“Zo,” Zane greeted with a nod.
“Sorry to drop in on you like this, Zane,” Zo stated. “But we’re in need of your help.”
Zane’s brow rose, his skepticism clear in his eyes. “What kind of help?”
“I see you have the news on, so I know I don’t need to tell you the events that transpired earlier today.”
“I have a feeling I know where this is going, and my answer is no,” Zane replied.
“Zane, please, be reasonable,” Zo urged. “We need you and your boys’ expertise on this.”
“I’m retired,” Zane said. “I solve mechanical problems for you in regards to your vehicles and repair and upgrade weapons when I really have to, but that is the extent I will go to for the military now.”
“Just hear him out, Zane,” I urged. He eyed me skeptically. “You could at least find out what he wants. He came all this way to ask it.”
He sighed. “All right, fine.”
Zo grinned. “Thank you, sweetheart.”
I forced a smile in response.
“Go get Argus,” Zane ordered Rylan.
Rylan nodded and set a brisk pace down the hall. Figuring I should make it look like I was uninterested, I looked back down at my book.
“That’s a pretty big book,” Zo commented.
I looked up and smiled at him. “It’s really old, too. It’s the only book I have that has been helping me recover what I lost.”
“How’s that going for you?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Decent, I guess.”
He smiled at me. “Good.”
I went back to my book. Raikidan tried to turn the page on me, but I slapped his hand.
“Slowpoke,” he muttered.
I nudged him. “You had a head start. Don’t complain.”
He grinned. “I will complain. It’s not my fault you chose to talk to a stranger.”
“At least I try to socialize.”
He grunted. “Just hurry up.”
I chuckled and pretended to read some more. Ryoko leaned over the couch to take a peek. “Whatcha reading about?”
“Our village’s customs,” I said.
“Oh, sounds interesting,” she said. “Can I read it too?”
“After we’re done you could.” I shot an accusing glare at Raikidan. “It’s hard enough with two people trying to read.”
“M’kay.” She jumped over the couch and sat back down in her original seat.
“Village?” That got Zo’s attention.
I looked up at him. “Yeah, I thought you figured that out when we first met since we had never seen each other before.”
“I assumed it was because you were kept up in here,” he replied.
I shook my head. “I came to the city without memory.”
His brow furrowed. “Then why come here?”
“Because the village was pressuring her to remember.” Raikidan didn’t look up at Zo as he spoke. “This pressure was making her recovery process hard, and ultimately crippled it, so I brought her here.”
“Well… that was… thoughtful of you,” Zo replied. There was something in his voice I didn’t like, but I couldn’t place what it was.
I smiled more and looked at Raikidan. “Rai is the best. He’s always looking out for me.”
Raikidan wrapped his arm around my neck and head, pulling me into him. “And I’m glad that is one memory you retained from the start. I would have hated to have to remind you of that.”
I laughed as I struggled against him until he let me go. Looking down at the book, I glanced at the last two lines of the page and turned it.
“What took you two so long?” I looked up again when Zane spoke. Rylan and Argus were now in the living room.
“I filled him in on what happened, since he was shaving during the newscast,” Rylan informed.
Zo looked Argus over. “Good to see you cleaned your face up, Argus.”
Argus grumbled quietly and looked at me. “Happy?”
I smiled. “You look better.”
Ryoko looked up at him and nodded in agreement.
“All right, now that we’re all here, what do you want with us, Zo?” Zane asked.
Zo reached into a small bag tied to his belt and pulled out a small cylindrical object. “This is one of the few undetonated bombs we found after the attack. We’ve already determined it’s a dud, but we’ve never seen anything like it. We were hoping maybe an older generation of soldiers may know. The few older gen still in active service have never seen them.”
Zane took the bomb and looked it over. “I’ve never seen anything like this. What about you, Blaze?”
He snorted. “I punch things, not blow them up. Your guess would be better than mine.”
“Argus?”
Argus took the bomb and inspected it. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. What about you, Rylan? You’re a bit younger than us. Maybe you’ve come across something like it?”
Rylan shook his head. “Nothing is ringing a bell. Ryoko?”
“Nope.”
“You haven’t even looked at it.”
She snorted. “I smash things and fix things. I know nothing about bombs.”
He shook his head and then looked at me. “Since you two aren’t from here, maybe you might know?” He glanced at Zo. “If that’s okay.”
Zo sucked in a tight breath and gave a curt nod. Rylan tossed it to us and Raikidan caught the bomb. The two of us inspected it, my mind racing with ways to use this. None of the boys would lie about this, but we all knew something had to be done to take the heat off our operation. Rylan trusted me to either let this go or fabricate something based on my alibi, and lucky for him, I could.
Raikidan and I looked at each other and I nodded before looking at everyone. “We do.”
Zo’s posture straightened. “What can you tell me?”
“This is common on the west side of the Larkian Mountains,” I said. “They’re used for mass clearing of land. Extremely destructive on their own, it only takes a handful to level a mountain.”
One of the soldiers spoke. “How easy is it for someone to get their hands on one?”
“Anyone can, with the right knowledge,” Raikidan said. “Most are made right at home.”
Zo looked between us. “Do you two know how to make them?”
Raikidan shook his head, as did I, before I responded. “No. My father taught my brother, but he wouldn’t teach me.”
“My family didn’t have a need for them,” Raikidan added.
Zo focused on me, as I hoped. I wasn’t sure how much Raikidan could handle the grilling and working with our alibi. “Did you father or brother come with you to the city? I’d like to speak to them.”
My eyes lowered and lips slipped into a frown. “They’re… both dead…”
“Nice going, General,” one of the soldiers muttered.
“I… I’m sorry…” Zo managed, his voice giving away his awkwardness in the situation. “I… didn’t mean to upset you. Is there anything else you can tell me about these?”
Wow… that was the most unsympathetic apology I’d heard in a long time. I looked up at him. “I’m assuming you’ve opened these up, since you confirmed it a dud?”
He nodded. I turned it on its side, listening to how the components inside moved. I’d noticed that same sound before, when the bomb was passed around. I twisted the end cap off and poured some of the contents into my hand. “While I don’t know the exact formula, I know how it’s detonated, and I’ve heard of what some of the components were. It requires an electrical charge, and if the contents aren’t packed right, that charge won’t detonate. This is coming out too loose for it to have ever had hope of working.”
I sifted through the contents on my palm and my brow furrowed when I found some metal that looked similar to a synthetic metal no one outside of Zarda’s forces should have access to. “This is weird. A lot of these components look like what I’ve heard should be in here, but there are other
contents that look to be wrong, and there are pieces of metal mixed in. I think they were trying for extra shrapnel damage, but these bombs don’t need that when made right. Adding it in would increase the chance for a dud.”
Argus waved me over. “Let me look.”
I nodded and walked around the couch. Argus sifted through the pile in my hand and pulled out some of the metal. He inspected it and then ran off. “I’ll be right back.”
I looked at the boys, the soldiers, and then down the hall. Looks like I may be right about my find. I poured the contents back into the bomb shell while we waited.
Argus returned a little over five minutes later and addressed Zo. “You have a problem. The metal she found is a classified synthetic. No one without proper clearance should be able to get their hands on it.”
Zo’s eyes darkened. “Shit, means we have a leak somewhere.”
“Question is, what kind,” his subordinate said. “We know this weapon style isn’t from this region.”
He not-so-subtly looked my way. I placed my hands on my hips. “Excuse you? Why the hell would you think I’d have anything to do with it?”
“Because you know so much about them,” he said.
Shit, this guy is way too suspicious. Well, can’t go back now. “Apparently you weren’t listening when I said so does half of Lumaraeon! We aren’t the only immigrants in this city, or the only visitors. And it most certainly doesn’t mean someone from this city couldn’t learn how to make these.” My eyes burned into him. “On top of that, why the hell would I tell you all of this if I had something to do with the attack on the news? That’s completely idiotic!”
Zo held up his hands. “Easy, both of you. Even if it’s suspicious she knows, it’s no grounds for accusations.”
“Knowledge of this construction is near ubiquitous outside of Dalatrend, therefore correlation cannot imply collusion,” Argus said, attempting to help me. Geez, Argus, couldn’t use stupid-people words?
“Besides, she’s been here all morning,” Rylan said. “We all can vouch for her.”
The soldier’s eyes narrowed. “Like your friend said, just because she wasn’t part of this attack doesn’t mean she’s not involved. We don’t know how dangerous she could be.”
“You want dangerous?” I took a step forward, my real anger running a little out of control. “I’ll give you—”
Rylan grabbed ahold of me and pulled me back. “Easy.”
“No, no,” Ryoko said. “Let her. I want to see the show.”
The soldier snorted. “You really think she could do anything to me?”
Raikidan looked up from the book. “She beat a man senseless with a shoe once. He cut, hauled, and sold lumber for a living.”
Ryoko burst with laughter. “I’d have loved to see that!”
I relaxed, using it as a way to calm my image and my real emotions. “I did that?”
“Yeah, about a year before your accident. Your brother and I found it too amusing to stop you.”
I crossed my arms. “Now that I can believe.”
Zo cleared his throat. “I think we’ve gotten enough information here. Thank you, Eira, for your assistance in the matter.”
I looked at him. “If you want my opinion, which you didn’t ask for but I’m going to give anyway, you have either an infiltration issue, or someone isn’t as loyal at they claim. My guess is that it’s the latter.” I glanced at the soldier throwing around accusations. “An outsider would be smart enough to not use that synthetic metal. They’d know it’d cause stability issues. These are destructive enough without it.”
Zo nodded and took my hand, much to my distaste. “I will consider what you have to say.” He planted a firm kiss on my hand. “Thank you again.”
“Don’t let him touch you! Kill him.”
I forced a smile. “You’re welcome.”
“We’ll show ourselves out.” The three of them turned and left.
Once the door shut, everyone relaxed.
I rubbed my hand on my pants. “Disgusting.”
Zane rubbed his head. “Eira, you have to be the craziest woman I know, going toe-to-toe with them when you should be playing it cool.”
I scratched my head. “Yeah… sorry about that. Got a little carried away.”
“I don’t see the issue,” Ryoko said. “No civilian, even a timid one, would take that kind of treatment. And even if we wanted Laz to play down her more ‘aggressive’ side, that’s just only going to go so far with her. We all know her better than that.”
Raikidan closed the book. “From an outsider’s perspective, I’d agree with her.”
Ryoko held out her hands to emphasis a silent thank you.
“Either way, that was one heck of a story you crafted,” Argus said.
I leaned on the back of the couch. “Wasn’t hard. It’s a real bomb, and it’s most common on that side of Lumaraeon.”
Raikidan nodded. “You’ll see them most often in the mountainous regions.”
Rylan rubbed the back of his neck. “Glad I went with my gut instinct to pass it to you. None of us were going to be able to come up with anything to throw them.”
“It was a good call,” I agreed. “Even if we didn’t have anything, we tried in the very least.”
Ryoko leaned on the couch. “Argus, was that synthetic really in there?”
He nodded. “Yes. It is a problem, too.” He held up Rylan’s arm. “It’s this one. Near impervious to fire and heat once hardened, and the only type Brutes even as strong as you struggle to break. Only a select few people have the clearance to touch it. No one in the resistance can even get their hands on it.”
Her brow furrowed. “Just great. So not only do we have the military on our ass, we have to worry about someone framing us, too.”
“It makes sense they would, though,” Blaze said. “I mean, if the military is looking at us as the culprits, then they can get away with more of these unknown agendas they have.”
“I know, but I don’t like it,” Ryoko said.
“It is concerning,” I agreed. “What could they gain for causing such destruction?”
“Hard to say without knowing who is doing it,” Argus said. “We’ll just have to hope more information can be dug up in time. Not ideal, but not much else we can do.”
Zane clapped his hands together. “He’s right. So, we need to focus on getting through the day.” He looked at me. “I hope you remembered something from the last time you worked in my shop. I don’t intend to spend forever teaching you all over again.”
I grinned. “I’m confident my time in the wild hasn’t affected me that bad.”
He clapped me on the back as he laughed. “Good. Now go get something work-appropriate on.” He gave the boys a sidelong glance. “I don’t need another walking accident on my payroll.”
Ryoko got off the couch. “I’ll get you some good shoes. Boys, see if you have any extras that’ll fit Raikidan. We’ll have to go out later and get his own pair.”
I went to my room to change into a tank top and jeans. Nothing fancy, but practical, and made sure to keep my jewelry to a minimum and not hanging from my body.
Ryoko came into my room after knocking on the door twice and sighed when she saw me. “Please tell me you plan to wear a different bra.”
My brose rose. “What’s wrong with the one I’m wearing? It’s practical.”
“Sports bras compress you too much, making your boobs smaller.”
I rolled my eyes. “And? Not like I’ve got much to compress.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “Don’t you start with that. You know you’re not as small as you like to claim.”
“Whatever. Can I have those shoes, or am I going to have to dig through the bottom of my closet?”
She handed me the boots. “You really should consider what I’m saying. We get tips, and as much as I hate it, it does help.”
I slipped a boot on. “If they want something to look at, they should head down to Midni
ght. I’m not a piece of ass they can get their hands on.”
“With an attitude like that, it’s going to make them want you more.”
“Well, good thing no one wants me.”
Ryoko’s gaze darted away. “I wouldn’t say that.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“Zo seems pretty taken with you.”
I snorted. “Oh, please.”
She placed her hands on her hips again. “I’m serious. He’d be a horrible choice, because I know how he treats women, but I’ve never seen him act this way before. Could you really not tell how jealous he was getting when you were paying attention to Raikidan?”
I tied up the boot on my other foot. “I’m too smart to fall for your trick.”
She smacked her forehead. “C’mon, Laz! I know you hate this topic for various reasons, but you seriously can’t be that blind. Every time your attention went to Raikidan, he tried to get it back. Every time you two showed how close you were, he got uncomfortable. He kissed your hand as a thank you for a military related issue you shouldn’t even been around to hear as a non-military personnel, for Satria’s sake. Last I knew, he has never done that to any woman.”
“Raikidan and I aren’t close,” I corrected. “We were acting.”
She threw her hands into the air in defeat. “I give up. You can’t admit you have a different type of bond with Raikidan than you do with everyone else, and you can’t get it through your thick head that someone could actually show interest. You’ll see it eventually.”
I sighed. “I don’t have a bond with Raikidan. Why can’t you understand that?”
“Oh, for the love of the goddess! You’re so stubborn. The two of you fought over a damn book. Instead of inflicting pain on him or chewing him out for trying to take it, you let him fight with you for it. On top of that, you allow him to stay in this very room. Obviously, with the way you deny your bond, he does sleep on the floor as you claim, but the fact you let him stay in here at all is the part that baffles me! If that isn’t a bond of some sort, I don’t know what is.”
Destiny (Experimental Heart Book 1) Page 38