Meanwhile, back on Vrak’s ranch on Terrion…
“Citizen Kahm, we weren’t expecting you,” Asim greeted the men at the door, accompanied by three other men she didn’t know.
“Where’s your boss?” Kahm asked, in a cold tone.
She pursed her lips in disgust, wishing she could close the door on them. “Vrak’s not here. He left a few days ago, and we haven’t heard from him,” she explained.
“What about his guest? Where is she?” Kahm asked, with a deep frown.
“He took her with him, Citizen Kahm.”
“Where’s Bulk? I need to talk to him.”
“He must be in one of the barns, working,” she started saying, showing some reluctance. She didn’t want this man talking to the foreman.
“Call him, now!” he ordered.
For a moment, she considered disobeying him, after all, he wasn’t her boss, but she knew she was walking on a tightrope. She shouldn’t add more trouble to her situation. “Of course. If you care to wait in the main room, I’ll call him right away,” she suggested, stepping aside and allowing them in. She walked to a communication device installed in a wall nearby and called the foreman. “Bulk, citizen Kahm is here and wishes to talk to you,” she informed the man.
He frowned and dropped the tool he was still holding. “Tell him I’ll be right there.”
She sighed and hoped for the best. With her best smile, she walked to the main room. “He’ll be here in a few minutes. May I offer you something to drink?” she asked, looking for a way to escape.
Kahm nodded absently, as he paced the room. Goln had called him in the morning, to tell him that a group of Sumirion warriors had been seen in Terrion. That couldn’t mean anything good.
“Did they announce this visit?” he had asked, upset with the news.
“No, but then again, they don’t have too. It’s their planet, after all,” Goln had pointed out.
“Do you think they came after Vrak and the human female?”
“I would say so. They might want to judge him according to their laws, so my guess is they came for them,” he had explained.
“I thought you had told me the elders were reconsidering their position in this whole matter,” he had protested, knowing that was very bad news for Vrak and the human female.
“They were, and I haven’t heard anything from them to make me think they changed their minds. I have been trying to get in touch with them, but it has been impossible.”
“I’ll go warn Vrak immediately. Let me know if you get any other news on this matter,” he had asked his friend.
“I will.”
He had called some of his friends, and they had left immediately towards Vrak’s ranch. Kahm had tried to call Vrak several times, but the calls went unanswered all the time.
“Citizen Kahm, what can I do for you?” Bulk asked, entering the main room.
“Where’s Vrak and the woman?” Kahm asked, going straight to the point.
“I’m not allowed to reveal that information, sir,” he informed the man.
“The Sumirions are after him, Bulk, we need to find him before they do,” Kahm replied, making sure the man understood the urgency of the matter.
“They were here, yesterday morning and I told them he was gone, and no one knew his whereabouts,” Bulk explained, confident.
“Call Vrak. I know him, and he wouldn’t have left without at least, one means of communication,” Kahm urged him.
Bulk frowned but pulled the device from the back pocket of his pants, rapidly making the call. No one answered. He attempted to reach Vrak a few more times, with the same result.
“He’s not answering,” he informed the other men.
“Has this happened before, or should we be worried?” Kahm asked, worried about his friend.
“He always answers,” Bulk assured him, still using his communication device. “I’m accessing the cabin’s internal communication devices, we should be able to scan most of the place.”
“Why do you have access to the place?” Kahm asked, with a deep frown.
“Because it’s my cabin,” the man grunted as he looked around the place. There was no one in sight, and the place looked abandoned. “They’re not there,” he assured Kahm.
“Damn, the Sumirions must have found them,” Kahm cursed.
“That’s impossible. No one knows about that cabin but me and Vrak. I was the only person that knew he was there,” he stated, but his tone betrayed his concern.
“Could anyone have overheard you when you talked about it?” Kahm asked, more concerned than ever.
“No, I don’t think so, it was very early in the morning, and we were in his office,” a sudden frown drew itself on his face. “Asim was already up. I remember seeing her walking towards the kitchen area.”
“Did she speak to the Sumirions?” Kahm asked, with a dark expression on his face.
“Yes, of course. She was the one that received them when they first arrived,” he replied, already walking to the door. “I’ll go get her.”
But Kahm didn’t want to waste another moment. He and his friends followed the foreman to the kitchen, where they found the woman hustling with some pots.
“Oh, were you looking for me?” she asked, with a fearful grin.
“Did you tell the Sumirions where to find Vrak?” Bulk asked in a subtly menacing tone.
Her whole body went paler for a moment before it changed into a darker shade of blue, letting the men know she was feeling threatened.
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” she mumbled, slowly moving towards the door, but Bulk cut her off.
“Start talking. You were the only person awake the morning Vrak left. You overheard our conversation, didn’t you?” he asked, furious at the woman that had been heating his bed lately.
He should have known he couldn’t trust her.
“It could have been you too,” she spurted out, unconsciously putting her own guilt in evidence.
“I would never betray Vrak. I owe him too much… but you… you didn’t think about him, did you? I’m sure all you could think of was getting rid of the woman, right?” he asked, furious, as he towered the woman.
“Damn. Make sure she doesn’t go anywhere. We need to go talk to Goln, urgently,” Kahm snarled, as he rushed out of the house.
Bulk watched them leave before he turned to face Asim. “Those warriors were after Vrak. If he’s hurt or killed thanks to you, you’ll pay with your own life,” he threatened the woman, taking her by the arm and dragging her out of the house.
He needed a place to imprison her, and the barns had just the perfect place for it – a small room where they kept food for the livestock.
“He’s an Asloran, there’s no way they can harm him,” she mumbled, shivering.
“You better be right.”
Once at the barn, he threw her into the room and tied her to some rings on the wall. He wanted to be sure she wouldn’t be able to go anywhere.
“Please, Bulk, there’s no need for this. You know I won’t escape. My life is here,” she begged, trying to seduce him to let her go.
But he knew her too well. This time, he wasn’t falling for her act.