Wanted

Josh stepped on the accelerator and shot away from the curb. Cherry said, "Not too fast. We don't want to be pulled over with everything we've got in the back and in the trunk."

  Lemmy asked, "Where are we going?"

  Josh said, "We need somewhere quiet to question those nitwits who attacked us. I think I'll head out into the country to see if we can find a nice dark, empty place."

  Cherry said, "I've got the sensor flying ahead to find us a spot."

  An hour later they were deep into the country. Houses became few and far between. Cherry said, "About a mile ahead turn left. There's nothing around for at least two miles. Lemmy, sit still. All that wiggling makes it hard for me to see my comm."

  Josh shook his head. He turned left at the road Cherry indicated. They bumped along on the uneven dirt road for several minutes. Turning right into a clearing, he stopped the vehicle. Cherry opened the door and pushed Lemmy off his lap before she had a chance to move.

  She reached into her clothes and Cherry hesitated before he got out. Lemmy glared at him, then moved away. Josh climbed out and opened the back door. Grabbing the thug by the collar, he dragged him out. When the man's shoulders and chest cleared the door, Josh dropped him with a thud.

  Reaching back inside, Josh grabbed the man's feet. He carefully eased them around the Captain. When his feet cleared, Josh flipped him end over end. As he landed, a whoosh of breath came out.

  Cherry met him at the trunk and they roughly threw those inside to the ground. Cherry grabbed the hand and tossed it to its owner, but left the blaster in the trunk. Once they had them out, they split up and searched each thug. Weapons, money and any comm units went into the trunk after being checked to find out anything about the goons.

  While Josh and Cherry worked on the attackers, Lemmy checked the Captain over. She saw some of the thorns on his arms had broken off and wept a green-colored ooze. After she stopped the bleeding, she made him as comfortable as possible.

  Cherry and Josh finished their search. They walked around to the open door of the vehicle. Josh asked, "How's he doing?"

  "I think he's alright. I'm a little worried though. Those stingerrays are tough on younger people. I don't know about someone as old as him."

  Cherry asked, "How old do you think he is?"

  "I can sense he is old for his race."

  Josh said, "There's not much we can do right now. Even a healing unit won't change much except the headache. We can take him home when we finish here."

  Cherry asked, "You know where his home is? I sure don't. I don't feel right searching him for clues."

  "Yeah, I don't either. I guess we take him back to Belle. How long do you think it'll take to wake up some of these apes?"

  Cherry snorted, "The three the little fur ball double-tapped won't be up for quite a spell. If I had some wire, I could stimulate the other two."

  Lemmy reached into her purse and pulled out a small roll of electrical wire. She asked, "Will this do?"

  Cherry looked at her in amazement. "Why would you have a roll of electrical wire in your purse?"

  "I'm a ship's engineer. You never know what you might need. I had to do some rewiring in the cargo bay. When I got through, you were ready to leave. You know as well as I do that you don't leave anything loose on a spaceship. It'll come flying back to bite you if you do."

  Cherry just shook his head and took the wire. Stepping to the trunk, he pulled a tail light wire enough to be able to strip a small section. In just a few minutes, he had Lemmy's wire attached to it.

  Waving at the driver, he said, "Bring him over here."

  Josh pulled him to the rear of the vehicle. Cherry leaned his head against the back, then touched the wire to his ear. Nothing happened. Cherry pulled his vibro-knife and scraped a spot to bare metal. He nicked the driver's ear and let it bleed on the bare spot before he shoved his head against it.

  This time, when he touched his ear, sparks flew and flesh started smoking. Moving the wire away, Cherry waited a few seconds. When the driver gave no response, he touched the wire to a different place on his ear. More sparks and smoke attested to it working. The driver gave a moan so Cherry moved the wire.

  The man still didn't move so Cherry touched his ear again. This elicited a scream from the man. His eyes flew open and he tried to move his head. Cherry's hand kept it firmly in place. At Josh's nod, Cherry held the wire to the man's ear again.

  When the shrieking stopped, Josh saw that a large blister had formed. He asked, "Why have you been following us? Why did you try to kidnap us?"

  The alien whined, "You can't do this. I didn't do anything. I saw some guys coming down the street and thought I knew them. I just stopped —"

  Cherry didn't wait for Josh's nod. He touched the wire to his ear again. The screams lasted longer this time. Josh said, "This could get really painful. Why don't you just tell me what I want to know? I'm afraid my friend here will want to move on to more sensitive body parts. I hate to listen to all the noise when that happens."

  The thug whimpered, "I don't know what you're talking about. I just —"

  The wire went inside his nose this time. The sounds choked off when the alien passed out. While Cherry slapped him awake, Josh bent down to pick up the severed hand. Josh asked, "We've got all night. How long do you have?"

  "I don't know anything, honest."

  "Cherry, I think he's right. He doesn't know anything. Let's move on." Josh hesitated and shuffled his feet. "I wonder if he has any body parts that Demmy might want. I'm pretty sure he won't want the damaged ears or nose. What else is left?"

  Cherry chuckled, "Maybe a hand or a foot."

  The man squirmed but Cherry held him firm. The alien said, "You're bluffing. You won't do any permanent damage."

  Josh silently tossed the hand in his lap. The thug screamed and tried to move. His hands swiped at his lap trying to move the hand without touching it. The hand finally fell in the dirt beside him. He tried to squirm away but Cherry wouldn't let him move.

  Josh said, "That's one trophy he's already taken. Since you don't know enough for us to bother with, your next stop is Demmy."

  "No, wait. The boss told me to see if we could find out how to get that gold and silver bullion. That's all. We would have just questioned you…"

  Cherry laughed, "And if you thought you could do it, you'd take care of our ship, too. Right?"

  "No, really —"

  Lemmy flipped on her vibro-knife. The sonic sound carried clearly in the stillness. Josh said, "He's lying through his teeth. We can't believe a word he says. Give him to Demmy."

  The thug grabbed the vehicle, trying to hold on. He screamed, "No, wait. We would have taken the spaceship if we could have."

  Josh asked, "What would you do with it?"

  "If it's any good, we'd take it to a rendezvous and they'd take it to a shop to remove all ID, then they'd sell it or put it into our service. If it's a piece of junk, they'd scrap it."

  Cherry asked, "How many ships in your service? How many people? Remember, one more lie and you belong to Demmy."

  "I have no idea how many people. I've heard as many as five or six thousand, but I don't know if that's rumors or not. I know of ten other ships like the Pomodore. I have no idea how many ships like yours are run in trade and other things."

  Cherry looked at Josh, trying to warn him not to do anything stupid. Josh ignored him and asked, "What other things? Where do you get the people to man all those ships like the Pomodore and the others?"

  "We recruit them. That's some of what the other ships do."

  Josh said, "And."

  "Uhh – umm – Sometimes we take some people in trade for debts owed. Others have to be encouraged a little."

  Cherry yelled, "Josh, stop." He'd seen the fire come in Josh's eyes and the hand move toward the blaster.

  Josh took two deep breaths then asked, "Is that all you do with those people?"
>
  The man cringed but Cherry brought the wire closer to his nose. "No, sometimes we get orders for certain work specialties. The other ships collect them."

  Josh asked, "What else do those ships do?"

  The man closed his eyes before he answered, "Some people call them pirates."

  Josh's voice dropped to a whisper, "What is this service you work for called and who's the head?"

  The alien hesitated until Cherry jabbed his nose with the wire. After a loud shriek, he said, "It's called Exurbiu Entertainment. The boss is Lobos. I don't think anyone has ever seen her. She'd kill me if she knew I even talked to you."

  Cherry saw Josh coming to his boiling point. He tried to avert the bloodshed that would follow when he did. He quietly said, "Josh, this bunch had nothing to do with your sister."

  "Are you sure? Maybe they were the forerunner. If I wipe out this cancer, maybe she'll have a chance."

  "Josh, you need to think about the consequences."

  "I am. She would have been better off never being born – than to have gone through that…"

  "Josh, please. Take a deep breath. We need more information and we may be able to get it from these filthy slavers. I know I can't stop you from pursuing them, so let's at least give ourselves a chance to succeed."

  Josh sucked in several trembling breaths. The red in his face returned to near normal but Cherry could still see the rapid pulse in the artery in his neck. Lemmy started to ask something, but Cherry's fierce glare silenced her.

  Finally, Josh said, "Alright, we interrogate. If I smell anything like a lie, body parts will drop and keep dropping until I think it's the truth."

  "I'll get the sensor closer to record everything. We can go back over it later to make sure we don't miss anything."

  While he concentrated on his comm unit, Lemmy asked, "What are you talking about? What happened to your sister?"

  Josh said, "Not now, Lemmy. After we get through with these – these slimy, filthy dirty slavers, I'll answer your questions."

  When Cherry moved his hands to use his comm, the thug started to move until he glanced at Josh. He saw his death waiting to happen. Sucking in a breath, he clung to the vehicle and froze in place, hoping Josh wouldn't react.

  Josh said, "Lemmy, could you please check on the Captain?"

  Cherry said, "It's ready. What do we do about them? Some of them may wake up while we're interrogating."

  "You watch him. I'll take care of them. If he wiggled or opened his mouth, I don't know if I could keep from chopping him into little pieces."

  The alien turned a sickly yellow-green. His legs started twitching and terror crawled across his face as he realized it. He shut his eyes, not wanting to see his death come. Josh walked to the others and pulled his vibro-knife. The sound of it coming to life carried to the thug. He passed out.

  Josh quickly cut strips from the men's clothing to securely bind and gag them. He dragged them apart then blindfolded them. Returning to the light of the vehicle, he said, "OK, let's get this done."

  Josh and Cherry interrogated the thugs until daylight. The screams and shrieks of the current interviewee helped fuel the free flow of information from the next one. By the time they had worked on each of them twice, Josh thought he had most of the data they could provide. He knew all of their contacts, codes and ways of doing things aboard the ship and on the ground.

  The information did nothing to cool his anger. The tales of kidnappings, beatings, deaths and bribes made his breath come in short harsh gasps. Cherry had to keep talking to him to stop him from chopping them into pieces. Finally, Josh pulled his knife and attacked a small shrub, chopping it to small pieces.

  Lemmy hid in the vehicle watching over the Captain. Occasionally, she would peer out the back door at the activity. When Josh attacked the bush, she ducked back inside and hid her head under her coat.

  Josh came back to the vehicle and slid down the side of it next to Cherry. Cherry said, "Feel better now?"

  "No. I didn't hear any squeals or begging for mercy and I didn't see any blood flying."

  "You'll just have to be satisfied with the torture we did until we take on that space-bound toilet. I assume that will be your next target."

  "Yeah, maybe. I don't know if we can take on two hundred crew men. If it wasn't for the slaves on there, I'd blast it to atoms."

  "So how do we get the slaves off?"

  The Captain staggered out of the vehicle. He asked, "Get the slaves off of what? Are you working with the Bugs?"

  Josh asked, "Who are the Bugs? I think I've heard of them but I just can't place them."

  The Captain said, "The lowest, slimiest good-for-nothing beings in this universe. They come to a planet and steal entire towns – people included. Some people call them the Challeka Traders of Elgebar V, but I say they are just vermin that should be stepped on and ground underneath your heel."

  Cherry asked, "Why doesn't someone stop them?"

  "They hit and then disappear."

  Josh asked, "How do you know so much about them? What did they do to you to make you despise them so much?"

  "I was a trader. I flew all over making a decent living. Then I started running into planets where they had been. Like I said, entire towns missing. They mainly went after places with factories."

  The Captain stopped, overcome with emotion. At last, he took a deep breath and continued, "My race wanted to join with them to start a new dynasty. I campaigned around our federation showing pictures of the raped planets and interviews of people who had lost dear ones."

  A quiet sob escaped from him. "Powerful people told me to shut up and mind my own business. I didn't listen. I should have. It's my fault they're gone…"

  Josh gently asked, "What happened, Captain?"

  "One of the most powerful individuals called one night. She said my family had taken a vacation. They would contact me when they arrived. I flew back to my home to find the Bugs had visited it. The individual had spread the story that it was my fault for showing the pictures. My town tried to grab me but I escaped."

  The anger shone in his eyes, "I tried for months to find some way to negotiate with the Bugs for my family's release but to no avail. I guess – no, I know I tipped over the edge into temporary insanity."

  A shudder ran through his frame, "I found some asteroids and plotted a path for them. The individual who sold my family had a big meeting with her other backers. I shoved them at the planet. They hit harder than I expected. A third of the planet was killed. They attacked my freighter and destroyed it. I managed to escape in a small shuttle. I found a way to hitch rides around the universe until I landed here. I quit running and now wait to face my death."

  Josh said, "I'm sorry to hear that."

  "I got careless tonight. I intend to take as many with me as I can when I go. Are these the ones who attacked?"

  Cherry said, "No, they attacked us. They're with the Pomodore."

  The Captain glared at the lumps lying under the bushes. He asked, "What do they have to do with slaves?"

  Josh's jaw tightened before he answered, "They use slaves as prostitutes and other workers on it and other ships. They force people to sell neighbors and relatives to pay off gambling debts. Those same people have a branch that specializes in kidnapping certain skilled people for someone."

  The Captain started to move toward them, but Cherry stopped him. The Captain asked, "Did they say who they sold them to? It sounds like something the Bugs would have them do."

  Josh said, "They didn't really say but we can wake one of them up and ask. Cherry, would you do the honors?"

  Cherry grabbed the driver and dragged him over. Tears were streaming down his face. When Josh removed the gag, the man whimpered, "I've told you everything I know. I don't know anything else. Please —"

  The Captain leaned in close to his face, "Who do you sell the skilled people to?"

  The man's eyes look
ed up and to his right, "I don't know."

  Before Josh or Cherry could react, the Captain's hand flew forward and grabbed the man's ear. He gave a powerful jerk and the ear came off in his hand. The driver screamed and started to pass out. The Captain slapped him.

  The alien's eyes fluttered and widened as he saw the look in the Captain's face. He stammered, "I think I heard Challeka Traders, but I don't know for certain."

  "But you do know what they look like."

  "Yes, as far as outward appearance. I've never seen what they actually look like."

  "And?"

  The driver gulp, "They're about four foot tall. They always wear a robe with a face shield. I think they have four arms. That's all I know."

  The Captain straightened and turned to Josh and Cherry. He said, "The Bugs. If these scum work with them, maybe I can find a way to trace my family. How did they get on the planet? I'll —"

  Cherry said, "Whoa, Captain. You'll have to stand in line. We get them first. We know a little but we still need more information to penetrate that ship in orbit. If you help us, we'll try to get one of the big wigs on the ship. They'll know a lot more than this trash."

  The Captain stared at the two bounty hunters. He said, "You're planning on taking over that ship, aren't you?"

  Josh nodded. The old man said, "Are your friends on Earth going to help you?"

  Josh said, "No, we don't have any friends with spaceships on Earth. We'll have to figure a way to do it ourselves."

  "Just the three of you?"

  "No, the two of us. Lemmy doesn't like violence."

  The Captain looked from Josh to Cherry and back again as if they had two heads. He said, "Yes, you're the race that wiped out so many of my race's spaceships and blasted the Bugs. How many ships did they have?"

  Josh said, "That wasn't us, but I believe they had seven ships."

  "And wiped out over 350 battleships. My people wouldn't listen to me. I think you can take that ship in orbit. What can I do to help?"

  Cherry asked, "Who are your people?"

  The Captain looked incredulous, "You don't know? I'm a Hanami. I was part of the Hanami Federation."

  Chapter 20