SHIAM Conspiracy- Book 1

by Joseph Heck

  “Aen reyu!”

  “Look, I’m sorry.” Zak turned toward her as he buttoned up the shirt. He already regretted what he’d said. “We aren’t good for each other. You should know that, as well as I do.”

  “Because I am a lowly Elf, who seduced you through sorcery!” Her voice was full of bitterness.

  “It’s not just that you’re an Elf, there are other things to consider.”

  “Not just that?” She picked up the brass lamp sitting on the night table and threw it at him. “Not just that! How many other unwholesome traits do I possess, huh?” She grabbed a photo frame and tossed that at him as well.

  Zak managed to duck the lamp and the frame. Her reaction caught him by surprise. He had expected the anger, but not the violence. He had not meant for this to happen. “Megan, please, don’t make this any harder than it is.”

  “Frag you!” She cursed in Aragne this time and hurled the alarm clock at him.

  Zak turned to avoid the flying clock. As he did, it caught him directly on his bandaged wound and he went to his knees with a cry of pain.

  “Oi, I did not mean it!” Megan was at his side in an instant. “Let me see.”

  “No, leave it alone.” He groaned, attempting to roll away from her.

  “Zak, let me see your side,” she said.

  “No!” He was doubled up on the floor now, clutching at his side. The wound throbbed, the pain felt deep and sharp.

  “Do not be such a spoiled child!” She took hold of him and forced him to roll over so she could examine the wound. Once he was on his back, he stopped fighting her.

  He tried to ignore her as she removed the bandage and checked the wound. But her nakedness was a distraction, reminding him of the night before and the pleasure they had shared. Things had all turned into such a mess and he had just spent the last few minutes making it worse.

  “Some of the stitches have torn. It is bleeding again,” she said. “Wait here. I will get the medical kit.”

  She got up from the floor and went to the bathroom. Zak considered leaving while she was gone, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. In a few minutes she returned with what she needed. She insisted on him taking more of the Elvish concoction that he’d taken the night before for the pain and then began tending his wound. Her hands were gentle upon him. She worked carefully and silently. It wasn’t long before she had the wound cleaned, stitched and bandaged once again.

  When she finished, she simply stood and walked to her closet. “Now get out,” she said as she began selecting her wardrobe for the day.

  . . .

  An hour later Zak was perched upon the cluttered desk in Captain Mashkkha’s small office. The crowded precinct buzzed with activity beyond the plate glass window. “So, what’s with all the commotion?”

  “One of our beat cops came across a multiple homicide,” Mashkkha said, watching the activity beyond his window. “Found the bodies in a dumpster behind an abandoned building down on Jarvis Road.”

  “Inside the Zone.”

  “Yeah, the officer was on foot patrol when he noticed blood that had drained from the bin where the bodies had been dumped. Six victims...all butchered like livestock.”

  “Cannibalism?”

  “That’s what it looks like,” Mashkkha said. “The strange thing is, there were also bite marks on the bodies, like the bastard couldn’t wait to start his feast, but there were no traces of DNA on the wounds. In fact, forensic didn’t find anything at all so far.”

  “Orks?” Zak asked. He found the lack of DNA or other evidence strange. “They always did have a taste for Human flesh.”

  “So did the Goblins.” Mashkkha shook his head. “I don’t know. Both the Orkensha and the Goblinesh governments made cannibalism illegal years ago.”

  “That was only so they could join the World Federation,” Zak said. “There are regions in both countries that still practice it.”

  “Yeah well, there are also plenty of nut bars running around in Human form that make good candidates for this as well.” Mashkkha sighed. “I just can’t understand how anyone can be so barbaric. When the homicide team assigned to the case canvassed the area, they found another five victims less than three blocks away from the first sight.”

  Zak was glad he wasn’t a part of the investigation. He’d seen enough horrific acts of violence in his lifetime. “How come you’re not on it?”

  “I’m rather glad I’m not,” Mashkkha grunted. “But the reason is I’m being reprimanded for being disrespectful to an ASID agent.”

  “Shouldn’t you be standing in the corner then?”

  “Funny!” Mashkkha said, and then changed the direction of the conversation. “So, when are you going to tell me what the frag is going on with this portal thing?”

  “Can’t. Client confidentiality.” Zak absently picked up a picture frame from the desk. It contained a photo of Mashkkha’s wife. Adrianna Mashkkha was a good looking woman. He could never understand the absolute devotion she had towards Mashkkha. And, in his own gruff way, the Captain returned that devotion in kind.

  “Client confidentiality my ass!” Mashkkha leaned forward and grabbed the frame out of Zak’s hand. Putting it back in its place he said, “I ran a check on your friend, Vennhim. Seems that he retired from ASID rather abruptly. He now works for Grimrok Corporation. I take it from the discussion between you two yesterday that Grimrok is your client?”

  Zak simply shrugged without admitting anything. He wanted to confide in Mashkkha. He knew he could trust him, but it was a matter of ethics. Zak was bound by the confidentiality agreement he’d signed and Mashkkha, as a captain of the Sol Kappur police department, was bound by a different set of rules that didn’t have confidentiality as a priority. Mashkkha was duty bound to follow certain procedures which offered little leeway when it came to secrecy. Zak didn’t want to put the captain in an awkward situation, not that he hadn’t done so in the past.

  But then, he asked himself why he should care about any of it. He was no longer on the Grimrok case. As he left Megan’s he had received a call from Vennhim on his cellular comm. It seemed that Tobias Grimrok was displeased that both the local police and ASID had been drawn into the case. Vennhim told Zak that Grimrok blamed him for the mess and that his services would no longer be required.

  In spite of being dismissed from the case, Zak had come to the precinct directly from Megan’s looking for information. After Vennhim relayed Grimrok’s message, Zak had called Kam Shower, the cabbie he’d met two days earlier. Kam had been relieved to hear that they were going no further into the Zone than the Third Precinct and agreed to take him there.

  “What did you find on the dead Ork?” Zak slid off the desk even though his side still throbbed when he moved around. He clutched at the wound as he walked to the window that looked out into the heart of the precinct. The commotion beyond the glass was organized into several groups of animated conversations, although the individual voices were no more than a low buzz behind the closed door.

  Mashkkha got out of his chair and went to the file cabinet in the corner of the room. “I’m off the case, remember?”

  “Yeah, sure. What did you find out?”

  “Nothing!” Mashkkha grunted. He was browsing through several files as he spoke. “Prints didn’t come up anywhere. Had to be discreet about running them.”

  “So, you could have missed something then.”

  “No, I didn’t miss anything,” Mashkkha said. “I called in a couple favors. The searches were thorough...went through criminal records, birth records, citizenship Id’s, immigration, the whole lot. Nothing came back.”

  “What about international records?”

  “Nada.”

  Zak turned toward Mashkkha. “I could try to get them run through ASID. I have a friend there...”

  “You have a friend. Well, ain’t you special!” Mashkkha provided Zak with a heavily sarcastic smile, cocking his head in exaggerated annoyance. “Do you think you are the only one wit
h a friend? How do you think I got the prints run through international records?”

  “So sorry, I didn’t realize you had any friends.” Zak grinned back at him.

  “Smart ass!” Mashkkha mumbled as he turned back to the file drawer. More clearly he said, “Anyway, my contact at ASID ran them through the Ork database. Apparently they have a hack into the Orkensha’s government computers. Again, nothing.”

  “No trace of this guy at all?” Zak frowned. “Everyone has a finger print record somewhere. All governments maintain print files these days. This guy was taken off the books.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I figured, but whose books?” Mashkkha returned to his desk, carrying several files. “With the influx of Ork immigrants over the years, he could be Aragne born just as easily as Orkensha.”

  As he sat back down in his chair, Mashkkha studied Zak for a time and then said, “Look, you know that I have always respected your client confidentiality, even when it wasn’t exactly police policy to do so. But we are looking at some pretty potent magic that, if Ms. Teranika is correct, has been conjured to do some pretty unconventional stuff. I got to know if my city is in danger on this one!”

  “I wish I could tell you.”

  “So then tell me!”

  “I can’t!” Zak cursed and shook his head in frustration. He walked to the chair in front of Mashkkha’s desk and eased himself into it, wincing from a stab of pain in his side. “Look, I don’t even know myself. Everything about this case stinks. I’m sorry I ever got sucked into it!”

  “So you’re not sucked into it anymore,” Mashkkha said. “Are you going to let it go at that?”

  Zak didn’t answer his friend’s question. Instead he said, “Is it just me, or is it a little too coincidental that both Metro and ASID got anonymous calls to Tanner’s Warehouse the very next morning after I come across the place?”

  “Yeah, I was thinking about that, too. The call to the precinct was from a pay phone in the Zone...corner of Jarvis and Krune Street.”

  “Did you get anything on the Elves?”

  “Yeah.” Mashkkha leaned back in his chair and studied Zak for a long moment. “You aren’t going to leave this alone are you?”

  Zak flexed his good shoulder slightly in a lazy shrug. “Just curious.”

  “You know interfering with a federal investigation is frowned upon.”

  “I’ve heard that somewhere.”

  Mashkkha was silent. Finally he said, “They all belonged to EAST Group.”

  “I figured that much.”

  “You do realize that I can’t give you much support on this.” Mashkkha leaned forward with a heavy sigh. “My ass is already in a sling and just running those prints and background checks could get me suspended...or worse.”

  “It’s cool. I’m not looking for anything from you that would cause you problems.” Zak gingerly got up from his seat and headed for the door. Before he opened it, he turned back to Mashkkha. “Unless you’re willing to get me the low down on who called the feds in on this?”

  “Damn,” Mashkkha said shaking his head in disbelief. “I just know you’re going to suck me into this over my head!”

  Zak gave him a huge grin. “Thanks, Tieget.”

  Mashkkha grunted his displeasure. Just then a slash of lightning cut through the window near his desk. He looked from the window back to Zak. “The weather is getting worse.”

  28

  “...With the elections only days away, the battle for Prime Minister is heating up. Senator Jayme Donovan slipped further down in the approval polls, now trailing Prime Minister Sarte by nineteen points. The Senator doesn’t seem to be deterred by his slide in popularity and today he had some rather strong words of criticism for the Prime Minister. Here’s what he had to say:

  ‘As Prime Minister, Mr. Sarte has an obligation to ensure the strength and stability of the Aragne Commonwealth. He has failed to do this!

  ‘The Orkensha evil is building upon our eastern border. They are making claim to all of the Akkasson Mountain Ranges. They are launching terrorist attacks against our citizens. Hostilities between our two nations have not been at this current level since the Border Wars.

  ‘We must put down this Orkensha aggression! If we allow them to occupy the Akkasson Mountains, it will not be long until they are marching across our lands, destroying our cities, murdering our citizens! The Orkensha of today are no different than those who were our enemies of old! The so-called peace we have had with them over the years has been incongruous at best. Make no mistake about it. They remain our enemy. They lack the values we believe in. They choose the dark path. They display open hatred toward us. And what does our Prime Minister do? He allows them to immigrate to our great country. He allows them to infiltrate our peaceful neighborhoods. He allows their evil beliefs to corrupt our children!

  ‘But I say, no more! Now is the time for us to brave this evil, to stand up for what is good. Now is the time for us to take back our country and to protect our lands!’

  Senator Donovan went on to say...”

  Donovan’s words pulled Zak in two directions, as he sat quietly in the back seat listening to the newscast on the cab’s comm. His old hatred for the Orks was roused by the Senator’s words in spite of his dislike for the man. A part of him would very much like to kill more Orks, to continue retribution for his mother’s death. But he also knew first-hand the horrors of war. Everyone had called him a hero during the invasion of the Drekne Province. Like his father, they said. But he hadn’t felt like a hero. And he sure as hell wasn’t anything like his father!

  “Man, this storm is like the end of the world’s coming!” Kam said, squinting to see the street through the sheets of rain rolling down the cab’s windshield.

  Zak’s thoughts were pulled back to the weather. The storm had become notably worse. That could only mean that containment of the portal was weakening further. A wave of frustration washed over him, mixed with more than a little fear. According to Dr. Raghnall, if the portal remained open it could lead to the destruction of the city, if not the entire world. And it was up to Zak and Megan to do something about it. Save the planet. What kind of thing is that to lay on someone!

  “Do you believe in destiny?” He suddenly asked Kam.

  “What, you mean like fate?” Kam looked surprised by the question as he glanced over his shoulder at Zak. “Nah, I believe you make your own destiny. I mean, you have choices, right. And each choice you make can turn you in a totally different direction than the others would have taken you. Free will, baby, that’s what it’s all about.”

  Free will. Zak had always believed he had free will. He had also believed that fate was something for the superstitious, a crutch for the weak willed to lean on rather than taking responsibility for their own lives. Could he have been wrong? Was it possible that everything that had happened to him in his life had been leading him up to a pre-destined role that would decide the future of the planet? It sounded so lame...savior of the world. That was for comic book heroes, not real people.

  And if it was true, what twist in the road had fate thrown at him now? He’d been taken off the Grimrok case, ASID had taken over the warehouse homicides, and Megan now hated his guts. Kind of hard to save the world when the world has turned against you.

  The cab suddenly swerved and shook as Kam fought to keep the anti-grav engines stabilized against a sudden gust of gale force wind.

  “End of the world, dude.” Kam said, shaking his head.

  Ke’aira’s persistent barking could be heard from the first floor entrance as Zak walked through the door to his building. Marla Westford, Zak’s second floor tenant, had taken care of the dog overnight and had let Ke’aira back into Zak’s apartment before leaving for work.

  The aggressive tone of the dog’s bark made Zak’s heart pound as he wiped rain from his face and threw open the gate to the freight elevator. His only thought was that an intruder must be in his loft in order for Ke’aira to be acting the way she was. He c
ursed the slowness of the old freight elevator as it crawled its way toward the fourth floor. As he waited he listened to Ke’aira, her bark aggressive, her growl hostile. She sounded like she was running through the loft, as though she were chasing the intruder. Zak strained his hearing, but could detect no footsteps from above.

  A deep roll of thunder echoed outside. The lights went out and the elevator stopped, but then the power was on again and the elevator continued on. He cursed again, this time at himself for not taking the stairs.

  He didn’t wait for the lift to come even with the floor. He flung the safety gate up and climbed out of the car as it was still a good meter from being level with his entrance. The sharp pain in his side reminded him of why that wasn’t a good idea, but it didn’t slow him down. He was immediately making his way through the apartment, looking to find Ke’aira.

  As he moved toward the basketball court, she came scrambling up to him. She didn’t pounce upon him with her usual enthusiastic affection. Instead, she looked right past him, growling and barking as though there was someone right behind him. But when he turned, there was no one there.

  Ke’aira then ran to the kitchen area, barking and growling at the windows. After that she made her way down the far side of the loft, her head turned toward the windows as she continued to snarl and bark at an unseen enemy.

  “What is it, girl?” Zak called after her, trying to keep up. He was even more alarmed now that he knew there was no one in the loft.

  He was dripping wet as he followed her through the loft. The storm had become much more intense in the last little while, more violent. It was late afternoon, but he couldn’t tell it by the dark sky. The loft was dimly lit by a set of lights Zak had connected to light sensors. He had rigged the lighting to come on automatically so Ke’aira would not be left in darkness if he wasn’t home.

  Another heavy crack of thunder rolled above the loft, followed closely by a series of blinding flashes of lightning that penetrated the privacy setting of the windows. The thunder and lightning seemed to renew the intensity of Ke’aira’s aggression. As Zak caught up with her, she was turning in circles, as though surrounded by invisible foes. Dropping to his knees and throwing his arms around the dog, he pulled her close in order to calm her. Ke’aira instantly lost her aggression. Following Zak’s lead she pressed against him. While she allowed his affection, she stayed alert and tense, a low growl serving as warning.