Marty inspected his work. He smiled. He had not thought that he could get animals

to help with basic cleaning chores, but it had worked out well. The base looked better

after the time put in to get it back in shape.

Between chores, he had gone down the mountain and picked up some supplies. He

didn’t know how long they were going to be at the base, but the ten year old food

stored in the larder for the team couldn’t be safe to eat.

It was better to get fresh stuff and throw the old stuff in the incinerator. The food was

a waste in any case. He should have returned before this, but had kept moving around.

Occasionally he would stop in a safe house for a night, or two. Then he would move

on.

Ren had taken over one of the empty labs while they waited for the Major to call

back. The apprentice had set their evidence out in a display on a table. He walked

around it, studying it while they waited for the phone to ring. It looked like a giant

puzzle with more than a few pieces missing to Marty.

“If we had a motive, things would be clearer,” Ren said as he walked around the

table.

“It seems like someone paid Mercer to make the call to lure us to Idaville,” said

Marty. “If we knew who that was, maybe the motive would come.”

“I doubt it was anyone in the government,” said Ren. “The Hazard Scouts produced

good publicity whenever they arrived on the scene of a disaster.”

“That still leaves half of the world.” Marty shook his head. “The only one we can rule

out is Cortez. Jim ruled him out at the attack, and he hasn’t been seen since the last

time we dealt with him.”

“That seems odd,” Ren frowned at that bit of information. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” said Marty. “He hasn’t done anything since we crashed his volcano explosion

scheme. That was one of the reasons we went to Idaville in the first place. Mercer said

he had contact with Cortez’s forces there.”

Ren added that information to his puzzle. It formed a block with years marked on it.

He would have thought Cortez would put any scheme in action with the deaths of his

nemesis.

The phone rang. Ren nodded as he went to the old style wall unit at the door to the

lab. Maybe this was more pieces in the puzzle.

“Hello,” said Ren. “How are you?”

“Fine,” said Major Ricther. “I did some digging. The Armed Services never had

problems like you described at Pearl, or Midway. But there was a company leasing

facilities that matches Watson Security. The owner is William Watson. I don’t have

any background on him. I talked to the base commanders that were stationed at those

places during the emergency calls. One of them identifies one of the men he dealt

with as a Captain Steven Mercer who he believed was bounced from the service. He

was surprised to see the man in with the rest of the detail he saw.”

“Can you find out why Captain Mercer was discharged?,” asked Ren.

“I already did,” said Ricther. “He was caught using his troops as a band of pirates and

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

mercenaries.”

“That’s interesting,” said Ren. “Do you know where he lives?”

“No, I don’t.” Ricther sighed into the phone. “We don’t keep track of people once

they are discharged. I can give you the last known address in his file. Other than that,

I don’t know how much more help I can be.”

“That would be helpful,” said Ren. “We will track him down and ask our questions.”

Ricther gave him the address listed for Mercer. He wished them the best of luck, and

hung up.

“I doubt he is there at that address, but I would like to look at it all the same.” Ren

hung up the phone and crossed to the table. He added another chip for Mercer with

the calls and the trap line to Idaville.

“So Mercer got our emergency line number, created some emergencies, and then

lured us into a trap,” said Marty. “And then made sure the trap sprung shut.”

“Being there in person is what gave it away to Mental.” Ren adjusted his table

displays slightly. “That’s how he lost his ring.”

“How do you want to handle this?,” asked Marty.

“We’ll go to the address and see if we can pick up his trail,” said Ren. “If we can’t,

we will resort to the ring and see if it will take us to where we want to go.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Marty. “We won’t have to use the griffin either.”

“We won’t,” asked Ren. “Why?”

“Because the Scout van is still in the hangar.” Marty smiled. “I already looked it over

and it still runs.”

“So we can drive instead of flying,” said Ren. “That’s great. Griffin flying is hard on

the butt.”

“I know,” said Marty. “When do you want to go?”

“Let’s get something to eat,” said Ren. “Then we can get started.”

“Sounds fine to me.” Marty led the way to the kitchen. “What happens if Mercer

won’t tell us anything?”

“He’ll tell us something, whether he wants to, or not.” Ren rubbed his hands together.

“Every criminal leaves a trace, whether they know it, or not.”

“So this Watson could be the mastermind behind everything?,” said Marty. “How do

we prove that?”

“I don’t know yet,” admitted Ren. “I’m hoping that talking with Mercer will give us

enough to figure out Watson’s goals and if he went after the Scouts. A motive will

present itself when we know for sure he was involved.”

“He’s involved,” said Marty. “We need to know more about him, but I don’t know

who to ask for the information.”

“I don’t have extensive contacts to check on him,” admitted Ren. “I doubt he will be

in the newspapers.”

“Let’s ask Mercer,” said Marty. “Then we can check on what he says through the

newspapers. Maybe we can find a connection that way.”

“Maybe,” said Ren. “Let’s eat, and forget the mystery for the moment. Maybe

something will present itself after we are done.”

“All right,” said Marty. “I can do that.”

The two fixed themselves food from the supplies, talking about other cases. Marty

talked about the time the Scouts had helped put out a forest fire in California. His part

was creating firebreaks with an elephant. That had been his biggest animal at the

time.

Ren told him of a mystery he had worked on with his mentor. Someone named Nachi

was smuggling women into Japan to use as slaves. They had tracked the ring down,

and busted it. The women were returned to their own countries.

Nachi had tried to hide behind contracts. It was quickly proven that the contracts

didn’t entitle him to kidnap people from other places.

Marty cleaned up his mess after he was done. He shook his head after the story. He

had dealt with similar people. They didn’t think anything was wrong with what they

were doing. Other people didn’t matter.

This case might be of the same stripe. He didn’t like that. It meant his friends had

been killed for some nebulous goal instead of some personal animosity.

Personal animosity seemed better in his mind.

When he found Watson, he planned to show him how he felt about it.

Ren cleaned up his own mess in silence. His mind seemed to be on his own past

dealings with criminal masterminds.

“I have to use the bathroom,” said Marty. “Then I’ll get the van ready to go.”

“No worry,” said Ren. “I have to make sure I have all I need when we talk to Mercer.

I doubt he will tell the truth if we ask him questions without some kind of threat.”

“I would hope I’m threat enough,” said Marty.

Ren shook his head.

“I have threatened people before,” said Marty. He left the room to head to his old

quarters.

Ren went back to his evidence room. He wanted to use the truth as leverage. If he had

to use one of Marty’s animals, he would.

Learning the truth had become paramount.