"No," he said absentmindedly, eying the wax sealed envelope, "this was worth the wait." Hell, if she wanted to go shopping for clothes that would fit the scene and was confident this forgery would work as faked credit, there wasn't any reason not to. For the immediate future however, it meant they could, gasp! Imbibe a little at the bar and therefore make of themselves less obvious eavesdroppers.

In a more optimistic mood, they left the hotel and took a nice, relaxed walk during what just so happened to be the lunch break rush hour. They both could guess that most of the complex's soldiers would prefer to eat at the complex's mess on a budget, but the mid-level mooks that actually had a bit of cash to throw around at the end of the workday would inevitably drift towards places like, for instance, the Nationalist's Ardor.

As they braced the short but non-dismissible line to get into the building, they saw a party of three or so MPOs and a couple of Garrison reserves bypass the doorman. A wordless exchange of paper bills occurred and the doorman beckoned the five men inside. Nobody, least of all Theo, batted an eye. That was just how it worked for the upper management Military Police, and Theo had even done it himself a couple of times on days when waiting through a large line for a drink would have brought him substantially too close to committing homicide out of sheer frustration with everything and everyone. Those men almost certainly hadn't been the first to do so today, but the fact that there had been no hassle at all was worthy of distinguishing. It marked them out to Theo as the prime targets for tonight's operation.

It was about another five minutes of the line before they made it into the smoky sweltering eatery. Theo left it for Anne to handle the seating arrangements, trusting he didn't actually have to tell her to get them close to the marks. He hoped she'd be able to persuade and talk up her way there, being the city slicker Mitras native. Antony Prescott had never been to any upscale Sinese pubs before, but maybe Lisa had or at least knew the operating procedure for such an establishment.

A fat mustachioed man in an apron greeted them both at the door. "Good evening! Find you a table?"