Jinx had begun preparing for bed, getting her toothbrush and brushing her teeth. But afterwards, she hesitated to go further. That feeling she had earlier when they first came to this room was back, that something wasn't quite right.
She had dismissed them earlier. Maybe it was Detective Venswurt's assurances that they would be safe here, at least for the time being if they kept a low profile. Maybe it was Karmlyn reminding her of the same, or both. And after what they had been through, it was natural to be a little jittery.
But here the feelings were again. This time a little stronger. Jinx could no longer ignore it, something was wrong.
She decided to go to Karmlyn and try to convince her, but the doorbell rang before she even reached it. Instead of answering, she turned on the small viewscreen next to the door. It showed what looked like one of the hotel's bellhops with a push-tray with drapes on the sides. On top was a silver bowl with ice and a bottle of wine.
Her first thought was that Karmlyn had sent this over. But then she had a feeling that this wasn't the case. That feeling that something was clearly wrong persisted.
The doorbell rang again, "Room service."
Jinx did not answer.
The doorbell rang a third time. After some moments had passed, the bellhop turned to the side, "She's not answering. Let's go in." He then drew a blaster from his pocket as a man got from underneath the cart.
Jinx quickly left this section of the apartment and looked around. Where was a good place to hide?
The "bellhop" shot the door's lock, and the sparks from the electronics shorted with flying sparks. He and two other men, one a large humanoid, then began storming into the room, blasters ready to fire. As they did, someone from a nearby room looked out to see what was going on, but once he saw the armed men with blasters, he froze where he was. One of the mobsters stopped and looked his way, "What're you lookin' at?!"
"Nothing, I don't know nothing, I didn't see nothing." The man fearfully went back in the hotel room. The mobster then went in the apartment with the others.
The mobsters quickly went over the apartment, searching for their quarry. When they had gone through every room without finding anyone, they began looking inside cabinets, closets, anyplace she might be hiding.
"Here, kitty, kitty." the mobster in the bellhop uniform taunted, "Where are you?"
"It's no use hiding," taunted the other human, "come on out."
The humanoid gave the others an odd look, but said nothing.
"Watch yourself guys," spoke a fourth now at the doorway, carrying Karmlyn, limp and unconscious, over his shoulder, "This one put up a fight until the stunbolt knocked her out. Thanks to her, Gil and Rimmer are going to have to be carried out until they recover from the ones she gave them."
"Yeah, Gamiel" the second mobster spoke, "the boss will fix them for that."
The first three continued to search the apartment. In the shower stall, under the bed, inside kitchen cabinets. They searched all over for wherever the white feline could be hiding.
"Damn, where could she be?!" the mobster in the bellhop uniform grumbled. He turned to the humanoid, who was looking in a closet filled with towels, sheets, and similar items, including a clothes hamper with a few small slots near the top. "Hey Bronin," he asked the humanoid, "you find anything?"
The humanoid paused, then responded in a monotone, "There is nothing in here."
"Huh? Bronin, you sound funny, even for you. You okay?"
"There is nothing in here."
The first mobster looked at him oddly. For a moment, nothing was uttered. Then the fourth man spoke up, "Hey Brent, find anything at all?"
"Not a thing." spoke the third mobster.
"Then she's not here. She must be out taking a walk or something. We can't haul her partner around while looking for her. You two continue to look around. Bronin, come with me back to the ship. We'll secure this prisoner."
The four men then left the room, breaking up into their respective pairs.
The sounds of footsteps soon faded. Then the top of the clothes hamper went up, two hands covered with white fur gripped the sides, and Jinx rose up. She had a towel over her head in case the mobsters had actually looked in the hamper. Fortunately, it didn't happen. She took it off, breathing a sigh of relief, Good thing the henchman was half-hearted about his work. That made it easier to make him think there was nobody in.
She was safe, but Karmlyn ...
Don't know how they found us, but it doesn't matter now. She rushed to the intercom, and pushed a few buttons to get hotel security, but heard, "The hotel intercom is temporarily out of service right now. Please try again in a few minutes."
"(Mother of Mixin,)" I've got to recover Karmlyn somehow. But how? She thought for a moment. Karmlyn had told her where her apartment was. Perhaps her com was left behind from the struggle. She could use it not only to contact the police, but Karmlyn's droid since she had given her the contact code to him just in case Jinx needed it when she wasn't around. She felt no signs of danger nearby, but carefully peeked out the door out of habit, then rushed to Karmlyn's apartment.
The apartment's door had been unlocked, and the place showed signs of struggle. The biggest sign were the two unconscious mobsters. Jinx found Karmlyn's purse on the table, with a hole burned through it. Next to it was her stingbeam blaster and her com. She got it, and punched in the frequency to the police.
"Police com service is down at this time ... "
Jinx stared at the com in disbelief, "(What is going on here?)" Then she looked in the direction of the door. She could feel someone with hostile intentions headed here. She then turned off the com, got the stingbeam, and left the room.
The mobster Brent entered the room. He saw his two comrades still out and grumbled a little, "Still out - Hey!" He saw the small blaster and com from the feline were missing. He raised his own blaster and looked around, "Okay, where are you? Come on out!" He began looking around, "I know you're here in this apartment. You can't hide for long."
Then came a sound, like a hard bump, from the bedroom area.
"Aha! Gotcha!" The mobster rushed over to the bedroom area. Sure enough, a lamp, next to a coat cabinet, had fallen over. He then saw something fairly long, slim, and white, sticking out from under the bed. "Clumsy you, knocking that lamp over, and you think you can hide under the bed with your tail sticking out?" He went over, "Come on -"
He stopped in mid-sentence. On closer inspection, the "tail" was a piece of cloth. Dumbfounded, he took it out from under the bed, "What the - "
"Drop your weapon."
Jinx had opened the coat cabinet's door, from where she had been hiding behind, and aimed Karmlyn's stingbeam straight at the mobster's back, which was turned to her. She stepped out, and went to him, speaking sternly, "I repeat, drop your blaster." Her brow wrinkled a bit as she concentrated, trying to imfluence him mentally to make sure he would comply.
The mobster dropped his blaster, stood fully, and raised his hands up.
Jinx concentrated again, and the blaster slid away from the man. She went up to a few feet away from him, then spoke again, "Tell me where they are taking Sen-Tiago."
"Look, uh, lady," the mobster spoke nervously as he slowly turned, "I'm just an underling, a foot soldier. They only tell me stuff on a need to know basis."
"I don't think so." Irritated, Jinx turned the man fully around, and stared the fearful mobster in the eye, concentrating, "You will tell me where they're taking her, now! "
The mobster swallowed hard, wishing it hadn't been so long since he went to a restroom.
The two men, one of them the mobster Gamiel, carrying the still unconscious Karmlyn exited the lift and went through the lobby. There were no other people here, minus a couple other mobsters whom they met up with.
"I see you got one. Where's the other?"
"Still on the loose. We're taking her friend to the ship, keep an eye out."
"Anything you want with the staff we locked up?"
"Leave them where they are."
At this moment, the com on Gamiel went off. He answered it, "Yes?"
A rough, somewhat distorted voice answered, "This is Brent. We found the other one, trapped 'er in where she can't get out. We'll be down with 'er soon. Hold the hovercar, don't leave yet."
The mobster paused before answering, "Brent, you sound funny. What's wrong?"
"She busted a gas pipe an' I took a whiff. No harm done. We'll soon get her."
"Well hurry up. We won't wait forever." Gamiel then clicked the com off.
Back upstairs, Jinx coughed a bit, and turned off the mobster's com. The mobster himself was nearby, bound and gaged with bedroom sheets. Not exactly the easiest thing imitating voices, "Err- umm."
The mobster looked at Jinx, fearfully.
Jinx looked back for about a second, but spoke nothing. Instead, she quickly left the room. That will buy me only so much time. She sensed no other threats. Once outside the apartment, she then headed to the stairwell, and rushed down.
The two mobsters with the still unconscious Karmlyn waited in the black hovercar, Gamiel up front, the humanoid in the back. Karmlyn was lying on the back seat as if having fallen asleep there. With the car parked by the curb, a few others behind and in front of them, the men stared at the entrance of the motel, waiting for the other felinoid to be brought to them.
Having exited the rear of the motel, Jinx peeked around the corner and observed the hovercar and those in it. She thought about what to do. She could mentally distract them and sneak over, but opening the door to get Karmlyn would get their attention. She looked at the com from the mobster she surprised. Perhaps it was time for more trickery.
But before she could do anything, Jinx heard the beep of a com in the mobsters' car. She concentrated, trying to hear the conversation.
"Yes?" Gamiel answered.
"This is Billium. I just found Brent, tied up."
Huh? I thought you two were on the verge of getting the alien."
"Who told you that?"
Gamiel then realized what happened, "She pulled a fast one on us! Damn that little ... "
"So now what do we do?"
Gamiel sighed, thinking for a bit and leaning his head in his hand as if having a headache. Finally, he spoke, "You two go ahead and keep looking for her. We'll go ahead and take this one to the ship."
Gamiel then started up the hovercar and pulled out from the curb. He noticed the trunk door seemed slightly ajar, not properly shut. But it was nothing to worry about, and he began heading out onto the road.
Good thing those two could be distracted.
Jinx lay inside the trunk, having sneaked over, using a mind-trick to pop the door open, and get in. She thought about her next move. Calling the police wasn't an option, their com access down. She then had another idea, and punched in a certain frequency.
She was greeted with a beeping noise.
"Shhh," she whispered, "not so loud. This is," she hesitated, recalling Karmlyn had called her by her nickname the whole time they were in front of the droid, "this is Jinx. I am in the trunk of a mobster car. They have Karmlyn captive."
There was the sound of panicked beeps and whistles.
"Shhh, quiet."
The car then began to slow a little. Jinx then began concentrating, The noise is not important. Whatever it was, you've passed it anyway. The noise is trivial.
The hovercar then began speeding up again.
Jinx breathed a sigh of relief, "They said they were taking her to their ship. I'm not sure if it's at the spaceport you are, but it wouldn't hurt to check the records for any ship from Lagos. Try to contact the police too. I cannot seem to do it."
The droid beeped a quieter affirmative.
"I'm in a black hovercar. What the ship looks like, I don't know. But try and find it. Keep an eye out for the car, and for me when the men leave. Be as inconspicuous as possible."
The droid beeped, quietly, again. Jinx then turned the com off.
That mobster told me they were taking her to a spaceport, but didn't know which one. I feel they're headed to this city's spaceport, though it's not very strong. Hope it's right.
The hovercar drove on for some time. Jinx waited patiently for it to stop. Eventually, it was going at a slower than normal speed with more turns than before. Than finally, it came to a stop.
"She starting to wake." she heard the humanoid say.
"Then we better hurry in the ship before she causes a scene." spoke the human voice. She heard the car doors open, then shut. Then there was the sounds of footsteps walking off.
When it seemed they were far enough away, she gently popped the trunk open just enough for her to exit, and slid through. The spaceport had separate areas for hovercars and spaceships. She was in the second floor of a parking garage, with the starship landing areas visible nearby. She could see the two men quickly walking off with Karmlyn to an exit.
She followed them, keeping a distance away. They got through the exit, then began walking through the spaceship area. Jinx stayed not far behind, but stayed hidden as much as she could, behind the spaceships they passed, or their landing gear.
It was soon obvious Karmlyn was waking up. She was beginning to struggle, and the humanoid kept his hand over her mouth. Jinx heard, "Quit that," and "Knock it off or we'll stun you again." But Karmlyn kept it up.
Finally, they reached a ship. It was a space transport about twice the size of Karmlyn's Red Star . The ship was fairly ordinary looking, a bit boxy. The men dragged Karmlyn in an entryway in the back, and shut the door.
Jinx carefully crept up to the door. She could see the electronic keypad about waist level off the ground. Ordinary locks were one thing to open using mind tricks, but this? She looked at it, wondering where to begin.
Jinx was then taken by surprise by a few beeping noises behind her. She turned, and was face-to-sensor with Karmlyn's droid Beepo.
"Oh, it's you." Psionics still don't tell me when droids sneak up behind me.
The droid beeped an affirmative.
Jinx looked back at the lock, "Karmlyn's in there, but I don't know how to open that lock, either by picking it or mentally."
The droid then beeped several times, as if saying something.
"What?"
The droid went up, and pressed the key alerting those inside someone was at the door.
Jinx's face showed her surprise, "What are you doing? They'll know -"
She was cut short by one of the droid's arms coming out, and giving an brief electric jolt her way, as if warning her to back off. Jinx did, uncertain. Anticipating someone coming, she hid around the corner of the ship.
Someone did answer, "Huh? Hey, what's a droid- " the man's voice was cut short by an electric jolt. "OW! Why you little - hey!" There was the sound of another jolt followed by the brief sound of short circuiting. "Damn droid! That was my blaster! Hey! Come back here you hunk of junk!"
Beepo began rolling away from the entryway, and the man followed. Smoke was coming out of his holster, where the droid had obviously zapped it. The man tried to punch the droid, but Beepo's electric jolt kept him at bay.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Jinx slipped around the corner and in the door. She sensed no one else immediately around, but in a ship this size that could soon change. She then began searching for Karmlyn.
"You can't do this to me!"
"Shut up you little ..." Karmlyn was roughly shoved into the cage, and the door shut behind her.
The cargo bay of the ship had been set up as a temporary holding cell, or rather set up to contain the holding cell. The bay was roughly rectangular. The loading hatch was on one end of the bay on the floor. There was one door leading to the inside of the ship. There were a few cargo containers in here, but the largest thing in here was the metal bar six-sided cage. It was large enough to hold two.
But as far as the occupant was concerned, it had one too many.
There were two men in here just outside the cage. One was Gamiel, who brought her here. The other was in a pilot's uniform.
"You won't get away with this!" Karmlyn yelled, "My Uncle's a rich man. He'll find where you are, rescue me, and skin you alive!"
"Your uncle ain't here." Gamiel reminded her, "You can scream all you want. He's not going to hear."
"He'll find you. Just you wait. On the other hand," she paused and relaxed her expression, "if you guys help me out, I could make it worthwhile."
"Us help you out? And why would we do that?"
"I'm sure I could pay you more than whatever chump change you make around here. Maybe even some real jobs."
"Real jobs?" Gamiel laughed a bit, "That's rich. And what do you have to pay us? We took all your cash from your pocketbook."
"Yeah, but without the right code, you'll never get what's in the credstick. Only I know it, and if you help me out, I'll gladly pay you that and more."
"Nice try miss," the pilot spoke, "but the boss doesn't take getting double-crossed that well. Sorry, but we've got our own butts to worry about."
"Yeah, we got our orders." Gamiel told her, "We're to take you to the boss, caged, stripped, and collared. Well, we got one part done. Now, off with your clothes."
Karmlyn was silent for a moment, wondering what to do. Then she had an idea and grinned, "Gee big boy, isn't that a little soon? We just met."
Both mobsters stood their, surprised, then the pilot burst out laughing. Gamiel looked at Karmlyn, then the pilot, then remarked, "I'll get them later."
The pilot was still snickering, "Maybe I should leave you two alone." He started walking off.
"Hey, wait for me!" Gamiel rushed after him. He caught up with him, and the two went out the access door to the ship interior, the pilot still laughing.
(Yeah, that's it,)" Karmlyn scowled quietly after they left, "(Run. Run away, you pathetic sons of ... Cage me like some animal, I'll get you for this.)" She then reached inside her dress, Had more than one reason to keep this on.
And after some fumbling, she took a small, compact, com out from inside. Its range was limited, but the size allowed it to be concealed inside without showing.
Nothing like a little insurance policy. She then turned it on, and accessed a certain frequency. She was answered by a few beeps, "Hello, Beepo?"
She was greeted by a series of happy-sounding beeps.
"Nice to hear from you too." Karmlyn suspected there was a reason the droid was acting like this, "Sounds like Jinx told you the story. I'm okay now, but -"
The interior door then opened. Karmlyn promptly hid the com, expecting her jailers.
But instead, in came Jinx.
Karmlyn smiled broadly, "Jinx." she greeted in a loud whisper, "(How'd you find me so fast?)"
Jinx came over, holding something in one hand that looked like an oversized pistol, "(I'll explain later,)" she whispered back, "(Right now, let's get you out.)"
"(Sure thing. Just do one of your little tricks, and - )"
"(Stay clear.)" Jinx then pointed the device at the lock, and turned it on. A beam then began cutting into the lock's bolt, between the door and it's frame.
"(A laser cutter?)"
(I've used my psionics quite a bit lately, and I'll tire soon if I keep it up. Happened to see this.)"
"(Well, that's rather ordinary for you.)"
"(Perhaps, but it works.)"
"Whaddya mean you can't find her?" Gamiel spoke into his com.
"I'm sorry," a voice responded back, "We can't seem to find the other alien. Either she found a good hiding place, or she somehow gave us the slip."
"Sorry?" bellowed Nastrum from his image on the holo-communicator, "Sorry?! I'll show you what sorry means if you don't find that little furball!"
This was the scene from the area just behind the cockpit. There were five men here, Gamiel and humanoid who brought Karmlyn here, the former whom had his com out, two other mobsters dressed in black, and the pilot.
"Sir," the voice from the com was starting to get nervous, "she can hardly blend into the crowd here. It's only a matter of time before we find her."
"I've heard that before." There was a pause from Nastrum, then, "Well, keep looking for her. We already have the disk and the other cat. You in the ship, you will leave Rytal, and meet me at coordinates ... "
The metal door swinging open an inch was the sign the job was done, and Jinx turned off the laser torch. Karmlyn, smiling, swung the cage door all the way open, "(When this is over, I'm gonna treat you to the biggest vacation spot!)"
"(Later Karmlyn,)" Jinx told her, "(We've got to get out of here before the mobsters decide to come back here.)"
"(You don't have to tell me twice. Let's -)"
Her sentence was cut short by the whine of the ship's engines. It took her a second to realize what was happening. She swore a couple choice words followed by, "(C'mon, maybe we can still) -"
And then the ship took off, forcing them to grab a hold of something to keep from losing balance. There was no leaving now.
Karmlyn's head slowly turned to Jinx, "(I think, we're in trouble.)"