It took a while to get Robbie to spit out a list of whom he'd crossed 
over the last while.  It seemed that for someone who worked for the Outfit, 
Robbie kept pretty clean.  The list was pretty short and to the point.  In 
fact it had only one name, Elias Tanner.
	Mr. Tanner was a pretty big name in Crummton.  He was editor of 
the Crummton Examiner; the city's most read paper.  Elias was also 
suspected of ties to several less than legal businesses, running 
competition with the Outfit.  Generally not a good idea, but Mr. 
Tanner's high profile made him hard to dispose of even for the Outfit.
	It turns out that Robbie's little girl had been missing for the 
last three days.  Robbie quietly (and with promise of client 
confidentiality), informed me that he and a few colleagues had a polite 
conversation with several of Mr. Tanner's employees by the docks four 
nights ago.  It resulted in the sudden and violent retirement of three of
Tanner's men. 
	This of course, led Robbie to think that Tanner had taken his 
girl.  I had a bit of trouble with that one, since Robbie is just a 
grunt and there wouldn't be much for Tanner to gain by hitting the 
Outfit's goons.  The Outfit could replace grunts as fast as they dropped.
	The only other useful information that Robbie had was his 
daughter's name, Erica.  He also gave me a picture of her.  A cute,
blond haired, seven year old.  
	What I needed was more info.  Unfortunately, going straight to Tanner 
probably wouldn't be a good idea.  So I headed cross-town to a small hole-
in-the-wall bar called the Eclipse.  This bar wouldn't be noteworthy for
anything other than a record number of rats if it weren't for Hack.  
Hack is the best information broker in Crummton.  Few things happened in 
this city that he didn't know about.  
	Walking into the bar, I had to admire the new redecoration that 
had been done, recently too if the barely dried blood on the wall was 
any indication.  Walking up to the bar I nodded to Carl, the bartender.  
He set a glass of my usual poison in front of me before I had even sat 
down.  You can't fault this place for it's service anyway.
	"What do ya want Jackson?  I knows ya ain't here to pay off your 
tab."
	I had to chuckle at that.  My tab here doesn't amount to much, 
but Carl likes to keep very careful records.  Miss one payment and 
he'll rag you for the rest of your life.  Oh well, time for business.
	"I'm here to see Hack.  Is he in tonight?"
	Carl looked around to make sure everyone else in the bar was 
politely pointing their nose into their drinks.  See that everyone else 
was carefully ignoring us Carl spoke.
	"Yeah, da boss is 'ere.  I'll tell 'im ya want to talk to 'im."
	Tossing a bill onto the bar, I got up and headed for the back 
room.  All good seedy bars have to have a back room, and the Eclipse 
was no exception.  Walking through the door, I made a point of locking 
it, just to show Hack I was serious.  Then I turned to deal with Hack 
himself.
	Hack, of course, isn't his real name.  No one knows what his real 
name is but everyone knows how he got his present one.  It wasn't for 
his wonderful way with computers, although I'm told he is very good 
with them.  It's because of his penchant for using large bladed objects 
to dismember people who cross him.  Hack is a very large and very mean 
man.  Thankfully, we go way back and I've done some work for him under 
the table.
	It wasn't until I was seated in the wooden chair across from him 
that Hack looked up.  He sighed and set the paper he was reading 
down.
	"What is it this time Drake?  Hopefully more of a challenge than 
the last few times you came here."
	I laid the problem out to Hack, leaving out the parts that I promised
Robbie I wouldn't tell anyone.  Hack thought about it for a few minutes and 
turned back to me.
	"This one's going to cost you Drake.  This is hot news you're asking for 
and I can't let it go for nothing."
	With a sigh, I looked across to the massive man.  "What's it gonna cost 
Hack, you know I'm not exactly rolling in money."
	Hack chuckled a bit and then settled down.  "Now I know you don't have 
cash, but I do know you can be quite useful in your own way.  So I'll tell you 
what.  You agree to do a few small jobs for me now and then, as well as keep me 
up to date on what you dig out of this case, and I'll let you have the info.  
Easy as that."
	Easy as that indeed.  Hack's `small jobs' tend to blow up on whoever is 
doing them more often than not.  Still, he had the info I needed and I really 
wasn't in the position to argue. At least not too much.
	"One small job and I'll keep you informed on this case as long as you let 
me in on any new info that related to my case."
	Hack thought for a moment, "How about two jobs and I'll let you know of 
any other useful info as you inform me of what you find out."
	"Ok, you've got a deal.  Now spill it."
	Hack smiled, "Very well, I have heard rumors that say the little war 
between Elias Tanner and the Outfit is heating up.  The interesting part is that 
it seems that parts of the Outfit itself are disagreeing about who should take 
Tanner's operations once he's out of the picture.  
	"The Outfit is usually pretty unified in it's operations.  It rather has 
to be given it's power, but that doesn't mean the individual bosses don't have 
aspirations for more power.
	"If what your client has told you is true, then he could be being used as 
a pawn to attempt to get his direct boss involved in a battle with Tanner that 
he couldn't win.  Of course, this is speculation based on your immediate case, 
but it would fit in with what I know of the power struggle within the Outfit."
	Hack paused for a moment, pulling out a cigarette.  I offered him a light 
and waited while he took a long drag and slowly exhaled the smoke.
	"Of course, if Tanner is behind it, and I find that unlikely, then there 
is really only one spot that he could be hiding the kid."


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META 1
Chapter 1
Scene 2

http://www.chaoseed.com/btr/meta/