They were no help. Patty tried to get the two other girls to do something, anything. She now knew she was not getting out of these ropes on her own. It did not take very long for her to realize that every time she moved the coils around her limbs and body only got tighter. She was not even sure where the knots were. Someone else was going to have to reach them. There were only two other some ones and neither seemed to have much of an interest in doing anything but crying.

That made Patty think about this situation and then even that started to look like a very bad idea. The way they grabbed her, the way she was tied up, the fact that there were two other girls in here, it all spelled out one thing. These guys knew their business, they had practice at this, they were pros. That was really, really, bad news. Given the local girls reaction, Patty was willing to bet that they had some idea what was coming and, how did this situation keep getting worse! How do you start at the very bottom and just keep going down hill! Patty got angry and jerked against the ropes. She grumbled through the tightened gag in her mouth, “that’s how damn it!”

At this point, Patty was fully aware she was not getting out of her current situation. Her next best chance was to talk her way out when, and she hoped it was a when, someone came back. The best way to do that was figure out who these guys were. That way she could get a handle on what it was they might want. If that were the case, she really hoped Ian Balfour was not behind it. She knew exactly what he wanted! She also thought that, most likely, he was!

It was the only thing that made any sense at all. He was the last person that she talked too, about another kidnapping even, and he most obviously had the means. Patty got the idea that whatever that guy did, it was never in half measures and her current predicament definitely fell in that category. It also made Patty wonder, was this what happened to Angie? Had this been the hell she had gone through? She might have even been in this very room? If that were the case, what torment had she suffered over the past year. Surely, if this is what happened to her, then Patty could never imagine her friend still being alive. Sadly, Patty started to think it would probably be better if the girl were not.

The fire! Patty suddenly realized something. If they had set that fire then that meant they were coming back. Ok, that solved the problem of slowly dying from dehydration over the next few days. The only problem, with this thought, was that Patty got another eyeball of those branding irons in the coals. Waiting was not an option! The fire ran across her mind one more time. That had to be the answer and it was surely better than waiting to get burned.

Patty tried to roll one more time. She wound up on her side but, at least the ropes were facing the fire now. She tried to slide closer to the heat but she was now at an extreme disadvantage. She could no longer see where she was going. There was also the added problem of the ropes. When she tired to slide, they just kept right on crushing her limbs, cutting into her skin, and making further movement, of any kind, harder and harder. Then Patty thought once more about the idea of hot metal shoved into her skin and she groaned into the gag once more, “fuck it! I’m doing this!”

The door flew open rather violently. The two girls began screaming as loud as they could. Then Patty saw the boot come down in front of her face. It was padded, almost quilted, and the dimensions looked just plain wrong to her. Her eyeballs looked up and she saw all that black hair, the orange and blue pants, the open jacket of a similar make and color. Then there was that blunted and gnarly looking gorilla face. The really bad part was, Patty actually recognized this Yangani, even if it was more by his clothing than anything else. It was that ape that worked for Ian, by the name of Aldo! Balfour was behind this!

Patty struggled for no good reason as the ape picked her up. She tired cussing, screaming, snorting, and nothing did her any good. She closed her eyes and told herself that she could take whatever this thing could dish out. When she opened them again, she saw a dragon in front of her! It was right in her face and she could smell it’s breath which, had the distinct odor of fish. Then it backed off and Patty began coughing. A hand, a human hand at that, touched her and she went berserk, trying to bite and flail.

Then a very gravely sounding voice, with a very distinctive southern accent, snapped at her, “would you stop already! I can’t cut you loose if you ain’t being still woman!”

When her hands were suddenly free, Patty was not even sure why she did it but, her entire body screamed defend. No sooner had she ripped the blindfold completely off than she went on the attack. It did her no good. Her legs and feet were still tied, that stupid gag was still pulling her lips back, and whoever this guy was, he had some size on him. He easily wrestled her to the ground and pinned her arms. Then he showed her his big knife and said, “look lady, if I cut this thing out of your mouth are you going to try and bite me?”

Patty’s eyes kept drifting to the blade and then she shook her head that she would not. The man carefully put the blade under the cloth and cut it free. A great relief came over Patty. Then her teeth went for his arm. She got a pretty descent chunk of it until he grabbed her nose, squeezed hard, and then pulled back. When he was free he got back to his feet, threw the knife into the mud, blade first, and then stomped off holding his arm while saying angrily, “son of a bitch! Cut your own goddamn self loose woman!”

Patty wasted no time grabbing the knife but, she did not cut the remaining ropes on her legs. She held it up, defensively, in a very challenging manner. Then the ape came walking back into the alley they were in. He didn’t pay Patty in mind at all. He was too interested in the human. The ape moved his hands and fingers around, beating on his chest every now and then, while laughing. The man saw it, and did pretty much the exact same thing only, he was not laughing. Instead he said, “fuck you King Kong!” Then the guy shot the ape a bird, and howled in pain, “where’s the damn first aid kit!”

The ape was still laughing when he reached into the open trunk of a car before tossing the guy a little yellow box. Patty was thoroughly confused by all of this but, she still did not drop the knife. Then the dragon came out of the door, from the room she had been held in, and the two girls were with him. One of them did nothing more than run off. The other girl was hugging the little dragon and they were having some sort of conversation that Patty could not follow. It was enough ton convince Patty to use the knife and finish getting free.

Once back on her feet she demanded, “somebody want to tell me what’s going on?”

The ape started doing the hand thing again while the human finished bandaging up his arm. He was still quite irked when he told the ape, “hey dumbass, she don’t know sign.” The ape made some more gestures and the human responded, “if she don’t know American sign, how do you figure she’s going to know yours?”

The ape tossed an arm up at the man and walked to the corner of the alley where he was apparently looking up and down the street. Then the dragon came back from the direction he had gone with the girl. She was no longer with him and Patty figured that was for the best. The Dragon then jumped up on the roof of the car, fluttered it’s wings, and hissed. The human told him as he put away the first aid kit, “fuck you too, you know I don’t speak that shit.”

Patty dropped the knife, “ok, hey, Tarzan, who are you?”

“Mike,” the guy said as he stowed some stuff in the trunk, had an obvious argument in sign language with the lizard, and then got back to packing as he told Patty in a hostile tone, “and by the way, you’re welcome.”

“Um,” Patty suddenly felt a little self conscious, “I’m sorry Mike. Thank you very much.” Patty suddenly realized something. How many biker guys, with southern accents, could possibly be walking around Kalean-Erc. She played the odds and asked, “Mike Greene? Doctor Mike Greene?”

He did not seem all that impressed, “yeah that’s me.” When Patty tried to introduce herself he cut her off, “yeah I know who you are. I’m guessing Melanie told you all about me, big mouth bitch. We been watching you since you got to town.”

Suddenly, Patty realized, that really was the Gorilla from Phvengs, probably the same one on the bike too. Then she looked up on the car and realized that might be the dragon from in front of the temple. Then she got mad when she realized, “wait a minute here! You been watching me the whole time? You let those ass holes kidnap me, tie me up? I could have died in there? Why didn’t you come sooner for that matter?!”

“What you talking about lady?” Mike then reached in the car and threw a rag at the apes head, “hey Aldo! Banana brains! Got get that shit in there!” As the ape walked back inside Mike told Patty, “what you mean? Damn you wasn’t in there for five minutes, tops. We had to wait for them guys to leave.”

Patty was stunned, “fuh… five minutes? No that can’t be right. They put me in a cart and…” Patty started looking around and realized something. She was standing in the same alley she was grabbed in but, how was that possible? She remembered it taking hours to get here!

“Sure was lady,” Mike said and pointed behind her, “that the cart you talking about?”

When the gorilla came back out he had some jars cradled in his arm and one of the iron pokers, still glowing, in his free hand. Mike picked one of the jars, the blue one, and asked the ape, “this the shit dude?” The Gorilla nodded and then went to put away the rest of the jars. Mike tossed the blue one to Patty and said, “put some of that on those rope burns. It’ll make ‘em better, pretty fast.”

The thing opened like a mason jar and, as Patty quickly discovered, it was not the jar that was blue. It was the jelly like substance from inside. Patty immediately knew where she had seen something similar, “this is the stuff they sell in those shops and at the temples. I’ve never heard of it being used to treat cuts.”

“Yeah I know,” Mike replied as he grabbed the poker from Aldo and examined the glowing tip. Then he told Patty, “that’s cause the shit they sell in all those shops and, at the temples, that’s the watered down stuff.” He then showed the tip of the iron to the ape and nodded to the glowing shape of the brand. He asked the ape, “look familiar?”

The ape actually spoke, “yes.”

Patty knew she should not have been stunned but, was anyway. She closed the jar without using any of it and asked, “so why were you following me?”

Mike pitched the iron bar in the mud and then leaned up against the car. He nodded to the dragon who then jumped down and got in the drivers seat. The ape waddled around to the passenger side but did not get in just yet. Mike then crossed his arms and told Patty, “cause we’re looking for the same thing.”

Patty was suspicious, “how do you know what I’m looking for?”

Mike was easy going about it, “cause every pebble I kicked over, your name kept turning up. You done asked too many of the wrong questions to the wrong people. I kind of figured, that’s how you wound up, trussed up, in yonder.”

“Excuse me Doctor,” Patty replied, “but that didn’t answer the question. You also haven’t said what it is you are looking for.”

“You want to find Angie Thompson don’t ya?”

So he did know. Now Patty had to ask, “you don’t even know her. Why would you be looking for her? What are you really? Some kind of spook?”

Mike laughed, “hell no, You don’t have to be a spook to have common sense. Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever met too many government employees that did.”

Patty demanded, “then why?”

“Well,” Mike did not have to think too long, “on top of being the right thing to do, I’m not doing it for her. I’m doing it for a friend of mine. Now, I’m taking it to mean that you know she’s still alive too, right?”

Patty was not sure what to do here. Did she tell this guy about the letter. She decided to hold off on that for a minute and just say, “yeah, I think there’s a very good chance of that. That’s why I’m looking.”

Mike seemed amused, “well, I got news for you lady. There’s not a very good chance, there is an absolute certainty. At least, as of a few weeks ago.” What did he know? Patty just asked him point blank and he easily replied, “cause this friend I’m doing it for, goes by the name of Vega.”

Patty’s eyes opened wide, “Lolita?”

“Oh you know her,” Mike did not think too much of it, “well Vega saw her, face to face, out in the Hurt. The problem is, nobody believes her, even her buddy. Well I know the girl’s as crazy as a goddamn bed bug but, she ain’t stupid, and she knows what she saw. So I figure if I can kick over the rock this Angie is under, it’ll take the pressure off Vega.”

Patty sighed, “well good luck with that. I think the only guy that knows where she is,” Patty gestured to the room she was tied up in, “I think this is what you get when you ask.” Mike thought about that, seemed confused, so Patty spelled it out for him, “Ian Balfour? I know you met with him too. I don’t know what he told you but…”

“Oh,” now Mike was really confused. Then he looked to the ape. Aldo shook his head ‘no’ and then Mike looked back to Patty, “no, he didn’t do this shit.”

What was Patty supposed to say to that? She said the first thing that came to mind, “I think you’re wrong.”

“Naa,” Mike still didn’t agree, “we tried to flush Balfour out a few days ago. That didn’t work out too good and, besides, we kind of stumbled on the real deal while we was working him.”

Now Patty scratched her head, “clear something up for me, can you? Is all that shit, you just said, some quaint southern expression or is it college professor double talk?”

The ape began pounding on the hood and that set the dragon to squealing. In turn, Mike began complaining, “would you two pussies shut up for ten goddamn minutes!”

Aldo would not. He grunted out loudly, “go!”

Mike suddenly remembered where they were and became alarmed, he started to get in the passenger side of the car as it cranked up. Patty had no idea what to do at this point. Then Mike stuck his head out of the open window and said, “well are you going to stick around and get tied up again?”

“Not my first choice,” Patty ran to the car and jumped in the back seat. As the car pulled out into the street, Patty’s first reaction was to point behind the wheel and say, “why is the dragon driving?”

Mike snickered, “probably because it’s his car. Just don‘t make him sneeze.”

Patty demanded in frustration, “what in the hell does that mean?”

Again, no one bothered to tell her and, a least, there appeared too be some kind of excuse this time. As they drove down the streets of city, and it looked as if they were headed out of town, her three companions became very quiet for no reason. Patty soon forgot about her question and had a new one, “what’s wrong? Is it those guys? Are they back? Are…”

Mike said in a low voice as he kept looking around, “nothing, nothing’s wrong.”

“Don’t blow me off,” Patty snarled. “I’m having a really bad…”

Mike put his hand over her mouth and said, “not nothing’s wrong. Nothing is what is wrong.” Patty tried to push his hand away but then, he pulled it away himself as he asked the front seat, “where’s the soldiers?”

Patty had to wonder how it was that she could so easily tell that this ape was a little upset. It kept pointing and making hand gestures while grunting. Patty looked to Mike as he seemed to understand what it was saying. Then he explained, “just an hour ago these streets were crawling with Noveus-Faeyu.”

Mike then thought about something else, “Aldo, have they ever left that place back yonder, unguarded?”

Apparently, Aldo knew some English but what he did not understand was southern. He gave a few gestures and then said, “yonder.”

Mike was upset, “that place we just was, shit for brains!”

Aldo slapped the dashboard and got the dragons attention. After it hissed, and the ape grunted back, Aldo then turned his attention back to Mike and said, “no.” The ape went back to gesturing and the dragon went back to hissing.

Patty leaned over and whispered to Mike, “do you understand this conversation?”

Mike was not a happy camper, “not really.”

Finally, the two non humans stopped ‘talking’ and the ape said to Mike, “my place.”

Patty saw the look on Mike’s face when he heard that. The guy looked a little disturbed so Patty asked, “is that a bad thing?”

Mike began rubbing his head and then he said, “well I was kind of hoping to get my ass out of town right about now.”

“Are a few missing soldiers really that bad?” Patty looked around the streets again and realized that was not the only thing missing. There were still a few pedestrians out, for lack of a better term. A lot of the street venders did seem to be closing up shop but, was that abnormal? Was it time for them to be? Patty still had no idea how to tell time here.

As they got closer to the outskirts of the city, Patty saw more traffic and started to feel a little easier. She even thought they had hit another one of the many road blocks that the elves seem to like in this area. When they got around the road full of slow moving carts, most of which seemed to be Orcs, who were moving that grain stuff, she did not see any roadblock. None of this looked all that unusual for this area.

Patty did think of one good thing, “you know those guys took all my papers and stuff. If we get stopped…”

“I’m starting to wonder,” Mike replied, “if that’s the least of our problems right now.”

What was that supposed to mean? Before Patty could even ask him, the car slowed down and then made a right hand turn onto a sandy little trail. Patty would never even have noticed it had she not found herself on it and in a car that looked a little too big to be driving down it. One tree branch after another scraped the side of the car as they eased down the trail until it finally opened up into a clearing full little shacks. The place looked almost medieval if you ignored the telephone, or maybe even power, line that ran to one of the bigger shacks. The poles for that line did not follow the road as one might expect. It came up out of a swamp that the little cluster of huts was sitting on.

As the car came to a stop and the dragon put it in park, Patty noticed the strange look on Mike’s face. Since he seemed to know all about this stuff, Patty had to ask, “what’s wrong?”

“Um,” he was obviously having a hard time getting the words out and this made Patty even more anxious. Finally it took a little prompting to get him to say what turned out to be the most unexpected of questions, “how do you feel about interracial marriage?”

Patty blinked. Then her nose wrinkled and she became thoroughly confused, “what?” She recovered and tried to act proper, “are you accusing me of being racist or something?”

“Never mind,” Mike said as he gave up and got out of the car.

As Patty joined these new traveling companions of hers she was really wondering what Mike’s problem was here. What was it with southerners and race anyway? Why was that always something in the back of their minds? Then Patty heard a squeal. She located the source and it proved to be some dark headed woman, almost dressed like a gypsy, that came running out of the shack in front of them. She had her arms out and looked very happy. Patty expected her to jump on Mike but, she ran right past him and not only tossed her arms but, her legs too, around the gorilla!

Aldo and this woman began kissing. Patty had to step back and turn away when they even graduated to using tongue. The ape began walking towards the shack with the human woman still rapped around him and he did not seem to even notice the extra weight. Once they were inside the shack, the door closed, and the entire building began squeaking. Patty’s eyes were still big as she leaned over and quietly told Mike, “ok, I admit it now, I’m a racist.”

Mike laughed and then went to the trunk of the car with the dragon. They opened it up and began rummaging through their gear. Patty quickly noticed what kind of gear they were fooling with. Mike was loading up a pump action shotgun. Patty pointed, “do you really think we might need these?”

Mike then explained, “if the elves ain’t around, yeah we might.” He racked the slide and then set the weapon aside as he began loading up a handgun, “sides that. Where I’m planning on going, I kind of figure they might come in handy.”

The shack was still squealing and now the woman inside it was too. Patty tuned that out as she concentrated on Mike, “think you might can explain yourself now? You said Vega saw Angie? She was in the Hurtegan Forest? Was she a prisoner or something like that? Like Lieutenant Sayers? What? Why didn‘t Vega rescue her?”

“Might been because,” Mike replied, “your buddy had a gun to Lolita’s head.”

Now Patty completely forgot about the shack that was now literally rocking from side to side, “Angie? She was…”

Mike shoved the handgun in his waistband and then leaned up against the car, crossed his arms and then told Patty, “I don’t think your boy, Ian, snatched that girl. He’s just a moving guy, a facilitator. He wouldn’t have no use for her. He might have had something to do with it but, he does a lot of business so, somebody could have hired some of his toys but, that don’t mean he knew exactly what they were doing.”

Patty was still unconvinced, “I get the feeling, that Ian Balfour knows everything that goes on with his stuff.”

Mike laughed at that, “trust me, he don’t know everything. I done seen that happen, personally.”

“Ok fine, whatever,” Patty still wanted to blame Ian but, she had to admit that Doctor Greene had a point. She tried to focus on the relevant here, “so if Vega saw Angie, what was the deal? Why didn’t Angie go with Lolita? How do you expect to find her?”

“I don’t have to find her,” Mike said. “I already know where she is.”

Patty was stunned and shook her head in disbelief, “huh? Where is she?”

“I told you back at that place,” Mike replied, “that I stumbled over something while we was watching Ian? Well that kind of answered another little question that I was wondering about. You see, the guys stationed up in the Hurtegan, the soldiers up there, they got this rumor running around about this phantom creature that they’re calling the werewolf. I was wondering how they came up with that name, so, I asked around. Mostly, it sounded to me like a collection of stories that got woven together based on one particular aspect of the source.”

Now Patty crossed her arms and slapped her forehead, “all right, now you’re really starting to sound like the professor again. What are you saying?”

“Hey,” Mike defended himself, “I might be pretty good with a shovel, and I ain’t no slouch at anatomy ether but, until I took this job I was primarily a social anthropologist. Figuring out legends goes with that trade.”

“A regular Indiana Jones,” Patty replied in a way that spelled out she was obviously unimpressed.

Mike did not seem to take her sarcasm, “naa, he was an archeologist, besides being fiction. I’m not talking about legends of lost treasure here. I mean social taboos. Every culture, sub culture, human or otherwise, get’s ’em. That includes sub cultures like military units. In this case, what’s the defining aspect of a werewolf?”

Patty shrugged, “I don’t know? It’s on the way to grandma’s house?”

“That was Red Ridding Hood dumb ass, the wolf ate grandma and was waiting for her,” Mike said with a snicker, “and even in that story, what did the wolf do, both times?”

Patty suddenly realized, “it was hiding in plain sight, that’s what you mean, right?”

Mike rolled with it, “somebody was sabotaging stuff up there. Nothing lethal and at first, a lot of the one oh one guys wrote it all off as bad luck. Some of them started noticing the patterns but, they couldn’t put their finger on it. Then when I got up there, somebody had trashed Melanie’s did sight. Well that ain’t no military shit so, I had to wonder why and, more important, they knew what the hell they was doing.”

Patty rubbed her temples and asked, “Ok I’m admit you lost me. What does this all add up too?”

“Technical proficiency,” Mike told her. “One person couldn’t do all that shit, and who has those kinds of skills?” When Patty shrugged, Mike told her, “a black ops outfit. They’re your werewolves and I found them, at Phvengs.”

“Ok” Patty nodded, “that stands to reason. So you think they kidnapped Angie? You think they have her?”

“Hell no,” Mike replied, “they ain’t keeping her prisoner. She’s one of ’em. In fact, I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that she’s the one that’s been sabotaging all that shit up there.”

That was laughable and Patty pointed out, “Angie Thompson is no commando. Trust me, I knew the girl well. She was afraid of her own shadow.”

“I’d say that was fair enough,” Mike replied but then he added, “only Vega caught her doing it. Then I had to figure, who’d be best to walk around in a bunch of US soldiers, and not get detected?”

Patty felt a knot in her stomach when she realized, “another US soldier.” Patty began back pedaling and trying to rationalize this, “that doesn’t make any sense. Why would she stay? Why would she even do that? I can’t believe she wouldn’t…” Patty realized, “oh my god, the letter. She did try and…”

Now Mike straightened up and said, “what letter?”

Patty was feeling sick at her stomach when she told him, “she tried to send a letter to this guy that she fell in love with. I wound up with it and…”

“Well thanks to fuck a lot,” Mike slung his arm at the woman, “you could have told me sooner.”

Patty snapped at him, “well pardon me for freaking out about being kidnapped!”

“How did you get it anyway?” Mike seemed to shake it off fast enough.

Patty was still in disbelief, “this guy gave it to me at Coven Hill. I think,” Patty took a deep breath, “that he was a spook. I sent it on to the guy she wrote it too.”

That set off alarm bells for Mike, “a spook? How the hell did he get it? Na, never mind that, the better question is, why did he even care?”

“That’s bad isn‘t it?” Patty nervously asked in return.

“Well it damn sure ain’t good,” Mike replied as he thought about it. “That might just complicate matters a little and, unless I miss my guess, bout the only person that can answer any of that shit, is your buddy Angie.”

Patty was almost demanding as she replied, “well you said you know where she is! Why haven’t you gone and found her already? Why were you following me if you knew all this stuff?!”

“It’s not that simple,” Mike explained as he was still in deep thought, “I know about where she is. I know who she’s with. The only problem is, like I told you woman, she’s with a black ops crew. You just don’t walk up to their front door and ring the bell. It’s usually wired to a land mine.”

“Ok fine,” Patty blew it off, “then what were you doing around town and, for that matter, following me?”

Mike was not so concerned about the answer he gave, “trying to put the pieces together. In case you didn’t notice, I didn’t find her with no smoking gun. When you’re tracking something, you take all the little stuff and make it into a big picture, like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.”

“Fair enough,” Patty replied, “now are you going to go get her or do I have to do that alone?”

Mike laughed at the idea, “and how the hell do you think you’re going to go and do that lady? Let’s say I tell you where she is. Let’s say you actually make it there alive.” He almost yelled at her now, “she’s with a bunch commando’s! How do you know she even wants to come home? I’d be willing to bet she don’t.”

Now Patty felt even more sick at her stomach, “so that’s why you didn’t go and try and find her directly?”

“That’s exactly why,” Mike replied, almost angry. “I figured if I got enough information then maybe Katie would do something about it. Then all them army fuck wads would back off Vega. That‘s all I wanted.”

That confused Patty until she realized, “Katie Mack? Why would…” Patty dropped it, “oh, never mind.” Then Patty realized something else and her tone softened as she said, “you did all this for Vega? Is she like your girlfriend or something?”

Mike laughed, “Vega’s gay.”

Suddenly, Patty laughed and she had no idea why. Mike gave her a strange look and Patty explained, “everybody thought she had a secret boyfriend.”

Now Mike felt more at ease and he settled back down, “yeah she tried that shit with me too. I learned a long time ago, if you don’t see no boyfriend or girlfriend, their ain’t one. Na, Lolita’s good people. I didn’t figure she deserved all that shit. Sides, I did have other business down here. I didn’t figure it was no trouble. Those army ‘no’ intelligence guys, they was never going to figure all this shit out.”

Patty smiled at him, “that’s really sweet Mike.”

Mike snarled, “don’t you go and goddamn tell nobody.”