"I can carry a gun, and I'm willing to train with it," Rudy assured Dussack, though he seemed too distracted to hear his response. Without a word, the assassin followed Sandman into the bathroom. 'Big mistake,' Rudy thought to himself as the door closed behind Dussack.
Shoveling up the last of his pancakes, Rudy put in a mental call to GridCab, and arranged for it to meet him at the lobby.
"Forgive the abrupt departure," he told them all. "I have to arrange for a babysitter." He left the room without another word.
'Lagos,' he pondered, 'It sounds terrible, from some of the reactions of the others.' With nothing else to occupy him, he began searching the Matrix for all basic information about their destination, but refrained from searching for anything that might call attention to himself.
The Inn's doorman was polite, and informed him his cab had arrived. Getting in back, Rudy gave the address of his apartment complex and refrained from trying to be secretive. It was clear that they already knew too much about him anyway. As the cab pulled up, he called to his fixer, Emmet.
"Rudy?" he replied, when the call finally picked up. "What are you calling for, you should be on the job. What's wrong?"
"I can't talk about the job, Trigger," he confessed. "But I need you to watch the kids while I'm busy." There was a long pause.
"Alright, Rudy, but you're gonna owe me," Emmet finally answered. "Tessie will probably have a hard time letting them go when you return." Rudy knew his friend was referring to his 7 year old daughter.
"Thank you, Emmet," he said as he switched off.
*Daddy's home!* came a mental chorus, as his rats sensed his approach.
*Assemble in the room,* he ordered, mildly. *We need to go on a trip.*
While making his way to his room, he called out to a Temp service and arranged to have a temporary maintenance person for the next two weeks, and transmitted an announcement to call the Temp agency for all repair needs.
Once downstairs, his friends were waiting eagerly at the door. *Daddy!*
Going to a closet, he pulled out a pet carrier and told them to get in, and they obeyed instantly. He put the young ones in with their parents, and went to back out the door. He concentrated on his lock, and activated the explosive trigger on the door. Anyone hacking the lock, or forcing the door would set it off.
Upstairs, the cab still waited, and he got in and gave his friend Trager's address. He didn't talk to the rats as they drove, and he sent Emmet a signal when they were getting near. Emmet met him at the curb, and he passed the carrier through the window.
"You have my will," he said to Emmet. "Just in case."
Emmet nodded, solemnly, and handed a pistol back through the window, in a holster. It was Emmet's favorite sidearm, "Just in case." Rudy couldn't speak, so he simply raised the window, then directed the cab back to the Inn. It was time to get some sleep, and then to work. Refusing to look at the gun, he simply sat quietly until he got to the inn, and returned to the room.