Chapter 6
into the wild once again, part 2
Port Vernon – noon – docks
Dmitri had no surname; nobody had one; he was the boss and knew as much as nothing. Why was the rich guy stabbed? By what he guesses is one of his men, why? Every one of them carried a gun and a knife. If something did not make a noise, ending his life, it was the knife; he knew he had to resolve this before the CAA entered and brought the culprit to theirs, in which case called the city major, who called his wife, who called his sister? What were the odds?
The worst part was that he needed to interrogate his men; as he grimaced, her sisters would enter the place, and why sisters? It was simple: he was the godfather of little Catherine, playmate sister of Viktoriya, his niece, now he acted meek in front of the car, but soon it needed to act strong inside the docks where his men were standing in formation; he opened the door and said,
"Sorry sister, I was sure to take care of this end of the city. Still, things went awfully and sad. I didn't want to scare the mother of little Catherine after ascending to this part of the underground. I was an undercover informant but got hold of the entire syndicate. You sure will get a gist of the meaning of the significance to the CAA"
At the choking revelation of the childhood friend of his husband, she could not be angry anymore and took his hand out of the vehicle,
"Yeah, I already got updated and angry on the way here; now it is time to wrap this up soon; I have a little mystery to solve back home."
"So, you discovered the little fairy"
"Yeah, I was sure to have her figured out, but not to this degree. She will be more amazing than we thought, almost like my Catherine."
Diana knew her little girl was intelligent but not that she was the same genius as little Catherine, well he and his husband knew what happens to clever people, they ended up like their husbands, living in semi-retirement or the more common route like her own brother, slaves of their responsibilities, she did not want that to her daughter but maybe something like her own life, she will get her mindset figured out soon at home, now was the time to wrap things up.
In front of Laslow's wife stood ten men in formation, some armed men vigilant of them, and soon the trio arrived. To the concern of more than half of the men, they saw the similarities but shot up, only ascending and nodding when asked about the case. A rich boy trading contraband, making more than pocket money, got his paper not forged well enough and caught.
Still, before being able to take the haul out of the dock, one guy ended his life, silencing it and putting the gang in jeopardy. Now the questions are, who moved behind their back, and who wanted to move such cargo through the docks? They understood which products were safe and which activities were permitted, nothing more and nothing less; this was a safe planet. They wanted to preserve the status of this colony, which was not infested with that.
"So, this is the gang. As far as we know, anyone could be."
"Diana said, seeing in her face a menacing glare akin to her brother's; the miss from the farm was unrecognizable.
"And conveniently, every one of them has the same equipment." Canine green-grey eyes pierced each of them, like the predator's.
"So, you figured it out," said the City Mayor's wife
At the question, Anna pointed out with frosty silvery blue shaded eyes, nothing like her motherly side back home,
"We will test outside in the open with no one seeing more than a plain field. Is that okay?"
"As your order, now guys move!" said the syndicate boss.
Outside the docks, the gang took their knives out of their sheaths and placed them in the sun as instructed. Everyone smiled, but soon, flies got into two of theirs, and their smiles were banished.
"Those two, they are your rats. Get rid of them." Yelled an angry command of authority.
Soon, Dmitri gave the order, and the rest of the gang was dismissed, not without leaving the traitors to the CAA, soon after returning to question the wonder duo.
"So, how do you come out with that? There was no black light capable of showing blood."
"Yeah, there was no blood, sure, but the flies of this planet do not leave at such a trace; they have more noses for those; they want to pester it even if for us we saw nothing they sure do, and that is why those two men had blood in their hand."
"I will make sure to wrap things up with Miss Laslow. You two care for the little ones and do not go directly home and make the long detour, understand."
"Yeah, we will not go directly and make sure not to get tagged; now I have a husband to kill, not literally."
At that moment, the present feels slightly degrees down, with more frost this season. They hope Papa Halsey will make it out alive and see Catherine grow.
Local mafia docks Pov
Iker and Cleven were captains of the local mafia syndicate. Their boss was finishing business and dealing with the city authorities, which made things clean up but also hard to digest.
They knew there was a local struggle, and his boss's connections made wrapping things nicely quickly, but he was too well connected. The city's mayor's wife, CAA, and their last boss, the now-miss Serebryakov, were also well connected.
Diana was a legend and a ruthless one. Seeing her with that famous civilian detective was shocking. She was amiable and proper, not cruel and scary. Motherhood made her change, and for good.
They are much better with Dmitri than ever. Seeing her back in that menacing state reminds everyone of not changing their status and returning to those black days.
But the men were restless. There was a plot to gain money and possibly substitute Dmitri, and not only that, it reminded them that if Dmitri ever went down, there was Diana to step up, the ruthless steadfast who unified the gangs into a syndicate after the old pops kicked the bucked, and not only that she showed that she was shoulder to shoulder with the city mayor's wife, as far as they know she was in a league above everyone maybe an extra-planet one, as meditating in the implications of unfolding conspiracies the men voiced out.
"Captain, was that Diana? I thought she was out. Why did she return? And why did she not say a single hello?"
"She does not need to; she is working with the mayor's wife, meaning we have reached all planet; nothing of note as we are but a young city-state, but surely there are plans to expand and go as the city grows, meaning that if we get a space elevator, we will dominate."
"So that's why those rules were there all along. We are not playing safe but futureproofing. That's nuts, dude."
As Iker gave orders to the mobs and did not correct their misunderstanding, he received a shout from Cleven.
"Shit, shit, shit, Iker, we've got problems. Come here. We are leaving asap; we need to ride with the band."
As the joyfulness faded with alarming news, Iker motioned the boys to the parking lot and asked Cleven just before going en route.
"Tell us now, just before departing Cleven. We must be discrete and not leave comms until the rendezvous is reached."
"We got a call from Igor. He lost track of the nieces, you know, the treasures of the clan, Diana's child, the lieutenants rotate to keep tabs and make sure of their safety but suddenly parted his visage on the track, and there was a mob from the now deceased rich boy knocked on the floor no girls no clues, only a dude unconscious soon more men getting on a chasing."
"How bad is it? Do we have something to keep track of?"
"We were. The other lieutenants got into the race with the rest of the band. More mobs and even police showed up, but they all lost track. We needed to mobilize all men but were occupied with the murder case."
"Shit, shit, shit, everyone I want you do head downtown, spread and keep track of stations, buses, metro, whatever. We need a full cleanup of every hiding and populated meeting spot, ignore police and show your fake ID to say shit about helping out, reach the information brokers if need be, they are indebted to us"
"And remember those girls are the last remaining thing keeping Diana from being a fucking demon again, for any new boy ask veterans and learn the severity of not returning to her rule again."
Noon, port Vernon police station. Chief of police office.
Richard Halsey was finishing paperwork and tidying things up for a change. Her girlfriend Judith was a reliable companion and helper, leaving things classified by topic just before going on a well-deserved day off to take care of her favorite god-nephew, a musician prodigy of sorts, who came to the planet for only a brief moment. He needs to propose to her, as seeing work and life were going smoothly for a change,
security improved after the sudden growth of the city. Development now keeps to a sustainable approach, meaning no more overwork like before and a perfect chance to score in life. However, when everything was keeping to itself, the hand of fate reached up as Gordon opened his office doors.
"Chief, urgent news: we need to mobilize patrols asap, attempt kidnap on the gifted schooling centers."
"What are you waiting about, inspector? We both have the authority; I trained you for it."
"We have already sent patrols en route but need you in the field. Your nieces are being targeted, and even indignant private detectives, designated hunters, and school staff are being mobilized."
"What!? Well, thanks for the favor. Being in a loved community has paid off, which is more reason to keep working here. Any news from our special insider?"
Gordon was retelling the events as they left the offices and boarded patrols with the rest of the force.
"It seems a shadowy invader wanted to coerce the authority and underworld but got too cocky, killing himself in a power struggle. Our city mayor's approach to getting wraps in the criminal world seems to pay off. The rich guy did not even know we cooperated to maintain a status quo instead of getting into each other's throats."
"So, I suppose those designated hunters and civil detectives are?"
"Yes, our reinforcements from the underworld. We have full cooperation with the syndicate. We even arrested some radicals at the crossroads."
"That was quick. How is Gladius managing the cameras."
"That is the worst part. The rich guy shut down our city, IA. Everything is running in a backup systems algorithm; interconnectivity is partially down. We are fortunate not to have lost him. Turning him up and running takes making a good combination of old switches that we forgot how to use."
"Damn, how the heck a radical mobster boss got the most complicated thing done and got himself killed miserably."
"Mysteries of life, lady luck, karma, and takeovers are risky for a reason. They did not expect us to take a hold on everything."
"Well, time for uncle to save the day and hope for sister in lawn to not kill my blood-related brother after spending more time remodeling a shooting range than in his home."
city center
Igor was a lieutenant of the syndicate and secret informant; he grew up on Planet Site, saw how the road developed from sanded ones to concrete, and when a confident older man's daughter became boss and saw how her brother became an insider, decided to take part on repaying the favor and making the woman step down and settle with a good husband not without placing the brother as boss.
How did those dudes Viktor and Xavier plot to have the syndicate boss and the chief inspector whose job back then was to turn the planet upside-down chasing each other to now playing house without knowing how far they moved this world nut was only known to the city major's wife.
She will keep her secret to the grave. She even scored a husband Mr Laslow; the patriarchs (their nicknames motto) were above everyone's imagination, money heist, power struggle, inside investment, white collar crime; those dudes, Mr. Husbands, were the real menace, and maintaining both fiery females as a wife was insane, now the battle was going from one corner of the city to another, and at the same time, Igor gave field instructions.
"Iker, we lost them at the movie theater."
"Cleven, we lost track of them on the mall."
"Dimitri, we captured a mob at the art museum."
"Guys, spread at the metro stations."
"Lieutenants, watch out from vantage points"
"Gordon, my friend, we saw them heading to the flea market."
"My boy chief, we lost signal at sea?"
Port Vernon Oldtown – Le Souris restaurant – afternoon
Judith was heading out of a concert with his godson. They were not related by blood, but as fellow artists, she also enjoyed music. Judith was a sketch artist at the police, but when not doing her job as a police artist, she helped do menial work. She was adept at paperwork and office work; if not an artist, she would love to be an office lady. Judith was chatting with a prodigy at an outdoor dining venue in Oldtown next to the sea.
"So great grandma's left the instruments as heirlooms to you, and by chance, you got better and better."
"I was taking piano lessons but advanced slowly, but after memorizing the layout of the notes, I got to understand all notes in a chart for all instruments. After that proficiency kicked in, notes by ear became a thing, and I improved."
"Maybe you were blessed by your granny."
"I think so. Grandma was pleased to see me for the first time; back then, I was only playing basic flute and melodic, but Grandma showed me the wonder of the piano. That first impression gave me a love for music.
A pair of tired, wasted little girls, brunette and blond, was passing by discussing.
"I told you we needed to cover the device in alloy to make a Faraday jail and lose track of the pursuers. See."
"But back there, we needed Gladius to help us lose track of the pursuers. It wasn't until we got out of downtown that we lost them at sea."
They passed next to the street seats. As Judith questioned what she grasped from her street view, she wondered what kind of adventure it would be if it were accurate. Strangely, the godson stood up before realizing the severity of the situation, and then the boy shouted.
"Visha, is that you."
"Grantz, I couldn't believe it."
At that exchange of words, Judith saw the blondie one and said, To her, with a smooth, caring voice.
"First time, huh? Do you want to eat with us? You two seem tired."
"I must not do that; it is improper to interrupt and take advantage of strangers."
"Seeing those two says otherwise, and my name is Judith. I work with your uncle Richard at the police, little Halsey."
"How could?... You could not be a mob seeing you with a kid.
"I am his godparent. Come here and eat; that is my treat. In the meantime, tell me all the hustle you two have been into."
Port Vernon - Green Valley housing annex
The two pairs of parents had been restless since returning home. They had been in their homes waiting for news about their daughters. At first, the pair of husbands arrived to do chores, killing time until their daughters arrived, but they thought that maybe as their wives were out, they picked them up on their way home,
but a police patrol arrived with Officer Astrit, a familiar face who was good friends with his brother Richard. When by the time the two wives returned, their angry, planned questioning vanished from their minds at seeing the police car outside their home, and they later saw the state of their husbands after receiving the news that a gang was chasing their kids at this point the stress building in Anna was funneled out and despair taking place to rage, but his husband consoled her,
the problem was Diana, who opened a basement armory no one knew about and was stopped by Xavier, saying that the boys were in the case with old man Igor mediating between the syndicate and chief Richard and funneling lead would make things worse, at this point, one Sargeant was speechless of the scene.
Still, Astrit remembered him to be discreet. As the new field contractor where Swat was going to train, the priority shifted, and it was paramount to have a good impression between the landlord and police because of their future relationship endeavors.
Things unfolded, but the excellent coffee and tea were bittersweet in the tense atmosphere. It wasn't until the afternoon that they received news of radicals being captured by fellow folks and past afternoon news that they located them and were in route back home,
By night, the city mayor's son and wife accompanied Judith and Richard to deliver the child. Judith filled the gaps in the investigation as interrogating little girls was too much, and seeing the caliber of their parents made sense to postpone questioning for later.
But not after little Catherine showed comms with the IA Gladius, which explained how the pairs made their way from the downtown, city center, to sea and finally Oldtown, seeing as a subroutine took a liking with Catherine communicating when fiddling with console text, explaining how the designated hunters got a helping hand to capture a radicals gang while using a simple tablet being pinpointed by the bad boys become their demise when turned against themselves as bait.
They were not celebrating, but at least everyone calmly returned to their lives. Judith said goodbye to little Grantz at the spaceport, who was very helpful in identifying Visha. Still, the adults asked where they knew each other once, only once he was outside the planet and parting back home.