About 02:00, Docklands, NMK, Monday the 26th of April, 2055.

About 02:00, Docklands, NMK, Monday the 26th of April, 2055.

Roland drops down onto the lintel that protrudes from the wall above the door. The automatic gunfire stops and after a moment I can hear Crash talking. He's saying something about wanting drugs, but I can't make out most of what he's saying.

Seems to work though as the door opens a crack. Crash slips in. Roland jumps down, but before he can get in, the door has closed again. Not much to do now except give Crash some time and wait to see what happens. It looks like he's on his own.

Some minutes go by. I'm not sure how many as my perception of time alters when I'm in a situation like this, half expecting gunfire to break out at any moment. Even without my speedware being active, time is slowing to a crawl.

There's a bleeping sound from the alley. I glance round the corner to see Roland looking at his phone. He slowly makes his way out of the alley and tells me that he's got a message from Crash saying that he'll be out shortly.

Crash does indeed emerge and we're joined by Yuki and Sykes who come down from their rooftop vantage points. We make our way round the corner and shelter in another alley. Good job they didn't manage to get the buildings to fit together properly, or we'd have had nowhere to hang out tonight.

With a great deal of effort we manage to get the story of what happened behind the door out of Crash. He presented it in no particular order, so forgive me if my telling of it is a bit disjointed.

Apparently the place is an actual doctor's surgery. Hence the sign "The Doctor Is In" above the door. He does deal in drugs though, which is why The Dragon took the attaché case to him after taking it from us. There was much more in the case than he was able to deal with himself, so he sold the drugs on. The Doctor did say that The Dragon is a 20 year old woman, who is friends with The Sisters.

He sent the drugs up town and says that we shouldn't ask the Jamaicans for Crystal Lace as they're not happy about it. ICorp are moving into the area supplying drugs. ICorp are just a front for drug dealing.

The Doctor paid The Dragon a 20k deposit for the Crystal Lace and The Dragon must be confident that he is good for the rest, knowing that she will get paid when the drugs are sold on. He tries to remain neutral in his dealings so no-one tries to put him out of business.

Crash's story is brought to an abrupt halt as six individuals of Africa-American descent appear in the road at the end of the alley. A loud "Dat's dem!" and a pointed finger from one of them suggests that they're probably the Jamaicans come looking for us. Obviously they don't like it when people try and smuggle 250 million eurobucks worth of Crystal Lace onto their turf. By the way, it was during Crash's conflab with The Doctor that he found out that the Lace was worth 250 million rather than the 25 million which had so surprised Sykes earlier.

Well, if the Jamaicans think we made a mistake bringing the Lace onto their turf, they've just made a right doozy of their own, by finding us. We're all a bit pissed at recent happenings and are on edge anyway. And Roland's positively itching for a fight. That's always a bad sign for everybody.

Crash tries talking to them but they draw their guns. The two may be related. I've often been tempted to shoot Crash when he's opened his mouth too.

I step to the left of the alley and drop into a crouch, drawing my gun as I do so. Sykes dives for the other side, Roland and Crash stand their ground in the centre of the alley and Yuki draws her gun and crouches behind me, using me for partial cover!

Roland opens fire first, as usual, but his shot has little effect. Crash is the next one to get a shot off, but again it's of no real consequence. I've spotted that one of them is carrying what appears to be a flame thrower, so I take a shot at that. I'm rewarded with a nice metallic sounding THUNK as the bullet penetrates one of the twin tanks. I don't get the explosion I was hoping for, but there's now a pressurised stream of napalm leaving the tank in an uncontrollable manner. And it's lit. Aren't armour-piercing incendiary rounds a joy to behold. Wonder if the Jamaicans are having fun yet...