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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