Chris received the call before the message from Pale Horse even hit MercServ. His phone began to vibrate as he walked through the deserted streets of inner London, the cloak around his shoulders making him near invisible from the back even if the sniper rifle in his hands and the open front gave him away otherwise. He answered the call.

“Mr Walton. We’ve obtained information that Pale Horse have discovered the location of one of our secure servers and are planning an attack; I’m sure they’ll send out a recruitment message on the MercServ soon and the CDA is planning to make a counter offer to defend the location instead. Can we count on your services as usual?”

Since this whole fiasco had begun Chris had worked for the CDA several times, worked for them exclusively in fact, which made his situation a little different from most of the mercenaries in the city. His loyalty didn’t depend on who was willing to pay the most at the time and that was something that was well known, even if much else about him wasn’t. He was essentially on retainer for CDA at this point, something that would end if he ever so much as considered working for Pale Horse for any reason, but for the moment it came with certain benefits; they sent information to his goggles while he was in the field, they gave him a discount on ammunition or equipment purchased from them…

“We’re offering to match what Pale Horse is paying, with advanced payment, plus a small loyalty bonus if you agree.”

… and they paid him more. It meant he could never accept an offer from Pale Horse, even if the pay was better, but that wasn’t something Chris cared about anyway.

[color=gray]“Send me the location. Transfer the money to the usual place.”[/color]