Once Upon a Pet Show (A Redpoint One Romance) (24 page)

"The warehouse is empty," Ignacio said, having
followed them.

"But privately owned." He smiled at Officer
Redsong. "Sorry, but that means a warrant."

"Always legalities. Not as if I'm not
accustomed to them." Officer Redsong inspected the full tall
exterior. "However, I will need more than maintenance instincts to
file one with."

A flash of dark blue and turquoise fur
appeared out of a corner of a closed freight door. The daubpup
yipped at them several times, shaking the longer hair along the
base of its neck. Not that they could see all of it. Half of it was
still inside the wall. Knowing the daubpups could travel through
walls and seeing it do it was two entirely different
things.

With a high whistle, a sharp bark, and
chitter, it turned and disappeared back through the
wall.

"I think we've just been balled-out," Rachel
said with a laugh.

"Did that thing just walk through a wall?"
Ignacio demanded, jabbing a finger at where the daubpup
disappeared.

Officer Redsong didn't answer, but instead
looked at Arthur. "I think this is enough reason for suspicion.
I'll start filing the search warrant."

Officer Redsong stepped back towards Ignacio's
warehouse as she worked out the details for the warrant with the
help of the pocket computer and her comm-unit. The rest of them
slowly followed, giving her space to have a private conversation
with people back at her headquarters.

"Good catch, Rachel," Arthur said. He gave her
a warning look. "But, I still mean it. No repair work. You are
off-duty."

Ignacio put an arm across her shoulders and
pulled her close before she could respond. "Don't worry. I'll make
sure she pays attention."

Rachel dug a knuckle into his ribs. "Oh, you
two. I don't need more people telling me what to do."

"You have us and more." Tish and Zane to be
exact, with all their bots following behind them. Did Rachel call
them, as well?

"Maybe there's another problem down here we
don't know about," Rachel said, throwing that guess out the
window.

Arthur paused to inspect the area, letting his
mind open and drift along with his eyes. He spotted a few small
things to fix. A vent system in the far warehouse. A door track
needed replacing in one of the other empty warehouses. A light over
the road running between the line of warehouses would go out soon.
But, no more than that. Just small simple maintenance
items.

Unless Zane sensed something he didn't. It
just reinforced who among the two of them should lead the
maintenance department. Something they would need to talk about
soon if Zane decided to stick around for any length of
time.

Tish came right up to Arthur, wrapping her
arms around his chest. Arthur draped an arm around her small frame,
hugging her back. Other than his bot, no matter what happened, he
would have her. Something else he needed to do something about. To
make sure it stayed that way

"Out exploring with Zane?" Arthur asked, still
holding Tish close.

She smiled up at him, eyes bright. "Nothing so
fun. We both are picking up a problem."

Wonderful. He'd missed a spot in the
industrial park after all. "What kind of problem? Something around
here?"

Zane glanced around the area. "Something deep
in the station. We thought we would find you and head down
together. After another outbreak of the smell, Ami has a few spots
for us to investigate, as well."

Good. He hadn't missed something obvious in
the area.

"Something going on here?" Tish asked. She
scowled at Rachel. "No working."

"Don't get after me. He already did." Rachel
thumbed towards Arthur.

Tish pulled away from Arthur, glancing between
Officer Redsong and the rest of them. "Something up? Animal
problems?"

"Not ours. Maybe with the ones missing,"
Rachel started.

As Rachel huddled with Tish to catch up on the
current gossip, Arthur moved closer to Zane. "A problem deep in the
station?"

Zane didn't smile. Worry filled his eyes,
causing the lines around his mouth to deepen. "I'm not sure what it
is, but it's getting overwhelming. Tish felt it from the other side
of the station."

And he hadn't? Arthur turned his head away,
closing his eyes. Usually the station did the same to him, no
matter what department the problem was in. It was one of the
reasons he was promoted to his position when Zane left.

A few breaths later he opened his eyes. If not
for the excitement at the pet show, he would have noticed it
sooner. "A pressure. Can't breath. A throb?"

Zane nodded. "We have life-support, so I don't
think it is literal. Nevertheless, we should find it."

"And hope it's something we can repair."
Sometimes they couldn't. Sometimes the station wouldn't allow them
to.

"So, what is happening here? I thought Rachel
wasn't allowed to work?" Zane asked, looking past
Arthur.

"You are correct. She notified me of a
maintenance issue in a place there shouldn't be one. We're waiting
for a search warrant."

Zane pointed down the road. "Then what are
they doing?"

Arthur turned to find Ingacio coming back out
his warehouse, and Tish and Rachel at the front door to the empty
warehouse in question. Not knocking on the door. Just going ahead
and opening it.

"Redsong!" Arthur shouted, not even bothering
with her official title. He started walking fast towards the
women.

"We don't have a warrant yet." Officer Redsong
broke out into a trot.

A flurry of bot whistles and beeps erupted
from the open door of the warehouse. Rachel appeared back outside,
hands on her hips. "Are you coming, or not?"

"I don't have legal right to enter this
building," Officer Redsong said, glaring at her. "And neither do
you."

"Actually we do. As part of any lease or sale
agreement on this station, the maintenance crew are permitted free
and unfettered access to all station infrastructure so we may
conduct our duties." Rachel grinned at Arthur, adding with
deceptive innocence. "There's a clog in here we can access only
from within the warehouse. As this warehouse is currently empty, we
don't have to ask any of the current tenants for permission. Just
go in and do it."

Zane blinked rapidly several times. "She's
right. We simply have to report it afterwards."

Arthur tried not to smile. "It didn't occur to
you to tell me your logic so we could all go in together? We don't
know if these people are in there, or if they are, if they are
dangerous."

"And I still don't have permission to enter,"
Officer Redsong said, taking a step back from the door.

Tish appeared at the door, leaning against the
doorjamb. Violet hovered next to her, looking up at the rest of
them. "Actually, you do, if requested by the maintenance crew to
deal with an illegal activity." She nodded inside. "I would call
this illegal, considering the cages of animals that shouldn't be in
here. I would say it looks like they were beginning to get ready to
start smuggling them out."

Arthur's gut tightened. He pulled her out,
going through the entrance himself. His bot closely followed, both
of them studying the bare interior. Through a door on the left he
saw a section of the bigger warehouse area. A small light
illuminated several metal square shapes in the far
corner.

"See, it's safe," Tish said, coming up behind
him.

"The people who did this might still be
around. No, it is not safe." Didn't she know what a risk she took
just barging in the warehouse? Who knew what could have
happened.

"Oh, they were here." She pointed to the back.
"The bots chased them into the back office and locked the
door."

The two went into a warehouse infested with
thieves?

Arthur grabbed Tish and nearly crushed her in
an embrace. In her ear he harshly whispered, "That was a stupid
thing to do. You could have gotten yourself killed."

"Like I almost did with pirates and warbots?"
She hugged him back, apparently not upset at all. "We had our bots
with us."

He set her back to arm's length, his hand on
her shoulders to keep her in place. "I'm serious, Tish. This
station is dangerous enough right now without you doing something
like this on purpose. We can't afford to lose you." He swallowed
hard. "I can't afford to lose you."

Her smile diminished. Small teeth bit at her
lower lip. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you, but waiting for
a search warrant when we could easily go in? They could have been
here and gone by the time Officer Redsong got one through the
courts."

"You should have told me what you were doing
first. Next time, I ask that you do." He gave her a tiny shake in
emphasis.

The smile returned. "Deal."

"Search warrant now cleared," Officer Redsong
said, moving into the front room of the warehouse. "Backup will
soon arrive. Where are they?"

Rachel pointed to the back. "Office at the
very end, where the bots are guarding. Amazing how menacing bots
with flickering welders can look."

"Good job. Now we can end this blight on our
station and one of its events," Officer Redsong said with a
satisfied smile.

Other officers soon swarmed to the warehouse.
Ignacio forced Rachel to stand back as Arthur determined the cause
of the clog in the bathroom. Easy to find. A wad of fur in the
smaller pipes, and then it flowed smoothly again.

Now that he was attuned to the station, he
couldn't ignore it. Neither could Zane or Tish, from the looks of
it. The furtive glances at the door leading out of the warehouse.
The unease. The need for action. It set him on edge.

A sharp beep from his wrist set his muscles
tensing. No voice, just the beep.

The sense of dread increased. The type of call
he'd expected, but prayed would not happen.

"Zane," Arthur shouted as he headed fast out
the door. He paused outside, deciding the best way to get where he
felt they needed to be.

Zane soon followed, but so did Tish and
Rachel. He pointed Rachel towards the warehouse. "No."

Rachel set her chin, crossing her arms. "You
need all the help you can get if someone is trapped. I do have a
specialty here, too."

"Your specialty and abilities are not in
question. Your health is."

Rachel didn't flinch a bit at his hard stare,
even daring to take a step towards him. "I follow and don't lift a
finger. Now, aren't we wasting time? Who was the alarm
from?"

"Damien," Tish said as Arthur ran a hand
through his hair.

"Who went out with Vallory Schist looking for
her missing pets," Arthur said. "Fine, Rachel. But, I mean it. Not
a finger."

A grin appeared. "You got it,
boss."

He didn't waste any more time. Not with one of
his people trapped.

Finding Damien, however, proved difficult. The
station couldn't tell him Damien's location. To him, that meant
only one thing.

Damien ran into another dead part of the
station. No, not just dead. As if it didn't exist. In the time
they'd started having the problem, he'd noticed the pattern. The
section would 'die' and all utilities would rebuild and adapt
around it. As if the area wasn't there.

Only, he couldn't ignore it like the station,
not with someone inside.

With the help of another transmission burst
from Damien, and Ami on the communication line providing additional
tracking information, they zeroed into the area. By now, an entire
entourage trailed behind them and along nearby maintenance
corridors, including several worried newbies. Not a good early
impression for them.

"This isn't normal," Tish constantly reassured
them while Arthur and Zane concentrated on finding the
area.

"Don't worry about me. Just tell me what to do
if it happens," Shay said, his confident smile still in place. The
new hire was still working with Cody on the station weapon systems,
and from all reports, continued to be helpful and enthusiastic for
the job. Too bad Cody had also reported that he was showing no
aptitude in that area, either. Might be time for Arthur to take him
out himself, see if he could spot where the station might have
interest in him.

Izabela was not so easily reassured. "How
often are people trapped?"

"First one I know of," Tish said. Good, she
didn't mention the close calls.

Another transmission burst. Arthur froze. This
one came from so close that his communicator blared with the
sound.

A sharp whistle cut through the air. A bot
with a smooth white back shell appeared at a corner of the
corridor. It spun in a frantic circle before taking off.

Arthur broke out in a run to follow, the
others close behind.

Damien's bot turned another corner. Arthur's
shoulder grazed a juncture box as he took the turn at full speed.
The bot sat in the middle of the corridor, frantic in its whistles
and chirps.