Devoir

2

2

“Reg?”

Reggie Trullo felt increasingly uncomfortable. This chase took him far too long and the two losers he had with him were not going to help him speed up the process. “What?”

“That description? From the guy we’re looking for?”

“Yes, what’s your point?”

“What good is it now that he’s hopping around in a spacesuit?”

“Silvio, how many people do you think there are outside the living quarters, the accommodations? Here, on this godforsaken rock that everyone keeps calling moon?”

“At least one we can’t find.”

“Wrong. At least one man who’s hurt. Jesus, guys, how hard can it be to follow a blood trail?” Reggie pointed to the blood droplets hovering a few feet in front of them above the lunar surface. “That way,” he said impatiently.

“Who is it?” asked Ignazio, the second man to accompany Reggie Trullo on his manhunt.

“Djay Laro. Former Special Space Agent.”

“Huh?” Silvio asked. “Why are we chasing an SSA?”

“Former SSA,” Reggie corrected. “It seems that Laro has information, incriminating information, about Don Faenza. And he has threatened to make that information public today.” He looked at his console to check the time. “In just under an hour. So, if we don’t make that asshole a head shorter soon…

“There!” said Silvio. “Something is moving behind that installation.” He pointed to a pair of excavators left by miners at the entrance to a mine.

“Careful,” Reggie said, he was looking at the information about where they were located on the pop-up screen on the inside of his visor. The two men didn’t hear him. They accelerated the pace and walked further across the barren terrain towards the abandoned mine. “Damn,” Reggie quid. His old body became a burden to him. He had to decide quickly what he was going to do.

* * *

Sitting on her lunar scooter, SSA Leeanne Monterrey saw the men walking to the mine in the distance. “Look at that! There, Commander.”

“Laro?” said Xiaobo hopeful.

“He was alone, wasn’t he? These are two men.”

“Hmm, they’ll be Herschwin’s friends.”

“His ex-boyfriends, then.”

“Yes,” Xiaobo grinned, recalling Herschwin’s face shot to shreds. “They didn’t really break up like buddies, did they?”

“Apparently not all noses point in the same direction in Don Faenza’s camp,” Leeanne observed.

“It sure looks like it Monterrey.” Xiaobo was upset that he hadn’t found Laro yet. Thanks to the lunar scooters, they almost overtook Giorgio Faenza’s men. But their new position did not give them any advantage for the time being.

“Do we have any information about that mine?” Monterrey asked. She kept looking straight ahead, at the two men who had now almost arrived at the entrance to the mine. She looked at the two imposing doors in amazement.

Xiaobo consulted the agency’s extensive database. A list of options appeared on the visor, on the inside of his helmet. He quickly scrolled through it. Clicked on the most interesting messages. “Um, why do you think it’s a mine, Monterrey?”

Monterrey looked up. “Are you saying it’s not? There are five excavators there, which I think are only used in mining. I mean… I’m not sure, and honestly, I’ve never seen machines like this before, but… I think they’re excavators.”

“Yes. That’s what I see too.” Xiaobo looked in awe at the monster trucks that were in front of the entrance to the mine. “But strangely enough, my information says something else.”

“Hmm, and the infrared detector on my console says there’s a third person besides those two men.”

“That must be Laro!” Xiaobo said, relieved.

“Finally,” Monterrey confirmed.

* * *

“We were able to block all communication satellites around the moon, Don. All messages are disrupted; inbound and outbound. We’re sure Laro’s still there; on that moon. It is now impossible for him to have his message go viral from there.”

“Good work Paolo. And the picciotti, have you been able to reach them?”

“Yes; just before the last communications satellite was shut down, I spoke to Reggie. He said they were on Laro’s heels.”

“Good old Trullo; he hasn’t forgotten,” Giorgio Faenza said with satisfaction. “And do we have anything on Laro yet?”

Paolo Mazzanti bit his lower lip; reluctant to break the news to his boss. “Um, no…”

Don Faenza’s gaze spoke volumes. “Trullo almost got him Paolo. I want to hit this Laro hard. He won’t get off easy. And the best way to deal with such an a*s, the best method to hit him and set an example right away, is through his family.” He looked at Paolo piercingly.

“I understand Don. But…”

“But what?” Don Faenza said, annoyed. He clenched his fists. “This is taking way too long, Paolo. Search! Find something!”

“Well Don, you see, we did find something…,” Paolo quipped.

“Oh?” Don Faenza responded pleasantly surprised. “Tell me!”

“But that doesn’t have much to do with Djay Laro himself.”

Giorgio Faenza dropped his clenched fist to the desk. “Damn Paolo, we’re running out of time. What is it?”

“It, um… has um, something to do with um…” Paolo didn’t know how to behave. “It’s about the location where Laro is.”

“What’s the deal with that?”

“According to Reggie, it’s a special location.”

The annoyance dripped from Faenza’s face. “What the hell does he think he’s doing there? Is he going to write a travel guide? He’s got to get this guy. Laro. Before anyone else does, because I’m sure the Feds are on Laro’s heels, too. They also have a bone to pick with that traitor. I don’t give a s**t where he is, as long as he grabs him.”

“Sorry Don, but in this case…”

“Even if he’s in the sewer Paolo.”

“It looks like a mine…”

“Even if it was an air castle,” Don Faenza added, snarling.

“… But it’s a tomb.”

“So? Is Reggie afraid that the family of one of those bodies lying there will bother him? Or is he afraid of ghosts?”

“More or less…”

“Yeah, right,” Don Faenza grinned. “Reggie afraid of ghosts. In his old age…” Giorgio shook his head. “Well, then let him wet his chest. When everyone he’s killed returns as a ghost, he gets busy. Very busy.”

“That tomb Don,” Paolo continued. “That tomb was not man-made. Formally, that grave is called Object VM2540. VM of Viridis’ Moon, and 2540 stands for the year in which the tomb was discovered.”

“My oh my. Did you say 2540? That’s almost two hundred years ago.”

“Yes. And all these years, no one has managed to open the grave. They only managed to decipher the inscription on the outside. Characters in an unknown language. Probably extraterrestrial.”

“So? What does it say?”

“That it’s a tomb.”

Don Faenza breathed a deep sigh. “I’m standing here wasting my time.”

“That tomb has fallen into oblivion over time. But it is still known as ‘The Closed Gate’. The doors of that tomb have never been opened so far Don,” Paolo said. “But now they are wide open…”

“Great Paolo. I will have it included in my memoirs that I was there; the day that tomb ‘VM and some more’ was opened… What the hell are you trying to say?”

“That Laro opened that grave.”

“Um… On his own?”

“I don’t know. But it could be that Laro… Well, what if, somehow… I’m not sure, of course, but what if he’s one of them?”

“Laro? An alien?” Don Faenza laughed. “This is fantastic. One is afraid of ghosts, the other still believes in fairy tales. What kind of employees do I have?”