Bane had been a little annoyed at having to go to the bar with Karl. She was right in the middle of making her batch of grenades and that, plus no adequate sleep for a few days, made her somewhat grouchy. Mal told her that it was her own fault she was not looking to her bedtimes, and to get her butt to the bar. She drank several cups of strong tea before going with Karl to The Broken Leg. It was a busy part of town and most definitely the rough end.

The Broken Leg was low lit and greasy, as well as having several topless dancers which diverted most peoples’ eyes from the dark corners where the deals were being done. She looked at Karl to see if he was likely a drooler like Jayne. She saw that he gave them a practised glance like any heterosexual male, he was well aware that they had a job to do. Karl spotted a booth to sit in and Bane sat in the seat that allowed her a clear view of the door and most of the main room, whereas Karl had a view of the dark corners and the balcony.

“Lot of dealin’ of substances going on in here,” she said, leaning across the table between them.

“You can tell that from the two minutes it took us to get this booth?” exclaimed Karl. It was really noisy and they had to shout to be able to hear each other. Bane nodded before speaking again.

“There’s three main dealers in here. Sweaty guy with the blue hat in the booth behind you, guy with the white jacket looking at the dancer with the ankle bracelet, and–“

“I get the picture,” said Karl, slightly annoyed at her boasting, and the fact that she was right. Bane sat back and continued scanning the room. It was a pretty normal dock dive as far as she could see. Karl leaned forward again.

“Who’s the owner then?” he asked, testing her. Bane glanced around.

“I can’t be sure he’s here – how would I know that?”

“I know,” replied Karl. Bane accepted the challenge and looked around again. Apart from the dealers, there were maybe two people who could fit the profile as owner. A man playing cards with a whore on his sh