==Typo Bar, Hamra, Beirut==
Ramy agreed to meet Nano, giving her an address in Hamra. By the time she got there, Ramy was already drinking and lively chatting in Arabic with the bartender. As she got closer, Ramy turned to greet her with a simple lift of his chin. "Couldn't score a shift today. Next ones are on you." He gestured to his beer.
Nano smiled and pulled up a seat next to Ramy. "Is there a bar you don't work at?" She smirked and held up two fingers to the bartender. While the bartender did their job, Nano made herself comfortable, despite being in the neck of the woods where kidnappings were a thing. "So i think i've got you some support and funding."
Ramy grabbed his remaining beer and swirled it into a vortex before flipping it upright to shoot the liquid down his throat. Putting his fist in front of his mouth to catch a burp, he then reached for the next drink that Nano bought him. He shrugged his shoulder at the mention of jobs and then moved onto the next topic. "Support, alright. The old man dropped by earlier. Not quite sure what you said or did to get on his good side, but he spoke rather highly of you. Said I should help you out and that Spanish girl out. Not quite as precious as funding, though. What... exactly are you planning on funding, though? My own bar, hm?" He chuckled and took a swig.
Aw. Sabirun spoke highly of her. Nano smiled inwardly and laughed about funding a bar. "Hey, it's not out of the question. If you had a steady job, how much work could you do outside of said job?" She paused for a second in thought, and the lightbulb going off showed on her face. "What if you worked for me?"
"Depends on the job. I do have my degree in International Affairs, I'm not just a bartender." Ramy reminded her and then quirked a brow at the suggestion. "What sort of a contract are you thinking about?"
Nano's voice grew quiet, almost lost in the din of the bar. "Help me investigate ongoings around here, provide me with intel, stuff like that. If things get too heated, you can always nope out: i won't hold it against you." "If the pay is good, I'll take the risk. I can't pay for the generator fees anymore so I'm charging my devices at work. I do hope your funding is generous, though. After the last few times of trouble, I've gotten myself a life insurance. It'd help get my brother out of the country should something happen to me, but I'd prefer to live long enough to see him prosper somewhere else." Ramy looked thoughtful and then took a swig. "The old man said that my hunch was correct and that your friend wasn't involved with the whole Hamra deal. What's your interest in all this?"
"Since Isabel isn't involved with Hamra, i'm doing it to help out Asun since she was in my place during a mission, so i owe her." Nano finally picked up her beer and took three big sips, sighing afterward. "I want a location of a) those dark chatrooms, and/or b)a site where people disappear and what happens to those people, other than they just disappear." She was still speaking at a frequency that was easily lost in the bar. "I don't really know too much about that tech stuff, but I can ask my friend. Or you can, if you want the exact details. They're very private, though, so you'll have to use a special program called Briar on your phone to chat with them." He rubbed his chin in thought. "There hasn't really been a pattern besides 'after bar in Hamra, after midnight'. I can show you the places, but not sure how much that'll help you."
“Briar. Gotcha." Nano looked up the app and downloaded it. "Yeah, I can do that if you’re willing to share said details with me. We’re hoping to trap someone in the act. Does lightning strike in the same place twice?”
"It has happened before from the same bar, but we haven't figured out a pattern or way to predict it." Ramy responded, letting out a small sigh. "I'll set you up with my contact and maybe we can brainstorm to figure out something we might've missed."
Nano nodded. "Thanks. We could use all the help we can get." She finished her beer, pointing the bottom of the bottle at the ceiling. "Still thirsty or should we go for a walk before it gets late?"
"Let's go for a walk." Ramy smiled faintly and finished his beer. "There are a few places we can check out."
Message "March 19th - Saturday Night Cleaver"
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