SUrrounded

The stars were shining brightly over the lifeless desert. The wind was chasing dust around the runis of the town which was never finished. Tanja and Rahim were crouching behind a half-crumbled wall, watching the illuminated dome of the temporary shelter in the open space in front of them. They watched the movement of the shadow inside, hoping he would maybe come out like the other men did before him. This would make everything a lot easier. They waited.

Then, suddenly, there was a second shadow, which was slightly smaller than the first, rising from the ground. Could that be Angela Morgenstern? Or was it another one of the kidnappers? But if so, where was she? For a while they watched the shadows move around, hoping someone would leave the dome and make an easy target, but it didn't happen.

Tanja sent the signal to the others of her small rescue team, who were not occupied at the moment. She waited for their answers until she motioned to Rahim - who was sitting on the ground next to her - that they should also move now. Slowly they made their way closer to the emergency shelter, always trying to hide behind the ruins. Meanwhile, one by one the signals from the others came in, saying that they were in position.

They couldn't just knock through the door of of the shelter, of course. This might endanger the victim – if she was even there - as of course all breathable air would be drained from the structure. Also, who knew what the remaining kidnapper was capable of, even if Tanja was sure he would want to keep Angela Morgenstern alife, otherwise it would be impossible for him to reach Eldorado. This was, after all, seemingly the goal of his actions. But what if he would notice that he was trapped?

Tanja slowly moved towards the outer door of the air.lock of the shelter. Rahim stayed some steps behind her. She hesitated for a moment, unsure about knocking on a blow-up structure, then simply cleared her throat and set her helmet to speakers.

'Now listen up,' Tanja shouted,'We are the police and we have you surrounded.'

She thought this was reasonably true.

'If you give up now and come out, things can still go alright for you,' she said,' otherwise you force us to come in there.'

The shadows inside of the dome stopped moving.

'I have a hostage! If you make any move something will happen to her!' a man shouted back from inside of the shelter.

The larger one of the shadows raised an arm which was holding an object that looked suspiciously like a weapon. In some way that was good news to Tanja, Angela was obviously there with her last kidnapper.

'We know', Tanja answered,'but you need her, right? Who else will bring you to Eldorado? That's your goal, isn't it?'

'Ha!', the man shouted,' what use is Eldorado if you guys get me?! Let me make a different suggestion: you let me go and you will get her back as soon as we have reached that stupid place everyone is going crazy about!'

Tanja frowned,'so tell me, who is it? Who pays you the money to do all this? Kidnap a woman, get all the way out here searching for a mysterious old city?'

The man laughed,' now, wouldn't you like to know that?!'

Tanja nodded to herself, she really would like to know.

'First of all we want to know if Ms Morgenstern is alright. If not, I swear to you we will come in there to you right this minute,' Tanja shouted.

The shadow holding the gun shoved the other shadow, so the person had to take a step forward to keep the balance.

Tanja could now hear the voice of a woman saying,'I... I'm here. I'm ok. He has...'

At this point, the man shoved her again.

'That's enough! You see, she is fine,' he shouted, 'and now you will step back and let me leave with this woman and you will get her back unharmed in a day or two. Maybe earlier.'

Tanja thought about this for a moment. She was the only member of the police on-site. The superintendant had said he had no more men to spear at this time. Tanja had people, yes, but they were all untrained and probably too eager to act. She looked at Rahim, who sent a short text message to the small screen embedded in the arm of her suit.

'I know where it is,' the message said.

Tanja sighed to herself and shouted,'alright, we give you one day! You will be watched!'

And watching she did, it was all she could do at this time. The two shadows inside of the dome were obviously struggling to get into their suits. Things from the floor were fetched and stuffed into bags, then they approached the airlock. Now, Tanja thought, now would be a perfect time to go in. But not with Rahim and his friends. She would have needed trained people for this. And thus, Tanja had no other chance than to watch how the two people in suits left the dome of the shelter. The larger figure demonstratively had his gun out and pointed at the other person – who presumably was Angela Morgenstern. They made their way to the place where a couple of small vehicles were parked next to the hollow door to an unfinished building. Helplessly, Tanja watched as the kidnapper forced Angela Morgenstern to get on one of the vehicles and the sped off.

Tanja kicked a stone against a wall in anger, cursed to herself and watched as one by one, four people emerged from their covers around the temporary shelter and turned on their flashlights. She immediately sent Rahim and Zara off to follow Angela Morgenstern and her captor. Then, she went to inspect the shelter. She was glad to be able to take off her helmet inside, if only for a few minutes. A small lamp illuminated the interior reasonably well, but from inside this small dome, the outside world was completely invisible. It was a small bubble of something like civilisation in the desert.

Inside the shelter, Tanja found not much. Some provisions were stacked at one side and a few sleeping mats were rolled out on the floor. On them lay some rumpled blankets. Then, her eyes fell on a small box. Tanja opened it and found a few devices. She didn't know what they were, but all of them looked new and had a shining purple FluxTec logo. For an instant, Tanja hesitated, then she took the box with her. She put on her helmet again and left the shelter, telling everyone that it was off-limits, as maybe evidence had to be secured later. She called over one of Rahim's people to stand guard at the entrance.

Tavaron

19.06.23 Front Page

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