Frontier justice by Lia Faile

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Frontier Justice, Part 2
by Lia Faile

The pain of being dragged over rocks and being slapped in the face by underbrush brought Bess back from the semiconscious state that Jaxsom's blow had put her in. She stumbled to her feet and fumbled with her gear. Amazingly it had tangled in her hair instead of falling to the ground when he'd smacked her. "Base Camp come in!" Was all she managed to sob out before Jaxsom yanked it from her hand.

"What's this here, huh?" He demanded shaking her.

The gear beeped in his hand and Magus' voice came over the link. "Bess? Did you call in? I thought I got a partial transmission." A slight pause. "Bess?"

Bess watched as her link to Camp was crumpled and smashed in Jaxsom's beefy hand. "I dislike snitches even more than thieves." He growled as he dropped the fragmented gear to the ground. Pleased by the look of total defeat on Bess' face, he released her.

"So Missy, we going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

Bess brushed her hair back and wiped her dirty tear stained face being careful of her left cheek. "The e-easy wa-way." She sniffled as she reached down to undue the large brass buckle of her belt with a trembling hand.

"I kinda like the hard way myself." Jaxsom said grinning evilly. "Maybe you could put up a little fight, hm?"

Bess' blue gaze held his flat gray eyes. "Oh, I'll see what I can do."

###
Alonzo clenched his teeth against the pain, but a groan still escaped from between his lips. He rigidly sat in a chair slowly lifting his right leg straight out then lowering it back down until it was not quite touching the ground. A small bag of sand rested on his ankle and the top of his foot secured by a piece of permacord. His face was beaded with sweat and his knuckles were white from griping the seat of the chair.

"Very good. twelve more and we'll be done for the day." Julia commented as she watched his progress with the critical eye of a doctor.

"*Twelve*?!" Alonzo gasped. "You're a sadist Doc, ya know that?"

"Don't be silly." She replied as she grasped his leg and lifted it even higher forcing the muscles to stretch even farther and Alonzo to moan even louder. "Sadism is not part of my genetic makeup."

"Coulda fooled me." Alonzo puffed out as her ministrations caused him to pant like a woman in labor.

"This leg has been broken, shot and operated on in quick succession; you're lucky to still have the use of it." She lectured. "If you don't want to end up with a permanent limp, we have to put up with some painful physical therapy."

"Where'd you get that 'we' crap? I'm the one being tortured." He grumbled only halfway jokingly.

"Don't be such a baby. Where's that mega-macho pilot attitude I've come to know and love, huh?" She teased.

In spite of his pain, Alonzo grinned and was about to grace her with a bawdy rejoinder when their attention was drawn to the sounds of a commotion outside. Julia quickly untied the sandbag and helped Alonzo up and through the tent flap so they could both investigate what was going on.

###
Magus always played it safe and by the rule book. That's what made her a good Ops crew member. She had only received a hailing beep from Bess' gear and no message from Bess or a response from her repeated attempts at reestablishing contact. While not alarming, it was unusual. Bess could have jostled her gear and not realized she'd sent a signal. Her lack of response could be attributed to a gear malfunction or Bess could have turned it off. Whatever the situation or reason, the rule book states to always report deviations and variances no matter how trivial or insignificant to your superior. So Magus headed off in search of Danziger to make her report. Devon Adair might be in charge of Eden Project, but John Danziger was Ops Chief and her boss as far as Magus was concerned. Besides, if John felt it warranted investigation, let *him* go tell Devon. She made Magus feel uncomfortable and Magus didn't like feeling uncomfortable.

Magus stood at the back of the Rover. Amazingly Zero was holding the huge vehicle up all on his own without any apparent effort or strain. Maybe even more amazing was that Danziger was under the Rover working. Magus didn't think she could be that confident in a mining drone.Especially one as goofy as Zero. Even his name didn't inspire confidence. Malfunctions happen. She cleared her throat so as not to startle Danziger. "Um, John, you got a minute?"

"Is it important?" He asked gruffly. His frustration at the vehicle apparent in his voice.

"Dunno. It might be nothing."

Sighing, Danziger dropped his wrench and slide out from under the Rover. If Magus felt concerned enough to disturb him and risk getting chewed out, it was most likely something. "What is it?"

She squatted down and told him what had happened. Danziger listened closely, nodding as he digested the information. "Bess' gear could just be off. Did you try to contact True on hers?"

"Yeah I did. No response from her either...but she *is* your daughter." Magus jested.

"That she is." He replied smiling. "I don't think it's anything serious but since they're out there on their own, I can send Walman or Baines out to check on them. Better safe then sorry. Good work, Magus." He pulled himself up and was about to holler for Walman when True's shrieking assaulted his eardrums.

"DADDY! Daddy, help!"

Though True cried out for her father, the whole camp responded to the terror in her voice. One thing True had yet to do was cry wolf. The sight of a terrified True racing out of the woods and into the arms of her father was eerily reminiscent of that fateful day when they'd all learned that Julia was a spy. Sheepishly Magus caught herself looking for Julia. When she saw Julia emerge from the Med tent with Alonzo, she sighed with relief. Julia had shown her loyalty during the ZED attack but trust doesn't come easy after a betrayal. It's easy to forgive but hard to forget.

True grabbed her father by the hand and started pulling him towards the direction she'd come from, crying and babbling incoherently. "Come on Dad! You gotta stop him! He's going to hurt her!"

Danziger grabbed his child gently by the shoulders and lowered himself down on his haunches till he was eye level with her. "Whoa, kiddo! Calm down. Tell me what's wrong. Stop who?"

True took a deep shaky breath and tried to stifle her sobs. "We found a bunch of those bulbs. Then a man showed up and said they were his. Called us thieves--but we weren't stealing! We didn't know they belonged to anybody. Bess offered to trade with him...but he hit her!"

Morgan had been drawn out of his VR program by True's cries for help. He worked his way through the crowd to True and laid his hand on her shoulder. "Hit her? S-somebody *hit* Bess? Where is she?"

"Back there. I can show you."

Danziger wiped True's tears from her cheek with his thumb. "No sweetheart. You stay here. You did right." Standing up he asked Magus if she was able to get a location lock from the gear signal Bess had managed to send. Magus nodded and transferred them to his gear set.

"Walman! Baines! Get your stuff and meet me at the Rail." Danziger hollered as he hustled to follow his own orders. Devon was hot on his tail.

"Just what do you plan to do?" She demanded.

"Get Bess." He replied not even giving Devon a second glance. He stopped at the Rail and secured the magpro next to the driver's seat. Before Devon could inform him of what she thought of his overly simplistic plan, he abruptly turned and addressed her. "Keep an eye on True for me, okay? Make sure she doesn't try to follow us. Sit on her if you have too." He folded his large frame into the driver's seat. "In fact, keep everyone in camp. This might be a prelude to an ambush. Come on guys! Shake a leg!" He bellowed.

Morgan Martin appeared and climbed into the front passenger's seat. Danziger turned and glared at him. "Get out Morgan." He ordered in his best don't-give-me-any-lip tone.

For once, Morgan didn't cower in fear from Danziger's threatening visage. He even managed to glare back. "Bess is my wife. If you want me out, you'll have to throw me out." His bravado was neutralized by his slightly quavering voice.

Before Danziger could take him up on his offer, Julia dashed up and hopped in the back with her med kit. Danziger turned to speak to his second uninvited passenger. "Hey! Is your name Walman or Baines?"

Julia ignored the sarcasm in his voice. "True said Bess was struck. She could be injured and in need of a doctor." She hesitated and glanced at Morgan. "Or at least in need of another woman."

Danziger understood her implications and nodded. He turned back to face the front and started the Rail. "Sorry boys, the bus is full." He told Walman and Baines as he threw the vehicle into gear and sped off.

Devon flung one final lecture his way before he got out of ear shot. "You keep your gear on and stay in contact, John Danziger!" Danziger raised his hand in either a wave or an obscene gesture. Devon didn't care so long as he did as he was told.

###
Bess and True hadn't gone too far from camp and on the speeding Dunerail they reached the abandoned ATV in less than five minutes. The Rail stopped next to the tote that True had dropped. It's contents scattered about and crushed. The signs of a struggle obvious even to an untrained eye. Neither Bess or her attacker were in sight. Danziger hopped out with magpro in hand. He motioned for Julia and Morgan to stay in the vehicle.

Morgan stood up in the Rail and anxiously looked about for any sign of his wife. "Where is she? Do you see her?" Fear for Bess' safety pushed aside Morgan's powerful self preservation instincts.

"Quiet, Morgan." Danziger hissed. He scanned the ominously still meadow. His thumb slide up and flipped the safety off on the gun. It's gentle hum and vibration felt reassuring in his hands. A sudden thought occurred to him. "You bring a gun?" He asked Morgan.

Morgan pulled open his gray, once stylish coat. A small handgun was tucked dangerously in the front of his trousers. Danziger eyed it with mixed emotions. "You don't fire it unless you're certain of your target. If a shot comes so much as 3 meters near me so help me, I'll tear you a new one, Martin.--Got that?"

Without waiting for a reply, Danziger set off to search the woods in the direction that the struggle looked to have taken. The silence bothered him the most. That and the fact that a small army could be hidden in all the lush cover the woods provided. By the looks of things back there, Bess had put up quite a fight. He was hoping she'd escaped and was hiding in the underbrush here somewhere. An image of the pretty woman-child popped in his head. Bess was a good soul. The prospect of finding her injured or dead did not thrill him. Next to Gaal, Morgan was possibly Danziger's least favorite person on this planet, but he didn't want Morgan to discover the woman he loved lying in a pool of blood. Danziger knew what a gut twister that was. He'd barely handled it. He knew Morgan wouldn't.

The greenery opened up into another smaller clearing. He almost didn't see Bess hidden on the far side of it. She was sitting on the ground under a tree with her forehead resting on her drawn up knees. Her long brown curls cascaded down in front of her legs helping her to blend in with the brown of the tree trunk. She wasn't moving. Danziger went to step over a fallen tree to enter the clearing. His foot came down on something soft and giving. Quickly he pulled his foot back and looked down. A dirty unconscious man laid against the fallen tree. He was hog tied with what looked like a brown leather belt. A large bleeding gash cut across his left temple and forehead. Spying traces of blood on the large belt buckle, Danziger surmised that Bess had used it to defend herself. Quite effectively too.

Forgetting the man for the moment, he stepped over the inert body and approached Bess. He stopped about a meter from her and crouched down. "Bess?" He spoke softly and soothingly like he did whenever he tried to wake True from a bad dream. When she didn't respond, he reached out to touch her but stopped before making contact. He didn't know what exactly had happened before Bess managed to fend off her attacker. The touch of a man might be the last thing she needed or wanted right now.

"Bess, it's Danziger." He said a little louder. Slowly, as if half asleep, Bess' head lifted. Danziger inhaled sharply when he saw the left side of her face. It was all swollen and what wasn't an angry red was a sick blackish-blue. Danziger suddenly wished the guy was conscious just so he'd have an excuse to pound him senseless.

It took a few seconds for recognition to fill her large eyes. She forced a smile. "That bad, huh?" Her eyes slide from Danziger's concerned face to the still form of her attacker lying about half a dozen meters away. "He was faster than he looks." Danziger shifted so his body blocked her view causing her gaze to return once more to his. "Is True all right?" Danziger nodded. He was amazed at Bess' composure and dry eyes. If not for her face and torn dirty clothes, he wouldn't have known she'd just been through a traumatic experience. Either she was a tough cookie or in shock. Probably a combination of the two.

He reached up and flipped on the audio portion of his gear. "I've found her. Follow my signal on in." Leaving the tracking on, Danziger switched the sound off. "Bess, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here..."

She reached out and patted the hand he had resting on his knee. "That's all right, Danziger. I'm fine, just shakened up a bit. Who came with you?"

"Julia and Morgan."

END--Frontier Justice part 2 of 7 by Lia Faile

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