* second episode of PENUMBRIALS, this time the team tries to prevent another crime from happening.
*
01 - Dangerous Art
Dormin sat back down at the lounge table where they had dinner earlier, after he'd retrieved a new bottle of liquor from the ship's store. 'Any results from Ismene?' he asked and filled the waiting empty glasses.
Terry put down her tablet. 'Nothing conclusive yet. She's still searching around for connections between the clues we gave her.'
Ourania unfolded a map of the city. 'Let's mark all the places Elyssa and her people were talking about. Maybe we can spot a clue in there.'
'Good thinking.' said Dormin and gave her a smile. 'I was about to ask if we had a map.'
She smiled down at the table and stroked her thigh and her tail curled around her leg when a warm sensation flowed gently through her.
Terry read the list of known and possible locations Ismene had put together while Ourania and Adalet marked them in different colours to set them apart.
Adalet tapped the location of the subway works. 'It would be most logical for the target to be around there.' She tapped the location of roadworks at major roads and a highway in the area. 'If they think about causing a blackout in the city the resulting mess would slow down traffic and keep law enforcement busy and they can use the closed roads to get away faster.'
Dormin nodded. 'So what's around there that's interesting?'
'Art dealers, expensive restaurants, the city museum.'
'Terry, can you focus on that area for Ismene's search?'
Terry typed commands in the terminal window. 'Done.'
Adalet tried to think of other interesting targets in the area. 'Something to do with art is all I can imagine. There's nothing else there as far as I know.'
'Ah!' said Terry and typed again. 'Ismene found something. An old mail in which the owner of a painting called Breeze refused to sell it to Elyssa. And it's on display at the museum for a special exposition about the painter.'
Ourania looked at Terry. 'That's it? All that trouble for a painting?'
'It's worth enough money to be on the shopping lists of plenty of wealthy people and the fact that she wants it plays a part.'
Dormin leaned forward. 'I say as long as Ismene hasn't come up with a better target we make plans on how to prevent this theft.'
The others agreed and Dormin made notes while they looked at every angle. 'It would be best to have someone present inside if the theft occurs.' said Adalet and looked at Dormin. 'With your experience you'd have to be the one.'
Terry scratched her ear. 'But that might only be possible if one of the assigned guards is unavailable and needs to be replaced.'
'I think there's still an open case file of a break in at that museum. I might be able to use that somehow.'
Terry looked up some information and hummed. 'I can register you as an employee at the security firm.' It's large enough that most people don't know their colleagues, especially when they're from other branches.
'Good.' Dormin said. 'See if Ismene can find more information on them and the guards working at the museum.'
Terry nodded and typed more.
'Let's see what else we can do to disrupt things for them.'
Some time later several lists were made and they'd get to work after they'd had their rest. Adalet, Terry, and Dormin stood up to head to their suite while Ourania took a schematic from her desk. 'I'm going to check on a control circuit before I'm going to sleep.' she said. 'It shut down intermittently and it's too important to let it fail completely.'
'Anything I can help with?' asked Terry.
Ourania shook her head. 'Not really. You'd better get your rest, then I'll take mine when you're busy.'
'If you need it though don't hesitate to wake me.' Terry said, then whispered 'Or Dormin if you need something else.' with a sly smile, and followed the others to the front suite, while Ourania suddenly felt a little hot and quickly gathered her small toolbox to distract her curious imagination with her work.
She went to the cockpit, checked the wiring and connectors running through the ceiling in the hallway behind it, measured the signal, and saw it fluctuate when she moved several cables at a tight spot along a construction beam. Her fingers slid along the cables and she detected a junction box wiggling at her touch. 'Drat.' she muttered.
She examined the space the cables went through and where the box was located, took her small toolbox, and went up to the hallway above,.There she lifted the floor panel where she had estimated the box would be underneath. She smiled a little in relief to see she could reach it easily from there.
After opening it and reattaching all connections inside the problem was fixed and the signal stayed active even while moving the cables again.
She had barely closed the floor panel when she noticed Terry's begging for something with a slight moan to her voice. She tried to ignore it but her curiosity as to what was going on was too strong, and she sneaked closer in the dark hallway to the slightly open door of the front suite. The dim light inside from the horizontal light strip at the head of the large bed was enough to witness everything.
She held her breath the moment she saw Terry naked on her hands and knees over a naked Dormin lying on his back. 'I can't hold back any longer.' Terry spoke in her husky voice while her tail weaved slightly as it stood up. 'I want you inside me so much now.'
Adalet stood next to the bed and leaned over to caress Dormin's chest. 'I feel it too.' she whispered. 'We've had to take it easy for far too long already.'