A wise strategist once said that the battle plan was always the first casualty of any engagement. An oversimplification, to be sure, but the logic was sound and the idea behind it was not without well deserved merit. This was one of those times. Han's initial plan would not survive this particular clash, but that in itself did not immediately mean failure. Yet another wise man once reasoned that there were occasional moments in time when one had to make a split-second decision, or else that moment - and the opportunity it provided - would be lost forever. That wise man also happened to be Han's great-grandfather, and like most everything else he learned from him, Han took that lesson to heart. This, he felt, was one such moment described by his great-grandfather's advice. A split-second decision was made, one that would decide the success or failure of this skirmish.

While Han had returned the dossier to the representative at the meeting, what that man hadn't realized was that 3 of the pages from that dossier had been slipped out of the folder. Those pages were now in Han's possession, and in the fraction of a second that it took Han to realize that his footing slipped, he acted as quickly on the draw as he possibly could. A hand slipped into his Gi, grabbed the three pages and let them fly from his possession as his body flew back. He went out into the water, was even submerged for a moment.

[i]Now to end this, hopefully my ploy has done its job.[/i]

The ploy, in retrospect at least, was a rather simple one. Those 3 pages contained accounts of alleged transactions involving Niko, and the sale of military information to foreign entities. The way Han saw it, one of two things was likely to happen. If those accounts were indeed genuine, then most likely Niko would grab the pages and run or he would wait for Han to return to shore and attempt to get more information from him, possibly even try to silence him. Or the other possibility, should Han's suspicions prove true, was that Niko's curiosity would be piqued and he would similarly stay around to question Han for further information. No matter which outcome happened, Han would have been able to learn all he needed to decide on his next course of action for the contract.

Han had swam a short distance before surfacing. He walked upright on the shore, no longer maintaining any battle stance. If Niko had stuck around, this at least would be enough to signal an end to their brief fight. A smile would be Han's face, as he continued to maintain the warm and friendly vibe he had begun this encounter with, "I suppose I owe you some answers now, don't I?" he would ask, provided that Niko had not run away and was still present.