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As she approached the table, the three men seated rose. She smiled at their courtesy, and took a seat offered by a small man at the end of the table.

"Thank you. Nice to see some gentlemen still respect a lady."

"Oh, certainly," said the man. "We in Hammerfell do respect traditions. At least... most of us do."

"So, what's the game? If I'm going to lose my money, I might as well know the rules."

"Hammerfell poker," he smiled as she took some coins from a small purse. All were gold.

"It's the easiest game there is. Bet and you get one card. Another round of betting and you get a second card. Final round of betting and anyone left turns their cards up. Highest pair wins, highest card if no pair. If players both have the same high card, second card counts."

"Got it," Ra'Jirra said and put down her bet. All three men called.

"So, what are you doing in town?" the man asked while checking his card.

"Leisure. I travel a lot for work, so sometimes it's nice to have a vacation."

"Ra'Jirra on vacation. That's a good one," he said quietly.

She looked down to see a knave. Not a bad card. She bet again. The man beside her called while the other two folded.

"Excuse me, do I know you?" she asked, not wanting to appear disturbed.

"I doubt it. The name is Trudal. Inspector Trudal. I happen to be the chief of security here in Rihad. But I know you."

Ra'Jirra's ears twitched at the name and title. Coincidence? Not likely. She looked down at a 9.

"Check," she declared.

The man looked at her. She looked back. He placed two coins on the table.

"Fold," she declared, throwing her cards back. "Oh?"

"Yes indeed," he said as he stacked his winnings in front of him. "I saw your name in a certain publication, regarding a certain Imperial incident a few weeks ago.

"You do your homework," she said, putting out another bet.

"So, how are you enjoying your stay? Meet any interesting people?"

"Actually, I have. I met a couple gentlemen just last night in fact."

She saw him smile while checking his cards.

"Oh? Did you show them a good time."

"They wanted to have a good time, but unfortunately one of them fell ill. Stomach ache."

She bet two gold coins on her 3.

The Inspector folded, but turned to her. "You shouldn't have done that, Ra'Jirra. They weren't there for serious games."

The man on the end called her and another round of cards was dealt. She got a 5.

"No. I didn't think so. But I didn't make it serious."

"Come on, Ra'Jirra. We have our own 'tourists' too. You don't think we know of your little toy? In a month we'll have our own Puss."

She raised 3 more gold coins and the man at the end folded. She turned up the bluff and took her winnings.

She pocketed the coins and rose from the table. "Inspector, can I have a word with you?"

He nodded and rose from the table, leaving his stack of coins. They retired to a quiet table away from any prying ears.

"I had nothing to do with it, Inspector," she said. "The Mane's truth. Ask your man where I was when it happened. He'll tell you I was on the ground. Then check the blood. He was shot from behind. Jeeze, even a rank amateur could see that."

The Inspector contemplated that for a moment. "I will. What are you really here for, cat?"

"That, you know, is none of your business."

"Oh, it's exactly my business. If your story checks out, I'll call off the dogs. But you should know that it's a tense time for us. Your actions can have consequences here."

"That is between you and the Imperials. I work for Elsweyr...."

"Who are in bed with the Imperials," the Inspector interrupted.

"Today yes. Tomorrow, who knows? I may be in your bed tomorrow. Just do your homework and don't make assumptions. Your man was sloppy or he'd have known I didn't pull the trigger. Look, I'm not dumb. I'm not here to cause any international incident. Don't let your Detective Royan cause one because of his stupidity."

This time it was the Inspector that was surprised that she knew his man's name. Ra'Jirra took the opportunity to nudge him a little farther while he was off-balance.

"There was an explosion today. A friend of mine's place was bombed. Could have gotten us both killed."

"I don't know anything about that," he said defensively.

"Maybe you should. I expect you should ask your 'detective' about it."

The Inspector nodded.

"Please, sir. I have the greatest respect for your work. If you can keep this city under control, you are a man of extraordinary ability. I'll leave your city as soon as I possibly can. Just a few more days. I won't cause any problems, unless you want them. If you do, there'll be plenty."

"See that you don't. Tensions are high enough already. But if you didn't do it, who did?"

"I don't know. Honest I don't. But I hope to find out. Shall we rejoin the table then?"

"I think not. I've got some things I need to check out. Goodnight to you, Ra'Jirra."

"Good night Inspector. And... when the political climate changes..."

"As it always does. Yes?"

"Look me up. We might have some mutually beneficial opportunities."

"I'll do that, Lady Ra'Jirra," he said and bowed to her. She did likewise in the Hammerfell manner. Then she left the casino and went back to her room. The paper was still in place.

"Whew," she thought to herself as she deposited her coin purse back in the briefcase. "I think I've done my bit for International Relations tonight! I deserve a raise."

A knock came at the door and she looked out the window. Dusk. Right on time.

She peered out the small hole in the door and verified it was Sarosh, then opened the door. He seemed excited.

"Are you alright Sarosh?"

"Fine. Look at this..."

She gestured to the bed and he sat beside her as she scanned some drawn pictures. The hand that drew them was quite precise. An engineer.

"Raj, she sent me this. It's a layout of the security center headquarters. The device is there."

"How's the security around the building?"

"It's decent, Ra'Jirra, but she has a plan. But it has to be tonight. She's working late, but she's in the office with the device. She will leave a window unlocked. If you can get to the window, you should be able to slip in, grab the device, and go back out the same way. The security is tightest around the front and back entries. The window is on the side of the building. How are you at climbing?"

She smiled and he didn't need to repeat the question.

"Good. The building is made of stone though, not wood."

"No problem. Anything short of glass I can climb. How far?"

It's on the third story. Not too bad.

"Okay. What about you? Where are you staying?"

This time it was Sarosh that smiled. "Our favorite hotel of course!"

"That hellhole? Why there?"

"I have fond memories. Second time I'd ever seen a naked khajiit."

"Hey, it was hot! I thought you slept through it."

"A man's gotta pee sometime."

"Well alright. Listen, I found the name of the guy who bombed your place. A Detective Royan. But Sarosh, I think he has been dealt with. I had a little talk with an Inspector Trudal."

"Trudal! How did you meet him?"

"He was at the casino tonight."

"Here? Holy shit. What happened?"

"I pointed out that we couldn't have killed his thug. And I don't think he knew about your bomb. I expect Mr. Royan is going to have an interesting meeting with the Inspector."

"I hope so. But I can't stay here. If the Inspector was here, he's bound to have some goons around the place. You know how to find me if you need me tonight, right?"

"Our little love nest. How could I forget it?"

"Okay. I'm heading back. Good luck tonight."

"You too. Be careful."

"I will."

She shut the door behind him and sat back on the bed, committing the floor-plan to memory. Then she burned and bagged it, and put the bag in the briefcase. Then she got out her catsuit and a bag of ash.

*****************************************

Contrary to popular opinion, khajiits weren't actually invisible when trying to be stealthy. But they'd perfected certain techniques that helped considerably. One was the catsuit. It was not black, and was not shiny - both were terribly bad choices when trying to not be seen. Instead, it was a dull grey and extremely stretchy. She'd had cutouts put in as a way to stay cooler though. Over it she wore a loose fitting blouse and shorts, and the cheapest shoes she had. She expected to leave them behind.

She had the taxi pull up a few blocks from the building, then walked around the block casually, eying the place. The fence surrounding it was tall but easily scale-able. However it blocked her view of the yard beyond. She saw guards at both the front and back entrances, but they seemed no more vigilant than most. She turned at the back corner of the block and slid into a darkened doorway. Then she pulled off the outer clothes, removed her shoes and dusted herself thoroughly with ash. It was easily obtained and did an excellent job of dulling her fur. Then she flexed her claws on both hands and feet. A few stretching exercises later and she was ready to go.

She waited for the street to be deserted between her and the fence. That took a while. The place wasn't heavily populated at this time of night, but it seemed every time one person would turn the corner out of sight, another would pop out at the other end of the block. But finally the coast was clear and she raced on all fours across the street, leaped over the low shrubs lining the wall and scrambled up the side of the wooden fence. She dropped over the top immediately and sat on her haunches watching for any signs of alarm.

Nothing came. The guards at the front of the building were still maintaining their posts, and she could see no one at the back. She waited, to be sure. No dogs or similar watch-beasts were seen either. The ground between her and the building was maybe fifty feet, and lighting was dim. Perfect.

When she finally felt that nothing was laying in wait, she again raced on all fours to the wall of the building and stopped. She waited for her breathing to return to normal, though she was controlling it so she made no sound anyway. While waiting, she checked the stone wall. It was vertically true, the stones uneven in shape. There were no regularly spaced breaks, but that was okay. They were rough enough to get finger and toeholds.

She checked both sides again. No guards in sight, and she began to climb, slowly. While of course it would be best to get up the wall as rapidly as possible, sudden movements always attracted more attention than slow, deliberate ones. In ten minutes she was past the second floor.

She heard a sound below her. A guard was walking the perimeter. He would pass directly below her. She carefully shifted her hold to a somewhat more stable grip that she could maintain and squeezed herself into the wall as best she could, not daring to look. Eye reflections were a dead giveaway.

The guard passed, ever so slowly. She watched him as he walked calmly, looking every direction including up at the wall. He must have looked directly at her at some point and still didn't see her. That was expected. She was good at this.

Still, she didn't move until he was completely out of sight. Then she continued her slow climb until she was just below the window. It had only the slightest of sills, but after her climb it was like stepping onto a huge platform. However she was most vulnerable here. She stood out like a grey ghost against the total darkness of glass. She tugged up on the window and it slid upwards - not noiselessly but quiet enough. She slipped in and lowered the window.

Looking around, the room was just as expected. This was someone's office, and she wondered if maybe the Inspector worked here. She crept to the door and turned the handle slowly. Locked, but from the inside it was a simple turn of a lever to unlock it. The handle was silent as death, but the hinges weren't. At the first sound, she stopped, removed a vial of oil she kept handy for just such a need, and anointed them. Then she slid the door open carefully. The squeaking stopped and she stepped out into a hallway - dark and deserted. She turned to the right, went down three doors, turned back to another hallway and came to a halt at the first door on her right. She tried the handle. It was locked.

She'd anticipated this though. Guards were trained to test the lock on all doors. Even if Romanov had left the door unlocked, a guard would have checked and locked it after her. She drew out her small tools and began to feel for the mechanism within.

It took her a good half hour to finally get it right. During that time a guard had entered, strolling through the hallways to check everything again. She avoided him easily, simply keeping two walls between them all the while. Before he would turn a corner, she would turn the other way. He executed no unexpected switchbacks, just followed the pattern of the hallways until he had completed each one. His jiggling of the door handles kept her always aware of where he was and she made no noise at all.

Finally he left, presumably to go check another floor and she returned to the door, remembered her last test and eventually the slightest of clicks was heard as the lock disengaged. She opened the door cautiously but this one didn't squeak.

The device was precisely where indicated. A smallish box, apparently of Dwemer metal, though what she could see of the gears within appeared to be steel. There was no good way to carry it, though, short of some straps she had brought along for this purpose. The skin-tight catsuit certainly had no pockets.

She had been in the building no more than an hour, and she was on her way out again. Retracing her steps, she opened the window and stood on the sill as she closed it again behind her.

Now was her most vulnerable though. Invisible she may be, but the device - though not large - was metallic and shiny. She climbed down much quicker than she had climbed up. Again she stopped at the base of the wall, but this time the perimeter guard was approaching. She curled into a ball around the device, hiding her claws and tucking her head towards the wall. He stopped for a moment, and she prepared to attack. Then she heard a noise of liquid splashing against the ground. She risked a look, turning around slowly. He was pissing on the wall no more than twelve feet from her! She turned back away from him slowly and after what seemed an eternity, he finished.

"Impressive bladder," she thought as she watched him continue to walk away after he'd passed her. Once he was out of sight, she uncurled and raced across to the fence, but she didn't stop this time. The device was too obvious. Best to get over as soon as possible.

She made it over the fence with no problem and dropped behind the bushes on the other side. A passerby turned to look at what had made the slight noise, but he never stopped his strolling and she remained hiddent from his view. Finally he was out of sight and she was happy to find her clothes still where she'd left them. In a place like this, she would not have been surprised to see them stolen. This pleasant surprise would make the return to the hotel much, much easier!

She pulled the rag she had stuffed into her pants out and rubbed away the ash as much as possible. She put the device in a bag and walked calmly down the street the way she'd come, hailing a taxi as soon as she was able.

Finally she was back in her room. For the first time she breathed a sigh of relief. It had been easier than expected, but hopefully not too easy. She wanted to wash the ash out of her fur, but there was something else she wanted to do more. She sat down with the machine and began to enter in an encrypted code. It was one Queue had given her that they had managed to obtain from an informant. But they didn't know how it was encrypted - only what the original message had looked like, and what the resulting message had been. The encrypted symbols were nonsense, but she had memorized them on her trip here.

She entered the code character-by-character and pulled the lever between each, writing the resulting rune on a paper. The runes were old Hammerfell script, but she had learned to read it well enough. The machine decrypted it perfectly. It was legit.

She smiled broadly, then put the device into her suitcase and turned the combination lock randomly, though making sure to leave the first one as Snake. Then she removed the street clothes, peeled herself out of the catsuit, and spent some time in the bath cleaning all the ash out of the catsuit, the clothes and her fur. The bath was a mess though, so she got a towel and cleaned it after her as well. When she was finished, it was well into the night and she was tired. She crawled under the blanket and fell to sleep instantly, a job well done.