Copyright 1999 -- Robert Baer Jr. 

The Renegade Files - "The Search for Ithica Stone - Part 2"


PROLOGUE

>This is the story of a superhero, The Computer Renegade, as told through
>the eyes of his faithful bionic German Shepard Otto.  Disguised as
>Accountant Nathan Lovejoy, the Renegade and his friends fight a never
>ending battle against crime, injustice and danger.   This is yet another
>entry from Otto's 'personal' log.
>
The Renegade Files -- "The Search for Ithica Stone -- Part 2"

The two men grabbed the Computer Counsellor by the arms and led her away
from Starlight, who was still neighing very loudly on the ground, unable
to move.

"What about my horse?" the Counsellor pleaded,"she's been shot, I can see
her bleeding from here!"

"You're right, Ithica!" one of the men said with an evil grin on his
face,"let's put her out of her misery."

"NO!" the other man shouted,"we got what we came for, let that old nag
die!"

The Counsellor burst into tears as she limped away being escorted by her
abductors.   Meanwhile, back at Agent Delnas's office, I faced a dilema. 
All of us but Agent Delnas now knew who Ithica Stone really was.  If any
of us told her that she was the Counsellor, she might try to do some more
digging and discover my master's true identity.  Besides, the Counsellor
must've had a reason not to trust the FBI in the first place.  

"Renegade," I said with a wink,"it's time we were leaving."

"GOOD!"  Agent Delnas shouted,"I knew you could solve the mystery!   Let's
go find her!"

All of us stood together, I activated my black box circuitry, and with a
loud BOOM!!  we were all gone.... except for Agent Delnas.

"HEY!" she shouted,"you guys forgot me!   Take me with you!   DO YOU HEAR
ME?!?!"

I didn't have the exact location, so I zapped us to the Counsellor's
house.  My senitive hearing picked up the neighing of Starlight in the
distance, with another loud BOOM!!  we were all standing by her side. 
Melitta screamed "STARLIGHT!" and hugged her by the neck.

"My scans indicate that she's been shot!" I shouted with fear in my
voice,"her system circuitry is badly damaged, and nearly all of her
functions are offline, she has to get to Uncle Buford's lab fast!"

"I'll take her there!" Melitta shouted as tears fell from her eyes,"then
I'm coming back to beat the crap out of the person who did this to my
horse!"

Melitta took out her black box and instantly teleported her and Starlight
away.  The Renegade looked at his hand held computer to try to find out
where the Counsellor was.

"Nothing!" he grumbled in frustration,"I can't pick up any signal from her
at all!"

"She probably wasn't carrying her black box with her, Mr Renegade, sir,"
Samantha said sadly as she turned to me,"honey, what high tech devices can
we use to find her?"

"Let's use something low-tech," I suggested,"we're dogs, remember?   I
know her scent, I'll bet you do also, dear.  Let's find her the old
fashioned way!"

"I think you have something there, Otto!" the Renegade said,"since there's
no tire tracks, they must be keeping her somewhere nearby.  Pick up the
scent, you two, we have to find her before it's too late!"

Meanwhile, at an nearby cottage in the countryside, three sinister men
have tied the Counsellor, Jack Cradlebum and Herman Shotz to chairs in the
middle of the living room.  One of the men was Hands Gallagher, and he was
holding an automatic weapon in his hand.

"Now that we have ALL of you here," he said with an evil sneer,"it's time
I made you stool pigeons stop chirping, forever!"

"You'll never get away with this!" the Counsellor yelled,"I don't
understand, you're free!  Why not just leave the country?"

"Because, Miss Stone," Hands explained,"I want REVENGE first!  NO ONE
betrays ME and gets away with it!   I trusted you three, you snitched to
the Feds, now you're all going to PAY!"

As Hands aimed his weapon, suddenly it vanished from his hands.  The
rifles that his two henchmen held also disappeared, causing them all to
fear.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!" Hands screamed in rage.  As he stood there fuming,
his three captives instantly vanished, too.

"Something funny's going on here.."  one of the henchmen mumbled as he
trembled.

"WHO'S OUT THERE?" Hands yelled,"SHOW YOURSELVES NOW!"

Instantly, my wife and I became visible.  We had been standing right
beside him the entire time!

"DOGS?" he said in disbelief,"DOGS DID THIS?"

"That's right, Hands Gallagher!" I barked,"and you and your cronies are
going back to prison!"

"NO WE'RE NOT!" one of the henchmen yelled as he grabbed a nearby bag of
flour and threw it at us.  The villians ran outside as we were temporarily
blinded by the white powdery 'smoke' in the air.

"They're getting away!" Samantha yelled,"we gotta stop them!"

"I don't think they're going anywhere," I said with a grin,"I zapped one
of our friends here to help us out!  He's standing outside there right
now."

The three mobsters ran with all their might away from the cottage, only to
accidently bump into what they thought was two large tree trunks.  When they
all slowly looked upward, they received the biggest shock of their lives.

"SO!" the Computer Dinosaur thundered,"YOU ARE THE TWERPS WHO GRABBED MY
FRIEND!   I'M GOING TO ENJOY EATING Y'ALL!"

As he lowered his huge head towards them, they ran straight back into the
cottage.

"I've never seen humans run so fast!" the Dinosaur chuckled.  There was
another surprise waiting for them inside that made them all even more
frightened.

"YOU'RE THE ONES WHO SHOT MY HORSE!" the Masked Melitta shouted as she hit
one of the henchmen in the face with her fist, sending him to the floor in
a heap.

"You're horse?" the other said just before Melitta's foot nailed him on
the side of his head, sending him to the floor beside the other one.

"Not bad, blondy!" Hands Gallagher said sweetly,"now, you wouldn't hit me
in the face, now, would you, sweetie?"

"NOPE!" she screamed as she kicked him between the legs, making him fall
to the floor and wimper in pain,"I would NEVER to that, DARLING!"

"That's MY master!" Samantha said proudly.

"The Renegade says all of the captives are safe!" I reported to the
ladies,"he also sent the Counsellor to Uncle Buford's lab, to look in on
Starlight.  He's also teleported Agent Delnas here, and she's very upset
with us!"

The door of the cottage burst open and in stomped Agent Delnas.

"OTTO!" she shouted,"why did you leave me at the office?"

"Sorry, ma'am," I said as I did my 'sad eyes' routine,"must've had set my
teleport circuits incorrectly.   We did capture Hands and his men, and all
three of his captives are safe!"

"Yes," Agent Delnas said,"we're taking statements from Jack and Herman
now, but where's Ithica Stone?"

"Well," I said sadly,"she's not in here, ma'am!"

"Melitta, Samantha!" Agent Delnas shouted,"tell me who she is and where
she's at, NOW!"

"Hmmmmm," Melitta said,"the name doesn't ring a bell with me, how about
you, Sam?"

"Well," Samantha muttered,"like my husband said, she's not in here!"

"I know who she is!" one of the henchmen said,"I'll tell you if you cut me
a deal!"

Agent Delnas grabbed him by the collar and screamed,"NO DEAL, TELL ME WHO
SHE IS OR I'LL BEAT YOU SENSELESS!"

I acted fast, activating my cerebral neutralizer, I quickly made all three
of the villians 'forget' who Ithica Stone really was.

"Her name is ........" the henchman stopped,"er.... I don't know!"

Agent Delnas let the man drop to the floor and came towards us, shaking
her finger at us.

"LISTEN UP!"  Agent Delnas growled,"you tell me who she is and where's
she's at NOW or I'll arrest all three of you!"

"Now, you know better than that!" Melitta said as she reached for her
black box and pressed the button.  BOOM!!!!  We were all instantly in
Uncle Buford's lab.  Uncle Buford slowly walked into the room we were
standing in with a sad look on his face.

"Uncle Bofurd, sir," Samantha asked,"how is she?"

"The bullet wound wasn't very deep," Uncle Buford said sadly,"and I
repaired her circuitry.  But she's very depressed right now.  The
Counsellor and Nathan are in there talking to her now, I believe you
should join them there."

All of us entered the back room.  Starlight was on a huge soft mattress,
crying uncontrolably as Nathan and the Counsellor tried to comfort her.

"Starlight, I'm telling you it wasn't your fault!" the Counsellor
insisted,"please stop blaming yourself.."

"IT IS MY FAULT!" Starlight shouted as she cried,"I had my defensive and
survalience systems turned off during our ride!  I put you in danger due
to my negligence..."

"Starlight," the Renegade explained,"the rest of us are at fault here.  We
should've contacted you when we first received Agent Delnas's
transmission, but we chose not to.  If we had ,.."

"Please, stop this, BOTH of you!" the Counsellor shouted,"if there's
anyone to blame here, it's me.  I never told any of you about my past, not
even the Dinosaur knows the whole story.  Starlight, Nathan, all of you
are my dearest friends.  I love you all, will you guys PLEASE stop blaming
yourselves for this?  For me?  Please?"

"But I feel responsible," Starlight said sadly,"you were injured when I
fell on top of you!"

"It's only a sprained ankle," the Counsellor said as she petted
Starlight,"I'll be fine in a few weeks, don't worry.  It would've been a
lot worse if you all hadn't found me in time."

"By the way, where is Mr Dinosaur?" Samantha asked.

"Oh NO!"  I said in amazement,"I completely forgot about him!"

"That explains this police band message I've just received," Starlight
said with a chuckle,"people have reported sighting a 'huge monster' in the
woods just north of your house, Counsellor!"

"I better go get him!"  I giggled,"before Agent Delnas begins to think
she's at Loch Ness!"

Everyone laughed.  I did bring the 'big guy' back to Uncle Buford's farm. 
Apparently, Agent Delnas must've spotted him in the woods, my records show
that she'd requested a long leave of absence from the FBI shortly
afterwards.   Oh well, the rest will do her good!  

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