Ford quickly carefully followed the drag marks in the gravel. They lead around the corner to the grocery store's back lot, coming to a stop at the edge, out of sight from the alley. There was a spray of gravel and a little visible dirt where the drag marks stopped, indicating that a car had left really fast.
Ford managed to follow the tracks until they reached the concrete entrance to the main road.
He let out a series of curses. Tracking a car on concrete was nigh impossible without some tech that he did not currently have. He could, of course, recreate it, but that would take time. He wasn't sure that time was something Stan had.
As he was standing there for a moment, conjuring up worse care scenarios in his mind, there was a heavy thud of something approaching him from the right. Nerves on high alert, Stanford spun, drawing his ray gun and leveling it at the offender in the same motion…
And found himself face to face with a very shocked Multibear.
The Multibear took a step back and they regarded each other for a moment, before Ford lowered his gun.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, sounding a lot more aggressive then he intended.
"I was in town to buy the latest Babba CD. You seem… unusually jumpy today, is something wrong?"
The Multibear eyed him with concern, three of his heads focusing on Ford as the bear shifted his balance.
He took a deep breath, trying to slow his pulse.
"Someone has kidnapped Stanley."
"What!?" The Multibear roared in shock, all of his heads now focused on Stanford.
"Who would do that?"
"I don't know," Ford said. "I was trying to follow the tracks, but I don't have anything to use to trace a car on concreate."
Frustration colored his tone as he twined and untwined his fingers.
"Do you have anything with Stan's scent on it?"
Ford nodded.
"His car's over there."
The Multibear dropped to all fours and started sniffing around with his multiple noses. He started at the Stan's car, carefully smelling the blood with a snarl, and followed the scent past where Ford was standing and onto the road.
"I've got the trail. If you want to follow along in a car I can lead you to him. But we need to start immediately, before the trail gets old."
Ford in old Diablo in a moment. A few of the bear's heads were eyeing him, so he gave him a nod. The Multibear let out a loud roar, like a hound baying, and charged forward, four or five of its noses to the ground.
Ford trailed at a slight distance so he could stop or change directions if needed. They quickly headed out of town to the east, pine trees flashed by as they made haste.
It was starting to get dark when the Multibear lead them into the parking lot of a biker bar in the next town over. Ford pulled up beside him and rolled down his window.
"The scent leads here, but it's too weak for me to track it any farther."
"That's okay," Ford said eyeing the bar.
He parked the car and got out quickly, drawing his trench coat loosely around him and making sure his ray gun was hidden at his side.
"You check the cars for Stanley's scent just to be sure. I'm going to see if I can get some information."
The bear nodded and started sniffing around the lot.
Ford took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and entered the bar.
It was exactly what he had expected. The establishment was poorly lit and smelled strongly of smoke, vomit, alcohol and a faint copper tinge of blood. The men inhabiting the building were a rough looking, cutthroat lot. Most wearing leather and biker jackets.
Ford felt their attention focus on him as the door closed. He had dealt with similar places on the other side of the portal, so he simply straightened his back and strode confidently toward the bar. The barman approached him and asked what he wanted. He asked for a rum and sat down, observing the other patrons from his vantage point. The convenient thing about looking for Stan was that since they looked so similar he could get some idea of who might know something just by seeing if they showed recognition when they saw him. The bar tender returned with his drink, setting it down rather hard in front of him. As he turned to go away, Ford grabbed his arm.
"Do you know of a Stanley Pines?" He asked.
The man regarded him for a moment through a pair of annoyed dull gray eyes.
"He comes by here occasionally for… business. Haven't seen him recently though."
He tugged away from Ford before he could make any further inquiries.
Stanford sighed and began to pick up conversations with the other patrons. His search eventually led him to a wiry man named Charles seated at one of the corner tables.
"I heard you know something about Stanley Pines?" Ford asked seating himself across from the red-haired man.
Charles gave him a crooked toothed grin.
"Sure do," He regarded Ford for a moment and let out a low whistle.
"Damn, I heard his brother had turned up, but I wasn't expecting such a splittin' image of him."
His eyes ran across Ford's body and as they settled on his hands and his eyebrows went up. As he opened his mouth to comment, Ford shot him a cold glare and the man quickly looked away.
"So you're looking for Pines, I can give you a few pointers, but what do I get out of it?"
Ford slid some money across the table.
Charles' grin widened as he pocketed the money, then folded his hands in front of him.
"Well, a day or two ago this big Colombian guy, Jorge, drops by. Says he wants to know about Pines. From the sound of it he's got some sort of bad past business with him. He was back by a few hours ago today. Gone now though."
He took another sip of his beer.
"Where did he go?" Ford asked with barely contained impatience.
"Eh? I don't know," Charles said carelessly, swishing the beer around in his glass.
Ford could tell he was lying.
"There's some more money in it for you if you talk."
Charles glanced at him through half lidded eyes.
"Sorry, nothing I can tell ya."
Ford could feel a cold anger starting to pump through his veins. This man had information that could help him find his brother, who could be severely injured or even dying, and he wasn't talking.
"Why don't you tell me before I lose my temper" Ford said growled.
"Yeesh. No need to get your pants in a knot, there's nothing I can tell you."
That was it. Ford stood up quickly, his chair clattering to the ground. Before Charles could react he was pinned up against the wall by a strong five-fingered grip.
"Tell me before I do something you'll regret," He half-yelled at the man.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the bartender glaring at them. He redoubled his grip on Charles' coat collar and dragged the struggling man out the door.
Outside he slammed him into a corner
"Now talk."
"I can't go telling my patrons secrets if I want to have a job," Charles snarled back at him.
Ford saw a glint out of the corner of his eye and caught Charles' hand before he could stab him, wrenching the knife out of his grip.
Keeping the smaller man pinned up against the wall with one hand he reached into his packet with the other. He withdrew his hand now covered in the electric glove. He activated it and it crackled ominously.
"What is that?"
"A world of pain for you if you don't talk."
"I won't. I can't rat him out, once you get pegged as a rat no-one'll trust you," Charles said eyeing the glove warily.
Then Charles' eyes went big as they focused on something over his shoulder.
"I'm done checking the cars," Ford heard the Multibear say from behind him.
Now Charles looked terrified.
"W-W-What is – what is that?" He stammered.
Hmm. Ford could use this. He remembered that people of this type tended to be rather superstitious.
"He's the demon that is going to be punishing you for your bad deeds. If you talk though, he might let you go."
Ford didn't think it was possible for the man's face to get any whiter or his eyes any bigger, but he was wrong.
"I'll tell you, I'll tell you! Just please don't let it hurt me!" Charles pleaded frantically.
"Jorge went to the old shack by Stellar's Lake. That's down the road about 10 miles, to the left. He said somethin' about having some fun with an old friend, and needing to line up a new car for afterward."
Ford could feel the Multibear's breath on his shoulder as the beast growled.
"T-t-t-t-that's all I know, honest," Charles' stammered fearfully, his voice cracking.
"Please let me go!"
He seemed to be telling the truth this time, so Ford released his grip on the man's collar and watched as he slid into a sobbing heap on the ground.
"If you're lying we'll be back for you."
"Come on," He said as he turned around, signally for Multibear to follow him.
"I'm not a demon, you know," The bear commented casually as they ran back to the car.
"Yeah, I know, but he doesn't."
He glanced at the bear for a moment.
"Thanks for coming, it really helped."
"Anything for the Pines family." The bear replied, giving him a small smile.