“Not smart to be takin’ a loader through those hills”, one of their captors, a short-haired bearded man, grinned. “Sound bounces all over the place. Not hard to hear a motor like yours runnin’ around”. He paused before adding “Thanks for bringin’ our horses back, though”.

“We were gettin’ ready to come look for our boys”, the blonde-haired one broke in, “But since you took care of ‘em, more money for the rest of us I guess”.

“You got a funny way of showing gratitude”, Gerrin retorted flatly.

“Well, see, your boss owes some friends of ours some money and they sent us to get it”.

Both Gerrin and Reilly fought to keep from showing surprise at the word “boss”. “That why you killed him?”, Reilly asked stonily.

The blonde one shrugged “Boys got cocky”.

“Makes it hard for you to get your money, don’tcha think?” Gerrin quipped.

“Well, that’s the best part”, “Beard” smiled. “Those ‘friends’ are some Alliance connections, and they just wanted him caught. ‘Course if they don’t like that we killed him, they might not pay up. But that’s where you two come in: see, I’m bettin’ you two know more about where that money is than you’re lettin’ on, so if our friends chump out, we can cut our losses thanks to you”.

“What makes you think we know about it?” Reilly glared back.

“Oh, I’m bettin’ you know where it is, though,” “Blondie” crouched in his face. “Don’tcha?” He paused before adding “Tell us where it is and you might live”.

Gerrin shrugged. “Can’t help ya”.

“Beard” frowned. “Well then this ain’t gonna work out too good for you, then”.

* * * * * *

* * * * * *

“Yeah, this ain’t good”.

Aldous stood over the crippled loader assessing the damage in the afternoon heat while Park scouted the immediate area. “Looks like they got shot at”, Aldous reported into the commlink. “Fuel line’s broken, tank’s almost empty”.

“Any sign of them?” Loomie chirped back.

“Nothing”.

“I found something”, Park called from the top of the hill.

“Hold on”. Aldous hooked the commlink to his shirt and started up the hill. Reaching the top he looked at Park, who pointed down to McMillan’s body. “Oh, this ain’t good at all”, he murmured.

“What?”

Aldous raised his commlink. “Well, McMillan’s up here face down in the dirt, and there’s some shell casings on the ground up here”.

“Anything else?”

“What about that?” Park pointed.

Aldous looked to where Park was pointing. A thin wisp of smoke rose from a group of rocks in the near distance. “Let’s go find out”, Aldous started back down the hill.

Park followed Aldous down the hill and they both picked their way through the brush and boulders on the rocky canyon floor. Arriving at the source of the smoke they froze as they came upon two more bodies by a smoldering scrub bush. ”Yep”, Park mused, “there’s been trouble”.

“Yeah, just like always”. Aldous sighed as he reached for his commlink “Loomie, we got two more bodies out here, not ours. Looks like a gunfight”.

Ther was silence on the other end for a second, then Loomie commanded “All right, go get the loader and get it inside, we’re heading to town”.

“’Go get’” - Aldous looked at his comlink. “You’re getting kinda bossy lately, what’s up with that?”

“Chù tsuò jiù duìle (Just do it)”, Loomie responded sharply.

Aldous and Park looked at each other, then Aldous replied “Ten minutes”.

“You got five”.

Aldous sighed and slipped the commlink into his pocket. “You heard her”, he said archly to Park and started toward the disabled loader.

“What’s that all about?” Park asked.

Aldous shrugged. “She gets that way when the captain’s in trouble. Been that way”.

“Girl crush?”

Aldous looked at Park sharply. ”Not my sister”, he retorted sternly.

“It’s been known to-“ Park stopped just short of the loader. “Hey, what’s that?”.

“What?” Aldous looked to where Park was pointing. Something was scratched into the dirt beneath the loader. “Come on, help me move this thing”. Aldous grabbed the wheel while Park positioned himself behind the loader. They both grunted as the loader slowly moved forward. They had moved the crippled vehicle roughly it’s length when Park said “We got a message”.

Aldous stopped pushing and came around to the rear of the loader. Park pointed to the message scrawled in the dirt: “>Town G>”.

Aldous and Park looked at each other. Aldous admitted “Well, she was right”. Resuming his spot by the steering wheel he and Park started pushing the loader toward the Troll’s loading ramp. Grunting as they pushed the damaged loader up the ramp and into the cargo bay, Park reached over to the console and hit the comm button. “We’re on”.

“Button us up, we’re going”. Loomie waited until she thought they’d had enough time to seal the ship, then flipped the switch and pressed the button that activated the engines. The ship lifted off and turned towards the nearby town.

* * * * * *

* * * * * *

Gerrin jerked spasmodically as he fought to hold what little breath he had. The soaked sack over his head made breathing impossible. His chest was on fire and he couldn’t see a thing. He felt his consciousness start to fade as the makeshift hood was removed from his head and light flooded into his eyes. “Feel like talkin’ now?” he heard Blondie demand.

Gerrin gasped for air. Tilting his head he tried to check on Reilly, who wasn’t faring any better. Turning back toward Blondie he sputtered “Keep wishin’”.

Blondie’s fist plowed into Gerrin’s stomach and the hood went over his head again. Gerrin braced himself for the water on the hood that would make it impossible to breathe again. As he fought to hold his breath he tried to count the seconds . . . five . . . ten . . . then he heard a loud strangled cry that he guessed came from Reilly.

The hood came off again and Blondie growled “You both might wanna reconsider. I can do this all day”. Turning toward Reilly he asked “How ‘bout you? Feel like talkin’?”

Beard pointed his pistol at Reilly’s nethers. “Feel like changin’ your religion?” he sneered.

Beard looked down at both of them. “This stops when we get what we want”.

“I don’t know nothin’ about that” Gerrin regained his breath.

“Give ‘em the package”, Reilly sputtered, “you know where it is”.

“Reilly, your mouth is leaking words”, Gerrin rasped. “You might wanna fix that”.

“What package?” Blondie demanded.

“Some high-value Alliance stuff”, Reilly told him. “They’ll pay to get it back”.

“Bizui (Shut up)”, Gerrin snapped.

“I didn’t sign up for this”, Reilly hissed, “You’re on your own”. Turning back to Beard he offered “We picked it up a couple months back. Whatever it is, he’s got a contact coming in on a ship that’s supposed to pick it up and pay us off”.

“You little…” Gerrin jerked in his bonds as if trying to reach Reilly. Reilly jerked as if trying to reach Gerrin. Beard and Blondie jumped on the two of them and pummeled them. After a few seconds they stopped. “Now you two might wanna think about calmin’ down”, Blondie rasped. “Gibbons!” he suddenly bellowed.

An unseen voice answered “Yeah, boss?”

“Take Chan and go check if some ships come in lately”.

“Okay”. The voice paused before asking “What’m I lookin’ for?”

“Just find out what’s come in today”, Blondie growled.

“Okay”, then silence.

Beard turned back to his two captives. “Now, let’s hear some more about this package”.

* * * * * *

* * * * * *

“So where do we start?” Park looked around.

Park and Aldous approached the town from the landing field where Loomie had set the Troll down while keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings. “Tell you what”, Aldous decided, “You take the left side, I’ll take the right, we’ll work our way-“.

Suddenly the commlink interrupted him. “Anything?” Loomie inquired.

“Can you wait until we get into town, first?” Aldous retorted in an annoyed tone.

The link fell silent. “Let’s get going”, Park suggested, “There’s not much daylight left”.

“Right, right”, Aldous answered. “You, left, me, right, call if anything happens”.

“Got it”. Park started toward the side the store was on as Aldous moved toward the other side. Just ask who what? Park thought to himself as he approached the first building. Peeking inside the door, he noticed a counter in front of an open door. The lights and sound from behind the door suggested that this was the control shack for the landing field. Deciding they wouldn’t be there Park moved on.

The second building on Park’s travels was a saloon of sorts. Several men sat at worn tables and a somewhat worse-for-wear bar. Several somewhat under-dressed females stood at several tables, obviously the wait staff. Deciding this would be a good place to gather information, Park headed toward the bar.

Taking a seat beside a man of similar ethnicity, Park discreetly scanned the room as the bartender approached. “What’ll ya have?” the man asked gruffly.

Park tried to sound convincingly rough. “Gimme a minute, I’m waitin’ on somebody”.

The bartender grunted and moved away.

Park continued his scan of the room until a voice beside him said “You meetin’ somebody?”

Park turned slightly toward the man seated beside him. “Yeah, business”, he answered.

The man looked him over. “Most’a that happens back at the field”, he reflected.

Park shrugged “I just do the job, man, I don’t ask questions”.

“Tell me about it”, the man grunted.

“All I know is it’s some red-headed guy and an older guy, comin’ into town and we’re supposed to do some kinda trade-off and then go on our merry way”, Park tried to sound convincing.

“You check the dockmaster’s office? Maybe they been askin’ ‘bout you”.

Park began to wonder why this man was being so helpful. “Worth a shot. Where is it?”

The man shifted in his seat. “I gotta head back that way anyway. Just follow me”. The man dropped two notes of Alliance script on the bar and stood up. As he moved toward the door Park fell in beside him. They turned toward the center of town. “It ain’t back by the field?”

“Just keep followin’”, the man replied.

They passed two buildings before the man stopped. Park felt the cold parrel of a pistol against his head. ”What’s going on?” he growled.

The man with the pistol said “Our boss is gonna wanna talk to you about your business contacts”. Leaning forward he added “Good job, Chan”.

Chan smirked “Just fell right into my lap. How’s that for luck?”.

Yeah, Park thought to himself bitterly, How IS that for luck?

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…………To Be Continued………