Shortly after 10:00 pm, tired, sore, and still hungry, Becki and Josh finally stumbled back into the seventh floor loft of 13 Rue Duvergé.
"You're back!" Vickie exclaimed as soon as they walked through the door.
"'Bout time," Mike grumbled.
Without pausing for greetings, Josh launched into the business at hand. "Hey, have you guys heard from Crispy?"
"No," Vickie admitted. "Why?"
Josh frowned. "He dropped off of Kristy's scope earlier and she hasn't been able to get a hold of him since."
"What happened?" Mike asked.
"He was leading the police away from us. Kristy says there were a couple dozen following him. He was wounded - shot in the leg. They had him surrounded. He found a tunnel of some sort, and as soon as he went in Kristy lost his signal. She's been trying to find him, but the satellites haven't picked up his comlink and there's been no sign of life around the area where he disappeared."
"He'll make it back," Vickie said, a strong conviction evident in her voice. "He can take care of himself."
"I know. But still, I'm worried. It's been hours now without a peep from him. We should have heard something by now." Josh paused for a minute and stared down at his shoes. When he raised them again they blazed with anger. "We're going after him. Right now. Everyone go get your battle suits and body armor on. Mike, make sure everyone has a heavy blaster and as many clips as they can carry. Zee, get me a one mile satellite view of the area. I want to know who's there and how many. Call Noreh and let her know we may need air support."
"Whoa, wait a second. You want to go in battle armor?! Josh, be reasonable," Vickie demanded.
"We can get our team mate back."
"Like hell! The area's probably still crawling with cops. If Crispy's there he's lying low. Going in there with guns blazing is only going to get us in a shooting war with the French cops!"
Mike took a step forward and into the fray. "She's right. This is a bloody stupid idea. Crispy's out there because you ordered him to provide a distraction for us. Going after him in full force now would defeat the purpose, don't you think?"
"You're right! He is out there on my orders! It's my fault he was being chased, it's my fault he was shot, and the least I can do is to go after him! Now get your damn gear together and let's GO!"
"Josh," Becki said softly as she put her hand on his shoulder, "think about this for a minute. This isn't going to help Crispy. I know you feel responsible for him, but the best thing you can do for him now is to trust him to take care of himself. If something happened to the rest of us trying to help Crispy we might not be able to finish the mission. There's too much at stake to take that chance." She paused for a second before adding, "Normally you'd be the one saying that."
Josh turned his back to the team and stared out the large windows. The cold night air was very clear. It seemed he could see the entire city from where he stood. Somewhere out there was a man he'd sent on a mission. At least he hoped he was still out there. He wasn't sure anymore.
Rather than a Jedi calming technique Vickie would be able to sense, Josh turned to the time-honored three deep breaths to calm himself. "You're right," he said quietly after a long moment. "You're all right. I'm sorry."
Vickie walked around to face him and favored him with a warm smile. "You know we'd all do anything to help Crispy if we could."
"Yeah. I know."
"So, whatcha got in the backpack?" she asked.
"You know," Becki said, "in all the excitement we hadn't thought to look."
"The excitement, the hours of sheer boredom, the long and exhausting walk around town." Josh said. He turned to smile mischievously at Becki. Vickie watched the two curiously. Something was going on between the two of them. Perhaps her job was getting easier by the moment. "As many times as you pulled something out of it I'm surprised you don't have a full inventory posted on a website yet."
"These things take time, you know." She crossed to the couches in front of the TV and sat the backpack on the coffee table in the middle. "So far we've found bacta patches, some money, and one of those nifty flex-ID cards in there."
"And we stuck that note you found in there, and that fragment I picked up in Cheriss' kitchen," Josh said as the rest of the group gathered around the table.
"What was left of it," Mike muttered.
"So, let's see what else we have," Josh said. He unzipped the bag and turned it upside down, unceremoniously dumping its contents onto the coffee table. Strewn across the table was a charred piece of wood, three datapads, a small quantity of current European money and some older Francs, bacta patches of various sizes, and what appeared to be a cellphone. A small piece of paper fluttered away from the pile and landed at Vickie's feet.
Vickie picked up the note, which she recognized as the one Becki had found hours earlier. "Um, it's in Aurebesh. Zee, can you take a look at this for me?" she said as she handed the note to the protocol droid.
At the same time Josh and Mike reached for a datapad each and Becki grabbed the cell phone. Becki turned the device over a few times and examined it closely. She looked up at her team mates with an expression of great surprise. "It's a cellphone!"
"No kidding. What was your first hint?" Josh asked.
"No, I mean it's a real cell phone," she said. "It's not a disguised comlink."
"That's weird," Josh said as he reached for the phone, practically pulling it right out of Becki's hands.
"Now you're interested?" she asked, giving him a mock glare.
"Just not something you'd expect an intergalactic spy to be carrying, you know?" He played with the phone's buttons for a few minutes, frowning as he studied the small display. "There's a few numbers in the speed dial - seem to all be in France, except.... Wait, where's this one?"
"Hey guys, look at this." Mike was intently studying the datapad he'd picked up. "This thing was encrypted, but one of the standard NRI codes opened it up."
"What is it?" Vickie asked.
"It's some sort of journal. Looks like Cheriss' notes on the shield investigation."
"Zee, see if you can find out where these numbers are." Josh absently handed the phone to the droid as he moved to look over Mike's shoulder at the datapad.
Becki picked up the discarded datapad Josh had been looking at and found it to have a map of Paris. Several locations were marked. She recognised a few.
Vickie went to see where Zee was coming with the note. "You have anything?"
"It seems to be several holonet addresses. I am having a bit of trouble with this 'cell phone' contraption."
She smirked and took the phone to look at the numbers. Sitting down at the nearby computer, she searched. All but one were Paris numbers. The odd number was just that. She was going to have to go about this a different way.
Josh and Mike skimmed through the journal. "I feel weird about this, going through someone's personal journal," Mike complained.
"It had a standard password. It was meant to be read by others."
"Yeah, but... what have we here?" He paused and began to read aloud. "'I must get with the Terran New Republic representatives immediately. Things are beginning to move much too quickly. I will not be able to hold out much longer. There are other reasons as well, but...' It stops there."
"What do you think she means?"
"I don't know," Becki said, "but this might help. One of the spots marked on the map is right near our apartment."
"Hey, guys," Vickie called from the computer. "I think we have a lead. This odd number is from Saudi Arabia. Perhaps we have our first true clue."
Josh nodded towards the datapad Mike still held in his hand. "I'd say our first several."