XXIII.

Hope didn't recognize the face on the screen but from his attitude she could tell it was a merc … seen one, seen 'em all. Out of the sight of the merc she connected her PADD to the com station and pushed a few buttons.

"What do you want merc? Ya know, your kind is getting somewhat annoying. Trying to imitate Johns, aren't you? How low can you go? Kidnapping a kid. Didn't Johns any good and won't do you either." she spit out. Mercs only understood one language and if they sensed any fear or uncertainty in her she'd already have lost.

"Well, you are in no position to threat us but we are willing to trade her in."

Hope had to give the program some time to do its job. "What could I possibly have that you'd be interested in?"

The merc gnashed his teeth "Stop it, bitch, or we'll send you a piece of that little girl to get you serious. We want you and Riddick, unarmed, hands already cuffed, at those coordinates. You have two hours. And don't try to fool us, I'm not stupid Simmons or dumb Jay."

Out from the corner of her eye she could see the 'task accomplished' sign blink on the PADD; she knew now where the mercs were. 'Stupid assholes!'

"You can have me in two hours but not Riddick. He isn't even on the planet, knowing everything else you should know that too. It will take him at least three days to get here. That is if I can reach him."

The merc's smile was venomous. "Knew that. Just wanted to see if you are honest. George told us. Stupid boy but helpful. Don't know why Simmons put up with him. Two days. Better tell him to be quick, I'm not known for my patience. And again … no tricks or the girl will take the blame and it won't be pretty. Oh, and no authorities." That let him brake out in loud laughter. "Hell, now THAT was good! Authorities! Too bad you and your convict boyfriend can't call for help, isn't it?" He still snickered when he bent forward to disconnect.

"Wait, merc. I want prove that you have her and that she's alive and unharmed."

The merc paused for a moment and hit a button. "Already thought you'd want to know. Ok, here she is."

The view on the screen changed and showed Julie, tied up to a chair in the middle of what looked like a storage room full of crates and butts. The little program Hope had sent on its way resumed work and followed the signal of the camera facing Julie.

"I want to talk to her." Julie didn't seem hurt or frightened, instead she seemed to be angry Hope noted with a sigh of relieve.

"That's all you get. 2 days, then the kid is dead." And with that the merc closed the line.

Hope grinned grimly; she didn't only have the location of the mercs but much more importantly Julie's. She was looking up the coordinates when Taylor and Jeff stepped to her.

"Dylan came home. He told us that they had grabbed her after school on their way home. We have to inform the authorities. They'll deal with them."

"You can't; instead freeing Julie they'd only arrest me, tell you it's your own fault and file charges against you because you didn't turn me in. The mercs want Riddick and me and if I don't get Julie back until dawn I'll turn myself in and they'll let her go."

"What exactly are you intending to do?"

Hope sighed deeply. "Some of the stories the kids made up weren't so far out of reality. I already had a few confrontations with mercs. Riddick trained me; I'm not as good as he is, but then nobody is and so I'll be good enough to outmaneuver those thugs. I have their coordinates now and in a minute I'll know where Julie is. Trust me, please. I'll bring her back!"

Taylor and her uncle exchanged a glance. "I'm coming with you I won't let you deal with them on your own."

Hope shook her head reluctantly. "No, Taylor. Stay with your family. It took Riddick a year to train me for shit like that. But you can keep trying to hail him. Tell him what happened and ask him to come."

She had recorded the few the mercs had let her see from Julie and her surroundings and took in and memorized every little detail. The room was about 10x5 meters, looked like one of those standard for rent storage containers. She was able to read the inscription on the crates … they were full with spare parts of all sorts but she had problems to decipher the signs on the cans. It was a chemical substance but she could only read half of the notation printed on the front, directly above a red warning sign. 'C8H …' She wasn't a chemist and knew only the matters she used in her ship; she wasn't even able to guess what it could be … maybe Taylor knew. "Do you know what that chemical is?"

"Can't say it exactly without seeing the whole formula; something like brombenzylcyanid or ω-bromacetophenon or a similar substance. Or a derivative. Could be something completely different, more or less toxic than C8H6NBr or C8H7OBr. But what I can tell you is that all of those substances are highly toxic for your eyes. Get the hell Julie out of that room and be more than careful with those butts."

Hope was still silently cursing her luck when Serenity joined them. "Are you sure you are fit enough to bring my baby back?"

Serenity's question startled her. Hope knew what she was referring to ... she was too thin and still exhausted; 4 hours of good sleep and two meals weren't able to change that. Was she? She was already running on so much adrenaline that she felt capable of everything. And she didn't have to put up with the mercs, at least not with all of them. Yes, she was fit enough. A last fight and then she would get some rest. No, lots of rest.

"I'm fine, Serenity, I swear. They keep her in a storage room and stay themselves in a hotel. They'll only check on her once in a while; and if they have a guard on her it will be max one, they don't expect me to know where to find Julie and I have two days until they expect me to turn myself in. They think without Riddick here I'm not able to do anything that could harm them. I absolutely can deal with the situation. And there are still a few hours until it gets dark enough to go."

Serenity nodded. "You will eat now and then you will rest. And then you'll bring Julie home."

Hope turned to the three of them. "I'm so sorry for causing all that trouble. If I'd have suspected that something like that could happen I would have stayed away. I'll bring her back and then I'll deal with the mercs and make sure they'll stay away from you. They won't bother you anymore. I'll leave the planet immediately afterwards and you'll be safe again." And if 'deal with the mercs' meant that she had to hand herself over then be it; she had endangered her family and she would do everything in her power to get her niece home. "I'd love to turn back the clock but I can't, all I can do is ask you to forgive me."

Taylor took her shoulders and shook her. "Not that fast, Hope. We know it's not your fault and that you didn't intend to cause problems. I've found my sister after all those years and I won't let you turn yourself over or let you leave the planet without us. We'll think of something and deal with that as a family."

Hope was completely choked up. 'Family' She had no problems with leaving everybody behind when she left Aurelius and not a single day felt something like homesickness but it would be really hard for her to leave Taylor and his family and never see them again and though she had caused so much trouble they would stick by her.

She had forced herself to eat the meal Serenity had prepared and tried to get some rest but there was too much racing through her mind to relax and sleep. She was glad when the light faded and the shadows on the wall started to get long.

She had put on her clothes and checked everything she'd take with her a last time when Taylor handed her a headset.

"I've prepared them while you rested. Nobody will be able to follow our talk." Déjà vu. If the situation wouldn't have been that grave she would have laughed; Taylor really ticked the same way she did.

She reached the storage area right after dusk. A thorough scan had shown her that Julie indeed was alone there. She had given Taylor the codes to reach the Defiant although she hadn't any hope he would, but trying to hail Riddick would give them something to do; she knew out of own experience how hard it was to be confined to waiting.

"Taylor, I've found her. She's alone and I'm going in now. I turn the headset off until I'm out again so don't worry." What she didn't tell him was that she had readings about a bomb and didn't want the headset interfere with a possibly radio activated detonation.

The light of the street lanterns fell into the storage room and it was light enough too see everything pretty clear. Hope was so proud of her niece when she saw the little girl sitting there on that chair. She looked tired and exhausted but the strongest feeling she could sense was boredom. Julie's eyes lit up when she saw her aunt but she remained silent when she saw Hope pressing her index finger against her lips. She just nodded, watching narrowly Hopes movements.

Hope hadn't expected any hidden micros or another camera than the one she already knew about but as Riddick had taught her you can't be careful enough and so she ran another scan looking especially for hidden cams and micros but fortunately not finding anything else. She disabled the cam and knelt down in front of Julie, the tricorder running a scan of the thing beneath Julie's chair. "Hi, honey, how are you?"

"I'm fine now." the little girl whispered "but I want to go home. I'm hungry and I'm tired and I have to use the bathroom. And you can't imagine how rude they've been! They told me that I have to stay here until they get you and that they'll kill Mom and Dad and Dylan if I cry or scream." Now that an adult she trusted was in control of the situation she quickly started to lose her composure. Thick tears were streaming down her face. "I want to go home" she sobbed.

Hope hugged her tight but still didn't cut her restraints. "Honey, I know. You are so brave. Please be patient just one more minute. Tell me what else the men said."

Julie sniffled; she wanted to be a real Furyan kid like she had imagined all afternoon they would be; she just knew Furyans were brave and didn't cry like babies. "They laughed and said something about a firework and an explosive surprise but I don't know what they meant by that."

"It's OK, honey, my tricorder will know. See, it scans everything in here."

The tricorder confirmed Hope's worst fears … it was definitely a bomb Julie was sitting on and it would explode as soon as Julie got up. And although she was an engineer she had less to none clue how to deactivate that thing. She scanned it several times until she had kind of a diagram but it didn't help in the least; the readings didn't make any sense as long as there wasn't a second bomb but she could see none.

"Honey, can you please be patient for another few minutes? It will take some time to get your restraints open. Why don't you tell me something about you in the meantime? I want to know everything about my favorite niece. What's your favorite color?" Hope didn't intend to listen what Julie was telling her but she had to keep the kid calm to be able to concentrate. She looked around if she could find something to replace Julie's weight on the chair but didn't come up with anything. She tried to crack the code that would deactivate the bomb but failed coz she was too afraid to get the bomb to explode immediately if she made a mistake. Did she have time to call for help? She wouldn't even know whom. Riddick would know how to deactivate that little blighter; he had ranger training and despite that he was able to do absolutely everything.

She hadn't realized that Julie had stopped talking. "Aunt Hope, what's the matter? You are staring at your tricorder for an eternity now."

Hope gave her an encouraging smile and placed her headset in Julie's ear. There was only one way she could think of how to get Julie out of here.