Matters of Business ((34))

[Meadowlark]

"My mistake," came his murmured reply as they finally reached Hendric.

[victoriousscarf]

She nodded in greeting to Hendric. "Good morning. The boss wants double if possible for today's cargo. This is Mungojerrie Wheeler, and he's already agreed to help for today." She turned back to the cat in question, inclining her head slightly. "Have a good day then, good luck on the work."

[Meadowlark]

Jerrie touched his brow again to her. "Good day." He turned to the third cat, getting a brief set of instructions as to what he would be doing before Hendric when to find a few more workers.

[victoriousscarf]

She watched him for a moment, a heartsbeat or two and nodded, inclining her head to him as well before turning to finish what else she needed to do that day.

((Exit Clara))

[amanika]

Genghis left them to it, satisfied that Clara had done what she'd asked him to, and turned back to watching the Chula as she made her way steadily into port. It was going to be quite literally all hands on deck to get the cargo - a large shipment of alcohol, as well as a smaller number of other prohibited goods, as well as some legal 'decoy' goods - unloaded as soon as possible.

[Meadowlark]

Jerrie's gaze followed the ship into dock, glancing over the other cats who had gathered. He recognized one or two of them from his other work in the area, knowing them enough to nod in passing but not much more.

[amanika]

As the ship docked, Genghis made his way over to the group of workers, nodding to a few he recognised himself, and of course, those he employed full time, though he let Hendric issue the orders for the unloading of the cargo, pitching in himself as soon as the work began.

[Meadowlark]

Jerrie set to work with unloading the crates, impressed that the boss was willing to work alongside--didn't see that often, even down here.

[amanika]

Genghis disliked being idle, that was part of it. Not to mention it was far easier to see how things were going if you were actually in the midst of them. Besides, right now he just wanted this cargo unloaded quickly and with no fuss.

Unfortunately this wasn't his day. He stopped dead in his tracks as a barrel was rolled from the hold ready to be shifted. He signalled quickly to Hendric to stop all unloading of further cargo, and to give the workers a break until he'd got to the bottom of this, striding up the gangplank and finding the ship's quartermaster.

His voice was a low, dangerous hiss, "What in Bast's name are these doing here like this?" He didn't give the other cat time to respond, "barrels clearly stamped as carribean rum and clearly alcohol barrels at that. I thought I'd made it clear that all cargo is to be unmarked or rebranded if neccessary. How many of these are there in the hold?"

The tomcat took a step backwards, "Not my fault boss, I swear, I gave the same instructions as always, normally the barrels are rebranded before loading. I had no reason t'think they wern't this time."

Genghis' curled his lip at the cat, "Just answer the question," he snapped, voice cold, "then you can find me the cat responsible, before I hold you so."

"Twenty, sir."

[Meadowlark]

Jerrie arched a brow as the Siamese went to deal with whatever was going wrong. He stepped back, taking the momentary break that Hendric instructed them to take.

[amanika]

Genghis let out a growl. There was no way they had time to get that many barrels disguised before unloading, it just wasn't feasible. He sighed heavily, "Take two of the barrels, empty them overboard and refill them with seawater, make sure you know which ones they are and make sure they're unloaded by my own cats and sent to the warehouse last, any questions, they're old barrells, filled with seawater and used for ballast, nothing more. He watched as the quartermaster nodded mutely before hurrying off to follow the orders before signalling Handric over to explain the situation.

It was a waste of two barrels of rum, but given the rest would have to be transported in the open, it was a loss he was prepared to take. Though someone would be held accountable for it if it were the last thing he did. He couldn't afford this kind of stupidity.

Thank goodness Hendric had his head screwed on right, and soon the unloading of the barrells began again. However, a scowl crossed Genghis's face as he noticed a number of their hired hands shake their heads at the barrels with wary expressions, some sloping away, rather than risk getting caught being paid for knowingly unloding prohibited goods.

[Meadowlark]

Jerrie briefly considered heading off at the realization of exactly what was being unloaded, but considering what he had in his basement he knew he'd feel hypocritical for doing so. He shrugged a bit, he was being paid for unloading this ship and so he'd unload the ship. The tabby cat went back to work, carefully getting the barrels off the ship.

[amanika]

Genghis was back at work himself as well, clearly they needed all the tompower they could get and he wasn't far from Mungojerrie when he spotted the other cat's reaction. He nodded to the other cat, his expression one of approval. Though he also kept his guard, he'd better be careful with this tom, after all, he recalled what name Clara had introduced him using. He made a mental note to talk to her about that.

[Meadowlark]

Jerrie offered him a bit of a nod in response. He hadn't recognized the name right off, and had he he probably wouldn't have batted an eye, taking his friend's brother into account. It wasn't like most cats in this town didn't have their paws in some pie or other.

[amanika]

Genghis looked to tom over again, mildly curious to know more about him. He was always on the look out for cats who were potentially useful.