Battleship Avenger (Conquest of Stars Book 2) (16 page)

Roofus Bolfus
packed his laser pistol inside his jacket and then wore it over a sweater. He
was not authorized to carry laser guns on Nestor, even though he was a spy for
Nestorian Republic, but VC Remus had given him a card falsely identifying him
as one of Remus’ own personal guards.

As Roofus put on
his boots, he looked out from his window in a building located a few blocks
away from the Senate. It was one of the few buildings that had sustained only
minor damage during the Mercurian aerial assault and Roofus was thankful he had
rented an apartment in a smaller building that was shielded by taller ones all
around it and which were now in varying state of rubble.

The Infantry Corps
was holding a full parade down the streets and he saw soldiers dressed in green
with gold sleeves and carrying long laser guns upon their shoulders march down
to the tune of the band. Chancellor Solus had said this would boost the morale
and give comfort to the civilians who had lost family and friends and sustained
damage to their homes. But Remus and himself suspected that Solus wanted to put
on a show of force to intimidate the remaining Republican Guard as well as
anyone who wasn’t happy with Solus’ appointment as the new Chancellor. Of the
latter, there were many on Nestor, this was Remus’ home planet after all.

Roofus had a stack
of photographs of Aurus Janus and these were the final items he put inside his
jacket and then he was out of his room. He caught a public transport airship
and was off to his destination.

He had thought
over how he was going to proceed to find Aurus. Nestor had a population of
three billion, Aurus was one person and so was Roofus. VC Remus would help but
he was busy in the affairs of state and could only provide specific access.
However, Roofus believed that there was one possibility. As a spy he had been
taught that spies often got caught due to their personal quirks, compulsions,
eccentricities and addictions. And spies received thorough training in hiding
out. Aurus on the other hand had been a technical employee. If he had some
particular addiction or an intense hobby, he would try to partake in it even
while underground.

Roofus today was
going to test this out.
Boutrous Golus
Company’s chief executive Tory
Golus was a supporter of VC Remus and he had discretely inquired with her about
her former employee Aurus Janus. She had sent over his records as well as a
profile created from interviewing his co-workers to Remus through private,
confidential mail. Remus had given a copy of these documents to Roofus who had
spent hours studying them till he finally had a break.

The airship came
to a stop and he got off of it. He spent the whole day flying in public
airships visiting seven different antique and coin shops and handing out his
photos of Aurus to their proprietors along with a small monetary contribution.
He had no luck. Finally, near the evening he caught an airship to an antiques
shop that was the last one on his list and he was going to call it the day
after visiting this place. This place was located just outside of the nature
preserve and Roofus walked down a dirt path surrounded by trees on either side
towards the lone two story building made of wood with a painted sign in gold
against the green background that said ‘Old Nestor’.

Roofus walked in
and saw all manners of items that were most likely dated centuries old:
carvings, paintings, tools, knives, projectile firing guns, toys, printed books
and comics and assorted paraphernalia. An old man stood behind the counter but
there was no other staff. Roofus figured he was the proprietor and headed
towards him. The old man’s left eye was half closed, his hair had thinned and
he had a big belly. He stood watching Roofus with curious eyes.

“Interested in
anything particular, young fella?” the old proprietor asked.

“How old is Old
Nestor?” Roofus asked intrigued by the shop’s name.

“Nothing here
after space travel started,” the proprietor waved his hand around the room
briskly pointing to all the objects, “Everything I got was made before we
started colonizing other planets.”

“Hmmm…” Roofus
said, “Must be from centuries ago.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you carry any
coins from the old era?” Roofus asked.

“Sure do,” the
proprietor replied, “But you won’t find them looking around. I keep them locked
up in the second floor. Easy for some lifter to drop a couple of rare,
expensive ones in his pocket and walk out. I will have to personally show them
to you. Anything particular that you are looking for?”

“Actually, I was
looking for an old friend of mine with an interest in coin collection,” Roofus
said.

“And?”

Roofus took out a
photograph of Aurus and slid it across the counter, “Seen him before.”
“Sure have,” the proprietor said.

“You have,” Roofus
was delighted, “when was the last he came here?”

The old man
scratched behind his ears and grinned, “Perhaps you are his friend or perhaps
you are his enemy. I might be more inclined to think the latter because he
seemed jittery when other customers walked in and he always paid cash and would
never give his delivery address, insisted on carrying all the coins himself.
But I could be convinced otherwise, make a decent purchase here and I will
believe you are his friend.”

Roofus looked at
old man’s face carrying a greedy smile while he caressed his belly. Roofus took
out five notes of hundred ‘Nest’ each from his wallet and smacked them down on
the table.

“Forget the
purchase, I don’t need the junk,” Roofus said, “Money is all yours if you tell
me all you know of his visits.”

The old man felt
slightly insulted at the reference to his inventory but his mouth was drooling
looking at the notes.

“Can’t tell you
where he is,” old man said slowly moving his palm towards the cash, “But he
must be from around here, not too far.”

“Why?” Roofus
asked.

“My left eye may
be out of work, but I have a keen sight and sense of observation. You need that
in this line of work,” the proprietor said, “he came in with twigs and leaves
on his clothes. Not a lot, but enough to tell me he didn’t come from no city.
He also mentioned he couldn’t buy more than what he could carry in his hands.”

This did not
surprise Roofus, taking a public transport meant you would get on the radar as
public airships only accepted electronic payments and that record was
accessible to the police.

“Now tell me about
his last visit,” Roofus asked.

The old man now
brought his hand over the cash and picked it up with satisfaction, then said,
“It was on the day those crazies from Republican Guard staged a coup, just
before that damn alien invasion. He bought a lot of coins, more than he ever
has before and said he might not come again for long or never. But he liked my
collection and deals so he took my mail order catalogue and that was that.
Never seen him since.”

“Alright, the
money is yours,” Roofus said. Then he put both of his hands on the counter,
leaned forward and looked the old man right in his eyes, “If you mention my
visit to anyone, then I will come back and take back my money and I will charge
you interest on that.”

The old man
stumbled backward and raised both of his hands in acceptance, “hey don’t worry
young fella; I am just trying to purchase comfort for my last days.”

Roofus walked out of
the shop. The airship stop was some distance away and as he trotted back he
tried to think about this new information. His hunch was right. In Aurus’
profile there was a quote from one of his old colleagues in
Boutrous Golus
who had visited Aurus at his house a couple of times and both instances Aurus
had regaled his guest with long history lectures on his coins and their
significances. Aurus was a coin collector nut. Roofus knew from his own
experience as a spy hiding out from the authorities that a fugitive got bored
out of his wits cut off from all public recreation. A personal hobby that could
be partaken within the confines of a hideout could keep one sane. He knew of a
fellow spy sent to Jak Confederacy who had been caught because he couldn’t keep
away from the betting parlors.

Roofus caught an
airship back to the Senate. He didn’t necessarily disagree with the old man
that Aurus might be staying near the coin shop but that was a huge area for
Roofus to search alone. He had to narrow down his target.

He entered the
Senate using personal code of VC Remus. It was nightfall when he had reached
and Remus had left for the day. Roofus accessed the database available to
Senators similarly using Remus’ account and passcodes. Roofus knew that Aurus
was not a native of Nestor and had no home here. But Aurus must have known that
Boutrous Golus
maintained offices here on the capital just like a great
many companies from other planets did. VC Remus’ codes allowed Roofus to find
every office of that company but none was near the vicinity of the coin shop.
But Roofus realized it was unlikely that Aurus would hide out in an office. An
idea struck him and he did a search for personal properties of the owner Tory
Golus on Nestor and had four hits. And one was a small cottage just outside the
nature preserve near ‘Old Nestor’ shop. Roofus clapped his hands in joy and a
couple of Senators using nearby computers looked at him with wide eyes.

Roofus logged out
and left the Senate in a hurry. This time he walked to a nearby airship rental
shop and checked one out for a couple of days. At this time of the night the
public airships traveled intermittently and he could not contain his patience.
He was not getting reimbursed for these expenses but Roofus was too hot on the trail
to fret over money now.

He double checked
his laser pistol for charge while flying the airship and his heart started
beating faster. Aurus had accompanied Tory on her travel to Nestor according to
her report and must have known of her personal homes. Roofus knew he could be
wrong and Nolfus’ co-conspirators could have hidden Aurus in their own place.
But Aurus was unlikely to trust them after they had silenced Nolfus and could
do likewise to Aurus.

He parked his
airship outside ‘Old Nestor’ on the dirt ground. The shop had closed and there
were no signs of its proprietor. The cottage was walking distance from here and
Roofus decided to continue his journey on foot. His rental airship was old and
its engine whistled, sputtered and revved to its own tune. He could not risk
spooking his prey.

It took him half
an hour to reach the address. As he got closer to the cottage he slipped from
one tree to another like a cat. There was no light but he could not be sure
about night vision cameras. When he was twenty five feet away he stopped behind
a tree and put on his own night vision glasses and observed the home. It was a
small home – even the rich weren’t allowed to build lodges near the nature
preserve – with two rooms in the front and a single door surrounded by shrubs
and lawn.

He took off the
night vision and let his eyes adjust again to the darkness. He withdrew his
laser pistol from his jacket, flicked off the safety and clutched it tightly in
his hand. Then he tip-toed briskly to the front door and stopped just a feet
away. He took a deep breath and waited for a few moments. He had brought along
a small bottle with a dropper and he squeezed in the caustic chemical and
injected it into the door lock mechanism. The liquid melted the pins and hooks
inside the door lock.

The door was now
ajar and Roofus merely had to pull it. Roofus grabbed the knob, slowly twisted
it and gradually pulled the door open.

The old wooden
door rattled off a crunchy creak against the dead silence of the night.

Roofus violently
cursed the door in his own mind. It was too late for a silent entry. He yanked
the door open wide, jumped inside the house and moved into the lighted room
with his laser pistol drawn.

A man sitting on
the sofa was jolted by the noise and started to rise when Roofus strode in and
aimed his pistol. He had hundreds of loose coins of varied shapes and colors
spread over the table in front and he dropped the coins he was holding on the
floor.

“Aurus Janus, sit
back down and do not make a move or I will send a laser bolt across your
skull,” Roofus said.

Aurus remained on
the sofa but started shaking and his fingers danced involuntarily in fear while
he pleaded, “Please don’t shoot. There must be some misunderstanding. I have
kept my promise to Cloaked Man and stayed quiet. Ask him, or let me call him.”

“You do no such
thing?” Roofus said now confused himself, “Who the hell is cloaked man?”

“He didn’t send
you?” Aurus blurted with amazement.

From the corner of
his eye, Roofus saw slight movement down the corridor behind him and he jumped
inside the room just in time to avoid incoming laser that splattered against
the opposite wall. Roofus took cover behind the wall, swung his pistol in the
hallway for a couple of moments and returned fire.

“You stay where
you are,” Roofus said to Aurus, “You are not in the line of fire of whoever
that is, but I can drop you in a second.”