The guard did just that, then said, “Mr. Berke will see you. Park your scooter in front of the house.” He eyed Calan and Ajha curiously but didn’t say anything to them; he just gave the command to open the gate.
The ‘house’ was an impressive mansion paid for by a combination of criminal activity and smart investing. As long as Berke operated outside Starport City, no one attempted to curtail his activities outside the city. Starport security didn’t know he had contacts on the inside to alert him to opportunities as goods and people left the Starport.
Berke had known of Calan’s arrival and purchase of the industrial complex. He just hadn’t made the association between Calan and Michelle.
When they got off the scooter to go to the front entrance of the house, Calan took Ajha’s hand to reassure her. Ajha had never met Redmyn Berke, but she knew of him and the many horror stories of what he did to people who displeased him. She was sure he was ultimately behind Mikki’s kidnapping.
It was likely one of his brothel’s recruiters looking for women to force into working their service. But they would find out if he knew of her.
A servant opened the door when they approached the ground level entrance and gestured for them to enter. Closing the door behind them, he said, “Follow me.”
He led them through a large open area to a tastefully furnished lounge. Everything looked new and expensive.
Berke was standing in a sitting area waiting for their arrival. He was as tall as Calan but a bit overweight for his height. His once reddish hair was white and well-coifed. His suit was in keeping with the latest fashion and costly, and he appeared to be healthy for a man pushing eighty.
Calan’s parents were now in their sixties but looked way younger for their age than Berke.
“Calan Narcaza,” Berke said. “You don’t look much like her, maybe a passing resemblance.”
“I look more like my father. You never met him after you tried to have him killed,” Calan said as Ajha gasped.
“He was trying to take Michelle. I wasn’t letting her go without a fight.” Berke was outwardly calm and cool, but Calan sensed he was churning inwardly, trying to figure out what his visitor really wanted.
“Obviously, Mother had other ideas.”
“So, why did you come here?” Berke asked.
“We’re looking for a woman named Mikki Pelker. She may have been taken to work in one of the brothels.” Calan said
“You’re looking for a hooker named Mikki?”
“Yes, Mikki Pelker,” Ajha said, hopefully.
“What makes you think I know anything about her?” Berk said.
“She was kidnapped by thugs who collect women to sell to brothels,” Calan told him. “I want to buy her back.”
“What makes you think she’s for sale if I had her?”
“I think you would find my offer too good to refuse,” Calan assured him.
“I can’t help you. I’ve got too many establishments to keep track of the whores working them. Their owners keep track of them.”
“So, I guess we go to each one of them and look for her ourselves,” Calan told him. As he spoke, he was gleaning locations and information on all of Berke’s houses and sites. The man had told the truth about the women. They were just a commodity to him. He didn’t think of them as individuals. If they died or disappeared, his thugs would just get some more.
It wasn’t all that different than when Calan’s mother left Earth with his father. Berke got other women, more than one. He’d fathered a dozen children that he knew of with seven or eight women.
Berke knew he’d treated Michelle Marlow badly enough that he had deserved the stab wound she’d given him when she was making her escape. It wasn’t until long after she was gone that he realized that she had really meant something to him as few other people did.
Her kid sure had balls. Maybe if he had treated her right Calan would have been his. Berke had heard about the kid’s plans to restore civilization to the rest of Farringay. He hadn’t known until now that he was Michelle’s kid.
As long as he was just picking up strays, Berke would leave him alone. Let him try to buy back Mikki if one of the brothels had her. But he was on his own there. Berke had a suspicion of several places she could be, but he really didn’t know for sure.
“Well, thank you for your time Mr. Berke,” Calan said politely. “We will just keep looking.”
“You do that---and give my regards to your mother.”
Not in this lifetime.Calan just shook his head slightly and turned to leave, Ajha’s hand gripped reassuringly in his.
