Chapter Six

      “Time to go,” the voice said.

      Ryan stepped up to the door and pulled it open enough to look out. A sec man was standing in the hallway, one Ryan hadn’t seen before. “Time for the baron’s reception.”

      The one-eyed man nodded and closed the door.

      Krysty stretched lazily on her cot, getting the blood circulating again after a short but contented sleep. She turned to Ryan and said, “Can’t we stay here a bit longer, lover?”

      “Yeah, but I’m curious to meet this baron, and to find out how he keeps his ville running.”

      “I sure could do with something to eat,” Krysty said. She rose up off the cot and ran her fingers through her long red hair as if they were combs.

      Ryan moved out into the hall where J.B., Doc and Mildred were already waiting.

      “What about Jak?” Ryan asked.

      “Sleeping,” Mildred said. “He’ll be out for another couple of hours. I’ll stay with him if you want.”

      Ryan considered it.

      “We’re just going down to the basement,” the sec man offered, overhearing their conversation. “You’ll be free to come back and check on your friend anytime you want.”

      “I’ll come down with you to meet the baron,” Mildred said. “Then I’ll come back and stay with him. Maybe bring him some food.”

      Ryan nodded, then noticed Doc shifting nervously from side to side behind J.B. He looked strange, different, as if he’d just passed a comb through his hair, then pasted it back with some sort of grease. His frock coat also looked cleaner, as if he’d hung it on a line and beat it with a stick to get all the dust out of its fibers.

      Krysty was studying Doc as well. “Lookin’ good, Doc,” she said, joining the others in the hall.

      “Thank you for noticing, my dear Krysty.”

      The sec man gestured to Ryan’s SIG-Sauer and Krysty’s Smith & Wesson and said, “You won’t be needing your weapons.”

      J.B. shook his head as if to say he knew the story would be changing.

      Ryan looked hard at the sec man. “We don’t go anywhere without our blasters.”

      “All right by me.” The sec man shrugged. “But the baron might have something to say about it.”

      Ryan said nothing. The baron could say all he wanted, but they wouldn’t be giving up their blasters without a firefight.

      The sec man led them down the hallway.

      AS PROMISED, they were led into the basement of the mansion and into a large room that was set up as a dining hall. Paintings hung from the walls, and the floor was covered with a carpet around the edges and a hardwood floor in the center. There was a long, rectangular table on one side of the room with settings for twelve people.

      On another table off to one side were pitchers full of fresh water and juices, and carafes of both red and white wine. There was also a series of small finger bowls, each one filled with different colored tablets. “Make yourself at home,” the sec man said. “The baron and the others will be here shortly.”

      When the sec man was gone, the friends went to the table and sampled the water and wine. Both were clear. The water was tasteless, while the wine seemed a bit strong.

      “What do you make of these?” Ryan asked Mildred, pointing to the bowls of multicolored pills.

      Mildred shook her head. “I don’t know. Don’t recognize any of them.”

      “Considering that these items are offered in conjunction with some truly excellent wines, I can only assume that they must be stimulants of some sort,” Doc said. “Perhaps even depressants.”

      “Recreational drugs,” Mildred said. “In pre-Dark times, ecstasy was the drug of choice, especially among young people. Kids thought it was cool, but of course it was nothing but bad news.”

      “So the baron’s a drug lord,” Ryan said, holding one of the pills, a yellow one, between his fingers. “Fireblast!”

      Krysty eyed a tablet that was almost as red as her hair. “That’d be my guess.”

      “Can’t say it comes as all that much of a surprise,” Mildred said. “He’s produced a lot of healing drugs. If he can do that, no reason he can’t make junk like jolt and dreem.”

      “By the Three Kennedys, that would explain what bang is…and smash!”

      “And now we know why his sec men have such good blasters,” J.B. offered.

      “We’re leaving,” Ryan ordered. “Let’s get Jak.”

      The friends turned to leave the dining room, but the doors at either end of the room opened up and sec men with blasters and scatterguns filed in.

      “You can’t leave yet,” the baron said as he entered the room behind his sec force. He wore an immaculate lab coat and his clothes beneath it looked just as clean and fresh. “We haven’t even met yet.” There was a hint of disappointment in his voice, making it sound as if he were being sincere.

      “We don’t associate with drug lords,” Ryan stated.

      The baron put up his hands, almost in surrender. “It’s true, I do deal in drugs, but I assure you, only healing ones.”

      Mildred gestured to the bowls of pills on the table. “Expecting some big headaches?”

      “Ha, a sense of humor. I like that in my guests.” The baron moved toward the table holding the pills. “I’m merely trying to be a good host. Since I didn’t know what you liked, I simply offered you all that I have. I’m actually glad you don’t want to sample any of the drugs, since I don’t like them, either. Makes articulate speech rather difficult and compromises one’s judgment, two things I can ill afford as baron.” He waved his arms as if he were swatting unseen insects. “Take them away.”

      A sec man hurried over to the table, picked up the bowls and carted them away.

      “Now, if you’ll forgive my small mistake, let’s all share a meal, shall we?”

      Ryan wasn’t in favor of joining the baron for dinner, but even if they wanted to blast their way out of the situation, they wouldn’t get very far. The sec men surrounding them could throw up a wall of fire heavy enough to cut down a small forest. There would be a fight, Ryan knew, but this wasn’t the time or place for it.

      Reluctantly, he put away his blaster. The others followed his lead.

      “Thank you,” the baron said.

      The sec men also lowered their weapons.

      “I better check on Jak,” Mildred said.

      “Not to worry…” the baron’s voice trailed off.

      “Mildred,” the doctor offered.

      “Not to worry, Mildred. Your friend is fine, I assure you. Of course, you’re free to return to him whenever you like, but I wouldn’t be much of a host if I didn’t encourage you to eat at least a little something first.”

      “I’ll take it back to eat in the room.”

      “Fine, fine, now let’s get started. I’m starved.” The baron sat at the head of the table. Ryan and the friends took seats on either side of him.

      At that moment, Moira entered the dining room, wearing a sundress and leather sandals.

      “Ah, here she is now, the lovely Moira,” the baron said, “who I believe you’ve