07-14-2013, 04:31 PM
Samantha's nights become increasingly busy. Her apartment quickly reflects these changes. The living room furniture is removed, placed in her storage compartment on a basement level of the high rise she now resides in. A desk dominates the center of the room, facing the now blank wall, on which she prints out a floor to ceiling, wall to wall map of Denver, block by city block, a matter of ten minutes with the help of Google Maps. It gives her pleasure to stick each sheet carefully up on the wall, shorn of white borders. Gives her a completely illusory sense of control.
That done, she spends an hour simply investigating it. Anatomizing the city, tracing its arteries, its key points of entry and exit. Pulls up the crime map from Denver.org, and plots the right crimes on the map. Arson, murder, anything that speaks of the Sabbat, going back to three months before the official siege began. She identifies targets. Circles possibilities, takes notes, spends even more time simply learning street names and city landmarks.
She could do all this on the computer. But computers can be hacked, and this, this hearkens back to her years as a mortal, a process she has grown used to.
In tandem, she receives reports from Benedict, his analysis of the local sectors in Denver: political and financial. Corporations that have begun to act erratically since the Sabbat began their siege. She runs her own reports, does her own analysis on the real estate market, identifies the key players in town, then their owners. One group catches her attention, as she knew they would: RedPeak Properties. Owners of her own building, by chance. She examines their assets, their portfolio, pulls up information on the two men that own it, and their staff. Analyzes their past performance, and then begins to formulate strategies to insinuate herself into their group.
Of course there's more. Transportation. Logistics. Real estate infrastructure. It's a straight week of bringing herself up to speed, calling in favors from New York to gain access to privileged reports, simply grinding through endless tracts of data and recent history. She leaves her apartment only to hunt or for scheduled appointments - nothing else.
That done, she spends an hour simply investigating it. Anatomizing the city, tracing its arteries, its key points of entry and exit. Pulls up the crime map from Denver.org, and plots the right crimes on the map. Arson, murder, anything that speaks of the Sabbat, going back to three months before the official siege began. She identifies targets. Circles possibilities, takes notes, spends even more time simply learning street names and city landmarks.
She could do all this on the computer. But computers can be hacked, and this, this hearkens back to her years as a mortal, a process she has grown used to.
In tandem, she receives reports from Benedict, his analysis of the local sectors in Denver: political and financial. Corporations that have begun to act erratically since the Sabbat began their siege. She runs her own reports, does her own analysis on the real estate market, identifies the key players in town, then their owners. One group catches her attention, as she knew they would: RedPeak Properties. Owners of her own building, by chance. She examines their assets, their portfolio, pulls up information on the two men that own it, and their staff. Analyzes their past performance, and then begins to formulate strategies to insinuate herself into their group.
Of course there's more. Transportation. Logistics. Real estate infrastructure. It's a straight week of bringing herself up to speed, calling in favors from New York to gain access to privileged reports, simply grinding through endless tracts of data and recent history. She leaves her apartment only to hunt or for scheduled appointments - nothing else.