Merri was lying in bed semi-conscious when Dwyn walked in carrying a coffee and she said
“You’d better
drink this, you look awful”
“Thanks for that”
Merri retorted “but I’ll be fine if I get some more sleep”
“I thought you and
the crew were going out on hover buggies this morning” Dwyn added
“Not until later”
she answered sleepily “What is the time anyway?”
“Later” Dwyn
replied and after a few seconds Merri sat up in bed a look on her face like a startled
rabbit.
“Oh God” Merri
said with panic in her voice “I’m going to be late”
“Well only just”
she said with a smile on her face
“I need to get
dressed” she said panic stricken “I’m in the wrong room”
“Ok just take a
breath” Dwyn suggested
“That’s all very
well but what am I going to do?” she ranted and picked up her posh frock and
threw it on the bed.
“Well don’t panic
for a start” Dwyn suggested
“But I can’t walk
back to my room wearing that, everyone will think I’m doing the walk of shame”
Merri snapped
“Alright calm
yourself” Dwyn said trying to control her laughter,
“Calm down? Calm
down? It’s alright for you” she shouted “You’re not the one that’s going to
look like a tart”
“Nor are you” Dwyn
said but Merri continued her rant and then when the penny dropped
“What?”
“You can wear
something of mine” Dwynwen suggested
“Really?”
“Yes really” she
said “I sorted some out already, they’re on the chair”
“You mean I’ve
been ranting and raving all this time for no reason?” Merri exclaimed
“That’s about the size
of it” she said
“I should thump
you, But I won’t” she said and hugged her instead
Merri dressed
quickly and said
“Ok I’m off, I’ll
quickly pop to my room and then join the others downstairs”
“Ok I’ll meet you
down there after I’ve spoken to my minders” Dwyn replied and quickly embraced
her, then Merri opened the door, and Ferro Scanner and Ambor Etra immediately
sprang to their feet.
“It’s ok” Merri
said “I’m the other one”
Ferro nodded and
opened the door and Merionwen slipped out and then walked briskly towards the
elevator.
She only had to
wait for a minute or so before the door opened, and once inside she said
“Level 3”
But just before
the door closed an arm halted its progress and two men joined her in the lift,
both were humans, one was small and shabbily dressed, with weasel like
features, and the other was cut from very different cloth, tall good looking
and well dressed.
As soon as the
door closed the good-looking man said
“Its Miss Strong
isn’t it?”
She turned to look
at him and replied
“Yes, it is, but I
don’t know yo…”
Her sentence
tailed off because while “Good looking” had her attention, “Weasel” paralyzed
her with a jab to the neck with a needle.
Once Dwynwen had
finished dressing, she and her bodyguards, Ferro and Ambor left her suite and
took the elevator to the ground floor and then they walked through the busy
reception until she spotted the Tornado Crew laughing and joking in one corner,
so she headed straight for them and said
“Hello Tornadons”
“Hi Dwyn” Parse
responded, “Where’s Merri?”
“She’s not with
me” Dwyn replied “She went back to your room to change ages ago”
“I’ve just come
from the room and she’s not there” Parse retorted
“Well she should
have been” Dwyn repeated “She must have got distracted, or….”
“Or what?” Parse
asked urgently, and the rest of the group stopped their chattering, as Dwynwen
turned to gesture towards Ferro Scanner and he immediately moved towards her.
“She left MY room
this morning” she said but got no response, so she added “She looks like ME”
But still the
penny hadn’t dropped
So Dwynwen took a
deep breath and said
“She left MY room,
looking like ME, so what if someone grabbed her thinking she was me?”
“Oh God” Parse
exclaimed “What are we going to do?”
“Do we know who
might have done it?” Asti chipped in
“It could be
anyone” Ferro admitted “Mercenaries or bounty hunters, we just don’t know”
“So, what can we
do?” Lyris Skeet asked
“We can check to
see if she left the hotel” he replied and left the group to consult with Ambor
Etra and after a few moments Ambor rushed off.
Meanwhile Malena
and Shiyne exchanged a look and discreetly stepped to one side.
“Time to switch
your radar on Shiyne” Malena said, which of course
meant that Shiyne should use
her telepathic gift, because Shiyne was a Vann and all of the Vann were
telepaths, by varying degrees, and many of them left their home world at some
point to use their gifts to earn a wage.
Those at the zenith of their talents worked as
corporate negotiators or in the justice systems of the Legion.
Shiyne was a Vann with mid-range capabilities and she
could read most species to some extent, her skills were limited with the more
sophisticated or complex brains, lesser minds were easier for her to explore.
In addition to reading minds she could also
implant thoughts and the suggestions would stay in place longer with someone
who was more intellectually challenged.
But in this instance, it was her reading skills that
were required.
“Just what I was thinking” she responded and closed
her eyes, creased her cerise coloured brow with concentration and began
scanning.
Malena and Shiyne’s discreet withdrawal hadn’t gone entirely unnoticed by Dwynwen so while
Ambor was checking with security and Ferro Scanner was in communication with
the Embassy she also sidled over to join Mal and the Vann and arrived just as
Shiyne said
“I’m getting
nothing”
“Oh God they’ve
killed her” Dwyn exclaimed
“No, it’s not that
kind of nothing” Shiyne explained “it just means that she’s unconscious,
probably sedated”
“Are you sure?”
Dwyn asked
“She’s sure” Mal
said “It’s what she does”
“So, what can we
do?” she asked
“Keep trying”
Shiyne replied
“The problem is
that I can’t get a fix on her because of her sedation”
“Is there anything
we can do to help that?” Dwyn asked
“Yes, we can get
closer” Malena said
“Good, let’s go”
Dwyn said
“In which
direction?” Mal asked
“What?”
“We need to know
which general area she might be in” Shiyne said
“Can’t we do it by
a process of elimination?”
“Sure, but it they
move her while were searching I might never find her” the telepath explained
“So, it’s
hopeless” Dwyn said resignedly
“Not if your
Andraxian’s can tell us what direction the abductors were heading in” Malena
said
“Then I can start
my search there” Shiyne added
“Let’s go and talk
to them then” Dwyn said and made a bee line for Ferro Scanner, who took a step
back as Dwynwen and the Tornado crew bore down on him.
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