Just for a moment Amanda wondered if this could possibly be her dead lover and father of her twins, but then reasoned Weldon would not have been involved in any kind of attacks on caravans. She then dismissed it as just a coincidence.
“Maybe I should come down to headquarters for just a few minutes just to let everyone know I am out of the hospital and thank them for rescuing me?”
Liam was ready for this but surprised she hadn’t asked this earlier.
“We are already near your place and besides, I had to promise your Doctor that I would take you straight home or else.”
“You are not afraid of my Doctor, are you,” Amanda asked?
“You betchum I am. Anyone that can get through all of the blood and guts of medical school training sure scares the hell out of me.”
Amanda laughed at that. Liam landed at Amanda’s house and helped her in although it was obvious that Amanda didn’t need any help.
“Can you stay for a cup of coffee before you head back to OSI headquarters? I know you like coffee better than santee so I stocked some coffee for you. That is if my daughters haven’t drunk it all up. They were highly pleased with the taste I gave them.”
“I think I can spare a little time. Lt. Baker is getting all the information he can from Chief Onn before the Lieutenant sends the Chief back to his village. Tomorrow we will have a good handle on the number of officers we have to work with, and can make a plan of action.”
“You think my girls are still safe in his village, Liam?”
“I told Chief Onn to keep everyone in the village so that there is no confusion with the rebels. I am sure your girls will be safe.” Liam had told Amanda two separate statements which were both true and yet he did not say the girls were still in Chief Onn’s village. He was sure no one would harm Captain Santos’ daughters.
“You really bought coffee just for me,” Liam asked Amanda? “Bouncing around the Federation it seems I always found coffee to drink. And some type of alcoholic beverage. If you didn’t have those two, no settlements lasted long.”
“Is that why you never married? I can see it would be difficult for a Federation Agent to maintain any type of family.”
“It hasn’t been just that reason I haven’t married. I would say over half of the Federation Agents have some type of partnership or marriage. I know one Agent that takes his wife with him on investigation; being a married couple provides a good cover for him. No, I just haven’t found a lot of women in the circles I inhabit, on or off the job, which I think would be a good fit to me. Oh, there have been opportunities, I guess.”
“I would be surprised if there weren’t a lot of opportunities,” Amanda said as she brought two cups of coffee to the table and sat down. “You are quite handsome Liam.”
“But that seems to draw women attracted by appearance, and intelligent women often don’t want to compete, thinking me shallow also.”
“Yes, I can see how that leaves you the uninteresting, unappetizing, or unavailable.”
“Doesn’t leave me much or maybe I have gotten to the point that I don’t always see a possibility in front of me,” said Liam.
Liam sat staring into his coffee cup for several long minutes while Amanda was quite content to just look at Liam. Then, as if an idea had just struck him, Liam pushed back his chair, stood and walked around the table. With one hand he tilted Amanda’s chin up and kissed her firmly on the lips. Amanda was as surprised as the first time but quickly kissed Liam back, and when he lifted his head, Amanda put a hand firmly on the back of Liam’s neck and pulled him down for a longer and sweeter kiss. Somehow, she ended sitting on Liam’s lap on the nearby sofa. A few more minutes of that and Amanda began having thoughts of what else the sofa could be used for.
“Um… this turns into a bed, you know.”
“Yes…I know. I am trying to decide. My mind thinks this is a terrible idea but my body isn’t listening.”
“So I noticed. Why is this a terrible idea?”
“I can’t remember.”
After several more minutes, Liam set his wrist comm for emergency only and laid it on the end table.
“If they really need ma, they can reach me. This couch isn’t very big. Where is your bedroom?”
With long stops for kissing and shorter stops for the removal of clothes, Amanda and Liam drifted in the direction that Amanda had pointed.
“I may be a little out of practice, Amanda.”
“Me too”
That was the last of coherent speech for quite some time.
*****
Dr. Janice Blake was scared. It had seemed to be such a simple plan and she would end up with more money than if she worked for the University for a thousand years. That plus long life. She and her team would meet contacts in the jungle tribes from her last visit. They would help her team collect the plants and then her team would smuggle them off planet for sale later. The jungle tribe were promised a share, although they would never receive it, which they wanted to use to take over some trade route or other. Janice wasn’t sure or cared.
Then Pharmco the Company that was going to buy the plants sent a Professor Pierson to work with her team. That was where things started to go wrong. Staff was sure Pierson was a company spy and not to be trusted. Dr. Blake got some of the tribesmen to dispose of Professor Pierson but then the cops started nosing around her team so they had to go into hiding. Fortunately the large Traders Association was involved in some way with the tribesmen and they hid her team until she could get everyone out of the City. But then one of the team, Ja’haal, got cold feet over Professor Pierson’s murder and was going to go to the cops so she had to be taken care of by the team.
It continued to be one thing after another. The plants had been harvested and bundled for shipment, but Vera, the tribesmen’s leader, was holding them for “safety” which meant that Dr. Blake and the team couldn’t leave. They were comfortable enough: the villagers had built them a nice place to stay right near the fields, and fed them well. They just couldn’t leave. Now some rumor had a Federation Agent on-planet. Janice didn’t believe that, she knew just the scarcity of Federation Agents, but some of the remaining team member were more gullible.
Still, Janice was scared. Right now all she wanted was to get off this planet with the pound or two of plants she had hidden. But she wasn’t sure she could even find her way out of the jungle. If there was a Federation Agent on planet Janet thought she might just as well give up to the authorities. It would be nigh onto impossible to escape the planet, and even if she did they would hunt her down. Janice, working in exotic biology was well aware of the stance that the Federation took in regards to anything that could extend human life other than medical discoveries that dealt with specific illnesses. As it was, the average life span was now over one hundred twenty years. Some years previous Janice had heard through the grapevine that a friend of hers was on the verge of a real-life extension discovery. Soon after Janice heard that her friend’s discovery hadn’t worked out. But Janice never saw or heard from her friend again. The Federation did not often meddle in planetary affairs, but when it did, no one was safe. Janice decided to just wait and see what happened if the tribesmen did kill her and her team first.
*****
Liam woke very early the next morning with Amanda curled up around him. Moving very carefully not to wake her, he got out of bed and dressed quietly before moving down to the kitchen. There, after making a pot of coffee and sitting at the table while he drank his first cup, Liam pulled his comm out to see what had been happening at OSI headquarters when Amanda came down the stairs.
“Good morning sleepyhead. Ready for some coffee Amanda?”
“What do you mean, sleepyhead. No one should have to get up this early. And Yes, I will take a cup of coffee.”
Amanda gave Liam a long and intense kiss before sitting down in a chair she had pulled closer to his.
Having already set out a cup for Amanda, Liam poured her a cup from the pot on the tabl
e.
“I wanted to see if Chief Onn had said anything important last night when Lt. Baker was interviewing him.”
“When do you plan on going in to headquarters and can I come with you? I feel so much better after last night.” Amanda said this with a smile that Liam interpreted as a desire to continue what they had started the night before.
“That depends on what Lt. Baker tells me. For now he is our best source of information about those rebel tribesmen.”
“I was thinking about that last night before…you know, we got distracted.”
“Is that what I was, a distraction,” Liam laughed?
“Much more than a distraction, but I was thinking. Did the Chief tell you the names of the niece and nephew that are apparently in charge of this rebel group? I know some of the tribesmen from Chief Onn’s village, at least some that were there fifteen years ago.”
“Yes he did,” Liam said. “Let’s see. The niece’s name is Vera.”
“I don’t recognize her, but like I said, it has been fifteen years since I spent more than brief visit there. What about the nephew?”
” I believe he said the nephew’s name was Weldon”
“WHAT did you say?” Amanda bounded to her feet.
“I said the nephew’s name was Weldon,” Liam repeated. “Why, do you know him?”
“Weldon is the father of my two girls and he is supposed to be dead.”
Chapter 18
“It was raining in the jungle; more rain than George and Ethan had ever seen and they both were born and grew up in the jungle. They only wore loin cloths and moccasins, plus a woven wide-brim hat to redirect some of the water away from their faces, but still they looked like drown rats as they crouched down in a little patch of jungle while they waited for Tamara and Kristina to use what they had guessed was the closes toilet facilities to the hut they had taken the girls to several nights before. The boys had been there for a long time and were beginning to think they had guessed wrong when the two girls appeared from around a hut headed for the toilet, with very sodden blankets wrapped around themselves. It had been decided that Ethan would be the best to approach the girls without scaring them off. But before Ethan stepped out from the jungle, they observed an older tribesman following them about twenty feet behind.
“Shit, that looks like they put a guard on them,” Ethan whispered to George.
“I don’t think he is trying to be sure the girls don’t run but rather to keep the young men from pestering them, or worse.” George replied quietly. “The girls aren’t going anywhere just wearing blankets and thin underclothes, and they wouldn’t be wearing blankets if they had anything else to wear. They just made sure the girls had no weapons this time by taking most all of their clothes. What do we do now?”
“You are known to these tribesmen, aren’t you George?”
“So what. You knew that,” George said in a sullen tone of voice.
“You go around this building and then walk up to this guard and start talking to him.”
“Taking to him about what?”
“Oh, I don’t know George, talk to him about anything. Talk to him about all the rain we are getting. Anything. Just keep him from looking behind himself. I will slip in to the girls. We can at least get two of these stunners to Tamara and Kristina. But hurry. We don’t know how long they are going to be in there.”
While George slipped back into the fringe of the jungle so he could circle unseen, Ethan crept up behind the public toilet building, wishing George would hurry up. He couldn’t hear the girls talking at all, but he had seen them go in, and there was only one way to go out. Finally Ethan saw George walk up to the tribesman who was more or less guarding the girls. Because it was raining so hard both the guard and George moved a little away to stand under the overhang roof of another building. Ethan wasted no time slipping around the corner of the toilet building and in the door.
Tamara was actually on her way out, with Kristina close behind, when she saw Ethan. Ethan was afraid her first reaction would be to scream, but she didn’t. However, the look she gave him was anything but pleasant.
“What do you want now, to give us more help,” Tamara said bitterly? Thanks, but no thanks.”
Ethan pulled two stunners out from the back of his light pack and handed them to Tamara without saying another word.
Tamara took both stunners, handing one to Kristina who had come up behind her but said to Ethan, “What is the trick. They don’t work?”
“Kristina spoke up, “I think these are the real thing. They don’t look like our own stunners but they are definitely law-enforcement stunners.”
“Where did you get these stunners, Ethan?” asked Tamera. “Are you working with OSI? How come you let us get captured?”
“Just wait,” Ethan said, we have to get some clothes for you first. You don’t want to fight the jungle just wearing a blanket. I have to go now so your guard doesn’t see me.”
“Wait a minute – who’s the We? Who is working with you? But Ethan had already slipped from the building.
George had evidently saw Ethan leave because he left off talking to the guard and meandered back to the jungle via several of the huts, first.
“What did they say,” asked George? “Do they trust us to help them escaped?”
“I am not sure they trust us yet, but it was a good move to give them the stunners. Obviously, they aren’t going to go off in the jungle with those blankets.”
Ethan stammered a little and didn’t tell George what he had seen when Kristina was adjusting her blanket not yet aware of Ethan’s presents. Granted he had grown up in the village where he had seen far more skin of the women and girls most days of the week, but this was different. George just laughed at Ethan from his prominence of being a year older, and his vast experience behind the barn…by himself.
“Maybe you could get the girls to run through the jungles with just their blankets Ethan said in a mocking tone of voice.,”
“You aren’t funny, George. Now where can we get them some clothes?”
“We could probably snitch some from the drying lines. The women wash and dry clothes daily, either for themselves or for others. We don’t know if they will do that in this rain and of course we would need to know their sizes. Maybe they would let you feel them up to get an estimate?”
“If you don’t stop with the off-colored comments I will get someone else to help me,” Ethan finally said in a no-nonsense voice.
“Ok, ok, obviously you can’t take a joke. I don’t think we need to get exact sizes. Just something that looks closely will do. See if we can find some shoes also, they aren’t used to running around barefooted, at least in the jungle.
*****
While George and Ethan set out to find clothes for the Santos girls, Amanda and Liam were rushing back to OSI headquarters with the knowledge of the identification of two of the leaders of the rebel tribe. All of the lieutenants were present, discussing what should be said at the Counsel Meeting the next morning. Lt. Adams had a complete roster of the officers available if Agent Smithe decided to move on the rebel village. They were all pleased to see Captain Santos although worried about her health. The information that the rebels were apparently being led by a nephew and niece of Chief Onn.
“Who had you picked to speak at the Council Meeting tomorrow and what stand are we going to take,” Lt. Baker asked Liam?
Lt. Owens spoke up quickly. “Don’t want to put a damper on things, but that jungle is a very big place to hide. I don’t care if we have five hundred officers or five thousand officers, trying to round up this rebel group in the jungle is going to be very difficult.”
“You are right, Lt. Owens, but we don’t need to try and round up the whole group. A swift raid on the village hopefully will catch the leaders and also get Captain Santos’ girls freed. The leaders will know all of the tribesmen involved in illegal activity, such as the caravan raids, and eventually all those will be caught, if not immediately, sometime so
on”
“You really think the leaders will peach on the other members of the conspiracy?” Lt. Baker asked.
“I really doubt they will have much of a choice,” replied Liam, “I have already sent for a Federation Judicial Team. While they are only interested in preserving Federation Law, they will determine guilt or innocence of everyone involved in the criminal actions that occurred on Edge World. In most cases when only planetary or local laws have been broken, they will turn the miscreants over to the appropriate law enforcement agency.”
“As that may be,” Lt. Baker said, “we still have the Council to deal with tomorrow.”
“You forget,” replied Liam, “as a Federation Agent I have a lot of latitude in dealing with world governments. While I can’t just dismiss the Council’s actions without awful good cause, I can request that they postpone their meeting for a week while I collect additional information on my case without being specific about exactly what I am investigating. I will draw up the necessary papers and if you will present them to the Council Chairman first thing in the morning Lt. Cope, that will give us time to deal with the rebel villagers.”
“What about…” Amanda started to ask about the LL plant but then realized that Liam might have very good reasons for keeping that a secret.
“I also want two squads of officers dispatched to the spaceport,” Liam continued. “The few customs agents they have could be overpowered if a number of suspects decide to leave at once. We still don’t know everyone that is involved in this plot. Where are the remaining scientists and are they good guys or bad? There most certainly some people in the Traders Association involved, we just don’t know who all. But if we have them all trapped on-planet, we will catch up with them sooner or later. Unfortunately, I can’t keep the spaceport
shut down much longer. Even a few days will have repercussions.”
“I seem to be the one coming up with the negative questions,” Lt. Baker said, “but do we know for sure that there are no OSI officers involved here?”
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