Chapter Fifty-Five - Le Sémaphore

Chapter Fifty-Five - Le Sémaphore Le Sémaphore was located, as advertised, atop one of the newer skyscrapers in City Centre. City Centre was... complicated. You couldn't just walk in. There were checkposts and guards, the police presence was way higher, and security was armed. I think the kidnapping attempt, the successful one, had rattled them a little, because I noticed a lot of security around. That wouldn't make things easier. Fortunately, a luxury taxi was a few feet short of being a limo, and in this part of town, where every fifth car cost what ten people might make in their entire lives, it didn't stand out too much. I was let past without questions and the taxi rolled to a stop in front of the restaurant. I had... options and opinions. Miss Ojou's little stunt with the letter two days ago had scared me. It pissed me off. But two days ago was like a week ago, so I had time to cool off. That didn't mean that I didn't want to get back at her a little. I was... a bit of a petty bitch like that. I stepped into the building with the restaurant and discovered a prettily-decorated lobby. All marble and statues and a lot of wasted square footage. A guard at the end, D-ranker, in a nice suit with a piece at his hip, asked me for ID and where I was headed to. I said Le Sémaphore and was promptly refused. Right, problem one. I needed to come in and say that I was expected by Miss Ojou. Only the appointment wasn't for a while and the restaurant didn't reserve tables this early. Also, I sure wasn't giving him my ID. "Hey, if I wanted to sneak in here, how would I go about it?" I asked the guard. "That some sort of joke?" "Humour me?" He didn't want to humour me. So, I scouted the building. There were offices on several floors and part of it near the top was residential. Fancy residential. I noticed that there was a fire emergency map on one wall, and it showed that there was more than one elevator bank. The second wasn't guarded, but it did require that people enter from the parking garage under the building. That was... not as hard to break into as I might have imagined. There was security guarding the super cars, and there was security around the front, but there was also a simple doorway on the side for staff to come in and use a third elevator. I cornered a cleaning lady and asked her some rude questions. She called the cops on me, but answered all the same. Yes, the cards staff had did work on the elevator that high-end clients and workers and people who stayed here used. Jackpot. I Reloaded, then followed the first person to leave the staff exit when I arrived. No good, he got on the metro. The next two Reloads were wasted, but they were pretty short. Then I found that some guy left the building twenty minutes after I arrived and went to smoke a joint off in an alley nearby. It was... comically easy to walk up behind him and yoink his passcard. Then I had to figure out the timing to get into the restaurant. That proved a little tricky. The damned guard at the side door was actually doing his job. I waited almost an hour before losing patience and looking around for a solution. Fortunately I found it. It was an empty can of soda in a trash bin in one of the maintenance corridors for the staff. I picked it up, poked my head around the corner, then flung it hard past the guard. He jumped at the sound, looked back--I ducked my head around the corner--then went to see what it was. So I walked over to the elevator, tapped stoner-boy's card against the scanner, and punched in the top floor on the panel within. Fancy elevator barely made a noise. Next time I'd be faster about it. The elevator opened, and I had to walk around a bit to find the actual entrance to Le Sémaphore. The restaurant was nice, with a nautical-aerial theme of all things. There were small die-cast models of ships inside of glass-topped plinths by the entrance, and a waiter stood by the door. "Hello, ma'am," he greeted me. "And welcome to Le Sémaphore. Do you have a prior arrangement?" A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. "I do," I said, feeling a little awkward about the mask... so I pulled it off. "Sorry. Can't stand the air in this city. I have a meeting with a Miss Ojou in... oh, I'm terribly early. Do you have a bar I could sit at while I wait?" "Of course. Let me... ah, yes, Miss Ojou has a reservation at six with a guest and her two body guards." Two body guards? Shit. The waiter called someone over then... signed at them? "Is all the staff, uh, deaf?" I asked. "All but myself and a few select members," he replied with a cordial smile. "You'll find that the bartender is hearing-capable, as well as some select members of staff. Most of our staff is, otherwise, mute." "Okay," I said. Weird. I followed after the second waiter who escorted me to my table. I asked them where Miss Ojou would be waiting for me, and they gestured to a table by a window overlooking the city. It was in a small-ish alcove to one side, with a corner view and tall hedges around it that would lend it some amount of privacy. I sat at the bar, ordered a $22 can of soda (it came with a little lime wedge!) and waited. I made the wait productive, however. There was a staff entrance next to the bar, and the corridor to the washrooms was next to it. At some point I stood, then wandered over to the washrooms only to purposefully walk into the staff area. I got some looks, but the people here were very busy, and... frankly, they might have been a little understaffed? There was an exit at the rear. When I pushed through it, feeling like I really wasn't allowed to, I found that it led into a corridor at the back. I could see the same elevator I'd used to come up. Huh. The door was locked, of course, but there was a numbered keypad next to it. So I grabbed one of the smaller waiters in the corridor, pointed my gun at him, and politely asked for the digits. He was mute, which made it very awkward, but I got the code, and it worked. I Reloaded. This time, when I snuck up, I bypassed the waiter at the door entirely. Now I just needed to find a time where the kitchens were a little quieter and where no one would notice me walking past. Miss Ojou arrived while I was sitting down at the bar, pleased with myself after three failed attempts at sneaking by. I had to wait until five forty-two, almost exactly, before there was a five or so minute window where no one was around. I think one of the waiters found me suspicious, but it was too late for that. Miss Ojou was looking... stunning, honestly. She was dressed in a summer-dress, with a coat atop it made of some fancy leather-y material. It had golden accents that matched her hair, which was done up in drills. It looked like the kind of do that took an hour to perfect, and only with professional help. She was armed, I noticed. A knife in a sheath at her side. Her two guards were equipped as well. One of them seemed a little banged up. Black eye, arm in a cast. He was scanning the room, but also giving the other guard constant looks. Guard two was way more relaxed, and I wasn't sure if they were paying attention at all. But I was paying attention to him. He had that subtle aura around him that suggested that he was actively using magic. The light near him was brightening and dimming in time with his breathing. A C-rank bodyguard? Ojou wasn't cheaping out. I think I could sneak past them. The one guard had a black eye and was spending more time glaring at his partner, and the other was twitchy and not paying much attention at all. More of a silent threat than a real good guard. But no. I stood up and walked over. "Miss Ojou's expecting me," I said as I stopped a few feet away. Miss Ojou looked up, a hand casually pressing against the front of her chest as she inspected me. The guards tensed. First, a nice, candid discussion. Then I'd see about doing another loop to leave a lasting impression. ***