CHAPTER 15
As they'd flown Gulch had make a cracking discovery, going through the bar ownership he’d found that it was actually secretly owned by Gothra. And Gothra was connected to Cobroy. Grant had contacted Regrette who had filled him in and cemented the connection with the bar. Gothra had made deals with the Desards and now girls had been kidnapped to fill one of her bars. Only one? thought Grant, no there would be more if they looked. And more than just kidnapping; the Desards would use Gothra’s bars in much the same way she had, as a front for all sorts of criminal activity.
“Now who else runs bars and girls?” Regrette had asked.
“The Shen Mi,” Grant had replied.
“Yup. Looks like they’re muscling in on the action. That could end badly.”
“For a lot of people,” Grant had finished.
Now they were driving through the streets in the van. Loveritto drove as he knew his way around, turned out he’d been a police officer in Haffir.
“You kept that one quiet,” Kaskey said.
“It’s the past,” Loveritto deflected.
“At some point we’re all just gonna have to sit down and talk about our pasts,” Kaskey told the van.
“After you,” Grant replied for the back.
“I said ‘at some point’, not now,” Kaskey turned to face forwards again.
“I used to be InterG,” Grant said.
“Then you know,” Loveritto said back.
“Yeah. Yeah I do, man, it’s cool.”
“You know the worse thing about this city? It’s built on lies. Everyone wants to come here ‘cause they’ve heard the songs or seen the films set here; think it’s magical. You don’t get magic with this many people living this close together, but as a cop, you’ve got to keep that shabbus quiet. Can’t spoil the tourism.”
“Can’t spoil the magic,” Kaskey said.
“Don’t they set crime films here? ‘Endless Heat’, that was here wasn’t it?” Gulch asked.
“But again it’s magic, film magic. Grant knows; big screen bad guys aren’t the same as the real thing. Even the crime here is sold as part of the romance,” he shook his head at the thought.
They crossed the bridge and Loveritto wound through the streets, give them a better impression of the place, he said. They drove around on the ground before Loveritto took one of the ramps up onto the next layer. Here they were driving about a quarter of the way up the skyscrapers, except for a few that were taller or shorter. It seemed that in any one part they had tried to make all the buildings one height. The tallest ones being in the centre, the shortest on the coast.
“Money runs up the buildings, right?” Kaskey asked.
“Yeah, the richer you are the higher you are. Most of the buildings are split into different uses and you can’t get from the lower floors up to the richer floors. Lot of the casinos are split too, got to let the poor gamble their dirt away.”
“You a gambling man, Grant?” Kaskey called back.
“Only with my life,” came the reply and Kaskey smiled to himself.
“And how often is that?” Tandish asked.
“Not as much as it used to be, thankfully.”
“That’s good to hear,” Kaskey called.
“I’ve got Kaskey to send into all the dangerous places now.”
“That’s less good to hear.”
“Here’re the casinos,” Loveritto said.
There was a stretch of them, each having a circular driveway coming off of the road.
“Where do they park?” Grant asked.
“There’s parking floors built into the buildings.”
“Oh.”
“Here’s the Loggajello.”
They drove past, Loveritto slowing a little, and saw a swanky casino with three double doors opening to the driveway and the casino’s name surrounded by coloured lights. There were men and women of different races outside and they all dressed smart.
“Gonna be hard to get Kas in,” Grant commented with a smile.
“Wait ‘til you see the next road up,” Loveritto said and took the next ramp up and did a U-turn when he could.
They drove by again and the building was even more impressive looking. The entrance was more ornate, the people dripping in jewellery, the cars more expensive and the whole thing tacky and gaudy in a way only really expensive things can be.
“We’re gonna need to buy some clothes, Grant,” Kaskey said.
“We have funds for such things,” Gulch said.
“You do?”
“We do?” Grant asked as well.
“It’s good business sense to take lucrative jobs now and then,” Gulch said.
“You’re loaded? I would have been twice as helpful if I’d known that.”
“I’ve been in more shootouts since I met you than I have been all year, I think you’re helpful enough as you are,” Grant said.
“Yeah, I could say the same thing, Grant, the same thing.”
They wound their way down the ramps until they were back on the ground and they pulled up to a more modest looking hotel.
“Cheap, but nice. We’ll fit in here,” Loveritto said.
“Doncha know he’s loaded?” Kaskey asked.
“Is money all you think about?” Tandish asked as they got out.
“He’s joking, pay him no mind,” Grant said.
“How can they joke?” Tandish asked Loveritto after Grant and Kaskey went in to book rooms.
“Sometimes when you’ve seen bad things, that’s how you deal with the world.”
“What about you?” Kov asked him.
“You ever heard of a Merrick comedian?”
“No,” Kov said.
“There you go then,” he shrugged.
***
Hebero’s Bar was on the main drag of the coastal road, a strip of one and two story buildings. It was an older area, in fact most of the older (and nicer) buildings were only one or two storeys. A lot of, even the newer, theatres and museum were not skyscrapers because even the residents of the city-continent appreciated that skyscrapers were crass.
Kaskey and Loveritto walked in and chatted away about cricket until they reached the bar. The place was happily full with a fun and friendly vibe to it. Kaskey spotted Grant and Tandish sitting at a table but neither of them acknowledged the other. Loveritto ordered drinks while Kaskey looked around. There were tables throughout the room and a dancefloor taking up one corner of the bar. There was music to dance to, but it wasn’t so loud you couldn’t hear your conversation. The crowd seemed young and well to do, but they certainly weren’t going to the upper storey casinos, maybe worked at them. Finally there was a door at the back and Kaskey could spot a couple of bouncers close to it; though you wouldn’t know they were guarding the door unless you knew what to look for. Private rooms then. If these girls were anywhere it would be back there.
It didn’t sit right, this didn’t seem to be that type of bar; these didn’t seem like that type of people. From what he could see everyone was happily getting on with chatting up the opposite sex.
“Not what I imagined,” Kaskey said as Loveritto handed him a drink.
“No, but it’s new, isn’t it? The delivery.”
“Yeah. You think they’re gonna change the bar?”
“I think sleazy bars get police attention, nice bars like this don’t.”
Kaskey just nodded. He was out of his depth here and happy for that. He wondered again about the wisdom of joining Grant; in a year’s time did he want to find things like this commonplace? He wanted to ask Grant if he still got sickened, but they didn’t have radios on them.
Grant didn’t like to take radios unless they were actually on a mission. This was just a scope out and someone spotting their earpieces could stop them being able to come back again. That meant they were on their own as to what to do and Kaskey wasn’t sure; he’d been thrown off by not entering the bar he’d expected to.
“Let’s try and fi
nd a table,” Loveritto said.
“Right.”
They walked through the crowds, pretending to look for a table while they took in more of the bar. What Grant wanted was to feel out any Desard presence, just how difficult was it going to be to get to the girls, if they were here.
***
Grant had spotted the door at the back and the bouncers guarding it and in the time he had sat there he hadn’t seen anyone go near it. If this was a new venture between Gothra and the Desards, probably through Cobroy, then this probably wasn’t the crowd they were aiming at. Maybe there was another entrance out back, maybe they were still building and prepping. Was there something else about this bar that he was missing?
“I want to look outside,” he told Tandish.
“What are you thinking?”
“That this isn’t the clientele for girls.”
“That’s what I was thinking, but I guess that’s good cover isn’t it?”
“You’re thinking it through,” he smiled at her. “Good. But don’t you think certain kind of men walking in and out of that door at the back would become obvious after a while?”
“So a back entrance.”
“I want to check.”
“What if it’s not that kind of bar?”
“What else could it be?”
“I don’t know. Like a dark zone?”
“Go on,” this was interesting.
“Well, maybe some people can’t meet at the casinos, like some can’t get through a space port.”
He nodded as she talked. It was good.
“It’s good, I like it. Good work, Tandish. Good work.”
She beamed at that and then tried to compose her face, tried to be professional. She’d had a good idea, thought it through. She didn’t know why she wanted to impress this man, but she did. Maybe it was because he was doing something good, something that made the Universe a better place. How many people like that were out there?
“You wouldn’t notice either,” he continued. “A group of men and women coming through every now and then. You’d just assume they had a VIP area or private rooms.”
“But,” she picked apart her own idea, “would the casinos really not be able to hold secret meetings?”
“They’d be watched, I’d say, but we can check that with Loveritto. Come on, let’s see what we can see out the back.”
They got up and walked out to the door. Grant hoped Kaskey saw them, but didn’t freak out. He wished he could tell him the plan, but was glad they didn’t have radios. Those undercover bouncers would have spotted them, he was sure. Especially if something bigger was going down as Tandish theorised. In fact, if she was right, then this could be a lot harder as the security was going to be a lot tighter and more professional.
They walked out into the cool, still air. The street was lit and there was still traffic, but most of it was on foot. Haffir was known as a city that didn’t sleep and that was one of its draws. Grant couldn’t understand it, an island tightly packed with buildings that almost entirely blocked out the sun. No natural wonders, no history and yet everyone thought it was so wonderful. They made up for it with theatres, bars, museums and galleries along with the casinos and they pumped a lot of money into them to try and make them the best in the Universe, but it was still just a dingy, cramped, overpriced city.
They walked along the coastal road, the dark waters lapping not far on the other side of the street. They could hear people on the beach and see the light from a fire and some kind of party. Not far along they came to an alleyway and they ducked down it. Walking along the building Grant tried to judge where the bar finished and how far the building extended past those doors. An intersecting alleyway told him that the private rooms weren’t that big and therefore all the action was happening upstairs. They wandered around the corner, acting as if they were just a tipsy couple finding their way through the city, but that didn’t matter to the people they bumped into at the back of the building.
***
Kaskey gripped Loveritto’s arm.
“Hey, man,” Loveritto said in surprise and pain.
That’s a tight grip when it hurts a Merrick.
“Look,” Kaskey hissed.
“At what?” Loveritto asked with annoyance.
“That’s Rudy.”
“Let go, man,” Kaskey dropped his hand. “What’s Rudy?”
“There, the girl at the bar. That’s Rudy.”
“Who’s Rudy?” still annoyed.
“One of the girls we’re looking for.”
“Oh. Right,” Loveritto straightened with alertness.
They watched her get drinks from the bar and then go back through the door at the back. She looked tired and haggard. Sick and beaten down despite the fancy dress and hairstyle.
“We got to do something,” Kaskey urged.
“Not without Grant.”
“Where’s he at?”
“How do I know?”
“We’ve got to do something, man.”
“You need to calm down, Kaskey. We can’t rush in.”
“They went outside. Look around the back, yeah?” Kaskey rushed. “Right? That’s what they’d be doing. We need to go. Come on.”
***
“Get lost,” one of the men said.
He was a Cantorvial. They were all Cantorvials and that was worrying. Cantorvials could be described as a cross between a Human and a tiger. They stood upright a lot like a Human, but their body and face was a lot like a tigers, except completely bare of fur. Their bodies were rippling with muscles and whiter than an Englishman who spends all his time indoors. Let’s just say Albinos felt rosy next to a Cantorvial. They were also known to be mean and dangerous and had allied with the Laikans in the Laikan War.
They were also quite annoyed they weren’t mentioned in that official title.
“Just passing through,” Grant said merrily.
“No, you’re getting lost,” another said.
Grant tried to take it all in as quickly as possible. Yes, there was a back door and they were obviously guarding it. There wasn’t a car there, but he knew it must be close by. By the size of the building the back door must lead straight into the room that the door inside led to, just a staircase then. It wasn’t surprising that Cantorvials weren’t going through the bar; they still weren’t trusted after the war. Something was going on up there and they needed to step back and plan.
“We’re getting lost, we are,” Grant said drunkenly and started to turn with an arm around Tandish.
“Stop,” the first commanded.
“Stay or go, what is it?” Grant asked with a goofy grin.
“You get a good look?” the Cantorvial asked, putting a hand to it’s gun.
“Good look? What?” Grant asked in confusion.
“Come on, Ted, let’s go,” Tandish whined.
“You took your time,” another said. “Checking us out.”
“Never met a Cantorvial,” Grant said.
“We a problem to you, Earthen?”
“I prefer Victorian, but no, sir. I ain’t no problem with any race.”
“You like Grey meat?” the second asked and the others sniggered.
“Now, come on, guys, that ain’t nice,” Grant pleaded.
“We ain’t nice,” the first said and pulled his pistol.
“We’re going, we are,” Grant said.
“Please,” Tandish begged.
“Faster,” one said. “Stupid Earthen.”
And then Kaskey burst around the corner.
“They’ve got Rudy,” he bleated. “Out back.”
“Ahh, shabbus,” Grant said.
The Cantorvial was raising his pistol as the others started drawing theirs. Grant dropped his arm from Tandish and pulled his pistol. They were fast, but he was faster. He took down one, then two. Loveritto’s lasers took another two as Grant took down four and five.
“Earpieces,” Grant commanded and they all fumbled to get them in.
He went to the door and took one side as Loveritto took the other. Tandish and Kaskey came up next to them. Grant nodded them to be ready and then shot the lock. Loveritto kicked the door in and Tandish and Kaskey went through.
They were in a room and on the opposite wall was the door back into the bar. To their right was a staircase up to the first floor. Grant took the lead and Loveritto took the rear. At the top there was a corridor and Grant shot the Cantorvial and Human that were standing guard there. Three doors stood along the corridor and Kaskey, Loveritto and Tandish took one each.
Grant nodded his head and they kicked in the doors.
There were shouts and screams and Kaskey and Tandish shot. Grant went to Kaskey’s door to find a dead Reutorgian and a naked Human girl in a room with a bed, sofa, chairs and a small bar. A party room. Then to Loveritto’s to find a meeting room.
“Kaskey,” Grant shouted and nodded his head to Tandish. Kaskey ran past. “What’ve you got?”
“Got the girls,” he shouted back.
Grant focussed on the meeting room. The men and women, of various races, were caught off guard and Grant walked in while Loveritto covered him. He grabbed guns from holsters and from under coats as Kaskey came in and did the same. There were seven people in there altogether and one of them decided to speak.
“This is not worth it,” an Enthusian warned.
“Depends what this is, doesn’t it?” Grant smiled at him.
“Well what is it then?” an Albertine asked crossly.
“Get the girls,” Grant said to Kaskey who dumped the guns on the floor and went out again.
“Is that it?” a Reutorgian laughed. “A rescue mission for some nothings?”
Grant wandered around the table and then whip-quick punched him in the head.
“Nobody is nothing,” he said angrily.
“Keep going like that and you’ll find yourself in trouble that you won’t be able to hide from,” the Enthusian warned.
Grant looked around the room.
“Seems like you guys are the ones who like to hide.”
“We find trouble,” Loveritto said menacingly.
A Human looked him up and down.
“I don’t think you know trouble.”
“Got them,” Kaskey said from the door. “The van’s on the way round.”
“All of them?” Grant asked.
Kaskey made a face, very slight, but Grant took it. All the ones that were here, but that wasn’t all of them.
“Well there you go, you can go back to your nefarious plotting,” Grant smiled at the table as he backed out. “Bit shabbus for a secret venue though, guys. Might want to look into that.”