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"Hey Orrin, what have we got," Brogan asked, as he and Haldane stepped out of their cruiser. This particular part of town was becoming all too familiar recently.
Haldane looked around with disgust. "Don't tell me we got another body. Has somebody checked the water supply around here? People are dropping like flies. And these buildings look like the pipes might be sketchy."
"Errr… We'll have Slomo check into that, but it doesn't look like she lives here. My Ma wanted a watch just like that for her birthday. I nearly had to sell my liver just to get one."
Haldane looked at the chunky piece of jewellery, then back at Orrin. "… Seriously?"
"So the question is," Brogan continued, ignoring their blather for the moment, "what is she doing with a watch like that? Or what was she doing in a neighbourhood like this, and why is she dressed in rags?"
Romek poked at one of her legs, pushing the fabric covering them back a little. "Is it just me, or is this put on wrong?"
Brogan crouched down to take a closer look. "I think you might be on to something."
"So somebody killed her… or found her dead, then dressed her like a hooker and dumped her body here?" Leave it to Haldane to recap the obvious. "Who does that? Why go to all that trouble?"
"Somebody who doesn't want to be found. And we still haven't found out what's killing them yet. We'll have to wait for Autopsy to get back to us, but I'm betting she's just like the rest of them, healthy, young and suddenly died of massive heart failure without any apparent reason. Alright. Let's canvas the area. Maybe somebody saw something this time," Brogan said.
The others let out a collective sigh. Nobody ever saw anything in this area.
Brogan made his way down the lab section, past the firing rage, seething with impatiance. There had to be something, anything, some little scrap that would give them a new lead. They were desperately short on those themselves. Before he went in, however, he took a deep breath. Podley ruled the precinct, but the labsection was a world of its own. Storming in would get him nowhere.
"Hi Candra, do you have anything on our dead body from this afternoon yet?"
The young Creon didn't look up from the microscope and simply waved him on towards the back office. "Talk to the boss."
Brogan waited politely by the door after knocking on the frame, waiting for the elderly Tarn to finish her phone call.
Finally she nodded and thanked whoever was on the other side. "Lt. Brogan, what can I do for you?"
"Hi Myra. The Jane Doe from this afternoon? Do you have anything for me?"
She sighed and put her glasses down on the table, closing her eyes for a second. "I'm afraid not. Candra and I have run every test we can think of on her blood and tissue samples, any of our recent unexplained deaths from the area. Ran it through every database. We've identified a chemical in their brains we can't identify, but I have no idea where it came from, or what it does. Let alone if it caused their deaths."
She picked up her glasses again and started to play with them. "And I'm afraid I'm going to have to suspend all further research for the time being."
"YOU'RE DOING WHAT?" Brogan shouted, the vein on his forehead popping, all restrained suddenly gone.
"I do not appreciate being shouted at, Lt. Brogan. Half my staff is out sick with the flu, and we had samples piling up even before that. I cannot in good conscience justify spending time and resources on something that we don't seem to be able to solve, when I have a whole desk full of cases, we can help solve. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." And with that, she bent over her work. Her third eye was looking right at Brogan, but actually directed at the coffee pot that floated disgustingly serenely past him.
"Myra, people are dying out there."
"And we've done all we can. Take it up with the Captain. Good day, Lieutenant." She never even looked up.
"Hey, where's Took?"
"She's out talking to an informant about our mysterious drug that nobody even knows the name of. But we keep hearing about it. Unfortunately, the guy is a little... twitchy about humans, " Jane said an leaned back in her chair.
Since Brogan was still out, Jack took a moment and sat down on the edge of her desk. "So… dinner? Tonight?" Haldane sat down on the edge of Castle's desk. "Your place or mine?" Jack grinned at his own cheesiness.
Shouting from Captain's office brought the whole bullpen to a standstill for a few moments – until Podley appeared at the window and glared down at his officers, who suddenly were very busy again.
"What's that all about?"
Jack grimaced. "I have no idea. But I'm going to find out any minute, and that mood is definitely going to last. Patrol is going to be fun."
"Awww. Poor baby." Jane squeezed his knee. "I'll make it up to you tonight?"
Jack crossed his arms in front of chest and leered down at her. "I don't know. Mood like that, might take lot of making up."
"Are you two about done yet? Doesn't anybody actually work around here?" Brogan stalked over to his desk and shoved his chair back into place with more force than necessary.
"What was that?" When Brogan was in a mood like this, it was better to get straight down to business.
"Myra is stopping all research on our mysterious deaths until the lab is fully staffed again. She's forwarded the files and samples to the main lab in Demeter City, but…"
Haldane winced. "Yeah. We'll be looooong gone before they ever get back to us."
Brogan sank down into his chair. "Please tell me you got something?"
"Our Jane Doe is actually a Nerris Nna'na. She's a teacher at a college on Kaldis Prime, here on a two week vacation. Which should have ended three weeks ago. She was staying in a nice resort on Banda Beach, but her credits show a lot of activity over in the night club district. Apparently, this teacher like to party. God, I wish I had teachers like that. I might have actually stuck it out."
"You went to college?" Jane had been shamelessly eaves dropping since there was nothing to do for her, while she waited for Took to come back.
"Yes, why does that surprise you, Officer Castle?"
"I wouldn't have pegged you as the college type. No wait, what am I saying, you were born to be a frat boy. What did you major in? Phys Ed?"
Jack shrugged. "Not quite."
Jane wanted to keep digging, but Brogan interrupted her. "Can we please focus? People are dying here. Any place she spent a lot of time at?"
Haldane waved at Took as she got back to her desk and put her jacket away, then glanced down at the credit report. "There have been a lot of purchases recently at a place called The Club."
"That's it? The Club? What kind of name is that?"
"What did you just say?" Took came over to their desks. "The Club?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because that is the name of the club my informant just gave me. Zee said that's where a lot of talk about this new drug was coming from. He didn't know exactly where it is, apparently it moves, but he said he'd work on finding us an in."
"Okay, that can't be a coincidence. This new designer drug, a mysterious nightclub, and then a string of dead bodies nobody can explain and an unexplained chemical in their brains nobody has ever seen or heard of before." Brogan stood up from his chair, suddenly full of energy again.
"Haldane, get Slomo to run the credit info on The Club. Let's see if we can't find out who it belongs to. Took, light a fire under your informant's ass. I'm going to-" He never got finish the sentence as the station was rocked with the gigantic boom from an explosion.
Jack shook his head and crawled out from under his chair. He winced at what would surely be a gigantic bruise on his back, but he was otherwise okay. Slowly getting his bearings again, he stumbled over to the person closest to him. Or rather where he thought Brogan had been. The station was rapidly filling with smoke.
Brogan shakily got to his feet on his own and waved him off. "I'm fine. Check on the others." He himself staggered over towards the controls for the vents, checking on people as he went.
Jack rushed over to Jane's desk and crouched down next to her. "Jane, can you hear me? Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere?"
Jane swatted his arm away and shook her head clear. "I'm fine. Really. I just had the breath knocked out of me."
For a second she was greatful when somebody shouted they needed help – she hated being fussed over - but regretted it the next moment when it occurred to her that somebody was actually hurt.
The officers – those that had not been injured - haphazardly sat around on any available surface in Podley's living room, which was already cramped with little knickknacks and little pieces of furniture neither Haldane nor Brogan could even guess if they were mere decorative or served some actual purpose. Mrs. Podley fluttered around them, making sure everybody had tea or coffee, or a sandwich. In her opinion, food could cure anything. Even the shock from having half your station blown up right under ass. She was particularly fussy with Jane and Took. Perhaps still a little shaken, Took shooed her off uncharacteristically impatient and short. "I'm fine, Mrs Podley. We all are. Thank you." Well, as short and impatient as Tookie got.
The Captain interrupted before his wife could argue. "We're all still in one piece, dear. Now go off and find somebody else to fuss over, woman. My officers need to get to work, not to be coddled. And I won't be hearing any arguments, I just had my precinct blown up. One of my people is dead," the mood in the room got a little dimmer, if that was possible, as they all remembered Myra, the gruff but efficient head of their lab section. "Half my officers are injured, some of them in critical condition. I will damn well know how, why and by whom, yesterday."
Mrs Podley looked very much like she wanted to argue. But whether it was about being spoken to like that, the cursing or the suggestion that they should all get back to work right this very second, but she bit her tongue and turned sharply on her heel and went back into the kitchen.
Podley winced, like a man who knew that he was going to pay for this later, but focused back on work anyway. "Now, gentlemen, what do we have? And I wasn't kidding when I said I want answers yesterday."
"Preliminary Forensics got back to us a few minutes ago," Frodo said from the couch. He was currently taking up two placed, having one of legs in a splint, but he had refused to go to a hospital, until he was sure the precinct was in more or less working order again. Even if it was from his Captain's living room. "The explosion started in the Lab. No accelerants. They say it's preliminary – but that it does look like an accident."
"That's a lot of coincidence, lately." Haldane muttered under his breath.
"What was that, Officer Haldane?" Podley barked.
Before his partner could get them into any trouble, Brogan quickly filled the Captain in.
"Hmm, I see. Officer Took. You informant, is he reliable?"
"Very, Sir. Kal has never let me down."
"Very well, Brogan, Haldane. See if they have gotten Slomo out of the station yet and if he is in working condition. Keep working your end and follow the money. Officers Castle and Took, you two are going to see where this informant leads you. Let's hope he can actually get you into this club. I want you in there, undercover, looking around as soon as possible. I will not have my station blown up, people dying of no apparent reason or a new drug epidemic in the city on my watch." Podley looked around the room. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get to it!"
"Err… sir?"
"Yes, Officer Orrin. What am I going to do?"
"You are going to take Mr Frodo to the hospital. And see that he stays there. Sit on him if you have to. I do not want to see him anywhere near any police business again until he has been cleared by a doctor. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir."
"And check on that partner of yours while you're there."
The second yes, sir came with a lot more gratitude and enthusiasm.
Hours later, Brogan and Haldane finally made their way to the hospital, too, so they could check on their wounded colleagues.
Brogan waved Haldane on, "You go right ahead, I'm gonna go find-"
"Oh my god, I was so worried about you." Sally hugged her husband so tight she nearly choked him. Once she was satisfied he was actually warm, breathing and in one piece, she hit him in the arm. "You should have called me! I was scared to death when the call came in. And then I couldn't get you on the comm and…"
Brogan patted his commlink at his side and winced when he found a rather large crack in it, most likely from the explosion. "Yeah, sorry. It's been a crazy day?"
Jack seriously doubted that was going to count as an excuse and hightailed it out of there before the explosion.
He found Orrin actually on Frodo. Well, on his bed. They had put Romek and Frodo in the same room, and the two partners were chatting up their usual mindless storm, while Frodo had the look of somebody who might actually shoot himself soon. "Hey, all still in one piece I see."
"Not much longer," Frodo muttered under his breath. "Where's Brogan?"
"Getting an earful from Sally for not calling her." The whole room winced in sympathy.
"Actually, we are right here," Brogan said from the doorway.
"How is everybody else?" The doctors and nurses had been so busy, news had been sparse and everybody was burning for news. Other officers and support personnel out in the corridor picked up their ears, too.
Sally switched over into doctor mode. Usually she wouldn't dream of disclosing any of this information, but these people were pretty much family to each other. Most of all in times like these. "Most of the others are pretty okay. A lot of concussions and broken bones. A few third degree burns, but nothing critical. Candra is still in ICU though. She's slipped into a coma. She got burned pretty badly. It's going be touch and go for a while. If she makes it through the night, I think there's a pretty good chance she's going to be okay."
"And she got lucky. Forensics said there was nothing but ash left of Myra." Sally drew in a shaky breath. Romek used a pillow to shut his partner up, even if it was a little late.
There was one unspoken rule amongst them. Never worry the Significant Others with the details of how close any of them came to dying. Least of all those who are very well aware of the physical dangers.
Brogan's radio went off on his belt, he looked apologetically at his wife, kissed her goodbye and the waved Haldane to come along. "Brogan here."
"Took's informant came through. We're going in tonight. Meet us back and Took and my place," came Castle's voice tinny over the comm.
"Alright, Jane. We'll be there in a few minutes."
Took was getting ready in her own room, Brogan made some calls over the commlink in the kitchen, while Jack kept Jane company as she changed behind the big changing screen in the corner.
"Okay, how do I look?"
Hot. But kinda like a hooker. Jack looked her up and down. "Umm… This Kal got you in as…. What exactly?"
"Dancers."
"As in…"
"Yeah."
"Jane, you really…"
"Don't even think about finishing that sentence, Jack. Or I swear to god…"
"Okay, okay. So… I'm guessing dinner tonight is off, huh?"
"Not just tonight. Tookie and I are going to be staying with one of Kal's girls until we're done. We don't want to take any chances. And don't worry, Kal is smart. He told them we're fresh off a transport and just need a place a stay until we've found our bearings. "
"Who exactly is this Kal guy?" Jack frowned. He really didn't like this. Neither him nor Brogan new this Kal person. And his girlfriend and her partner were going into an unknown situation, with little other information and neither backup nor surveillance. But all his earlier objections had been shot down, and even Brogan had quickly stopped objecting once he realized that this was their best shot at getting anywhere.
"Trust me, you don't want to know." Took was wearing an outfit even skimpier than Jane's. Though with her Tarn physiology it didn't seem nearly as revealing. To Jack anyway. He stared for a moment, trying to decide what exactly Tarns found hot about other Tarns, not really a question that had ever occurred to him. But then he decided he really didn't want to know.
"Don't worry, Jack. I'll get her back to you safe and sound," she said and ruffled his hair. She turned to Jane. "Are you done?"
"Just about." She turned to the mirror to put on some more gloss.
She found his eyes in the mirror. "Seriously, Jack. I'm a big girl. We're going to be fine." Now give me my gun so I can tuck it away."
Jack stared at her clothes. "… and where exactly are you going to put it?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." Jane smirked at him.
"But I'm serious Jane. Be careful. Don't take any more chances than you have to, alright?"
Jane didn't answer him and kissed him instead, before joining the others in the kitchen.
"Dad," Liz whined, "We're all out of cereal. Matt ate everything even though he knew I wanted the last of it."
"Yeah and you ate all of chips last night," Matt yelled back. And then they went at it again, shouting at each other across the flat.
And they had been fighting and shouting almost the entire night, too. Yelling for him to settle this or that what felt like every five minutes.
"That's it. I don't care who started it or who did what. Liz, go to your room, do your homework. Matt, clean up your room. NOW. And no more games or calls for the rest of the weekend for either of you. One word and I'll make it the rest of the week."
The children wanted to argue, but the look on their fathers face made them think better of it. They quietly turned around and went to their respective rooms, though Matt couldn't resist giving his sister a little shove, and Liz stuck her tongue out at him before she slammed her door shut.
"Well, that went rather well," Sally remarked from the front door. She had just finished her late shift at the hospital. With some prodding she got him to relax a little and lean back. Her own relaxing and unwinding would have to wait until she could draw herself a nice, hot bath.
Brogan let out a long sigh. "You think I was too harsh?"
"Maybe a little," Sally tried to be diplomatic. "They miss you. You haven't been around a lot lately." The I missed you, too was understood.
"Sorry. I guess it doesn't help that we haven't heard from Jane or Took either yet." Brogan sighed. "I'll apologize to them later."
"You still haven't heard from them?"
"We weren't sure how tight security is. Unless anything happens, they won't contact us for the first week. So we won't hear anything from them for another two days. ... Unless this 'Kal' finally gets Haldane and me in the front door." Brogan sighed. "I just hope this is going to lead somewhere. Jack and I still haven't gotten anywhere with our own leads. All we get are dead ends, and more dead ends.
But enough of me. How was your day." He rubbed her leg.
"Long. Tiring. Thankfully unexciting. Candra is doing better though. We took her off life support today. She's finally breathing on her own again."
Brogan nodded. "Good." He twisted so he could kiss her on the cheek. "She had the best doctor there is."
He got up off the couch. "How about I dra..." Their personal comm line interrupted him. "Hold that thought." He went over to the picture frame and activated the screen. "Yes?"
A thin alien with folds flapping all over its face filled the screen. He'd never seen them before. Brogan tried very hard not to stare at the two sacs to either side of the neck, gently extending and then falling together again. Air sacks.
"Lieutenant Brogan?"
"Yeah. Who are you?"
The alien didn't seem very disturbed by Brogan's impatience. "I'm Kal. Aurelia told me to contact you once I got you a ticket into the club."
"About damn time. When and where?"
"Tonight. But I only have one ticket. And there is no way in Hades that you will ever fit in there. Tell that partner of yours to come and meet me. Dress to impress. And no surveillance."
"That's not the way it works, Kal," Brogan said most empathically.
"That is the way it works. It's my ass on the line, too. Take it or leave it. Have your partner show up – alone - or don't bother at all. Have him ready to go in two hours. I'll pick him up at the main transport hub downtown and bring him to the pickup spot myself. If I see so much as a single glimpse of your pink skin, I'll dump him at the nearest hover taxi pick up."
Finding the necessary details were delivered, Kal ended the transmission and left Brogan scowling at the screen.
These people were taking their security way too serious for Haldane's comfort. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of special hell Jane (and Took, but mostly Jane) had gone into, what could be so mysterious and illegal that they went through all this song and dance. Finally, the shuttle came to a halt in a rather non-descript looking landing bay.
He was relieved to be getting some fresh air, the Narinians weren't exactly known for their pleasant body odor. Pleasant to humans anyway. Orrin swore it was rather nice, but Jack thought it was entirely possible he was just messing with him. Nobody could like that smell.
He let the guy pass and took a good look around, even though there was nothing much to see. A standard docking bay. Probably some old industrial complex, judging from the decorations (or lack thereof). Behind him the shuttle with the tinted windows took off again. There was nothing left for him to do but follow the music into the club.
Heat, smoke and noise hit him like a slap in the face as soon as the sliding doors opened. The bouncer by the door gave him a curious look but waved him through. The music was something with a pounding bass line, low and dangerous, vaguely rhythmic and grating though Haldane could never quite put his finger on it.
The club was pretty well filled, people on the open dance floor shortly behind the door, in the booths along the wall or at the bar across the floor. There was an upper level with more people. And by 'people' he meant humans of Aliens alike, any race he had ever seen so far on Altor, and a few he didn't recognize.
He got pushed to the side by a pretty blonde being led to the door by a small… teddy bear, was the best Haldane could describe it. About 3 feet tall, furry, with two round ears on the top of his? her? its? head, and two dark beady eyes. It even had freaking paws.
He saw a few dancers of various races on small stages places around the perimeter of the room, and did a double take when he recognized one of them as Took, currently doing… things to a pole. Seeing as how she was busy, Jack did the best he could to erase the image from memory.
He kept looking around the room, trying to find Jane, but she was nowhere to be seen. Eventually he settled for grabbing a seat with a decent view of most of the club, and ordering a horribly over priced beer. He figured he'd either spot her, or she'd spot him, but either way, he'd do his best to blend in.
The waitress finally put his cold beer down in front of him. "You here all alone? Not feeling like dancing?"
"Nah, it's my first time. I figured I'd get the lay of the land first."
"Well, if you want anything… if you see anything you like, anything you'd like to try… We make all those fantasies reality, here at The Club. So you just let me know, okay?"
"Hey Rian, I got it from here."
Jack looked at Jane and did his best to look appreciative and interested. Not exactly a hard thing to do, considering.
"Ah, I see," Rian said with a wicked smile and went to tend to other customers in her section.
Jane swivelled Jack's chair around so he was facing her and she had room to move around him, then slowly began to dance in time to the complicated rhythm.
"So, this is The Club."
"Yeah. It's pretty…"
"… illegal?" Jack leaned in to whisper to her. More to be actually heard well than for fear of being over heard. He doubted that anybody could eavesdrop over this music.
Jane twisted and turned around him, rubbing up against him and then dancing away again. "Actually, there is nothing really illegal going on here. People don't pay for sex. They pay to come here. And for the drinks," she floated into his hear in bits and pieces while she kept dancing.
"But it is pretty freaky, right? Like… did I saw a hot blonde walking out with a teddy bear?"
"You scoff, but they're actually pretty popular around here. They're always leaving with a pretty boy or girl… or other on their arm."
"Really? Huh. How does that even…" Jack tried to imagine sex with one of the little creatures, but all he could think of was his childhood teddy bear (still safely tucked away in his nightstand). He shuddered and gave up. "On second thought, I don't really wanna know."
"Oh I hear they're animals in bed. I think they're pretty cute. They remind me of these old cartoons they used to run when I was a kid."
Jack winced. "Okay, that's another childhood memory ruined forever."
"You should give it a try, broaden your horizons a little. Who knows, maybe you'll like it." Jane looked down at him with a little twinkle in her eye.
"Don't even joke about that."
The music changed, but Jane easily picked up on the new rhythm. It made Jack's stomach turn a little to think that she had been doing this for days.
Picking up on the change in his mood, Jane got down to business and wrapped one of her legs around him and leaned in close. "We don't have too much time. They don't like it if we spend too much time with any one customer. And it would look really suspicious if we kept this up without this… going anywhere."
Jack was grateful that the dim lighting in the club concealed his blush.
He cleared his throat. "So... did you pin down the movement of the club yet?"
"Not even we know where it's going to be on any given day. We get picked up by a shuttle and then dropped off again. Black tinted windows so we have no idea where we're going. I'm pretty sure we went in circles a few times, too."
"So they're definitely the source of the drugs? No ordinary nightclub would need these kinds of security measures. Have you seen anything yet?"
"No not really. Nothing that looks like drugs. And when I asked one of the others girls where to score something, she told me to keep - watch your hands. No touching the girls. That's Halk over there in the corner," she pointed at a giant green man with arms as big as one of Jack's thighs. "He takes his job rather seriously; he's really protective of us girls. Kinda sweet actually."
"Us girls? Going native already, Ca… Candy?"
"Candy? Well, as long as you're paying, you can call me whatever you want, sugar. Anyway. Marsi said that I should keep my mouth shut because the boss doesn't like the girls taking anything."
"And who is this mysterious boss. Cause Brogan and I? Haven't gotten anywhere so far. Shell companies within shell companies. No names. Just a lot of numbers. Slomo and Carson are still on it. Please tell me you've learned something that'll actually get us anywhere?"
"Well, I've learned a few wicked moves, I think you'd appreciate." To emphasize her point, she ground down firmly against him. "And this is a lot more fun with you."
Jack choked back a groan. This was really messing with his head. It was still Jane, but he'd have appreciated it more under other circumstances. He just couldn't get the thought of his Jane dancing for other people like this out of his head.
"Jane, if you want to stop, we can..."
But she interrupted him before he could finish that sentence. "I swear to god if you tell me one more time that I shouldn't have to be doing my job I will be breaking more than your arm." She smiled sweetly at Jack and placed her stiletto heel between his legs, putting down just a little bit too much pressure.
"Okay. I need to speed this up. The floor manager is already giving me the evil eye. Something is going on behind the scene. I didn't hear everything, but I think somebody is about to take over the operation. Or has taken over. All I heard was a name. Zarn. No race, nothing else. And here," she slipped a small note into his side pocket while she ran her hands all over his body. "See what that is. I found it on the floor outside of the office of the last place."
Then she stood up. "Now pay up," she grinned.
"Myra's memorial service was today," Jack informed her as he slid the credits into her back pocket. "Do you want me to... do anything for you?"
Jane shook her head. "I'll pay my respects later. First I'm going to catch whoever did this to her." She vanished into the crowd with a last sad smile back at him.
It was early morning by the time Jack finally arrived at Brogan's. Sally let him in on her way out.
"Hey Jack. Bye Jack. Bye, Dad!" Liz called from the door and blew his father a kiss as she breezed past Jack.
"Yo, Liz! Wait up! You forgot your lunch!" Matt grabbed his sister's and his own bag from the counter. "See you later, Prime Elder." Matt mock saluted his father, nodded at Jack and then ran after his sister.
"Morning, Jack. Coffee?"
"God yes."
Jack flopped down in one of the chairs and inhaled half the cup instantly. He still hadn't slept.
He slid a folder across the table towards Brogan. "This is what I got from Immigration from the note Jane found. This Zarn shows up as the employer on the work visa of several dozen Aliens over the past year. I had Slomo run the companies, they're all fakes. What's really interesting that one or two companies from our dead-end money trail showed up. So not so dead-end after all."
Brogan glanced over the file. "He's definitely our guy then. Do we have anything on this Zarn?"
"The ID is fake from what I can tell. A really good one, too. Some of the IDs for the Aliens look really sketchy though. I'm betting more than a few credits changed hands to get those through.
"Let's look into that later. Anything else?"
Haldane grinned. "He had to leave a contact number. I had Slomo trace the transmissions and he came up with a few possible addresses."
Brogan grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair. "Well, let's go check them out then."
Jack gulped down the rest of the coffee and then followed his partner.
"Well, he's not going to tell us anything," Jack said muffled behind the arm of his jacket, standing over the body of one Zarn (no last name). The man had clearly been for a few days, even accounting for the faster initial decomposition of Volonites. Jack shuddered as he remembered his last time with a dead one of their kind. He'd learned that one the hard way.
Brogan looked at his watch. "Let's call forensics so they can go over the room, and then let's get to The Club. It's getting late. Let's see if Jane and Took have anything new for us."
The ride to the club was just as boring as last time. He knew they were going somewhere else, but when he exited the Hopper, it looked pretty much the same as last time. A non-descript loading bay in an old, abandoned factory.
Though this time, Jack was carrying a small locator he turned on inside the docking bay for a few moments- the safest place, as far as he could tell – before dropping it down a vent, just in case anybody had picked up the signal and he'd be searched. He patted his pocket for the ear piece, hidden in a pack of gum, just to reassure himself that it was still there.
He didn't see Jane right away, but then the club was packed that night. Or maybe this one was smaller. He made his way over to the bar to order himself a beer, hoping he'd also get a better look around the place that way since the bar was elevated a little above the rest of the floor.
"Oh you are adorable," a tall, graceful woman next to him exclaimed. "Let me buy you a drink." Before Jack could object, she had already turned to the bartender and ordered him something violently green and glowing. "You're new, huh? I know all the regulars. And they all eventually become regulars."
"It's only my second time yeah, but if you'll excuse me, I'm actually looking for somebody."
But she wouldn't be ignored like that and kept up a constant stream of chatter, pointing out people here and there, and going into random anecdotes or reminiscing about nights with this one or that one. All the while, she kept moving closer and closer to him. Leaning in, touching him. Some time ago, in a normal club, Jack would have appreciated the attention. She was pretty, she had really nice, long legs. But Jane wasn't the kind of girl you could screw around with. And he needed to find her.
At the same time, if the girl was a regular like she said, she might prove useful. Jack tried to get anything of use out of her, seeing as how she clearly wasn't going to let him go anywhere any time soon. But it was hard to get a word in edgewise. And within minutes she was practically hanging off his arm.
He didn't notice at first, but he nearly jumped out of his skin when he noticed long, smooth, shiny tendrons coming out beneath the loose edges on the wrist end of her shirt, winding around his leg and slowly creepy higher. He stared at it, horrified and fascinated at once.
Once the tip of the... tentacle started pushing against his groin, rubbing, he shook himself loose. He hightailed it to the dance floor and pushed his way across the room to get away as far away from her as possible. No information could possibly be worth this.
Still not seeing Jane – or Took – anywhere, he methodically (as methodically as he could without looking like he was looking) made his way around the room and the upper levels.
Then he made a second lap.
Jack activated his ear piece. "Brogan, I can't find Jane. Or Took." He tried – and failed – to keep the rising panic out of his voice. "I'm gonna see if I can find any of the girls Jane was talking about last time."
He stopped one of the server girls, a vaguely human looking woman with orange-ish skin, a rather large chest and bright green hair. "Hey, darling. Do you know where I can find Marsi?"
"She's doing private shows tonight, Handsome. That's gonna cost you a pretty penny. I can put you on the list if you want. Oh wait, there she is. Go and talk to her yourself if you want to book a slot. But she's gonna be pretty booked up already. Come find me, if she's full, okay," she leered at him, blew him a kiss and then continued on to the bar.
Jack barely notice and pushed his way through the crowd. "Marsi!"
The blue skinned, bald girl looked him up and down. "My, my. I'm on break, but I'll make an exception for you, pretty human."
"Err... Actually, the last time I was here I spent a little time with a girl named Jane? I was hoping to... see her again tonight? I can't find her anywhere though."
Marsi's face fell for only a second before her friendly, open smile fell back into place. "She doesn't work here anymore. But I'd be more than happy to show you a good time, too."
"What do you mean, she doesn't work here anymore. She has to work here."
"Sheesh. Obsessed already? I knew that one was gonna be trouble," Marsi sneered. "No wonder they just escorted her and her little friend out of here at gunpoint."
"When. When did they take her?" Jack grabbed her by the arms. "Tell me."
"God, what's with you. I don't know. I saw them in the corridors maybe... 10, 15 minutes ago?"
Jack didn't bother with anything else and took off towards the exit, darting around the bouncer who had come over to see what was going on.
"Brogan, something went wrong. Marsi said they got taken out at gunpoint. They must have just left."
"Only one transport left within the last half hour."
Jack ran out of the club and waited impatiently for Brogan in the loading bay, who had parled their cruiser nearby after Haldane had transmitted his location.
"Go, go, go," Jack practically screamed at his partner even before he had fully closed the door behind him.
Brogan tore off after the Hopper. "Dispatch, this is Lieutenant Brogan, putting out an APB on a red, late model hopper transport. Last seen in the old Industrial District heading towards the Bay. Officers in distress."
"This is Dispatch, putting out the APB now. We will call you if anybody sees them. Over."
Brogan clicked off the comm and shot a worried over at his partner.
"You need to keep your head in the game, Haldane. You won't do her any good if you're not thinking clearly."
Jack snorted and balled his hands into fists at his side. Brogan was right. But that didn't make it any easier to swallow.
Several minutes after they had blindly started into the general direction the car with Took and Castle inside had taken off, a patrol spotted the Hopper. Brogan lowered their altitude and they followed the Hopper at a safe distance.
When the hovercar disappear into yet another run-down industrial building, Brogan touched them down in an alley and called for backup.
Jack shook off his seat belt and opened the door.
"Jack. Wait for backup."
But Jack paid him no mind. Cursing Brogan followed his partner and radioed dispatch that they were going to take a closer look.
"Alright. We'll take a look around, but we will wait for backup before we go in."
The doors and windows on the ground level were all locked and sealed, but further up they could see a few open viewing ports. Brogan pointed to a ladder leading to a walkway on the upper level. As silently as they could, they climbed up and peered in through one of the few unobstructed windows.
"Son of a..." Brogan jerked back, pulling Jack with him, when one of the guards caught their movements and turned towards their window.
They looked to each other for a moment, silently debating what to do, but there wasn't much choice. Took was bound on the floor, with a gun to her head. Seconds might count and they just didn't have time to wait for backup.
Jack pointed towards a door several feet to their right and Brogan nodded. They stared at the panel for a moment, as if just looking at it might just magically open the locked door.
Eventually, Jack simply smashed the panel with the back of his gun. Brogan glared at him, but Haldane just shrugged. If somebody heard it inside, it might at least give them a good distraction.
The panel hissed and cracked, but the door slid obediently open. They held their breaths for a moment, listening intently for coming footsteps, but the corridor was completely silent.
Quietly, they made their way over in the direction of the room they had seen Took in. When they saw light fall into the hallway and heard voices, they stopped and carefully crept closer to the open door.
Brogan and Jack positioned themselves on both sides of the door and risked a quick glance to get a better feel for the layout and positions. Still pretty much the same as before.
Took bound, kneeling on the floor, two guns pointed right at her head. Several more guards were interspersed around the room. In the far corner, Jack spotted several of the little teddy bear people in a horrifically small cage.
Brogan and Jack glanced at each other and nodded. Difficult, but since they had surprise on their side, doable.
On three they burst through the door.
Brogan took out the two guards next to Took with quick head shots, while Jack provided cover fire and aimed at the other guards in the room. Brogan tackled and rolled over Took behind one of the lab benches, out of harms way.
By the time he looked up, however, he stared right into the barrel of a gun. Behind the guard, another one had Jack in a headlock.
Brogan slowly put his gun down and raised his hands in surrender.
"Lieutenant Brogan. Of course you'd show up," he female voice said from the door.
Brogan turned and stared.
"Myra?" Jack spluttered. "But you're dead! We went to your memorial service!"
"Ah yes, and a lovely service it was. Quite touching, even if people were rarely that nice to be while I was not-dead." The Tarn sneered. "Maybe I should have blown myself up earlier."
"You set blew up the station," Brogan asked incredulously.
"Why of course. I couldn't have anybody find out about this. This'll do just fine for my retirement fund. But enough of all this chatter for now." She turned to the guards. "Tie them up over there for now, oh. And gag them, please."
Haldane and Brogan watched incredulously as Myra puttered away at the work station, just like it was any other day, in any other lab. They struggled against their ties, but neither was having much luck shaking them loose.
"Now, let's talk," Myra said. "I'd rather like to know how you found me and what else you know." She pulled down Brogan's gag.
"Quid pro," Brogan shot back. "Tell us all about this and we'll tell you what we know."
"Buying time, I see. Oh it won't matter. We'll be gone soon, and you'll be dead. Might as well tell the whole story. It's rather ingenious. You see, the Bork – that's the name of our friends over there - are the drug. It's the pheromones they produce during sex. It's rather addictive, you see. But best of all, other than that there are no side effects. At all. I couldn't believe it when I saw the results on the labwork. "
"I think the fourteen bodies in our morgue would say there are serious side effects."
Myrna waved him off. "It's not the pheromones, that's killing people. It's the drug we use to keep the Bork docile. They're rather nasty creatures in their natural environments. But one dose of this," she held up a vial with some neo red, glowing liquid inside, "and they turn into playful, affectionate little creatures. Also, shall we say… rather willing. It's a brilliant plan, actually. The Bork make sure people will always come back. I have no idea how Zarn found them, really, seeing as he was an old fool, but brilliant plan nevertheless. Though he was rather unreasonable when I approached him about buying into the business. So I took over. I plan to retire in style. And this little operation here will do nicely. Once I got you out of the way. Though we might have to move this. Little operation elsewhere, soon. Bodies are such a hassle."
The watch on her wrist beeped. "Oh it's time for next dose. The timing is very tricky, there's only a very narrow window. Too soon and they overdose, too late and they'll revert back to the way they naturally are. Trust me, you do not want to be around if they miss their dose. I got the adjustments wrong with the second to last one. It was rather… messy." She turned to the guards. "Get them ready, please?"
Brogan did the only thing he could think of, and hauled himself at her, toppling her over and breaking the vial on the floor.
Haldane had no idea what he was doing exactly, but destroying … anything seemed like a good idea. He pushed himself up on his legs and swung the back of his chair across the small lab bench, swiping everything to the floor and covering it in a mess of multi-colored liquid.
The guards sprang towards them, but the damage was already done.
"No! You fools! Do you have any idea what you have done?" Myra stared at the shattered vials and slowly tried to push her way out from under Brogan and towards the doors, nursing her arm.
Across the room, the Bork began to rattle in their cage, stirred up by all the commotion. Within moments the rattling turned into a storm and Brogan and Haldane watched stunned as the cute little creatures, turned into not-so-cute, vicious creatures who broke their cage seemingly without any effort at all and went tearing across the room towards Myra and the guards.
There wasn't really much of a fight. They were helplessly overwhelmed, both in numbers, speed and ferocity.
Then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over. The Bork grouped into a huddle in one far corner of the room, leaving tiny bloody paw prints all over the floor. Brogan shook his ropes off and tried to approach them, but quickly backed away when they as one turned towards him and growled.
"Oh-kay." He breathed.
"No, don't." Took was finally stirring. Her two seeing eyes were still closed, but her third eye was half-way open. "They're scared. They're angry. Protecting each other. But they understand."
"Can we leave them here?" Jack asked. The immediate threat out of the way, he had only one other thought in mind. Jane..
Brogan looked at the doors. "I think we can rig these to deadlock until backup gets here. Took, can you walk?"
"Yeah, I'm good. A little knocked about. But I'm fine."
Brogan nevertheless gave her a hand and helped her out of the room, then set the locks to deadlock and informed the backup patrols already on their way of their current situation.
Meanwhile, Jack turned to Took. "Do you have any idea where they took Jane?"
"Halk took her down that way. I think. My head got knocked about pretty good. No, I'm sure he took her that way. That was the last time I saw her. Please, find her, Jack? She's my partner. Hurry. I'll be fine here on my own until the others get here."
Jack impatiently glared at Brogan. "Let's go!"
They took off down the corridor, checking every door, but finding all of them empty. Not even more guards. When they came to a fork, Jack convinced Brogan to split up. Speed was of more importance to him than their own safety. And he wouldn't be overruled. Brogan cursed, but gave in.
With every empty room he passed, Jack became more and more worried. She had to be here. Somewhere. Alive.
He was about to turn another corner when he heard heavy footsteps fall. He jerked back and saw Halk pass him by – thank god – without noticing. He waited a few moments, then crept towards the room at the end of the corridor Halk had come from.
"Jane! Oh my god, I thought you were dead!" Jack rushed towards her and grabbed her head in both hands, kissing her forehead, cheeks, lips, any part he could reach. She fine, actually fine. Aside from a small bruise on her cheek that made him seethe with rage. But he'd take the bruise as long as she as alive.
"Shhh! Yes, yes. I'm fine. Now hurry and get these damn ties off me. Halk is going to be back any second. "
The knots took some doing, but finally, finally he got them untangled. Jane shook out her numb limbs, then grabbed his hand and ran for the door. Just she was about to open it, Halk came back in.
Jane thought quickly on her feet and slammed the door in his face, hard, momentarily stunning him. Jack grabbed the chair and smashed it over his head, bringing him down. And Jane finished the job with several hard and swift kicks between his legs and to his back. "That was for hitting me in the face earlier dirtbag. Looking out for us my ass."
"Wow. Remind me to never piss you off." Jack stared at the big green giant on the floor.
"Whatever. Let's go home."
Jack and Jane snuggled on the couch after they finally had their dinner.
"So the Bork are back home?"
"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, nobody is actually blaming them for anything, seeing as how they were basically slaves," Jack said with disgust. "But I don't think anybody is sorry really to see them go, considering the carnage. And they're kind of … really unfriendly."
"Unlike certain other races. I hear you hooked up with Ferra." Jane grinned at him.
"Who?"
"Tall, really pretty... tentacles?"
"Oh. Her." Jack colored, remembering the rather attractive alien. "Tentacles... not really my style though." He shuddered. It had been oddly hot. Kinda. Not that he'd tell his girlfriend that.
Jane sighed a little wistfully. "Kentarren men... sure the tentacles are a little freaky. But they're so beautiful."