"You know what happened to Sam?!?" exclaimed Max incredulously. The gall of this stranger! "You better know, after sending us that ransom note! Now spill it, buster, before I rip your lungs out and feed them to the Nausicaans before your dying eyes!" Max's eyes were two smoldering embers, promising a hideous, unspeakable death to this stranger if he didn't tell them were Sam was in the next few seconds.
"Easy, Max," ordered Carter calmly, placing a restraining hand on Max's shoulder.
Max angrily shrugged it off though. "Easy nothin'! This guy's got Sam and I'm gonna make him talk!"
"He's not going to tell us anything if you kill him," argued Carter. "Now sit down!" She pressed Max back toward her seat. Max relented enough (barely) to let herself be shoved back into her chair, but never took her eyes off the stranger.
After she was sure Max was once again under semi-control, Carter let out her breath, reseated herself, and turned her attention back to the stranger.
All through the exchange, the stranger hadn't made a move, either to flee or to defend himself against Max's threatened retribution. Instead, he was sitting peacefully, picking at a bit of dirt under his fingernail, ignoring the two women. It was his nonchalance that was infuriating Max as much as anything else. Carter decided that he was either crazy, or knew something that they didn't.
Finally, after a moment's more maddening silence, the stranger ceased manicuring himself, straightened up from his slouch and addressed Carter. All arrogance was suddenly gone from his carriage, replaced by a look of compassion and sincerity in his eyes. Carter was startled by the sudden transformation, and found herself suddenly and inexplicably wanting to trust this man.
"To begin with," said the stranger, "my name is West. More importantly though, I am not a ransomer." -- this last remark was directed at Max.
"What about the note?" she demanded.
"The note never said anything about a ransom," countered West easily. "It just said to meet me here if you want to see your friend again. Don't blame me if you go and start making all sorts of crazy assumptions."
Max scowled, but realized the man had a point.
"Fine, so you're not holding Beckett for ransom," said Carter. "Just what do you want?"
West's eyebrows went up in genuine surprise at Carter's question. "To help!" he replied matter-of-factly, as if the answer should have been self-evident. "I'm on your side."
"If you're not the one who kidnapped Sam, how come you know about this at all? It's supposed to be top secret," demanded Max, not willing to give up her suspicions quite so easily.
West smiled and said, "We have a mutual acquaintance -- a man by the name of Rick. He runs a small restaurant in the Starfleet Quarter. He suggested I look into the situation and lend a hand if I could."
Carter thought back to the cryptic comments Rick the El Taco manager had made yesterday afternoon, about him 'knowing certain people' and promising to help them. Apparently, she and Max were meeting one of these mysterious 'people' now... Her patience had run out though for mysteries and cryptic statements though, so she asked West straight out. "Maybe you'd better start at the top, mister." Her tone made it clear that anything short of the whole truth would not be tolerated.
West nodded in concurrence. He collected his thoughts for a second, leaned forward, folding his hands on the table before him, and began. "Sam Beckett has been kidnapped by a gang of information thieves."
That was as far as he got before Max interrupted him. "Information thieves?!?," she exclaimed. "What are you talking about?"
West cast her an annoyed look before continuing. "As I was about to explain, these are no ordinary thieves, and the information they pilfer isn't ordinary information." Looking Carter straight in the eye, he said, "They have stolen the information contained in Miss Beckett's brain -- they've stolen her mind!"
West was interrupted again by Max's derisive laughter. "You don't actually expect us to believe such a crazy story, do you?" she spat. "That Sam was kidnapped so some aliens could suck her brains out?" Turning to Carter, she said, "I've heard enough -- let's get out of here. This clown's just wasting our time." She began to stand.
Carter wasn't so sure though. She'd seen the sincerity in the man's eyes -- she wanted to hear more. She placed a restraining hand on Max's shoulder and forced her back into her seat once again. To West she said, "Keep talking."
West was well aware how totally wacko his story sounded. He chose his words carefully and spoke as reasonably as he could manage. "In certain parts of the Galaxy, there's a high demand for the neural energy of other species, including humans -- on the black market, of course. The memories and experiences of someone like Lieutenant Beckett, with her years as fighter pilot and espionage agent, would fetch a high price. Wonderful entertainment value, you see..."
"Do you know where Sam is being held?"
"There's a small town a few hundred miles from here, across the Cairn Hills on the shores of Blue Lake. The Mind Thieves have a hideout there. If Lieutenant Beckett is to be found, that's where she'll be."
"If? What do you mean 'if'?" said Max. "I thought you knew where she was?"
West addressed his reply to Carter. "Blue Lake is the best bet we have of finding your missing friend." He sat back in his chair and awaited a response.
"We don't need this guy," said Max to Carter. "We can go in and get Sam ourselves."
West shook his head. "If you go in guns blazing you'll never see your friend again. The villains will blow up their base and everyone in it rather than risk having their operation exposed."
"We can notify Starfleet. They'll have--"
West interrupted her. "Starfleet knows."
That took both women by surprise. After a long moment, Carter said, "What do you mean? How can Starfleet know about this?" Somehow though, she knew that West was right. She remembered back to her confrontations with Commissioner Gordon about the ineffective search for Sam, and her suspicions that the police chief had been keeping something from her.
West explained. "Starfleet is aware of this illegal activity, but you'll never get them to come out and admit anything about it. They're keeping a tight lid clamped on the whole thing. If the general populace ever found out, there'd be mass panic! Imagine -- aliens sneaking around sucking people's brains out! And if you keep stirring things up with Starfleet about this, you'll most likely find yourselves fighting both the Mind Thieves and Starfleet!"
"Well, that explains my orders to 'cease and desist'," muttered Carter.
"Your only choice is a covert rescue mission," concluded West, "with me."
Max looked at Carter skeptically. For some reason, she seemed to have taken an instant disliking to West, and just didn't want to let go of her distrust.
Carter said to West, "We'll have to talk it over and decide." --meaning herself and the other Banshees.
"I understand," said West. "But don't take too long. Every second you delay will make it that much harder to retrieve your friend. If you do decide to trust me, meet me at Blue Lake, at the Ogopogo Inn."
With that, West rose from the table, and after nodding a polite farewell to the two ladies, sauntered off. Passing the bar, he flashed a brief acknowledgement at Jo and Alex before disappearing through the bar's curtained entryway.
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