Page 23 of Darken
“None that I know.”
They discovered a large transport flyer parked at the back as they glided over the building. “Joaquin never said anything about a flyer,” said Gina. “And they were riding horses.”
Darken flew a circle around the single building, setting his exterior camera to make a video of the isolated compound. “It looks like some kind of prison camp. My gut tells me that Joaquin doesn’t know anything about this setup.”
“Are we going to land?”
“No need. I scanned the building and flyer. There are no life signs. Combined with the fact that you put Wayne Stockman at Devlin’s compound when you were kidnapped, the odds are good they are human trafficking, and that is their holding area.”
When he finished recording, Darken set course east toward the Rio Grande to visit a couple of small villages nearby. The New Mexico territory was not that heavily populated, with Albuquerque and Santa Fe destroyed by the first wave attack. Two other smaller cities were reduced to rubble in the second wave. He wanted to see if they had people missing and hand out more com-tablets.
They flew north over the Rio Grande until they came to what appeared to be a large village. Darken told Gina to activate her armor because he didn’t know what kind of reception they could expect. He guided the hybrid hovercycle to the street level and tooled down what seemed to be the main street.
Only about every third and fourth house appeared to be occupied. Finally, they came to a building designated MakeéVillage Office. A middle-aged woman was sweeping the sidewalk in front of it with a handmade corn broom.
She stopped sweeping and looked up as Darken stopped the craft and let it settle to the dirt-covered road surface in front of her.
“Howdy,” she said with a nod. “What can I do for you? We don’t see riding machines like that every day.”
“Ma’am.” Darken nodded and swung his leg over the front of the machine, casually scanning the area for people with weapons. Sensing none, he turned to Gina. “Go ahead and retract your armor. It’s relatively safe.”
Gina did so and climbed off the cycle to join them.
“Is there a mayor or council that governs this village?” Darken asked.
“That would be me; I’m the mayor of Makeé, Jenny Wheaten. And you are?”
“Ranger Darken Wolf and my wife, Gina. We’re from the Civil Restoration Enclave. They have legal jurisdiction over this territory. While it’s my job to maintain law and order in New Mexico/Arizona territory, I’m just doing recon and making contact with the local governments to see what the people in this area need.”
“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. I’m guessing the war is over….”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Just call me Jenny. Maybe you can help us figure out what’s happened to the people who’ve up and disappeared in the last few months. One of them is my son Joe. He’s just a kid, turned twenty last month, and he’s been gone almost five months. At least seven people from Makeé have disappeared---three females and four males between twenty and forty years old.”
“That is what I thought we would find. We found who is taking people, but I don’t know why or where they are taking them. Until now, mainly young women were taken for trafficking.”
“You mean for sex slaves….”
“Yes, and maybe even for laborers. I will be investigating. Do you have a law enforcement officer?”
Jenny shook her head sadly. “We only have a few thousand people left in the whole county. People disappearing is the only trouble we’ve had in a couple years.”
“I’m going to ask for some protectors to come down from headquarters to watch over communities like yours while we continue to investigate the human trafficking. We have hundreds of cyborgs trained for law enforcement.”
“Cyborgs, you mean the machines they made to fight the war?”
“I am a cyborg, genetically engineered and enhanced from a human embryo,” Darken said casually.
Jenny looked up at him warily. “I’m sorry, I meant no disrespect.”
“It’s a common misconception. We are all more human than machines. The protectors are mostly cyborgs awakened after the war.”
“Are they all as young and good-looking as you?”
Darken didn’t know how to answer that since he never assessed his fellow cyborgs by their looks.
“They are,” said Gina. “But none are better than you,” she added hastily when he cast a frown.
