CHAPTER NINE - ISB AGENT FROM HELL
EZRA
Sometimes, Kanan would tell Sabine and I stories about life in the Republic before the Empire rose.
"Before the Empire, the Senate carried weight. I didn't meet many of the senators, but once my master was invited to a wedding on Onderon and she brought me with her." He rubbed the back of his neck. "The Senator for Onderon's son was the groom, so she was there. While I was eating dinner with my master, another youngling who had been invited grabbed the cake server and started swinging it like a sword.
"Senator Bonteri walked up to him, stuck out her hand, and he just gave it to her." He chuckled. "That's when I realized why everyone called her BonScary."
Sabine's and my reactions were something along the lines of "Okay, Kanan" and "Did you get to eat cake?"
Now I wish I'd listened better and gotten more information. Because nothing, and I mean nothing, puts the fear of the Force into me faster than Mina Bonteri standing in the doorway, mad as a Rancor.
"Hi, Grandma Mina." Molly squeaks.
Mina points out the doorway. "Common room. Now!"
She needs not move another muscle before all four of us are off like shots.
…
"What were you thinking, hacking into Hutch's computer and disturbing the job?" Mina shouts.
Kiara sticks her neck out. "Grandma, we weren't trying to disturb anything."
Mina gives her a look, and Kiara stops talking. She's not the only one who has; Tandin and Captain Rex originally were going to help Mina give us a dressing-down, but they backed off once she really got going.
"The point remains that you still did." She says dangerously. "And Ezra Bridger, don't think you've gotten away with anything. The only reason I'm not addressing you directly is because Hera and Kanan -."
"Ezra!"
Remember what I said about Mina putting the fear of the Force into me? I lied. Hera's mere voice brings it on tenfold.
I startle up in my seat. "Hera! I can explain."
An angry green Twi'lek shoves her way through the room, Kanan on her heels.
"Ezra Bridger…" she growls, voice low and even more dangerous than Mina's. "What were you thinking?"
I throw up a weak defense. "I-I don't know how to hack like that!"
Kanan ignores me. "Do you realize what would have happened if Hutch's computer had crashed? We would have lost everything: the money, the access to the building's security, and most importantly the comm connection for Sierra to coach Sabine."
"Sabine did a wonderful job, but every grifter needs outside information and she was up against an ISB agent who specializes in con men." Hera snaps. "If that comm had gone down, force only knows what would have happened out there."
The realization that we were this close to causing harm to Sabine horrifies me. I don't want anything bad to happen to her any more than Tav wants something to happen to Kiara.
"But nothing bad happened," I bring up. "Hutch back-hacked Molly, and nothing happened except she has to scrub her hard drive to get rid of the fork bomb. It was like…hacking practice!"
I'm rather proud of myself for that one.
Hera and Kanan's faces tell me I'm in it deeper than previously thought possible.
"It wasn't practice for you." Hera says. "Ezra, people who see bad things happening and don't do anything are just as guilty as those who do them."
Ouch. "But -."
"No buts." She interrupts. "I'm deciding how long you're going to be cleaning the Ghost when we get back."
Hey, it could be worse.
If it's any comfort, the others are in the doghouse too. Tav and Kiara are fielding interrogations from their parents and from Mina, who apparently can't stop once she gets on a roll.
"You know how sensitive hacking is!" Ahsoka shouts. "You could have brought down Hutch's entire system and left us completely vulnerable."
"But we didn't!"
"Don't want to hear it, Tav."
If Tav and Kiara are getting roasted, then Molly's on fire. Hero's face is tomato-red, and Hutch is speaking in a low, serious voice.
"Molly, I'm very disappointed in you." He says. "I thought we had an agreement about hacking each other. We would only do it here, when there were no stakes."
"I know Dad. But Ezra was so worried, and I thought I could do it without bothering anyone."
"Well," Hero snaps. "You're going to have lots of time to think about it."
"That's true." Hutch says. "Hero, you've never scrubbed a fork bomb from a hard drive. It's exhausting. That program makes endless copies of itself so you have to clean out every single program on the device to make sure you get rid of all of them, or they'll keep multiplying."
"But I did do something important." Molly protests. "I would bring it up on my computer, but since that's fork-bombed, can I borrow yours?"
Hutch sits at his monitor. "You can tell me what I'm looking for and I'll search it for you."
KANAN
"All right, so I pulled Nightwine's financials because you told me that was always the best place to start," Molly starts.
Hutch barely moves a muscle. "That's right, it is." He says, not even bothering to pull them up.
"There was some suspicious activity on the page."
Hutch shakes his head. "When you're dealing with financials for important, famous, or high-ranking marks there will always be some kind of shady financial dealings. It's just a side effect of importance. What kind of suspicious activity?"
"He was giving money to somebody."
"Man or woman?" Hutch says tiredly.
"Woman, mostly."
"Were they on some kind of schedule?"
"I think so," Molly says. "I'd have to check to be sure, but I think they came about once a month."
Monthly payments to a woman? I see where this is going.
"Molly," Hutch says before I can put my two cents' in. "I want you to think about the size of those payments. How big were they?"
"About a hundred credits each."
I decide to step in. "Is it possible that he's making these payments to a prostitute? Or an exotic dancer?"
When I was young and on the run, most of the "working girls" I knew took anywhere from a hundred to five hundred each time, if they worked in the shadier parts of the galaxy. Higher-end prostitutes could make thousands in a night.
"A hooker?" Ezra speaks up. "Why would an ISB agent want a hooker?"
"You'd be surprised who comes down to those levels." I say dryly.
Molly snorts. "If it's a prostitute or a stripper, then she has a Force-awful stripper name. I mean, who calls themselves 'Emily Spring' by choice?"
Sierra jumps like someone's lit a stick of dynamite under her. "What did you say her name was?"
"Emily Spring?"
Hutch swivels in his chair and brings up the financial records in the blink of an eye. "I'm bringing them up right now."
Steela speaks up.
"I just thought of something," she says. "If it's Nightwine's job to expose con men, then why hasn't he caught on to Spencer yet? His game is way more obvious than our last one, and Nightwine still hasn't stopped it and saved the Empire thousands of credits."
"What are you saying?"
"What if Nightwine isn't such a straight arrow?" she asks. "What if he's working with someone to supply his victims? We know he received a shady payment right before he kidnapped you, Sierra."
No one answers; they're all glued to Hutch's computer as he pulls Nightwine's financial records, selects the payments to Emily Spring, and follows the account.
"It's a dummy account." He says dully. "I'm trying to trace it, but it's going through so many servers it's bouncing me off every corner of the galaxy.
"Who owns it?"
"I don't know," Hutch says. "But whoever owns it also has another account. The name on this one is Matthew Cooper."
Ahsoka looks pointedly at Sierra.
Sierra's mouth falls open. "No!"
Ahsoka turn to Hera and me. "Hera, Kanan, where is Sabine right now?"
"She's gone out with Chopper to buy new paints." Hera says in a tenuous voice.
"Hutch, raise her on the comm!"
"What's going on?" I demand. "Is Sabine in some kind of trouble?"
"If what we think is true, she's in serious danger." Lux says. "But don't worry, it's highly -."
"Lux, Ahsoka, Sabine's off comms." Hutch interrupts.
"Do you think it could be -?"
Hutch swears. "I ran the records in the background. The payment Nightwine sent to 'Matthew Cooper' was cashed at a spaceport ATM on Mandalore yesterday, three hours before a flight to Lothal disembarked."
"Hutch…"
"Tracking Sabine's last known location now!"
"What's going on?" Ezra cries. "Who's after Sabine?"
"We're still not sure, Ezra." Ahsoka soothes. "But whoever got on that transport reminds us of someone, and Sabine fits his type."
"Type?" Zeb asks.
"People like the man who did this prefer to target victims who fit certain criteria." Tandin explains. "It can be species, occupation, physical appearance, or even something as obscure as what they did that day. This man prefers teenage girls who serve as a surrogate for someone who wronged him. The only one in our party who fits this model is Sabine."
"Wronged him?" I sputter. "But she didn't do anything to him."
"She didn't have to." Steela spits. "She's a rebel and she was working as a grifter. The last person who wronged him was a rebel and a grifter."
"In this guy's mind, Sabine takes the place of the rebel." Tandin explains. "Since the rebel wronged him and Sabine's in her place, then he's going to take out his revenge on her."
My stomach ties in knots. "We've got to find her!"
"Sabine's comm last pinged off a market square, probably where she was buying her paints." Hutch says. "After that, the signal dies. Last ping was three minutes ago."
Hera speaks up. "She was wearing that bracelet I gave her. It has a tracking device hidden in one of the beads."
Hutch taps a few more keys. "That signal held out longer. Thirty seconds ago, in the warehouse district."
"Everyone, go out in pairs to find her." Lux orders. "Ahsoka, you're with me."
Ahsoka leans in close. "Lux," she whispers at a volume I can only hear with help from the Force. "I need to take Sierra. Her anger is alarming."
I don't even have to look at Sierra to confirm it, but I do. She's clutching a datapad, pure fury and consternation written all over her face.
But Hera is too absolutely, mortally terrified about Sabine to notice.
"Why did he pick her?" She shouts. "Why did Nightwine tell him about her? Who is this person?"
"His name is Commander Torrance," Sierra spits, shaking with rage. "But fourteen years ago, when he had me strapped to a torture table, he said I could call him Tor."
LUX
Once the word "Tor" was out of her mouth, it was all I could do to make Sierra wait for Ahsoka before rushing out the door.
I call out partners. "Hera and Steela, Saw and Zeb, Rex and Tandin, Hero and Katooni, you're partners. Ezra, stay here with the others. Hutch is in charge! Kanan, you're with me."
…
But right before we enter the warehouse district, our comms go off.
"Do you want to hear something really horrible?" Hutch asks.
"I don't think it can get much worse." Kanan snaps.
"Trust me, it does." Hutch answers. "I looked deeper into Nightwine's financials and tracked everything that was going on where he was stationed when he made an irregular deposit. Once I narrowed it down to missing persons and murders, then I found a pattern. Steela was right."
"What kind of pattern?"
"Let's start with Uriah Romano. Nightwine wrote him a citation for damaging Imperial property and he spent the night in lockup. Ten minutes after he walked out, a few Hutt goons dragged him into an alley and killed him. Apparently he owed Porla money. Then we'll follow up with Jado Brik, a Duros who went missing right after a bunch of security cameras caught him hanging around one of Nightwine's jobs."
He huffs. "I dug back to Sierra's case, which was no picnic because those files are dinosaurs. Right before Nightwine arrested her, he sent a HoloMail to Tor saying who he had and that he could arrange for a transfer straight to Tor's custody. Next thing that comes across is a two thousand credit transfer to Nightwine's account. Tor didn't just get Sierra, he bought her. I've been tracking every other weird deposit since then, and every time there's been some kind of murder or kidnapping or something happening. You guys, Nightwine is selling people to their enemies. This is a bad dude!"
"I don't care about Nightwine!" I shout. "You need to find what Tor's been up to so we can stop him before he takes Sabine!"
"That's the other thing." Hutch says. "Lux, there was an incident at Tor's prison three years ago, right after the leader of a prison gang was transferred over. This guy turned his toothbrush into a shiv and knifed Tor in the exercise yard."
I don't know whether to pray that Hutch is right or beg that he is wrong.
"Everyone, Tor's not behind this. Tor is dead."
Silence.
"But if he's not behind this," Steela asks. "Then who the kriff is?"
A/N: Which is worse, thinking that Tor is going after Sabine or not knowing at all? At least the rebels never have to worry about their least favorite person again.
Thank you to starwarshobbitfics and Rose Ravenclaw for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!
Until next time,
Lux's Sister
