Ch 19

"Where…exactly did you say you found her?" Tom asked, eyeing the wild looking woman that stood over the cowering politician.

When Tuvok had called requesting that Tom beam down with his medkit, he'd immediately come down, leaving Harry manning the Flyer. When Tom had mentioned the field protecting the house from transports, Tuvok had wryly advised him to use the front door. An old Trill had opened the door and led Tom to the lounge where the politician, in-between sobs of pain, had continually threatened their careers, their lives, and their general well-being. It had thrilled Tom to no end when Chakotay, B'Elanna, and this new woman had appeared, silencing the senator's trite attempts to intimidate them.

B'Elanna shrugged in answer to Tom's question. "She was downstairs."

"Uh huh," Tom nodded, "and uh, what's she doing now?"

"Getting answers?" B'Elanna mused.

"I think it's probably a good thing I still have this then," he said, holding up the medkit.

"I don't think you're going to need it. He seems to be pretty talkative now."

And he was. Mercado was telling Tuvok and Chakotay about the entire operation. His cut of the money. Naming some of the buyers. How they acquired new merchandise. Milo wasn't the only one that worked through Merc's house, his were just some of the best.

"You still haven't told me the one thing I want to know," Chakotay growled menacingly. "Who bought my wife? Who bought Admiral Kathryn Janeway."

"I…uh…I did." Mercado swallowed nervously, glancing quickly between Chakotay and Lekatne. "B-but not for myself. I was just buying for someone else. I swear."

Lekatne nodded silently, confirming to Chakotay what the man said was the truth.

"Tell us who."

"I don't know! Milo told me a certain amount. I couldn't bid over that amount, but I never knew who it was for." He jumped as though he'd been struck by an invisible hand. "Please, I swear I don't know."

"You know something!" Lekatne spoke forcefully, and it seemed like her voice filled the entire room. The hair on the back of Tom's neck stood on end, and he was thankful he wasn't the subject of her ire. "Tell the truth. All of it."

Mercado shrunk further into the chair. "I don't know his name. I swear I don't… but he's…he's a king or something on some backwater planet. Milo's delivering her to him. Said it would take him a few days to get there. That's it…that's all I know."

"Tell us about Milo's ship. How do I find it?" Chakotay asked, barely controlling himself at the continued thought of Kathryn being bought and delivered like she was some kind of furniture. An accent piece to dress up a person's bedroom.

"I…can't." Mercado stammered and immediately cried out again as though in pain. Tuvok's gaze slid to the wild woman standing next to him. "Okay. All right, just make her stop." Mercado sucked in a lungful of air as though he'd just been released from some sort of stranglehold. Tom and B'Elanna exchanged a look, but Chakotay never took his eyes off Mercado.

"Tell us."

Mercado nodded and sweat ran down his forehead. "Okay, uh, everything I have on his ship is in my files on the desk."

Chakotay jerked a head at B'Elanna and she went over to look. "Lekatne, is there anything else the senator isn't telling us?"

She was quiet for a minute. "Not about Admiral Kathryn, but he knows more about the operation than he's saying. Other buyers, I think."

"Starfleet Security can get that out of him. Milo already has a head start, we need to move," Chakotay said. "Tuvok, call Starfleet Security. Get them here."

"We're already here, Captain," Commander Hughes said, striding into the office with several officers waiting in the hall behind him. "And you better have a damn good reason for being here-"

"Admiral Janeway is alive," Chakotay said, cutting the man off. "My wife. The one you've already written off for dead. How's that for a good reason?"

The commander paused. "What are you talking about?"

"If you had done your job, you'd know," Chakotay growled. "You want answers, you ask him. My team and I are leaving."

"No one is going anywhere."

Chakotay looked towards the door, surprised. He hadn't been expecting the head of Starfleet Security to arrive. "Admiral Brislin, I was just explaining to Commander Hughes that he needs to take this man," he pointed towards Mercado, "into custody. He has all the answers to the disappearance of my wife as well as operations involving a sex slavery ring that has been operating right here in this city."

Brislin looked towards Mercado and then surveyed all the occupants of the room. He ran a hand across his chin before addressing Chakotay. "I don't know how you all did things in the Delta Quadrant, but this is not how we operate, Captain. You don't go barging into people's homes to interrogate them, and you certainly don't do it to people currently sitting on the Federation Council."

"Time is of the essence, sir," Chakotay refused to back down, "and your team wasn't getting the job done."

Brislin shared a look with Hughes. "Janeway is alive, huh? He told you that?"

"That and a lot of other information that I'm sure Starfleet will find interesting."

"And how can you rely on him to tell the truth, Captain?"

Chakotay turned to introduce Lekatne only to find she was nowhere in sight. "Where did she-"

There was a low chuckle from the door way, and the old Trill stepped forward. "She left. Her people can do that. They don't particularly like authority figures," he said, eyeing the admiral. "But, I can tell you everything you want to know, and back up everything that has already been said."

"And…you are?" Brislin asked skeptically.

"Wesbeck Powell, but everyone just calls me Powell," he said, with a mock bow towards Mercado. "I've been working for decades to infiltrate this ring ever since my previous host body was abused by their…business." The Trill's eyes seemed to darken at the thought. "But it's only in the past year, I've been able to have a role close enough to the inside to finally do some damage."

"You son-of-a-bitch," with the disappearance of the witch, Mercado had once again found his voice, "It was you? You're the reason-"

"The reason a lot of your buyers have been winding up dead recently? Yes," Powell admitted proudly. "Except for Nemor, I can't take any credit for him."

"Nemor?" Hughes asked.

"He's downstairs," B'Elanna answered dryly. "Don't worry, he isn't going anywhere."

Powell continued, "Sometimes it takes me awhile, but I've contacted the family members of every girl that's been sold out of here. Given them the locations and names of who purchased them. Fathers, sisters," he nodded towards Chakotay, "Husbands. They don't take too kindly to having their loved ones kidnapped. They are the ones that have been taking care of your buyers after the fact while I gathered evidence to take out the likes of you and Cyronius."

"Do you know who bought Kathryn?" Chakotay asked urgently. "Do you know where Milo is taking her?"

"I'm sorry, I don't have the name," Powell said. "I know it takes Milo a few days to get there, but I haven't been able to find out the coordinates or the name of the planet, yet." He looked disgustedly at Mercado. "Another girl was taken there a few weeks back, her family is already searching, but last I heard they had not yet found this so called king."

"I'll look for Milo first, but if we're too late with him, I'll find this king," Chakotay stated emphatically, shaking the Trill's hand. "Thank you."

"When you find Milo," Powell said, "give Sheila my regards. You'll know her when you see her, and she'll remember me."

Chakotay nodded that he would and headed for the door. A security officer that had arrived with Admiral Brislin stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

"Captain," Brislin called out, "where do you think you're going? We're not finished here."

"I'm going to get my wife and child, sir," Chakotay tossed back over his shoulder, barely taking his eyes off the security officer, "you can court martial me when I get back."

"What about your crew, Captain? Would you have them court martialed as well?"

"There are more important things than Starfleet," B'Elanna said as she purposefully bumped the admiral when she moved past him to join Chakotay at the door.

Brislin sighed, nodding his head at the security guard, signaling him to move out of their way. "This isn't over yet, Captain."

Tom paused at the door on his way out. "It's like you said, sir, you don't know how we did things in the Delta Quadrant, but I'll tell you this…when it's all over, Admiral Janeway and Madelyn will be standing here with us. You can count on that."