Chapter Two
Hans really didn't know how he had ended up in this bizarre situation. His manager was missing, possibly hurt or possibly having run away after trying to kill him, he was in the company of several near-strangers, and they seemed to be willing to help him without wanting anything in turn. People just weren't that nice . . . unless they were sweetly naive like Anna. These people, or at least Radley and Kalin, did not appear to be naive.
He wasn't sure how to look back on those hours with Anna anymore, not after his life had so strangely and unexplainably fallen apart shortly after meeting her. What had happened? He had racked his mind over and over for some answer, some solution that actually made sense, but he had never found one. One minute he had been sincerely concerned about Anna's half-frozen state upon her arrival at the palace, and the next he had been proclaiming he had never loved her and leaving her to die in an icy room.
Of course she didn't believe he had been controlled. He had hurt her too deeply, too irreparably, and no insane explanation he could ever give would ever be good enough.
Was he fooling himself? Had he told himself the story of being controlled so many times that he had come to believe it when it actually wasn't true?
Was he really that horrible a person?
He had gone to Arendelle hoping to begin a romance with one of the princesses in order to escape his horrible home life, but that in itself surely wasn't a crime. Anna had honestly touched his heart with her bubbly, sweet nature, and although he had initially planned on trying for Elsa, Anna had quickly claimed his interest instead. He had hoped it would work out between them. But someone or something had gotten in the way. Now he was still trying to pick up the remnants of his shattered life and some mysterious party out there didn't even want him to have that.
Strange, how someone could change quite completely due to events spanning one or two days. He had gone to Arendelle with almost as much hope as Anna. He had left confused, embittered, and with most of any remaining trust in people decimated. But here he was, pushed into a situation where he pretty much had to trust again unless he wanted to fumble through this mess on his own, and under the circumstances, surrounding himself with people seemed the wisest choice instead.
Unless whoever was after him wouldn't care if others got caught up in their mad desire for blood. He didn't want to risk their lives.
He stumbled to his feet, setting aside the icepack. "Thank you for all you've done and all you're trying to do," he said. "You have no reason to get involved any deeper than you already are. I can't ask you to keep on with this."
"Wha - ?! We've barely even started!" Scotch exclaimed.
"The police will want to talk to me, no doubt, since it was my hotel room that blew up," Hans said. "I'll go to them. Maybe I'll tell them the whole rotten story . . . minus that thing about possession. That won't go any farther than this room, I'm sure."
Radley stood as well. "Are you sure?" He frowned.
"You'd be risking your safety, maybe your very lives, for a complete stranger," Hans said. "I can't swear this person wouldn't still come after me even with you around. And I'm sure they wouldn't want you investigating what's going on. You'd be making yourselves targets for their bloodlust!"
"You're not a complete stranger!" Scotch protested. "We know you!"
Hans smirked darkly. "From a movie, and one that didn't turn out well for me. Surely you can't really want to keep plunging headlong into possible life-threatening danger, risking life and limb for the villain of said movie."
Radley sighed, exchanging a look with Kalin before speaking again. "I'll admit this is pretty out there," he said. "I never once dreamed we'd be discovering that Frozen is real, or that we'd end up trying to help you after someone nearly killed you in our presence." He folded his arms. "But we're in it now. What if this person is watching you? They'd know we've been with you for hours. Maybe we're already targets."
Alarm passed through Hans' eyes. He hadn't considered that.
"At this point, the wisest thing for all of us would be to find out what's going on," Kalin agreed.
Finally Hans sighed in resignation. "I see your point," he said.
Radley nodded. "And I think the next step should probably be to look for your manager. Do you have any idea where he'd go if he isn't just skipping out on you?"
"He likes bars and casinos," Hans said. "But I don't know if he'd go to one after returning to the hotel and finding his room a disaster zone."
"What if he still hasn't been back and doesn't know what happened?" Radley suggested.
"Then he could still be in a high-stakes poker game," Hans replied.
"Has he been in town long enough to find some favorite places?" Kalin asked.
"He likes this place styled after the American Old West," Hans said. "The . . . Maverick House of Cards, I believe."
"Oh yeah," Radley mused. "I've heard of it. It's run by descendants of the Maverick clan, famous gamblers from the 19th Century. There's been TV series and a movie about them."
"So let's go there and check it out!" Scotch exclaimed.
"And we need to talk to the police too," Radley said. "They'll no doubt want statements from all of us about the explosion."
"I know." Hans sighed. "Let's get started."
"What first?" Scotch asked.
"I know we should probably see the police first," Radley said, "but I'm also worried about locating this Lawton guy and seeing if he's on the level. If he's the Lawton we know, he'll bolt at the first sign of police."
"Let's check the casino first," Kalin decided.
No one protested.
xxxx
The Maverick House of Cards was a very fancy casino decked out like the 19th Century in its decor and furnishings. The walls were adorned with photographs and paintings of the various Mavericks and informative blurbs about each one.
"This is really interesting," Radley mused. "I've never been here before."
"I didn't even know gambling was legal in the City!" Scotch said.
"I think you're only allowed to play certain games," Radley said. "There's one variety of poker that's usually illegal everywhere."
"I don't see my manager anywhere," Hans said in frustration.
"Let's ask someone about him," Radley said.
That netted them the information that he had indeed been there, but had left some time back. No one knew where he had intended to go from there.
"Well, that's a dead end," Kalin said in disgust.
Scotch sighed. "What do we do now?"
"Check the bars?" Radley sighed too. The City had no shortage of those.
"Maybe just the ones right around here," Hans said. "He usually stays in one area for these things."
Even that took a bit of time. By the time they searched the ones on the next couple of blocks in vain, they were all exasperated and ready to move on.
"Maybe we'd better just check in with the police now," Radley sighed. "We can tell them about your manager too."
"They won't do anything until he's been missing for 24 hours, will they?" Hans countered.
"Usually not. But there's always the chance he was hurt in the explosion," Radley said. "Maybe they'd start looking faster if he might be wandering around dazed and injured."
"I really didn't think he was at the hotel when the bomb went off," Hans said. "I wouldn't have left so readily if I had."
"Yeah. He probably wasn't there," Radley said. "And if he's our Lawton, we might never find him. Even if he's not involved with what's happening, he could decide these attacks are made to order and he'll just hide out and wait for one of them to succeed so he can come out and claim the insurance money."
Hans grimaced. "Well, that's morbid. But if he's this person, he might."
"Hey, I've got an idea!" Scotch took out his phone. "You don't have pictures of your Lawton, but I can probably find one of ours on an Internet search!" He tapped a search query and waited.
"Anything?" Kalin grunted.
"Well, there's this mug shot," Scotch said, and held up a picture of Lawton Coulter glowering at the camera.
Hans looked. ". . . I'm not completely sure from such a severe expression, but the resemblance is enough to show it's a high possibility," he sighed.
"Great," Kalin grunted. It was really what they had expected, but it still wasn't pleasing news.
"Okay," Radley sighed. "Let's go to the police."
Officer Tetsu Trudge was harried and overwhelmed that night with all the chaos at the Royal Hotel. It seemed there was no end to phone calls and people coming in about the explosion and asking about Hans. When the little group came in and he caught sight of them, he stared in shock and then immediately pounced.
"There you are!" he gruffly exclaimed to Hans. "Do you know how many Sector Security officers have been tearing up the town looking for you once we realized it was your room that blew up?!"
"I'm sorry, Officer," Hans said in chagrin. "We were all in shock when it happened. These people were good enough to take me to a doctor."
Trudge sighed in exasperation. "But you're okay then? Do you have any idea who could have done this?"
"Yes, I am, but no, unfortunately, I don't." Hans frowned. He hesitated, then added, "It's not the first attempt on my life. And my manager is missing."
"Yeah, we know about him, and . . . wait a minute!" Trudge scrutinized him. "This has happened before?!"
"Well, not this, specifically," Hans said. "But it's the fourth time someone's tried to kill me in the last few weeks."
Trudge's expression darkened. "Come into my office."
Soon they were all settled in Trudge's office. Radley stayed quiet, curious to see how Hans would handle the situation and thinking it best to let him say what he wanted. Following his lead, Kalin and Scotch stayed quiet too.
"You know about the Arendelle Cup the City is having," Hans began.
"Do I!" Trudge snorted. "You haven't lived until you've tried running security for visiting royalty! Two at that!"
Hans shifted uncomfortably. "I . . . have some complicated history with the queen and the princess of Arendelle."
Trudge took a moment to fully process that. "You're that Hans?!" he finally exclaimed.
"Yes," Hans said. "And I know it doesn't make sense, but there were circumstances that made it so I wasn't in control of my faculties when I went after them."
"You're darn-tootin' it doesn't . . . you mean like dark magic?" Trudge frowned with sudden unerstanding.
Han looked shocked. ". . . Something like that. You actually believe me?!"
Trudge leaned back with a sigh. "We've got a taskforce now that investigates magic-related crimes. We finally solved a murder not too long ago of a guy killed by paranormal means."
Radley looked impressed. "That's pretty cool."
"Yeah. So we know this kinda thing can happen," Trudge said gruffly. "But what does it have to do with people trying to off you?" He looked back to Hans.
"There were notes with the first attempt on my life admitting that I was being targeted for what I did in Arendelle," Hans said. "If all of the attempts are by the same person, that's apparently the motivation. . . . Unless it's a cover for a different reason," he added, remembering Radley's words.
"Like what?" Trudge asked.
"I don't know," Hans sighed.
"His manager might be trying to kill him for his life insurance policy," Radley spoke up now. "He's tentatively identified his manager as Lawton Coulter, going by the alias Lawton Colman."
"What?!" Now Trudge was shocked. "That lunatic might be hanging around here again?!"
"Alternately, maybe he left because he didn't wanna be seen in the City, where he'd be sure to be recognized," Radley sighed.
"Have you got anything with his fingerprints?" Trudge asked Hans.
"Nothing that would still be valid, as we've both touched it," Hans said. "Actually, ever since we got to town, he's been wearing gloves. I asked him why and he said it was a fashion statement. I didn't buy that, but I didn't ever stop to think that maybe he didn't want to leave fingerprints here."
Trudge reached for the phone. "I'm putting an APB out on this guy."
"How long has he been your manager anyway?" Kalin wanted to know.
"Almost a year," Hans said. "We met in Europe."
"Well, he sure got around," Radley mused. "We figured he didn't really go up to Canada like he threatened."
"I still don't get why he'd want to manage race car drivers!" Scotch said.
"Do any of us?" Kalin grunted.
"He probably just thought it was a good cover for a while so he could start building another fancy nest egg," Radley said.
Hans sighed. "And we still don't have any better idea on who might be after me than we did before."
"What happened right before the first attack?" Trudge asked as he hung up the phone. "Could you have seen anything somebody didn't like?"
"Of course that's possible, but nothing is standing out to me," Hans said. "I don't remember seeing anything strange. The race went off without any serious injuries to any of the drivers and everyone crossed the finish line safely."
"That's kind of unusual itself, isn't it?" Scotch blinked.
Hans smirked darkly. "If that knowledge was worth killing for, all of the racers and the audience would have been targets."
"So what can we do about all this?" Radley asked Trudge.
"Not a lot at this point, except to put Mr. Joris . . . Westergaard . . . whatever his name is in protective custody," Trudge said.
"I want to find out who's behind these attacks," Hans said. "If I just hide away and don't go through with the Turbo Duels, this person might not try again for a long time. I can't stay in protective custody forever. The instant I would try to go back to my life, I could be targeted again."
Trudge sighed in resignation. "Yeah, that's the kind of thing all of you brave, crazy guys say. And you're probably right. If you insist on going through with the Turbo Duels to try to draw this guy out, I can provide police protection but they won't always be able to assist you on the race track. So if something happens out there, they might not get to you in time."
"Fair enough," Hans said.
"When's the first Turbo Duel?" Kalin asked.
"This weekend," Hans said, "but I'm scheduled to use the track to practice on tomorrow." He grimaced. "And I think Elsa and Anna will be using the track right before me to practice for the Arendelle Cup."
Radley winced. "So there might be an accidental meet-up there."
"We'll need to talk to Queen Elsa and Princess Anna about these attacks, see if they might have any ideas on them," Trudge said. "Maybe it's irate subjects from Arendelle."
"I don't envy you that task," Hans said.
"If we're handing all of this over to the police, that means we're out of it, doesn't it?" Scotch said, looking a bit disappointed.
Radley chuckled gently. "We don't have any jurisdiction here," he said. "Unless something goes wrong back in Satisfaction Town that's connected with this mess, we don't have any authority to help with the investigation."
"Unless I grant you guys special permission to help out," Trudge said. "You were at the hotel when the blast went off. Maybe you saw something helpful. And nobody knows Lawton Coulter better than you guys do. If Lawton Colman is an alias of his, I'd feel better having you all onboard."
"Yes!" Scotch couldn't help exclaiming as he punched the air with a fist.
Hans gave him a look. "Maybe I should feel flattered, but this is my life we're talking about. It's not fun and games."
Scotch flushed. "I know. . . . It's just . . . it's not every day you get to help someone from . . . from a movie. . . ."
Hoping to steer the conversation away from a possible argument, Radley said, "I wonder if Malcolm might know if Colman is an alias Lawton has ever used."
"Let's find out." Trudge picked up the phone again and called the Facility. Within minutes a video call was set up and Malcolm appeared on the holographic projector, looking disgruntled to be bothered.
"What is it now?" he grumbled.
"Aww, is that any way to greet old friends?" Radley said lightly.
Malcolm rolled his eyes but softened a bit. "What do you want, Radley?"
"Long story short, we're trying to locate someone calling himself Lawton Colman," Radley said. "Do you know if Lawton's ever used that last name?"
"Not that I know of, but he probably has lots of names I never heard about," Malcolm replied. "What'd this guy do?"
"He was managing a race car driver and suddenly skipped out!" Scotch said.
"Does that sound like something Lawton would do? The management part, I mean," Radley said.
"Oh, maybe," Malcolm said. "Especially if he was down on his luck and needing money."
Radley sighed and nodded. "Well, thanks, Malcolm."
"You just . . . keep me informed, won't you?" Malcolm gruffly asked. "Let me know if that's really him you're chasing down."
"We'll do that," Radley promised.
Hans looked weary. "So we still don't know anything for sure," he said as the video call ended. "I think I'll take you up on that police protection for tonight, Officer, if your men will deliver me to the track tomorrow on schedule." He started to get up.
"They'll cooperate with your wishes," Trudge said.
Radley moved to stand as well. ". . . Do Anna and Elsa know about your racing career?" he suddenly asked.
Hans gave a helpless shrug. "Maybe? I doubt they heard much back in Arendelle; it's always been fairly isolated, a sleepy seaside kingdom. But now that they're here in the big city, they'll probably see the papers like you did and put the pieces together. I changed my name, not my appearance."
"It probably won't be a pleasant surprise," Kalin grunted.
"No," Hans agreed as he turned away. "I'm sure it won't be."