Quiet Piggy Part 2

It was around half past six in the evening. Evie my AI assistant had set the meeting up, Five young women were seated in my office space sipping tea and exchanging pleasantries. This was the line up of Quiet Piggy, grrl band extraordinaire. Denny was there as were Ziggy, the lead vocalist and guitarist, Mandy the drummer, Nate the saxophonist and Penny the keyboardist. The interesting thing about them was that they were pure musicians, they played their instruments physically rather than opting to use a neuralink. Though I did note that Ziggy and Nate had neuralink plugs. Nate had her's on her left wrist while Ziggy had a 'Frankenstein", a plug on the back of her neck.

"So ladies If I'm to assume correctly, you want to contract me to find Ziggy's missing guitar?" I said.

"Find and return if possible," Nate said. "We've got a major gig at October Revolution U in a fortnights time, we'd hope to have it back by then if its possible."

"Two weeks should be more than enough time to find a missing guitar," I said.

There was a tapping on my office door. I glanced over at Evie. She shrugged. I turned back to my new clients.

"Oh shit, I forgot our roadie was going to come to the meet as well," Penny said.

Roadie? This was an interesting development.

"Come in, " I said. "The door's open."

The person who stepped through was a woman, she was the same age as me, yet she had an energy about her that the members of Quiet Piggy did not have. They totally gave off aspiring artist vibes. They also gave off a sense of enthusiasm and exuberance that comes with being young. This women oozed something entirely different. She was a killer. She wore tight red leather pants, a red leather jacket and a low cut white t shirt. Her hair was purple and crudely cut short, as if she'd done the job with a ninja-to. I reflexively reached for the Nagant 45 I had taped under my desk.

"Yo," she said looking at the group. Then she glanced at me. "You the dick?"

I just started at her. She returned my stare. For several moments we were like that, like gunfighters sizing each other up totally oblivious to our own surroundings and the other people nearby. For a brief moment I imagined I could hear someone whistling an off key tune.

"Want to take a seat..."

"James, Tania James. I do roadying work and security when needed," she said. She plonked herself down between Nate and Penny, curling her arms around both of them. They didn't seem to mind.

"So I find and retrieve missing guitar in two weeks. Not a problem, if someone can talk to Evie and sign out all the paper work that would be great. The rest of you can leave."

People started to get up and head out, including the roadie.

"Not you," I said pointing at her. "You can stay. I want to talk with you."

it was Denny who stayed to deal with Evie. Tania sat back down with a self satisfied smirk. She stretched out her legs and gave a rather loud yawn as if this was all beneath her. Denny then left after having worked things out with Evie, she pinged me on the link that all of the paperwork was done and dusted. I reached into my filing cabinet and pulled out a dusty bottle of Highland Mist, a blended whisky that I was wont to drink now and then. I also took out two glasses. I poured one for myself.

"Ooh going to try and get me drunk and have your way with me," Tania said. She smiled that self satisfied smirk of hers. I put the second glass back in the filing cabinet.

"So how is street samurai involved with a group like them? I'm sure there are reasons aplenty but why hire me if they've got muscle like you on their side?" I took a swig of the whisky I'd poured myself. It burned. Highland Mist was cheap grog but it did have a taste.

"I'm involved as you probably noticed," she said.

"Yeah, so I'm taking the involvement doesn't extend to them knowing what you're really capable of?"

"I'm from down south, so I don't really know this place much. So I don't advertise my 'skillset' as it were. Plus I don't know how I fit into this worker's paradise y'all got here."

"So in essence your unlicensed and you're not local. I can see why you've not taken steps. But even so you must suspect something," I said. I reached for the second glass, got it out and poured. Then I pushed it over. She picked it up and downed the contents in a single gulp.

"Phew that's some rough shit," she said putting her glass down with a thump.

"What do you expect from people who's only connection to Scotland is that they honour Burn's night religiously each year?"

"Fair call."

"Allright so as one professional to another, why don't you give the rundown on what's happened." I finished my glass then reached for the bottle and poured us both another dram.