Adam sat down in the chair and took a long exhale, calming himself down.
"It's the cultists sir, the Cult of Pestilence. They were the culprits." Adam said, cutting right to the end of the story.
Mr. Cantelli looked annoyed but he kept his cool and took a deep breath,
"Start from the beginning."
"Yes sir." Adam said, shifting a bit in his chair to sit up straight. "We began by tracing the path the caravans usually take from the pier to Midway, but in reverse. We saw no signs of anything happening so when we arrived at The Pier we began asking around if anyone knew about the missing caravans. According to the people we spoke to no one even knew the caravans were missing. Then we spoke to Madam Aquamarine." Adam paused for a moment as he saw Mr. Cantelli aggressively roll his eyes. He seemed to have as much disdain for her as she did for him. At least it was mutual.
"Go on." He said, not wanting Adam to stop.
"Well she told us the same thing, that as far as she knew the caravans were on schedule. She seemed equally surprised and annoyed the 'goods' were not arriving as scheduled. So she invited us to follow the next shipment to see if anything happened. Well for the first part of the journey there was nothing out of the ordinary however then the caravan was attacked by cultists in hiding. We managed to fight them off, killing all 8 of the ambushers, however all of Madam Aquamarine's people died in the process. I just got back here minutes ago, you were the first person I came to." Adam said, wrapping up the story succinctly.
Mr. Cantelli tapped his fingers on his desk while he seemed lost in thought, though he was still quite annoyed.
"Of course, it just had to be one of the horsemen." He said aggravated. He then turned to look Adam in the eyes. "In your opinion, will this happen again?" Adam paused to consider.
"I think it's a strong possibility. I would recommend either changing up the route the caravan takes or assigning Midway guards to the route. There were not many of them and they were not too heavily armed, so simply ensuring the target is too guarded might be enough to ward off any more disruptions." Adam offered, insightfully.
Mr. Cantelli leaned back in his chair and picked up his cigar. He lit it and then took a slow and long puff.
"I was hoping that bitch was going to give me an excuse to get rid of her. But this is a bigger problem than I had assumed. You are right, this isn't something one outside contractor can solve, this is an administrative issue." He ran one hand over his gross scalp. "I guess I will have to work with that woman if I want this solved properly." He then leaned forward again and then looked at Adam.
"Well I am a man of my word." He pulled out slips worth 3000 caps and handed them over. Consider the extra 1000 a bonus." He grinned a bit. "And I won't forget this favor you have done for me. I haven't forgotten my promise to you. Though I will point out you didn't solve the issue for me, I'm not going to nitpick too much. Just don't ask for the moon." He chuckled and then took another hit of his cigar. Adam nodded.
"Good work, Mr. Baxter." Adam stood up to leave but before he had Mr. Cantelli spoke up again.
"Tell me, what did you think of Madam Aquamarine?" He asked, venom dripping from his tone as he spoke her name. Adam paused to consider for a moment before he turned back around to look at Mr. Cantelli again.
"She was a snake, sir. I don't trust her." Adam said, diplomatically and as succinct as possible. Mr. Cantelli grinned and nodded, seemingly satisfied with Adam's answer.
"Alright, you may go, I look forward to our future conversations." He said as he leaned back in his chair again and motioned for the other black suited men in the room to get closer so they could discuss how to solve this issue. Adam didn't stick around to listen, he just turned to leave.
Once outside The Guild area Adam saw Deccanus standing nearby, arms crossed, Buddy next to him.
"Is it done?" He asked, wary of the black suited men who were starting to move more actively around the area.
"Yes." Adam said as he handed over 1500 caps to Deccanus, Deccanus took it with argument. "I think we are done…" Adam said before thought of something.
"Before we sell everything I have one more stop I need to make." Adam said as he began to head back downstairs to make use of a service he never had assumed he would use. The couriers.
"Hello sir? How can I help you today?" A man standing behind the counter at a makeshift stall said. Behind him were mailboxes organized on top of each other, a stack of papers and pens, envelopes, and a computer terminal that was currently powered on.
"I need to send a letter, would you be able to get a letter to a specific person at The Pier?" He asked. "I have never used this service, I apologize."
"No worries sir! We would be happy to send a letter to anyone you request! We charge extra for letters sent outside of Chicago at the moment but for any major settlement in the area we charge a single flat fee of 50 caps." He smiled.
"Wonderful." Adam then took one of the papers and began to write a letter, addressed to Madam Aquamarine. Once he was done he sealed it in an envelope alongside the drawing of the guard and his wife that Adam had taken from his body and addressed it to her on the outside. He then handed it over once he was all set.
"Can you please ensure that this will get to Madam Aquamarine directly? Her eyes only. You can tell her Adam Baxter sent the letter if you need a reason to meet her directly." The man flinched a moment at the mention of Madam Aquamarine but then nodded and took the letter.
"Certainly. I can ensure no one but her will see the letter." Adam then nodded and took out 50 caps and paid the man.
"When can you send this letter out?"
"We will have a courier sent within the next few hours, they should arrive by tomorrow. If that is acceptable."
"Yeah, that is perfect, thank you." Adam smiled at him.
"No, thank you sir. Pleasure working for you."
Adam then turned to leave and got some distance away before Deccanus spoke up.
"What did you need to write down in a letter bad enough that you paid for a courier service?" He asked, confused. Adam looked around a bit, ensuring no one was listening in and then pulled Deccanus over to a quiet corner.
"I told her more or less what I told Mr. Cantelli. That the Caravans were being raided by the cult. But I also told her that I have strong suspicions that there is a mole in her organization." Adam said conspiratorially. Deccanus looked shocked and confused.
"What led you to believe that?"
"The timing." Adam said with a serious tone. "Do you remember what Madam Aquamarine said when she was going to let us accompany the caravan to Midway?" Deccanus didn't answer, it was rhetorical anyway. "She said she was moving it up a day. Originally it was supposed to leave tomorrow if it was on schedule, but she changed the day when she learned something might be wrong. Of course that is a fair change to make considering her product was at stake, but that means in only 5 days the cult learned of this and set up their ambush on the correct day. If they didn't have a mole they would have been there on the wrong day." Deccanus remained silent as he took this all in.
"This is all supposition, of course, but I think it's all a bit too suspicious otherwise. They knew the route, the time, and even the best place to lay an ambush. It's not impossible for them to have really good scouts but it makes far more sense if there is a mole. If I'm wrong at least she was warned." Deccanus nodded slowly.
"A bit of a leap in logic but… yes, this does make sense. It would not be hard for them to plant a spy in her ranks. The Legion used to do this all the time when the opponent needed to be scouted. It was what the frumentarii were trained for."
"Then you agree it was worth sending a letter." Adam grinned.
"No." Deccanus returned with a frown of his own. "Because I do not like that woman, I am not fond of helping her." Adam laughed and playfully slapped Deccanus on the back.
"Come on, let's sell off these items we got from the battle then get a well deserved rest. I have big plans soon that I will definitely need your help for."