Chiana watched as Finsis and Rygel made their way up the street like old friends. Finsis had his hand resting on the back of Rygel's throne sled as he pointed this way and that, presumably at points of interest, although Chiana couldn't see anything to get excited about. Finsis had collected some 'friends' of the large burly type and the group were moving towards the outskirts of town. "Lucky for me they're in the mood for walking." Chiana pulled her coat tighter around her. She was cold and in this wind she couldn't hear what was going on but she assumed that they were heading for the transport as planned. That was until they all entered a building.
As she got closer she saw that it was an eating and drinking establishment 'Yeah, I bet I know whose idea it was to stop here.' She stood on tiptoe and peeked through the window. She could see Rygel and his new friends sitting towards the rear of the large bar area, but she couldn't really see what was going on. She looked quickly around the room. From what she could see there was at least one other exit. She dropped back down and considered her options. If she stayed out here they might leave by the other door and she would lose them. She could hardly fail to draw attention if she looked through the window all the time, and she couldn't really see what was going on from outside anyway. Plus it was frelling cold out here. She could go inside, keep an eye on Rygel and be warm without attracting any attention at all she reasoned to herself. Her hand hovered over her com for a microt before she stuck it firmly back in her pocket. There was no sense in telling Crichton. He would only say no. Making sure that her coat was pulled around her and her hood was up Chiana pushed open the door and went inside.
No one seemed to give her a second glance as she took a seat close to the rear of the bar. If Rygel noticed her he gave no sign. She noticed with some relief that there were others in the bar that had not removed their hoods. She really didn't want to draw attention to herself. She put a gloved hand around a cup that someone had left behind and pretended to drink it. She could hear Rygel regaling Finsis and his friends with stories of his days as a Dominar. Yep, Rygel could tell a good story when he wanted to.
As the laughter died away after Rygel's tale of the dangers of visiting ladies of pleasure in Hyneria, Rygel turned to Finsis. " Tell me, are these all the men that you are bringing with you?"
Finsis drained his cup. "You think we'll need more?"
"Crichton and the others have managed to evade the entire Peacekeeper army until now. Do not underestimate them."
"Ah, but now the brains behind their operation is working for the other side!" Finsis slapped him on the back. "Don't worry my friend. There are only 5 of them and close to twenty of us. It will be enough. Besides, how many could your transport realistically hold?"
"No, the transport will not hold many more, but you could take another ship up and keep it close by, just incase." Rygel looked at Finsis seriously "Experience has proved to me time and time again that it is better to be overly cautious in such matters rather than risk failure."
Finsis appeared to consider this. "I am grateful for your advice, Dominar Rygel, but these men will have to be enough."
"I see." Rygel brought his own cup to his lips. "From what Tarone told me it sounded as though you had a much larger body of men at your disposal."
"Ah, yes. But for a mission such as this I am only taking my most trusted men." Finsis appeared distracted by a story that one of his men was telling for a moment and laughed heartily at the punch line. After he had recovered himself he turned back to Rygel. " Tell me, where is Tarone?"
"On Moya, with the others." Rygel smiled "I note that we still haven't discussed in detail how you will release his brother to me."
"I will hand over the brother when your crewmates are in my custody."
"He must be ready to hand over immediately our business is finished. If the Peacekeepers are on the way I can't afford to wait long. Where is he? "
"He is close by." Finsis replied.
"In the town?"
"He is in one of the warehouses close to my house. He will be turned over to you within an arn of us capturing the others. Relax, my friend. We shall have one more drink and then be our way." He raised his empty cup towards a barmaid who scurried off to get more drinks.
Chiana got to her feet and made her way out into the street.
"Um…Crichton? Are you there?"
"Yeah Pip. You OK?"
"Yeah. Rygel has been asking the fat guy where the brother is held and apparently it is in one of the warehouses close to his house."
"There are a lot of warehouses around here, Chi. He say anything else?"
"No. Just that it was in one of his warehouses."
"Good work, Chi. Remember to stay out of sight. D'Argo, did you get that?"
"Yes, John. Do you want me to start checking warehouses?"
"Yeah. How many are we talking?"
"There are warehouses in every frelling direction." D'Argo said wearily.
"OK, we'll start on the ones between his house and the market. You do the ones on the other side."
"Very well."
Crichton looked at Aeryn. " Time to go."
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D'Argo started to move towards the nearest warehouse. At least the movement would help warm him a little. He had spent arns huddled against the wind watching Finsis house and waiting for darkness when he could move around a little more freely. Like the others he was dressed in a long hooded coat and mask, but his stature and head shape made him extremely conspicuous. Crichton had tried to reason with him that on this occasion, Zhaan would be a better choice to go planet side, but he had insisted and somebody needed to stay with Tarone on Moya. So Zhaan was up on Moya in the warm and D'Argo was freezing his mivonks off in the cold in a mask that was cutting the blood supply off to his tentics. He couldn't help thinking that Crichton had fixed this somehow.
D'Argo looked carefully around and seeing no one, he tested the warehouse door. It was locked. He made his way around the side of the building and found another smaller door. Checking once more that there was no one around he kicked the door in and stepped inside. The interior was warm and light. D'Argo took his mask off with a groan of relief and looked up. The roof was made of some clear material. He moved through another door into the main body of the warehouse realised almost immediately what the room held. He sneezed violently and looked quickly around the plant store. Most of the plants he could see appeared to night blooming. He could feel his eyes beginning to itch. He groaned and stuffed his head back into his mask and almost immediately sneezed again, emptying the contents of his nose onto the material.
He dropped his head forward. "Frell!" He said miserably.
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"Anything?"
"No."
"Nothing this side either. I'll meet you back by the entrance."
They were in their second warehouse of the night. They had split up to cover the large area more quickly and Crichton found himself amongst large bails of material and rugs. He was looking for a doorway, or anything that might contain a 10 year old. Even with his long coat it was really cold, his breath came out in little clouds of steam and his hands were beginning to feel numb. He knew he'd had gloves with him earlier and he began to wonder where he'd left them. He saw Aeryn up ahead and jogged to her, peering over her shoulder through the small window into the street. She pulled back a little to look at him but he spoke first.
"Your nose is lookin' pretty red there, Rudi. You cold?" He grinned.
She stopped for a beat, frowning, then decided to ignore him. "This is going to take forever. We don't even know which of these are Finsis' warehouses."
"Yeah, I know, but we don't have anything else to go on so lets check the next one. Can you see any cops out there?"
She sighed. "If you mean the local law enforcement then no."
"Then let's go."
They left the warehouse the way they had come in and moved down the street. The next building down was a warehouse. Aeryn kept a lookout while Crichton picked the lock using a device that Rygel had rather reluctantly lent him for free. As they entered the building they were immediately struck by the contents.
"Great! Meat. Lots and lots of meat carcasses hanging from the ceiling in the cold…no let me correct that," He swung around to face her, the index fingers on both hands pointing upwards " in the freezing cold. Gah!" He prodded the carcass closest to him in disgust "What type of critter makes a corpse like this anyway? Let's make this one snappy, Aeryn." He looked around with a look of faint disgust. "And if you want to stick together rather than split up, I won't think any less of you, because, warrior to warrior, this place is giving me the heebie jeebies!" He was surprised when he saw Aeryn walking towards him. He didn't think she was scared of anything. Apart from emotional attachments, he thought wryly. "Wanna start this way?" He pointed his thumb over his shoulder.
She halted in front of him and looked at him seriously "Why would Finsis store the child in a warehouse?"
"Huh?"
"Well, we've had a look around and there are no deserted warehouses here so he must be in a working one, yes?"
"Yep." Crichton rubbed his hands together and blew on them. "So?"
"So, why would he place the boy in a busy warehouse? Isn't he more likely to be discovered?"
"He could be in a room at the back somewhere. Anyway, the guy's slaves probably run the warehouses. They won't say anything."
"Those same slaves are likely to be Tarone's friends. His people. If he came back, wouldn't they help him?"
"Maybe."
"If Tarone is telling the truth…"
He screwed his face up. "Oh, no no no no! Don't start that again!"
"If Tarone is telling the truth, then Finsis wanted Tarone to have to return to him to get his brother back. Correct?"
"Yeah." Crichton began to nod slowly. "So, he would want to keep the child in a very safe place where Tarone couldn't get to him without coming to Finsis first. He probably wouldn't risk putting a prisoner in a warehouse near his own people who might help him. He would want him somewhere that no one could help him…..somewhere closer to home…maybe somewhere in his home?" He looked at her speculatively, then shook his head. "Don't forget that Chiana overheard them talking."
"The same Chiana that was meant to be keeping well back out of sight?" She raised her eyebrows.
"Dren!" He closed his eyes for a microt and then looked back at Aeryn. "If she can overhear conversations, she must be pretty close to them."
Aeryn nodded.
"And if they spotted her…"
"They would have captured her. Unless…"
"Unless they were feeding us false information to lead us into a trap."
She nodded solemnly.
"Go to the top of the class, Ms Sun. Now, let's get the hell out of here!" No sooner had the words left his mouth than bright lights blinded them.
"STAY WHERE YOU ARE! THROW YOUR WEAPONS TO THE FLOOR. SLOWLY. THEN PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD. IF YOU FAIL TO COMPLY WE WILL SHOOT YOU!" A voice shouted.
"Frell! Can you see how many?" He whispered desperately.
"No. The light's too bright."
"THROW YOUR WEAPONS TO THE FLOOR. NOW!"
"Frell!" He looked at her. "Let's do as the man says." He dropped his pistol and raised his hands and watched Aeryn do the same. He was grabbed roughly and his hands cuffed. He was turned away from Aeryn so that he couldn't see her anymore. Their captors wore the green uniforms of the local law enforcement. "Listen officer. There seems to have been some kind of mistake here."
"Mistake? I don't think so." A rifle butt came from nowhere and hit him on the jaw.
Two sets of hands grabbed him on either side and started to drag him outside. He struggled, craning his neck to see Aeryn, catching a glimpse of her, on her knees head down. A man stood over her, his rifle trained on her head. "AERYN!" He shouted. She raised her head to look at him. He thought he could see blood at her mouth.
Crichton was bundled out of the door and into a vehicle that looked like a cross between a van and a tank. One of the officers got in and sat beside him. His mind was racing as he tried to process what had just happened. This was not good. Really not good. Finsis was on to them and he controlled the law. What were they meant to do now? Distress became blind panic when the doors at the back of the vehicle were shut. "Where's my friend? The woman I was with." He asked his guard desperately. "Why isn't she coming with us?"
The guard looked at him and laughed, a strange two-pitched sound.
"Where is she?" Crichton launched himself at the small windows in the doors and pressed his face against the glass frantically but he couldn't see her. He felt the guard's hands pulling him backwards and sticking something in his ribs. A shock went through his body and he fell to the floor, conscious but unable to move.
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TBC