Wolfe Bite Chapter 14
By Captain Gaul
“That was him! That was Nicholas!” Chi was practically shouting.
“So it was.” Moe heaved. “But you know something? I’ve never been so glad to hear Nadia’s Bell before.”
They were back in Leene Square. There wasn’t much action going on, but it was nice, friendly, Leene Square nevertheless.
“We’ve gotta talk to Lucca! We’ve gotta get back there!”
“Yeah…I wonder if Magus is around.”
Chi stood up and tried to get Moe to stand up, too. Moe tried, but instead collapsed.
“Moe!”
“Easy, Chi. Three gunshot wounds, remember?”
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“So…that’s the Shinra building.”
“Yes.”
“Pretty big.”
“Yes.”
“You guys must be pretty wealthy.”
“Us personally?” The two Shinra guards laughed. “No. But the head honchos? Yeah, they’re rich bastards.”
“Why is Shinra concerned about me?”
“Well, you’ve got a Turk mad at you.”
“Ray is somebody important?”
The Shinra guards laughed again. “No. But Turks are important, and Ray is, technically, a Turk.”
“Technically?”
“He doesn’t display any of the qualities Turks are supposed to display, such as skill, talent, or professionalism. But Reno sent him on a Turk mission, and he came back, so by default he’s now a Turk.”
“What exactly do the Turks do?” Gaul asked as the three entered a glass elevator.
“Officially, only safe, legal stuff. Unofficially? Everything. Sometimes they head up Shinra Security, sometimes they go way, way, over our heads. If you’re a dogface like Steve or me, you just learn not to ask questions.” The door opened.
“You two seem like pretty decent guys. Shame to have to meet you like this.”
The guard named Steve—the other was Sam—laughed. “Yeah, once you convince the honchos it’s only Ray you’ve pissed off, not a real Turk, the three of us should go out and have a beer sometime. I’d like to hear what you did to that scrawny son of a bitch.” The receptionist sitting in the desk in front of the elevator glared at them. “Anyway, this is your floor. One of the real Turks will be along shortly. Go find the 7th Heaven when you’re done, Captain.”
Gaul walked out into the floor. The receptionist motioned for him to take a seat. Immediately after complying, another man came in the room.
“He’s here, sir.” The receptionist said primly.
“Of course. I remember what he looked like.” The man approached Gaul. “My name’s Reno. You’re here because you assaulted a man who later became a Turk.”
“He WAS trying to kill me.”
“On my orders. But no hard feelings. Here, let’s take this to another room.” Reno led him to an adjacent room. Gaul decided that this couldn’t be an interrogation room—it was much too comfortable. He commented on this to Reno.
“We’ve got cash to burn. Besides, it’s not as if you’re AVALANCHE or anything. Trust me, I’m glad for this distraction. Tracking down clues in the slums, trying to get leads on terrorists—it’s the pits.”
The captain chuckled. “Those terrorists—whatcha gonna do?”
“Yeah.” Reno studied Gaul’s uniform. “You in law enforcement?” Gaul nodded. “Out of where?”
“Guardia.”
“…oh, right, a world over. You ever had to fight terrorists?”
“No. Invaders, yes. Terrorists, no.”
“Not quite as bad. Well…” Reno stood up. “I suppose I should interrogate you. Please, no hard feelings about this. Nobody takes Ray seriously. But, until Tseng gets him fired, we have to act on his complaints…so….”
.
“Telepod’s down. Won’t be sending anybody anywhere for a while.”
“I see.” Moe didn’t want anything bad to happen to Gaul, but wasn’t in a hurry to get going again.
Chi was somewhat less mellow. “But we can’t leave him there! We need to go get him!”
“Chi, easy. Gaul’s been to that world before. I’m sure he’ll be fine for awhile. I’ll do what I can to fix the Telepod. The Patrol is working on the case. Evidence is being examined. One way or another, we’ll have something soon. Now, just take it easy.”
.
“Let me go through this again. Ray announced his intention to kill you…”
“Right.”
“…only after that did he start to assemble his weapon…”
“Yeah.”
“…you then struck him with a club…”
“I’d call it a nightstick, but yeah.”
“…and sent him back to what you believed was our world.”
“And took the pistol from him.”
“Yeah, the Rorynex is a pretty good model.”
“You know where I can get more ammo for it?”
“Wall Market. It’s not far from here…well, based on this interrogation, I’d have to say, officially or unofficially, there’s nothing we can hold against you. We’ll keep you here for a few more hours, in case the President has any questions.” Reno got up to leave. “Oh, one last, totally unrelated question….”
“Yeah?”
“You a Christian…Undei, whatever you call it?”
Gaul’s eyes flicked down to his shirt. He had forgotten he was still wearing the crucifix around his neck. “Yes.”
Reno nodded his approval. “Good people. Not useful for my personal line of work, obviously, but I wish we had more of them working for us. Shame there’s fewer and fewer any more, but….” He shrugged. “Take care, Gaul.”
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