by Ward Wagher
“Some good news, at least,” Frank said.
“Mr. Vos needs to get back to the landing pad. I thought I’d send him with a couple of the guards. They can bring back most everything in the second load, I think.”
“Good. Make it so.” He turned to Vos. “Thank you for coming up here, Mr. Vos. Once again, I am very sorry for getting your pilots into a situation where they got killed. Please let me know of anything I can do to help you or the families.”
Vos gave a short bow. “I do appreciate your concern and I will speak with you again.”
Smith pointed to two guards. “Please take Mr. Vos back to the landing pad and bring another load back here.”
They watched the departing truck and Frank turned to Ciera. “That was unpleasant.”
“He took it amazingly well.”
“Yes, but you could tell he was hurting. I’ll bet meeting him last night was not fun.”
“I really hate meetings like that,” Daphne said.
“Have you had meetings like that?” Frank said.
“Yes, unfortunately. But, I am not allowed to talk about them.”
Frank breathed. “Well, thanks for taking care of that, Hai. That was definitely above and beyond.”
“I won’t say it is all part of the service, but sometimes you just have to do what needs to be done.”
“Were you able to get the messages off?”
“Yes. A CourierNet packet ship was leaving orbit this morning, so the timing was good for a change.”
CourierNet ran a fleet of small, quick courier ships around human explored space. They specialized in transferring electronic correspondence and small packages. It was run by Jesse Spelling, another ex-Navy Captain Frank was acquainted with.
“Fine.” Frank turned to Blakely, who was standing nearby. “Gerry, can you send word into the village and request a meeting with the village council in an hour or so? We will plan to go there for the meeting.”
“Of course, Sir.”
“Once we get back from there. I want a general planning session here at the keep. I want you and Eden as well as Smith and Jones. Wendy, and Daphne, of course. Hai, can you stay around for that?”
“Sure. I had planned to spend the day here anyway.”
“Okay,” Frank clapped his hands together, “let’s get moving. Chop, chop.”
“Let me say, once again, how happy we are to have you in Montora,” Yasmin Gris said. “We had come to rely upon the margrave, and his loss was a horrible thing.”
“Thank you, madam Mayor,” Frank said. “The purpose of our meeting today is to discover your needs, and to develop a plan for moving forward.”
Gus Perkle spoke up. “We need the power plant fixed. We need the landing pad finished off and we need a road into Cambridge. Also, I think you need to find jobs for the people of the village. Can you do that?”
Gris looked uncomfortable, but didn’t say anything. Frank looked at Perkle for a moment. “These are each important things which need to be done. How will you help us accomplish them?”
“You’re the margrave. That’s your job to figure out. I’m too busy as it is running my tavern.”
Wendy said nothing, but was tapping notes into Frank’s porta-comp. Smith and the two guards stood against the wall, looking alert.
“Gus, you are not being very helpful,” Gris said.
“What, woman? That’s why we have our rulers. To take care of us.”
“What makes you think the margrave is obligated to help you, Gus?” Dolf Lundgren said. “All I hear from you is gimme.”
“’Cause that’s his job, Dolf. Like I said. I have to be at my tavern from open to close.”
“You payin’ any taxes?” Sam Chillecothe asked.
“Course not. None of us are. There’s no money to pay taxes. Not unless you are doin’ a lot better than me, Sam; and I don’t think you are.”
“My Lord,” Sam said to Frank, “we had this argument every time the old margrave met with us. If you are asking for help, well, none of us have the coin to pitch in. But we can probably find warm bodies to handle the pick and shovel work. Most everyone has to tend their gardens – we got to live after all. But beyond that there is plenty of free time. And we are about at the end of the growing season anyway.”
“Is that what you wanted to hear?” Gris said.
Frank replied. “I think so. Does everyone agree with Gus’s priorities?”
“I don’t think we’ll get a road through to Cambridge anytime soon. Those are some pretty rugged mountains.”
Dolf leaned forward. “We really ought to think about doing some kind of a sewage plant. When you’re sitting here in town you kinda get used to it. But when you return from a hunting trip… well, it’s pretty ripe in these parts. I think we ought to try to finish off the village too. Maybe we could get some tourists in.”
“I think Dolf and Sam have the right of it,” Gris said.
“My question is whether the people in the town will follow you on this?” Frank asked.
“Oh, I think you could be assured of that,” Gris smiled. “When it comes right down to it, the margrave owns everything around here. They will either work, or they might not have a place to live.”
“You wouldn’t do that, would you?” Perkle asked.
“They won’t know that,” Gris said with a grin.
“So, in other words, we can probably get a labor force, but it might take some cajoling,” Frank said.
“Probably a lot,” Gris replied.
“Okay, that’s good to know. Do you have any immediate needs?”
“Food is not a problem,” Gris said. “The soil here in the valley is fertile. We can use all kinds of hardware, but we are getting along. Probably the most urgent problem is we have no medical care.”
Frank shook his head. “That will be a tough one. Doctors always seem to be scarce.”
“I guess that’s why we don’t have a local doctor,” Lundgren said. “We know how to treat the most common stuff, but we cannot do anything about serious illnesses or injury.”
Frank leaned back. “I think we have enough to start with; at least for today. I have been looking over the castle and village. I should be able to let you know in a couple of days how we should approach things.”
“You mean whether you stay or not?” Perkle said.
“Gus!” Gris yelled.
“No, no,” Frank said quickly. “That’s all right. I need to be honest. We have not decided what we are going to do. Building this area into a resort community, which would assure income for the members of this village as well as for the Nymans, will take considerable resources. The biggest consideration is whether I have the resources to do it.”
Gus Perkle leaned back with a sly grin. “You still haven’t answered the question.”
“Gus,” Lundgren said. “I am really temped to drag you to the horse trough and hold your head under for about ten minutes.”
Gris laughed. “That old windbag probably has enough air for a half hour, Dolf. You would be wasting your time.”
“Hmph,” said Perkle. “I’m just trying to make sure everyone understands what our so-called margrave intends. And I’m still waiting for an answer.”
“So am I,” Frank said. “Rest assured, when I figure the answer out, the people in this room will be among the first to find out.”
He stood up abruptly and strode out of the room. Smith nodded to Wendy and followed Frank out of the room. The two guards remained.
“I think you finally made him mad,” Lundgren said.
“So what?” said Perkle. “What difference does it make in the long run?”
Wendy quietly closed the lid on the porta-comp and stared at Perkle. “The difference, Gus, is when we get things rolling here, I’ll probably grant a license to somebody to set up another tavern. You could use the competition, right?”
Wendy stood up and walked out of the room, followed by the two remaining guards. It was quiet for about thirty second
s, then Lundgren slapped the table with his hand and burst into full-throated laughter.
Frank and Smith were waiting in the street when Wendy walked out with the other two guards. “I was wondering how long it would take him to bring you to boil.”
“He just about had me there,” Frank said. “It would not have been good for me to beat the living holy canoogles out of him right there in the room in front of the rest of the council.”
“I don’t know, Skipper,” Smith said. “He would think twice about mouthing off to you in the future.”
“Yes, but I don’t want to discourage people from speaking their mind here in the village. I can put up with the occasional idiot. If I don’t listen to them, I’m no better than any other tin-pot dictator.” He turned without another word and began walking towards the keep.
“He’s still mad,” Wendy said as they began walking.
As the group walked towards the drawbridge, they could see a guard at each corner of the battlements. When they walked into the courtyard, Jones moved to Smith and they spoke quietly. Smith then nodded and walked over to the Nymans.
“We got trouble, Skipper.”
“Jones see something out there?”
“We are under observation from at least three locations,” he continued.
“Well…” He shook his head in disgust. “Okay, let’s get inside and figure out what we are going to do. Is Hai still here?”
“Yes, Sir,” Jones said. “He spotted t’problem first. He is talkin’ to Prary now.”
“Smith,” Frank said.
“Yes, Sir?”
“Make sure the guards know to drop the portcullis if anything looks suspicious. That is one area where I am willing to tolerate the occasional burst of excessive caution. But don’t have them acting out of the ordinary, if that is possible.”
“Right. Jones, see to it.”
“Okay, Sarge. You and you come with me.” Jones pointed to two guards, who followed him to the stair tower. The rest walked into the keep proper.
“Talk to me, Hai,” Frank said as they walked into the meeting room.
Daphne stood against the wall holding her pistol.
“We are under observation from at least three locations,” Hai said. “If I had to guess, I’d say they’ll come over the wall tonight.”
Wendy slipped over to Frank and put her arm through his.
“Now, how do you know that?” Frank asked.
“I said it was a guess, Captain.”
Frank looked at him for a few moments. “So it was. Can we stop them?”
Blakely came into the room with Prary. “What is going on?”
“Our friends are back.”
“You need to leave; you and your wife, right now.” Blakely said. “We cannot lose you too.”
“We can hold’em,” Ciera said.
“But if they lob gas over the wall again?” Prary said.
Ciera smiled. It was kind of an evil smile. “Among the packages I brought in today are twenty masks and breathing units. It won’t stop a contact toxin, but they didn’t use anything like that the last time, now did they?”
“They used Sleepy-gas.”
“Right. And if they come over the wall again, it will be the last thing they do. Concur, skipper?”
Frank looked at Ciera. “Can we do it without gunfire or without alerting the village?”
“Almost certainly.”
“I think the best thing we could do would be to take out the entire team and then say nothing about it.”
Ciera continued his evil grin. “I like it. Whoever set this thing up will have no idea what happened.”
“Better yet, we will take whoever we can alive and see what we can find out.”
“But when you let them go, whoever sent them will find out,” Blakely said.
Frank looked at Blakely carefully. “Nobody said anything about letting them go again Gerry”
Blakely looked back and forth between Frank and Ciera. Then he visibly started and his mouth opened. “Oh.”
Chapter Eleven
Hepplewhite’s sun eased behind the rugged teeth of the western mountains as the little team gathered in the keep.
“What's it look like, Hai?” Frank said.
“I cannot be positive, but it looks a six man team. We have been able to identify the six individuals and have seen them repeatedly. They have gotten a bit careless.”
“So unless they have a base camp out there with another dozen or so, we should be all right,” Wendy said.
“This group appears to be following doctrine. They may even be ex-Navy. If there were more team members, they would have rotated them in and out during the day to get an overview of the terrain. No, I think we have six players. There may be a couple more guarding their transportation, but they don’t count as regarding this little drama.”
“But, you have Smith & Jones out looking for the aircar or whatever,” Frank said. “If they are spotted or interdicted, we will be in real trouble.”
“A calculated risk,” Ciera said. “I wanted to find their base camp and also confirm our estimates on their numbers. I’ve heard about those two – they’re like ghosts in the night.”
“Generally speaking, if they don’t want to be seen, they won’t be seen,” Frank agreed. “But nobody is perfect.” He hesitated, and then sighed. “Okay, I know I’m being an old woman. I just need to assume they will be back in time. Now tell us what you have in mind here.”
“The regular guards will be on the top of the wall,” Ciera continued. “I don’t want them to have the breathing gear – they need to go down when the gas grenades are tossed in. ”
“At least they’ve had practice,” Frank said. Prary snorted.
“Right. We will use a layered defense along with several trap points. I’ll have another of the guards, Phillips, inside. He is pretty capable with a pistol. I will be inside the main entrance to the keep with Phillips and Locke. Frank, you will cover the kitchen entrance. Beddings will be with you.”
“The butler?”
“I found out today he was in the Marines. Smith & Jones will cover the gallery above the entry. Eden will be on the third floor guarding Wendy. I am expecting the action to be through the main entrance. The lack of windows on the first floor of the keep helps a lot in this case.”
“So I am your insurance?” Frank said.
“In a manner of speaking. If they come through the kitchen, you will know what to do. But I do not want to risk your getting shot. Hence the alternate entry.”
“Thanks, I think. How to you plan to achieve the capture?”
Ciera grinned and pulled a pistol out of a box sitting on the table. “Sleepy-darts. Compressed air powered. We’ll have the slug throwers if we need them.”
“And while you are switching from one to the other, you will get plugged,” Frank said.
“No. Smith & Jones will handle the sleepy-darts. Phillips, Daphne, and I will stop them with lead, if it becomes necessary.”
“And what about us?” Frank said.
“If they come through the back door, don’t worry about trying to incapacitate. Give them a chance to get fully in and hose them down.”
“And no rehearsals,” Frank said.
“This is where we all rely on our training.”
“I should be down here too,” Wendy said. “I am as competent with a gun as Frank is.”
“No you’re not,” Frank said.
“I get my groups in the center of the target as often as you.”
“But you haven’t shot when other people are shooting at you. Sorry, Wen, I’ll do better if I know you are out of harm’s way.”
“But what if they get past you?”
“Then it will be up to you and Eden, won’t it?”
Wendy closed her mouth and glared at Frank.
“I understand, Sir,” Prary said. “If they get past you, I will stop them.”
Just like he stopped them before, Frank thought. What on earth am I d
oing?
“How are Smith & Jones getting back in?”
“Through the portcullis,” Ciera said. “The Montorans have not normally raised the drawbridge at night. They assured me they can slip across without being noticed.”
