Leon raced over to answer the vid-phone.

"South Plains Security Consulting, how many I help you?"

"Hey Leon, how's tricks?"

The gruff-sounding caller on the other end was one of several sources of information Leon had in Long Arms. It was a man mountain of an ork constable, named Dan Stonetusk. Stonetusk was one of the many officers under Long Arms employ who didn't care too much for the way squeaky-clean David Longmiles was running things, and he didn't mind getting dirty at times. Stonetusk did do normal police work well, but he wasn't above taking a bribe, looking the other way, and treating shadowrunners with some actual respect, none of which Longmiles could do at gunpoint.

Dan Stonetusk knew Leon through his uncle, Boar Jaw, an ancient legbreaker that Leon had known for many years. On occasion, whenever sensitive information concerning Leon came up, Stonetusk would find a safe line somewhere and relay the info to Leon, an act that had helped Leon out several times. Shadowrunners and police officers weren't normally friends even at the best of times. But Stonetusk had respect for the game and how it was played, something Longmiles couldn't wrap his head around.

"Not too bad Dan, how goes the paperwork?"

"Hah! Like I'd ever be caught dead doing that. I've noticed you haven't been on the street much lately? Wouldn't have anything to do with geeking a Yokogawa man, would it?"

"Yeah, it would. I heard about that the night it happened, and I've been waiting for Longmiles to blame me for it. You know who geeked him?"

"......I guess I don't know now. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know a couple things."

"Which are?"

Dan sighed. "Look, I don't know if you killed that guy or not, and I don't really care. Longmiles thinks you did, but he figures you for everything. But its out of our hands. Yokogawa took over the case when they heard, they say its some corporate drek related to their little wars that we can't touch. Which means whether you did it or not, they might be looking for you. And I gotta tell you Leon, Yokogawa doesn't play nice. They've got friends in the Yakuza, I've heard. I haven't seen any of them up here, or they'd be getting my baton up their ass...... but they might want to see you if you're not careful."

Dan talked tough, and would be capable of backing it up, but Leon actually was a minor associate of the Seattle Yakuza and knew them well (an arrangement he needed in his early shadowrunning days, to avoid getting clipped by the Mafia, their archrivals). The Yakuza would actually treat Dan well, contrary to his thoughts. The Yakuza were more tolerant of metahumans in their ranks than the average Japanese corp bigshot, and being a criminal enterprise, they were more than familiar with the art of the bribe. Big-time criminal enterprise in general actually treated metahumans better than some politicians and corps, which said quite a lot about society these days......

"Second thing, Longmiles is REALLY mad at you. Like, it's never been this bad."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"No, you don't understand kid, it's REALLY bad. Longmiles is trying to get some fresh faces in special for you. He's talked to a couple vigilantes down in the Sioux Nation who used to be part of their war games and special ops. If they say yes, they'll be doing some serious business here. David's in Regina more than Saskatoon now some weeks, he's always raising hell at the station, and he's fired three or four cops this month. If it weren't for the Manitou and the stuff going on in Thunder Bay, you'd be Public Enemy Number One."

Sioux vigilantes were worrying. The Wildcats special forces they had in the Sioux Nation were second to none in North America, and were feared by even the most hardened mercenaries and smugglers. The popular saying was they knew more ways to kill a man than there were to die. If Longmiles was calling in favours to try to beef up his police force, you couldn't do much better than Sioux army veterans. This could be a problem.

"Opinions seem to be mixed at the office too. My boys just want Longmiles to drop the whole thing, cause we could really use good runners to clean out Thunder Bay and the Manitou. Others want you dead, just so that Longmiles stops talking about you. I'd walk carefully if I were you."

"I'll keep that in mind Dan, thanks for the call. Stay safe out there."

"You too, shadowboy."

Leon hung up. This was a lot to process.

On one hand, it was great to know that Longmiles seemed to be backing off the murder case. On the other hand, Yokogawa taking it over was something Leon wasn't told about when he got the job. Leon wondered again if Kenta would eventually use their investigation as an opportunity to blackmail him, but felt confident he would be needed by Yokogawa later. Icing one mole wouldn't make them the number 1 corp here, after all. Besides, he had already been paid in full for the hit on Koki Ishikawa. If they were going to screw him, they could've done it earlier and saved 20,000 nuyen.

Plus now there were these Sioux vigilantes to worry about? If Longmiles got them on board, how would he use them? Leon knew Longmiles was a hardline law-and-order guy, and he wanted Leon convicted, preferably in a publicized trial for a heinous crime with many witnesses. These vigilantes wouldn't stop him for a busted taillight and then draw down on him, would they?

No......that wasn't Longmiles style. He wanted Leon to be through with shadowrunning, but he wanted it done right. These Sioux guys could be brought in to track him and his activities, something the normal Long Arms beat cop failed badly at. The Sioux Nation weren't total back-to-the-land nutcases, but they definitely remembered the old tricks their ancestors used to silently stalk and hunt wild game, and probably invented a few new ones too.

But if they tried to get stealthy to track him down, Leon would have a plan for that too. After all, he had the beautiful and perpetually under-estimated Sylvia Morrow at his side......