your end of the bargain

who: eris and jakob
where: the waterline
when: evening

Between his own case load, the extra attention of the media, and the private affairs Jakob never got a break from in the name of his "other" employers, he wasn't shocked that he'd fallen behind. Even on days when he wasn't being called a hero cop, he was a busy man, but the message that reached him as he worked into the night at the station house was a stark reminder that he should've been even busier. He wasn't sure where Sam was on this particular evening, but it wasn't as if they'd been cracking cases together. Instead, Jakob had been pouring over files relating to the varied assaults in Chinatown, trying to link a pattern between these homicides, the attack on Mr. Black, and the O'Malley slayings.

He was growing more and more convinced that they weren't all connected, if any of them were in the first place, when the message came through. In some ways, it was a relief, a reprieve from the growing idea that these cases were part of the endless mountain he saw in the city where there were no suspects, no witnesses, no arrests to be made. In other ways, though, it was a shaming reminder of the task he'd taken on for some reason. He wasn't sure he could actually beat his own work, not with Jackson's involvement and the fact that Eris literally wanted Brett swept clear of all of the fallout needed to actually make him disappear. But he'd agreed to try, hadn't he?

Jakob had gathered up some files that he'd sanitized when the message came in, giving the excuse to the duty sargent that he needed a late meal and heading out to meet with Eris. His arm felt stronger today, strong enough to support the files as Jakob brought them to his car, loaded up, and left the station house behind. Why Eris would want to meet near the waterfront again, he couldn't fathom, but it wasn't like he'd have the time to track her down on his own. So he'd follow her request, play a bit of humility, and see what new scraps he could glean from her to work with.

Eris had chosen the waterfront because it wasn't that far from her place. It didn't seem to be overly busy that night either, and she'd picked a quiet spot, away from the warehouses, really off on it's own path by the river. Sitting on a bench, watching the water, she waited, in general unhappy with pretty much everything in her entire life at the moment. A happy bunny Eris was not. When she noted Jakob's arrival, it wasn't with a smile or anything beyond a nod, an acknowledgement that he'd bothered showing up at all.

He'd trudged up with the files in the crook of one arm, returning Eris' nod quickly before taking his eyes off of her to watch their surroundings more carefully. This was contested ground, after all, and an observer from either side could make Jakob's life very interesting, very fast. "Ms. Stockard," he greeted as he drew closer, "Are we lingering? Or shall we take a drive?"

Last time she'd taken a drive with Jakob, she'd been lost for hours. Therefore it wasn't seeming her best option. "Let's stay here. I like the view." she told him. Nope, really not getting into her impressive handicap that meant going for a drive left her hopelessly without her bearings. Witness her nonchalant decision to remain where they were. "Besides, I don't think this will actually take long." she added. "We had an arrangement. You haven't held up your end." she told him, even if really, for leveling an accusation, her tone lacked punch. It was more just a statement than anything else. Not really her usual style, that was for sure.

The lack of venom, even pleasantly-delivered venom, wasn't lost on Jakob. Not for the first time, he wished he wasn't dealing with someone as considerate of all the details as Eris seemed to be. Most people, by now, would've given him more errors to exploit, or more insight on their own plans. But then, that facet of Eris was why he'd had to sabotage her through her own people, and not directly. "I've been a busy man," he protested lightly, smirking a touch, "And there are... complications. But I did manage to get some of the paperwork you'd requested." The stack of folders was dropped to his hand and offered over with a curious, patient look aimed at Eris. "Trent's hearing before the review board, including his financial records that indicated his payoff. I also managed to get the service record of his former C.O., the one who turned up dead a while after his disbarment."

"Took you longer to get these than it should have. Especially someone in your position." she said. Sure, now he had the files. She wondered when he would have come to her to give them, or if he would have bothered attempting that at all. She was aware that he didn't exactly know how to get a hold of her, but still. "Busy or not. You've got more than enough pull to pick up a dead file or two." Since these ones definitely wouldn't be in active circulation anymore. If anything they should have been collecting dust in a filing cabinet somewhere. "I also wanted his file. Not the review. His actual file." she added. "That one missing?" She wouldn't actually doubt if it was. But she wanted his answer on that.

"It's not," Jakob assured her, shaking his head, "I simply haven't gotten it yet." He sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking out across the waterfront in consternation. "Eris, in the week since we spoke, I've had a manhunt. I've been shot. I've been given a new partner to step around. I've been piecing together tatters of corpses, dealing with genital mutilations and spree killings, and avoiding the oversight of another officer who knew Trent. Not to mention the inquiries of others on the force with allegiances more questionable than my own. Do you honestly think I can prioritize this over my legitimate work? Or that I have any margin of error? I am working on what we've discussed, but I'm not looking to end up like Moira O'Malley in the name of your pity case."

"Your office is what, two floors above the file room? I hardly think it would have been a stretch. Particularly with all of the shit you just mentioned, I'm positive you had to hit the file room quite often in the past week." Eris said. "You're not holding up your end, Jakob. Don't sell me a line to pity you, to get yourself out of it. It's beneath you." she said. She picked up the files he did get, and opened them, paging through a little. "I appreciate the files. But I believe we're done. You're not doing your part, we don't have an arrangement, now do we. Sad, I really thought you would be capable of this."

He chuckled at the veiled insult, head shaking as Jakob turned away from the dockline to look down to Eris. "Please don't try to bait me, or at least do it to the standard your history suggests. It's beneath you," he shot back evenly, "Until you work in the station, don't presume to know what is and isn't possible without garnering attention. The detective I mentioned who knew Trent, he suspects something. He's been rechecking my case logs, and I suspect my entries at the clerk's desk to see where my own studies lead. The very fact that I've withheld your survival, not to mention the files I've obtained, would be plenty of information for him if he chose to pursue me, and I have no interest in dealing with such matters. If a week has been too long for you? Then no, I suppose we have no arrangement, but that's your decision to make. I play a careful hand, Stockard, and it requires patience."

"I wasn't baiting, Jakob, I was making a statement." she told him, glancing up. She sighed, since in this case, she had been. She didn't have the emotional fortitude to really get into some pissing contest with the man, nor did she have the desire to. She just also didn't feel the need to eat shit because he wanted to feed it to her. "And if you want to go on with your own veiled threat of exposing my survival? Well, that's up to you, isn't it. Depends on how you feel about throwning someone to the wolves, in the end." Which in her estimation, she thought he would have no problem doing. "I think you're feeding me a line. And I think you're drawing things out, because you want some game to go on here. I know you. I know how much you love games. I don't really have the time, because as you already said, things are happening. There's a lot of mess going on right now, and his position is fairly precarious, don't you think? It can't just wait til later. Not if he wants to come out on the other end alive. I think you know that." Again, her tone was odd. Off, for her. There wasn't any acid to it, not like there would have been before. Hell, she didn't even sound pissed that she thought he was jerking her around. It all came off like it was just something she was aware of, and it wasn't fitting into her agenda correctly. "Honestly, I would have thought that you'd try harder for someone who used to be one of your men. But maybe I just don't know anything."

Jakob listened quietly, his expression even aside from little tugs at the corner of his mouth here and there, tiny smiles that never fully formed. "Threat?" he asked first, tongue clucking in disapproval, "You thought that was a threat? The fact that I didn't sell you out to any of the three available sides should imply otherwise, and perhaps enlighten you to the fact that I am the one who is threatened now. The department could censure me, prosecute me, and if I were locked up? I'd have... other problems, as a result of not sharing the same information with other parties. I am no threat to you, Eris." Not as long as they had an agreement, at least.

"But you are correct, I do love a good game. And the best? They do require patience," he told her with a shine in his eyes, "I have my own pursuits. If they succeed, which they will, Mr. Trent will be liberated. Both factions will be disoriented enough for him to walk away a free man. I may even find more information about who is selling secrets in my department, because someone with a badge had a hand in your downfall..." That bit was just a little tease, something they both knew, but there had been deliberate gaps in paperwork Jakob had left when he'd orchestrated it. "But, as I said, I will not cut my own throat for this. I suggest you advise Mr. Trent to play the part of a model soldier for a while longer yet, because Rome was neither built nor burnt in a day. Unless you wish to end our agreement. If you don't, I'll be able to get you his file much sooner if I simply know where to send it."

"You're a very big threat to me. I know that. I'm aware. And while I appreciate the sentiment that you wouldn't sell me out, I know how this town works." she told him. Which was plain truth as well. Shit happened, and sometimes someone had to take the fall, and if you didn't want it to be you, someone had to be set up or thrown to the dogs. As for the knowledge that someone on the force had helped orchestrate her demise, she wasn't surprised. Really, she probably would have been more surprised if a cop hadn't had their hand in. Hook that guy up with Jackson, and they could both have a merry time. "And at no point have I asked you to put yourself in harm's way, Jakob. Now you're just being dramatic. Everything you're doing is behind the scenes, with no one the wiser, because you're far too smooth to get caught for something like that." she said, because the man was in fact, good, and she was aware of it. It was why she'd gone to him in the first place. "What Trent does is up to him. I hold no sway." She figured he was fishing again, trying to figure out her stake in it, and she still wasn't giving it up.

"Whether you intended it or not, I do have scrutiny to avoid," he reminded her, "You should have seen the gala, Eris. The familiarity between our chiefs and the Walkers, between much of the rank-and-file on both sides? Is a staggering thing. More worrying is the ones without, because they either owe debt to the Konoviches, or to no one. I will need pawns for my intent, and they are hard to come by. The one I've considered may be too straight-laced, I believe he'd sooner let you both burn than wound the families with minor bending of protocol." Jackson was going to be a difficult one to twist, that was for sure. But maybe the man's personal files would have tidbits that Jakob could use.

"Regardless, if you're willing to throw more fuel on the fire, so to speak? Timetables can be advanced, and things can be escalated," Jakob offered, turning a curious gaze down on her again, "But once it's begun, it must be seen through to the end. And before it's begun? I need to know how I can find you. That is not negotiable, either. If you insist that I don't deal with Trent directly, I need to know how to reach you so that you can stay appraised of what is being set in motion."

"Scrutany is one thing, but it's not in the line of fire. And as stated--you're better than that. You've been at this a long time, Jakob. We both have. One of us is still in working order, and it isn't me. You know how to dodge a bullet, so to speak." Then she paused. "How is the arm?" she asked lightly, gaze ticking to it.

He chuckled again, curling and uncurling his fingers testingly and trying to will away the faint tingle that still lingered in his arm down to the fingertips. "Tender," Jakob answered, "Healing nicely, mind you, but tender. I wouldn't recommend catching buckshot bodily, though." Of course, from what he'd known had happened to Eris, and her own survival? She'd endured worse, though it had fragmented one of the few people in the city Jakob considered a mental equal. "And you? No bodily harm that I can see, but... there is an impediment, isn't there? Something encumbering you?"

"Needing to stay under the radar certainly is an impediment." Eris stated. In no way was she handing over the knowledge that she was fucked in the head now. No one was allowed to know that. Brett, that was it. Not Jackson, just...no one. If people knew, she was over. And their stupid little plan was over before it started. "It's not that easy to operate when you need to keep a city that knew you fairly well from recognizing you." she said.

"I had meant tonight, in particular," Jakob clarified, smiling thinly. For just how many eyes watched this city, it was indeed amazing that she hadn't been discovered by now. "You seem deprived of some of your verve, if I may. As though matters with Trent were weighing heavily," he observed, holding up his good hand to ward off any argument from those words, "Which is just my speculation, of course. I expect a rebuttal is coming, and it's unneeded. Just consider, Eris: the only way to truly do what you're asking does mean wounding both DiGiovanni and Konovich. They need to be at each other's throats, and tasting blood."

He ambled forward a few steps towards the dockline, taking a deep breath of the night air and looking back her way. "Are you willing to let that happen? People will die, innocent and guilty. The repercussions will echo beyond the gangs. There will be a vacuum in the hierarchy of power in this city, and filling it will lead to more chaos." He sounded so sure that it was impossible to miss his ego; she'd asked him for a large task, and Jakob wanted it to end in an even larger punchline. "How much discord is one man worth to you?"

"Now who isn't paying attention and taking current events into account?" Eris asked lightly. "Babylon burned yesterday. And if you think I wasn't there to see it go, you don't know me." she said. Nevermind she'd set it up to go down in the first place. Jakob didn't need to know that. "Are you finally admitting that you're not the sparkling little angel you pretend to be?" she asked. Her eyes were on him. At their first meeting, he'd played it so offended that she'd even suggest such a thing. And now here it was, the truer colors--which she preferred greatly.

For just a moment, he smiled at the question as his eyes danced in the lowlight splashed across the docks from overhead bulbs, and there was something undeniably dark there. "To some extent? Perhaps," he said after a moment, "All I propose is... removing the leashes from the dogs, for a time. And afterwards? Well, perhaps such a case load would prove beneficial. Who would weep if half of the murderers in this city killed the other half? Who would protest if we locked up the survivors afterwards? Would I be guilty, if all I had done was allow their baser nature to surface?"

Jakob's lips pursed as he strolled back to where Eris sat, head shaking. "Babylon was a surprise, I admit. It changes my plans somewhat. But not their intent. To me, following the law and serving its' intended goal are not the same thing. Helping you? Puts me in line with certain... justifications I would need to do such things."

One day, little man, you will fall with the rest of them. You don't actually run this city. Not any more than I did. she thought, what with his over the top statement about allowing people to go at one another--like it was all under his sway. He definitely thought it, and she saw the dark there. It was most certainly preferable to the wide eyed 'i'm so innocent' act. "So technically, helping me would benefit your own ends." she said. "What, do you actually need my say to let loose?" she asked lightly. "You'd enjoy seeing the bloodshed as much as anyone. Possibly more, because you'd get to see it up close and personal."

"Ah, but that assumes that I enjoy seeing the blood. I don't, rather, I enjoy seeing... pieces of a puzzle. Who would commit a horrible act? Why? What steps have they taken to hide themselves? In this case, I would lose some of that satisfaction, but not so much that I would deny your request." He needed to be mindful of his pride; Jakob was showing more than he generally would, but with all the doubt that Eris had expressed about his ability? Maybe he was compensating a little. "And after a fashion, yes, I'm waiting on your readiness. I do not do these sorts of things for profit, or for power. Power draws attention, your former life is a testament to that fact. But... you asked, and I am capable."

"Do as you will. I'm concerned about the end result. The means don't matter so much to me." Granted, she hoped Brett never found out that she was willing to pretty much let the city burn to get him out form under, but still. She'd started this out to get it done, and she still meant to. "I do have a question. It's not pertaining to the matter at hand, and if you don't know, fine. I don't need the answer found out for me, it's not part of the deal. But I imagine you know." she continued. "My bodyguard. Clayton. Did he have a hand in my death?" she asked, tone light. Since Jakob had started dropping the innocent act, Eris was behaving a little more like herself, her tones becoming more animated again.

"No," he told her flatly, willing to give a bit of truth even if he was withholding more, like those close to Eris who had betrayed her. That was part of the fun for him most of the time; the Konoviches didn't shield their pawns nearly so well as Eris did, and all he'd needed to ask was who else knew of their plot. "Others close to you, yes, but not him. He even showed up across my network of informants after you first vanished, trying, quite unsubtly I might add, to find out what had happened. Now, in exchange, since you've declined every time we've spoken, how do I reach you to let you know when the festivities will begin?"

"If you leave a message with the owner of the one more round, it'll get to me." Eris said, accepting that she was going to need to tell him anyways, because he'd already named that in his terms. So, she'd just give him that much. "Don't use my name. You can be cryptic. He'll know." she added, just so Jakob wouldn't get too specific, which he would probably appreciate. She wasn't sure how she felt about the news about Clayton. If she trusted Jakob or not, though either way it didn't look like his information swayed her in any direction.

"Very well," he told Eris simply, smiling a touch. Ah, the Round, the final rung on the ladder that the city's residents clung to before ending up begging for change. "A day, and Trent's file can be there. Two to three, and I can have the file with some incongruities I'm noticing. You may have been half-right, Trent may not have simply gone dirty. All I have are suspicions, though... I'll leave it to you to judge once I've gathered more." He took a little step back, glancing to his car and back to Eris as if wondering what else she might need.

She nodded. "Then I'll be hearing from you sometime soon." she said, fine with his wanting to depart. Their business was finished, so far as she could see. It gave her a lot to think about, really, not that she wasn't already stuck with a head full of heavy thoughts. But that wasn't the issue, and she needed to move past everything. Just...keep moving. Keep pushing forward, wherever that took her.