COLONIAL RANGER FALL OUT BREAK (book07) CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 20

So far, Kent had been right about everything. Jake was glad to know that his source was good. If Kent was going to be wrong, Jake preferred to find out about it on something like this. Not that there was a lack of danger but, then again, when was there not? The more Jake saw of this Ren Fest, the more he was pretty sure that if anything went wrong, he could probably fix it. It would not be to everyone's satisfaction but, then again, what ever was?

Jake got past Dove's minions and he did it by using Kent's advice. Jake played to the guys vanity, publicly. In this case it was something of a pleasure because, when Horst saw it work, he got up from his table and left the building. The guy did not seem angry, he was definitely going to do something that Jake might not like but, it was good enough for now. Jake got in Dove's back room.

That guy was all smiles but, Jake could also sense, a slight air of nervousness about him. Jake suspected he knew why and, unfortunately, if his theory was correct then, Jim Dove had more than a few reasons to be. The one thing this guy was not, was your typical ego-maniacal cult god. In fact the impression he was leaving with Jake was not one that was King Arthur. It was more an impression of another fairy tale with Dorothy and particularly the part about, “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”

As Dove merrily poured mead into some goblets, he rattled on about, “honestly, I have no idea where the Sheriff is. Like I said, they came through here and then split.”

“I see,” Jake replied and took the mead. It was actually kind of tasty and sure beat the hell out of Lucy's bourbon. Jake's smile was real as he continued, “and so you don't know anything about the two little scrapes down at the airstrip?”

“Tank Curtis?” Dove waived that off, “he's a friend of mine. Why wold I hurt him?”

“That's not the impression he left me with,” Jake replied as he mellowed and became more firm, “I'm also not sure it's his health you're worried about.”

It was clear Dove did not know exactly how to take that but, he managed to come back with what had to be a company line if there ever was one, “I am concerned with the well being of all my subjects.” Jake tried to speak but Dove cut him off with, “and if it's about that vaccine thing, I'm working on it. I told your guy, the situational condition here.”

“Yeah,” Jake was now slipping into hostile, “something about you want the Governor to crown you king, something like that? Let me guess, you already know Crass is never going to do it, so you decide to try for the second best thing? That it?”

Dove waived it off magnanimously, “anybody is free to visit the Barony. I have open relations with all.”

“Yeah,” Jake agreed, “except maybe some of your own damn people. Somebody shot an arrow in a guys chest. If they're not your guys then who the hell are they?”

Dove put his drink down, became a bit frustrated but, he did manage to keep his smile as he said, “that's complicated.”

“Not that complicated Jim,” Jake told him. He now understood what Moss was talking about that day at the consulate. “Let me take a guess. It was Missy Curtis's boyfriend.”

Now Dove was a bit surprised, maybe even a little alarmed but, he held his cool well enough when he asked, “Tank told you about that?”

“No,” Jake told the guy, “it's what I do for a living jerk off.”

Dove waived a finger, “now, now, we can be civil. You might not respect my ways but, hey, we were in the same line of work. You can pay me a professional courtesy, you know?”

“Yeah let's talk about that Jim,” Jake told the guy, “what exactly did you used to do.”

“Hey, I served,” Jim told him. “I was at Bragg, just like you.”

“Yeah?” Jake then askd, “and what was your MOS? Auto Detailing?”

That actually caused Dove to think before he seriously asked, “is that really a thing?”

Jake blew the question off and continued, “you know, I didn't know everybody in SOCOM but, I do know this. There were only a few thousand and there's probably ten times as many who claim to have been there. Since I never even heard of you, I got to figure, what are the odds?” Before Dove could speak, Jake added, “and they mentioned you at the consulate so I know that's your real name.”

Dove deflated and then he defended himself, “I have never, once, told anybody that I was in Special Forces. Not one single person.”

“Course not,” Jake told the guy, “you just let them think it.”

“Hey,” Dove blew it off, “has it's advantages in this job.” Then the guy kind of broke character and said, “look I got my own problems dude.” When Jake seemed unimpressed, the guy went on with, “I was on Beta Canaan, for real man. I may not have had a glamorous job but you try repairing com dishes with German kill sats trying to read your position.”

“I've done that,” Jake said flatly.

Dove perked up, “really? Let me ask you something, did you ever think those AE-35 connection ports were a little...”

“I don't get this,” Jake said with more than a hint of hostility, “you fought the Germans and now you're willing to deal with them? What the hell does Horst want?”

“It's just business man,” Dove said with a shrug.

Jake then mentioned, “Like the one you got going with Tank Curtis?” Again, Dove got an inquisitive look and, this time, Jake nipped it in the bud, “no he didn't tell me that ether.”

“Ok, well,” Dove was most definitely agitated now, “tell you what. The sheriff obviously blew it. I was hoping he'd come back with Butterfield and his crew but...”

Jake blurted out, “who? Is that some kind Renfest name?”

“Oh,” Dove shook it off, “no that's his real name, Paul Butterfield. He's the guy you want. I'd be willing to hand him over and I even told Killian that. I didn't tell that butt munch to go down there and start a fight over that girl. Tank's ok but his sons don't really care for us. Then you got that wife of his.” Dove rolled his eyes and continued, “she's got a corncob stuck up her ass. They didn't want Missy seeing Paul and, so, well, now that idiot has got every rancher in the valley wanting to come up here and lynch me. You're welcome to him, you just got to bring him back.”

Jake stayed hostile and on business, “where's Missy?”

Dove shrugged, “with them I guess. They headed east. I'm guessing that means they're probably heading up to that old mining camp by the falls. You know the falls right? Paul and his buddies like spending a lot of time up there. They hunt and stuff.”

When Jake got back to the horses he was in something of a hurry and, he had only one question on his mind, “where the hell are they?”

Lucy was a bit jumpy and she definitely had that air of somebody caught with their hand in the cookie jar, “I'm sorry Jake. I didn't mean to start...”

Jake slapped his forehead, “Jesus Christ, I almost thought they knew how to...” Jake grunted and then said under his breath, “looks like we still got a ways to go.” In a more normal tone he told Lucy as he began saddling up his horse, “don't sweat it. Find them and then get the hell back to the plane. Just wait for me there.”

That made the girl a little more jumpy, even if it seemed to be for very different reasons now, “you found my brother?”

“Not exactly,” Jake told her, “I mean I know where he was going but, who can say if he made it there or not. He could be on his way back, right now, for all we...”

“Or he could be in trouble,” Lucy snapped, “he's got a sat phone with him Jake. He should have called in by now. He should have at least picked the hell up when I called him. Where was he going?”

“Over by some waterfalls,” Jake said in a very distracted way. He was busy finishing up with his saddle and, when Lucy tried to protest, Jake told her, “I don't need to know where they are Lucy. I'm going to pick up his trail. Then it doesn't matter which way he went.”

“No offense Jake,” Lucy replied, “but you ain't got a chance in hell. This ain't Earth. I grew up in these woods. I know where them waterfalls are. I even know where this mine is you're talking about. You'd be wandering around out there for days. I can get us there in hours. He's my brother.”

Jake finished with the saddle, “I can follow a trail Lucy. They're pretty much the same on any planet. Killian had six guys on horseback. I'm pretty sure they left a big one.”

“Really,” Lucy crossed her arms and was quite condescending when she replied, “you seen how many people are coming and going from this place, on horseback? How you gonna know which trail is his to start on, huh?”

Now Jake stopped what he was doing. He looked at the stubborn little girl with the short blond hair and plump features. He was pretty sure she was going to follow him if he said no. She was also right about finding the start of the trail, even if he would not admit it, outright. “And who's supposed to tell Danni and Amy what's going on? We don't have time to look for them.”

“Relax Jake,” said Amy as she came strolling up, “I'm right here.”

There was only one thing Jake could say to that, “where the hell have you been?” Then he thought of another, “and where the hell is your partner?”

Amy crossed her arms, “Danni's not my partner. She's Norm's partner.”

Lucy mumbled to Jake, “I see she didn't mention...”

“Shut up Lucy,” Jake said cutting her off. He never took his furious eyes off Amy, “right now she is. I don't care if two are pissed each other. I don't care if you hate each other. You're in the field, literally in this case, and you play for the same team so you watch each others backs. I shouldn't have to tell you this.”

Amy did not shrink, “it isn't my fault Jake. Look, ok, yeah we got in a fight.”

Jake snapped at her, “big surprise there. I think when we get back, we're going to start having one or two classes on professionalism. You remember your last training exercise?”

“I went after her,” Amy growled back. “She ducked me, ok? I lost her in some crowd way over there by that big log pile. She'll come back.” When Jake told her to get back to the plane, Amy backed down and became confused, “you're going out there alone? That's not a smart idea Jake.”

“He's not sugar,” Lucy said as she finished saddling up her own horse, “I'm going with him. It's ok, I was dog sledding up to a hundred miles from my house when I was just ten.”

Jake blinked, “you're kidding?”

Lucy smiled, “I'm good.”

“Not what I meant,” Jake told her, “you could fly a plane at six, that's a lot faster than dogs and a glorified box crate.” It was clear the girl had a come back but Jake got back on track with Amy, and forced his anger back, “we don't have that option Amy, since you two numb nuts decided to have a cat fight.” He mellowed some, “besides that, you guys would just slow us down. You can barely stay on that horse. Get Danni. Get out of here. I got a feeling some bad stuff is about to go down here in this place and I don't want you two in the middle of it.”

“Bad stuff?” Amy got no answer to her question. She was left standing at the visitors stables until she could no longer see them. Then she began walking back towards the last place she saw Danni. As she did she looked around at the people coming and going. They were not paying her a bit of attention. She certainly did not feel threatened. Things looked to be as normal as they could in a place like this. Then Amy started thinking about that. What really was normal here? That was why Amy decided to talk to a few people, mostly asking if they had seen Danni. That girl must have stuck out like a sore thumb around here, yet, of the few people that would actually talk to her, none of them had.

She even tried it with a kid. The boy just screamed and ran off. Then someone did talk to her but, it was not who she wanted, “you're going about it all wrong my dear.”

Amy did not even look in his direction when she replied, “I think I can handle this on my own Horst.”

The man wandered out between a couple of makeshift market stands. Amy was no longer in a laughing mood, even if the guy did look ridiculous in the lederhosen. She said as much and Horst replied in a gracious manner, “I decided, when in Rome.” Amy did not respond but, this did not deter the German. He began examining some of the goods on one of the market stands as he talked, “why Agent Hiller. We really have not had a prolonged conversation since when, exactly? Oh yes, that warehouse as I recall. You and Agent Tippet I believe, oh yes, and the little girl.”

“You forgot about later that day when you and your guys almost shot all of us,” Amy snapped back.

Horst thought about it for a second and then remarked, “oh yes. I had forgotten. Well, I really did not have much a conversation with you then. I must say, about that little incident...”

Now Amy did look at the guy and was quite furious when she did, “little incident? It wasn't so little to us.”

Horst continued as if he had never been interrupted, “I thought I had missed my opportunity to kill Barton that day but, I am now glad that I did not. He has proven to be very useful.” Horst had put down the things he was playing with and stepped up right next to Amy. She could almost feel his breath when he said, “and I am starting to believe that had I given the order to open fire that day, I might have regretted it for other reasons as well.”

Amy forced herself to look him in the eye. She was filled with scorn when she said, “what do you want?”

“To help of course,” the German replied. His accent came through that time. It remained as he said, “you are looking for Agent Nguyen? Perhaps I can help. I really do not believe any of these people will.”

Now Amy went from anger to fear, “what did you do with her?”

“Nothing,” Horst said easily and happily, “I have no idea where she is. I just said I could help you find out. What would that be worth to you, Agent Hiller?”