Chapter 11
Tanon and Lothier arrived at the District Attorney's office quickly.
"Hello Kerrick. Thank you for seeing us on such short notice," Tanon said.
Tanon and Kerrick shook hands.
"You don't need to thank me Tanon. I should be thanking you. And you must be Lothier I assume."
Lothier and Kerrick shook hands as well.
"Pleased to meet you sir."
"Please, call me Kerrick."
Lothier nodded.
"Gentlemen, why don't we sit?" Kerrick suggested. Kerrick took his seat behind his desk as Tanon and Lothier sat in the two chairs facing him.
"So Lothier, Tanon says that you have some testimony that can help put Baraq away for good."
"That is correct. I was his Chief Justicier for years. Not only did I witness the atrocities he perpetrated on the Animals and his own staff, but I personally witnessed him kidnap Glinda and torture Elphaba."
"Elphaba?" Kerrick looked at Tanon with obvious surprise.
Tanon shifted uneasily in his chair. "Look Kerrick, I just found out myself. Glinda told me just the other day. Apparently, Elphaba is still alive. She and Fiyero.."
"The Winkie Prince?" Kerrick asked. "The former Captain of the Guard?"
"One in the same. They're both alive and leading the Resistance as Animal Rights Activists. Their identities have been secret until now."
"What do you mean, until now?" Kerrick asked.
"Well, it seems that our friend Baraq has someone here who leaked the information to Phanica Pesler. She set out on a witch hunt the other night. That's why Glinda left. She wanted to get to Elphaba and warn her."
"You say Baraq has a man planted here?" Lothier asked, before Kerrick could ask another question.
"At least one. Unfortunately, in spite of my best efforts, we haven't been able to locate anyone," Tanon added dejectedly.
"And you won't," Lothier said. "Baraq's men are too good for that, but I can find them for you."
Tanon and Kerrick looked at Lothier with interest.
"Now bear with me," Lothier began. "I need to think this through. May I have a pen and a piece of paper?"
Kerrick nodded and quickly gave Lothier his requested items.
"Ok now, Baraq doesn't know that I have any knowledge of this. I never trusted him, so I routinely looked through his notes and logs when he wasn't around. One day, I came across a list of names with codes."
"Codes?" Kerrick asked.
"Yes. It's a little complicated, so stay with me on this." Lothier began to write down the names of all the lands of Oz. "The first thing you need to know is that there are three primary colors. Red, Blue and Yellow. Secondary colors are Purple, Green and Orange. This is important, because his code is color based."
Tanon and Kerrick listened with interest.
"As you look at each of these lands, they are defined by different colors. For instance, the Emerald City is Green. For Munchkinland, it's Blue." Lothier went down the list. "The Vinkus, Winkie Country, is Yellow, Quadling Country is Red, and here in Gillikin, the defining color is Purple."
Tanon and Kerrick nodded, and kept listening.
"Now then, Baraq has three spies on his payroll. Red, Blue and Yellow. Their code names are Renegade, Baluster, and Recrudesce."
"Ok, I'm following you, but how do their code names tie in with the color code? It makes no sense," Tanon said.
"Just hold on. It will. First, I'll explain the names, and the reasons behind them, then I'll show you how they tie in with the color code," Lothier continued. "Recrudesce is a man named Tyrin. He's mainly used to report on activities in Winkie Country. Any activity that might prove beneficial for Baraq to have knowledge about. He's the low man on the totem poll, and used very sparingly. As recrudesce means to break out or become active again, that is why Baraq chose that name. He's mainly on the back board, but he becomes active again whenever he's called into action."
Tanon nodded.
"Second in line is Baluster, otherwise known as Simmins. He's been the main scout in Munchkinland, but he has often had to leave when called to another assignment. A baluster is a support for a rail. Baluster is the main support for our top man, Renegade." Lothier paused for a moment after mentioning Renegade. "Renegade is the man Baraq had spying on Glinda and Elphaba. His real name is Veloc. That man is like a ghost. He's been spying on Quadling Country for years. Quite often, he's been called to Gillikin when Baraq wanted information on certain people or activities. No one has even had a sniff of him until Elphaba felt his presence. It was amazing that she was actually able to sense him. No one else could."
Tanon and Kerrick exchanged glances. "So how does this tell you who he has here in Gillikin right now, and where he's been hiding? As we've already determined, Gillikin is symbolically represented by the color Purple." Tanon interrupted.
"Well, Red and Blue make Purple don't they?" Lothier asked.
"They do, but I still don't see…."
"Here, let me spell it out for you." Lothier began to write down the code names of all three men, highlighting certain letters as he did so. Then he handed the piece of paper to Tanon.
Tanon and Kerrick looked over the piece of paper. "Ah, now I see," Kerrick said with a smile.
On the paper, the names were written out as such:
RenEgaDe
BaLUstEr
RECRUdesce
"Recrudesce. Ecru?" Tanon asked.
"Ecru is a shade of yellow," Kerrick added.
"That's correct," Lothier confirmed. "I guess a code name for Yellow was too difficult to come up with," he snickered. "Besides, it ties in well with Baraq's naming scheme."
"Ok, so we know this Veloc and Simmins are the men we're looking for. How do we find them." Tanon asked.
"Well, this is interesting. Their locations are based on coordinates. Coordinates dictated by their names."
"How do you mean?" Kerrick asked.
"This may get a little complicated, so again, I ask you to bear with me," Lothier began writing again. "You have to take their name, and assign numeric values to the letters in the name. For instance, 'B' is the second letter in the alphabet, so its numeric value is 2. 'A' is the first, so its numeric value is 1." He finished writing, then handed the second piece of paper to Kerrick.
B – 2
A – 1
L – 12
U – 21
S - 19
T – 20
E – 5
R - 19
Kerrick studied the numerical values of the letters in Baluster's name.
"You have to add up the values. In this case, they equal 99." Lothier looked around the room. "Do you have a District map of Gillikin?"
Kerrick nodded. He went to a file cabinet, and thumbed through some files before extracting a map. "Here you go."
Lothier spread out the map on Kerrick's desk. "Now, in numerology, you have to diminish the numbers into a singular form. So we take the number 99 and add the two nines together to come up with 18. Then you take the 18 and add the 1 and 8 together to arrive at 9."
"I'm following you," Kerrick said.
"Well, if you look at the map here, we can plot the districts." Lothier began to mark 18th, and 9th districts on the map. "Then you add the numbers of the two districts together to arrive at the third. Since 18 and 9 equal 27…" He dotted the 27th district on the map. "These three collinear points intersect at what we call the perspective center." Lothier dotted the center on the map emphatically. "This is where you'll find Baluster."
Kerrick looked at the map. "Sweet Oz. That's incredible. I know just where that neighborhood is."
"That's too complicated for me," Tanon said, rubbing his head. "So we know which area he's in. How do we know which house he's in?"
"That's easy. The sum of the numerical values in his name will be in the address. Look for a house with the number 99 as all or part of the street address. If there's more than one, then we fall back on the color code," Lothier pointed out. "Blue trim, blue flowers……something will be there to tell us exactly which house it is."
"What about this Renegade? Do we find him the same way?" Kerrick asked.
"Absolutely. It's exactly the same. Recrudesce is only slightly different, but we won't go into that now."
"I'm going to get the guards out to those locations. We'll have them here by nightfall, then we can question them about Baraq, Glinda, and Elphaba," Kerrick stated.
"I wouldn't suggest you handle it that way," Lothier said.
"What do you mean?" Kerrick asked.
"Well, these men aren't dumb. They've done this for a very long time, and there's a reason they've never been caught. They'll know if a large group of guards starts perusing the neighborhood. They'll be gone before you've ever even glimpsed their hiding place."
"Then how do you suggest I handle it?"
"Let Tanon and I go there," Lothier suggested as Tanon raised his eyebrows questioningly. "We'll track down Baluster first. He would be much easier to approach than Renegade. Once we have him, we may be able to make him talk. You won't get anything out of Renegade. He'd rather die than turn on Baraq."
"Are you experienced enough to go after such a man?" Kerrick asked.
"What choice do we have? Baluster would see your men coming a mile away. It has to be us. It has to be low key."
Kerrick looked at Tanon. Tanon nodded his approval.
"Alright, it's done then, but you only have until morning. If you don't bring back Baluster by then, I will send the guard. For him and Renegade."
"Good enough," Lothier said.
"Oh, and Lothier…" Kerrick began. "I'm taking a real chance, letting you risk yourself for this. Please be careful. I need your testimony at that trial."
"Don't worry. We'll be back before you know it."
Tanon and Lothier said their goodbyes, then went back to Glinda's Estate to make their plans for capturing Baluster. Hopefully, his capture would result in Renegade's capture as well. Then maybe, just maybe, Baraq would be put behind bars, and Glinda and Elphaba would be safe. At least that's what Tanon hoped would be the case.