"Hey, doll." "Got milk?" "I had a sister who looked like you." "Died in the Tallahassee food riots." "Hey!" "Are you all right, Alina?" "In my neighbourhood, this is a date." "I'm sorry it has to be this way." "I hope you understand the need to take precautions." "After I reached out to your people and didn't hear back," "I wasn't sure you'd see me." "Thank you." "How can I help you?" "In one of your cable hacks, you mentioned my father, Nathan Herrero." "We were colleagues, back in the days of the Pacific Free Press." "I want you to help me find out what happened to him." "My understanding is that your father was..." ""disappeared"." "In all probability, murdered." "That's the assumption, but nobody knows for sure." "It's been over two years." "Maybe it's time for you to let him go." "I can't." "Not until I find out what happened to him and who is responsible." "You should understand, Alina, I am not in the investigation business." "But you are in the truth business, and so was my father, and all I'm asking for is the truth." "Will you help me?" "Will you help me?" "Still churning over how to handle the daughter of that disappeared journalist guy?" "She sent me these." "I looked into it back when he first disappeared." "It's all coming back to me." "Everybody wanted Herrero dead - cops, Mob, political bosses." "Basically, he gave anyone who was dirty a reason to kill him." "And they did." "Sounds like a story right up your alley." "It's so depressing." "Section leader!" "Give me that contraband and return to the training area..." "I feel for this girl." "Huh?" "I really feel for this girl." "There's a big hole in her life and nothing's ever gonna fill it." "Finding out if her father was murdered by the government or buried in cement by gangsters" " isn't gonna bring him back." " No." "But it'll get rid of the question marks." " Not to be a pest, but anything on my stuff?" " About your birth mother." "I've searched medical records of females around 20 years old admitted to psychiatric care around the time you were born." " When is your birthday, by the way?" " I have no clue." " What do you mean?" " Manticore wasn't big on that kind of thing." " What's yours?" " November 11th." "I got you an early present." "A grapefruit!" "Haven't seen one of these in a while." "Got 'em at the market on Fremont." "They had chickens, too." " We must be in a recovery." " I gotta jet." "Max, if I need you to look into the Herrero thing for me..." "One hand washes the other." "You should pick one." " A birthday." " What for?" "In this short, brutal life, you gotta seize any opportunity you can to celebrate." "Hey, Dru." "May it be in your heart to slip Herbal a Benjamin till Friday." "Man, I am broke like a potato chip." "Sorry, bro." "I am tapped out myself." "I got your back." "Love." "What up with that?" "He gets paid dirt, same as us." "He's always totin' the note." "Jah give every man him time to be flush in the sun." "Not in Seattle, dude." "You've been practising." " Hey." " Hey." "Well, the last time we played it cost me three beers." "What have you got for me, Detective?" "Squat." "Nathan Herrero exposed a lot of wrong cops in his day." "His disappearance was investigated, but not with much enthusiasm." " Any way I can take a look at the case file?" " It's sealed." " How come?" "I don't know." " So whose pockets need lining?" "I start sniffing after Nathan Herrero, I get a brown thunderstorm." "Especially with Allan Lans about to become police commissioner." " That's a grim thought." " Get used to the idea." "All I can tell you is the case files are locked up in Muni." " I'm sorry I let your guy down." " He knows you do what you can, man." "You ever met him?" "Eyes Only?" "Just a fan, doin' my part." "I got this for your kid." "Hard to find nowadays." " No need, man." "I'm givin' you nothin'." " It's not for you." "I'm sure my boy would love it, but I can't." "It doesn't make you a guy on the take." "Well, I guess everybody is." "At least helping you folks I can look myself in the eye when I wake up in the morning." "Thanks." "There's a heifer I could get explicit with." "The Most High tell us not to speak of wicked things." "Then it's all good, cos Original Cindy's about deeds, not words." "Here's a 20th-century classic:" "the Slinky Chick." "A front-wheel 180 into a nose manual, hold the last pose for five seconds." "I shall demonstrate." " What's up?" " Sketchy's showin' out for the lickety chick." "Only she belongs to me." " Sketchy's got some mad skills." " He aiight." "OK, Pony Boy." "How about a jump?" "No-foot can-can, cross up... to a nose manual." "Cake." "That was practice." "Real thing now." "Gotta blaze." "Logan." "Me hitting' you back." "What kind of help?" " Cap, are you there?" " Yeah." "Whaddaya got?" "I got a moisture situation." "Fourth floor, men's room." "Well, no floating pieces of corn." "Which is good news." " Hold it, right there." " What if I wanna hold it over here?" " Don't make this any worse." " You're the one holdin' the gun." "I dated a guy like you once." "Everything had to be his way." "Know what I told him?" ""I wanna see other people."" "Get off the bike!" " What the hell was that?" " I'm not sure." "It looked like a girl." " Easy." "Chill." " Don't give me your "irie" crap, Herbal." "Everything is not all "cook and curry"." "OK?" "My hours are numbered." "Hey, hey!" "Company equipment!" "Be careful!" "Bip-bip-bip!" "Why were you workin' as a mule for a bunch of Russian gangsters?" "If I may ask." "I am a young capitalist in a failing economy." "I saw opportunity and went for it." " Only you lost the cheese." " I got to the drop and the envelope was gone." "Probably lost it drumming' for my lickety boo." "Serves you right." "I'm roadkill here, guys." " How much are we talkin' about?" " More than I got." "Listen, my brother." "This is just the Book fulfilling itself." "Thank you for your kind words, Herbal." "But what do I do?" " Jah know." " Jah come if I don't give these guys cash!" "Maybe I should go talk to these guys, explain what happened." " Followed by some very fast running." " No, no, these are businessmen." "The Odessa Social Club is a fairly sizeable gambling operation." "These guys should be open to an equitable arrangement." "But, Sketch, don't forget the part about the very fast running." "This is gonna be OK." "I'm confident." "When him ass dead, who gets to keep his bike?" "This says the police were investigating a possible contract hit on Herrero, paid for by the Beltran administration as payback for taking down one of the mayor's lieutenants." "When you fight city hall..." "Only Herrero was grabbed three days before and never heard from again." " Think another player got to him first?" " Looks like it." "Clean grab, no forced entry, housekeeper saw signs of a struggle, reported him missing." " Where was the daughter?" " She and Herrero were estranged at the time." "She was hittin' the bong, had an older boyfriend..." "Usual teenage thing." "Nathan didn't approve, so she ran away." " Now all she wants is her daddy." " How it goes, I guess." " State your name for the record." " Rebecca Cuthrell." "On the morning in question, you arrived for work at?" "9am." "Same as always." " What did you find?" " Mr Herrero wasn't there." "It looked like there had been a fight." " Herrero's housekeeper." " Who reported him missing." " Disappeared herself two weeks later." " Scared, probably." "Or involved." " Thanks for gettin' ahold of this." " No big dealio." "I do seem to be putting you in harm's way quite a bit lately." " Yeah." "And?" " So I got you a little somethin'." " What's this?" " A present." "Not to sound ungrateful, but I don't do guns." "That would make you the only person in this city not packing." " And that's how it's gonna stay." " A genetically engineered killing machine... squeamish about guns." " Just a rule." " OK." " If you change your mind..." " I won't." "I'm a little surprised." "A high-minded, idealistic, lefty humanist like yourself advocating greasing the bad guys?" "It's a "kick or be kicked in the ass" world." "Now, kickin' ass..." "I got no issues with." "Cash didn't get there." "Why?" "Let me explain the situation." "Listen, Rafe." "I understand you're upset." "I don't get upset, cos of my ulcers." "He gets upset." "OK." "Now just hear me out on this, Rafe." "All right?" "The envelope in question you said had $15,000 in it?" "I'll take your word on that particular figure." "So let's see." "You pay me 20 bucks a run, two runs a week." "That's, uh... $2,080 a year." "Divide the 15 Gs..." "So, to make things right, I will work for you for free... for 375 weeks." "Which works out to be... the next seven and one-fifth years, approximately." "Make me a counteroffer, guys?" "Now, that is my idea of the perfect man." "Come on, guys!" "I got 36 hours to come up with the money, or I'll end up like my clothes." "Will you please get me down?" " Well, I gotta bounce." "Can you handle this?" " I got it covered." "Whatever you do, keep your hands where they are." "Original Cindy just ate." "Did some digging on the housekeeper." "She's been unemployed since Herrero died, but... 18 months ago she bought a place on Alexander." "So where'd she get the cash?" "Alexander's not exactly Park Avenue." "Still, she bought an apartment." "So Rebecca Cuthrell helped kill Herrero, waited a safe amount of time," " then spent the blood money on a new crib." " That's how I figure it." "Problem is, trail's cold." "We couldn't prove anything." "But if we knew who her friends are, who she talks to, maybe we could shake something loose, give Alina the last chapter of her father's life." "To that end, I was wondering if I could impose on you to install this." "Voice-activated parabolic mike with a high-gain noise filter." "Lithium-powered RF transmitter broadcasting at, what, 400 meg?" "I excelled in telecommunications as a child." "450 meg, actually." "Really?" "I stand corrected." "This place used to be a haven for writers, artists, those of us who took the time to think about what it means to be... human." "Now it feels like we're in an armed camp." "For the time being." "Hello, my friend." "I was surprised to hear your voice on the phone, and a little concerned." "I went to a lot of trouble to disappear." "But, after much hesitation, here I am." " I appreciate your coming." " What made you come looking?" "Alina." "I used to play chess at this table with Hunter Dillon, murdered by a police death squad for speaking out against the Beltran administration." "You didn't want to be next, so you staged your own abduction and went into hiding?" "Same as you." "Only you kept working, filing stories from underground." "I didn't." "That's the part I don't understand." "I fell in love." "Found myself wanting... comfort, a life." "You walked away." "They were trying to kill me." "If anyone should understand, it's you." "Look at you." "You're lucky you're still alive." " What about your daughter?" " I wasn't a very good father." "My fault." "I left her with what money I could." "Didn't think she'd miss me all that much." "What do you want me to tell her?" "It would be easier for all concerned to leave me dead, I suppose." "But I would like to see her... if she's open to it." "So the bad news is what?" "He wasn't murdered?" "He fought the good fight and got a life." "Makes sense." "You can relate to refusing responsibility." "Listen to you." "Alina got her father back and you're all "Who cares?"" " I didn't say that." " Don't make this about yourself." "It isn't." "You don't know what it's like to be alone." "I do." "Now who's making this about themselves?" "Some guys can revise their priorities when they find a girl who moves their furniture." "In fact, some guys are even lookin' for it." "Or so I've heard." "I'll go tell Alina about her father." "I'll do better at making it sound like a good thing." "Bye." "Wow." "You know, I'd done such a good job preparing myself for the worst..." "But all this time he's been out there and I didn't know." "It's like some kind of a miracle." "Excited?" "I don't know what I am." "Of course I'm glad he's alive." "But it's hard to believe that he could've just abandoned me." "Look, it's pointless to try and figure out who left who and why, who's more right or less wrong." "Doesn't matter." "The both of you get a second chance." "Don't overthink it." "If you were me, would you see him?" "In a heartbeat." " Where is Max?" " She'll be here." "It's almost seven." "I got till ten o'clock." "That's less than three hours." " Who knew you were such a math whiz?" " My life is at stake here, Cindy." "That female's word is like stone." "What'd I tell you?" "Party over here, girl!" "Damn!" "Look at you flossin'!" " Mm, mm, mm!" " What are you drinkin'?" "Apple martinis." "The men's just gonna give us their money, we so hot." " We should get going." " OK, OK." "Got the bankroll?" "A hundred, from Natalie on the QT." "That's all I could get." "You know where to meet us." "Vámonos." "Two hours and 56 minutes." " Hi there." "We just got off work." " Dancing at the Cherry Bomb." " Big tip night." " A guy said this is a great place to have fun, make a little money playin' that game with the ball that spins." "I forgot what it's called." "You girls gamble much?" "Last week this one bet she could shoot her thong the farthest, and won 50 bucks." "Have fun, ladies." " So what's the dealio with this bitch?" " The dealio is... the wheel is turning at 3.2 revolutions per sec." " How do you know that?" " I just do." "And the ball is rolling at a velocity of 4.4 metres a sec." "The rest is physics." " Bet 11." " Are you sure?" "Just do it." "11." "9 red." "I can tell you where it's gonna land but I can't call the bounce." "13 black." "17 black, like me." "We have three large." "Another 12 to go and only an hour before Sketchy's toast." "You ladies are doin' pretty good." "How much you up?" " About a cup size." " But this wheel thing's a yawn." " We're lookin' for some action." " You girls like poker?" "Is that the game where you take your clothes off when you lose?" "Uh... here we play for money." "There's a game goin' on in the back." " You wanna try?" " Come on, give it a shot." "High stakes." "You can win a lotta dough in a hurry back there." "What have we got to lose?" "We like to take turns with the shuffle." "Keeps the game honest." "So, a little five-card stud?" "Sounds like my kinda game." "You should throw one of your tens." "You've got too many." "Oh, sorry." "Is it OK if we help each other?" "I'm just remembering now, this is that really confusing game with all those different cards." "Which is probably why I always end up with no clothes on." "No problem." "It's your deal." "Somebody's been eatin' fries, cos these cards are greasy." "Kinda like my ex, but we won't get into that." "Original Cindy, baby, can you hand me a new setup?" "Cool wit' you?" "How 'bout we get rid of these bet limits and open this mother up?" " You gonna fold?" " No." "On second thought, I'm out." "A lot of money there." " It'll be about 12..." " 14,234." "Plus Puffer's watch and Henry's St Anthony medal." " Hello?" " Believe." "Well, I'm all outta cash, but how about a lap dance?" "And what would be the value on that?" "Well..." "At the Cherry Bomb, for the two of us together, all night... a G." " You only live once." " If that." "OK." "I'll see that bet." "Hate makin' girls cry but..." "More hearts than an organ bank, baby." "Dollar dollar." "We had lots of fun and we got to keep our clothes on." "Uh... don't rush off." " We live with our parents." " They worry." "It's a little rude, you know, leavin' a game like this so suddenly." "You guys really wanna throw down with all these nice, money-losin' folks watching?" "You know, you don't play so well with others." "I was home-schooled." "You threw two queens to pick up a straight flush." "That takes more than intuition, girl." "Lady Luck's a friend." "Give it up, girls." "OK." "I guess we're gonna throw down out here." " Nobody touches the ta-tas!" " C'mon, sasquatch." "Oh, there are two of you." "Don't make me get ghetto wit' you." "You better step out, cos Original Cindy just stepped straight outta Compton!" "Damn, girl." "You the man." " You did alight yourself, boo." " Let's go." "Your parents must've been terrorists, cos you guys are the bomb!" "Next time you need a favour and call a friend, remember one thing:" "you're outta lifelines, sweetheart." "Let's go." "A fiery explosion tore through this apartment building on Alexander Drive late last night killing two people." "Emergency workers removed the bodies of 32-year-old Rebecca Cuthrell and an unidentified male companion." "The cause is still under investigation, but sources are calling the blast suspicious." "Who do you like for this?" "The cops?" "The Mob?" "Beltran's people?" "Me." "I'm the one who got this guy killed." "We find Alina her father, an hour later the place is torched." "It's not an accident." "But she was so..." "I don't know..." "Emotional, I guess." "You should've seen her face when I told her her father was alive." "Somebody recruited her." "Probably Allan Lans." " Damn." "We got played." " Not that we can prove any of this." "Herrero ended up dying for what he believed in after all." "Even if he didn't believe it any more." "Looks like you got your martyr." "That's not how I wanted it." "Alina?" "Wow." "What a coincidence." "Headed to Portland too?" "Um..." " My boyfriend lives there." " Probably need to get away." "It's gotta be pretty traumatic, losing your father all over again." "You have my condolences." "Thought you might want this, for kindling or something." " You're good." "Had me completely fooled." " I don't know what you're talking about." " Why'd you do it, Alina?" " Leave me alone." "How much did Lans pay you to give up your father?" "Hey!" " You'll never prove anything." " Did you hate him or was it just the money?" "It was both." "All right?" "It was both." " Hey!" " Say goodbye to one of 'em." "No!" "That should just about cover a one-way ticket to Portland." "And you'll always have your hate." "This just came for you, Logan." " Thank you, Bling." " No problem." "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." "Thank you, my friend." "I spoke to my daughter this afternoon." "She's coming over for late supper tonight." "Now I have the chance to start again with her and... well, I owe you one." "So I'm giving you this disk, and on it you'll find information that proves that Lans was responsible for the death of a Seattle DA." "I've been sitting on this all this time out of concern for Alina's safety." "I'm going to ask Alina to go away with me, so she'll be out of harm's way." "Que tengas cuidado, eh?" "Mi gran amigo." "Max..." "I see a huge ladder out of this hellhole called Jam Pony." "I'm not gonna rip off casinos with you, Sketchy." "What you do is not "ripping off"." "It's simply maximising your God-given talents." " So come on." "Let's maximise." " Maximise this!" "Can you believe this guy?" "We bale him out, next thing he's lookin' for another payday." "CREAM, baby, CREAM." "Cash Rules Everything Around Me." "CREAM." "It's the world we live in." "With leadership and vision, Allan Lans for police commissioner." "Do not attempt to adjust your set." "This is a Streaming Freedom Video bulletin." "This cable hack cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped, and it is the only free voice left in this city." "Yesterday a great man died." "But Nathan Herrero left behind graphic proof that Allan Lans is a cold-blooded murderer." "What you are about to see is difficult to watch." "But when you do, you will not let Allan Lans steal this election." "He will be hunted down." "He will pay for his crimes." "And Nathan Herrero's death will not have been in vain." "He was my friend." "He was a hero of the people." "Here is his final testament." "So Logan finally restored his mentor to sainthood." "Albeit posthumously." "Funny guy, Logan." "Lotta rules." "Maybe he's right about one thing:" "maybe I should pick a birthday, just to have something to celebrate in this short, brutal life." "How about April Fool's Day?" "Maybe not." "My life's enough of a joke." "Yesterday." "Yeah." "Born yesterday." "And the best part is I have a whole year not to think about it."