Captain Carrot was on patrol with Sergeant Angua. Vimes had ordered all of his officers onto the streets. There was a feverish, excitable feel to the air that could almost be tasted. The Reclaimers, whoever they were, had certainly achieved /something/. The city was as tightly wound as a spring, all day minor riots had been breaking out and it was important (or so Commander Vimes said) for Watchmen to be seen on the streets.
"Afternoon, Mr Renard," said Carrot, raising his helmet to a short man who scurried distractedly past them. Angua sighed. It had been a long day and Carrot's cheeriness was beginning to grate. She longed to be off duty and out of all the armour. She glanced at her watch for the umpteenth time... Still only quarter past three.
Carrot and Angua weren't just idly patrolling however. Various informants had been called upon to supply information about the explosion and they were busy collecting that information. It was in depressing short supply.
They proceeded gently across Sator Square, the shouting of the soap box speakers washing over them, an overtone of the deep thrum that was the heartbeat of the city, the noise made by a million people simply existing.
Angua held out a hand to stop Carrot as they walked past one such speaker.
"... Come into the city, stealing our jobs and taking our houses! It's about time something was done about them!"
"Yeah!" shouted someone in the crowd.
Carrot took a step forward and Angua tapped him again and shook her head. "It's the best lead we've got... I'll follow him. You just keep the crowd under control..."
Carrot nodded. "Be careful," he warned.
Angua smiled wryly. "I will." She disappeared down an alleyway.
"I worked for thirteen years in a foundry!" the speaker was yelling, "These lawn ornaments turn up and take our jobs after ten minutes! I tell you, send them back to where they belong!" There was some more self-righteous muttering, but also people towards the back of the crowd shaking their heads and walking away.
"It's the same with the trolls!" someone else started, and then found themself pulled up onto the box with the first speaker. "Them thicko rocks! Fighting in the streets and beating up decent people. Something ought to be done about it!"
There was more muttering, and Carrot felt enough as enough.
"Come along now, people, that's enough," he boomed cheerfully, attracting several dark looks, but mostly amused ones. "There's no need to be like that. Many of my colleagues are trolls, and of course, I myself am also a dwarf..."
There was some embarrassed grinning from the crowd. Angua didn't stay long enough to watch the rest of the show. As soon as Carrot had spoken the two speakers had melted away into the masses. She followed their trail, muzzle to the ground, growling slightly. They were both headed in the same direction. Strange that, as the second speaker had apparently been selected at random from the crowds... The human part of her grinned inwardly. Gotcha...
The trail doubled back and forth across the city, and at one point she almost lost it. Whoever she was trailing was good at avoiding pursuit by an enemy with a keen sense of smell. This only added to her burgeoning suspicions that the two speakers were not just misguided members of the public speaking their mind, but were involved in something more sinister.
She was somewhere in the Shades, the trail was nearly overpowered by the stench of the Ankh, when it came to an abrupt end at a low doorway. Her nose raced as her human mind made sense of the coloured smoke that seemed to billow in the air before her, detectable only with the olfactory senses. Yes, the two men had hesitated here, looked left and right before going into this building.
Angua headed around the back of the building and found a door. She concentrated and Changed. She blinked and stood up a little uncertainly and self-consciously. She tried the door handle. It was unlocked. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. This was too easy.
A noise made her spin around. There were two men standing at the end of the alleyway, the same two men she had been following she realised. One of them was holding a crossbow.
She tried not to panic, that was always the problem. A panicky reaction meant her body reacted instinctively and reached for the wolf shape. She'd easily win, but she might hurt someone, and that always upset Carrot.
She tried a smile. It was generally all she needed. "Gentlemen..." she began.
"I wouldn't move if I was you," said the one with the crossbow.
Angua growled. It really had been a very trying day and she had been looking forward to an evening off with Carrot. They had tickets for a play and everything... The second man shifted uneasily and levelled his own bow, but the taller of the two remained calm. This was slightly unnerving, a growl from Angua could normally sap the morale of even the most persistent offender.
The points of the arrows weren't silver, and as such Angua wasn't in any immediate danger. She took a step forward. No one ever fired at a Watchman, it was known to be seriously bad news for the person holding the weapon afterwards, as well as anyone else he happened to know and might or might not be related to.
The man with the crossbow fired and the quarrel hit her in the shoulder, slamming her backwards into the wall of the alley. Blood dripped from her arm and she cried out in pain. With a grimace she moved to pull the arrow out of her body, and another one hit her in the stomach. She passed out in pain as blood pooled around her.
"Come on," said the taller man, "Let's get her out of here."
It was half-past five and Vimes was still no closer to solving the mystery of the identity of the Reclaimers. He had managed a wash, and even a bit of a shave and he ran his fingers distractedly through his greying hair. His notebook was full of notes he had scribbled during the day as various officers reported snippets of information to him. There was nothing of any real value, no names, no addresses...just his notes, lots of them, all as meaningless as each other.
There was a knock on his door, which Vimes recognised as Carrot's. "Come in, Captain," he said.
Carrot stepped inside, the room becoming a mere background to his huge figure. His honest face was decidedly pinker than normal and Vime pinched the bridge of his nose. He had a feeling that this wasn't going to be good news.
"Yes?" he said shortly.
"Sir, Angua's gone missing, sir. She was following some suspects and she hasn't come back. And this has just arrived at the main office."
Carrot passed Vimes the note.
TICK TOCK, MISTER VIMES. TELL THE PATRICIAN TO ORDER THE DWARFS OUT OF THE CITY NOW, OR WE WILL STRIKE AGAIN - THE RECLAIMERS.
Vimes groaned. This day just went from bad to worse. "Are you sure she's missing Captain, not just... still investigating?"
"Old Harry says he saw her go into the Shades, and she hasn't come out. We were supposed to be going out somewhere tonight sir, I don't think she'd be late if she could help it."
Vimes massaged his head, trying to think through the fog that had invaded his brain. There was another knock at the door. "Come in," said Vimes wearily.
It was Littlebottom. She swallowed nervously, "I've been conducting some investigations in Sheer Street, sir. The explosives they used are very unusual... I've never seen anything like this before. I don't think they used a fuse to detonate the explosive. I think... well, sir I think it was a clockwork device."
"Clockwork?" said Vimes, confused.
"There's been some development in the industry recently sir, and there were several alchemists working on a project to develop a clockwork explosive. It was disbanded by the Patrician."
Sudden inspiration struck Vimes. "Cheery, get me a list of the names of those alchemists, will you. I want to know exactly where they are now and what they've been doing..."
Carrot looked up. "You think this might be revenge against Vetinari, sir?"
"It could be, captain. I'd be surprised if at least some of them wasn't involved." He sighed. "Put the word out for everyone to keep their eyes open for Angua, and send out a Clacks that she's to report back immediately." As Cheery saluted and shuffled out he added to Carrot, "I'm sure she's alright, Captain."
"Yes sir," said Carrot, but his face was still anxious.
"Come on, Captain. We need to go and show /this/ to Lord Vetinari."
