5231/Organized-Crime-Minted-Penny For Your Thoughts

Organized-Crime-Minted-Penny For Your Thoughts
Date of Scene:	23 August 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Following a trail of mysterious coins all owned by different organized crime families, Frank finds a lady who he thinks may work for the shady organization that provides support to the criminal underworld.
Cast of Characters:	Shredder, Punisher

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Shredder has posed:
    Night time is always the best time to be unseen. The park is hardly dark, though. Lights surrounding from the Public Library and Midtown's sky scrapers provide unavoidable light across the Great Lawn. The lights of the fountain show, and the Library can be seen looming like a silent guardian, the doors closed for the evening.

    This is the city that never sleeps, though. Even at this late hour, people wander the park's attractions, couples go on a late night stroll. One such couple includes a ranking member of a local crime family and a young japanese woman wearing a black pair of dress slacks and oriental style button-down blouse. She might be as old as 18 or 19 at best, far younger than the man with her. Antone Barclay, second in command of his particular family, has a few of his bodyguards nearby, street wear to avoid too much attention, but the man himself approaches the young woman, and they make their introductions before starting to walk along the sidewalk between the manicured trees and bushes.

Punisher has posed:
Night time really is the best time to be unseen. Even with the unusually well-lit scene caused by the surrounding buildings, when you're not expected it's easy to blend in and go unnoticed. Unless you're involved in organized crime and you surround yourself with bodyguards who don't know the concept of subtlety.

To the average passersby, the bodyguards are just guys with no relation to one another all out living their respective lives. To anyone who pays attention they move with a purpose. And what are the odds there would be a handful of guys out in the park at this hour by themselves? Frank's training kicks in and alerts him to their presence. He's 'casually' standing behind a tree at the edge of the park, letting it cast a thick black shadow over his sturdy frame so he can go unnoticed as he watches the man interact with the young woman. The girl he's never seen, but the man he knows by reputation. Either the girl is in immense danger or she's involved. In either case it doesn't look good.

Shredder has posed:
    The girl seems unconcerned, no appearance of alarm is on her face. Her straight black hair hangs just below her chin, and she speaks with Antone. "You recognize our offer, then?" she asks. "It is good that you see the value, for your sake."
    "Yeah, well, I like to think we keep our options open, and I think it'll be good to have somebody like you guys at our back, especially given what happened to the Racque family last month," Antone answers. The Racque family is in shambles, and it's unlikely that they will be re-engaging the game anytime soon. The only money they have left is that which the few survivors might have coming in life insurance money.

Punisher has posed:
The juxstaposition of the older man wearing street clothes next to a young woman wearing professional attire is just another cause for scrutiny in Frank's eyes. He makes his way around the tree and, as casually as possible, flanks around to the side so he can get within ear shot. His gaze keeps track of the bodyguards to make sure he doesn't alert them or, if he does, he is ready to react should he need to.

As he moves, he shifts his gait so his footsteps quiet and he can hear the conversation between the two. His hands rest in his pockets and his head is lowered, letting the hoodie tugged over him conceal his face. What he hears grabs his attention. Sounds like the girl represents a larger organization that is backing one or more of the smaller crime families. Sounds like something he may have to learn more about.

Shredder has posed:
    While Antone is not particularly quiet, it might be noted that the young woman's steps are virtually silent. She wears flats, not heels, and has a nimble grace to her step. She carries herself like someone who can handle herself in a fight.
    "Indeed," the girl answers as they reach the carousel. The lights are shining from it, but no one is manning it presently. "In the coming months, I think you will find that our agreement will not only be protective for you, but very lucrative, provided that you remember to honor your end of the arrangement."
    "Oh, don't worry about that Barclays, missy," Antone answers with a smug grin. "We always keep our books square."
    "That's encouraging," the young woman answers. She pulls a coin with a symbol on it from a pocket in her pants, it is almost the size of her palm, larger than a currency coin might be. "You should keep this, should you need to verify our arrangement, but do not let it be seen by anyone else."

Punisher has posed:
The carousel hadn't registered in his mind until the duo made their way over to it. Maybe it was the fact that the girl moved with a certain dangerous grace that had him distracted. Then, all of a sudden, there it is almost antagonizing him.

His brows furrow as he pushes his mind to ignore it and focuses on what's being said. Then she passes him the large coin. He doesn't have to see the symbol on it to know that he's seen one before. The size alone gives it away. So this is the source.

He moves around a small statue so that his body is obscured by another long shadow, keeping out of the line of sight of the bodyguards if at all possible. He needs to follow her after this meeting.

Shredder has posed:
    "Sure thing, Miss Karai," Antone answers with a casual mock salute. He takes the coin and puts it inside his jacket pocket.

    "Have a good evening, Mr. Barclay," Karai says. "Enjoy the park."

    She turns, and they go separate ways. The body guards are motioned to by Antone, and he starts returning back the way he came from. Karai on the other hand, starts circle the carousel, and at a quarter of the circle she changes direction, starting to walk off in the direction of the street, which would take her back into the city. She stops at a stop light, waiting patiently for it to change. Antone and his lackeys make their way toward the parking lot of the park.

Punisher has posed:
Frank knows where to find the Barclays. But they're not who he is after. He's interested in the higher parts of the food chain and this girl seems to be the key to finding out where that leads.

As they go their separate ways, Frank makes his way around the opposite side of the carousel from Karai. He gets the feeling this is going to be as easy as he would like, but he has to try to pin down a location either way. Whether he has to pass close by the bodyguards or not, he'll trail her towards the stop light while keeping his distance to avoid raising suspicion as much as he can.

Shredder has posed:
    The bodyguards seem to ignore Frank. They are there to protect Antone, and they aren't going the same direction. Karai doesn't seem to notice Frank, but waits on the light, which shifts to green after a few moments. She starts across the painted white lines and toward the opposite curb as the red hand flashes, counting down to the next red light. Once across the street, she starts walking toward a rather ordinary looking car, a slate gray Toyota Corolla, one of probably several thousand in the city just like it.

Punisher has posed:
Having made his way out of the park, Frank continues to trail Karai but stops short of crossing the road as the crossing signal begins to flash red. Noticing that she's approaching a Corolla, he squints his eyes and looks for the license plate. He pats his pockets to check for a pen, knowing damn well he doesn't have one. Never really needed one before. But he's got a memory.

When the light changes, he jogs across the road to try to get one last peek at the plate before the car is able to get away.

Shredder has posed:
    The Corolla starts to pull away, but is unable to because of the traffic, sitting there parallel parked as the endless traffic of the Big Apple slides past. It isn't until the light changes again that it's able to move again, around the same time that the light changes for pedestrians. It starts to pull away, which reveals that the tag is actually a temporary dealer tag, apparently this car came straight off a dealer's lot, putting it nowhere near this part of town, it will be a little bit of a drive if it is headed back to the dealer, or else it is stolen. It pulls out of the slot as the opening arrives, in no particular hurry as it starts down the street.

Punisher has posed:
When the light changes and finally allows him to cross the street, he is able to close the distance between himself and the Toyota. He stops on the corner and waits as it gets clogged up in traffic before it's able to make its way into the intersection and then turn up the street. A little less concerned about being inconspicuous at this point, he turns and watches the car intently as it passes and once the rear of the car faces him, he sees the decal stating the dealership's name right on the back. Toyota of Manhattan. It's a bit of a hike, but it's a start. He'll check it out and see what he can dig up about the owner of the car, if there is one.

Standing silently on the corner, he stuffs his hands into his pockets and watches as the car drives off.