It's almost time, friends. By Thursday or Friday, Agent White will be here. Ezra Beckitt is on the case...

A few colorful curses and several minutes later, Ezra managed to load the vidchip into Jim’s player, a device about the size of the DVD’s people used to watch their movies on. When he was sure that it was going to play he went back to his chair, turning around just in time to face his old friend just as he must have looked in the days before death took him.
“Ezra, boy,” the Liam on the screen said, grinning with only the left side of his lined face. “If you’re watchin this, it means I’m dead- an it’s about time, you ask me. I’ve been almost dead for more years than I care to think about.” Liam paused, reached off-screen for something, and then lit a Chesterfield with a match from the tin Ezra now held in his hand.
“I been keepin an eye on you, Ezra,” Liam said. “You done good. A good Guard and a pool hustler have a lot in common, you know. You learned how to read the table, to see what could happen next if you go one way instead of the other. You learned to guess how your opponent would make his play. Only problem is, you don’t know who you’re playin against on this table, Ezra.
“I’m not the only one who’s been watchin.”
Ezra looked over at Jim, who said nothing and only nibbled at the ragged nail of his thumb.
“I never knew much about the whole thing anyway,” Liam said from the screen, propped up on his bed the way he’d been propped up in his coffin the last time Ezra saw him in the flesh. “I’m just a talent scout of sorts, you might say. I listen to the wind an tell the bigs which way it’s blowin. I’ve got an eye that sees a little sharper.
“But now my time is done.”
Liam grinned again, the right side of his mouth twitching slightly. “Almost everyone’s time is done, boy, an that’s why I’ve left you this message. I hope ya make it to the funeral so Vondell don’t have to drive his ancient ass all the way to the Green City- he’s always hated to travel, kind of makes his name a joke, you ask me.”
Ezra leaned forward in his seat, lighting a cigarette without even thinking about it. Jim sat transfixed by the old hustler on the screen, and didn’t think to say anything about it- probably didn’t even notice just then.
“It’s time for you to do what you were made to do, boy,” Liam said. “Time for you to bend all of your will to yourself and unleash your full talent. The dice have been thrown, the war is coming. You have to find him, Ezra. Find Owen, and set the White against the Black while there’s still time left.”
Stillfield Liam smiled. The screen went black.