“I’ll definitely be back, then.” Fiona smiled. “What a lucky find. Are you always set up here at the market or do you have a business you trade out of, as well?”
The trader shook his head. “I have a storage warehouse, but I only sell out of this warehouse. Unfortunately we get assigned new places in the market each week. It’s supposed to help everyone by forcing buyers to walk around the whole place.” He made a face. “Just look out for my sign to find me.”
Fiona turned to the banner over the table. “I’ll be sure to. Now, let’s sort out payment.”
Natta arrived moments after the transfer went through, and she and Trayla pretended to introduce themselves to him. He was towing something that looked like a luggage hover from the space port behind him, and he loaded the brackets up, told them he had the delivery address, and hustled off.
Fiona waved at the trader a final time and then she and Trayla wandered off to grab something to eat and drink.
“What’s going on?” Trayla asked when they each had a cup of grinabo and a snack, and were tucked out of the way in a corner of the warehouse. “Why did you want those brackets?”
“It looks like some of the things Paxe was waiting for are being sold to the general public here in this warehouse. I’m not sure why they weren’t delivered, because the price I got those brackets for was less than the price Paxe was being asked to pay. But the other question is, how much has already been sold and has disappeared into Distani?”
“I don’t even want to think about it.” Paxe’s voice came through her ear piece.
“So the Grimwell Materials factory is around here somewhere?” Trayla asked. “Or do you believe the seller that it’s closed down?”
“Eazi will find out. If he bought the stuff from an auctioneer, we should get the details, and if he’s lying about that, Eazi has his company information. We can do some digging if necessary.”
“And what about the other items on the table? Are they also things Paxe was waiting for?” Trayla asked.
“Apparently. Eazi’s going to ask the admiral to send some embassy staff and some other spies to wander through and buy them up.” Fiona hoped the trader didn’t start to wonder why his table was suddenly so popular.
She threw her empty cup and bowl into the recycle unit, waited for Trayla to do the same, and they began to move through the rest of the market.
There was furniture, some of which they both admired very sincerely, as well as appliances that were slightly damaged, some beautiful rugs, and then table upon table of more specialized equipment.
Fiona kept stopping to look at what was on display, trying to figure out what use they might have, as well as giving Paxe and Eazi a good look at what was available.
There were a few things of interest, small enough for Fiona and Trayla to carry themselves, but eventually they’d visited every corner of the massive space, and headed back outside.
Natta was standing near the road with his back to them. There were plenty of people around, walking to their runners, moving toward the warehouse, but Natta was looking to his right, as if watching someone.
The luggage hover was gone, which wasn’t surprising because it had been nearly an hour since he’d come in to the warehouse and taken the brackets away.
Fee tapped her ear to connect with Eazi. “You’ve got the brackets?”
“Yes, I had a courier meet Natta near the warehouse and they’ve already delivered them to the port. I’m having them loaded onto a small cargo freighter and Paxe should have them in a few hours,” Eazi answered. “I’ll get the same courier to pick up the small things you and Trayla bought when you get back to the rental.”
“That’s fine.” Fee was watching Natta as she spoke, and she narrowed her eyes.
Natta’s body language showed he was fiercely focused, and Fiona tried to work out who exactly he was watching.
“Do you see?” she asked Trayla.
“I see.”
They both began moving a little faster, heading straight for Natta, when suddenly a runner pulled up, and Natta collapsed onto the street, as if he were a rag doll with the strings cut.
There were people nearby who reacted with shock and concern, and two people hopped out of the runner, scooped Natta up between them and loaded him inside.
One of them was talking to the people around them, and Fiona, moving beside Trayla in a full-out sprint, just missed what he was saying before the runner took off.
“That’s our friend. Where are they taking him?” Trayla called out.
“To a medic,” someone said.
The crowd moved on, and Trayla shoved the bag she was carrying at Fee and headed for their runner, parked down the road, at a very fast run.
