David Robbins - Seattle Run

A few minutes elapsed.

What was taking the giant so long? Tiger wondered. Perhaps he had misjudged the man; maybe the giant was digging to China instead of trying to escape through the shaft! Tiger chuckled at his joke as voices sounded from the corridor.

Gar, Fabiana, and one other entered.

“Tiger!” Gar exclaimed. “Good news!”

The man with the white hair and his twin sister skirted the table and approached their leader.

Tiger was watching the man in black, a man of small stature. A runt.

“We’ve caught one of them,” Gar stated, pointing at the stranger.

“So I see,” Tiger said.

Gar halted five feet off. “Did Oakes return with the one he caught?”

“Yes. Long ago,” Tiger replied.

“We were detained,” Gar said. “We were attacked by gulls on the Montlake Bridge.”

“Did you lose many?” Tiger inquired. He noticed the man in black was standing near the table, his eyes on Fabiana.

“We lost eleven on the bridge,” Gar said, frowning. “Seven more were injured.”

“And the other two strangers?” Tiger inquired.

Gar shrugged. “We lost them, I’m afraid.”

“Did this one put up much of a fight?” Tiger questioned.

“A hell of a fight,” Gar replied.

Tiger stepped several feet to his left, examining the man in black. “And what is your name?”

“Rikki,” the man answered.

Tiger hefted the dagger in his right hand and glanced at Gar. “I’m confused, Captain Gar.”

“Sir?” Gar said.

“Something is amiss here, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.” Tiger smiled at Fabiana. “You’ve been so quiet, my dear. Would you happen to know what I’m talking about?”

“No,” Fab responded quickly, averting her gaze.

Tiger looked at Gar. “Ordinarily, you are the epitome of precision. But when I just asked how many you lost, you specifically gave me the figure lost on the bridge. How unusual. Evidently, I must rephrase my question.”

His tone hardened. “How many did you lose, Captain Gar, on your mission? How many, all told?”

“All told?” Gar repeated meekly.

“Yes!” Tiger thundered. “You lost eleven on the bridge. How many did you lose capturing this man? Speak! Now!”

“Twenty-nine or thirty,” Gar mumbled.

“Twenty-nine or…!” Tiger could scarcely believe his hearing. He glared at the man in black, then at Gar. “Tell me this is your idea of a sick joke!”

“We tried our best,” Gar said in his defense.

“You tried your best!” Tiger repeated in a mounting rage. “Yet this man killed thirty of our brothers and—”

“Seventeen,” Rikki said softly.

Tiger spun toward the stranger. “What did you say?”

“I am responsible for slaying seventeen Sharks in the line of duty,” Rikki elaborated. “Perhaps a few more.”

“Oh. Only seventeen!” Tiger snapped. His anger was tempered by his amazement. What manner of men were these strangers? How could just one of them kill 17 Sharks?

“We tried to take them alive, like you wanted,” Gar noted.

“I told you to try and take them alive, if possible,” Tiger mentioned harshly. “I didn’t tell you to get yourselves killed in the process!”

“Where is Blade?” Rikki interjected.

Tiger glanced at the runt. The deadly runt. “What was that?”

“Where is Blade?” Rikki repeated his question. “My friend?”

Tiger looked down at Rikki’s hands, then turned to Gar. “What the hell is this? His hands aren’t even tied! I thought you said he’s your prisoner!”

“He is,” Gar responded.

“Then why aren’t his hands tied?”

“He couldn’t get away from us,” Gar said. “What difference did it make?”

Tiger placed his hands behind his back, fingering his dagger. He paced up to the trapdoor and peeked over the edge.

Perfect!

The giant was a third of the way up the shaft!

“We come in peace,” Rikki declared.

Tiger slowly pivoted, smiling broadly. “You come in peace?”

“Yes,” Rikki confirmed. “We came here after Manta. Gar told me you have opposed the mutant for years. We will help you defeat him.”

“How kind of you,” Tiger said courteously. “Your friend said the same thing.”

Rikki took a step forward. “You have talked to Blade?”

“Yes,” Tiger stated. “I didn’t know whether to believe him or not.”

“We are sincere,” Rikki assured the Shark leader.

Tiger smiled. “Well, in that case, I see no reason why you can’t be reunited with your friend. Come here.”

Rikki cautiously advanced. “Where is Blade?”

Tiger stepped back, nodding at the shaft. “Downstairs.”

Rikki saw the opening in the floor for the first time. His forehead creased as he walked up to the rim and crouched. “Blade? Are you down there?”

Blade’s deep voice bellowed back. “Rikki? Is that you?”

Rikki leaned over, staring down the shaft.

“Look out!” Blade shouted.

Tiger was already in motion. He swept his left leg up and in, catching the man in black in the rear of the head and knocking him off balance, causing him to fall forward.

Directly into the shaft.

“I can’t believe you really came.”

“My word is my bond,” Hickok declared. “I told you I would come, and I did.”

Captain Nathan Dale shook his head in disbelief. “Then I’m sorry. It’s all my fault you were captured.”

“How do you figure?” Hickok asked.

“If you hadn’t come here to rescue me, you wouldn’t have been caught,” Dale observed. “I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Hickok said, winking conspiratorially. “This is all part of my plan.”

“You wanted to be captured?” Dale queried skeptically.

“Naturally,” Hickok stated. “How else was I going to find you?”

Dale laughed. “You’re a card, Hickok. You know that?”

“Just so it isn’t the Joker,” Hickok rejoined.

A mutant suddenly appeared on the wooden walkway. “Get to work, you two! Or there will not be any food rations tonight!”

Dale sighed and returned to cultivating the kelp.

Hickok bent over, giving the impression of going to work, while he surreptitiously surveyed the kelp factory.

Manta evidently did everything on a grand scale. Not content with controlling western Seattle, he wanted to rule the world. He had repaired and rearranged the Seattle Aquarium to suit his needs as a Humarium.

And the kelp factory was equally as impressive, if at least five times as odoriferous. Hickok nearly gagged every time he took a breath.

The kelp factory was approximately one hundred yards long and half that distance wide. All four walls and the ceiling were composed of shaded plastic which allowed only the required amount of sunshine to penetrate to the kelp beds. Walkways divided the beds into sections. The factory was divided into four major areas by three large walkways running the width of the building at 25-yard intervals. Smaller, narrower walkways projected from the main walkway at 10-yard intervals. The mutant guards, the Brethren, patrolled the walkways, armed with leather whips and goading the humans to work. Over a hundred humans were in the factory, involved in the kelp harvesting. A third of those laboring in the knee-deep water were children between the ages of 8 and 15.

Hickok could feel the water seeping into his soaked moccasins. He had refused to remove his footwear and received a lash from a mutant for his obtinacy. But the Brethren hadn’t pushed the issue. Which suited him fine.

Dale was carefully aligning the greenish-brown kelp into precise rows as required by the overseers.