Dangerous Love (ONC 2019 - LGBTQ)

10. Confluence

☆ Dedicated to @Fanquinine  and their story "Chimaera"  - a body mod sci-fi story for the ONC 2019 ☆

Before anyone could answer, Georg appeared at the top of the stairway, now fully dressed in a clean shirt and trousers.

"Where's Rik?" he asked eagerly, hurrying down the stairs. "And Patrick?" he added, looking around at the small group.

"I'm sorry, but those men took them both," replied Hetha bluntly. "They took off in a shuttle, about half an hour ago." She waved a hand in the general direction.

"They what?" The man in the suit glared at Hetha, as if this was all her fault.

"Perhaps you could introduce us, Georg?" said Hetha, pointedly.

"Sorry!" said Georg, flushing. "Hetha, this is my father, Chris Maddon. Dad, Hetha and Lisa, Beth and Carl Jons. Oh, and Katy and Pieter."

Chris Maddon. Huh. Well that explains a lot, thought Hetha. Owner of half the businesses on Belus, if one could believe the gossip. And not all of them totally legitimate, either, by all accounts.

She began to describe the events of that night, the others chipping in from time to time with added detail.

Focussed wholly on the discussion, the small flyer was almost on top of them before anyone noticed. It landed neatly at the edge of the campsite and two people climbed out. Maddon whipped out a stunner before anyone could blink and aimed it at the newcomers.

"Police," said Officer Miller, firmly, walking forward and flashing her official wristcom. "Put down your weapon, ser."

Werner kept his hand hovering over his own weapon until Maddon obeyed.

"What's going on here?" demanded Miller, coming to a halt in front of the group. "Where's Patrick Morgan? And what happened to his wristcom?"

The two officers had taken the public shuttle to Cascade as soon as they discovered that was their quarry's destination. They had been trying to decide whether it would be better to follow Morgan by foot or by flyer from a discreet distance, when the signal from his wristcom had stopped abruptly, as if someone had thrown the 'com in a disposal unit. And they were pretty sure there were no disposal units in the middle of the rainforest.

"We were attacked by a group of men," explained Hetha. "And they took all our 'coms. Put them in a heavy box, lead-lined or more, I'm guessing."

Maddon fidgeted restlessly as Hetha went through her account of events again for the officers.

"I can't hang around here any longer," he interrupted. "I'm going to have a look at the place they took off from and see if they left anything behind that would identify them. About a kay to the north you said?" he turned to Hetha.

"One or two," said Lisa. "It disturbed a lot of the forest, so it should be easy to spot from the air."

"I'd rather you let us handle it, ser," stated Miller.

"Sorry, but it's not your son who's been kidnapped," retorted Maddon, as he strode back to his shuttle. "Come on, Georg. We'll send for your stuff later."

"Will you, now?" muttered Hetha. "Just who do you think is going to pack everything up and carry it back to Cascade?" But Maddon was already out of earshot. Georg shot them a brief apologetic grimace, before hurrying up the stairway after his father.

The spot where the kidnappers' shuttle had been was easily identifiable by the flattened forest. Maddon's pilot hovered at a careful distance and let down the stairway. Maddon, Georg, and two of his crew searched the area as best they could under their shuttle's searchlight but found nothing except a locked box which proved to contain the discarded wristcoms.

Maddon swore softly. Who had dared to kidnap his boy? If they harmed a single hair of his head, they'd regret it to the end of their very short lives. He had his suspicions—and he would set his security people to follow them up—but without a more solid lead, he'd simply have to wait for the ransom demand.

~~~

Harlan gritted his teeth and kept walking steadily, one foot after the other. Patrick, though slight, was no light weight, especially after a kilometre or more. Andre had passed Rik over to Lu some time ago, but Kam wasn't volunteering to share the load.

"Keep your eye out for a handy ravine if he gets too heavy," joked Kam. At least, Harlan thought he was joking. In any case, the path continued through dense forest, with no sign of a side track to a ravine or anywhere else, until they came out into a semi-open area studded with moss covered boulders.

"Not far now," said Kam. He looked at his wristcom and turned a fraction to the left. "This way."

Kam wove his way confidently through the obstacles until he stopped in front of a narrow gap.

"Here we are." He turned sideways and squeezed between the two boulders. And disappeared.

Lu put Rik down on his feet. "Through you go, lad," he ordered, and slapped him on his shorts-covered bottom. Rik glared but did as he was told. There didn't seem to be much choice.

"You're next" said Andre, gesturing to Harlan. "Hand Morgan over to me, and I'll pass him through to you." Harlan did as instructed, trying not to wince when the rough surface scratched Patrick's bare skin as he was pushed and pulled through the narrow opening. At least he was still unconscious. Once they were all inside, Kam turned on the light that he had taken from Harlan, back at the campsite.

The light shone on the rough walls of a huge cave. At the rear, Harlan could see several different shaped openings leading to even more caves. A stack of boxes sat to one side, along with three camp beds.

"Home, sweet home," said Kam. "Andre, you're coming with me. Hal, you and Lu will stay here with the boy and keep him safe until I call you. Lu, you're in charge here.There are enough supplies here for a week, but I doubt you'll be here that long. I'm sure Daddy will want his little boy back as soon as possible," he grinned at Rik.

Kam turned back to Harlan, all signs of amusement wiped from his face. "But I wasn't expecting a second prisoner. You'll have to get rid of him."