Epilogue …..

Beware that you do not lose the substance by grasping at the shadow. ~ Street Proverb

The office was bright and sunny, but so filled with an aura of menace that it felt dim and cold. Fagetti waited nervously to talk to the only man he had ever met that scared him. The secretary disdainfully ignored him, her fingers pounding out a staccato beat on the keyboard of her deck as she typed.

Two hours prior she had haughtily informed him that Mr. D'Agostino was in a meeting, and that he was to wait until summoned. He spent the time going over his report in his mind, and hopefully the don would agree that he had had no choice in his actions to blow the warehouse and make his escape. When Carletti went down, he and Joey had been the only two left on their team. He set the bomb, and then a drone cut Joey down before his eyes. He activated his emergency spell lock at that point, and the invisibility spell had taken effect just in time for him to avoid detection by the enemy rigger. It had been a very close call, but he had gotten out to bring his report to his patron.

Another two hours passed, and his nervousness subsided. If Mr. D'Agostino intended the long wait to throw him off his guard, he had miscalculated. As a sniper he was used to patiently waiting for the perfect shot, and the longer he sat there, the more focused and calm he became. At last the secretary jacked out and motioned him toward the office. He stood and walked through the door. He stopped five paces into the room and waited.

"Mr. Fagetti. I am most displeased by this turn of events. I send your team out with a simple task to retrieve a small boy, and not only do you not return with the child, but without your team as well. Do you have an explanation for this failure?"

"Yes, sir. It seems the judge hired the Seventh to rescue the boy."

"I see. I trust you have plans to rectify the situation." It was clear from his tone that this was not a question.

"Yes, sir." Fagetti shifted nervously.

"Good. See to it Mr. Fagetti." D'Agostino waved his hand, dismissing the hit man.

Fagetti turned and left the room, wondering what the hell he had just gotten himself into.

M7M7M7

As the Seventh relaxed, content with just enjoying one another's company after another risky run that could have ended with a broken team, Fagetti observed from a safe distance. The orders were clear: them or him, and he had every intention of making sure it was them...

~ finis…. For now.

This story is dedicated to Alex and Mary who have been with me every keystroke. They have encouraged, cajoled and coaxed me along every step of the way.

First I would like to thank my beta readers, Alex, Mary, Zoe, Patricia, Jess, Lily, Jennifer, Kim and Christy, for their unfailing encouragement and help. Ladies, without you, this story would never see the light of day.

This story is copyright of the author. Shadowrun is a Registered Trademark of FASA Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used without permission. Any use of FASA Corporation's copyrighted material or trademarks in this file should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks.

The Magnificent Seven are owned by the alphabet people. I am not sure which ones. But whoever they are, they can't be trusted with them, so I snuck them out the back door to my playground where we are having a delightful time. So there! :P