A Long Time from Home Ch. 31

Author's notes:

I'm rather busy RL right now and as I've said before the new chapters might take a little longer to finish. Sorry about that.

About the language and notation:

The Baylon language is a predecessor to Latin, which is why it looks like Latin at a glance.

Mental communication is denoted by a < and ends with a >, so a mental communication will look like this: "< Who are you? >"

Some warnings:

This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

P.S. I haven't gotten an editor yet, so any mistakes are mine. Interested editors are welcome :)

P.P.S. While you're here anyway, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

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Chapter 31 -- Desperate times

Tuesday evening, 27th of June 2000, Malaga, Spain

---------- Department 55 ----------

It wasn't often Hector Zavala was furious, but as he looked around in the trashed hotel room, he could feel the rage starting to build inside him.

While he had been in Sevilla to give a report to his superiors, the Americans had disappeared and from the looks of it, they had all been kidnapped by local police officers from the security detail. To make it even worse, both Maya and Agent Rao had disappeared as well, and it had taken hours to even notice that they were gone.

"Any thought, sir?" asked the nervous looking police officer, that had accompanied him.

"Oh plenty." Sneered Zavala. "But that'll have to wait. Security tapes?"

The police officer paled a little but said, "The recordings show all seven officers from the security detail transporting what looks like laundry baskets to the back entrance of the hotel, where they were loaded into an unmarked white van. Some of the officers looked like they had been in a fight and were badly beaten up. We got the license plate but haven't found the van yet. Strangely, we found the officers at home, and they all claim that they haven't done such a thing, but they don't remember anything that has happened since last afternoon. Several of the wives say that the men were called out to some emergency. The wounded officers have been committed to a hospital under guard. The others are in a holding cell at the police station." He paused. "We don't even know why they did it, sir."

"Shit!" exclaimed Zavala. This was unmistakably the work of Parker, but they haven't been prepared to have their own people used against them and Parker had clearly used his mind controlling ability on the security detail. Looking at the police officer, he said, "They didn't do it of their own free will. They were manipulated into doing it."

"Is that even possible, sir?" the young officer wanted to know, and Zavala nodded as he came up with the usual explanation for mind control. "Yes, with hypnosis and memory alternating drugs. We just didn't think of guarding the guardians... hm ... Who beat up the security detail?"

"As far as we know, Miss Chai was late for the evening tea where the rest was drugged, and the kidnappers shot her with tranquillizer guns." Said the police officer. "There were a few misses and we collected some of the darts from the wall. Those darts don't work immediately, and Miss Chai must have attacked the kidnappers or fought them trying to escape, accounting for the wounded kidnappers."

Zavala nodded.

Another officer came into the room from one of the adjoining rooms, carrying two phones. "Sir, it looks like the Agents phones were tossed here... Meaning we can't even find them, using the cell signals." The officer handed the two phones to Zavala, who took them with a sigh. That had been one of his plans for getting Maya back... along with the other victims.

"Anything interesting in them?"

The officer shook his head. "Unfortunately, not."

Zavala felt like cursing but calmed himself down. "Very well. Let me know if you find anything else."

The officer nodded and walked back into the room he came from.

Sitting down by the table, Zavala started to examine the phones or rather their call history and SMS log. Maya's phone held no surprises, as the last numbers she had called was Agent Rao and himself, and the SMS log was empty. He took Agent Rao's phone and did the same.

Interestingly, according to the names in the phone, the last number called belonged to Ivan Kolba.

He knew Sheena had seduced the young man, which in his opinion was a foolish thing to do, but as he had discovered himself, Department 55 didn't operate under the same regulations as the rest of Interpol, and Sheena could pretty much do what she wanted to get information, as long as she didn't break any laws. As Ivan Kolba wasn't an official suspect in the case, having an intimate relationship with him wasn't illegal.

Yet another police officer came into the room and judging from the officers' facial expression, it wasn't good news.

"We found the van, sir, but it was empty and nobody in the area has seen anything."

"Where?"

"In the parking lot at Avenida de Europa." Said the officer, making Zavala nod slowly. As the road going through an industrial area, Avenida de Europa was close to both the harbour and airport, while being outside the city center and away from the tourists. Almost the perfect place to change vehicle, which meant that the victims could be anywhere by now.

Department 55 had two Tracers, Psychics that could trace people over an entire city, but one of them was on a vacation cruise in Alaska, while the other was working a case in Australia, and it would take at least ten to twelve hours before any of them could arrive in Malaga.

At that time, Maya, Sheena, and the Americans would be long gone, if Parker pulled his usual disappearing trick.

"Thanks." Zavala said with a sigh. "Keep trying to find those witnesses. Somebody must have seen something."

"Yes sir." The officer said and left the room.

Zavala looked at the phone again, debating with himself as the name Ivan Kolba kept creeping into his mind. If Kolba was the unknown psychic, they had been looking for and if he was able to trace people, he might be able to find the abducted women in time, if he wasn't hindered by the police.

It was an awful lot of 'if's', but it was all that he had. Unfortunately, due to it being an ongoing case, he wasn't allowed to tell Kolba directly that the Americans had disappeared, because judging from the pictures Luis had found, as well as Sheena's mind probes, Kolba had been fond of them all.

Zavala cursed as bits and pieces of a greater picture started to fall into place. This wasn't about art or money. It was about the Americans and if Ivan Kolba was inserted into the equation, it suddenly started to make a lot more sense.

From the pictures, they knew that Kolba had been in the American's house. He might even have spent the night of the kidnapping attempt in the house. Why Kolba avoided the police, was anyone's guess, but if he had walked to Malaga, he could have stumbled over Curtis again, as the farm Curtis had lived on, was right on the path from the house to Malaga. At least when you walked cross-country.

That fitted with what Maya had said about Curtis having recognized his killer, because if Curtis had kept the house under surveillance as evidence showed, he would have recognized Kolba.

Then there was the encounter with Parker on the square. They had assumed that Parker had walked away because he had detected the police, but the kidnapping of the two agents clearly showed, that Parker wasn't afraid of Interpol. However, Kolba had been there as well and that might have been the reason why Parker had walked away.

Added to that, the American women were exactly the kind of women Parker liked and if he were able to use mind control on Maya and Sheena, he would have two associates, who knew exactly how Department 55 operated. The children could be used as hostages in case the American women acted up or resisted the mind control.

Zavala looked at his assistant. "Go find the tech. We need to figure out if those tranquillizer guns can be traced."

The young officer nodded and hurried out of the door.

Zavala looked at the phone in his hand and then called the communication department. It might be useful to have Kolba's phone traced just in case they needed it later.

The communication officer complied with his request, informing him that the phone was near the harbour and gave him the estimated pier number.

Zavala thanked him, before taking a deep breath.

"Desperate times calls for desperate measures." He mumbled to himself and pressed the call button on Rao's phone.

---------- Ivan ----------

The Irish Evening on Wave Dancer started right on schedule, and I smiled to myself when Mr. Smith showed up. Julian handed him yet another beer token for being one of the first to arrive and then sent me a smile and a nod as Mr. Smith walked directly to the bar.

I nodded back and was about to go over to him when my phone started to ring.

Recognizing the number in the display as Sheena's, I answered it with a "Hello beautiful."

There was a brief silence, before a male voice said, "Hello. Who is this?"

"I'm Ivan... who're you?"

"Agent Hector Zavala, Interpol... May I ask why your number was in Sheena Rao's phone?"

"Well, because I gave it to her."

"Do you know where she is? It's an emergency."

"I'm afraid not and before you ask, the last place I saw her was at hotel Fuengirola." I answered as my mind raced. The only scenario I could think of, where a police officer would use Sheena's phone and ask where she was instead of asking her personally, would be if she had disappeared and left her phone behind. It was highly unlikely that Zavala and Honeycutt didn't know about me. Even if Sheena for some reason hadn't said anything, Roberta would have, which made it more than likely, that Zavala knew who I was, before he made the call.

However, if I were the police and one member of my force had disappeared while involved with someone new, I would have taken a much closer look at that person instead of just calling him and there was no reason to expect that the Interpol was anything short of competent.

That meant that they knew who took Sheena and that somebody was most likely Parker, given that they were searching for him. Unfortunately, it also meant, that they, or at least Agent Zavala, felt that was something special about me and the fact that they haven't dragged me in for an interrogation made it likely that the only reason for Zavala to call me, was to alert me that something was wrong.

That, however, only made sense, if Zavala thought there was something I could do to help, again implying that they might have a hint that I wasn't just a normal tourist. All this boiled down to the fact, that even if I found Sheena, I had to get away from Malaga as soon as possible, if I were to avoid an interrogation by the Interpol.

There was another slight silence, as if Zavala were trying to think of something to say or trying to find a way to say something, but then he just said, "Thank you. Please ask her to call if you see her."

"I shall do that." I said and with a short goodbye, Zavala hung up.

Looking at the phone, I remembered what Julian had told me about tracing and how the police could trace most cell phones if they were turned on and they knew the number. Both of which was the case of mine right now. With a sigh, I switched the phone off and pocketed it. This new technology was extremely useful, but it did have some irritating drawbacks.

I looked at the partying people for a moment. I didn't know Julian's plan and as I wasn't part of it, I might as well go check up on Sheena. I walked over to Julian. "I need to go check on someone."

"The woman from yesterday?" He guessed with a grin, making me smile back. "Yes."

"That's cool... but remember..." he leaned closer and continued in a whisper. "...the party stops at two and we leave shortly after that, without waiting for anybody."

"I know... See you later."

"Good luck."

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To Julian's credit, he had managed to persuade the owner of the ship to give me a cabin and I had moved the suitcases from the harbour terminal to the cabin earlier, so I walked down there and changed my clothes. I had been unprepared when I had met Curtis and I wasn't about to make the same mistake with Parker.

When I walked out of the cabin again, I was dressed in Iron Silk clothes, with a silk scarf in one pocket and gloves in the other. Discarding my sword as being too long, I had hidden the Diucultro ('long knife') under the coat along with two of the knives I had found in Curtis' house, since they were expendable. I had decided to keep the hat on, as it hid my white hair. The bag on my shoulder contained all the documents, my value pack and most of the money I had found, just in case Julian got curious and decided to look in my suitcases. The money would also be useful if I needed to bribe someone.

I left the ship, and spent a few minutes trying to determine if I was followed, but there wasn't anyone in sight, enforcing my suspicion that Zavala needed me to be able to move around in the city as I pleased. Otherwise, it didn't make sense to just call me and ask for Sheena.

I was about to search for Sheena's mental pattern when I received a mental call from Zena. Despite being focused, it was weak, and it felt like she was drunk, which was highly unlikely.

"< Ivan... Help >" was her first words, causing a shiver to run down my neck.

"< What's happening, Zena? >"

"< We've been kidnapped. All of us that is >" she sent back. "< And the two Interpol agents are here as well. It sucks! >"

No wonder that Zavala had called it 'an emergency', I thought and turned my attention back to Zena. Despite her situation, she seemed remarkable calm and combined with the feeling of her being drunk, I guessed that she had been drugged.

"< Don't worry, I'm on my way >" I sent as I started walking again. "< Where's Cyra? >"

"< Right next to me, but she's sleeping. Mom, Karen, and Rita are in another room, but I can see the female Interpol agents from here >" There was slight pause. "< It was the police that drugged us! Why did the police help the kidnappers? >"

"< Mind control >" I sent with a mental sigh. Zavala's statement about an emergency, started to sound more and more like an understatement. This was more of a major catastrophe for the police than an emergency.

"< Oh... >" She paused and then asked. "< Like the Ambassador and the Madjay in the story? >"

"< Exactly like that. Are the police still there? >"

"< No... The Mentat from the Square is behind it. He's in the room next to us, but I recognized his mental pattern when he used his powers earlier >"

The last sentence came with a feeling of having done well and I wholeheartedly agreed. The Twins command over their mental powers grew faster than anything I had experienced before.

"< Excellent done, Rascal. Can you send me an image of your surroundings? >"

"< Sure, but I don't think it'll help >"

The image showed the interior of some kind of warehouse, filled with crates of various kinds, neatly placed on row after row of huge metal shelves, that effective hid most of the interior from my view. A new image followed as Zena had turned her head to give me another angle.

This one showed Sheena along with a red-haired woman, I recognized as Agent Honeycutt. Both were naked, chained to a wall and from the limb way they were hanging, they looked to be unconscious.

"< Ups. Forgot that they were naked >" said Zena with a mental giggle.

Despite being older than Sheena, Agent Honeycutt had a well-shaped body and a set of breasts that rivalled Marias. However, there was nothing else of note in the image she had sent me and the next one just showed a sleeping Cyra and the interior of the warehouse again.

"< Have you seen anybody else in there? >"

"< Yeah... When I woke up, I could hear some women and a man talk in the room behind me, but they're quiet now >"

"< Excellent. I'm gonna use your mental pattern to find you, so just relax, keep focusing on me and pretend that you're still asleep >"

"< Okay... see you later >"

It took me a glass to track Zena's mental patterns to an old yellow building near the industrial harbour and I spent some time scouting the place. It looked like an old warehouse of some kind and the only windows were placed so high above the ground that it was impossible to look inside. Besides an empty car, the whole area was deserted and looked like it was rarely used.

Taking the silk scarf from my pocket, I used it to cover the lower half of my face. I might be undetectable to powers, but any camera would see me just fine and I didn't want to be recognized. The last piece of preparation was a thin pair of black leather gloves and then I was ready.

Staying in the shadows, I silently walked around the building, until I spotted a normal sized door on the backside. Unguarded and out of sight from the main road, it looked like the perfect entrance to the building, but after taking a closer look, I discovered two wall-mounted boxes, that I assumed was the security cameras Julian had told me about, pointing at the area of the door.

That was bad news, so instead of using the door, I walked to the side of the building, placed the cumbersome bag behind an empty trashcan and slipped into Vis meditation for a moment to activate a power that allowed me to jump the five meters up there, landing in a crouch, so I couldn't be seen from the ground.

Most of the buildings from ancient times would have access to the roof from inside the building, but this one didn't. Instead, there were four boxes with semi-transparent plastic, which I assumed was to allow sunlight and air to enter the building. Unfortunately, they weren't transparent enough to see through and cutting them open would alert anybody inside the building.

With a shrug, I moved to the edge of the roof again and looked down. The windows weren't that far below the roof and there was a window still, I could stand on.

It took a bit of manoeuvring, but eventually I was crouched on the still and had a secure grip on the window frame, enabling me to look inside the warehouse without losing my balance.

Besides the metal shelves filled with crates that I had seen in Zena's mental communication, there was two rooms in one end of the warehouse. One only had a door, but the other room had large glass windows facing the warehouse and while it looked empty from where I was standing, I could see several TVs in there and all of them showed the ground on the outside of the building.

I moved a bit, so I could see more and discovered Zena and Cyra laying on a mattress. Both looked like they were sleeping and there was a chain going from one of their ankles to the wall, preventing escape.

Some distance to the left of the Twins, I spotted Sheena and Maya hanging naked from their chains, but the rest of the warehouse looked empty.

My eyes drifted back to the Twins. "< Don't move. I'm here >"

"< Hey! >" they answered in unison, so Cyra must have woken up while I found my way.

"< Have you seen other people in there, besides the Interpol Agents? >" I sent. "< I don't want to use area affecting mental powers so close to another Mentat >"

"< There's at least two guards in here, if not three >" answered Zena. "< But they keep walking around, so I don't know where they are >"