Read Nexus: Ziva Payvan Book 2 Online
Authors: EJ Fisch
Nexus: Ziva Payvan Book 2 (24 page)
Ziva pulled the old car up to the Shevin household in a great cloud of dust and killed the lights, throwing the street into darkness. The area was primarily residential, but the structures on either side of their little house appeared to be unoccupied. No one stirred as she jumped out of the car, pistol drawn, and strode up to the front door without hesitation.
As she’d listened to Aroska’s description of the conversation he’d overheard, she had understood immediately that the captains were talking about Kade Shevin. She hadn’t heard a peep from him since she had watched the news report after being arrested, but based on his behavior during the press conference, the things he was doing and saying came as no surprise. Agent Shevin was a victim of whoever had started this whole mess, no doubt kept alive for the sole purpose of testifying about what he had supposedly seen at Tachi’s gala…testifying against
her
. Aroska was right in that he could provide them with crucial information, especially if he really had been snooping around on his own as Dasaro said. Repeating the eight-hour round trip back to Haphor after less than an hour in Noro hadn’t been the least bit appealing, but here she was now and she wasn’t leaving without Shevin.
She reached the front door and listened carefully for a moment before pounding her fist against it and ringing the bell. The house was already dark, meaning one of two things: she was too late and Dasaro’s team had already come and gone, or the family had simply gone to bed. It was late, but she imagined the young couple might still be awake at this hour. She remained silent for several more seconds before giving the door another couple of solid raps.
Finally a set of very soft footsteps could be heard just inside, and there was a short pause before a woman’s voice spoke over the intercom: “Who is it?”
“HSP ma’am, open up please,” Ziva replied, stepping off to one side and readying the pistol.
There was another brief hesitation before the lock disengaged and the door slid open ever so slightly. The woman peered out at her, silhouetted against a dim light she had no doubt turned on upon coming to answer the door. She squinted out into the dark for a moment before her eyes widened and her hand flew to the controls.
Ziva’s arm shot out into the open doorway, startling the woman to the point that she took a step back. Forcing the door open a suitable distance, she slipped through and immediately shut it behind her. The other woman was frozen in place, tears welling up in her eyes as she lifted her trembling hands.
“Please,” she sobbed, “I have a baby girl—”
“Quiet!” Ziva snapped, holstering her weapon. “I’m looking for Kade. Who are you?”
“His wife, Veya. Please, you don’t have to do this.”
“Listen to me, Veya,” Ziva said, lifting her own hands. “Your husband is in considerable danger and I need to find him before some very bad people do.”
Veya took a step backward. “And why should I believe you? I watched you die! Everyone’s seen the footage!”
“Trust me, if I wanted to hurt Kade, he would already be dead and I wouldn’t be talking to you now. There are people hunting him who have strict orders to kill him, and I can guarantee this will be the first place they look. You’re putting yourself and your child in jeopardy by not helping me out here. These same people are…
were
hunting me. I can help Kade get away but you have to tell me where he is.”
The gears were clearly turning in Veya’s mind even as she shook her head. She stopped moving backward, but she was still trembling and made no move to respond.
“You’ve got a couple of choices here,” Ziva said. “You can wait around until these guys show up and kill you, or you can take a chance and assume I’m telling you the truth. Only one of those options is going to save your husband.”
“I don’t know where Kade is,” Veya replied as tears continued to stream down her face. “He’s been off work for a couple of hours. He could have stayed late, he could be out with friends…I swear I haven’t heard from him since this morning!”
“Do you have a way to contact him?”
Hands wringing, Veya went to a desk and began going through its drawers. She emerged after a few seconds with a small data pad and extended it to Ziva. “I’m not supposed to contact him on that while he’s at work.”
Ziva entered the code into her own data pad, initiating a trace, then took Veya’s from her. “Listen to me, okay?” she said, scribbling with the stylus. “These people are going to be here any minute. I’m not saying you have to, but if you’re smart you’ll take your daughter and go to this address in Noro. Two people named Marshay and Ryon will meet you there. Tell them that the bird is still in flight and they will know what to do – they’ll be able to keep you safe until all of this is over.”
“I can’t do that,” Veya said, shaking her head. “I can’t just leave Kade like this.”
Ziva shrugged. “That’s your choice, but like I said, you’ll go if you’re smart. I’ll be able to take care of Kade, and believe it or not he’ll be able to help me, too.”
“Okay,” Veya whispered, clutching the data pad.
“Most importantly, it’s imperative that you don’t speak to anyone but Marshay and Ryon, and that you don’t tell anyone else I was here. I promise this will all be over soon.”
A metallic grinding somewhere in the building jarred Kade from his thoughts. He sat up from where he’d been resting his head on Zona’s desk and listened. The last of the Royal Guard agents had left nearly an hour before, leaving him the sole occupant of the division’s headquarters. It was well into the night, if not early morning, and the fact that someone else was entering both relieved and unnerved him.
Curious, Kade worked his way into the security network on the computer and accessed the surveillance feed for the lobby of the building. His screen flickered for a moment then settled on a blank picture that ranged from dark gray in the top corner to a lighter blue shade on the opposite edge. The timestamp blinked faithfully in the bottom left of the screen, telling him the feed was still live. Kade stared at it for a moment, trying to wrap his head around what exactly he was seeing. Then something moved in the lighter area – a shadow, cast by someone off camera. Kade swallowed and sat bolt upright. Someone had moved the cam to face the wall.
Alarmed, he took up his pistol and went to the door of Zona’s office. The hall outside and the rest of the second floor seemed quiet enough, so he ventured out and headed for the bridge that passed over the work floor below. Multiple muffled voices reached his ears as he neared. They belonged to three different people, all men, though none of them sounded familiar to Kade. Still, he had never been there at this time of night and wasn’t sure who frequented the office during these hours. He crouched and allowed himself a peek down onto the floor.
The three men were working their way through the maze of cubicles, carrying rifles with small spotlights mounted on the barrels. With these they were illuminating and searching every workstation they passed, whispering among themselves as they went. They wore masks and were dressed entirely in black. All three were huge.
Kade felt his heart jump into his throat and understood immediately that he was the one they were searching for, whatever the reason may be. He leaped to his feet and took off back toward the office, pumping his quivering legs as fast as they would go. The computer was exactly as he had left it, so he fumbled with his memory stick, dropped it, hit his head on the desk while recovering it, and finally managed to jam it into the proper socket. He’d found plenty of potentially useful files, but Zona had sealed them all with an encryption that would have to be dealt with later. The narrow green bar that indicated transfer progress could not have moved slower as he stood there sweating.
Impatient, he went back to the door and risked another look out into the hallway. The beams of the spotlights were visible from where he stood, playing on the walls as the men made their way up the stairs. None of them were talking now, aware Kade was on the floor if he were still in the building. Using the elevator was out of the question – he was trapped unless he could make it past them to the stairwell.
The computer emitted a triumphant beep that sent a massive tingle through Kade’s body. He ducked back into the room just as one of the lights shone on the spot where he’d just been standing. TRANSFER COMPLETE flashed across the screen as he yanked the memory stick out and gathered up his satchel. He stood there for a moment, looking wildly about for a secondary means of escape. The answer presented itself in the form of a door that led into the adjoining office. He slipped through, leaving it slightly ajar to prevent any more noise than he’d already made. The footsteps of the intruders could be heard entering Zona’s office, and he could hear them whispering among themselves as they looked over what he’d been reading on the computer.
Satisfied that they would be occupied for at least a few more precious seconds, Kade went to the office’s main entry and stole into the hall. He flattened himself against the wall and did his best to still his shaking hands and slow his breathing. Zona’s desk was positioned so that even if they
did
see him making a break for it, he would be well past the door before they could react. Mustering his strength and holding his bag against his side to keep it from flopping about, Kade took off for the stairs without so much as a glance behind him.
Surprised shouts from the intruders came sooner than he would have liked. Kade slid to a stop and all but dove headfirst down the stairs, gripping the railing to keep from all-out tumbling. He managed to get his feet under him and jump down the last few steps, making a sharp turn at the bottom and darting into the building’s conference room. The sound of his own heart pounding was so deafening he was barely able to hear his pursuers descending the steps just outside.
Despite having to navigate his way through the maze of workstations on the squad floor, the front door was still the nearest exit and Kade knew he would have to create another diversion in order to reach it. He shrank back behind a large cabinet and waited as the three men searched the immediate area around the stairs and shone their lights into the darkened conference room. For a moment he considered trying to call for help. His communicator sat heavy in his jacket pocket, so he slipped his hand inside and held the rectangular device in his sweaty palm. Who could he call that would arrive soon enough to help, and how would he explain what he was even doing there and why he had broken into his commanding officer’s computer? Kade shuddered as he realized he was completely on his own. He stood there shaking, trying to search his racing mind for the comm extension for his own workstation.
The men began to move away from the stairs and back out onto the squad floor, so Kade followed them as far as the conference room door and watched them from the shadows. His desk was on the far side of the large room, but some of the nearer ones were only about ten meters away. If there was some way to reach one of them without being seen….
He hit the button on his communicator and held his breath until the transmission connected. The three intruders whirled at the sound of his comm system beeping, just as he had hoped. They advanced with their rifles trained on his desk and Kade dashed out behind them, clutching his bag and the precious memory stick. He hunkered down behind the nearest workstation and permitted himself a few deep breaths. He wasn’t quite sure how he would reach the front door from there, and was beginning to regret such hasty actions. Turning silently, he lifted his head until his eyes broke the plane of the desk. The men were still across the room examining his comm system.
A gloved hand clamped down over Kade’s mouth and an arm pulled him back against a solid body wearing a thick riding suit. Part of him was immediately frozen with terror and another part was thankful that a third party had arrived – either way, he refrained from thrashing about. Kade knew better than to scream for fear of attracting the attention of his hunters, so he resorted to holding his breath for fear that the newcomer was trying to drug him. He remained still, held fast with the mysterious person’s free arm across his chest. That arm slowly released its grip, though the other hand remained over his mouth, and Kade looked up into the face of his captor for the first time.
That face was hidden behind the heavily tinted visor of a helmet that matched the rest of the person’s ensemble. It appeared they were looking down at him, though he couldn’t be sure, and they held a single finger up to the place on the helmet where their mouth might be within. The hand over Kade’s mouth slowly slid away and went to the person’s hip where a pistol waited in its holster.
He watched as they drew the weapon and signaled for him to begin retreating. Kade glanced into the darkness of the hallway, which was a bit further than the conference room. From there it was a straight shot to the secondary stairwell that led to the lower level parking bay. But as much as it was for him, it was also a straight shot for his pursuers – in every sense of the phrase – should they catch on and come after him. That particular hallway offered no form of cover, one of several reasons he had originally opted to escape through the front.
The men were on the move again, proceeding forward and away from Kade’s current position. He heeded the mysterious figure’s instructions and scrambled away, but halfway between the desk and the hall, his communicator let out a warning
ding
to remind him he was still connected to the system at his workstation. Kade’s stomach wrenched itself into a knot and he threw himself to the floor as all three spotlights converged on him. He slid and rolled to safety behind the wall, narrowly avoiding the sizzling white plasma bolts that pierced the shadows.
Angry shouts were suddenly replaced with screams of surprise and pain when a fourth pistol with a slightly different tone joined the skirmish. Kade heard a body hit the floor as he ducked away from the bolts that zinged by just centimeters from his head. Shots were still being fired when his new companion appeared from nowhere and took off down the hall, dragging Kade by the arm. He stumbled along, still gripping his bag, and the two of them burst into the back stairwell.
There was something about this shadowy figure’s presence that brought a strange comfort to Kade – at least it appeared they weren’t there to do him harm. He watched the person creep silently down the stairs ahead of him, crouching and listening with the pistol up and ready. Cool air from the parking bay rose up and dried the sweat on his face. He shivered, more from nerves than the cold, and pulled up behind the mysterious bike rider where they had stopped just inside the garage.
A moment of eerie silence preceded a hail of gunfire that originated from behind a car on the far side of the massive bay. Kade and his rescuer ducked away, diving for cover in opposite directions. He rolled and rose up on his knees, recovering the pistol from his bag and firing from behind the cover of a parked hoverbike. The other person did the same, using the small security booth as a shield. Kade couldn’t help but notice the skill and precision in their manner of fighting, and he was very glad they had arrived when they did.
There was a lull in enemy fire as a plasma cell was exchanged and the suited figure took off at a dead run toward the first bank of HSP-issue armored groundcars. Kade followed as closely as he could, looking wildly about for the shooter as he dug through the satchel in search of his master key that was coded for any car assigned to that RG office. The shooting resumed when he was just meters from one of the vehicles and he dove again, sliding into place alongside his companion.
Upon seeing the key in his hand, they snatched it from him and rose up into a kneeling position, unlocking the door and remote-starting the engine simultaneously. They moved back and began to provide cover fire, giving Kade time to climb into the car and slide through to the other side. The rider was hot on his heels and had the vehicle roaring toward the exit before the door was even sealed. Cold air blew into Kade’s face as the passenger window slid open.
“Down,” came a muffled command from within the helmet.
Kade obeyed and felt his companion’s arm come to rest on his shoulder as they used it to steady their aim. Even at the speed they were moving, it only took three shots to silence the other shooter, and before he knew it the two of them had fallen anonymously into place amid the rest of Haphor’s late night traffic.
The interior of the car fell silent except for the sound of each of them breathing heavily. It remained that way for several long minutes until the traffic began to thin and they found themselves entering the forested area outside the city. Kade had no idea where they were headed and quite frankly didn’t care. He was alive, at least for the time being, and that was all that currently mattered.
His companion remained quiet and still except for a slight turning of the head as they continually checked the rear cams. Kade stole several wary glances in the pilot’s direction. He didn’t feel threatened by this person directly, but the longer they were silent and the longer they remained shrouded by the helmet, the more uncomfortable he felt.
He cleared his throat and turned directly toward the person. “I guess I should thank you,” he said.
The eyes behind the tinted visor glanced in his direction, into the rear cam, back to him, and then the car slowed. The gloved hands lifted from the controls and took hold of the helmet, tugging it off slowly. When it cleared the top of the head, Kade found himself looking into the face of a dead woman.
“Don’t thank me yet,” she said.