“We’ve got you,” a Merrick said. “You won’t go unpunished.”
“And I’ve got you,” Grant tapped the side of his head.
He and Loveritto ran down the stairs and out through the back door. The alleyway was just wide enough for the van and they jumped into the side door and sped away.
CHAPTER 16
Across the Universe, Stephen Regrette and Rainsford Tsyrker were conducting their own surveillance. They hadn’t made it far down the road when they both decided they couldn’t let Koey V go. He was, they reasoned, a much better way to the Desards that Cobroy, and anyway, how were they going to get to Gothra with the goons watching her? This could all be over if Grant found his girl at the casino and then what they had done here wouldn’t matter anyway.
And if the Desards were trying to muscle in on the Shen Mi then that could certainly affect the universe that Regrette and Tsyrker walked in. So they went and found a coffee shop close to the hotel and Tsyrker used her portable computer to hack into the hotel’s guest list.
“What am I looking for?” she asked.
Regrette gave her a list of the aliases he knew Koey used.
“And how and why do you know these?” she asked. “You’re not going to pop him are you?”
He smiled at her.
“No. But I’ve done my research on him. For something else.”
“I’m liking this less and less,” she frowned.
“And what’s your motivation?”
She looked at the computer screen and said nothing.
“As I thought,” he mused and she continued to ignore him.
“Well, your research has paid off, he’s on the list under Idroid Harnabuck. Expensive room too.”
“Check the garage, he’ll have a car, probably his own.”
“I’d be surprised if he hired,” Tsyrker said obviously.
“Just look.”
“OK, yes here.”
“Well then, we get in and bug the car before working on a plan to get into his room.”
***
They wandered confidently into the garage under the hotel. It would have been better to go into the foyer and use the lift, but they couldn’t risk Koey seeing them. There was no point trying to sneak in, that just made you look like you were up to something; the truth is you can get into almost anywhere unquestioned if you look like you should be there.
There would be cameras and ordinarily both of them would have spent the time finding and memorising plans of the building so they could avoid them, or take them out. Now they had to rely on their wits to spot them, but frankly, neither of them had a shortage in that department.
And so they did a dance through the car park, avoiding cameras and looking like they were trying to find their car in the sea of them. Finally they closed in on Koey’s car. It was nice. Expensive and fast, the type of car Regrette drove.
“He’s got taste,” Regrette said.
“Just needs to go from A to B,” Tsyrker replied.
“Mssh. You got something fancy and undetectable?”
“The latest tech,” she assured him. “Anyone around?”
“No. Wait,” they turned to face each other and had a quiet argument about the books of the author Graxode.
It was an old argument and they nearly didn’t hear the old couple get into their car and drive off.
“OK,” Regrette said. “But this isn’t finished.”
Tsyrker nipped over to Koey’s car and slid underneath. She was done in a matter of seconds and then they were strolling back out.
“Undetectable?” Regrette asked.
“Yes,” she said crossly.
They found a smaller hotel a few blocks down and booked in. They went to their rooms and agreed to meet in the bar in thirty minutes.
***
Tsyrker sent a number of messages to people she worked with and for; gleaning what kind of information people might want or need from Koey V. She was in a bad position, she liked Grant, he’d done good by her and she didn’t want to ruin his case or their working relationship, but at the same time she would be expected to put her organisation and it’s needs first.
She also checked out this Gothra, not a name she’d come across, though she was in the database. Even if she took Grant out of the picture there was still the question of how to play this. The Desards couldn’t be allowed to extend their operations further and couldn’t be allowed to take on the Shen Mi. Unless they could win. That was a game her superiors would consider playing if they thought it was worth it. It wasn’t, it hadn’t worked in the past, but politics played a large role in her job and some would rather see the Desards try and take over than the Shen Mi continue to grow.
Would it be worth taking Gothra out? To stop her dealing with the Desards? Or was it better to take down Koey as the agent between them? What was important in her eyes was stopping the deal happening, stopping the Desard Family extending and consolidating their power in the Universe.
She went back over the information she had on the Desard Family, what was logged in the database. Like all of the big crime organisations it wasn’t as much as they would like, though a lot more than the InterG had. Even for her organisation the most powerful criminals, mining magnates and business people were hard to get information on. Even if you could get into the circles they moved in (which a few of her co-workers had) you couldn’t ask questions or snoop without giving away your intruder status. The database had pictures and sketches of people seen at parties, but for whom no name nor occupation was known. Those that knew weren’t telling; those that were telling didn’t really know and those that knew and wanted to tell generally ended up dead long before anyone could get to them.
But it was impossible to keep completely in the shadows, life and the Universe could not be controlled to your desires. Sometimes someone lower down got to meet someone higher up; or meet someone who met someone who, well, you get the point. Sometimes other criminals let out information on their rivals; sometimes they managed to infiltrate the secret circles and sometimes criminals revealed themselves through blind luck. The longer you were around the more information there would be on you.
From what they knew, the Desards were a Mother, Father and two kids, a son and daughter. Pa Desard, as he was known, was a legend in the Underworld having built his criminal empire from nothing and alleged to have killed the great gangster, and his mentor, Shorty Fuller to kick start it. That was another classic law enforcement mistake. They were so happy that Shorty was gone and so confident that no one could fill his place to the same extent that they never tracked down and arrested Desard.
Nothing was known of Ma Desard, though it was generally believed that she was dead and that Pa had retired sometime after her death, leaving his kids in charge. The son, Hewy was known to enjoy parties and living it up though there was little to connect him to the criminal side of his family. It was the youngest, Maggie Desard, that most was known about. She had an active hand in the Underworld and was known to go about the Universe publicly. She played herself up to be on the straight and narrow and certainly no one had ever been able to connect her to any crime. Not even the murders that seemed to happen wherever she went. If you were going to go after the Family that would be your starting point.
But that had been tried before and failed.
Though no one had had Koey before, Koey in the middle of a deal. Would he give up Maggie to save his own skin? What if the Shen Mi knew what he was doing?
***
Regrette sat in his own room and thought about Koey V. About who he had links to. Regrette couldn’t give a shabbus about people like Koey, they thought they were a whole lot more important than they were. People like Koey were useful, but easily replaced when they were no longer so. What interested Regrette was what Koey might have stored away for that eventuality. He knew a lot about a lot of criminals, knew how they worked and if he was as smart as he thought he was, he would have kept that information somewhere as protection.
> But even that wasn’t what Regrette really wanted. Regrette wanted the Son Desard, Hewy. Hewy Desard liked the wealth and privilege that his family gave him and though he didn’t move in the same circles that his sister did, he still got out and about enough to sate his desires. It was just in a world that even Regrette couldn’t walk through.
When he thought about it, he felt like an ant. The criminals and the hitmen; the police and InterG all scurried about and ,looking down at them completely untouched, were these others. People like the Desards were the Humans to their ants. To take down Hewy would not only satisfy his personal reasons for wanting to, but also elevate him up in the ranks of hitmen. He would have touched the untouchable, shown that no one was beyond his reach.
The question then was whether Koey could lead him there, or would it be better to go through Gothra to get to Cobroy? Cobroy was a part of the organisation, Koey wasn’t. But Cobroy was a cell, he might have no connection to the Desards at all. It would be a ladder that he would climb only to find the rungs stopped before he got to anyone with the name Desard. Koey could jump all that, he was sure.
But how to do it, that was the question. How did he get what he wanted without ruining it for Grant? That was the ultimate, but if Grant’s case had to fall for him to reach Hewy Desard, then it would have to. He just didn’t want to get to that position.
***
They met in the bar, both with their own ideas of how to proceed, but they wouldn’t get that chance.
“Don’t get up,” the woman said.
Tsyrker and Regrette had barely had time to sip their drink before the man and woman, both Tarancorts, appeared at their table
Tarancorts might remind an Earthen of a giraffe. They had a very similar head and a long neck that bent in an S shape so that their heads sat forward of, and level with, their shoulders. However, their skin was made up of large, tough plates that met each other at grooves. They were an odd race in that they were split almost 50/50. Some were mean and vicious, while others were very peaceful. Great architects and painters too.
The two Tarancorts sat down. The fact that they were happy to have their backs to the bar told both Regrette and Tsyrker that they weren’t alone. Koey, it had to be, but how had he found them so quickly? And more worryingly, if they’d been followed, had the bug on the car been found?
“Did we look like we were getting up?” Regrette asked pleasantly.
“Didn’t want you to think about it,” the male said.
“Just trying to enjoy a drink,” Tsyrker said.
“Well that’s nice,” the female said. “Isn’t that nice, Tarko?”
“It’s real swell,” Tarko said.
“It would be if we could get on with it,” Regrette said.
The male, Tarko, extended his neck forward and spat into Regrette’s drink.
“Drink up,” he grinned.
Regrette looked at Tsyrker and then back at Tarko.
“Now, that was not only uncalled-for, but just plain rude.”
“I don’t think we’re dealing with the cultured side of their race,” Rainsford commented.
“Well that depends on who you ask,” the woman smirked.
“What is it exactly that you want?” Regrette asked. “Other than to spoil a perfectly good Handok Frosty Cocktail?”
“You’ve stepped on the wrong toes,” Tarko said.
“I’ve got two left feet,” Regrette shrugged.
“You won’t be funny for long,” the female threatened.
“He’s not funny now, trust me,” Tsyrker said.
They were both thinking different variations of the same thing. Who were these people and how had they found them? Unless this was completely random, and considering Regrette’s career choices it could be, then this started with Koey, but did they work for him? It seemed unlikely that he travelled with a secret cavalcade so it was more likely to be Gothra or Desard’s people. Would he have bothered the Desards with this? That depended on whether he knew who Regrette or Tsyrker was. More likely he had contacted Gothra about someone looking for her. Of course Gothra would know nothing about stolen items, but then she wouldn’t be able to know of everything that went through her bars. The real question was how they acted. They couldn’t take these two out and then continue on as normal, they would have to hit at whoever sent them.
Regrette looked around the bar.
“Don’t you worry, we didn’t come alone,” Tarko said.
“Actually I was just thinking that this wasn’t the best place for an assassination,” he said.
“We can go elsewhere for that,” the female grinned.
“But we’re not necessarily,” Tsyrker realised.
She desperately wanted to look at her computer, thankful that she hadn’t got it out before these two idiots sat down. She wanted to see what the tracker on the bottom of Koey’s car was saying. They’d said they had stepped on the wrong toes, but didn’t seem to want to do anything. They were stalling them, keeping them occupied while Koey left, she was sure of it. After that? She didn’t think they’d bother keeping them alive, they were flies in the ointment.
“For now you’re going to tell us what you’re doing here,” Tarko said.
“We were trying to have a quiet drink,” Regrette said without losing his cheeriness.
“In the city of Pelluu,” Tarko said irately.
“He’s annoying, isn’t he?” Tsyrker commented.
“The Kladtorin Museum of Ancient Dwituf (Major and Minor). The ancient peoples of this system are fascinating. One of the few civilisations that left extensive ruins and writings.”
“We know about the Uvartin people,” Tarko was getting more and more annoyed with Regrette.
“Local then, are we?” Tsyrker asked with a wry smile.
The female pulled a pistol and Tarko followed suit.
“I’m starting to think this is a good place for an assassination after all,” she warned.
“Mssh,” Regrette said.
He scanned the room, knowing that Tsyrker had done the same. They had come in force and that pleased Regrette somewhat, though told him that Koey had, if not worked out who he was, had worked out he was someone not to be messed with.
Though there were a number of everyday patrons, the assassins were loosely bunched close to their table. This wasn’t Desard’s people, they didn’t look professional enough, more likely Gothra’s or some local gang Koey managed to find at short notice. Either way, ‘assassin’ was too high praise for them.
“Well at least let us pay,” Tsyrker said. “Do we tip the table?”
“Yes,” Regrette said. “We should do that now and get it over with.”
Fast as lightning they grabbed the edge of the table and stood, flipping it up and into the faces of the two Tarancorts as they pulled their pistols at the same time. The others in the bar didn’t have time to react, some just getting a hand to their weapon before they went down. It was all over in less than a fifteen seconds as Regrette and Tsyrker sat back down, pulling the table back with them. The two Tarancorts sat there stunned and with bloody noses.
“Looks like the tables have turned,” Regrette grinned.
“Valkswagon, I’ll shoot you myself,” Tsyrker said.
“Who sent you and how did you know we were here?”
“We won’t talk,” Tarko said.
“Then you’ll die,” Regrette shrugged. “You’re right, this is a good place for an assassination.”
CHAPTER 17
Rudy and her two friends were shaken and shocked at their rescue. They had come to believe that it would never happen. After all, who would be looking for them? Who would care? They knew the police wouldn’t be able to help as soon as they left the planet. And then suddenly they had seen a familiar face, heard the words that they thought they would never hear. It had only been days rather than months or years, but the scars would last a lifetime. They were confused by it, couldn’t believe it was real; their dreams come true, hope they tho
ught lost, fulfilled.
Grant questioned them despite Kaskey’s protest; he understood of course, but they still needed any information that was useful. There wasn’t much, they knew the girls had gone to the garage before this, but Grant wanted to know if they had stopped anywhere else first, any other planet, but they said no. What about other people, or information on their kidnappers, but other than descriptions they had nothing. There had been no one else on the ship. Had they heard the name Cobroy? Yes, they had, but only in the men’s conversation; that he’d be pleased, that he wanted them to go to this world, that bar. What about other girls? Yes, four others, but they didn’t know where they went after the garage, not to the same bar they were at.
He let them rest after that, take a bath, eat some real food as Gulch made arrangements for them to be taken back home to their families. It was going to make for an interesting conversation with the InterG and he knew he was going to have to stall them. They couldn’t get to the girls in the casino, but he and his little gang could. He’d considered sending an anonymous message, but that would at best slow things down and at worst mean nothing happened. He’d just have to deal with the InterG when he had to.
The other thing he needed was more experience. Busting into a bar was one thing, busting into a casino was quite another. It needed a plan and it needed people who could pull it off and so he called Regrette. While they waited at the hotel he had to talk to Kaskey.
“You could have messed everything up,” Grant said standing at the door of Kaskey’s room.
Kaskey sat on the edge of the bed.
“Yeah, I know,” he replied with shame.
“Do you though? Do you? That could have been the end for those girls, the end for us. We can’t just go busting into places without knowing what we’re facing.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Kaskey snapped. “I ain’t some hotshot InterG if you hadn’t noticed.”
“No, you showed that tonight,” Grant said.
“Well what did you expect, man? I ain’t cut out for this.”
“So what’re you going to do?”
“Dunno,” he went for sullen this time.
“Take the ride back with the girls? Get Jonsy to declare his love and then go back to bumming around the Universe hustling people?”