Selten kept low to the ground, following the trail of the cart from Olm's cellar. It wound in and out of the trees, but he'd guessed that it was leading to the estate of the Biros family. He didn't know much about them, but they didn't seem very friendly, tending to stick pretty much to themselves. There were rumours that security was pretty tight around that estate, so he held more tightly to the gun, and slipped off the path into the undergrowth, advancing more slowly...
He drew near the fence surrounding the compound. Looking in, he could see several buildings inside, although he couldn't make out much activity. The cart wheel ruts led through the wrought-iron gates to his left. Looking across the compound, he could see that there were no other gates, and the wheel ruts led to one of the nearby buildings. Shoving the gun in his pocket, Selten stood up decisively, and approached the gates.
"Hello? Anybody in there?"
A middle-aged blue mudokon appeared round the corner of one of the buildings, and approached Selten, cautiously.
"What do you want?"
"Hello, friend, I am, as they say, in hot pursuit. I have reason to believe that there are criminals sheltering within your estate, mr...?"
The mudokon looked at him suspiciously. "Amphora. And nobody could get through our defenses without us knowing about it..."
Selten smiled humourlessly. "Ah, you underestimate the resourcefulness of these criminals, Mr. Amphora... Do you mind if I were to come in and take a look around?"
The mudokon seemed to get slightly agitated. "Look, there were some people here, but we refused to let them in, and they headed back towards Pyke..."
Selten looked at the mudokon. "Really? I wonder how they managed that..."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, one of them was a... a bigbro slig, and wasn't exactly in a fit state to walk. They had a cart with them, but the cart tracks just lead into your estate. Can you explain that?"
The mudokon looked discomfited, and looked over his shoulder. "Look, they left the cart here to throw off pursuers, and carried the bigbro."
Ahh, so there were more than just Spider and Olm... Selten thought. "How many of them were there?"
That threw Amphora. He seemed to be trying to decide whether or not to lie. In the end, he seemed to come to a conslusion. "Four," he replied.
"Did you recognise any of them?"
Amphora licked his lips, nervously. "No, but I didn't see them for very long, before they headed back to Pyke..."
Who wouldn't recognise Spider? Selten thought to himself. "Ah well, if they've headed back to Pyke, the guys on the gate will pick them up. Do you mind if I come in and take some prints from the cart? For evidence purposes, you know..."
The mudokon froze, and he bit his lip. "No. We don't want to open the gates tonight, with all of these noises we've been hearing..."
Selten tried to think of another way to ask to be let in, without seeming suspicious, but couldn't. "Thank you for your cooperation," he said, stonily, "I'll be getting back to Pyke, then..."
He turned, and walked away through the forest, but doubled back when he was out of sight of the gates, approaching the compound from the other side. There must be another way in somehow... I'll show the mayor that I'm the one he should be employing...
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Last edited by Danny; 04-06-2002 at 11:33 AM..
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