Ursa Non Gratis

Part X.

Niki - Betrayal

There were more questions then answers after the shooting. What exactly were the intruders after; how had they gotten onto the base? They discussed it over chili while I watched the prisoner. The possibilities left a bad taste in my mouth.

I left the questioning to the pack. They were the ones who'd been shot at, well them and Nan, but she had deferred to them. She really wasn't in the mood for seeing someone who had put a hole in her.

The MedicineHorse boys had patched him up, but he was still pretty shaken. By the others arrived, he was already pretty nervous. The Inquisitor opted for the roll of ‘reasonable cop', I won't say ‘good cop,' cause he wasn't very nice, just reasonable.

Doe left the room while Steve moved around the room, targeting the man. Dragger made some rather unpleasant suggestions while the Inquisitor asked the questions.

The boy stuck to his story, that he'd been hired to bring Duck to Quebec. He insisted that nobody was supposed to get hurt. When his Inquisitorship started asking about how the kid had gotten the job, he made the mistake of lying to the man. Not a good idea, I tried playing cards with the man once. Some people just seem to know when you're bluffing, or lying. Inquisitor's like that.

Doe stormed in with a gun ready. He demanded to know how the kid had gotten there, who had hired him. All we'd gotten was his name, Jimmy Richardson and his fixer's name, Mickey. He said that Mickey would kill his family if he ratted them out.

Duck took the information he'd given and plugged herself in. She was looking for any information she could get on him, and boy did she. Name, address, history, birth date and family. Seems Mickey was his brother.

That really didn't sit well with the team and Doe growled that he had had enough. He aimed his gun at the man's chest and emptied the clip.

You should have seen the kid's face when he realized that Doe was still using one of the paintball guns. He was very talkative from then on, but he didn't know much. We did know that someone had met them at the border and led them to the vantage point. When I heard the description my heart stopped. Carl, my own cousin!

I hit the door running. I grabbed Michael and two other guards and booked to the motor pool. We found him working on one of the half-ton trucks, normal as you please. We brought him back in hand cuffs. The boy all but screamed, "That's him."

We had him locked down immediately. What happened next wasn't pleasant, wasn't the least bit nice, but it got us the answers. Sodium Pentothal barely did the trick. I didn't even bring it up to room temperature.

He claimed he was protecting our way. That Danny had broken with the way, it was Duck who led him ‘astray.' He took money from the same bastards that had tried to take over our lands and kill our people, in the name of protecting our way. He said that Danny got what he deserved and that the team had no business being here.

Doe told him that getting shot at made it his business. Doe seemed to know a lot about Salizar and his great plan. The man did not like any of it.

"This is our battle," Carl had told him. "Let them have her." Duck just looked at him, she couldn't believe it either.

Then came the important question. Was he working alone. Carl refused to answer. That's when Steve shot him. She hit him in the shin, not a killing shot, but it hurt. I didn't think it was possible but he got more belligerent. He insisted he was protecting us from an incident with Quebec. That's when his Inquisitorshipness took the initiative.

It was the first time I'd heard of a ‘Turkish flying carpet,' and I pray its the last. The Inquisitor explained the ‘technique' as he placed a stun sick in a very key place. Carl couldn't talk fast enough. He had an accomplice, his brother Richard.

We were all a little stunned, but Richard was long gone by that time. We still haven't found him. The elders have decided to kick him out, but weren't going to carry out the sentence until after this whole mess is taken care of.

In the morning, we got to work. They're in for the whole ride.


Copyright 1998 - M.T. Decker

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