by EJ Fisch
Ziva felt her stomach growling even as she shook her head. She stepped forward, forcing him the rest of the way out the door. “I think you’ve caused enough trouble for now. However, I might take you up on that some other time.”
Aroska smiled and turned to leave, but spun back around quickly as if overcome by a sudden thought. “You don’t have one of those retractable swords, do you?”
Ziva couldn’t help but smirk as she reached for the door controls. “Goodbye, Aroska.”
The door slid shut.
And now, enjoy an exciting excerpt from
NEXUS: ZIVA PAYVAN BOOK TWO
coming soon…
The craft ricocheted off of an enormous tree branch, throwing her into the back seat. They were descending head first at one moment, but the next collision with a tree flipped the aircar onto its side and propelled it off in a new direction. Before Ziva knew it, they were upside down – her head snapped back as she hit the car’s ceiling. Indicator lights sparkled throughout the vehicle and emergency alarms wailed as branches tore at the exterior and ripped through the windshield. Dizzy and disoriented, Ziva braced her arms and legs against the wall just as the craft finally met the ground.
Upon impact, her body bounced against the ceiling with a dull thump. She lay there for several long seconds with her head pounding, listening to the gentle creaking in the car’s frame and the alarms that had all morphed into a single multi-toned screech. She blinked several times as her vision began to right itself and wiped away a trickle of blood that was oozing toward her eye. Her neck ached as she twisted her head to look out the window, but she found that it was so cracked and plastered with mud that her view of anything outside was completely obscured.
Coughing, Ziva worked her body around to face the front of the battered craft. She could feel more blood seeping into her hair thanks to a cut somewhere on her scalp, and a pounding ache rendered her left shoulder and elbow numb. In the grand scheme of things, she remained relatively unscathed, and after testing the mobility of her legs, she was reasonably sure she could walk or even run. By the looks of it, however, the other two passengers hadn’t been so lucky. She wormed her way between the two front seats to get a better look.
The pilot was crumpled against the ground, his full body weight bearing down on a neck that was quite obviously broken. Ziva checked for a pulse anyway, and, finding none, turned her attention to Spence. The other agent was in a similar position, though further on his side. He stared out through the open space where the windshield had been, eyes frantic, taking in raspy breaths through the bloody saliva that filled his mouth. His chest was stained a dark crimson where a long shard of glass had embedded itself in his flesh.
She eased herself back into the back seat, this time facing the opposite direction, and began to deliver powerful kicks to one of the windows. Pain pulsed through her ankle as her foot broke through, separating the entire pane of reinforced glass from the frame of the car. Cool, clean air rushed in and Ziva gladly accepted it, allowing herself the luxury of a couple deep breaths before wriggling out into the leaves and mud.
It was no longer raining, but a damp mist rose from the drenched earth and underbrush. She couldn’t see anyone around, but she could hear the occasional vehicle pass by on the service road a short distance away. The crash had carried them far enough that they were safely out of sight of anyone traveling by, but she doubted it would take long for someone to come looking for them. A good chunk of their fifteen minutes had already been spent, and who knew what sort of distress signal could have been automatically sent out during the crash.
Ziva worked her way to her feet and staggered around to the front of the aircar, forcing her sore ankle to bear her body weight. She knelt down and examined the windshield. It was almost entirely broken out, and she could see Spence inside; he appeared to be watching her, but his eyes were out of focus.
“Hang in there,” she said, wondering if he was even coherent enough to hear her. She got down on her stomach and crawled under the nose of the craft that jutted out over the windshield frame, clearing as much of the broken glass out of the way as possible. Her head and shoulders entered the vehicle, and she pulled her arms along until they were in front of her.
She gritted her teeth against the pain in her shoulder as she reached in and slid her hands under Spence’s arms. Digging into the mud with her knees and feet, she began to tug him out centimeter by centimeter. He squeezed his eyes shut and assisted her by pushing against the seat with his legs.
Once the upper half of his body had cleared the window, Ziva slid out from under the nose and regained her footing, then pulled Spence the rest of the way out from a standing position. She dragged him across the ground and propped him up against a nearby tree where she took a moment to survey his wounds. The shard of glass had by far caused the most damage, but it appeared he would remain stable at least until someone found him.
He stared up at her, struggling to focus, and clutched at his chest with an unsteady hand. He closed his other one around her forearm. “Y-y-you…”
Ziva pried his hand off and placed it firmly in his lap. “Hold on, agent,” she said, rising. “Just hold on, and know that I didn’t do whatever they said I did.”
She paused for a moment and listened as a flood of garbled transmissions came through on the aircar’s damaged comm system. Someone somewhere had no doubt seen the craft go down and reported it, or worse yet, they’d been picked up on HSP’s scanners and a squad of agents was already closing in.
Taking one last look around, Ziva stooped down and gathered up Spence’s pistol and communicator. She tucked the gun into her pants at the small of her back and jogged over to the bushes on the edge of the service road, chucking the comm unit into the back of a shipping rig that rattled by. Hoping the mobile comm signal might distract the agency for at least a few minutes, she moved back into the trees took off as fast as she could back in the direction of Noro.
About The Author
EJ Fisch is a long-time fan of the science fiction genre. She has a vivid imagination, and has been writing as a hobby since junior high. When she's not busy working toward her degree in information technology, she enjoys listening to music, drawing her own concept art, playing video games, and spending time with her animals. She currently resides in southern Oregon with her family.
Dakiti is her first novel.
www.facebook.com/EJ.Fisch
Stay up to date on the progress of the Ziva Payvan series and other works by EJ Fisch. Catch the occasional writing excerpt, view concept art, and more!
Questions? Comments? Leave a note on the official Facebook page or email at:
[email protected]
Your thoughts about the characters and storylines are always welcome and appreciated!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
_____________________________
1 - Dakiti Medical Research Center
2 - HSP Headquarters
3 - HSP Headquarters
4 - Haphor-Noro Traffic Lane
5 - Tarbic Residence
6 - HSP Headquarters
7 - 20 kilometers west of Noro
8 - East Sun
9 - HSP Headquarters
10 - Dakiti Medical Research Center
11 - East Sun
12 - HSP Headquarters
13 - HSP Headquarters
14 - HSP Headquarters
15 - Payvan residence
16 - Payvan residence
17 - Payvan residence
18 - 9 years ago
19 - Payvan residence
20 - Tranyi River District
21 - East Sun
22 - 9 years ago
23 - Payvan residence
24 - HSP Headquarters
25 - Payvan residence
26 - Payvan residence
27 - East Sun
28 - Payvan residence
29 - Payvan
residence
30 - Dakiti Medical Research Center
31 - Payvan residence
32 - HSP Headquarters
33 - Payvan residence
34 - Fringe space
35 - Sublevels
36 - Holding room
37 - Sublevels
38 - Meanwhile…
39 - Holding room
40 - Sublevels
41 - Military bunker
42 - Holding room
43 - Military prison cell
44 - Prep room
45 - Sublevel sewer system
46 - Prep room
47 - Intrepid
48 - Sublevels
49 - Sublevels
50 - Intrepid
51 - Sublevels
52 - Sublevels
53 - Sublevel sewer system
54 - Sublevels
55 - HSP Headquarters
56 - Sublevels
57 - Landing zone
58 - Main level
59 - HSP Headquarters
60 - Payvan residence
61 - Payvan residence
_____________________________
excerpt from Book 2
About The Author