A/N: Shout outs to my anonymous reviewer and James Birdsong! Glad you liked the last chapter. More on the "Now What?" right now. ;)
Chapter 23
"Where is Lieutenant Bayram?" The man asked as he took a seat in the small dining room.
"It's a long story, which I promise I will get into. We need to wait for Boq and I need to handle something for Lady Glinda," Elphaba promised. He nodded and let her disappear into the kitchen. He wasn't sure what she said but he was sure that it was something important as he could hear the sounds of the kitchen coming alive.
The entrance to the room opened and in walked a man made of metal. The spy's eyes went wide. He knew of the man in front of him, but the green woman had said for the guards to get Boq. Was that the Tin Man?
"Ah Boq, thank you for coming! We have here the man you've been communicating with," Elphaba smiled.
"He answered the riddle?" Boq raised an eyebrow.
"He did and correctly, I might add," Elphaba was still smiling. Boq nodded and then introduced himself,
"I am the Tin Man, also known as Boq of Munchkinland. You are?"
"I am Fazil, former Gale Force. The Lieutenant offered me this opportunity and the information is something we must act on," the man explained as Boq got into a chair.
"What do you have? You said life and death earlier," Elphaba spoke up as she took a seat as well.
"Yes. Foster is upset, more so than usual, but he won't tell anyone why. It's evident in his speeches and in his everyday behavior. Then I heard him say that it was time to take someone out. I took this to mean one thing…" Fazil explained.
"He wants someone dead," Boq figured.
"Exactly so. He's always been a talker but when it comes to pulling the trigger, he always rather someone else do it for him. I can only assume this person was supposed to do something and didn't or at least didn't do it to his satisfaction," the spy knew that he was onto something big, but he had no idea how big.
"Who was this person he was speaking of?" Elphaba wanted to know.
"He is a concern but there is another problem," Fazil didn't directly answer her question.
"What problem is that?" Boq was confused.
"Why is the Lieutenant not here?" The spy was understandably concerned. The man who hired him hadn't been seen in public and was now not here at this meeting.
"He and Lady Glinda came down with a rather nasty bout of the flu. They are still recovering. Boq was the one sending you the coded messages, which is why I asked him here," Elphaba didn't want to give out the truth just yet.
"Are you sure that's what it is?" Fazil asked.
"What are you insinuating?" Elphaba gave him a look.
"Rumors only, I'm afraid. One night, one of the boys got a little too drunk. As they say, loose lips sink ships. He tells me that Foster ordered a hit on a couple of people whose deaths would benefit the cause. Despite being that wasted, he couldn't or wouldn't give up who. Given Foster's speeches… it was a crazy thought, but he does want Lady Glinda out of the way. Then here the Lieutenant doesn't sit so…" Fazil figured.
"More than a rumor. Lady Glinda and Lieutenant Bayram were poisoned, not effectively, mind you. We solved the mystery and saved them," Elphaba finally relented.
"I was afraid of that. Foster's speeches started off with talking about protesting, about getting new Council members selected, and about doing things the right way. You know, basically if new Council members get selected and they veto whatever Glinda wants to do or they rile up their country, then the pressure would cause Glinda to back down. Now… he's decided that violence must be the only way. I figured that's because his followers take him seriously but no one else does. Let's not kid ourselves, the bulk of his followers are Wizard loving boobs or they don't like the idea of a woman in power," the spy explained.
"Morrible was more in power than the Wizard ever was. They're contradicting themselves," Elphaba shook her head.
"Oh, they don't believe the reports that Glinda put out. They call it convenient. Doesn't seem to matter that the Wizard was executed for his crimes," Fazil told them.
"Zealots," Boq frowned.
"All day long. Now the name I managed to discover was Farhidi. I have no idea who that is, but he was the one who had the hit on him," the spy finally spilled the beans.
"Fiyero has him in custody and thankfully behind the Palace walls," Elphaba heaved a sigh. They had gotten to the mill owner seemingly just in time.
"He won't squeal to Fiyero. He won't care that he's the Captain of the Guard," Fazil said.
"Why not? He looked like he was going to pass out when Doctor Talib examined him," Elphaba was confused.
"Foster kept talking about incentive for his target. I mean does this Farhidi have a family or something?" Fazil asked.
"His family is in Gillikin, but he's been in the city for ten years. For some reason he didn't bring his family with him," the green woman told him.
"Odd. He goes to that brothel though, doesn't he? It's a favorite hangout of some of the boys and they told Foster that they had their meeting there the other day. I found out it was a bit of a working lunch," Fazil explained.
"We need to get to the woman that Farhidi was seeing at the brothel," Elphaba stood from the table and ran out into the hallway.
To Be Continued…
