chapter four: smugglers in the city
The rest of the drive is easy and quick. The hours fly by with someone to talk to. Jannah wants to know all about bounty hunting, and Rey explains it all to her. About bail skippers and their often defensive, highly aggressive family or friends trying to protect them from going back to jail. About the truly wild cases she's seen while accompanying Mando — like one girl who tried to pretend to be having a psychotic break and ran around buck naked. Jannah laughs for a long time at that one.
Jannah talks about her foster homes, about meeting Phas, about her hopes and dreams for the future. She is surprisingly resilient, Rey decides, for someone who has been through such a harrowing situation. Her optimism is contagious.
The friendship between them glows like a warmth in Rey's chest, natural and good and easy.
When they finally pull into the city, they head to the historic district and find a (relatively) cheap hotel where they book a room for the night. Nothing is actually that cheap this deep into the city, but Rey wants to be in the heart of things until she figures out where to locate Solo. Mando's RV would have made for a less expensive landing pad, but of course that isn't really an option this time. Maybe someday she'll get one of her own, if she finds a reason to leave Mando and Dyn. She likes the mobility - but this thought gives her a little flicker of uncertainty. Does she really want to keep doing this impermanence thing for the rest of her life?
"I need to go to the library," Jannah says after they're settled. "Can I borrow your phone to find the nearest one?"
Rey hands it over. Jannah ditched her own smart phone before she started this journey, using only a pre-paid burner for now to reduce the chance that Phas will find her. She says she doesn't really have a lot of others who might want to keep in contact with her anyway.
In the meantime Rey showers and puts her one set of clean clothes on. She washes the dirty ones in the sink and hangs them over the shower to dry. She doesn't plan on being here long enough to need more than the few items she brought, but the one item she must secure quickly is a waterproof coat. The rain drizzles lazily from a heavy gray sky, and it isn't so bad — certainly warmer than the Colorado winter she's braced for — but the jacket she brought will quickly get damp and make her cold. Just walking from the car to their room was chilly enough, the wind blowing in off the Sound it set her teeth chattering.
When she emerges fromt he bathroom, Jannah gives her back her phone and reports that there is a library within walking distance.
"I can meet you there," Rey says. "I need to do a bit of research too. But first I need to find a better jacket."
Jannah looks out their window and nods in agreement. "Yeah. I should probably get one too. Maybe an umbrella as well."
They stop at a small, boho-themed thrift shop squeezed between a Nepalese restaurant and a convenience store. Jannah is in love, scouring the cramped racks for beautiful clothes while Rey wanders around in search of a jacket. She finds one eventually, a very long dark green one with a huge floppy cowl-style hood and deep pockets. The arms are fitted and the rest is big and flowy, which she appreciates because it will disguise her bulletproof vest when she's ready to make her move. The fabric seems water resistant enough. She likes the color. It reminds her of the forest. Nearly ten years since escaping the Arizona desert and she still can't get over how much she loves lush green trees. Mando teases her about it a lot. She doesn't mind.
Jannah has picked out a couple things for herself and a couple things she thinks would look good on Rey. They spend way too much time there, but Rey loves every second of it. She's never had this before. She's never gone shopping with another girl before. If she needed clothes, Mando gave her a little cash and dropped her off at a giant discount store. This is a whole different experience, trying on bold new things and letting her imagination run wild. Jannah's enthusiasm is catching, and she has a great sense of style. Everything she suggests looks amazing.
In the end they each buy a few too many things, new jackets and one umbrella included, and then they keep making their way towards the library. Rey knows it probably wasn't wise, her funds aren't limitless, but she feels too happy to care much about money just now.
Seattle is a much bigger city than Denver, and Rey is momentarily swept away in the enchantment of this cool urban vibe. The skyscrapers tower above her, the commuters and residents and tourists sweep around her, and once in a while she catches a glimpse of a post alley market teeming with activity. Excitement courses through her veins, electric and invigorating. That sense of anticipation she felt earlier grows, like anything could happen now and it wouldn't surprise her. The uncommitted rain mists against her face and makes her feel wildly alive.
She loves the rain.
The library is mostly empty when they enter, so they're careful not to exchange too many words and break the stillness of the place. They each obtain an access pass for the computers and settle down to their tasks. Jannah means to find a job, and Rey means to find Han Solo.
Mando has a laptop for these kinds of things, and someday Rey will be able to buy her own. Before now she hasn't really made it a priority. She saved up to buy her own car, and that gets her where she needs to go. Her phone is an adequate enough access to the internet for most of her needs. But if she's serious about being a full-fledged bounty hunter, she should probably get a laptop. Maybe she will with part of the bounty she gets from bringing in Solo.
Mando has the Tor browser for when he needs to conduct deep dive investigations to find someone, and Rey wishes she had access to that now. The dark web would certainly be able to point her in the direction of illegal goods being distributed in Seattle. But she can't get there from a public computer, so she has to settle for cruder methods.
Something in the file said Solo had been known to traffic in bootlegged electronics, so she starts there. For the next several hours she searches, waving Jannah goodbye when she announces she's off to try to secure a same-day interview and promising to meet back up at the hotel in the evening. Rey's body becomes stiff and sore sitting there so long, and twice she has to go back for a new access pass when hers expires, but eventually she makes some headway.
She needs to find a business called Millennium Motors. It claims to be a restoration and salvage garage, but from her research, Rey thinks it might be a shell business, owned by Han's closest friend and accomplice, Jesus Bacca. Rey figures that if Solo is anywhere in the city, he'll likely turn up there.
Fortunately it's not too far away — within a couple miles, so a walkable distance. Rey puts the address into her phone and heads out. She stops by the hotel room to put her vest on, tie her hair up into a messy bun, and load her pockets again. She's not planning on taking Solo in today, she merely wants to observe his routine, but if the opportunity arises, she won't miss it.
She hides it all under her huge new coat and draws the delightfully big hood up over her head.
Then she makes her way down to the waterfront, threading the clumps of tourists trying to find Pike's, and takes herself into the less congested areas of private, small-scale shipping. Here there are no kitschy restaurants on the wharf, just industrial workshops and boat repair slips.
Millenium Motors is here, and Rey pauses to briefly admire the view the two men have secured here with their waterfront shop. The Sound sprawls on the other side of the street, deep and wide, trafficked with ferries and commercial ships and private boats. Rey takes a moment of self-indulgence, standing there, leaning against the short fence preventing clumsy pedestrians from falling into the water. She closes her eyes and breathes deeply.
The first time she saw the ocean was when she was ten. Mando took them to California for a few years. She still remembers the overwhelming awe she felt, standing on the beach for the first time, her feet buried in warm sand while cold waves broke against themselves and spread thin out on the shore, almost kissing her skin with foam. The water went on and on, unbroken all the way to the horizon. She felt small next to such an expanse — and vulnerable too. But it wasn't the daunting kind of vulnerability that the desert had given her. This was a thrill of excitement, of breathless wonder.
This isn't the exact same feeling now, but it's close. The Sound doesn't run all the way to the horizon. It's a narrow corridor of ocean water, bracketed on both sides by thickly forested hills and mist-shrouded mountains. And there are islands in the Sound too, interrupting the view. Still, the smell of the salty water and the cry of seagulls takes her back, and her heart swells.
Rey is certain that she could never be tired of being near water.
A noise behind her draws her attention, and she turns to see an old 60's era VW Westfalia bus roll-up in front of Millennium Motors, engine cutting just before a man jumps out of the driver's seat.
Her brow ticks up and she blinks in surprise.
It's Han Solo himself. He dusts off his pants and strides confidently into the office, not even bothering to lock up his van behind him. Rey props an elbow on one of the posts behind her and watches, waiting for him to emerge again. She appraises the vehicle curiously in the meantime. It is not in the best shape, which is a shame because that split-window model is highly collectible and extremely valuable. Rust collects around the wheel wells and in the crevice of that iconic V-nose. The paint, once blue, it would seem, is faded into a sort of non-color in most spots, only retaining some hue in the places that don't often see sun.
Still, the engine sounded good, and if he and his partner own a chop shop they must know something about cars.
Her fingers itch at the idea of getting her hands on a nice machine like that. She'd make it into something beautiful.
All is quiet for long enough that Rey decides to go over and investigate closer. She peeks into the windows. The car is cluttered, but not gross. It's less food trash and more things. Boxes of auto parts, a bag of charging cables, random odds and ends scatted over the seats and on the floor. There is a large taped up box on the passenger side of the front seat.
She hears shouting and skitters backwards quickly, taking refuge behind one of the dead husks of a car sitting in their lot, waiting to be scraped for parts.
Han emerges from the shop again, yelling at the man who comes out behind him.
"That's not what they said! And anyway, I can talk our way out of it, stop worrying so much, Chuy."
The second man is enormous. He must be almost seven feet tall, and built like a tank. He has a thick dark brown, almost black, beard and shaggy dark brown hair, beefy hairy arms and a broad chest. His skin is warm terra-cotta underneath all that hair.
Rey assumes this is Jesus Bacca. Mando is Latino too, and she's familiar with how these nicknames work. He also had an associate named Jesus, who he also called Chuy. They partnered together on jobs in California, before Rey was allowed to accompany him.
This giant Chuy grumbles something Rey doesn't catch.
"It'll be fine," Han insists, holding out his hands as if to prove his how unconcerned he is. "Just get the box, will you?"
Rey watches Chuy as he goes to the van and hauls out the taped box. He grunts at Han, who turns and starts to head around the side of the building. Rey follows at a discrete distance. They deposit the box on a trolly of other similarly sized parcels. Then Han fixes a cable company hat on his head and shrugs on a jacket with the same brand. He hands a set over to Chuy, who does the same.
Chuy takes hold of the trolly by the handle and pushes it out to the road. Han follows. And Rey follows too, further back so they don't detect her, tailing them as they make their way down the street and turn to go up the hill. It's a steep grade, but Chuy doesn't even break a sweat as he pushes the cart up the incline. A couple people who pass them don't even given them a second glance. They're blue collar maintenance workers. Nobody notices people like that, even when they're giant and imposing like Chuy.
They stop three fourths of the way up the hill, and Han fishes for keys in his pocket. There is a small door beside them, on the basement level of a building normally accessed at the top of the hill.
"I mean, he's twelve years old," Han is saying, his words echoing off the wall of the building now that he's facing the door, sliding the key into the handle. "Get him a video game or something."
Chuy's again mumbles, and this time Rey again fails to catch it.
"Yeah well, that's different. He was kind of a weird kid. He liked art, not video games," Han snorts.
They finally get the door open and go inside. Rey catches a fleeting glimpse of a — a tunnel? — before the door closes. It didn't look like a basement. It had that hemmed in, earth-and-brick look of an old tunnel with a string of lights running along the ceiling.
She waits for several seconds before going to test the door. It locked behind them, as she suspected.
There is a lot to consider here. She backs off and finishes climbing the hill, locating a little cafe where she orders a hot chocolate and munches on a croissant to help her think, keeping an eye on the street below from an advantageous window in case they should emerge.
She wants to get into the tunnel somehow, even though she can already see Mando's disapproving frown in her mind's eye if she were to tell him about it. He'd tell her it isn't smart. She doesn't know what is down there, how many accomplices they have, or all the entry and exit points. It isn't a good place to apprehend Solo, so she really should just forget it. Too many unknowns.
But she pulls up her phone anyway and googles tunnels under Seattle.
The results astonish her. Apparently this underground system is a veritable labyrinth. She immediately books a tour for that evening with a company that offers tourists a chance to visit the buried city Seattle is built on top of. It won't lead her to Han's stash, or whatever he's doing in there, but maybe it would give her a better idea of what to expect.
The other, more important matter to consider is his partner.
Chuy is enormous. She'll be lucky enough if she can take down Han, should he decide to resist arrest, but there's no way in hell she can subdue that tank of a man. If he decides to defend his friend — and they almost always do — she's going to have trouble. A taser might take him down, but somehow she doubts it. A rubber bullet pistol probably won't phase him either. He strikes her as the kind of beefcake that can take quite a number of hits and keep on going. Maybe she can talk him down, but it's a risk she's not excited to take.
She's gonna have to get Han alone.
An hour later, he and Chuy emerge from the tunnel and push a now-empty cart back down to their shop. Rey tails them again, and for the rest of the day, until Han eventually hops in his Westfalia and heads off somewhere. Chuy closes up the shop and rides off on his Harley. Rey might have followed Han, but she left her car at the hotel.
She walks to the storefront of the tour business, and an hour later takes that tour of the underground. She learns a great deal, mostly confirming her suspicions that she should not try to catch Han down there. Still, she has to kind of admire his audacity, using tunnels for the same purpose the gangsters of the 20's used them. Han's is an old profession, and he's sticking to the tradition of his craft. Well, bounty hunting is an old profession too, and Rey might be newer at hers than Han is, but she's determined to meet him on even footing.
She heads back to the hotel that night to find an excited Jannah.
"I did it!" She cries, her face exultant. "I can't believe it!"
"You got an interview?"
"I got the job!"
Rey's eyes widen. "The whole job?"
"I went down there and handed them my resume, said I was new to the city and asked if I could speak to the department chair about their goals. They gave me an interview on the spot and I walked out with the job! They must really be desperate!" Jannah laughs, bubbly and light.
"Or you must really be that great," Rey says with a huge grin. "Congratulations!"
"I have other news too." Jannah is practically effervescent with excitement. She bounces on her toes and grabs Rey's hands. "I think I found somewhere for us to live!"
"What?"
"I mean, I know you're here only temporarily, but they said that was fine!"
"Who is they?" Rey shakes her head, dizzied by this turn of events.
"After my interview I went to a sandwich shop to celebrate and get some lunch. I met this guy, we started talking. He was super nice. You know those people you just get a really good feeling about?"
"Yeah," says Rey.
"Well, he was one of those. Incredibly nice. Like, totally sweet. Before I knew it, we were telling each other our whole life stories."
Maybe Jannah just has that affect on people, Rey wonders. The same thing had happened the night before, with the two of them. Still, she's intrigued and keeps listening.
"He's from New York, no family either, like us. He lives with this married couple in this huge apartment — both the husband and the wife are totally loaded, apparently. They have a few rooms to spare. Finn, that's the guy's same, he is best buds with the husband, so they let him rent a room. He took me to meet them. Rey, they're so nice."
Rey is laughing before Jannah even finishes. Except for the trucker, has Jannah meant anyone who isn't nice since she left her abusive ex?
"So they're gonna rent us the room?" she concludes from this story.
Jannah nods. "Yeah, they said I could rent it on a six month contract basis with the option to extend at the end, if we all still like each other, and you're welcome to stay there as long as you like."
Rey slides her hand around the back of her neck, wondering if she should listen to that inner voice of Mando telling her to run a background check on these people, make sure they know what they were getting into here. No, she decides. People are inherently good. She believes that. Bad apples exist, like that truck driver, but more good apples exist than the bad.
"Will you come with me tomorrow so I can introduce you?" Jannah asks.
"Sure," says Rey. "When are they off work?"
"They work remotely a lot, apparently," says Jannah. "Finn said they'd be there in the morning."
Rey nods. "Okay, we'll go first thing in the morning."
A/N: You guys are super kind. I love your reviews, they make me really excited to keep going.
I may post the next chapter up later today if I can get it edited after work. We'll meet Ben in that one so I'm really impatient to get it posted for you folks. Plus this one is a lil' shorty chapter, so you deserve a little extra love. Watch for that one :D