Beast Master's Circus

Chapter Ten

Storm reached out to hold Tani protectively. He could feel the shivers which shook her. This was personal distress, not only a reaction to Logan's hurt and the abduction of part of Storm's team—fond as she was of her brother-in-law and of Storm's animals. His gaze met the worried gaze of his stepfather over her head. Storm's instincts told him there was something he hadn't heard as yet.

"Asizi? What else has happened?" But Brad was entering the house. He'd see Logan for himself. It was Kelson who spoke quickly.

"The raiders must have come on to High Peaks. They hit the Djimbut first. No, no one of the Nitra was badly hurt. But they seem to have had a double agenda there. They were after cat's-eye gemstones and beasts."

Tani lifted her head. "They took Minou and Ferarre," she wept. "They stunned Mandy but she got away from them." Her eyes glowed fury before filling with pain once more. "We killed four of them but they still got away with my friends."

Until now Storm had not completely reacted to the loss of Surra and Hing and her babies. Now that loss filled him. His arms clamped Tani to him and his head bent over hers. A silent moan of pain tore through him. Tani felt the echo of his grief.

"Storm, what is it, are you hurt?"

"Surra, Hing, and her babies. They took them as well." He felt her stiffen. She stepped back. Her face was transformed into an implacable rage. Her hands came up slowly from her sides, fingers crooked a little. The anger coming from her was so powerful Storm could feel it against his mind like heat.

He stiffened—there were times when he forgot that she had lived on Terra during the Xik attacks, lost her father to the enemy, and seen her mother killed. She'd fled her world to escape being mind-broken or killed and survived it all. Under the gentleness of her surface lived a woman who was descended from one of the greatest female warriors of her people. Six months earlier when courage was needed, she had not been found wanting.

"Surra, Hing and the babies, Minou, and Ferarre." Her voice was the long dangerous note of a warhorn as she roll-called. "We'll find where the raiders went." She turned on Kelson. "What do we know?" He restrained himself from stepping back at the intensity of that demand. At the rage which filled the small slender body. He spoke slowly, wanting to defuse that flaring fury.

"Whoever they were they had help on Arzor. The port manager swears no one could have breached security without aid. We're an outer world and security isn't what it can be on an inner world, but it's good enough. I acted on Tani's first call. We'd closed the port before they reached it. So they should have been picked up entering the gates. They weren't." He remembered manager Gauda's report on that and his own anger rose.

"They got across the permacrete landing area and entered their ship disguised as cargo handlers. To do that they had someone's help. The manager was certain of that much once she'd checked the security tapes. She's so furious she has accepted a patrol offer. They'll bring in an operator with a deep probe. She's made that known and thinks it may..." A series of urgent beeps sounded from the ranger copter. "Excuse me."

He pulled down the hush cover and talked, listened, talked again. Then he lifted the cover as a pleased look spread over his weathered face.

"Nice timing. One of the people involved has talked. It seems likely he's scared of what else the probe could uncover. He's a small-fry. Not really involved. Just bribed to leave coveralls and a couple of pallets in an unusual place and let the raiders know where and how to dodge the scanner for long enough to get a head start to their ship. But he knew who bribed him. That's the first mistake. He wasn't supposed to but he did. The peacekeepers are out picking up that one now."

Storm imagined Surra, injured, in pain, separated from the human who had walked beside her so long. She would not bow to others. She was a cat and it was not in her nature. She would fight them every step of the way. She would end up dead like the others the raiders had stolen. But Hing, so happy with her new litter and new mate after being so long alone. The kidnapers would take the babies as soon as they were old enough to be weaned. And Hing who needed her kind about her would be alone once more.

The pain of their loss tore at him. He thrust it down. He would be calm. He would hunt down the thieves and when he found them they'd talk. He'd have his team whole again or die in the hunt. He had no idea of the image he made. Nor how Tani had merged her own fury, then control, with his. Together they turned to study the ranger.

"When are they likely to have this talker?"

"Anytime now, but Storm, they won't let you talk..."

"We'll take Logan down to the hospital. Then we'll see what happens."

Kelson surrendered. "Yes. Logan is most important right now."

They flew back to the city. Logan was wheeled away. A doctor paused to speak before he too followed the stretcher. "He'll be fine. Don't worry. Come back in the morning."

Brad hesitated. Storm laid a hand on his stepfather's shoulder. "Go with Logan. Tani will be with me. When we're done we'll go to the ranch house. We can hire a vehicle to return there."

"No need. The crawler's at the edge of the port. I left it there when Kelson collected me. Use that." Storm nodded and stepped back. Brad headed for the hospital doors and vanished as Storm turned to eye Kelson.

"Tani and I will go to the port. I want to talk to Port Manager Gauda there and I may be able to have a few words with others."

"If you mean the man who was bribed, they won't let you near him. Go back to the ranch. If the authorities want to talk with you they'll find you."

"I'd rather find them. Wastes less time." His tone was implacable and Kelson threw up his hands.

"Do what you want to. You will anyhow, the same as Logan usually does."

"And that's made him one of the best rangers you have," Storm returned. "Think about it. This bunch attacked a Nitra clan camp. They didn't kill anyone, but if they had the Djimbut clan would have ridden to war. Worse still, if they'd succeeded in stealing the Thunder-talker's regalia other Nitra clans would have joined them." He punched the air for emphasis.

"Think. It isn't impossible even the Norbie clans could have united with them. An affront to the Thunder or a demand from it is one of the few things that could unite both the wild and civilized tribes. It did once before. A dead Nitra warrior or two is one thing. Stealing objects of power and desecrating them is a lot more."

Tani cut in quietly. "You know the patrol's attitude on settled planets where there's already a native people. Point out to them that the raiders could have begun war here. That makes it of patrol interest as well as ranger business. Causing war between native and human settlers is an interworld crime. What if the raiders do something like this elsewhere?"

Kelson's face had been hardening as he listened. He'd thought of the possibilities himself but had not considered the patrol in this. A year back, the lethal Xik-bred clickers had driven the wild clans from their desert lands. The patrol would have forced the human settlers to evacuate their ranches, then Arzor, rather than see a settler—native war. He nodded slowly.

"I'll talk to the patrol office here about this. Tani's right. If she hadn't figured out that the raiders wanted gems then we could be facing a native uprising. If the raiders pull something similar elsewhere the patrol could have a civil war on their hands. And to my mind this all ties in with what Tani's kin discovered from other worlds. Someone's trying to collect augmented beasts from beast master teams."

He stood a moment, his face thoughtful. Even with Terra a burned-out cinder, enough of the fleet and command structure had survived. A new High Command had risen which governed the patrol and the reactivated survey section. Most often now they acted as a clearinghouse for information and as the arbiters of final decisions.

"This could bring in High Command. It could even be that the raids are another Xik brew."

Storm shook his head. "It doesn't feel like that."

"Maybe not. But do you know it isn't for sure?"

"Of course not."

"But if High Command gets involved you have a lever," Kelson said softly, a grin sliding over his face.

Tani chuckled. "He's got you there, my love. As a beast master they'd talk to you, get your opinion. Maybe let you talk to whoever the probe turns up here. Of course the Xiks could be involved."

Her love looked down at her. "Cunning little warrior, aren't you?"

"I learned from the best," Tani retorted ambiguously. "Now can we start for the port? Time is moving on."

The ranger turned. "I can drop you at Brad's crawler. After that I'll talk to the patrol officer. Her Office is at the port too. Check with me before you leave for the ranch. If I've heard anything more I can tell you then." He climbed into the copter and waited until they were strapped in. Then he lifted for the port. Tani and Storm exited the machine by the crawler.

"Where first?"

'The port manager. We may be able to tell her a few things. This way." Tani came with him, their linked arms giving mutual comfort and support.

The port manager's office was a whirl of activity. People came and went, peacekeepers walked through the milling staff, and now and again they could hear the manager's voice cutting through the din. Storm forged a path in and leaned forward, resting his hands on the desk.

"I'm—"

"I know who you are." She raised her voice again. "Everyone out. I want to talk to these two. Out!" The office cleared, the last man out shutting the door behind him. Gauda looked them over and grinned, a tired harassed smile that nevertheless managed to be surprisingly sweet.

"What I want from the pair of you are times. My man admits he was bribed. He claims it wasn't done until the raiders had reached the port. I know damn well he's a liar. The man he's named doesn't know a thing. He's so furious about the accusation, he did what Hasset never expected him to do and submitted to probe to prove that. It did. Now he's with his lawyer and laying a suit for several million credits on Hasset." Tani giggled. Gauda smiled in reply.

"Yeah. Funny. But not for Hasset. It seems while working as a lowly cargo handler he's managed to build up quite a nest egg. Gambling, he says. But he does have a fair amount to lose." Her smile sweetened. "And somehow the man he accused has found out about all those nice credits. Not a million, but if even part of the claim is allowed it'd wipe Hasset out and garnish his wages for the rest of his life. We're trying to persuade Hasset that we can get the suit dropped if he talks. Loud, clear, and very, very fully. We want every question answered honestly with all he can tell us."

"And?" Storm's eyes were savage.

"He's thinking about it. If you can give me times we may be able to prove some of his lies back to him. If we do that we can legally probe him. Show him that and he'll crack." She leaned forward. "He's a little man. Never one to take big risks. He's in over his head with all this and he's scared to death. Every time I question him he's standing there sweating in panic. If we can show him an escape he'll take it."

"Sweating in panic?" Storm said slowly. "That isn't a man who's just scared of losing credits. That's a man who sees an immediate threat. Why does he? Because I think he knows if he talks someone will come after him." He paused, leaping to a sudden conclusion. "Or perhaps because they're already here! Where's he being held?"

Gauda was on her feet, hand slapping a switch. "Theo, check Hasset. I'm worried."

"The doctor isn't here, Manager Gauda."

Storm wrenched the door open and they were running, all three of them, Gauda in the lead. Down corridors until they came to the open door of a storeroom. Inside the doctor bent over the prisoner. Gauda stopped dead and groaned in frustration. It took only a brief glance. Hasset the liar lay sprawled, face blue, eyes staring, body contorted in a last agony.

Dr. Theo Blandaay looked up. "Too late, I'm afraid. He's taken farakill." Storm drifted silently forward as the doctor turned back to his patient. His hands went out to close on pressure points in the doctor's neck. Theo slumped.

"Hoy, that's..." Gauda was protesting.

"The man who killed Hasset, I suspect. Look, when you found Hasset you questioned him. Was this man there?"

"Of course. He's doctor for the port."

"Did you search Hasset before you locked him in here?"

Gauda nodded. "One of the peacekeepers did it. A good thorough job too."

"Yes," Storm said softly. "So where did the farakill come from?" He stirred Dr. Blandaay's limp body thoughtfully with one foot. "He'll stay out another twenty minutes or so. The question is, how did he know it was time? That we could have something to make that poor fool talk. Or was he just afraid the man would betray him as soon as the pressure went on?"

Tani had been silent; now she trotted away, back to the port manager's office. She returned, followed by Gauda's assistant. Before either Gauda or Storm could question that, Tani was asking questions of her own.

"Your name?"

"Falia Tedisco, I'm assistant to Port Manager Gauda." The young woman's stance was proud, her eyes defiant.

Gauda intervened. "Falia was promoted to be my assistant a year ago. I trust her as myself." She looked at the girl. "Falia, this is nothing against you. We've had another killing. Help Tani. Answer her questions." They watched as Falia relaxed, her stance now indicating a willingness to reply.

"You know Dr. Blandaay?"

"Yes. He became port doctor soon after I was promoted to assistant." Her tone was edged.

"But you don't much like him?"

"Weeell..." Falia was doubtful. "It's not that he's ever said or done anything to me. But he acts as if no one is as important as he is. And I heard him being rude about Manager Gauda once. He seemed to think she didn't do her job as well as others could." Her face flushed. "It isn't true. Manager Gauda is the best the port has ever had. Why, since she took over the port revenues have tripled. And without setting ship captains against us. She knows where to spend money and where to cut wastage and..."

Tani smiled. "And you think the doctor might not have always liked where the cuts were made?"

"No. Everyone knows he was taking money to help ship crews with sickness. Manager Gauda added that to the port log." Tani looked to Gauda for explanation. The middle-aged manager was looking both surprised and amused at the revelations.

"It seems I stepped on Blandaay's schemes without knowing it. And while 'everyone' might have known what he was doing, I wasn't one of them. It went like this: The man's been here on Arzor a long time. He didn't work for the port full time but he was paid a small retainer to come and see to the staff when necessary. I've never heard anything against him. So when I reorganized I hired him as full-time port doctor. That meant he was hired at a flat salary to tend any crew from a ported ship who might arrive ill and to clear ship crew after looking them over for any signs of illness. I had no idea he was taking extra payment for that. But, recently, when I rewrote the new port greeting for incoming ships, I included the information that he was the port doctor as a matter of record." She laughed.

"I can believe Blandaay wouldn't appreciate that. I ruined his extra income since all ships after that would know they didn't have to pay his extra fees. Falia, why didn't anyone mention this to me?"

"We all thought you knew. That you'd chosen that way of fixing the problem without stirring up trouble."

Tani nodded. "You probably would have done it that way if you had known. Now, Falia, today. You were in the outer office before myself, Storm, and Manager Gauda all came hurrying out. Who else was there?"

"No one." The girl looked puzzled. "You chased out all of the others. There was just me left. The doctor went off to check port records or something next door. He came out a few minutes later and went away. Then you all came running out."

"Next door?"

Gauda moved. "Thank you, Falia. Go back to your office now. I want you to call the patrol office once you get back. Make sure no one hears you. Tell Officer Versha that I request her attendance as soon as possible. Say it's code black." She waited until Falia left, shutting the storeroom door behind her. Then she stared down at the sprawled figures. "You were right. The record room next door is from the old administration when security was more casual. It opens to both Falia's office and my own. Blandaay had only to ease the door ajar and listen." Tani started to speak and was waved silent. "No, you didn't see that. You wouldn't. The door into my office isn't used much. With the renovations going on in the building there's a stack of interior lining sheets leaning across it on my side. But the door opens inward to the record office."

Storm saw. "So he could open the door a fraction, hear everything, and then make sure Hasset couldn't talk." Remembering events during his war years he sighed. "He may have told Hasset that he'd give him a pill. One which would help Hasset resist deep probe."

Gauda looked disgusted. "Hasset would certainly have been dumb enough to believe it. We were supposed to stay up there talking a while longer. Then we'd have come down, found Hasset dead, and had no idea that it was more than the suicide of a guilty man. This is a storeroom. Not a cell. There's no record of who enters or leaves."

She looked at Storm. "If you hadn't suddenly wondered why Hasset was sweating so hard we'd have missed it all. Blandaay must have stayed just long enough to hear me say that with the times you two could give us and the amnesty I'd offer, I was sure we could break Hasset."

Storm's answering smile was ferocious. "So we can't break Hasset now. But what odds would you give me that our healer here doesn't know even more?"

"No odds," Gauda said cheerfully. "I never bet against sure things. Storm, make sure he doesn't come to again yet. Then watch him a moment. I know where there is a spare roller pallet. We'll take him up to my office. First we search him down to the skin. If he had farakill on him there should be traces somewhere. I suspect Versha will be on her way. Once we tell her all of this she'll act. Versha is something of a hothead. That's why she's on a backwater outer planet. She acted fast once before. She was right but she annoyed some powerful man who was embarrassed by her actions. She'll enjoy this."

Versha swept in with a uniformed probe operator in tow minutes after they wheeled Blandaay to Gauda's office. The patrols officer on Arzor was a round, plumply innocent-looking woman. But her black eyes in the dark-skinned face were sharply penetrating and intelligent. She listened to the saga, nodded to her operator, and herself helped them dump Blandaay into Gauda's chair, fastening his hands and feet firmly. Then she hitched a buttock onto the desk edge.

"Get on, boy. If we start before he's come properly awake he'll be under before he can start fighting it."

Storm and Tani said nothing. Doing it that way was illegal but neither planned to protest. Blandaay wouldn't remember, and if he was guilty as they believed then it was better he had no chance to fight his way to mindlessness. The probe lattice was slipped on, patches and sensors connected, and the questioning began. Kelson arrived halfway through. Falia ushered him in and left again. Her eyes averted from the thing which babbled in the chair.

Kelson opened his mouth, listened to what Blandaay was saying, and shut his mouth again. Blandaay was confessing that he'd been corrupted long ago, that he'd come to Arzor from his home world of Lereyne to escape a charge of negligence. That he'd been helped, had that complaint wiped back home, that the whole of his almost twenty years on Arzor he'd been in the pay of someone. First renegades, men who took quiet profit from the Xik. They'd fled after Storm had exposed the surgically altered Xik aper who led them. After that another had come who knew the secret. Blandaay had been offered a choice: The whip, or the carrot. A fat, very juicy and profitable carrot.

If aiding the enemies of humanity hadn't bothered him, then working for a mere Thieves Guild member had worried him still less. Blandaay had snatched at the carrot. It hadn't entailed much in the time he'd been on the payroll. Just allowing the occasional crew member in on the quiet, ignoring any irregularity his master didn't want noticed. A doctor is in a good position to notice things about others though. Blandaay had his standing orders for a profile on any permanent member of the port staff.

Then finally a more specific order. He was to approach a cargo handler and suborn him. Have the man sneak three people through the sealed port. Blandaay had protested. It was dangerous. What if the man was seen, what if he was taken and talked? That was discounted. He was a doctor wasn't he? Let him dispose of the man once his usefulness was done. Let Blandaay remember what could be told to the authorities if he failed. The doctor had shivered—and obeyed.

Versha nodded slowly. "All right. Let him rest a few minutes. Search him now. If we find traces of farakill on him we can fully justify this interrogation. If not—" She grinned. "Well, I've been in trouble before." A short time later she was eyeing the result. Gingerly she picked it up, crushing the capsule. "Looks as if I've been declared right. That's farakill." The silvery crystals glistened. "Gauda, have your lab check if it matches the spectrum in Hasset's bloodstream. If so we're in the clear and this interrogation tape is legal as well."

She reached for the office intercom. "Falia, call the port lawyer. Tell him we are asking for a probe permit for a Dr. Blandaay. And check if he has a lawyer of his own. If he does, call him here too." She reset the switch, cutting off the girl's surprised agreement.

"I'm gambling it will match, and that call will leak as well. It'll take the lawyers half an hour to get into action. But the leak will probably be with this filth's boss in a few minutes." She grinned cheerfully. "Let's just get that question answered and start making him look presentable again." She signaled the probe operator.

"Blandaay. The Thieves Guild man, who is he? Tell us about him. Everything you know."

"M-m-m. Marrice."

"Yes, good. Marrice who?"

A silly smile spread over Blandaay's face as his voice shifted into the harsher accents of Lereyne. "There was a little fishy who lived in a net," he chanted. "Net, debt. Debt paid." He choked. His face congested, and he slumped down in his seat.

Versha uttered several words. "Too late. He was sealed against betrayal. A very nice piece of conditioning—if it really worked. That last bit sounded as if it came right out of his subconscious. If we'd started the probe when he was completely conscious he'd have died the moment he tried to reply. He was only half conscious so he took longer for the conditioning to work. We just may have got something." She pounced on the switch. "Population lists? See if Falia can do a scan for anyone at all with the first name of Marrice."

Gauda shook her head, her hand stopping Versha from touching the switch. "No need. I think I can guess. There's a man named Marrice Plarron. One of my patrol friends from Lereyne was talking to me a while ago. Jared wondered where Plarron's money comes from."

Versha looked puzzled. "Plarron, what does that have to do with debts or fish?"

"Blandaay came from Lereyne." She saw light leap in Storm's eyes. "Yes, you've remembered." She looked at them. "On Lereyne there's a major port on the inland sea. I know the man who's port manager there. It's a fishing port. Specializes in canning, drying, producing dehydrated flakes. Just about anything you can do with fish for export. A lot of ships land there direct for cargoes." She took in a deep breath. "It's called Port Plarronet."

Versha moved purposefully to the intercom. "I'll have a word with the peacekeepers. I think with my authority that's enough to have him picked up. Probing may be a different matter."

So was collecting Marrice Plarron. Those who went to scoop him in found the net empty. There was a hunt, but Marrice Plarron was gone. However in his panic to get clear of retribution he'd left enough odds and ends of only partly destroyed information to be useful. It became a matter of putting the jigsaw together. In that, Storm and Tani could be little help.

Storm rode the basin lands and the ranch had never been so meticulously run. Tani spent time spacegramming her aunt and uncle. Kady and Brion had contacts in strange places. And it could be surprising what unworldly scientists sometimes learned. For the two who ran the ark, they'd even pass it on. Maybe if the net was flung wide enough something might be trawled up.

Logan was recovering slowly; Brad had him back at the main ranch in a month. Time dragged on and they were no closer to knowing where Surra, Hing, and her babies might have gone. All they could do was hope that the beasts still lived. By now the kidnappers would be reaching several planets. Once ported they could disappear.

Then there came a call from Gauda. They'd partly broken the false ID provided for the raider ship. Not what it truly was, but the world providing it. Trastor! And more, several linguists had listened to the record made of the brief words Mandy had overheard. The accent was lower merchant-class from the world of Brightland. Overlaid with a would-be upper-level accent. The combination rang bells with a peacekeeper chief at Brightland's largest city.

"He's sure it's a woman named Ideena. She calls herself Lady Ideena and travels with a man named Baris. They're a dangerous pair. Into all sorts of dirty crimes. He says Ideena is the worst. Both are vicious but Ideena has brains as well. They have no known connection with the Thieves Guild. Ideena likes to run things and it's unlikely she'd join. But they could have been used to get a guild member into Arzor and out again. It's a starting point."

"Do they have any idea where she is at the moment?"

"He's done some private asking about through personal friends and contacts. She was last known at Staril Port on Lereyne. It's thought she was intending to ship on to Trastor. Versha's passed all this on to her superiors. She'll take a patrol courier ship to Trastor in two days to make further inquiries. She says if Storm would be interested in helping with that she can find space."

Tani's eyes widened as Storm's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why? The patrol doesn't usually invite civilians."

"Versha says this time it's different. The raiders could have started a war. And I gather her immediate superior loathes the Thieves Guild. She's also hoping that you may be able to sense your beasts if you get close enough."

"In other words I'd be a ferret being put down a rat hole to see what comes bolting out."

"You've got it. Are you in?"

Storm nodded. He most certainly was.