by EJ Fisch
“Go back?” Aroska asked.
“What? No, that’s not—” Ziva restrained herself from slamming her fists onto the table and instead lowered her palms into her lap. She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw, slipping into her meditative state for just the briefest moment. “Let’s get back on topic, shall we gentlemen?”
Both men were quiet for a long time, with Kade nervously moving food around on his plate and Aroska giving Ziva a look that told her the conversation was far from over. She was tempted to get up and leave, but she thought better of it. A hasty departure could draw even the slightest bit of unwanted attention, and they needed to take advantage of every second they were together so as to form a plan of action.
Aroska finally spoke up. “So, you think Dasaro is behind all of this?”
“I think he’s more than just the agent assigned to catch me, but I’m not sure how,” Ziva replied. “I figured if he thought I was dead he might slip up and we’d find that out, but pretty soon he’ll realize he’s been played – if he hasn’t already – and his guard will go back up.”
“Is there anyone at all we could contact for more information?” Kade asked.
“One of the agents from the prison transport survived the crash,” Ziva said. “I’d love to hear what he has to say about all of this, but establishing contact with anyone is out of the question at this point.”
Shevin’s eyes grew wide. “Agent Spence is dead, Ziva.”
It was all she could do to refrain from shouting. “What?”
“He’d been making claims that you saved his life, one of the reasons I started to question whether you were really guilty. I was sent to get a statement from him, and while I was there, they came for him. He was murdered.”
“Who came, Kade?” Aroska asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure they were HSP. There was a man and a woman – she was emilan, tall and slender, and he had a scar on the back of his head. They gave Spence something to make his heart stop.”
Ziva bowed her head and stared down at her clasped hands. “That settles it then – Dasaro’s involved. The people you saw were Nejdra Venn and Kyron Hoxie, two other spec ops captains who have been associated with him.” She glanced up at Kade. “They didn’t see you did they?”
He shook his head. “I was down the hall with a nurse. I think I’m the only person who ever saw them though. I’ve looked and looked and haven’t been able to catch them on surveillance anywhere. If they’re really HSP, they can probably access the feeds and erase any signs of their presence. The coroner found the chemical they used during his autopsy, but they even managed to edit his report to make it look like Spence died of natural causes. I went to meet with him, to see what he had to say about all of this – now he’s dead too.”
“Sheyss,” Ziva muttered, massaging her eyes so hard she saw spots when she removed her hands. “What the hell is Dasaro doing?”
“It sounds like he doesn’t want anyone questioning your guilt,” Aroska suggested. “What did you do to piss him off?”
Ziva scoffed. “I was born. He’s had it in for me since I first started at HSP, but this is all much bigger than that. He wouldn’t set me up like this just so he could be Emeri’s pet.”
“You sure about that?”
“Let’s put it this way: he wouldn’t set me up and then proceed to eliminate anyone who could testify to my innocence just because of something so petty. There’s something much bigger going on, something that started all of this…that’s the sort of thing I’ve been looking for during the past three years.”
All was quiet for several long seconds, and then Kade spoke. “Is it possible he knew you were poking around? Maybe he wants to get you off his trail before you find whatever he’s hiding.”
If that was the case and Dasaro was really willing to kill her to keep his secret, Ziva wanted very much to know what in the galaxy he was up to. She’d been careful in her investigating, and if he had indeed caught on, she was very interested in finding out how. He was a good agent, after all – she couldn’t deny that – but she was better.
“It’s possible,” she replied quietly, hands folded in front of her mouth. “What have you found that’s got you in his sights?”
“To be honest, I don’t have a clue,” Shevin said. “I was there the night of the assassination but couldn’t really see anything, contrary to what they wanted me to tell the media. I know his people killed Spence but nobody believes me. At the very least, he knows I’ve been nosy.”
“That should do the trick,” Aroska put in. “Judging by what I heard him telling Captain Venn, he wants to shut you up before you find something he can’t cover up.”
Ziva leaned toward Kade, keeping her voice low. “Have you found anything that might shed some light on what he wants?”
The young agent began to shake his head, but then he perked up as if something had come to mind. “I have some files that I found on my supervisor’s computer – that’s what I was doing last night when you came to get me. All the case files are there, as well as information about the accident that killed the coroner. There were a few other files that appeared to just be research, but they’re all encrypted. I didn’t get a chance to crack them.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Ziva said. “Let’s get to work.”
-60-
HSP Headquarters
Noro, Haphez
Dasaro paused a moment and let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting in the conference room. A single hologram stood beside the large table, that of special agent Luko Zona of the RG office in Haphor. Clearing his throat, Dasaro stepped up onto the communication pad and dipped his head toward the other man.
“My apologies, Agent Zona,” he said. “I’ve been very busy with some unfinished business this morning.”
“As have I, Captain,” Zona said, his voice lacking the understanding and cooperation it had possessed when they’d spoken on comm the day before. “With all due respect, I’d like to hear whatever you have to say so I can attend to matters here.”
Something in his tone wasn’t right, and it worried Dasaro. “What’s wrong?”
“All hell broke loose last night,” the RG agent said. “I’ve got two records of unauthorized entry, three dead bodies on my squad floor and another in my parking bay. My personal computer was hacked and case-related files were accessed.”
Dasaro hesitated, careful not to show a reaction one way or the other. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he pondered what Zona was saying. He had no doubt that these dead bodies were the men he had sent to pick up Kade Shevin, though he couldn’t imagine Shevin had killed all four of them on his own. Regardless of what had transpired, the outcome was not what he’d hoped for.
He cleared his throat. “Do you have any idea what happened?”
Zona sighed and rubbed his face. “I hate to even think about it,” he said. “We’ve got an agent over here who’s been causing trouble ever since Payvan’s escape. He seems to think he
can solve the entire case on his own, but all he’s managed to do so far is complicate things.”
“You’re speaking of Kade Shevin,” Dasaro said.
“Ah, I see he’s landed on your radar as well.” Zona looked chagrined. “I finally decided to send him home for a couple of days to cool off – part of me wonders if he ever should have been released from the med center that night. His access code is still valid, and according to the logs, he used it to enter the office last night after hours. If anyone can tell us what went down, I think it’s him.”
“You think Shevin is the one who hacked your system?”
“Like I said, I hate to even consider it,” Zona replied, “but in all honesty nothing else makes sense. He’s certainly capable of it.”
“What about the unauthorized entries?”
“One was through the front door approximately two hours after Shevin logged in, and the second was through a side entrance just a few minutes after the first. Judging by the ev
idence, it looks like the three intruders got in through the front – we still haven’t been able to identify them. The second entry remains a mystery. It looks like someone got into the security cams – mobile cams were all programmed to turn and face the walls, and the feeds from the fixed cams have all been erased. The window of time when all of this transpired is completely blank.”
As much as it angered Dasaro that Kade Shevin had once again slipped through his fingers, the young man could not have possibly set himself up to look guiltier. “Those cams can only be accessed by someone with proper clearance,” he said, leaving out the fact that he’d ordered Nejdra to do it. She no doubt had a copy of the video feed she’d cut out, and he looked forward to seeing it and discovering the identity of whomever else had entered. “And what has become of Agent Shevin?”
“Gone,” Zona replied. “His car is in the parking bay but there’s no sign of him. A transmission came through at his workstation and we were able to trace it back to his mobile comm. We haven’t been able to get a fix on it though – we can’t even pick up a signal, giving me the impression it’s been destroyed.”
Dasaro sighed. “You might not like the sound of this, Agent Zona, but it’s possible that your man may have had a hand in Tachi’s death. The attack outside on the bridge that night may have been staged; he could have let Payvan into the building. Why else would she have left him alive? We also have reason to believe he is responsible for the murder of another HSP agent who survived when the prison transport crashed, and we’re looking into his involvement in the death of the coroner who performed the autopsy on that agent.”
“Spence and Fromm?” Zona exclaimed. “No, that’s ridiculous. Shevin could never have…” His words trailed off and he sighed, muttering under his breath.
“We don’t know anything for certain,” Dasaro said. “What matters is that we find Shevin and end all of this.” In more ways than one, he thought.
Zona’s hologram flickered. “Understood, sir.”
“Thank you Special Agent Zona, that will be all.” Dasaro ended the transmission before the man could speak again and turned to find Nejdra Venn and Kyron Hoxie waiting in the shadows behind him. They each nodded, signaling that they had been present for the majority of the conversation.
“Anything?” he asked.
Nejdra shook her head. “Nothing at the house either. The wife and daughter were both gone. Looks like they left in a hurry.”
“Shevin’s got help,” Dasaro said. “You accessed their security cams last night – please tell me you kept a copy of the footage you erased.”
Nejdra smirked and held up a small memory stick. The two men followed her to one of the room’s computer terminals and watched as she brought up the recording and fast-forwarded to the point where their men had entered.
Dasaro crossed his arms and studied the screen intently. The four mercenaries were ex-military, provided by an old friend of Hoxie’s; they were, unfortunately, more muscle than brains, and he saw now that relying on them to grab Shevin had been a mistake. The footage showed them all to be large and well-armed however, making him wonder what kind of help Shevin had that would have allowed him to escape.
The answer presented itself after a few minutes. The view was of the squad floor, as seen from a cam positioned at the top of the stairwell. Shevin was crouching behind a desk, out of sight of the mercenaries as they investigated one of the workstations across the room. A fifth figure suddenly appeared in the frame, and for a moment Dasaro wondered if it was the last mercenary. It didn’t take long for him to realize this third party was involved with HSP – the riding suit they wore was the first clue, and so was the way they effortlessly dropped the three mercs with well-placed plasma bolts. Dasaro watched as Shevin and the figure disappeared from the screen and then turned to Hoxie, who had cursed under his breath.
“Remember that hoverbike pilot who went missing from the forest checkpoint the day of the crash?” he asked in response to Dasaro’s questioning gaze. “They just found him last night, wandering in the woods, half-starved, and—” he cleared his throat “—missing his suit.”
Time seemed to stop for a moment as both Dasaro and Nejdra shifted their eyes to meet Hoxie’s. He swallowed and gestured at the screen. “I don’t know how, but I think there’s a very high probability that we’re looking at Ziva Payvan here.”
Without even realizing it, Dasaro had his communicator out and was entering Lieutenant Tarbic’s code. When no one answered he tried again, then a third time before hurling the device across the room. “I want someone out looking for a body at that relay station, now!” he growled, restraining himself from outright shouting. He watched on the screen as Shevin and his companion sped out of the parking bay, taking out the fourth mercenary before disappearing into the night.
“Sheyss.”
-61-
Payvan Residence
Noro, Haphez
When Skeet and Zinni pulled up to Ziva’s house, Marshay was standing on the front step looking frazzled but grinning wide. She stepped down to meet them as they approached and greeted them both with a friendly embrace.
“I don’t think you two will be looking quite so glum here in a moment,” she said.
Unsure what could make the woman so excited short of seeing Ziva herself, Zinni followed her inside and paused just inside the doorway, taking in the sight before her with knit eyebrows. A strange woman, perhaps a few years her junior, was seated on the sofa, gently rocking the occupied baby carriage beside her. She stopped rocking when the two of them entered and glanced nervously between Marshay and Ryon.
“Skeet Duvo and Zinni Vax, meet Veya Shevin,” Ryon said.
“Hello,” Zinni said, dipping her head toward the woman. She turned to Marshay, still not sure what the point was. “What is this?”
“The bird is still in flight,” the housekeeper announced, clasping her hands and grinning again.
Zinni glanced quizzically at Skeet, who shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t understand,” he said.
“A flying bird has always been a sign of life, of freedom,” Ryon explained. “When the bird flies, it’s safe from its enemies on the ground. It’s free.”
“It’s a code Ziva created for when she’s in trouble,” Marshay said. “It’s a way for her to let us know she’s found somewhere safe to lay low, and it’s our cue to prepare the resources she has previously set aside for such an occasion. Lieutenant Tarbic came here the day before yesterday, telling us that the bird had flown. The only way he could have heard that phrase is if Ziva told him herself.”
The way Zinni saw it, nothing that had happened before the previous day even mattered. The day Aroska had come to Marshay and Ryon was the same day he had come to her and Skeet, claiming to be helping Ziva and asking for their assistance. Too much had happened since then for Marshay’s words to bring much comfort.
“Aroska is a traitor,” Skeet said, jaw clenched. “He may have been ‘helping’ Ziva, but he was doing it all on Dasaro’s behalf. The man killed her yesterday – how can you still believe something he said two days ago?”
“Skeet,” Zinni said, placing a warning hand on his arm as something clicked within her mind.
“You’re not listening, son,” Ryon said, his voice firm. He looked down at Veya for a moment before turning back to the two of them. “As of zero one hundred this morning, the bird is still in flight.”
Zinni looked to Veya when she realized the woman’s presence was directly related to what they were hearing. She took a step forward, hands resting on her hips, and looked her squarely in the eyes. “Are you telling me Ziva is still alive?” The question was directed at Veya, though she couldn’t have cared less who actually gave her an answer.
The young mother nodded. “She sent me here,” she replied. “She showed up at my house looking for my husband last night, and she told me that if I didn’t leave I would probably be killed. I was afraid she was the one there to kill me, but there was something i
n the way she spoke that told me she was telling the truth. I wasn’t going to wait around and find out.” She shrugged and looked to each of them in turn. “So here I am.”
Both Skeet and Zinni stood in stunned silence for several seconds, letting the news sink in. The idea that Ziva was alive and well contradicted everything they had come to believe since the day before. There were no details though – were Ziva and Aroska really working together as Tarbic had originally claimed? Or had Ziva somehow escaped after being shot? Was Veya lying and somehow in league with Dasaro and Aroska? Zinni felt compelled to ask. “You’re sure it was Ziva Payvan?”
The incredulity was clear in Veya’s face. “Are you saying you don’t believe me? She came into my house, she had a gun, and she sent me here with that message. I sent her after my husband and haven’t heard a word from either of them since then. I dropped everything to rush off into the night with my baby daughter, based on nothing but the word of a woman who killed the Royal Officer and was supposedly killed herself.” She scoffed and shook her head. “I’ve just been to hell and back, and after all that you have the gall to question what I’m telling you? Do you think I’m crazy?”
“Not at all, dear,” Marshay said gently.
Zinni admired her audacity, though she didn’t appreciate being spoken to in such a manner. “Let’s start over,” she said. “Veya Shevin…your husband is Kade Shevin, the RG officer who allegedly witnessed Ziva entering Tachi’s palace.”
Veya nodded. “She told me there were people after him, and that they were probably the same ones hunting her. She said they could help each other.”
“Why would anyone be hunting him?” Skeet asked, crossing his arms. “He gave his testimony – if anyone’s still got a beef with him, it should be Ziva.”
“He hasn’t been himself since all of this started,” the young woman replied. “He’s been quiet, reserved, as if there’s constantly something on his mind. He’s been working himself into the ground too, staying late at the office, sitting for hours in front of our home computer. He’s become obsessed with this case, and I’m afraid he’s in way over his head.”