Luckless Jake pt 2

Jake was no fool and could read between the lines, 'heartbreaking' meant Jakes heart would quite literally be broken if he refused. He looked at the courier and nodded his acceptance. Without a word the man withdrew his foot and left, quickly and silently. As he turned around Jake slammed the door shut in frustration, he hoped to leave the miserable mudball of a planet before he had come to the attention of the nefarious under element that worked in the city. Apparently he'd overstayed his welcome. He knew who'A.C' was, it was Allan Croft and you didn't say no to him even without threats. You also didn't run. Mr Croft would have you followed, he would find you, he would have you brought back, either in one piece or many, but still alive, and then you would wish you had not been alive when you were brought back.

Still, Jake thought, the note was worded as a polite invitation, he hadn't been jumped in the street or had strange men burst him into the apartment and drag him to a more secluded meeting place, so maybe there was still a chance he could walk away after Thursday night. To be on the safe side he called the travel company and booked the earliest flight no Friday morning that he could. Four AM was it, which would leave him enough time to play the game till about three in the morning, make his excuses and run. Hoping he could get far enough away, quickly enough, to bury himself somewhere should things go sour. With that done he grabbed his card and headed out the door, he had two days to do some shopping and he had to find just the right clothes. Nondescript, but classy, short sleeved but elegant enough for a dinner with people who dressed in the very best. It was going to cost him a bit, but for the game he was expecting it would be well worth the investment.

That was two days ago and it was now eleven pm on Thursday night and Jake glanced idly at his timepiece. Across from him Allan raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly, “Watching the time Jake? Do you have something else on tonight? A pressing engagement elsewhere? Don't fret my good man you'll have plenty of time to fly out of here once our game has been finished.”

Jake's heart skipped a beat. Allan knew about the flight. There was nowhere he could run if things went south. He was fairly certain that Allan had enough clout to be able to hold the flight should Jake attempt to leave early. That left Jake's only option to start losing a bit, if he could.