "-to someone else who might be able to do it. Gonna be hard, though, finding someone like you." She placed down the glass.