by EJ Fisch
Heaving a sigh, Ziva drew her own weapon and pressed it against the back of his neck while he still had his head down. “Don’t,” she snapped. “Sit up, now.”
Shevin swallowed and lifted his hands slowly, leaning as far against the opposite door as he could. His eyes slowly shifted from the barrel of the gun up to meet hers. “Are you going to kill me?” he murmured.
“I don’t know, should I?” Ziva removed the pistol and slid it back into the holster. “You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, Kade.”
“I…I thought you were supposed to be dead!” he stammered. “Everyone did! The footage has been playing on the news all day!”
Ziva accelerated and took one more look in each of the rear cams. “Well I’m not dead. I’ve had a few close calls, all thanks to you and your initial accusations. Why the hell did you testify against me if you thought I was innocent?”
The young agent was still leaning away, though the look of shock on his face had begun to diminish. “I didn’t at the time! I believed the evidence, just like everyone else. But I guess that was a mistake.”
“Yes it was, but the past is the past,” Ziva said. “Right now you’ve got some bad people after you, no doubt the same ones who were after me. I can help you if you’ll let me, and there are innumerable ways you’ll be able to help me in return. If you don’t want to do this, that’s fine, but I can guarantee that when these people catch up to you, they will kill you without hesitation.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“Veya must take after you because she asked me the same question.” Ziva paused for a moment, taking delight in the look of alarm she had triggered in his face. “I’ll give you the same answer I gave her: if I wanted to kill you, you would have been dead days ago.”
The young agent sat bolt upright. “What have you done with my family?”
“Relax, kid.” The term struck Ziva strange – she was only three years his elder. “I sent them far away from here and I’ve got people who can take care of them.”
Groaning, Kade rested his head in his hands and leaned forward. “Why is this happening?”
“Because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Ziva replied. “You must have done something right though if you’ve got these guys hunting you the way they are.”
“I wouldn’t say I’ve done anything anywhere close to ‘right’,” Kade muttered. “What do these people want with me anyway?”
“That’s what you’re going to help me find out. Either you know something or they think you know something that could potentially hurt them. I want to know what that is and how it ties to me. We’ll spend some time comparing notes and see what we come up with, but as of right now you need to get some rest – we’re in for a long night.”
Ziva knew it was pointless to tell any decent HSP agent to rest given the current circumstances, but the reality of it was that she just wanted him to be quiet for a while. It was important that Kade be filled in on all the details of what she and Aroska had been experiencing, but after being shot, traveling back and forth to Haphor, and taking part in a firefight, she was in no mood to chat. She’d been completely accurate when she’d described him as a rookie who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but it was also true that he must possess some measure of investigative skill in order to get Dasaro so interested in him. He would no doubt prove to be a valuable asset, but as of right now he could be most helpful by staying silent and allowing her to fly back to Noro in peace.
She knew better than to believe he would actually keep his mouth shut, but it still made her cringe when he spoke again. “I want you to tell me something before I agree to any of this,” he said. “Ever since the crash, I’ve had myself pretty well convinced you were innocent, but I need to hear it straight from you. Did you or did you not kill Officer Tachi?”
Ziva sighed and gazed out the windshield at the lights dotting the dark landscape. “You were right,” she replied. “I didn’t kill him, and regardless of what you may have heard, I never would have. There were times when I would have very much liked to, but that’s a different story which I may or may not tell you once we’re out of here.”
“How did you escape the prison transport?”
She eyed him curiously for a moment, rather unnerved by the question. Investigators had no doubt found the broken switches and the pilot’s gun upon searching the wreckage. “One of the agents lost his service weapon in the middle of some turbulence,” she replied. “It was by pure chance that it hit the control panel. I was lucky.”
Shevin gave her an incredulous look that told her he’d heard the story before. But rather than comment further, he began to massage his tired eyes. “Where are we going anyway?”
“I thought I told you to rest,” Ziva snapped, albeit without much enthusiasm. That successfully shut him up, and each of them stared out into the night for several seconds. Ziva looked briefly to him, curious as to his reaction, then her focus moved to the control panel. “On second thought, see what you can do about disabling the nav computer in this thing. The last thing we need right now is someone tracking us.”
-56-
Tarbic Residence
Noro, Haphez
Aroska was waiting in his darkened living room when the RG groundcar slid to a stop in front of his house. He immediately tensed and tightened his grip on the pistol he held at his side, but when the transmission from Ziva came through, he went straight to the garage door and raised it far enough that she could squeeze the vehicle in beside his own car. He took a quick glance outside at the silent neighborhood then shut the door, following her and the young RG agent inside.
Ziva went straight to the window and made sure it was tinted fully before activating a single lamp. “Someone needs to start paying me to save lives, not just to take them,” she muttered.
Aroska raised an eyebrow. “Nice to see you too.” He turned to the young man and offered his hand. “So much for a formal introduction. Lieutenant Aroska Tarbic, field ops.”
“Kade Shevin. You both have my sincere gratitude.”
“Save it, Kade,” Ziva said as she fitted a fresh plasma cell into her pistol. “I already told you – we’ve got too far to go for you to start thanking us yet.”
“Well, you’re welcome,” Aroska said, “but Ziva is right. We’ve got a whole lot to do and not a lot of time.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning we’re leaving the planet,” Ziva replied. “Now that Dasaro thinks I’m dead, he will have recalled the HSP blockade and we can get safely away. But they’re not going to buy our little act forever. We only have a short window of time before they realize they’ve been played and come after me again. Thanks to my little side trip back to Haphor to get you, that window has been cut even shorter. For all we know they could already be on to us.”
Shevin took a bold step toward her. “Look, I’m sorry I seem to be such an inconvenience, but the last few days have been hell for me so let’s cut the sheyss.”
“Hey!” Aroska rushed forward before Ziva could respond. He had a headache, he was tired, and arguing was going to do anything but help matters. “Don’t even start this, okay? We’ve all had it rough lately so let’s not make a contest over whose life is more frouchten aht. Right now we need to focus on getting out of here.”
That seemed to do the trick. Both Kade and Ziva fell silent, but not before sending one last hot glare at each other. Aroska wondered what kind of hellish experience the ride back from Haphor had been.
Ziva turned toward him with a sigh, arms crossed, eyes tired. “What did you find in the way of transportation?”
Aroska consulted his data pad and let his eyes flit over to the timestamp for a moment – it would be dawn within an hour or so. “There are three intragalactic civilian transports coming through the spaceport within the next two hours. All three are scheduled to dock on Chaiavis, but only one will arrive there in the next two days. The other two are headed in the opposite dire
ction around the Fringe and don’t make it through the circuit until a week from now at the earliest.”
“Let me guess,” Ziva said, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, “that one transport is already docked here and scheduled to leave within the hour.”
Shocked, Aroska was tempted to ask if her Nosti abilities gave her some measure of omniscience. When he remembered Kade was standing there, however, he resorted to a simple nod. “Close enough,” he replied. “It hasn’t docked yet but it should be in-system within the next few minutes if it isn’t already. We’re going to have to move fast if we want to make it.”
Ziva sighed again and brushed a lock of loose hair from her eyes. “I can pay for passage,” she said, moving her hands down to rest on her hips, “but I can’t very well just walk up and buy three boarding passes at this point.”
“I’ll do it,” Kade put in. “People would ask questions if you two went in and bought three tickets. I have a wife and child – no one would think twice.”
Aroska shook his head, stopping him cold. “We can’t just send you in there alone, not with Dasaro after you.”
“Aroska, think about it.” Ziva’s voice was weary but firm. “Whatever Dasaro’s problem is, he doesn’t want anyone else to know about it. He’s not going to have anyone outside his circle looking for Kade – spaceport security and common patrols aren’t going to be an issue.”
It made sense, but Aroska wasn’t at all comfortable with it. “Even if we make it through security without trouble, what’s to keep him from coming after us once we’re underway?”
“There’s no doubt in my mind he’ll come after us again,” Ziva said. “The trick is to get out of here fast enough that they won’t be able to figure out we’re gone until we’re safely to Chaiavis. From there we can regroup, find the higher ground, so to speak. We’ll be ready for Dasaro when he finds us, and maybe we can figure out what the hell is going on while we’re at it.”
“I suppose it would be a waste of breath to ask if I could contact my family,” Kade said.
“Yes,” Aroska and Ziva said simultaneously. It was no secret that the young agent was terrified; Aroska felt unsure about things as it was. But talking to anyone was out of the question right now. On that note, he suddenly felt very eager to get underway before Dasaro realized there wasn’t a body at the Haphor relay station and decided to ask him about it.
“We should head out,” Ziva said just as he opened his mouth to say the same thing.
“Here goes nothing,” Kade muttered.
-57-
Noro Intragalactic Spaceport
Noro, Haphez
It was less than an hour later that Shevin found himself standing in line at the ticket counter in the heart of the massive Noro spaceport. It was amazing how many people were making their way through the port even at this hour. Noro was apparently the city that never slept; Haphor certainly had a more set routine about it, and the sheer chaos of the larger city intimidated Kade.
The beady-eyed Elsara behind him chattered something he didn’t understand and shoved him forward, snapping him out of the trance the throngs of people had put him into. He shook his head, taking a quick step forward to close the gap between himself and the old man in front of him. Somewhere out in the crowd, Ziva and Aroska were watching him, though he didn’t dare look around for fear of drawing unwanted attention. The lieutenants had advised against looking around anyway, saying that adhering to a strict route and keeping his head down would make it harder for someone to spot him on the surveillance cams. He’d heeded their words, though he still couldn’t believe he’d agreed to accompany them.
Fingering the stack of credits Payvan had provided, Kade stepped up to the booth and fed the payment into the machine. Three pass cards were distributed and he snatched them up, moving away quickly before the Elsara could protest again. Boarding the transport together had been deemed out of the question, so he angled toward the place that had been designated as the first drop-site: the men’s lavatory.
It took a good minute or two of weaving in and out of the crowd before he reached it. He felt rather silly and old fashioned for making the exchange like this, but it was both the quickest and the easiest way to get the tickets dispersed and get moving. Retaining one ticket for himself, Kade held the other two in a relaxed grip at his side. “Coming in,” he said into his earpiece, one of several they’d found in a supply box in the RG car. The door of the room opened just as he reached it and Aroska emerged right on cue. His hand barely brushed against Kade’s, and with that the other two pass cards were gone. Both fascinated and terrified, Kade continued into the lavatory and lingered there in front of the sink. He eyed the other travelers around him, wondering if any of them were HSP or bounty hunters who had already managed to catch up to them. While he was confident in Payvan and Tarbic’s abilities to safely escape, he was also confident in the abilities of whoever was after them. They’d done a fantastic job of remaining unseen and foiling plans so far, and he felt the need to brace himself for something horrible to happen in the next few minutes.
Eager to get away, Kade took a deep breath and raked his fingers through his hair before turning to leave. It was a relief to know that the boarding gates for their transport were nearby, even more so to know that even if HSP caught up to them they had no way of knowing which ship they’d taken. The pass cards were valid on any of the three transports coming through – if they could get away quickly, the agency wouldn’t know whether to follow them to Chaiavis or Midore or Duruta.
Kade fell into place again among the throngs of travelers, head down but eyes darting wildly about. Aroska was nowhere to be found, and Ziva had been invisible since they’d arrived. It was up to each of them to reach the transport on their own, and while Kade wasn’t overly comfortable with the idea, he was even less comfortable with the thought of being left behind.
He pulled up just meters short of the gate and turned his head to study a boarding schedule as a pair of security officers ambled by. It made sense that this Dasaro person wouldn’t send anyone after him if he was so intent on keeping his secrets, but there was always the possibility that some trumped up charges could be brought against him so he could be picked up, only to fall right into Dasaro’s hands. Wishing to be safe rather than sorry, Kade waited a moment until the officers were gone before continuing through the gate.
The boarding ramp was vacant with the exception of a busy cleaning bot, so Kade jogged forward and swiped his pass card over the scanner, slipping through the airlock door when it opened. The interior of the ship was ill-lit and crusty, as were the majority of these heavily-used public transports. People and aliens moved back and forth through the main corridor and the door opened and closed behind him as others came and went. Checking the bunk number on his ticket, Kade pointed himself in the right direction and began walking.
These transports were essentially mobile hotels, providing passengers with all their basic needs. Other than seating and sleeping accommodations, they were equipped with cafés, small supply shops, clubs, and other entertainment. It provided the trio with means of staying hidden or blending in, whichever they wanted or needed to do at any given moment.
Glancing at the bunk number again, Kade turned down a narrow corridor, studying room numbers as he went. He looked ahead, catching sight of Aroska as he disappeared into one of the rooms at the far end of the hallway. Taking a look behind him and seeing no one, Kade picked up his pace and ducked into the room.
It was a small space, only a couple of meters across and hardly deeper. Its only furnishings were a pair of bunk beds, one against each wall, and a small table with a single chair. Aroska had tossed his bag onto one of the top bunks and was standing in the narrow space between the beds, looking exhausted. Ziva was nowhere in sight.
“She’ll be here,” he said, as if reading Kade’s mind. “The drop was good, she’s got her pass…she’ll be here.”
The words were barely out of his
mouth when the door opened and in walked the suited figure who had come to Kade’s rescue at the RG headquarters. Ziva removed her helmet and tossed it onto one of the beds, taking a quick look around the tiny room before sighing and letting her eyes settle on the two men.
“It’s a little early to say ‘we’ve made it’,” she said, “but we seem to be on the right track, gentlemen.”
“We’re scheduled to dock on Chaiavis tomorrow night,” Aroska said.
“Good.” Ziva brushed past Kade and took a seat on the bunk beside her helmet. “That gives us some time to get rested up and compare notes. We’ll sleep in shifts – one person awake at all times. You’ve got a computer, right Shevin?”
Kade nodded and placed a hand on his satchel.
“Get it set up, put it to good use.” With that Ziva lifted her legs onto the bunk and leaned back against the pillow, one arm draped across her face.
Aroska raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like? Like I said, we’ll sleep in shifts.”
Kade wasn’t sure whether to be amused or disgusted. He cleared his throat and glanced from Ziva to the bunk above her, then down to his feet.
“Go ahead,” Aroska said, jerking his head toward the bunk as he took a seat in the chair.
“You sure?”
“Hurry up before I change my mind.”
-58-
HSP Headquarters
Noro, Haphez
Skeet was startled out of his dazed stupor when the screen of his data pad cracked under the pressure of his thumb. The image he’d been looking at fizzled away as the hologram failed. He blinked, trying for a moment to process exactly what had happened. In an attempt to keep his mind off Ziva and the previous day’s events, he’d been reading random news articles – in this case, about a new species of fern that had been discovered in the forest somewhere outside of Seran. Somewhere along the lines, something – he couldn’t even remember what – in his train of thought had sent him in a direction that ended with Ziva. It was becoming an all-too-familiar occurrence. Try as he might to keep his friend’s death off his mind, the memory would come creeping back, bringing with it the subconscious rage that had resulted in his broken data pad.