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“Let’s make our way to the gate and check out our possibilities,” said Dante. “It’s the best option we’ve come up with so far.”
They had to hold back while a patrol went past. Then they both scrambled out from the cover of the truck and made a dash for the corner of the nearest building. Dante didn’t like this. All this moving around made them a target. He hoped their plan to hide under a vehicle would work.
Eventually, they made their way to the main gate. There was no safe hiding place around the gate at all. It was all bare open land. They crouched down behind a building to watch.
“We’d have to be under the vehicle for a long time to be able to hitch a ride, and who knows how often any of them are used to enter,” said Tinsley dubiously. “No way can we just jump on at the last minute.”
“Look, one’s coming now. Let’s see what happens.”
The vehicle was enormous. It must have been five or six meters high and about twenty meters long. This particular one looked well-armored, and even the cab looked impregnable.
It slowed when it came to the checkpoint and then came to a stop several meters from the huge gates. The driver got out and went to stand with the guards, who checked his papers thoroughly.
“What do you think that does?” Tinsley asked.
A massive cage had risen up from the ground and surrounded the truck.
“I think we’re about to find out,” replied Dante grimly. He’d heard of these.
Once the vehicle was fenced in by the metal frame of the cage, the air surrounding it erupted into what looked like an electrical storm.
“Oh,” said Tinsley. “Not that way then.”
“They use them in slave camps,” Dante said. “As a deterrent to anyone thinking of running away.” Dante felt a little sick. If they’d taken his sister to a place like this, how in the seven galaxies could they get her out of this terrible camp?
“So, this is a slave camp?” asked Tinsley with a gasp.
“Maybe. If Maraliza is in there, we already know they’re keeping people against their will. It stands to reason they wouldn’t be averse to slavery, knowing the Jorvlens. It explains the heavy fortifications, too.”
“We should get a message out to the authorities,” said Tinsley, glancing in the direction they had left the Thunder Bolt.
“I can’t just leave Maraliza in there while allied forces get mobilized.” Dante shook his head. “And anything could happen if they thought they were under attack. They could kill all the slaves just for the hell of it. Besides, we need more information. The electric cage alone isn’t enough evidence to determine whether this is a slave camp.”
“I’ve got an idea.” Tinsley spoke from beside him. “How about if I let myself get caught? I’ve got my tracker on. I could say I’m from some agency that wants to join them or something.”
“Absolutely not,” said Dante instantly.
“But it could work,” Tinsley insisted. “They would arrest me, and you could go for backup. You could follow my tracker and meet me in the holding cells. It’d be a win-win.”
She made a convincing argument, Dante thought. But she’d overlooked one essential element in the plan.
“If you step out there, the guys up on that tower will shoot you dead. That’s their job. They won’t ask questions, either. It would just be game over,” he said.
He felt Tinsley’s shoulders sag beside him. “I suppose you’re right,” she said glumly.
“I know I’m right. It’s just not worth the risk.”
“Maybe there’s an entrance around the other side. We should at least do a full circuit. Shouldn’t we?” Tinsley’s expression was grim. Dante was glad she was here, but at the same time, he wished fervently she wasn’t.
“Okay, let’s do a circuit,” he said. “Stay close.”
“Oh, I will. Trust me,” Tinsley replied.
They stuck to the shadows as much as possible when they moved, traversing what had become a dumping ground for broken crates and bits of machinery. It made the going slow, but at least they weren’t exposed to capture or the sweep of the radar tower.
When they were still only part way around, they came to an open area that stretched from the wall out to the desert beyond the camp.
“I wonder what this is about,” Dante mused.
