Avenger

by Robert E Colfax

  Lexi smiled. “Trainee or not, I wouldn’t be much of a team leader if I let my team get shot out from under me, now would I? I can’t really feel my shoulder other than a dull ache. I think Dr. Urania must have given me a mild stimulant because I feel really pert. Not a standard treatment for shock following a gunshot wound, but in this case, I’m good with it. What’d you do with the bodies?”

  “Gathered the weapons and reported the incident to Detectives Cade and Lawry for cleanup. In about another three hours and forty minutes, they’ll be by to take our statements, pick up our prisoner, and take their weapons. Sooner if I call them. They’re cutting us a lot of slack. Then again, they’re legally constrained in what they can ask and how they question a prisoner. We’re not. I promised to turn over anything we get from him as well as the contact lens recordings of the mugging. Probably not of the interrogation.”

  “What about Jis? I wasn’t out long, was I?”

  “No, you were barely out at all. Jis is still enjoying the serpents. She’ll try talking to Karl when she goes back to change clothes for her embassy party. Hopefully, he’ll still be there. So far, no one has tried to kidnap her.”

  “Urania,” Lexi asked, “do we have anything like a truth serum on board? Or can you produce one? I’m not up to it right now.”

  “You would have thought we would already have something like that, wouldn’t you? I’ll have to whip something up. Say, twenty minutes.”

  Lexi relaxed on the medical bed until Urania announced she was ready with the serum. At that point, Lexi stood up, pleased to see that she wasn’t wobbly. While she carefully slipped on the oversized tee-shirt Geena brought for her, the med-bay waldos lifted the sleeping man onto the bed and strapped him down. Urania followed an injection to wake him up with an injection of her truth serum. She doubted the combination was particularly good for him, but found she didn’t much care. The oaf shot her best friend.

  After sixteen minutes of questioning, it became apparent that although their prisoner wasn’t resisting the serum, he really knew nothing useful. He didn’t know who hired them, it was done over what was basically a smart phone. The four were sent pictures of the women, in the black outfits they still had on no less, and information on where to find their ship.

  The backgrounds in the pictures strongly suggested they were taken yesterday, near the police station, prior to Geena and Lexi heading for the shopping district. Then the men just loitered for a few hours this morning around the port for the women to show.

  While Geena returned to the control cabin to alert the detectives they were ready for a pickup, Urania copied the contents of all four phones. The originals would go with the detectives along with their guns. Lexi watched as Urania forced a second roofie on the man. Geena questioned him concerning his proclivities toward forcing women. His answers saved him from receiving the treatment Lexi developed for her serial-rapist professor. She hadn’t been expecting much in the way of useful information from a hired thug, so she wasn’t too disappointed.

  Once the detectives came by, took their hoodlum, collected the weapons and took statements, Geena asked, “How do you feel now, Lexi?”

  “Well enough. If we’re going to do anymore investigating, I need a new top, I imagine you do too.”

  Geena frowned. “If you’re sure you’re up to it, we have time to check out the marina and a few of the restaurants. Otherwise, I can do it alone.”

  “No, I want to go with you. I can handle it. I’ll take the pain-killers with me for when the shot wears off. And this time, I’m wearing my damn sword!”

  Geena smile. “Don’t forget your Glock. You did well with the knife, you might want to take one of those too.”

  Chapter 19

  Designs by Klendin

  By the next morning, Lexi still hadn’t decided whether to tell Ron about her mishap yet or to wait until after the mission was over. She didn’t need him worrying about her. She needed him to be focused on protecting Jis. She asked Geena, who backed her up on the decision to wait, saying, “You can’t keep it from him, Lexi. He deserves to know. He just doesn’t need to know anytime soon.”

  Lexi was healing, but still taking the pain-killers by the time they commed Jis and Ron. “Yesterday afternoon, we checked out the marina and all of the restaurants we know they patronized while they were here,” Geena reported. “We got nothing other than a lovely meal to show for it though.”

  “I finally was able to talk with our questionable concierge Karl when I got in last night,” Jis reported. “He only works a few days a week and puts in really odd hours. Anyway, today we’re going to check some boutiques he mentioned to find a formal gown. I got a weird tingly feeling from him when he mentioned Designs by Klendin. We’ll start there. I think you guys should be ready to move. The bait is in play. Bait! I’m really starting to hate that term.”

  Both Lexi and Geena found it quite interesting that their friend Karl was now making specific shopping recommendations.

  ***

  The abduction, when it happened that afternoon, was simple in both design and execution. On the street in the district reputed to have the highest-class boutiques in the city and quite probably the world, Jis, accompanied only by Ron in his role as her bodyguard, entered Designs by Klendin. They didn’t know where Kohvia and her children were kidnapped, nor why, but the Borgolian guards could have almost been guaranteed to wind up slaves somewhere. They weren’t risking any of Jis’s regular staffers.

  The shop came highly recommended by both Sori and the concierge at their hotel. Jis didn’t believe Sori was involved, just recommending a famous shop when asked. She very likely shopped at Klendin herself on occasion. She probably couldn’t afford any of the merchandise available here, but did have an embassy expense account. When attending some functions, she would be expected to dress as though she could afford to shop here. Karl, on the other hand, felt wrong. It was possible he just got a commission for sending clients to Klendin. Jis suspected him of something worse than that.

  Klendin catered to those who were off-the-scale wealthy. What set it apart from its competitors was the degree the knowledgeable staff went to providing personal service. Some found the absurdly thorough service eerie, some merely accepted it as no less than their due. As soon as a customer stepped through the magnificent, golden doors, each was whisked away by people who already knew their background and their tastes. It actually didn’t seem possible unless every employee in the shop was wearing comm-gear with back-office people supplying customer information in real-time.

  Within its walls, Klendin’s well-heeled customers browsed jewelry, makeup, prosthetics, and body sculpting encompassing everything from thickening lips to full gender transformations. All manner of apparel was available, the designs guaranteed to be exclusive and one-of-a-kind to the purchaser, priced as such. You didn’t come to Klendin for a new pair of jeans.

  Jis, after over an hour of discussion, enjoying the full, undivided attention of a half dozen of the shop’s attendants, finally selected a formal gown to try on. She declined having her lips thickened. No one even hinted at a reversible gender transformation. The fitting would all be done by computer and hologram of course. The gown did not really exist, except in concept. As a unique design, the gown would eventually be hand-made based on the exact measurements of the purchaser. The shop guaranteed that a Klendin design would be altered free of charge should the client’s body shape change for any reason. No one ever took them up on the guarantee. Better to just buy a new gown, rather than admit the last one no longer fit. But the staff knew, although they made no comments about it.

  Ron stood by, stoically attentive through it all. He accompanied the coterie into the fitting room where he positioned himself so he could watch both entrances, Jis, and the six attendants at all times. It wasn’t that hard, when they weren’t physically buzzing around Jis like flies on a dropped sweet, they were usually standing close by.

  Despite the fact that Jis would shortly be nud
e, he was her bodyguard. No one would question his presence. In general, whether from a prudish society or one that was completely open, the very highest strata of the upper classes related to their guards and servants more or less as they would to furniture. Normally, Jis didn’t treat people like that. However since they were trying to get themselves kidnapped and they both had roles to play, this was by no means normal.

  Jis was the first to collapse. A quick glance told Ron that the other six women appeared fine. He thought fast. She had a glass of wine while reviewing the shop’s offerings. I didn’t. Her six personal consultants drank with her. So it probably wasn’t anything in the wine. If they want to take us both, before I have time to get us out of here, a fast-acting gas is their best bet. They would want us both unconscious. Knocking out Jis and leaving me on my feet would be the height of foolishness. These women must be in on it. They could have already taken an antidote for the gas, or for that matter for something in the wine if I’m wrong about it not being drugged.

  Holding his breath, Ron rushed forward, bending to pick Jis up. Damn, I can’t talk into the mike if I’m holding my breath! Looking toward the six shop associates, he said out loud, “Get out! Now! We’re being gassed.” He quickly came to the conclusion there was a trick to communicating with his partners when others were around. It all depended on what you said and how you said it. He was rather proud of himself for realizing that.

  He was already stumbling as he carried Jis toward the door of the room. The personal consultants were still standing idly by, keeping out of his way. None of them looked surprised or concerned. He wasn’t dizzy, but felt unimaginably weak. They’re definitely in on it. All six of them. So it wasn’t the wine. With his last gasp before he collapsed to his knees, he exclaimed, “You’re all in on it!”

  He was seeing black patches in his field of vision, and couldn’t think if there was any reason for sure his team needed to know all of the sales people were involved. He knew he was going down before he made it to the closed door. It’s probably locked anyway. Unable to hold his breath any longer, the fast-acting gas entered his lungs. He set Jis down as gently he could on the floor before falling beside her, one arm draped protectively over her still form.

  Chapter 20

  Taking the Bait

  A moment after Ron lost consciousness, Urania announced to Lexi and Geena, “Bait taken. Both their vitals look good. Shallow breathing, slowed heart rate but otherwise fine.”

  Still listening over the comm-gear their friends wore, they all shortly heard a grunt and a man’s voice complain, “This guy is a big one.” The voices were clear, being picked up as they were by the microphones both Ron and Jis wore in their ears along with the rest of the tiny comm-gear suite. The software that came with Lexi’s purchase cleaned up the sound where it could.

  A different voice, more nasally than the first, responded, “Ya think? Really? Just get him in the box. Damn, he’s carrying three guns and two knives so far. Let’s make sure that’s all he has. We’d better check the woman too.” After a few more grunts from both men, the nasally one added, “The girl sure is a looker. I wish we could play with her a little bit. She’s almost nekid, Marn. Not a lot of meat on those bones, but look at that body. I guess she’s more your type than mine. I’ve seen bigger boobies on a nine-year-old.”

  “That’s a little creepy, Gurk. I already saw you search her for weapons. She clearly has no clothing on other than those panties so I guess you didn’t find any.”

  “What? No, man! Not creepy. I was talking about seeing my sister when we was kids, dummy. I musta been maybe eight. But you like ‘em skinny, Marn. This one even has a nice rack for her size. I wonder where she got all them bruises. Rich girlies shouldn’t be bruised up like that. Maybe she likes it rough. Maybe with the big guy. Bet he could be rough. She’ll be out for hours, who would know? I won’t tell if you don’t.”

  The first voice came back with, “Yeah, Gurk, you say that most every time. You even said it about that rock woman. You know what would happen to us if the boss found out. We’d wind up in a box, or maybe just dead if he was in a good mood. Use your head. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was devices watching us in here.” He looked around the room with a comical expression on his face as he said that. “You sister must have been hyper-developed.”

  “I guess. She sure attracted the guys. Until I beat ‘em up, anyways.”

  Within another few minutes, both GPS trackers indicated Ron and Jis where moving at a speed that suggested a ground vehicle. Despite having no evidence one way or the other, none of them felt they could fully trust local law enforcement. Those pictures from just outside of the CIB station were suggestive of a mole in the department. It seemed unlikely that anyone would be following them that early in their visit. No one could have known why they were on Naragene until they showed up at the CIB.

  Instead of police backup, they arranged to have armed Borgolian security forces, themselves ignorant of what the team was planning, standing by in a bakery across the concourse from Designs by Klendin in case an intervention was required. The plan did not include allowing Jis to be molested in Klendin’s back room. They thought it unlikely, but knew going in it was a possibility.

  If Gurk, or Marn for that matter, even hinted at anything beyond an unavoidable pat-down for weapons, five angry Grake would have taken them out within seconds, without fanfare and giving no warning. Hopefully, they would follow their instructions to disable without killing at the same time being cognizant of the innocent bystanders in the boutique.

  If an assault by the Grake proved necessary, Aeolus would need to squeeze those two for information, information both Geena and Lexi feared, like the muggers at the spaceport, they wouldn’t have. It was possible the six shop employees might know something. It was more likely they had no idea who was paying them to be accessories to kidnapping.

  Now, with both Jis and Ron being trucked elsewhere, they wouldn’t be able to protect either her or Ron beyond this point. All of them understood that. It was unlikely that the kidnappings were about a fetish for high-ranking women. Almost half of the disappearances were men.

  Urania sent the signal that the Borgolians would not be needed, dismissing them with the team’s thanks. Geena and Lexi watched the progress of the ground vehicle on a city map displayed on the main viewscreen. As anticipated, the vehicle was heading along the main route out of town toward the regional space port where Urania was docked.

  Urania departed from her own berth a few minutes later, as soon as it became clear that the port was indeed the kidnappers’ destination. Even from a ground berth, it took ten minutes to receive clearance for launch. That delay compared favorably to the two to three hours departing a berth on one of the orbital stations would have consumed. They definitely did not want to be noticed lifting immediately following the kidnappers. Worse, if there were any delays with their own departure, resulting in them losing track of their friends, the repercussions to Ron and Jis would likely prove fatal. “Do we want to report the kidnapping, the van and those two men to the local police?” Lexi asked.

  Geena smiled back. This was going well, so far. Much better than she really expected. She had been doing this long enough to be pessimistic about elaborate plans going as designed. It really was time to have a new, younger person leading the team. Maybe they wouldn’t wind up needing to spend years poking around in the dark places of the Accord after all. “So are you in trainee mode, darling, or leader mode wisely seeking more-experienced counsel? We do and we don’t,” Geena replied without waiting for Lexi to respond.

  “It’s definitely the right thing to do. However, if we tip our hand, the criminals on the planet might have the resources to send a message drone ahead to wherever they’re taking Ron and Jis. That would be bad all around. The police would have every right to detain us for questioning as witnesses. That would be exceedingly bad. If we didn’t comply, they would most likely issue a warrant for us, making it awkward for us to return
here if and when we need to. So we wind up allowing the thugs who grabbed them the opportunity to disappear. That’s merely unfortunate. We’re after bigger fish.”

  Lexi grinned. “I’ll go with trainee mode for now, love. So when the mission is over, is it safe to assume we come back and file a report?”

  Geena nodded. “Either that, or send a message drone from Borgol. This is a nice tourist planet, though. We might want to take a week off here before heading back to Cardin. I really would enjoy a sailboat cruise. Plus we know the secret of caging free drinks. What happens next is the Ackalonian embassy will report Jis disappeared while on a shopping trip. This time, at least, someone on her staff will have the name of the specific boutique Jis was headed to. Cade and Lawry might be able to shut down the operation on this end without anyone being the wiser that we put Jis out there as bait. They may decide to just stakeout the place. I think that is what I would do.”