Page 46 of Agent's Integrity

Even though he had grumbled and complained the whole time about my presence, Emerson had still given me protection on his ship even though I was an IPF agent. We hadn’t told anyone who I really was except for Reuben, his first mate, who had protested my presence heavily. We had told the rest of the crew I was a locator and could find things no one else could. The crew hadn’t been surprised that Emerson was trying to find Kit.

While I was on Emerson’s ship, I kept my mouth shut and my ears open. I learned a lot about him, including one of his favorite stomping grounds right here on Esmuna. He often frequented a bar by the name of White Fox. Apparently, he knew the owner and had a base of operations somewhere close by. The problem was I didn’t know what city the White Fox was in.

A quick computer search brought up a location. Ethan peered over my shoulder at the map and sighed. “That’s about two thousand miles away.”

I nodded. “That’ll be good for us. Abington is where they are going to start their search. They’ll probably think we’ll look for a way off the planet from right here. They’ll hit up all the local smugglers and coyotes first before expanding to other cities.”

“Yes. It would make sense for them to search nearby first.”

“So, what we need is transport to—” I scanned the map again to find the name of the city, “Concordia. Something that won’t require IDs.”

Ethan and I both fell silent. I wasn’t entirely sure where to find transport. If we took a shuttle, they’d scan our biometrics. If we took an old-fashioned airplane, we would need to purchase tickets, and we’d need identification to do that. If we went by ground, it would take us days to get there.

Ethan gave my shoulder a light squeeze, making the skin tingle. “I think I have an idea.” His eyes were focused on something across the walkway, and I turned to see what he was looking at. There were two Novem men standing against the wall outside a restaurant. They were chatting with each other, but they didn’t look like travelers. They weren’t dressed like travelers, they had no luggage, and they didn’t seem to be in any rush.

“Do you know them?”

“No, but they’re Novem. We look out for each other. Wait here while I go talk to them.”

The Novem were a tight tribe. If Ethan could convince them to help us, then more power to him. I spotted an empty seat and gently sat down in it. My side throbbed more, and I tried not to feel depressed. I’d never realized how debilitating pain could be.

Part of me didn’t like the idea of him going over there by himself, but that was just paranoia. There was no way my kidnappers were here already, and as far as I knew no one else was out to kill us. I may not like being left alone, but he was still in eyeshot if anything happened.

Ethan reached the other two men, and, after a few seconds, they were deep in conversation. I tried to read their expressions, but I was too far away. I didn’t see any hostility or suspicion in their overall body language, so that was a good sign. Ethan was talking animatedly, and I’d bet he was talking in their native tongue. The Novem had their own language and culture, and they worked hard to preserve it and pass it on to their children.

The Novem were native to Fairfax, which was a rural planet. There were higher levels of poverty and few economic opportunities. The government structure was weak, leaving a gap in power and allowing gangs to take over sections of the planet. The Novem tribe was only one of many, but it was one of the largest. The tribes were tight-knit groups who took care of their own, from what I’d heard. I didn’t know much about tribe dynamics beyond that, but I thought Ethan might have a chance at getting some help from these men.

They chatted back and forth for several minutes. I saw Ethan briefly mess with his shirt collar, and then both men lifted their chins, as though he had said something important. I fidgeted slightly, worried, but then both men smiled. I tried to relax, but I wasn’t ready to celebrate just yet.

They talked for a while longer before both men nodded. One of them split off and hurried away, and then Ethan turned and walked back to me. He was smiling, and the knot of anxiety in my stomach loosened.

“What did they say?” I asked as he approached.

“They’ll get us transportation to Concordia, no problem. We need to meet them at their ship.”

“What kind of transportation is it?” I stood up carefully, wincing slightly despite my best efforts.

“Shuttle. We can be in Concordia in an hour or two.” He took my arm gently and I leaned on him for support. I wanted to be strong, but it was hard. I was so tired.

“Is it a commercial flight or what?”

“No.” He turned me in the direction of the shipping terminals, and we started walking. “They import spices from Fairfax. Exotic stuff. They agreed to take us to Concordia.”

My gut said he was leaving information out, but I couldn’t imagine what, and I was in no position to ask about it. We were desperate and in danger. If these two were willing to give us a ride, then I wasn’t going to ask for any more details.

Once we had made our way down several long autowalks and deep into the heart of the shipping terminals, Ethan steered me towards a staff only door. I frowned, but before I could say anything, it opened and one of the Novem men appeared and waved us through.

We followed him down a series of hallways and then out onto the tarmac. Ships of all kinds were being loaded and unloaded, and we bypassed several before stopping in front of a modest shuttle. There were three other Novem men loading crates into the back of it, and they barely spared us a glance before going back to work. The one who led us out there, a stocky man in his mid-thirties, spoke rapidly in what I assumed was their native tongue. Ethan said something back and the man nodded.

He led us through the back of the shuttle, and we weaved around various crates until we reached the front. The smell inside was so pungent my nose immediately began to itch. I couldn’t differentiate between the smells to pick out the individual spices. I tried, mostly out of curiosity, but I sneezed. Pain ricocheted through my body, and I groaned. Ethan wrapped his arm around me and helped me into one of the seats.

The other men walked back and forth, shifting crates around to fit as much as they could. I watched them for a moment before I looked at Ethan. “If they import spices from Fairfax then why are they loading them onto this shuttle?”

He was also watching the men work, but he spared me a glance. “They ship in bulk to Abington and then divide up the shipments here to take it to other cities. Lucky for us, this shuttle is heading to three different cities close to Concordia. They agreed to drop us off there.”

“This just happened to be their redistribution day?” I sounded suspicious to my own ears, and Ethan frowned at me.

“Yes. This is a gift from the universe. I know these people, if not personally. We have friends in common. I would trust them before I would trust anyone else. We are among friends.”

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