In the next few days, Angelina gives manicures to Gwen and to Tina. Gwen's manicure is definitely the more surreal of the two (and her nails don't need much work either). Gavin has a repeating dream of riding on horseback towards an enemy knight, swinging his broadsword at the knight... who ducks, letting Gavin behead the innocent woman who was standing behind him. And we thought the Taco Bell dream was bad...
Late Wednesday night, Esteban meets a fellow Angelino, Marie, at a Portland bar, and they hit it off well enough that she offers him a hit of her new drug, which is like LSD, but cooler than LSD. It comes on blotter paper, something like a bunch of stamps all together. The paper is yellow, and on it in black is a familiar squiggly sign. Esteban manages not to flip out and comes home with a single stamp as a sample on Thursday morning. He also finds out that she got the drug from her ex-boyfriend, who bought it at a club called "Oneiros".
Early Thursday morning Esteban rouses everyone and they agree that they should go to LA (after seeing if maybe someone in LA will deal with it and getting the answer that usually in the inquisition you deal with things yourself). With Dan's help, they arrange for tickets down, a package when they get there with some equipment, a minivan and hotel. Esteban optimistically schedules the return flight ungodly early on Saturday to get back for Tina's field hockey game. Gavin packs his sword can and a golf club in a little two-club golf bag.
Heading down to LA and to the hotel they manage to fill Angelina in on Montiago, and somehow this leads to filling her in on Gwen as well. (Angelina on Montiago: "He's a manifestation of an architect?") There is much discussion that the humble narrator mostly missed. They also get the package, containing hush puppies, pepper spray, handcuffs, and the famous TNI "cabbage roll" - $3000 in twenties.
Esteban goes to check out Oneiros. He discovers that it's a fancy dress sort of club, and very exclusive - if you're not on the list, you don't get in. Unless you're a movie star. He decides that rather than wait for stores to be open tomorrow to buy clothes, he'll get some now, and uses his mojo to get a man to loan him his suit and to borrow two dresses from a closed store. The others also arrive to check out the scene and determine how to case the club.
Around ten thirty at night, Esteban and Angelina make their entrance in a limo. Van exerts his mojo once more and looks the look... the movie star look. "Weren't you in Dawson's Creek?" He and Angelina head into the club. The others position themselves to watch the club and the line milling around outside.
Inside the club it is loud and dark and thumping. Lots of people, women especially, come up to Esteban and ask him if he was in this or that or try to get his autograph. Angelina seizes the opportunity to scout the women's restroom where she spots one woman returning a yellow sheet to her handbag. She sics Van on the woman and he is able - clumsily - to get the sheet from her, but she is too far gone in the drug to actually be useful for information. She dances like a marionette.
Angelina manages to scope the club and find a man making deals. A little bit of repartee about cable channels and expanding horizons later and Angelina buys a sheet from him for $200. She flirts with the dealer, whose name is Raul, for a bit longer and gets him to put her on the club list under a false name so she can get in later.
Angelina and Van go back to the hotel, change, and return to help watch the place. At about 2:30 AM Raul comes out, gets in a very new Jaguar convertible, and drives home (the top apartment in a nice building). They leave the Strausses there to watch and head back for some sleep. The next day Gavin relieves the Strausses and then Van relieves Gavin before Raul stirs and heads out. Van follows him in the car.
The others seize the opportunity to break into the apartment and find that it is mostly new stuff - everything is expensive and just out of the box. They find six sheets of the drug, but no more, and decide that Raul is likely to meet with his supplier before evening.
Van watches Raul eat a burrito before he goes to a rundown part of town and enters a boarded up two story building, leaving 15 minutes later with a paper bag. Van follows no further, and waits for the others to catch up, which they do. A little scouting with the clockwork bird reveals the building to be mostly empty except for a man in an upstairs room - unfortunately it's too dark to find out who.
Gavin, Thielo, and Angelina break in the back door, which sends a bottle balanced on the door knob crashing to the floor. Thielo responds by running superhumanly fast up the stairs, catching Montiago just as he opens the door to the hallway. Thielo leaps through and tries to tazer Montiago into submission, succeeding after a few tries. Gavin and Angelina arrive in time to get in a lick or two, but it's all over. They cuff Montiago to both doors of the SUV, handcuff him, gag him, and blindfold him. Then they check in to a scuzzy motel and send for Orchid Liu to try to find out what's up with Montiago. She'll arrive late Friday afternoon.