| Chapter 34 Nick sat down at the small desk and flipped the button on the consol in front of him. "Good morning your highness," Tamara said. Nick smiled at her hologram, "Morning. You find out anything yet?" She sighed, "Unfortunately no. It seems the soldier you pointed out decided it was best to kill himself than answer our questions. We found him last night in his cell." Nick ran his hand through his hair, "That's not good. What about his file, anything there?" She shook her head, "It's been altered. I have a team working on it though." Nick leaned back and bit his lip, thinking. "I'm sure once we get back to earth, we'll uncover something," Tamara said. He nodded, "I hope so. Listen, I have something else I want you to look into." "Ohh, what's that?" she asked. "It seems Celeste has been importing a drug they call Krystal. I need you to see what you can find out about it. Maybe who makes it, where it comes from? Who's shipping it out?" he said. Tamara scribbled a few notes down, "I've never heard of it, but I'll see what I can find out." "Also, see if you can find anything on a company called Interstellar Distributors," Nick said, "It seems that's the company here bringing the stuff in. They may have a sister company there." She nodded, "Alright." "You're due back at earth when?" Nick asked. "I'd say by the end of the week. I still can't believe your ship piggybacked us. I didn't think that was possible and still be able to travel at the speed we are," she marveled. He smiled, "Well, just because we gave you our technology, doesn't mean we shared everything." Tamara laughed, "I see that. Listen Nick, I want you to know we're doing our best. Neither Tom or me knew what was really going on." Nick waved his hand at her image, "I know you didn't. I could see it in your face when I walked out and sat down on the throne. I just had some things to prove to a few million people, and all this needs to be set straight." Tamara nodded, "I understand, and believe me, there's nothing Tom and I would like more than to find out the truth and who's behind all this. This is the reason I joined the Agency in the first place. I thought I was protecting those that couldn't protect themselves. Now I really am working toward that goal." He smiled, "I'm glad you see it that way. Let me know if anything changes." "I will," she said, ending the transmission. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mason sat in his office laboring over paperwork. He looked up as someone knocked on his door, "Come in," he called. The door opened and Devon walked in, "Good day my lord." "Aw Devon my boy, come in. Tell me what you've found out," Mason said, leaning back in his plush chair, looking at the young man expectantly. Devon sat down in a chair facing the massive desk and looked at him, "I'm afraid not much. It seems he lived his life in public. There's no scandals, no hidden secrets, nothing. Every mistake he made was aired all over their television sets for everyone to see." Mason frowned, obviously disappointed. "There might be one thing," Devon said. "And what is that?" the Count asked. "His friends. Maybe we could use one of them to get to him?" the young man suggested. Mason considered the thought. His nephew did seem to hold his friends in high regard, much like he would family. He tapped his fingers on the desk for a moment, then looked at Devon, "What do you have in mind?" Devon smiled, "Well, that's where we may be in luck. I may have an inside track to one of them." "Oh how?" Mason asked. "My sister seems to be seeing the half-breed," he laughed. Mason cocked his head to the side, "The nurse is your sister?" Devon grinned, "Younger half-sister. We haven't talked much in the last few years, but I think I can get back in. Slide under the radar so to speak." Mason laughed. This was perfect. He could coerce Nick into doing anything he wanted and not have to physically hurt him. And who cared if his friend was hurt? He knew LaDonna would be upset, but not like she would be if it was her son being harmed. Mason stared at him, "Do it. Just make sure you aren't traced back to me." Devon nodded, "I have it all taken care of, no need to worry." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Arbre," Brian said. Marie smiled, "Very good, but honey that's not a tree, it's a bush." Brian laughed, "It looks like a tree to me." Marie shook her head, "OK, how bout that," she said pointing to a store front." "Um ...magasin de bijoux?" he asked. She nodded. Brian smiled at her, "You wanna go in?" "To a jewelry store?" she asked. "Yeah, come on it'll be fun," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her into the store. She was laughing as they made their way inside the store. "Oh wow," Brian muttered, seeing the exotic jewels. Marie started telling him what each jewel was. "Can I help you?" an older man asked from behind the counter. "We're just looking, thank you," Marie said. He smiled at the two, "I think I may have something of interest to you," he said, walking over to a different display case and pulling out an entire display of matching rings. Brian smiled, leaning closer to Marie, "Are those what I think they are?" She shrugged, "They are wedding sets." He nodded, "Yup, that's what I thought they were." "I'll explain to him that we aren't looking for those," she said. Brian shook his head, "No don't. Let's try some on." She stared at him for a moment. "I wanna see what they're like," he said, picking out one from the display and looking at it. Marie shrugged, "Alright then. No harm in looking I guess." "None at all," Brian smiled. An hour later the two were still looking at the rings. Marie kept going back to the same set, picking them up and staring at the jewels. Then she would put them back and act like she was interested in a different one. Brian could tell that she adored the one she kept glancing at when she thought he wasn't looking. He glanced at the man behind the counter and then looked at the rings. The man smiled, giving him a slight nod. Marie pushed the stool back she was sitting on and looked at Brian, "We should probably go if we're going to see everything today." He nodded, sliding down off his stool and walking with her to the door. He glanced back at the man who was holding the bag Brian �accidentally' left on the counter. Brian shook his head, then left the store with Marie. The man chuckled, placing the bag behind the counter and taking the rings Marie was so interested in and placing them in a box. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian walked down the sidewalk hand in hand with Marie. He couldn't hide the smile on his face, as she told him about a great restaurant just a few blocks from where they were. "That sounds great," he said, then stopped suddenly, "Oh great. I left my bag in the store." "Oh, well let's go back and get it," she said, turning around. "No, stay here, I'll go," he said, turning and taking off at a run, "Be back in a sec!" he called. Marie laughed, walking over to a bench and sitting down to wait. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian quickly ran back into the store. The man pulled his bag from the counter and sat the box next to it. Brian smiled, "Do you speak English?" "Some," the man admitted. "Thank you," Brian said, "How much?" "Four thousand dofe," the man replied. Brian quickly thumbed through his cash, pulling out the correct amount and handing it over. "You are the king's friend? The blended one?" he asked. Brian stared at him, "Blended?" "You are part Celestian correct?" he said. Brian nodded, finally understanding him, "Yeah." The man smiled handing him the receipt, "You make a great couple." "Thank you," Brian said, shoving the box and the receipt into the bag he already had and heading to the door. The man watched him leave, smiling at the two. He had a knack for predicting the fate of those that came into his store and bought wedding sets. He figured those two would be together for a long time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "There you are!" Marie said, standing up, "What took so long?" Brian dawned his most innocent look, "We had to look for it. One of his employees picked it up and took it to the back." Marie took his hand as they began walking toward the restaurant they wanted to go to. "Well, it's not like we couldn't have gone back and bought another," she said. Brian laughed, "I guess, but I liked this one." She laughed, shaking her head, "You are such the tourist." "Hey, I never get to do this kinda stuff at home," he protested. Their walk took them by a favorite attraction. Brian stopped and watched the people on the outside of the shield, "That looks like fun." "It is," she replied, "Better than any water park your world has to offer." "Isn't this where the guys were going?" he asked, looking for them. "Yes," she answered. Just then Brian recognized Kevin as he swooshed by the shield, laughing and hollering at the same time. "Was that..?" "Yup, that was Kev," Brian laughed. "Ohh here comes Alex and Howie," she said, pointing. The two watched as they both whooshed by, A.J. with his arms in the air, screaming like a banshee, and Howie grinning from ear to ear, laughing hysterically. "How do they breathe out there?" he asked. "The film over their mouth and nose," she answered, "It acts like a filter. Keeps the water out and lets the oxygen in." "Ohh so it's like what they put over my mouth to keep me quiet when they took Nick," he said. She nodded, "Yes, only this one lets sound out." "WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" Kevin yelled as he zoomed by again. Brian laughed, "We gotta do that if we have time." Marie smiled, "OK, after lunch." "Um maybe later this afternoon. I'm not sure I could handle that right after lunch," he smiled. She laughed as A.J. and Howie came by again. Somehow A.J had managed to flip around and was going head first through the currents, screaming all the way. Howie still behind him, laughing so hard he could barely breathe. Brian sighed, taking her hand and getting back on the sidewalk, "That's my bros, always out for a good time." Marie smiled, "They looked like they found it." The two rounded a corner and ran right into three young men. "Excuse us," Marie said, stepping around them. One of the men grabbed Brian's wrist and held it up, staring at his mark. "Look here, it's the half-breed we saw on the vid," he exclaimed. Brian pulled his hand back, attempting to walk around the men, trying his best to ignore the comment. One of the men laughed, "He probably doesn't understand you." "Yeah, how special does he think he is? Doesn't even learn our language and he gets a mark?" the other one said. Brian took a deep breath and kept walking. "Well when you're the king's friend I guess you can have anything you want," one said. Brian turned around, "That's not true, and you shouldn't be talking about something you don't know anything about!" The three stared at him, not understanding a word he said. Brian rolled his eyes and turned back around, grabbing Marie's hand and quickly heading down the walk. The men kept yelling taunts at him, following the two. Marie held Brian's hand tight. She was afraid of what might happen if things came to a fight. They reached the restaurant and went inside. Marie quickly told the host what was going on and he in turn motioned to have the three men removed from the premises. Brian slumped down in his chair and sighed. "Baby, don't let them get to you," Marie said. "I've never experienced anything like that before," he whispered, "I mean I've been teased and made fun of, but that ..... that hurt." She took his hand and squeezed it, "I'm sorry. I guess every world has some idiots huh?" He half smiled, "I guess." She reached across the table and lifted his chin with her finger, smiling at him. He smiled back. "Come on, let's eat and enjoy the day. Don't let them take that from you," she said. He nodded, knowing she was right. He shouldn't let a little teasing unnerve him the way it did. He leaned across the table and quickly kissed her, "So, what's good to eat?" Chapter 35 |