“While we have made much progress in understanding each other, I’m afraid the talks have stagnated and will be stopped until such time as the Drotz wish to explain why they inflicted such a debilitating condition on their peaceful neighbor. We have heard their unfounded complaints. Several other delegates and I are discussing any sanctions that we might impose to encourage such explanation.
“Good day.”
While the Chancellor argued with Joel on the way to the hotel that war was not what he wanted, Angel remained quiet.
As they left the pod, Joel met her gaze. “Your gods were right.”
The sadness in her voice was obvious to everyone when Angel merely replied, “Aiy.”
Despite the distraction of the training with Brok, Thursday evening came all too soon for Nik. Immediately after supper, everyone except for Sirvana excused themselves. She had donned her body armor earlier, hiding all under her day dress.
Restless, Nik paced the sitting room. He checked the clock occasionally, hoping that the others had already hidden themselves in the garden. About a half hour before he planned to propose the walk, he nodded to Sirvana. She immediately excused herself and left the room.
Angel watched Nik, knowing that something was up. He usually settled in to read or play games in the evenings, instead of roaming the room like a caged lion. She caught the signal between Nik and Sirvana, hoping that it meant he wanted to be alone with her. She watched him continue to pace for a couple of minutes before she spoke softly. “Nik, come sit down. You’re driving me crazy.”
Nik stopped pacing and crossed to the chair where she sat. “Sorry, I’m just restless tonight.” He sat down on the edge of the couch where he could easily see the clock. “So, how did the Conference go?”
Angel smiled at his lapse. “We’ve already been over that.”
“Sorry. Guess I wasn’t listening. Tell me again.”
Patiently, Angel started recapping the meetings for the third time that evening. She could tell that he still was not listening. Yes, he was definitely up to something. Before long, he was up, pacing the floor again. Suddenly he stopped. “Angel, I need some fresh air. Would you walk with me in the garden?”
“Aiy.” She stood and followed him out of the door. Maybe he would tell her what was troubling him soon.
With a heavy heart, Nik pushed the button for the elevator. He knew he could be leading her into a trap, but he had to trust that the others would prevent as much as they could.
Torvuld lay still in his hiding area, wondering what time it was but not daring to move enough to check his timepiece. As Ethan and another person suddenly joined him, his heart leapt to his throat but he did not flinch.
“You chose your hiding places well,” Ethan whispered to him.
“Aiy.”
“Regardless of what happens out there, you must protect her. Remain with her when I move forward,” Ethan whispered indicating the second person with him. Torvuld glanced at the other form hidden in the shadows and nodded.
They settled in beside him as, without a sound across the garden, others joined the remaining team members. Ethan handed Torvuld a life sign detector and another device. One screen showed where everyone was hiding and the other showed the armor and weapons that each person carried.
Angel followed Nik outside to the garden. Maybe she could distract him from whatever was worrying him. “Nik,” she started hesitantly as they walked slowly down the pathway between the well-tended shrubs, “What do you want to do when this is all over?” she asked, hoping to distract him.
Surprised, Nik looked down at her. What was she up to? “What do you mean?”
“Once everything is settled and we can stay at home, what are you going to do? Personally, I wish Grandma could be the Cerato again. I just want to settle down quietly, sign the banaas, and raise a family.”
Nik risked a glance to her and knew immediately who she wanted to sign the banaas with her. “Sounds good to me. I’m getting tired of the travel and the strange worlds.”
“Do you want children?”
“Not right yet. I would just like to spend some time with mi spousa for a while. But later, when the time is right, aiy.”
They walked on for a few minutes, enjoying the quiet company. As they passed the bench that graced the center of the garden, Angel found the courage to ask the question most on her mind. “Nik,” she began as she stopped walking and turned to face him.
Nik fell bonelessly to the ground.
Chapter 20
The Man in Black
Ethan’s team deactivated their sound shields, while Ethan left his sound shield in place. The transmitter in Angel’s broach would tell him everything he needed to know. He would relay instructions through his commlink to the team.
Fear gripped Angel’s heart as she rapidly knelt beside him. “Nik,” she called softly as she reached to find a pulse.
A man’s voice gruffly said, “Stand up.”
Angel looked up at him. “Who are you? Why did you do this?”
Angrily he growled, “Stand up or I will kill you.”
Trembling with anger and fear, Angel slowly stood back up. Would her fledgling self-defense skills be enough? The man had a weapon pointedly directly at her.
“Move away from him and stand very still.” The man pulled a device from a pocket, and held it in his hand as he moved it in a sweeping arch around him, scanning the entire garden.
Angel noticed his slim, muscular build through the tight fitting black clothes that he wore. He was dressed in black from head to toe, with black paint on his face. Only the white of his eyes gleamed in the darkness and even that seemed darker than normal.
Another masculine voice spoke from the darkness ahead. “Well?”
The man in black spoke. “Nothing outside the norm.”
“And her?” the other voice asked.
Her assailant pocketed the first device and pulled out another device. He scanned her from head to toe. “She’s clean.”
The bushes at the far exit to the garden rustled as a large hooded and cloaked form stepped from them. The newcomer was almost seven feet tall and very broad shouldered. Angel knew that she had to stall for time. She might stand a chance against one, but not two. Maybe someone would come into the garden or maybe Nik would wake up. She prayed fervently that Nik’s recorder was active. “Who are you? What do you want?”
The cloaked figure stopped a few feet away. He chuckled low. “Do you not recognize me Cerato?”
His voice was thick with an accent that Angel remembered, but could not place. “No. Who are you?”
“Who I am does not matter.”
“What do you want?”
“I want you to die. You and the other one.”
The cold harshness in his tone spoke volumes to Angel. Oh, Nik, please wake up. Maybe the team would find her. “Why?”
“Is it not clear? While your people mourn the loss of their beloved Cerato, my people can take over the planet easily.”
“So that’s it. Land and power. Is that what you want?”
“It’s a start. From there the universe is open.”
Ethan whistled under his breath. “She’s good.”
“You tried to kill the Parrhesians before, didn’t you?”
“They are weak minded, simple fools.”
“You would kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people just to get something that does not belong to you.” Furious, Angel took a step towards him.
“Move again and I will kill him,” the man in black said, swinging his weapon to aim at Nik. Angel heard and stopped.
“They are insignificant chaff that do not matter.”
His cruelty knew no bounds. Angel shivered at his cold callousness. “Who are you?”
“Very good,” Ethan said, transmitting through the commlink to his team. “Now if she can get him to show himself, then we are set.” He held up one hand, away from his body so that it could be easily distinguished on the scanners.
Angel flinched and he stared at her harder. She could feel his gaze burning into her mind. “I have a good memory but I can’t place where I know you from. Why don’t you show yourself or are you afraid? Why do you hide?”
He stepped up to her and held her gaze for a long time. “You can’t hide anything from me. You really don’t recognize me. Ah well, no matter, for you will not be able to tell anyone.” He stepped back and pushed his hood back. She easily recalled the prominent bony ridge on his forehead, beady black eyes, and small flat nose.
“You! You called me once.”
“To assess the weaknesses of your world. You stupid peasants have no clue as to how valuable your world is.”
Ethan ticked off his fingers on his upraised hand, counting down from five even as he spoke each number softly into the commlink. His men reactivated their sound shields at the count of two. At his thumbs up signal, his team crept forward, sound shields in place.
“Now. Time for you to die.” He turned to the man in black. “Be sure to put the weapon on her guard, along with the data crystal. And destroy his recording device.”
“No, you can’t do this,” Angel cried out, then calmed herself. They would not get her without a fight.
The Drotz paused and turned back to her. “I already have.”
Ethan’s team stepped from the shrubs to surround the trio in the center of the garden and deactivated their sound shields.
Surprised, the two men fought to escape, but Ethan’s men easily overpowered them. Angel stood, surprised, amidst the chaos until Ethan stood beside her. “Arrest both of these men and take them away. In separate vehicles,” he added as an afterthought.
Ethan turned towards the bushes and indicated for Torvuld and his companion to come forward. He motioned towards Nik. “Wake him up.”
Torvuld realized that his companion was female as she stepped forward to tend to Nik, noting that she injected something into his neck. He stepped towards Angel as Sirvana and the others surrounded her. He noticed that Angel was trembling. Nik stirred at their feet and she was instantly beside him.
Ethan indicated Nik. “Torvuld, take them both upstairs quietly. Use the freight elevator.”
“But . . .” Angel began.
“I will be up in a few minutes,” Ethan interrupted her. He turned to his men. “And the rest of you to be sure this place is clean. I don’t want anyone to be able to tell we were here.”
Torvuld and Brok put Nik’s arms around their shoulders and helped him towards the hotel. Angel and the rest of the team followed, the woman with them. The short journey to Angel’s suite was silent.
They settled Nik on the sofa in the sitting area. Nik looked around dazed, but finally focused on Torvuld. He pulled out the listening device detector, turned it on and handed it to Torvuld. “Scan everywhere. If it beeps, let me know.”
Torvuld recognized the device and quickly scanned the whole suite, but found nothing. He returned to Nik and handed him back the scanner.
“Bypass the cameras in a feedback loop.”
“Everyone sit still for a few minutes,” Torvuld said, his voice low.
Quickly Torvuld accomplished the cameras. “Tis done.”
Nik turned to Angel and, throwing caution to the wind, opened his arms to her. “Tis alright now.”
Relief flooded through Angel and she gladly melted into his embrace. They remained that way until a quiet tap on the door signaled Ethan’s arrival. Nik kissed Angel on the cheek, then pushed her back. “Open the door.”
Brok opened the door to let Ethan and two other men enter. “Secure the room,” Ethan said quietly to his men.
“Already done.”
Ethan smiled at Nik. Even with the pain he must be enduring, he remembered what to do. “How do you feel?” he asked as he looked at the doctor. She nodded and he relaxed a bit.
“Weird. What happened out there?”
“Several weeks ago, we uncovered who was behind the assassination attempts and the conspiracy. After a few attempts at catching him, we gave up. I managed to get an operative into his group, a replacement for Operation Blackfriar. After a few weeks, the operative informed me he could deliver the guy, with the right bait. After he failed due to the shield ships and failed again at the press conference when Nik was injured, my operative thought she would be the best bait. It became personal to him so that he wanted to be there when she was taken down. A few words in his ear by my operative and the trap was set easily. When he called to threaten the Cerato last week, we knew we had him.” Ethan easily recalled how well the neural toxin had worked when his operative had used it on the military’s poor excuse for a spy, then dumped the almost dead body outside the Drotz city on the stripped land. More operatives had rescued the man, barely in time to inject the anti-agent.
“You used her. You risked her . . .” Nik started to sit up, but fell back weakly.
“Not exactly.”
Furious, Angel said, “The man in black threatened to kill both Nik and I.”
“The man in black was my operative. You weren’t in any real danger. Perceived danger, yes. Real danger, no. I knew you could handle the situation from your team’s training demonstration.”
Nik knew he should be angry but he hurt too much. Even speaking was an effort. “You should have told me.”
“I couldn’t. Rumor had it that the guy is a telepath.”
“So that’s what he was doing,” Angel blurted out. “When he stepped close to me, my head hurt a little and I couldn’t control my own thoughts.”
Ethan nodded. “If I had told you, your thoughts would have given away the whole plan. As it was, I felt it was best to get Nik completely out of the action.”
“What . . . .” Nik began.
“A neural tranquilizer,” Ethan answered. “It blocks all conscious thought, but your autonomic systems continue. You’ll feel better in a few days. The doctor here will check you out in a few minutes, once I leave.” He paused. “Do you have any more questions?”
“I’m sure I will in a few days.”
“Alright. I already extended your reservation on this suite.”
“Have you told Steven about the telepathic ability?”
“No. Why should I?”
Angel easily recalled her skirmish in the shield ships with the mercs. “The mercs hitting our shipping lines probably have a Drotz telepath on board. That’s how they knew I was there.”
“Sounds plausible. I’ll let Steven know.” Ethan turned back to Nik. “We’ll meet before you leave.” He rose to leave. “Oh, and several people agreed with the plan, despite the risks we all knew it contained.” He looked pointedly at Torvuld, who nodded. “Good night, all.”
Once Ethan and his two men had left, the doctor spoke. “He needs to rest,” she said indicating Nik. “Where is his room?”
Angel led the way as Torvuld and Brok helped Nik to his room and into bed. The doctor asked everyone to leave, then closed the door behind them. She began to check Nik out, using both her hand held scanner and old-fashioned instruments.
“I know you are in pain, but I can’t give you anything for it.”
“This wasn’t just a neural tranq,” Nik said.
“No. It was a neural toxin as well. Quite lethal in fact.” She pushed Nik back as he started to rise. “Unless you receive the anti-agent within twenty four hours, which you have. I gave it to you in the garden. Please relax. You have nothing to fear.”
“Because of the telepath.”
“Yes.”
“A bit risky. What if you had been hurt?”
“There were three separate anti-agent doses there. There was little risk.” She put her instruments away. “Now, you need to rest. You are not to leave this bed tomorrow except to go to the restroom, and then only with help. You may want to eat
light in case either drug affects your stomach. I recommend as much water and juice as you can handle to flush the drugs out your body. Here.” She held a small device out to him.
“What is this?”
“If you feel worse, activate this by flipping the small switch. It will activate the locator beacon in your insignia and I will be here as fast as I can.” She picked up her bag and headed for the door.
“Don’t tell my team. They need to stay focused on our client right now, not me.”
“Alright, as long as you promise to rest and drink.”
Nik nodded.
The doctor left the room and told the others that Nik needed to rest. “Nik knows how to reach me if he needs to.”
Angel thanked the doctor and Torvuld escorted her to the door. As he bolted the door, Angel headed for Nik’s room. She knocked on his door. “Nik, can I come in?”
“Posporre. Torvuld first.”
Torvuld entered the room and closed the door. “Aiy, Nik?”
“Camera,” was all Nik had to say. He remained still, feigning sleep as Torvuld lowered the light level, then intercepted the camera feed and set it to loop.
“Tis done.”
“Have the team camp in the sitting room tonight. I cannot protect her tonight.”
“Aiy.”
“Let her in.”
Torvuld held the door open for Angel. “You may come in now.”
Angel hurried to Nik’s bedside her long robe fluttering behind her in her haste. “Nik, how do you feel?”
Chuckling low, Torvuld closed the door behind himself as he left them alone. He let the others know Nik’s sleeping request, and everyone headed out to get pillows and blankets.
“I’ll be fine Angel. Come here.” He wanted to be sure she was alright, to know that he endured this for a good reason.
Angel cuddled up next to him, caressing his cheek. “I’m worried about you. Are you sure you’re alright?”
Nik placed a finger on her lips to silence her. “Sshh, I’m fine.” To have her near comforted him as little else could.
War of the Innocents Page 36