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Chapter 121 - Checking Contacts

Kim wasn't sure what was going on. All she really knew was that Elin rushed up to her and started babbling about how someone had done something to Elmo and Jonas wanted her to accompany him. While she really like Elin and found her innocence endearing, sometimes details were very nice to have.

Fortunately, when she found Jonas by the entrance to the inn, he was more than willing to explain what exactly happened and what he needed her for.

"Right now I have to assume that my contacts weren't involved with this, but because I can't say for sure, I thought it would be helpful to have someone to help fight if things go south," Jonas finished.

Kim merely nodded. She completely understood what he meant. If someone had picked on Elin like that, she'd like to have someone to back her up as she went to find whoever was responsible for what was done.

"Will it just be you and me?" Kim asked, mostly curious to know if she should expect others.

"Elmo and Elin will be accompanying us," Jonas answered. "If they had wanted to, I would have been fine with them staying here, as long as they promised to not go out. Though, I would ask Heather and Sonya to keep an eye on them just ins case."

Kim nodded. "Well, should we get going then?"

"Alright, follow me, then," Jonas said, as he led the group towards where he'd met with his contact before, a building that Kim recognized easily enough.

It didn't take long before they reached it, although Kim did wonder about the pace Jonas was setting. While he appeared calm and collected on the surface, he was walking much faster than he usually did, which made Kim wonder just how upset he actually was. It certainly didn't seem like a good idea to ask him directly.

As they reached the building, the man standing guard outside the building, looked a little surprised to see Jonas. Although, Kim partly wondered if he was more surprised to see Elmo and Elin with them. After all, Jonas had been here before, so Kim would have expected that the sight of him shouldn't be that surprising.

Yet, if that turned out to be the cause of his surprise, Kim had a bad feeling that things wouldn't go as well as they'd like. Especially with how there had seemed to have been a large number of people in the building previously, and she didn't like the odds in that sort of event. Especially with Elin being there.

However, the guard didn't seem to be too bothered by Jonas asking to go in. It took a little longer for Jonas to convince the man to let the rest of their group in. Not that it wasn't more than a blip. It just made it a little bit of a headache to Kim.

"Still don't think this was a good idea for you to have come to have met with these people in the first place," Kim remarked quietly.

Jonas merely shook his head slightly. He may have been in agreement with Kim or completely dismissive of her concerns. She couldn't really tell, especially since he wasn't talking or looking at her. Not that she could really blame him at the moment. Not with the others that completely surrounded them at the moment.

The made their way to the office that the person who Kim assumed had to be in charge here was located. Kim thought about the possible outcomes of this conversation and could already see three means of escape if it turned out to be necessary, Yet, she couldn't shake the feeling that she should make their own exit rather than a full gamble on one that the other people in this building had made.

Jonas knocked on the door to the office. Kim knew that they really should try to keep this meeting peaceful, but she could see that Jonas might very well stop that from happening given his current temperament.

"What is it?" a voice growled from the other side of the door.

"I have a few questions I thought I'd run by you," Jonas answered, though Kim couldn't help but wonder if he was going to say more.

"Come in then," the voice said.

Jonas then opened the door and walked into the office, with the rest of the group and it looked to Km that the was office was never meant to hold this many people in it. Yet, at the same time, they all seemed to be about to relax n the room. On the other side of the desk was the man who had been introduced to Kim when Jonas had bought her leather armor.

"So, what can I help you with today?" the man asked, his eyes betraying the fact that his smile was just for show.

"I'm here for information," Jonas merely replied.

"So, what can I look for, for you?"

"It would seem that there are some individuals in the town that made some threats to my friend here," Jonas answered. "So, I was wondering if you'd be able to help point me in the direction of these individuals. I don't know if they're from your group or not, but I wanted to first mention this."

The man merely nodded. "So, what is it exactly that you were hoping I'd be able to do for you?"

"I would like you to find out who bothered my friend here," Jonas answered, indicating Elmo. "As long as I know them, then I know that I'll be deal with them at my leisure."

The man nodded. "What kind of people were they?" he asked, Kim wondering if he was taking them seriously or if he was trying to hide something.

Maybe she was being a little paranoid, but at the moment, she felt like she wasn't being cautious enough. Though, as she listened to the conversation, she couldn't help but feel like she was missing an important element. She knew it was going to bug her through the day, unless she figured out what it was or if it was something out of her reach at the moment. Or unless it was something that made itself known before then, such as being surrounded by people with drawn weapons..

Hopefully it wouldn't be that last possibility.

Jonas turned to Elmo. "What kind of people were they?" he asked.

Elmo had a brief look as if he was a deer caught in the headlights, but quickly recovered. "They were hooded, uh, nothing much else I could say about them," Elmo muttered, clearly uncomfortable.

The man sighed. "Well, if that's all I have to go on, I don't think I'm going to be much help here. After all, there are so many people in the area that wear hoods, so it's not something that really narrows it down."

"well, if you can think of anyone who might be overly interested in me, please let me know," Jonas said amicably.

"Of course," he said.

Jonas then turned to leave the room, but as he opened the door, there was a man with his fist raised, clearly having been able to knock on the door.

"Excuse me," Jonas said, as he moved out of the room, with Elmo, Elin, and Kim following, in that order.

Kim kept her guard up. If whatever she was missing was a danger to them, she didn't want to be caught unprepared. She felt like she should be able to recognize what it s, but couldn't think of why nothing was coming to mind about it.

"Sorry about this boss, but there's something I thought you should know," Kim heard the man they'd just passed tell the man in the office.

Apparently Elmo heard it too because, he had a very strong reaction to it. He was immediately tapping on Jonas' shoulder, pointing back the way they'd come, towards the man's office.

"What is it?" Jonas asked, pausing to pay attention to Elmo.

"That was him," Elmo said quietly. "He's the one that stopped me ealier."

Kim suddenly noticed something that she had before. Maybe it was because of the gloom in the warehouse or the fact that she wasn't used to this environment, but she realized that the people working around them were regularly glancing towards them. Almost like they were always aking sure they knew exactly where Kim and her group were at all times.

Jonas sighed. "Hold up Kim," he said, sounding tired. "We need to go back for a momnet."

Kim couldn't blame him. This really wasn't the ideal location for any sort of confrontation, but you couldn't always pick were you battles occurred. Though, at the moment, she was still hoping to avoid a fight. So, she nodded, and let the others pass her again. She didn't want to leave Elin without some sort of buffer from the people around them who were clearly too interested in what they were doing for their own good.

She also hoped that this would still end peacefully. Not that she held out that hope very far. Too much was happening too quickly for her to be able to do that.

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