Cosmina had managed to ditch Krisz that evening by convincing him that she was going to do recon and that him tagging along would be too dangerous as she needed to not be distracted. And she had done some recon at first just in case he'd followed her. After about three hours though she'd driven off to the nearest decent bar to have a drink. She wanted a good drink. The kind that cost a lot and got you drunk quick. Dealing with the sound byte was quickly wearing on her nerves and they needed a restorative.

The bar she ended up at was a nice enough place: wood paneling, wood floors, wood bar. In fact it was 99% wood of varying types. Mina couldn't help but think the place would burn easily. Call it a hunch from the days when she was starting out and mostly working the protection racket on tough customers. The clothes she was currently wearing were not remotely suited for such a place but that was something Mina had planned for. She'd packed away the same red leather outfit she'd worn to meet Detective Ryan Doyle in a bag and brought that with her into the bar. She did a quick change in the bathroom and the jeans and t-shirt were no more. Mina walked up to the bar like she belonged there and settled onto a stool after flagging down a drink.

Stephen had his first "productive" day since his arrival in New York. He had set up meetings with three fences of quality reputation, discussing the methods and procedures each required when doing business and otherwise establishing a rapport with the local underworld. It was the closest to a social aspect of crime and forgery that involved honesty rather than lies and deceit.

After three light dinner meetings, Stephen was not hungry but did feel he had earned some treat for sitting in the company of two seedy, unsettling men. (The meeting in the middle was with a rather pleasant woman, so it was not entirely awful.) He still had plenty of dirty money left in his wallet, and with no hunger for ice cream, his treat of choice then fell back on liquor.

Wearing a grey suit and black-and-yellow striped tie (which he had not taken out since his Detroit job, he remembered fondly,) he found a classier bar than the last place he had visited. He sat at a stool, opening his suit, just like any other stressed guy getting out of a long day at work, (the word "work" being loosely defined.) He ordered his first glass of Blue Label and glanced around the bar. Two stools to his right sat a pretty brunette in one hell of a little red outfit. His drink arrived and he held the glass in the air, speaking just loudly enough for her to hear him. "To... giving too much time to halfwits who don't deserve it." He turned to look in her direction, grinning.

Just as Mina's drink arrived a voice interrupted her before she got it to her mouth. Her brow arched upward at what it had said and she turned to look at the man who owned the voice. She studied him for a moment and decided that he was reasonably attractive but with horrible taste in alcohol. Still she moved her glass from it's less than halfway to her mouth point into a toasting gesture.

"And to easily fooled numbskulls."

She tossed back a reasonably quantity of her drink and then closed the two stool distance between them. Mina assumed that, like most of the men in the bar whose eyes were glued to her curves, he was attracted to the way she looked and was looking for a way to start a conversation. If nothing else he'd be good for stress relief. Perhaps she'd even be able to convince Krisz when she eventually got back that she'd simply been doing a very thorough recon job.

"Hard day?"

It was an innocent enough query in an innocent enough tone. However coming from her, a woman wearing an outfit that was decidedly not innocent, well it probably didn't look like an innocent query to the rest of the bar.

He drank some of his scotch, but was much more focused on the woman's decision to move closer. Judging by her drink, her clothes and the look of her eyes, she seemed to have plenty of class. He adjusted the glasses he had worn for the day, smirking. "Let's just say it gets pretty tiring when you are forced to work with sleazeballs and morons too often." Maybe he could play his favorite game where he saw how long he could go before telling an outright lie.

Before he could figure out the best destination for this conversation, he had to know a bit more about her. "I'm sure whatever you do, you're luckier in that department than I am. A upscale woman like her either involved herself with high-class society, shifty clientele or a mix of both. It was surprising how much of big business was almost as corrupt as outright crime.

Mina rolled her eyes, deciding to play the harried executive of a less than scrupulous company.

"Yes it does. And then there's the pretending that everything is all sunshine and rainbows to the right people."

It did get tiresome to have to wear so many different personas at times. But it was essential for the job. Sometimes the only way to get close to a target was to become someone important in their lives. That meant learning everything you could about them and crafting the perfect personality and life to suit what they were looking for. She smirked at his follow up comment.

"Hardly. Business is full of scum."

It was a simply but effective statement and most importantly it didn't separate her from the scum in question but neither it did say she belonged to the scum in question. It was a nice neutral answer. Mina took a slow sip and savored her drink.

"But you look like you already know that."

Whoever this woman was, she seemed confident in herself quick to judge people around her who were stupid or corrupt. For now, he decided it would be best to seem competent enough and bitter at his imaginary coworkers. He chuckled, swirling around the ice in his glass. "You could definitely say that. This is my first week since being transferred to New York, and the one thing I've learned is that bottom-feeders are the same regardless of the setting."

Stephen was not sure what exactly this woman did, but one thing was for sure: if his scotch was top shelf, whatever she was drinking had never graced the shelves of mere mortals. "Still, if I want to keep visiting spots like this, I have plenty of scum to look in the eye and smile at. C'est la vie." He finished his drink, leaving the glass on the bar. "It'd be easier to deal with if my position afforded me drinks like yours. Must be pretty successful for someone so young, no?" He grinned; he was actually interested in whatever it was she was drinking, but sadly, he only had a few hundred dollars in cash on him at the moment and he was hoping to return to his apartment in a drunken haze if possible. (Of course, her apartment would be a rather pleasant substitute if it came right down to it, but he had to see what the odds were of that first.)

So he was one of those huh? An honest man trying to make it in business? He'd better enjoy that drink since Mina doubted he'd go much further if he was bellyaching about it after a week. Of course the possibility that he was lying through his teeth was considered and left sitting in case it held true. Mina held herself a decent judge of character but she'd met many frauds over the years and a number of them would have been able to put one over on her. She just smiled as she relaxed into her role. She was a high level officer in a large business and her name was Elizabeth Carnes.

"Well honey you'll never make it far if you're whinging about it after a week. In the world of business the bottom feeders reside at the top and the honest joes at the bottom. My advice? Find yourself a comfortable middle ground so that you can make a decent wage but not go to jail when your execs get found out."

He inquired after her success and she just grinned at him tiredly. It was a smile that said 'I know what you're going through because I've been there and done that.'

"Oh yes successful enough at any rate. Of course it doesn't hurt that I'm a woman and not unattractive."

She spoke like a woman that had used her looks to get what she wanted before and it wasn't hard since Mina had done so on numerous occasions. That they fell for it every time just merely a testament o the sheer stupidity of men.

Stephen laughed; he did not want a woman like this to see him as weak. "Now now, I said it's my first week in New York; that's not saying I haven't put in my hours down in Detroit and Pittsburg." Still not lying, per se. "I might not like it, but you can't avoid the game. If I hadn't found my middle ground, I wouldn't be here sipping Johnny Walker in your company. I'd be in some crappy bar with a bottle of Jack. Unemployed."

With an empty glass, he signaled for his next scotch, smirking at the woman's confidence. It took a woman in control to accept and utilize sex appeal as a weapon, and she was giving him no reason not to treat her like someone who knows how to get what she wants. "You can say 'not unattractive,' but I've counted four men glaring at me in the mirror behind the bar just for talkin' to you."

As much as he enjoyed telling the "truth," this seemed like the moment where it felt natural to lose his games. It was time to give a name, but good ol' Nate would not do. Nate was a slacker artist, and Stephen never disrupted a character's continuity. "My name is Andrew Burrows. May I ask the name of the lovely lady I'm drinking with tonight?"

She smirked.

"Too true and if that's your view then I imagine you'll find yourself in a position like mine in no time."

His response to her comment about being not unattractive brought a laugh. That fact that it was entirely true only made it even funnier.

"Well it's their loss since none of them had the courage, alcohol fueled or not, to say word one to me. I don't bite...well not to hard anyway."

She gave a coy wink as a follow up her statement and drained the rest of her glass, motioning for a refill much as her acquaintance had done. Andrew introduced himself so now it was Mina's turn.

"Elizabeth Carnes. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Whether that would turn out true depended highly. So far he had yet to distinguish himself from any other easily controlled man.

"I don't bite... well, not too hard anyway."

Apparently Andrew had earned enough of Elizabeth's curiosity and some playful flirtation. She was certainly a stunner and women of her position were not often geared toward committing to anything besides a business venture. It was worth seeing if he could make something happen, but much of it depended on her; she was too clever to simply manipulate. "I didn't think a woman like you would be content with nibbling." He could see why the other men were keeping their words to themselves; Elizabeth was a dominant woman, and most men were too easily intimidated.

She was an alluring mix of proper and coy, but they both knew there was not a shy fiber in her body. "The pleasure's all mine, darlin'." He thanked the bartender for his refreshed drink, taking his first sip. "So do you actually live in this city or is this just a stop in your jetsetting, world tour lifestyle?"

Mina smirked. He knew how to talk a good game.

"You're right. I'm not. Why bother if I don't get to eat the whole thing?"

Her eyebrow raised at him quizzically for a moment or two. She was fully aware of the implications of her statement and he would have no reason to believe otherwise. His inquiry as to her living situation made Mina take a drink.

"I call this city home, though I have been known to travel in the past for the job. I'm looking for a new place though. I've got something of a stalker problem that I'm looking to correct."

That was truth, though worded so as to not reveal too much.

"So any reason you came to New York? Aside from the job anyway."

She didn't care but it sounded good and would make for some conversation.

Stephen held his glass to his lips, forgetting for a moment he brought it there to drink. She certainly was direct; she knew what she wanted, and it was now up to Andrew to measure up to it. He regained his composure and took a long, much needed sip.

Despite already losing his game, he returned to telling the truth, mostly because it fit. "I could say New York holds more opportunities for growing and establishing myself, and that would be true enough, but really? I wanted something new. Staying still isn't something I'm good at any more. I guess committing isn't my style." It was not a subtle way to test the waters, but neither was "eat the whole thing."

Ahh double speak. Such fun.

"Commitment really isn't my style either. The only thing I'm committed to is my job."

Veiled truth was serving well here and Mina suspected that much of what he was saying was the same. It suited their purposes just fine. They really didn't want to get to know each other so lies were expected. After a comment like the one he'd just made she knew that if she was the type to expect a man to call her later she'd be sorely disappointed with him. It was a very good thing then that she didn't expect to talk to or see a man again after she was done with him. She shrugged.

"Even then I don't really care who I work for. I just like to make money."

It was callous and sounded greedy. It was also, for all intents and purposes and without sob story reasons, the truth. That word was getting quite a work out tonight with all the stretching it was doing to fit their needs.

In so few words, Stephen and Elizabeth had efficiently reached the same page: the page where they get what they want from one another and go their separate ways come sun-up. There certainly was an allure to a strong-willed woman; not the cute sweetness of girls like Kealey and Allison, but the untempered sex appeal of a mysterious woman of intrigue and power. Oh, and red leather. That played a role as well.

"Well, I have always enjoyed a woman who knows what she wants and does what it takes to get it. It leaves me expecting that they are ready to take control with her other interests..." He finished his drink, pushing the glass and a roll of money from his wallet away. He did not count the money; he grabbed a thick enough stack of bills that he knew he covered his tab, quite possibly overpaying. The accidental generosity was less important than keeping eye contact with Elizabeth. "I get so disappointed when that ain't the case. You don't seem to be in the business of disappointing people though, are you?"

Mina watched Andrew as he laid out a fair amount for his drink and basically challenged her to see if she was just a tease or was willing to go through with what her words had set them up for. Mina made a show of looking him up and down and then smirked.

"Oh Andrew the only people I've ever disappointed are the ones that expected me to quit."

And the many others who'd tried to beg her for their lives or for her not to hurt them. Her mother had probably been disappointed too when she'd seen her daughter coming at her ready to kill her. When she eventually retired from the business maybe she'd make a point of finding and apologizing to all the people she'd killed. That however would be a long time in the future and right now she had an evening to plan.

"So I suppose the question now is can you keep up with your mouth? Or are you all just talk?"

As she said this she reached over to the roll of bills and thumbed through it quickly. He had indeed overpaid and Mina peeled a few bills off so that the drink was still paid for and the bartender tipped but not quite so generously. She tucked the appropriated bills into Andrew's pocket with a smirk and then proceeded to pay for her own drinks.