Poisoned Pawn (31 page)

“We just picked up an emergency beacon, from one of the Survey flitters.”

“Location?”

“About twenty miles southwest of here.”

“Which flitter?”

“It left base camp about fifteen minutes ago,” the ensign answered. “I checked and they said they thought it was just another run out here.”

“Do I need to ask who was flying it?” Querran asked, putting aside her stylus and rubbing her head. “Major Clark?”

The ensign nodded. “He had the cook with him.”

“I rather suspected that. Find Commander Lowell and send him to me. And get a team ready to go rescue them.”

The ensign saluted and left.

“What next?” she muttered.

Trey had received a call early that morning. His last surveyor had finally checked in. He claimed to have Dace waiting. Lowell had laughed himself silly when the man identified himself. Querran still hadn’t figured out why. She’d sent a flitter to pick them up, only they weren’t where the man said they would be waiting. Instead, they found a nasty bomb rigged from a blaster. But Lowell was convinced that the man had told them the truth.

And now this. More of Lowell’s people breaking orders and getting themselves in trouble. Querran didn’t think she could take much more of Lowell’s quick, easy solution to her problem.

“Sir?” The ensign shuffled his feet in the rubble.

“What now?” She rubbed her eyes with her hands. She was getting too old for this.

“Lowell is on his way, and the team is assembling outside.”

“Is that all?” she asked when he hesitated.

“There’s another flitter on approach. The beacon identifies it as private.”

“Tell them this is a restricted zone, under Patrol authority.”

“I did, sir. It’s Hom Daviessbrowun. He said he and his daughter had a right to see what was going on here.”

She said a word that she had washed her own children’s mouths out for using. She was very tempted to lock up the Gentle Hom Daviessbrowun. The repercussions of doing so were too big.

“Have him land outside and detail… Who’s available?”

“No one. Half of them are scouring the woods nearby. You have two squads flying search patterns over the valley south of here. The last squad is still searching the house.”

“What about Lowell’s crew?”

“Last I saw, his two commanders were in the kitchen, playing dice.”

“Send them to deal with Daviessbrowun and his daughter.” She smiled wickedly. “Let Lowell take the heat for a change.”

“Yes, sir.” He hesitated. “They aren’t going to like taking orders from me.”

“Tell them Lowell authorized it.”

“I authorized what?” Lowell surprised them both as he stepped into the room. The ensign snapped to attention. Lowell waved him down.

“The Gentle Hom Daviessbrowun and his daughter are arriving any minute. I need someone to escort them around and keep them out of our hair. Your men are the only people available right now.” Querran shot Lowell a look that said she was out of patience.

Lowell repeated the word Querran had used. “You did try to warn him off?”

“My people have tried. Hom Daviessbrowun is not known for listening to other people, unless they are saying things he wants to hear.” She looked at her ensign, still standing in the doorway. “Don’t you have orders, Ensign?”

He snapped her a salute and left.

“Why is there a flitter being loaded with rescue equipment?” Lowell asked Querran.

“Because some of your people have taken the Survey flitter out for a joyride and crashed.”

“Major Clark and Jasyn, I assume. I’m rather surprised they would crash, although the wind currents can be tricky. Clark is a very good pilot.”

“Your people are out of control, Lowell. You should have let me deal with it my way in the first place.”

“We’d be hauling even more bodies.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Fairly sure. How’s the search going? Did you ever locate Tayvis?”

“Why are you so interested in him, Lowell? He’s just a cat counter.”

Lowell raised one eyebrow. “Oh, he’s much more than that. He used to work for me.”

She didn’t take the warning in his voice or his eyes. “Used to work for you? What happened? Did he blow up something he shouldn’t have or just attack the wrong ship?”

“We had a difference of opinion. He resigned. Don’t we have work to do?”

“You deal with Hom Daviessbrowun and I’ll take the search detail.” She stood up. “I’ve been looking at these too long as it is.”

His com beeped. He flipped it open.

“Hom Daviessbrowun has landed,” Boline said. “What do you want me to show him and his daughter, sir?”

Lowell knew Boline well enough to read the contempt in his voice. “Show them whatever they want to see. Warn them before going somewhere dangerous. And record everything, Boline.” He shut the com, confident that Boline would carry out the unspoken orders buried in his innocuous spoken ones.

“Boline should be able to keep them occupied,” he said to Querran. “May I ride in your flitter or should I commandeer Daviessbrowun’s?”

“He’d pitch a fit,” Querran said with a half-smile quirking her lips. “You’d better come with me. Maybe we’ll actually find this elusive woman you’ve been hunting. I’m beginning to wonder if she actually exists.”

“She definitely exists. This whole mess is proof of that. It isn’t the first time she’s blown an entire investigation.”

“Then why don’t you arrest her? Put her somewhere out of the way?” Querran gathered up the photos.

“And lose one of the most useful trouble magnets I’ve ever come across? You are joking. Her bungling ends up netting much more than you would believe.”

They walked out the shattered wall. Flitters were parked on the once carefully groomed lawn. The house and grounds resembled a war zone. Little had been done to shore up damaged parts of the house. Troops in uniform were everywhere, carrying large weapons. A full squad gathered around a large black flitter, the Enforcers emblem on its side blazing gold in the morning sun. They boarded, sitting near the front. Troops crowded in around them. Paltronis squeezed in last, followed by the only member of her squad still able to walk.

The flitter lifted, following the route down the gully that had been deemed safest. Querrran watched out the window as the forest rolled below them. The stream was a ribbon of silver that grew wider as they went. She saw a flash of people near the stream. A man in a tan uniform waved at them.

“Circle back,” she called, sitting closer to the window in surprise. “I think we’ve found Trey’s missing man,” she added to Lowell.

“Good. It should be interesting to hear what he has to say.” Lowell leaned over her, looking out the window as the flitter circled and set down.

“And what of the other flitter?” Querran asked him.

“Leave me Paltronis and three of your men, that looks to be enough, and you go chase the flitter,” Lowell said as he unfastened his restraint belt. “If we aren’t back at the house by nightfall, then you can start worrying. I’ll call if I can get through.”

He climbed out of the flitter with the Enforcers behind him. Tayvis crouched near the stream, tossing rocks into the water that ran over the falls. Two bodies lay next to him, one tied up with what looked like strips of clothing. Lowell crossed the ground between them, becoming more puzzled the closer he got.

Tayvis gave him one glance then ignored him. Lowell stood over the two bodies. One was obviously dead, drowned by the state of his clothes. His head was also bashed in. The other man was naked. His lip was split and bleeding, one eye swollen shut. His nose leaked blood. He twitched at the strips of cloth tied very tightly around him.

“The dead one is vaguely familiar,” Lowell said when he finished his examination.

“He should be,” Tayvis answered, standing and turning to face Lowell. “Dysun Farr, a pirate you locked up after Dadilan. Luke shot him and he went over the falls.”

“Ah,” Lowell answered, placing the face and name together. “And the other is Luke Verity, I assume?”

Tayvis didn’t answer.

“What happened to him?”

“I shot him with a tranquilizer dart then beat the crap out of him.”

“Why?” Lowell nudged Luke with one foot. Luke rolled his eyes, groaning around the gag shoved in his mouth.

“Because they don’t give real weapons to Survey, especially in a wilderness area while doing population studies on threatened species.”

“Is that underwear in his mouth?” Lowell bent closer.

Luke struggled against his bonds.

Tayvis kicked him.

Lowell turned to Querran’s two men. “Call for a flitter. Take the body and the prisoner back to the mansion. Keep a close eye on him. He’s the leader.”

The men hauled Luke to his feet, replacing the strips of cloth with force cuffs. He fought, but only until Tayvis waved a fist under his nose. The enforcers hustled him up the bank. Paltronis carried Dysun’s body away after shooting an unreadable glance at Tayvis.

“You want to tell me now?” Lowell asked, once the others were out of earshot.

Tayvis sighed, running his hand through his hair. “He’s Rigellan. Dace found out the hard way. Be glad I didn’t just kill him.”

“Where is Dace?”

“Your guess is probably better than mine. Some hairy thing came out of the woods and carried her off. After Luke shoved her over the falls. It went that way.” He pointed up the side of the ridge, away from the house. “I tried to get to her, but it got there first. I didn’t want to chase it without some kind of backup.”

Lowell studied Tayvis for a long moment. He looked worn, as if the slightest thing would set him off. Not the man Lowell wanted right now. He pulled out his com.

“That won’t work,” Tayvis said. “I spent half the morning climbing the far ridge to find a spot to call in, which is how Luke got his hands on Dace again.”

Lowell saw the no signal indicator and slid his com into his pocket. “We can wait here. Querran’s flitters should be passing overhead before too long. Tell me what happened.”

“I don’t report to you. I’m Planetary Survey, remember?”

“Just tell me what happened, Tayvis.”

Tayvis tossed a last rock into the stream. “I was doing my job, counting bushies and marking any possible den sites I found. Late last night, I found Dace. The bushie I was tracking had her cornered. She was in bad shape. I only left her alone this morning because she couldn’t walk and I had to report in. I came back to find her gone. I tracked them here. Luke and Dysun were having an argument, with Dace in the middle. I shot Luke and Dace went over the falls. Then that creature came out of the woods, scooped her out of the water, and took off. I secured Luke and was ready to track it when I heard your flitter. Whatever the creature was, it isn’t native to this planet.”

“I was wondering where Rinth had gotten to,” Lowell said.

“Rinth? It has a name?”

“Luke believed Rinth was a pet, loyal to him.”

“That thing came from Luke? It took Dace. And you want me to stand around talking?”

“Calm down, Tayvis. I’ve spent all night searching.”

Tayvis’ lips twitched. “She got to you, too.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“You aren’t worried that Rinth has her. He’s Luke’s pet.”

“Rinth is not what Luke believes,” Lowell said. “He won’t hurt her.”

“She was in bad shape, Lowell. We have to find her soon.” Tayvis glanced at the sky. Clouds built over the mountains in the distance. “The bushies hunt at night. There’s at least one very mean old male in this area.”

“Paltronis can help you. Wait until Querran returns, though. You are going to need the rest of her troops. It shouldn’t take her long.”

Tayvis kicked a rock into the water. “I’ll wait, but only an hour. And then nothing you say is going to stop me.”

“One hour, and you go with my full support.”

“At least we finally agree on something. Since I’m waiting, what supplies do you have with you? Mine are back that way,” he said, gesturing behind him.

Lowell settled himself on a rock near the stream. “Ask Paltronis. She rarely leaves anywhere without a full kit on her someplace.”

* * *

Jasyn held the stunner too tightly. She crouched next to their flitter, huddled in its shadow. “Why are we going over there again?”

Clark adjusted her grip on her weapon. “Relax. You’ll do fine. Ready?”

She nodded. They ran to a thick clump of bushes. Nobody shot at them.

“Do you think they all died?” Jasyn asked.

“Nope.” Clark pointed at the other flitter.

Two figures stumbled out of the door, three more crawled after them. The flitter exploded in a ball of flame. Those who had gotten out fell down, out of sight.

“There are five of them,” Jasyn said nervously.

“And I didn’t see any weapons,” Clark reassured.

Two of the men got to their feet, staggering away in different directions.

“You take the one who went up the slope,” Clark said. “I’ll cover the other one.”

Jasyn nodded and darted up the hill, headed diagonally to where the man limped toward the ridgeline. Clark watched her for a moment. She moved more confidently now. Her stunner was up, ready to fire. With all the weaponry that had been lying around, Clark found it ironic that they ended up with stunners. He started after the other man.

The clearing was deceptive. The absence of trees made it seem relatively empty from the air. It was covered with bushes higher than his head. Clark soon lost sight of the man. He used the burning flitter as a reference, moving towards the plume of smoke through the thick brush.

A bolt of blaster fire hit the bush next to him, setting it smoking. Clark ducked the other way, rolling behind a thicker clump. He looked up the slope where Jasyn chased the first man. She was in plain sight on the open hillside. With a sinking feeling, he realized that if he could see her, the man who had just shot at him could see her, too. He had to catch the man, and quickly. He darted out from behind the bush, crouching low.

He saw the next shot. It arced from behind another clump of bushes and hit the hillside near Jasyn. She dove flat, rolling behind an outcrop of rock. The man she was chasing changed directions, running back down the slope.