‘Greetings.’ Ben threw his arms wide in a welcoming gesture that was all ease and friendliness; this was equally matched by his semi-recumbent posture as he leaned against the wall.
The apparent leader of the group, a thick-set man who made up in muscles what he lacked in height, gave him a perfunctory nod in return. ‘And to you. Mind telling us what your business is here?’ he enquired very politely considering where they were; Abantos wasn’t known for its finishing schools and etiquette.
‘Not at all, my good friend; we wish to see Kristoff,’ Ben told him jovially.
‘Really,’ came the dry reply.
‘Yup.’ Ben grinned.
‘So, you wouldn’t be planning on blowing up any of our taverns, while you’re here then?’
‘That? Well that was just a little misunderstanding.’ Ben shrugged off the incident as a minor skirmish, knowing full well that everyone else would be dwelling on the fact that a relatively minor miscalculation on their part could have caused serious damage to the structural integrity and maybe even sunk part of the city. There was a reason only the crazies were said to use grenades.
‘Then I should hate to see you have an argument.’
‘Really, my friend, you’re worrying over nothing. We have no desire for arguments or territory or making a name for ourselves. It’s just my little lady here would like to see her sister.’ Ben moved to throw an arm around Sophie.
Sophie drew up a perfect smile, while subtly jabbing her captain in the ribs with her elbow. She really didn’t want to be drawn into his little games; for one thing, she could never work out just what was going to come out of his mouth next, which made it kind of tricky backing him up.
‘Her sister?’ the man repeated sceptically.
‘Family’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it? But alas, you know how it goes – there’s a squabble, you part on an argument and, before you know it, the years have drifted by,’ Ben said, shaking his head sadly. ‘Such a shame to lose your family.’
‘Indeed. But just who is this sister and, more to the point, what does that have to do with Kristoff?’ he asked, with remarkable patience.
‘Melanie Graves,’ Sophie announced before continuing. ‘But don’t just take my word for it, get your boys to send her the live feed,’ she told them, jerking her head at the cameras in the walls when they barely reacted to her pronouncement.
‘After all, she does work with Kristoff, doesn’t she?’ Ben asked lightly after a moment’s pause, pulling Kristoff’s men out of the stunned disbelief they had entered ever since Sophie mentioned her sister’s name.
‘You expect me to believe you’re Graves’ sister?’ he demanded incredulously.
‘No, I don’t really expect you to believe anything,’ Sophie told him as she stepped forward, with strength ringing in every word. ‘What I expect you to do is shoot on sight and then live in constant fear, waiting for Melanie Graves’ retribution when she realises you’ve murdered her sister because she will have it.’
‘Now, now, Soph. No need to get all bloodthirsty on the poor fellow.’ Ben mock chided her, but, in reality, he couldn’t have been more proud. Such a speech from his little pilot he’d never expected.
It took all of Sophie’s nerve to remain firm, look Kristoff’s man in the eye and not betray her doubts. Watching the captain pull off his inane stunts for years had certainly paid off in teaching her a trick or two about hoodwinking your opponent.
‘Powerful words, Miss… Graves.’ His pregnant pause before her surname left no one in doubt as to his disbelief in her claims. ‘It makes a man wonder whose company such a woman would keep.’ He turned his attention back to Ben, perhaps for the first time realising all might not be as straightforward as it had seemed when he was given this assignment: “intruders to be neutralised” had never caused so much intrigue before.
‘Me?’ Ben said innocently. ‘Just a humble sailor. Captain Benjamin Daniels at your service, Mr…’ Ben couldn’t deny the enjoyment he got at shocking this henchman for the second time in as many minutes. Although, to be fair to him, he betrayed less of his shock this time than he had over Soph’s little disclosure.
‘Captain.’ He even managed to greet him cordially with another nod. ‘Major Kurt Wilks,’ he added by way of introduction after collecting his wits.
‘Well, now that we’re all acquainted, perhaps we may proceed…’ Ben gestured in the direction from which Major Wilks had arrived on the scene.
Major Wilks stood unmoving for a few more moments, undoubtedly trying to decide on his next course of action. Orders to neutralise intruders neither allowed any scope for bringing them back to headquarters nor seeking an audience with Kristoff. But, on the other hand, if they were who they said they were, the girl hadn’t been joking when she said he wouldn’t live very long after killing them. While Wilks was not very well acquainted with Graves herself, her reputation was well known. He fast came to the decision that the punishment would be less for bringing them back than for accidentally killing Graves’ sister.
‘Of course, Captain, and, had we known what company we would be welcoming, be assured that you would’ve had a much warmer welcoming committee.’ The major decided to play the attentive host and see what it would net him.
‘You jest surely; I couldn’t imagine a warmer welcome,’ Ben replied in the same manner, yet his guard remained up – he would not be so taken in with a ruse he had himself used on many an occasion.
It was fortunate that the following exchange of pleasantries obscured Ash’s less than diplomatic comment that a hail of fire would certainly be warmer, which is no doubt what he was expecting to come next. Duncan, who was now walking beside him, couldn’t help but agree as he watched Wilks’ men take up a guard formation around the party.
***
‘Well, there they go,’ Blue commented, back in the control room on the Coelacanth. He stretched out and cracked his spine before settling back in front of the monitors for the next long slog of surveillance.
‘Step one completed,’ Simon agreed, although somewhat grimly. ‘How much of step two do you think we’ll see?’ he asked; the reality dawning on the fact that they were now heading into the lion’s den and with it came the knowledge that they were going to be next to useless in helping their crew mates.
‘Not much, I shouldn’t think,’ Blue replied as he tapped away on the keypads. ‘It looks like Soph’s set us up with as much as she can, but there are quite a few blind spots.’
‘Hell, Blue, that’s most of the interior!’ Simon exclaimed.
‘Well, I’d imagine that Kristoff isn’t too keen on folks poking around in his headquarters,’ Blue responded dryly.
‘But surely Soph was able to get more than that?’ Simon persisted.
‘Not that I can find,’ Blue confirmed after a few more clicks and taps. ‘Looks like we’re reduced to watching the exits,’ he decided before flicking the comm. line open and speaking directly to the captain. ‘Captain, you’re heading into darkness, we’ll watch the exits, but I’m afraid you’re on your own for the moment.’
He was unable to reply verbally, but the watchers all saw his nod of understanding on the monitors.
‘Keep the comm. line open and we may be able to keep audio,’ Blue added as an afterthought just as the party disappeared from their screens.
Zhe had been silent throughout this and simply stared silently at the monitors, watching the progress of the group through Kristoff’s territory. She was determined to familiarise herself with the layout of the tunnels and passageways to make sure they had an escape route should they need it. And she had a foreboding feeling that they would need one before their stay was out.
Chapter Twenty-one
‘What’s that?’ Nathan nearly growled as he saw Rose approach his desk in the reflection of the floor-to-ceiling window, at which he stood, staring out into the blue. Turnin
g back to the desk, he reached for the folder she had placed there.
‘The Saint’s report, Nathan,’ Rose replied, keeping her composure. Nathan had been an absolute bear since Daniels’ disappeared with the disks, and it only got worse when news had come in that Daniels had somehow made it past Hans and into Abantos, so she was becoming quite used to it now.
Nathan’s scowl grew. ‘Thank you Rose for pointing out the obvious; whatever would I do without you?’ he asked, his voice laden with sarcasm. ‘Anything of note in it?’ he rephrased his question to be more exact.
‘Fahlen is up to his eyes in schemes. The latest is that he has deployed the fleet to patrol the Republic waters on the borders of Abantos. It seems he reckons that’s where Daniels is heading.’
‘Any fool could’ve worked that out,’ Nathan muttered, as he leafed through the report. ‘Anything else?’
Rose paused slightly before adding the last item of note, ‘Only that the Saint seems convinced that Carrington is more concerned about Daniels than the disks.’ Rose had debated with herself on how to put this piece of conjecture to Nathan or whether to even put it to him at all. She was certain that the Saint must be mistaken in this belief, but if it turned out to be correct, then it was quite possibly Rose’s head in the noose.
Nathan stopped and looked directly at his second in command. ‘And just what haven’t you told me about your golden boy, Rose?’ he asked insinuatingly.
‘I have told you everything I know about him, Nathan. Surely my loyalty isn’t in question?’ Rose stood firm.
Nathan took a deep breath, curling his hands into fists before flexing his fingers. ‘Did it not occur to you that you may not know everything there is to know about him?’
‘What more can there be to know about him?’ Rose shot back. ‘He’s a disgraced naval officer who turned pirate. There are scores of men like that throughout the blue. His only distinguishing trait is that he is more successful than the rest at it. All you need to know is how to control him, which is through his crew. He cares far too much for a pirate,’ Rose defended.
‘Then why is the chancellor more concerned with him than with the disks that will lead to his own hanging? Why is this mere “disgraced naval officer turned pirate” waging his own personal war against us and the Republic? And why is he in Abantos and not here with my disks?’ Nathan’s volume had increased with each question, until he all but shouted the last at Rose. His frustrations at what had seemed to be a fool-proof plan coming apart at the seams were mounting and his legendary calm was cracking under the pressure.
‘I don’t know.’ Rose forced the words out through gritted teeth. She thought of how many times she had reminded Nathan of his poor choice to use Jackson on this same mission seven years ago and now it looked as though her choice was even worse.
‘Then I suggest you find out,’ Nathan growled, his calm façade returning, but the clenching of his fists was more than enough to alert Rose to the fact he was dangerously near the edge and if they didn’t get good news from Marius soon, there really would be hell to pay.
Rose decided a curt nod of understanding was the best response and then promptly strode out of the room to frighten some underlings into digging up everything there was on Benjamin Daniels.
Nathan watched as she strode from the room. He knew that she was loyal, even in his frustration he had never truly thought she wasn’t. But this matter was getting far too convoluted, and, at present, all signs pointed to him being level pegging with Fahlen, which was far from ideal, not to mention a long way behind Daniels and the disks. It would seem that Daniels was going to have them all dance to his tune, whether they wanted to or not.
Chapter Twenty-two
Ben kept up his cheerful banter all through the tunnels leading to Kristoff’s HQ, never once faltering even when he knew the team back at the Coelacanth had lost sight of them and they were on their own. Stringing Major Wilks along with his story telling and dropping of minor information along the way allowed the rest of his crew plenty of opportunities to scope out the area. Ben knew that he could rely on Duncan to be charting their way through the ward.
Duncan, for his part, had only half an ear on the tales that his captain was spinning, and only allowed himself momentary amusement at the way in which Wilks ate up everything his good friend and Captain was laying down for him. It’s amazing how easy it is to dupe someone who thinks they are smarter than they really are, he thought fleetingly, before he turned his attention completely to the path they were taking.
Ash wasn’t paying all that much attention to his captain either, which some of the crew may have said was pretty much usual behaviour for him. However, this time he was, in fact, categorising all of the weapons Kristoff’s men were carrying, any defensive bunkers and sentries he saw (and there were several) along their route, as well as coming up with defensive tactics of his own to counter them.
While all of Wilks’ men were wrapped up in Ben’s theatrics, it appeared that none of his crew were listening to him at all, save perhaps those on the Coelacanth who could do nothing but listen; even his pilot’s thoughts were far from his tales. Sophie was, in fact, rehearsing in her head how she was going to approach her sister, what she was going to say and, more importantly, what Mel’s likely reaction would be. Unfortunately for her and the rest of the crew, it seemed that the most likely response, which her mind kept conjuring, was to be shot on sight – not an altogether pleasant prospect. Equally unfortunate was the fact that they arrived at their destination long before she'd managed to satisfactorily arrive at a way to manoeuvre around that likely outcome.
‘You will wait in here,’ Major Wilks instructed before he remembered his role as the attentive host and added, ‘while I go and alert Kristoff and Graves to your presence, of course.’
‘Of course,’ Ben agreed, grinning like a fool. It was difficult to tell from the way Wilks looked at him just then whether Ben had taken his ‘grinning idiot’ act a step too far, causing Wilks to doubt its authenticity or perhaps Ben’s claims of being the Captain Daniels. However, the look was gone in an instant and Wilks simply nodded, as seemed to be his customary response.
Sophie came out of her haze of thoughts in time to see Wilks turn on his heel and disappear through the door, which was, of course, by the sounds of metal grinding against metal, locked from the outside. While Wilks left no guards in the room with them, none of them doubted that there were plenty guarding them from the other side of the door, not to mention the rest of Kristoff’s force who were sure to be on hand nearby.
There followed a few moments of quiet reflection, each wondering what would come next. A quick examination of the room they found themselves in revealed little of either use or interest: it was a utilitarian room with the bare minimum of furniture and fittings. It was easy to conclude that it was an interrogation room; well, at least where they conducted the preliminary “sit down and talk” kind of interrogation.
It was into this silence that Sophie began to ask aloud the question that had been whirling around in her mind, ‘How do you…’ But she got no further with her question on how best to approach her sister, when both Ben and Duncan shot her strange looks. She groped for an instant wondering what they could be getting at before cursing herself – of course, they were being monitored! She of all people should know that you don’t require actual eyes and ears in a room to see and hear everything that goes on within its walls. ‘… think she’ll look after all these years?’ Sophie changed her question at the last moment and hoped that her pause wasn’t noticed by their watchers.
‘Well, she surely can’t look as pretty as you, darling,’ Ben told her, throwing an arm around her shoulders and giving her a one-armed hug.
Sophie rolled her eyes at his antics, but smiled anyway; just that silent gesture of support helped calm her nerves immeasurably. Ben guided her over to the table and pushed her gently into one of the two straight
-backed metal chairs that had been provided. Ash took the other and Ben perched on the edge of the table, once again taking up a languid position that belied his readiness for action. With all the furniture now occupied, Duncan chose to station himself against the far wall, off to the right. He wasn’t far enough away from the group to look suspicious, but it did give him a better view of the hatchway and the rest of the room, not to mention more elbow room should it come to a fight.
As no one could think of much else to say about their current predicament, well, nothing that they wanted overheard anyway, the four waited in silence for whatever it was that Kristoff had in store for them.
Their wait, while longer than Ash’s patience, was indeed a good deal shorter than Ben had expected and, even more surprising, it ended without a fanfare. Major Wilks returned to them and politely asked them to follow him, and that was it. Ben and Duncan traded looks across the room before following the major; they, of course, could do little else.
‘Might one enquire as to where we’re off to?’ Ben asked jovially as they proceeded through the passageways.
‘To see Kristoff, of course,’ Wilks replied with mock confusion. ‘After all, that is what you wanted, isn’t it?’ he asked, his manner somewhat smug as though he had caught them out in a lie. Now, while they had been lying, that wasn’t one of them, which left Ben no option but to agree, that, yes indeed, that was what they wanted, and continue to follow Wilks through the maze of passages and rooms that seemed to make up the inner sanctuary of Kristoff’s HQ.
When the passageways became clearer of people and the rooms nicer, Ben decided that they must be getting close to their destination. It was something of a relief to notice these changes; had the changes come in the reverse order with more squalor appearing instead of grandeur, Ben would have been concerned that it was their execution that they were merrily marching towards and not a meeting with Kristoff. Of course, it still might be their execution, but these wardlords were less likely to spill blood on their fine carpets – getting the blood stains out was a real headache, he'd heard.
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