The case had gotten quite complicated. What was originally a simple missing persons' case had suddenly ballooned into a mystery involving smugglers and possibly even more missing people. The clerk had informed us that not only had the owner of Larann Shipping Company not shown up for the past three days but that the other men who worked the so-called "late night shift" had all quit right after Borghi's disappearance. Something told her that this was just the tip of the iceberg and that something bigger lay under the surface as of yet remaining unseen.
Edelweiss also realized that she probably wasn't getting paid enough for this job. She wondered if she should just drop the job based on the effort not being worth the return. In the end, though, the Freelancer decided to stay with it; She was a professional, after all, and professionals finished the work they agreed to do. Besides, this was her first job in Drakhaven. She couldn't just drop it since she had a reputation she needed to build up.
The owner of Larann Shipping, an Asahi Gardner, lived alone in a two-story condo in one of the Port District's nicer neighborhoods. It was an upper-middle-class area, with tree-lined streets and the occasional green lawn. There were also numerous cars parked at the side of the streets, and none of them were missing any tires so Edelweiss guessed the crime rate here to be pretty low. Low enough that she was comfortable to take Duke with her instead of leaving him to guard the car.
The sun was high overhead when Edelweiss knocked on Gardner's door. There was no answer to the first as well as the several repeated attempts.
"I don't think he's home," Duke remarked.
She tried the doorknob, but alas, it was locked. The lock itself was a mechanical one so she couldn't have Duke open it like last time. Gardner's front entrance was also way too out in the open to try lockpicking the door. Thankfully, the condo was on the ground floor, so she and Duke walked around to the back of the property, trying to find an alternate entrance.
"Up there," Duke pointed.
Sure enough, there was a half-open window on the second floor. Edelweiss grinned and took off, nimbly climbing a nearby pipe to get near the window. The elf then leaped, landing gracefully atop the windowsill, her delicate fingers grasping the edges of the windowpane. She opened up the window, then slid inside.
It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the shadows within. Once they did, she saw that she was in the master bedroom. The closet was empty, as were the dresser drawers that were left open. The bed was unmade and all the curtains were drawn.
"Huh, someone turned this place over, too?" Edelweiss asked as she began to look around. The more she searched, the more she doubted that the mess in the room was the result of a break-in. None of the furniture was damaged, and it was relatively clean though empty. It looked less like someone was looking for something and more like the occupant himself packed up and left in a hurry.
A search of the rest of the condo showed the same scene. All the furniture and appliances were clean, and nothing had been dumped on the floor like it was in Borghi Ironskull's apartment. In the study, Edelweiss found a safe. Duke hacked its electronic lock open, but the inside was empty. Nothing valuable or interesting to be found.
Edelweiss had a hunch. "Duke, can you check all the flights that left Drakhaven in the last three days? Check for Gardner's name on any of them."
"Sure thing," the spirit said. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke up again. "Got it. Although there were no Asahi Gardners on any of the passenger manifests, a flight was booked and paid for through one of his credit cards. It was for a one-way trip to Sica, and it left about three days ago."
The elf let out a low whistle. "That is one long trip. I'm guessing he wanted to put a lot of miles between him and whoever he was running from."
"You think so?"
Edelweiss nodded. "I'm starting to get a picture of what happened. Mr. Gardner here, along with a few of his employees, were illegally smuggling something into the city. Two weeks ago, something happened; something so terrible that Borghi Ironskull disappeared and the rest of the late night crew quit their positions the following day. Ever since then, Gardner's been acting skittish, until three days ago when he bought a ticket, packed up most of his belongings, and flew half-way across the world."
"Could Gardner have killed Ironskull?" Duke asked. "It'd explain his behavior. He was probably afraid of getting arrested."
"Doubtful," Edelweiss said. "If that were the case, then he would've bought a ticket to a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty with Pfeil. Sica does. No, I'm betting he was running from someone, most likely the people who were paying him to smuggle in whatever it was that they were smuggling." She sighed. "Besides, I'm still hoping that Borghi's still alive. Call me an optimist but there's no evidence that he's dead."
A sudden rapping from the front door stopped their conversation. Edelweiss froze, listening to the loud pounding continue.
"We know you're in there, Gardner!" a gruff voice shouted from beyond the door.
Edelweiss bit her lip, trying to ponder what the best way was to handle the situation. "I don't suppose you can go and see who's behind the door?" she whispered.
"You know as well as I do that my view of the physical realm is purely constrained to your perception," Duke answered. "If you can't see, hear, or smell it, then I can't either."
"Well, shucks." Edelweiss made her way to the hallway where the front door was located in. "What should I do?" The knocking became even more insistent. "Do you think I should I open it?"
Duke didn't get a chance to answer since someone on the other side got very impatient and decided to kick the door open. Said door slammed loudly against the wall, it's frame cracked apart where the lock used to be. Outside, framed by the now open entrance, stood two very large humans. Although they were dressed smartly, they had an air of thuggishness that the expensive business suits they wore just couldn't hide. The term "gorilla in a suit" very much applied to these two.
There was a long pause as both parties stared at one another. Edelweiss was at a loss as to what she should do at the moment, while the two thugs were shocked upon seeing an elf appear right in front of them. The silence continued for some time, as both groups continued to gape at one another.
"Um," Edelweiss said before all hell broke loose.
Her words seemed to have broken the thugs out of their stunned silence, as both immediately reached into their jackets. Edelweiss cursed and did the same, reaching behind her to draw her revolver. The gorillas managed to pull out their weapons first, and soon they began shooting their arc wands towards the elf.
The first arc wand shot off a burst of green plasma which barely missed Edelweiss' shoulder and smacked into the wall behind her, singing it black. The other wand began to cool the temperature around its tip until the water molecules in the air condensed into a solid state. The chunk of ice was then launched at sonic speeds, directed at the elf's head. Edelweiss managed to dodge in the nick of time, and the ice chunk smashed into a framed photograph on the wall.
She dropped to her knees and aimed her gun, firing once the sights aligned with the nearest man's center of mass. Two loud cracks filled the small hallway along with the acrid scent of gunpowder, followed some seconds later by the sound of one of the men dropping, two forty-four caliber holes drilled into his chest.
The man with the ice wand took aim and fired, but Edelweiss was already moving. She deftly rolled out of the hallway and into the adjoining living room, quickly shuffling behind a large leather couch for cover. The remaining thug entered the room and began to pepper the area with ice. Wooden tables cracked and shattered, walls were pierced, and the leather cushions of the couch all but burst out with its interior fluff. After five full seconds of shooting, the man's arc wand began to beep as its barrel overheated. He cursed and quickly ducked behind the wall next to the entrance, waiting for his weapon to cool down.
Edelweiss popped up from behind the couch and took aim. She had seen him take cover behind the wall and aligned her sights towards its blank, white surface. The elf pulled the trigger, and her bullet easily penetrated the thin plaster and wood to find its target's soft flesh. There was a loud thud heard when the thug fell dead to the floor, a large, gaping wound at the base of his skull.
Edelweiss was breathing heavily as she stood up, revolver still at the ready. She carefully made her way towards the hallway. After making certain that both humans were dead, she slumped against a wall and let out a long breath.
"Are you alright?" asked Duke.
"Yeah, I think so." She wiped at her sweaty forehead and smiled. "I really was not expecting a gunfight today."
Duke snorted. "I'm just surprised that you get into so few of them, with how reckless you sometimes act."
"Fair enough." Edelweiss made her way over to one of the men and checked him over. He didn't have any identification on him, but she did find something troubling on the dead man's right wrist. It was a tattoo of a black dragon's wing.
Edelweiss sat back down and shook her head. "These guys are with the Syndicate."
"Well, kid," Duke said. "You just keep finding yourself getting deeper and deeper into bad shit, don't you?"
*****
After leaving the scene of the shootout, Edelweiss made one last stop at Larann Shipping Company. From the ever-helpful clerk, Fletcher, they were able to get the names and addresses of all the former late-night crew members. She also informed him that he should probably start looking for another job, as his employer had just left for another country. Needless to say, the clerk didn't take the news very well.
There were eight names on the list. The first proved no good, as his apartment was empty when Edelweiss arrived. From the neighbors, she found out that the man and his family had moved away some two weeks ago.
The second name on the list was just as helpful. Although he was home, he absolutely refused to talk to Edelweiss and even threatened to call the police if she didn't leave him alone.
She got lucky on the third name. The dwarf in question, a Ludgi Forgeson, had agreed to meet with and discuss the events that happened the night Broghi disappeared. Ironically enough, Forgeson wanted to meet at the Tap House, the same dive bar that had started this whole escapade.
So when she met Ludgi, she made sure to inform her client, the bartender. The bar was closed early for the day and both of them sat at the table Ludgi had taken, eager to hear about what happened to poor Borghi.
"It was just like every night," Ludgi Forgeson began. "We would work after our hours, unloading and moving the cargo."
"What was your cargo?" Edelweiss asked.
"Weapons," Ludgi said. "Arc lances, grenades, some wands. It was all military grade stuff. The boys and me were all a bit worried as to where all that hardware was going, but, well… we needed the money so we all kept our mouths shut and just did the work. It was damned good money, too, until Borghi had to fuck it all up."
"Borghi?" asked the barkeep.
"Yeah," Ludgi shook his head, then began to stroke his long, gray beard. "Like I said, we were unloading the cargo, just like every other night, when these two humans come in. Big bastards, too; almost as tall as orcs. They talked to the boss, sounded really angry. Then they went over to Borghi. They started yelling at him, slapping him around. They accused him of stealing some of the cargo, of selling it on the streets to local hoods and gang bangers."
"Did he?" Edelweiss asked.
"Probably!" laughed Ludgi. "That dumb son of a bitch. It made sense now how he was able to afford all that expensive shit he kept showing off. Boss paid us well for our work, but not that well. I guess Borghi was snatchin' some of the merchandise, then sneaking out with it to sell. He was stupid to think that the buyers wouldn't notice." The dwarf sighed, shaking his head. "Poor, stupid Borghi."
"Please," said the Barkeep. "What happened to him?"
Ludgi frowned. "After roughing up Borghi some, he then admits to it. Tells them it was him and that he was sorry and that he'd pay them all back. Stupid. One of the bastards then takes out a wand and just shoots him dead right there." The dwarf rubbed his eyes. "Everybody 'cept the boss and me ran. I didn't run cuz I was brave or nothing, ya see. I didn't run 'cause I was scared shitless. My damned feet wouldn't move!
"So there we were, the boss and me too terrified to even breathe, those two goons standing around lookin' so proud, and poor Borghi on the floor, dead as rocks. The humans then go over to the boss and starts threatenin' him, saying that since it was one of his employees that screwed them over, then he was responsible fer payin' them back. They said they'd be back for the money later, and said they'd kill him if he didn't have it."
"Well, that explained why Gardner flew to the other side of the planet," thought Edelweiss.
"After that, we just ran," Ludgi said. "All of us. We ran. I guess that's one revenge we got on those fuckin' human twats. When they killed poor Borghi, they wanted us to see. They wanted to show us what would happen to people who fucked with 'em, right? Well, that sure backfired on them. All they managed to do was scare off their smugglers. It probably woulda worked if we all've been some hardened criminal types, but we weren't! We were just folk, desperate folk, who needed money to pay the bills. We wouldn't keep workin' fer sons of bitches like that! In the end, all those two managed to do was screw themselves."
After the dwarf's story, there was silence in the bar. The silence stretched, as the elf and the barkeep tried to digest the information that had just been revealed.
"Ludgi," Edelweiss said, breaking the silence. "Where's Borghi?"
*****
The smuggling took place in a warehouse not far from Larann Shipping, in a part of the docks that saw little to no traffic at night. The sun was setting when Edelweiss arrived, lending the place a somber, abandoned air.
The warehouse was not locked. Upon opening the door, her nose became assaulted by the unmistakable stench of a decaying corpse. Edelweiss took out a handkerchief and placed it over her nose and mouth. She then entered the dark warehouse, using the screen on her grimoire as a flashlight.
All around her were unopened crates of what she assumed were heavy grade military weapons. They all lay on the floor or in piles, all forgotten despite how valuable they would be on the black market. Ludgi was right, the Syndicate did screw themselves. She doubted they had the manpower in the Port District to move all this material; without the smugglers, all these weapons were just heavy paperweights.
Finally, she found Borghi. He was lying near the center of the warehouse, in between two crates. He was badly decomposing, though his light brown beard and hair looked to be fine. Edelweiss could also make out the blackened flesh of a plasma burn on the side of his face and neck.
Poor Borghi. Sang when he drank Borghi. Stupid Borghi. Got too greedy Borghi.
Now forever dead Borghi.
"Duke, you better call the police," she said.
"On it," the spirit responded.
Edelweiss knelt next to the body, then reached over and closed its pale eyes. She decided to stay there, next to him, until the police arrived. He'd been alone all this time, it just seemed right not to leave his side.
"I found you," she told him.
*****
Glossary of Terms:
Akashic Rune Channeler: also known as arc weaponry. Weapons that use akashic runes to cast recorded spells. Because of the use of runes, the operator of the weapon does not need to be a mage. Although the most common spell used by most arc weapons is plasma bolt, others may also be utilized; some examples include: lightning, ice shard, and fireball. Larger, rifle-sized arc weapons are called [arc lances]. The smaller, pistol-sized variety are called [arc wands].
Akashic Rune: Hard drives that are capable of writing and reading aethereal programming. These runes allow those not versed in the science of magic to cast spells. The typical akashic rune drive can hold about 100 zettabytes of information, or one or two spells.
Pfeil Syndicate: A large criminal organization that originates from the Pfeil Empire. Their territory encompasses most of the empire's major cities and they are responsible for the vast majority of criminal activity within its borders. The Syndicate was originally an all-human organization, but in recent years they have allowed other races, such as orcs and dwarves, to join their ranks. The Syndicate's symbol is the black dragon's wing, and many of its members tattoo themselves with it in order to show their devotion to the organization.