Star Wars_ Rebel Force 05_ Trapped - Alex Wheeler [3]
Div drifted away.
CHAPTER TWO
Sirens blared across the Rebel Base. Luke, Leia, and Han raced toward Div's cell. The door had been torn from its hinges. Han looked inside, preparing himself for the worst.
But the cell was empty. Div was gone. "How'd he manage that?" Han wondered.
Behind him, R2-D2, Luke's little astromech droid, beeped urgently.
"Captain Solo, he says he's tapped into the security holocam feed," C-3PO, R2-D2's protocol droid counterpart, reported. "The prisoner didn't escape. He was kidnapped!"
"We need to meet with General Rieekan and decide how to proceed," Leia said in alarm.
Han looked at her like she was crazy. "You meet with whoever you want, honey," he told her. "I'm going to find our missing prisoner."
They were all certain that Div was working for X-7, an Imperial assassin determined to murder Luke. Hiring Div wasn't X-7's first attempt. He'd tried to kill Luke several times—and had once set up Han to look like the assassin. It wasn't the kind of thing Han was ready to forget. X-7 was due for some payback. And he had disappeared. Div might be their only way of finding him.
Besides, even if Div was a hired gun for an Imperial assassin, he'd turned out to be a pretty good guy. He'd helped Han out of more than one tight situation, and Han wasn't about to let a bunch of kidnappers just carry him off into the jungle. Not without a fight.
"We need a strategy, Han!" Leia said, looking annoyed. Of course, she rarely looked any other way—at least, when she was looking at him. "We can't go rushing into the jungle without any—"
Ignoring her, Han cocked his head at Luke. "You coming, kid?"
Luke glanced back and forth between Han and Leia. He hesitated for only a second.
"We can't waste time," he told Leia apologetically. "If we lose Div, we'll never find X-7."
Han stole a moment to shoot Leia a victorious look. Then he took off toward the exit.
He hoped that once they got outside, they could spot signs of a struggle or something to lead them in the right direction. He activated his comlink. "Chewie, we've got a situation here. Meet me at the barracks, quick as you can."
Behind him, he heard Leia ordering C-3PO to report to General Rieekan. Then she said, "Come on, Artoo. Looks like it's up to us to keep Han out of trouble."
Han grinned. Good luck, lady, he thought.
It was a fool's mission. But it was always fun to watch her try.
They trooped through the trees, following a twisting path of broken branches and shallow footprints. The trail ended in a narrow clearing at the heart of the jungle. R2-D2's tracking skills had led them this far. But now he was picking up no traces of Div anywhere. Chewbacca, who had a much keener sense of smell than the humans, was also having no luck. They'd reached a dead end.
"No, we are not turning back," Luke insisted angrily.
"What else can we do?" Leia asked.
" Find him," Luke said. "This is our fault."
Leia shook her head. "Luke, no—"
" We locked him up," Luke said. " We bound him. And when they came for him…" He shook his head. "We have to find him."
"You ever think he might not want to be found?" Han said. "Maybe this whole thing's a setup. Some of his friends bust him out, make it look like a kidnapping—"
"No," Luke retorted. "Div wouldn't—" He cut himself off. "Okay. Maybe you're right."
Leia looked at him in surprise. She knew that Luke had come to trust and respect Div while they were trapped on Kamino together. He'd been unhappy about the need to keep Div prisoner. Obviously, a part of him considered the mysterious pilot a friend. And it wasn't like Luke to distrust his friends.
"And maybe you're wrong," Luke continued. "But we're never going to know unless we find him."
"That's what we've been trying to do," Han reminded him.
"And we've tried everything," Leia told him. "It's time to go back. We need reinforcements."
"Not everything," Luke said, his mouth set in a determined line. "Come on,