Chapter 105 Encountering Trouble (3)

"Incompetent morons!"

The news of his men losing Vi’ivando’s nephew and subsequently being captured by the Alliance Police when trying to recover their captive had just reached Iniquus.

His already dented desk received two additional hits that dug deeper into the metal than usual. Of all the frustrating things to occur, this one was the last straw.

Angrily he called his aide into the room and began discussing plans of recourse. To keep Vi’ivando compliant, he had agreed to allow the man to have a fifteen-minute holo-call with his nephew each day.

Originally this had been a small price to pay to have the expert engineer work on what he wanted, but now it was coming back to bite him.

"We were so close to being ready too. And now this happens at the worst possible moment." Iniquus said, slamming his fists into his desk once more.

His aide, remaining calm in the face of his master’s outburst, simply continued with the conversation.

"I’ve already located which station our men and Vi’ivando’s nephew are at. Unfortunately, breaking into an Alliance Police station would be impractical."

"Obviously I know that already." Iniquus grumbled. "Even if I sent all of my agents and they were successful, the attack would be linked back to me."

Feeling backed into a corner, Iniquus’ mind raced with what to do. In order to keep his public image clean, he was unable to do anything too overtly. There would be no point in eliminating all of his competition for top dog of the system if he ended up arrested by the Alliance Police in the process.

"It’s a bit early but have Dusad rile up those extremists to act. The Alliance Police will be far too busy dealing with them to notice a small break-in at one of their stations. Make sure to retrieve Vi’ivando’s nephew and collect the imbeciles that let him escape."

Bowing his head, Iniquus’ aide went to work on enacting his master’s orders.

…

At the police station, Avery, Jasmine, Ezra, and Kaiden gave their statements on what happened to Sergeant Farash. While they did this, Kasandra had gone off to receive the rewards for the bounties they had collected.

Around the time that they were finishing up, the Baccigan they had rescued finally woke up.

"What?! Where am I!?"

Confused by his surroundings and not recognizing the people around him, Vi’ivando’s nephew was naturally confused.

He immediately began searching for an escape route since he assumed he had been recaptured, but before he could get up and run away, Ezra put a large hand on his upper right shoulder. Both to reassure him and keep him in place.

"There’s no need to be afraid any longer. We’re not with the people that were chasing you. You’re at a police station now, and this good man is here to help you."

Following where Ezra was pointing, Girto saw Sergeant Farash smiling at him.

"I know that you must have been through a lot but know that those men after you were not really Alliance Police. These fine mercenaries helped to stop them, and they’ve already been apprehended. Now if you’re feeling up to it, I’d like to hear your side of the story."

For a few seconds Grito merely sat in silence, a terrified expression on his face.

Eventually, he worked up the confidence to speak. He knew that some seriously bad people were after him and were holding his uncle, and that they might harm the only member of family he had left if they felt backed into a corner. Yet, as things were, he could only see Vi’ivando being disposed of once the people using him got what they wanted. This was his only chance to ask for help.

"My uncle. They have my uncle as well." Grito said frantically.

Sergeant Farash tried to get him to calm down, but now that the floodgates were open, the young Baccigan started telling them everything he knew about the people holding him and his uncle captive.

"Okay, I get that you’re worried, but please calm down. Before anything else, it would be best if I knew who you are. We still don’t have your name yet."

Grito looked hesitant to reveal who he was. He had been in hiding for a reason, and it did not have anything to do with the current situation he and his uncle were wrapped up in.

Still, when weighting the dangers of each circumstance, he figured that the current one was more pressing.

"I’m Grito Einarr. My uncle is Vi’ivando Indrart. I don’t know who was holding us, but I can lead you to where I was imprisoned."

Nodding his head, Sergeant Farash quickly typed the two names into the tablet in front of him.

At most he had been expecting a missing person report on one or both of the Baccigans, but what appeared from the Alliance Police database instead was a bright red alert.

Needing to do a double take, Farash looked down at the picture prominently displayed on his tablet and the person in front of him.

For absolute confirmation, he held the device up and scanned Grito with the camera and it affirmed a one hundred percent match.

Of course, Avery and his companions noticed that something was amiss, and the nervous look on Grito’s face let them know he was aware of what the problem was as well.

"I honestly have no idea how you got all the way out here, but I’ll be needing to take you into custody, Grito Einarr." Sergeant Farash said. His friendly attitude from earlier having vanished now.

"Would you mind filling us in on what’s going on? We’re already involved so we’d like to know if there is any trouble we need to worry about." Avery asked.

"Sorry, this is a confidential matter. I’d like to thank you for your assistance in all this. But I’ll need you to leave now."

Seeing that whatever was going on was trouble, Avery, Jasmine, Kaiden, and Ezra got up to leave.

However, before they could go the only other person that knew what was really going on spoke up.

"I know I shouldn’t have run, but they were going to kill me. I promise I’ll testify against the Odium Syndicate like I was supposed to. Just please help me save my uncle."