by EJ Fisch
Aroska sat up straight and leaned toward her. “I told you before, that’s none of your business.”
Ziva glared at him for a moment before sitting back in her chair with one leg crossed over the other. She folded her arms and any shred of innocence vanished from her face. “Fine,” she muttered, “whatever helps you sleep at night. But you can’t deny that you have a problem.”
“I’m not denying anything!” Aroska exclaimed, fighting away a sudden wave of nausea that coursed through his stomach. A good portion of the bottles he had just cleaned up were from the previous night, and some were even from early that morning.
Ziva stood up and approached him, perching on the edge of the table just to his right. Her arms were still crossed as she bent down closer to him, eyes ablaze. “You’re going to help me,” she growled. “The fact that I’m the one asking should be reason enough.”
Aroska was too focused on the churning in his stomach to pay much attention to what she was saying, let alone come up with a snappy response. He felt his intestines cramp violently and managed to lean away from Ziva just as he spewed vomit all over himself and the table.
Ziva sighed and stared forward, unfazed. Neither of them said anything for several awkward moments, and the only sound to be heard was the soft gurgling in Aroska’s belly. Finally Ziva rose to her feet, leaning down to whisper in his ear before walking away. “I once put someone through a thirty-hour detox,” she said. “It almost killed him. I hope you can handle it better.”
Queasy and thoroughly embarrassed, Aroska moaned and let his pounding head come to rest on the table.
-24-
Capital Medical Center
Haphor, Haphez
When Kade stepped out of the med center elevator, he immediately directed his attention to a nearby workstation where a cluster of nurses were going over some files on a large holographic screen. Feeling rather self-conscious with his face still bruised, he made his way toward them, dodging a medical bot that zipped past him carrying a tray of surgical tools.
One of them, a heavier-set woman wearing brightly colored eye makeup, looked up as he approached. The shock was apparent in her face as she assessed his injuries.
“Can I help you, son?” she asked, eyes wide and eyebrows arched.
Kade flashed his HSP identification halfheartedly. “Agent Shevin, Royal Guard,” he introduced himself. “I’m looking for an HSP agent who was brought in yesterday.”
The woman shrugged and placed her hands on her hips. “Honey, you’ll have to be more specific than that. Thanks to some ‘domestic disputes’ that got out of hand last night, we’ve got twelve of your friends in here.”
“The name is Spence. He was the survivor of a crash involving a prisoner transport.”
“Oh yes,” one of the other younger nurses piped up, shooting an irritated glance at her associate. “Follow me, please.”
She gave him a flirtatious once-over as she slipped around the counter and began moving down the hall. Kade strode along behind her, wondering what he was going to say to Spence. The reports said the man had suffered some mild brain trauma in the crash. By now, they’d all heard about the ludicrous claim he was making, but so far nobody seemed to believe him. Questioning him again seemed futile, and for a moment Kade wondered what he was even doing there. The thought occurred to him that Zona had given him this assignment for no other reason than to get him out of the agency’s hair.
After a minute of walking and weaving back and forth around busy bots and medical personnel, the young nurse stopped in front of a room with an open door.
“He’s in here, Agent Shevin,” she said, leaning up against the door frame with an appreciative smirk. She looked like she couldn’t have been more than a year his elder, if not his age. “You know, maybe you should let me take a look at that eye of yours.” She reached out to touch his bruised face.
Appalled, Kade gently brushed her hand away and took a slight step back. “Thanks, but they cleared me yesterday,” he said. “And…” he held up his left hand, displaying the fragile silver band – hardly more than a wire – that adorned his middle finger. It was identical to the one he had given Veya when they were married two years before.
“Oh,” the nurse muttered, sounding more annoyed than apologetic. “It never fails.” She pivoted and stormed back in the direction from which they had come.
More than relieved, Kade stepped into the room and let his eyes adjust to the dim yellowish light cast by the panels surrounding the base of the bed. Agent Spence was lying there, dressed in a comfortable hospital tunic and pants. His chest was thick as if it was heavily bandaged under the clothing, and he had a sturdy brace around his neck. An IV line ran into his left arm, but other than the oxygen mask over his face, he seemed to be in incredibly good shape considering what he’d been through. He turned his head to look when Kade entered.
“Damn,” he muttered. Kade could barely hear him through the mask. “How many more of you are they going to send?”
Again, Kade displayed his HSP credentials. “Royal Guard,” he said. “My name is Kade Shevin. I understand it’s been a long couple of days, but would you mind answering a few questions?”
Spence mumbled what sounded like another curse and pulled himself into a more upright position. According to the report he was in his late thirties, having worked in HSP’s field ops division for the past sixteen years. His dirty blonde hair was streaked with vivid yellow stripes that matched his eyes and were accentuated by the lighting in the room. He gasped a bit and placed a hand on his wounded chest before sighing and easing back against the pillows.
“Sorry kid, that was a little harsh,” he said after pulling his mask down. “You can’t blame a man though, not after the day I’ve had. It’s hard to feel up to being debriefed by everyone on the Fringe when all you want to do is overdose on painkillers and catch some much needed shut-eye.”
It suddenly struck Kade how much the two of them had in common. “I couldn’t agree with you more,” he said, pulling up a chair a comfortable distance from the bed.
Spence nodded up at him, eyeing his purple face and his crushed nose. “So what’s your story?”
“I had my own run-in with Payvan,” he responded as he took a seat and examined the data pad of notes Zona had sent with him.
“That’s right,” Spence said. “You were the guy who got flattened outside Tachi’s palace. I saw you on the news – looked like you wanted to be anywhere but that press conference.”
After two nights and a full day of listening to such statements, Kade was growing weary of the conversation. “Agent Spence, if you don’t mind, I’m here to talk about you.”
“Right,” Spence sighed, placing the mask back over his mouth for a few seconds. “We were fine until we cleared the final checkpoint, then all hell broke loose. One second I’m staring out the window, just wishing the trip was over, and suddenly the car is going down and I’m trying to wrestle Payvan off of me.”
Kade reviewed the information on the data pad. “First responders reportedly found the force field control switch in the ‘off’ position. Same can be said for the switch that released Payvan’s cuffs. Even if she wasn’t cuffed, she obviously couldn’t have reached through that field to mess with the switches. Any idea what happened?”
“Don’t tell me you think I had something to do with her escape!” Spence exclaimed. “I swear I didn’t touch anything! Everything was working fine; the energy shield was activated, the switches were on, but…maybe they got moved when Gerrit’s gun came loose from his holster.”
“The gun ‘came loose’ from the holster? This was before the car started to go down?”
“I…I think…that doesn’t make any sense. Everything happened so fast, I can’t be sure. There was some turbulence – we were dealing with wind gusts the whole way to Haphor. Maybe that knocked it loose.”
Kade sighed, beginning to wonder himself if the man was delusional or not. “Okay,” he said, jotting down s
ome notes with the data pad’s stylus. “Let’s move on.”
“I remember hitting my head,” Spence continued, “but I must have blacked out after that because the next thing I knew we were on the ground. I could hear Payvan moving around in the back, and once she broke out I figured she was long gone. When I saw her come around to the front of the car, I thought for sure she was going to kill me. Instead, she took the time when she could have been making a run for it to pull me out of there.” Spence shook his head, and unless it was Kade’s imagination, his chin wobbled a bit. “The doctors say I probably wouldn’t have made it if she’d just left me.”
Intrigued, Kade wrote faster. What business did Payvan have saving the life of a man who was transporting her to prison after she’d assassinated the Royal Officer? The story excited him, but at the same time it contradicted everything he’d been made to believe about the woman.
“Did she ever say anything to you?”
Steam clouded the inside of Spence’s mask as he took another breath from it. “She said something right before she pulled me out, but I was having trouble focusing. I think she told me to hang on. All I wanted was to get out of there so I let her drag me out. I figured if I was going to die I might as well let her put me out of my misery instead of drowning in my own blood. She sat me up against a tree and took my weapon and my comm. She told me to hold on again, help was coming.”
Spence paused and placed a hand on his chest, staring vacantly ahead. “I know there was something else,” he murmured. “My ears were ringing and I could barely understand her.” He closed his eyes. “They say I suffered some head trauma, and I…I’m sorry, Shevin. I honestly can’t remember.”
For a while, Kade said nothing. His gaze was fixed on the data pad, though he realized he was neither reading nor retaining any of the information it displayed. He let his mind race, lost in the rhythmic beeping of the machine pumping oxygen through Spence’s mask. So many questions had yet to be answered.
“I know it sounds crazy. Everyone seems to think I’ve lost my mind, but I know what happened. Please tell me you believe me, Shevin.”
Kade sat forward in the chair, rubbing his tired eyes before bringing his elbows down to rest on his knees. “Let’s put it this way: I don’t not believe you. There’s too much going on and too many different stories floating around for me to figure out exactly what I do believe.”
Spence nodded in agreement. “Before that crash yesterday, I felt pretty sure of things. All of the evidence seemed solid, and your witness statement seemed to back it up. But it doesn’t make any sense. What would have compelled Payvan to stick around and risk being captured again just so she could rescue me?”
“My thoughts exactly,” Kade said. “And why wouldn’t she have just finished me off before breaking into the palace? What good did it do to keep me – a witness – alive? I suppose the obvious answer is that she wasn’t planning on getting caught, but something isn’t right there either. What special ops veteran would leave evidence of their presence even if it would theoretically be destroyed? I know I wouldn’t.”
Spence scoffed. “Do they really expect everyone to believe all of this?”
“I don’t know,” Kade replied, “but people do believe it, and anyone who dares to ask a question gets shot down. If I didn’t know any better I’d think someone is covering something up. Personally I can’t wait to get to the bottom of this.” He stood up and pocketed the stylus. “Thank you for your time, Spence. Is there anything I can do for you while I’m here?”
The agent thought a moment then nodded toward an empty water container on the bedside table. “I’ll take another round.” He managed a weak smile.
Kade smiled as well at the attempted humor and set the data pad down in the chair, taking up the bottle. A small lavatory was situated across the room, the door standing halfway open. He angled toward it.
“I didn’t do what they said I did.”
Kade spun around, puzzled. “Come again?”
“That’s the other thing she said. Payvan.” He replaced the mask once again.
Feeling rather overwhelmed, Kade gestured approvingly with his free hand. “Thank you Spence. Even if it does nothing to further the investigation, it will still help me.”
He continued into the little lavatory, lost in thought. After a moment of fiddling with the bottle’s lid, he set the faucet to cold and stood there waiting for the container to fill.
Ziva Payvan had now spared his life as well as someone else’s. Zona’s argument had been that perhaps Payvan thought she’d killed Kade out on the bridge. Out of respect the young agent had agreed, though it didn’t stop him from reflecting on how he truly felt. No HSP agent in their right mind, whatever rank, would ever walk away assuming an enemy was dead, especially if that enemy was a potential witness to a capital crime. There was the theory that Payvan had been emotionally compromised by her quest to kill Tachi, resulting in her carelessness, but again Kade refused to believe it. This was a spec ops agent who killed for a living, and her very survival hinged on her ability to remain level-headed. Even if the assassination had been emotionally-driven, he doubted she would have allowed herself to get sloppy.
On the other hand, perhaps the others were right. Maybe Payvan had indeed left him for dead and would now come back to finish him off after discovering he had survived. Someone had suggested that she’d only pulled Spence out of the car in a futile attempt at atonement. The thought made Kade shudder; in the back of his mind he’d been giving Payvan the benefit of the doubt, and he dreaded to think of all the time and energy he’d wasted should he turn out to be wrong.
He was suddenly drawn back to the present by the realization that the bottle had overflowed and water was running out over his hand. Startled, Kade transferred it to his other hand and snatched a folded cloth from the shelf above the sink, wiping away the excess water. Fumbling for the controls, he shut the faucet off and returned to the room, where he found the hefty nurse from the workstation waiting in the doorway.
“Agent Shevin, would you mind answering a few procedural questions regarding the care of the other agents we have here? Since you’re here now, I thought it would be more efficient than having to call in to the agency.”
Kade nodded and handed the water bottle to Spence before following the woman out the door. “I’ll see what I can do.”
She led him down the long hallway to a larger room that housed multiple beds, each occupied by one of the HSP Blues involved in the – how had she put it – domestic disputes from the previous evening. Their vitals were all displayed on a large viewscreen on the wall outside, saving the medical staff a trip into the room to check them. She began to give him a quick rundown of what some of the readings meant, but he was too preoccupied by the sight down the hall to pay much attention.
Two plainclothes HSP agents – at least they struck him as being HSP agents – had materialized from the far stairwell and were making their way into Spence’s room. One was a tall emilan woman, about his same height, and the other was an avilon man with a long scar cutting through the thick brown hair on the back of his head. If the agency was really sending this many people to ask questions and get statements, it was no wonder Spence had been irritated by Kade’s arrival.
“…so then does this data need to be added to the agents’ personnel files or just their medical records?”
Kade shifted his attention back to what was in front of him and stared at the viewscreen for a moment as he tried to process what the nurse had asked. “Assuming the Haphor field office follows the same procedures as the Royal Guard, you’d only add this data to the medical records. Med reports are directly linked to each agent’s profile so entering it in both places would give us redundant data.” He gave her a friendly smile and shrugged. “Then someone like me has to go in and normalize everything.”
The nurse began to ask another question, and again Kade found he had trouble focusing on her. He felt even more useless standing there answering
tech questions than he had coming to talk to Spence in the first place – he made too much money to just be an errand boy. His mind was on the story the wounded man had told about Payvan, and all of that was above his pay grade.
“Just enter the data like it is and the agency will take care of the rest,” he said, not entirely sure what the question had even been.
“Thanks, I think that’s everything. Have a good day, Agent Shevin.”
Kade bowed his head and continued down the hall toward the workstation and elevator where he’d come in, keeping a leery eye out for the young nurse who had taken so much interest in him. Spence’s statements had seemed sincere enough, but the head trauma he’d sustained could render his testimony inadmissible in any sort of legal setting. He could rant about Payvan saving his life all he wanted; adding that detail to the incident report was just futile at this point. At any rate, it wasn’t the rescue itself that bothered Kade – it was the escape. The gun came loose from the holster? That was no doubt the reason everyone was so quick to dismiss the story. No ops agent would carry their weapon unsecured, and even if it had slipped out, the chances of it striking the control panel in exactly the right place were minimal.
With a sigh, he slipped into the elevator and began the journey down to the parking bay. Part of him still wondered if Spence had indeed had a hand in Payvan’s escape and had made the whole story up. Maybe that explained why he’d survived and the pilot hadn’t. Had Payvan blackmailed him and forced him to help her break out, granting him his life as a reward? Or had he let her go because he too believed she was somehow innocent? On the other hand, maybe everything had happened exactly as Spence had said, as far-fetched as it all seemed. Kade looked forward to sitting down and taking another long look at his notes and—
His notes. “Sheyss,” he grumbled, punching the control panel and sending the elevator car back up the shaft. He thought he recalled setting the data pad in the chair before going in to fill Spence’s water bottle.