The masked man looked up from the folder he was reading, “I am familiar with this one.” He said, “But, I have to ask, are you sure you want to do this? Will you have containment set-up or is your plan just to unleash destruction?”

“I can’t see how that is any of your business, Jack.” The well-dressed man said.

“I am making it my business.” One-eyed Jack replied. “We will be inserting our people into this situation and we don’t risk our people needlessly. So – either you tell me your immediate plans, or you’ll need to find someone else to do your dirty work.”

One-eyed Jack closed the file and pushed it back across the desk to the well-dressed man. “I’ll be leaving now.”

“Wait, OK.” The other man said before Jack could stand. “We have no plan, creating chaos is our plan. You will need to provide a rapid extraction for your people.”

Jack nodded, “We can provide that – but it will cost more.” In his head, Jack was running the cost of this mission in his head: fifteen to twenty Spade agents, led by a the Jack; probably two Diamond specialists for the locks; add to that three transports to get everyone away – and fast.

“How long will it take for the hot-sleep to wear off and for the subject to go active?” Jack asked.

“We think ... think,” the other man stressed, “That you’ll have 120 to 180 seconds to get clear once you turn it off. But, that doesn’t take into account the subject’s unique metabolism and regenerative qualities.”

Jack nodded, there were variables in every job. He wrote down a number on a plain white card and passed it across the table. “Can we agree on this?”

“Yes – we can agree on that number; so long as you can abide by our timeline. We will only have once chance at doing this; once they move him to the Mountain – we’ll lose our shot.”

Jack nodded and extended a gloved hand and shook the other man’s hand. **Three,** He said over the intercom and a Three of spades walked into his office, “Will you show my guest out? Thank you.”

Jack buzzed the boss and walked over to see him. Card Shark and Masque looking over some files when he entered. “Errol, please sit down. We’re thinking of adding some members to the Spades division when we send Masque to Denver to run our operations there.

Errol Belmont didn’t much care for his friend (and bosses) girlfriend. She was cruel and she had ties to other organizations and possible allegiances as well. And, Emil – Card Shark – seemed to be blind to anything problematic about her.

“Well, we have her first real mission.” He held up the file, “We have been hired to break someone out of a prison train as it passes north of Denver.”

“Oh!” Masque said, “That will be a wonderful field test for my new troops.”

“But, you’ll take some our regulars as well.” Emil Lagerfeld added as he thumbed through the folder. “This only looks like a milk run – if something goes sideways you’ll need people there who have this kind of experience. Make sure you have Anvil and Axe there for this, they can do what needs to be done.”

She nodded, “I’ll have Anvil available; but Axe will have just gotten back from ... handling the deSoto problem. He’ll need to spend a couple of weeks lying low. I’m sending him to Reno for the month; he has a thing for older cocktail waitresses.”

Both men smiled and nodded.