Nexus: Ziva Payvan Book 2 (13 page)
Read Nexus: Ziva Payvan Book 2 Online
Authors: EJ Fisch
A hot, prickly sensation surged through Ziva’s nerves, causing every hair on her body to stand on end. She was up and out of her seat, pistol in hand, before the visitor even stopped knocking. Skeet had often told her she reminded him of an animal – tame while in the right company, deadly and vicious when threatened. She certainly felt like an animal now, backed into the corner that was Aroska’s house with little choice but to fight her way out.
Aroska was on his feet as well, though his movements remained slow and calm. The two of them stood with eyes fixed on the door, listening, calculating. The pounding came again, this time louder and more adamant, and it was accompanied by a male voice.
“HSP! Open up!”
In that instant Ziva and Aroska were both at the door, she with her back flat against the wall, arm and pistol extended at a ninety-degree angle to her body. Tarbic stood still for a moment, then mussed up his shaggy hair and rumpled his clothes a bit before hitting the controls.
Ziva held her breath and gripped the gun tighter as the door hissed open. Aroska was a tall man to begin with, and she watched as he lifted his own head to meet the eyes of the agent outside. She caught a whiff of a familiar scent, and her heart immediately leapt into her throat. Even without seeing him, she had a very good idea of who the caller was.
His voice confirmed her suspicion. “Aroska Tarbic?” he demanded.
“Yes?”
“Captain Diago Dasaro, special operations. I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
Crossing his arms, Aroska took up a casual stance with his left shoulder against the doorframe, successfully blocking Dasaro’s view of Ziva if he happened to move too close. “Sure,” he said, adding a respectful dip of his head. “What would you like to know?”
“Lieutenant, I think it would be best if I came inside.”
Ziva took her cue and began to move away from the door, edging along the wall while keeping her pistol trained in Aroska’s direction.
“Is that really necessary?” he asked, buying her just enough time to bolt across the living room on silent feet. She slipped into the kitchen and again pressed her back to the wall, gripping the gun with white knuckles.
“If you don’t willingly let me in, I can have you detained for impeding an ongoing investigation.”
“It’s that serious, huh?” Aroska said. Ziva heard the floor creak as he stepped aside to allow Dasaro’s entry. The door closed behind him.
The desire to simply step in and put a single plasma bolt through the man’s brain was overwhelming. However, if Dasaro had followed protocol in this instance and had brought back-up – which he likely had – she would have at least three other agents to deal with and a firefight in a residential neighborhood wouldn’t exactly be subtle. As much as Ziva hated to sneak around and run from danger rather than just confront the problem, she felt that on this occasion it would be the wiser choice. Fuming, she slowed her breathing and focused on the two men in the other room.
Dasaro coughed briefly against the smoky haze that lingered in the air. “Picked up govino, have you?” he asked, an icy edge to his voice.
“It’s a nasty habit,” Aroska replied.
“Yes, well, that sort of thing happens to someone in your line of work. If that’s what it takes to get close to a target or gain a junkie’s trust and gather intel, then so be it. I would commend you for it.”
“I guess you’ve been doing your research on me,” Aroska said. “So what brings you out here?”
“I understand you once worked closely with Ziva Payvan,” Dasaro answered. “You are aware that she is wanted for murder and is currently at large on the planet?”
Ziva could picture Aroska stroking his chin, deep in thought. “I’ve heard something to that effect,” he said, “but I haven’t followed the story too closely. My viewscreen hasn’t been working and I haven’t been feeling well the last few days.”
If she hadn’t been hiding she would have laughed out loud. The only reason the man could even stand on his own two feet right now was because she had showed up to save the day – in the nick of time, too. She pictured this conversation going on about twenty-four hours earlier and knew Aroska probably would have given her up from a sheer lack of control over his mental faculties.
“Tell me about your relationship with Payvan.”
“I’d never met her until two months ago,” Aroska replied. “Even then, we only worked together for about a week. We managed to drive each other crazy most of the time – you could say we didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things. That woman ended up saving my life two different times, but when the Dakiti mission was over we parted company. I’ve neither seen nor spoken to her since then.”
Three,
Ziva thought. She’d saved him
three
times, though they’d agreed to call things even. She remembered everything as if it had happened the day before. The Sardons, the hybrid soldiers, Saun….
Her heart skipped a beat when her gaze drifted to the dining table and the two place settings that remained there. A fresh bout of the prickly sensation coursed through her and she shuddered violently, hoping for Aroska’s sake that Dasaro couldn’t see into the kitchen. She held so still it felt as though her blood had stopped pumping. As far as she could tell, Dasaro was on the far side of the room, facing the kitchen. Aroska’s voice was closer, and she knew he was between her and the captain.
Slowly, as if disturbing even the air would alert Dasaro to her presence, Ziva lifted her hand and concentrated as hard as she could on the dish, holding her breath as it began to quiver slightly. It finally rose a few millimeters, suspended in mid-air by only her thoughts, and with a slight flick of her hand she sent it floating away parallel to the table’s surface. She didn’t breathe until the dish was resting on a shelf out of sight.
“Is there any chance Payvan would come here seeking help?” Dasaro was asking.
“It’s unlikely,” Aroska responded after a thoughtful moment and a short grunt. “I think if she was going to come, she would have already. Besides, she never struck me as the type who would put her trust in someone she knew for a week. We may have gotten the job done together once, but it’s been a while now and a lot has happened since then.” He was silent for several seconds. “You’re certain she’s still on the planet?”
“We’ve had an airtight blockade in place since the night of the assassination,” Dasaro answered. “No ship can even leave the system without being searched inside and out. It’s not the most efficient method for netting Payvan, and it’s wreaking havoc on the trade industry, but keeping her trapped on the ground is better than having her running loose somewhere out in the galaxy.”
Ziva expected as much. She’d spent most of the night lying awake formulating several tentative plans, all of which depended almost wholly on whether Aroska could gain Dasaro’s trust and secure an advantageous position within HSP. Having to depend entirely on someone else sickened her, but if Dasaro’s blockade was as strong as he claimed it was, it would be virtually impossible for her to get away on her own.
“If you’re in need of an extra gun, I’d be glad to assist in the search,” Aroska offered. “I could provide insight, though a limited amount. I’m sure you’re aware that Payvan killed my brother, and I’d be more than happy to finally see her brought to justice.”
Ziva’s skin crawled as she waited for Dasaro’s response. Aroska’s offer had been too quick – he should have waited until the end of the conversation. Surely the captain would grow suspicious now and all of her plans would be wasted. But perhaps she was jumping to conclusions. Again, she held her breath until he spoke.
“I would be much obliged, Lieutenant. I could use a man with your knowledge and skills.”
There was a slight smack of skin on skin as the two men clasped hands and shook. “Great,” Aroska said. “I’ll check in first thing in the morning, if that works.”
“I’d rather you started this afternoon. The sooner we find Payvan, the sooner our troubles are over.” Then he added coldly, “If that works.”
“Sure, sure,” Aroska stammered, making Ziva grimace. “Just give me a couple hours to get cleaned up, and I’ll be in as soon as possible.”
They were silent as their feet moved across the floor and the front door opened. “Good day, Lieutenant,” Dasaro said.
“Good day, sir.”
Then the door closed again, leaving the house as silent as she’d found it the day before. Ziva relaxed her grip on the pistol but refused to move otherwise, picturing herself waltzing out into the living room to discover that Dasaro was somehow still there, lying in wait. She stood perfectly still, listening to her own blood rushing through her ears until Aroska appeared in the kitchen doorway. He nodded that things were all clear.
“Does this mean I’m off the hook for the rest of my so-called treatment?” he asked, flashing a playful smirk.
Ziva stepped away from the wall and holstered her weapon. “You’re going to have to be more careful around Dasaro if you want to keep him convinced of anything for more than two minutes,” she sighed, brushing a hand back over her head and leaving it there. “Did he know? Could you tell?”
“If he did, he did a good job of not showing it,” Aroska replied. “Something tells me that if he knew, he would have just put a round between my eyes then and there. I don’t think he saw you, and I doubt he could smell you with the smoke in the air. I know I couldn’t.”
Ziva raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know whether to be relieved by that or disturbed that you were trying.”
“So am I ready or not?”
“You’re going to have to be. Dasaro’s a tough one to impress, but you can start by taking some initiative and showing integrity.” She gave him a once-over. “You’re a complete mess but at least you’re sober. Now hurry and clean up. You don’t want to keep him waiting.”
Diago Dasaro waved his fingers and the three agents accompanying him materialized from the shadows around Tarbic’s house and fell into stride behind him. He waited a moment before crossing to the other side of the street, where the four of them piled into the parked HSP-issue groundcar without a word. He was fed up with everything – the case, the people around him,
everything.
How Payvan could have evaded all the checkpoints and infrared probes was completely beyond him. He was confident that she was indeed still on the planet, but it was impossible to know if she was still running around in the forest or hiding out somewhere in one of the cities. What they really needed were more checkpoints on the ground, but at this point tightening the net would only create holes elsewhere that Ziva would take advantage of at first opportunity.
Dasaro pulled the car out and joined the flow of mid-morning traffic. He looked forward to bringing Aroska Tarbic on board. He’d heard good things about the man; his excellent work ethic, investigative skills, and his experiences with Payvan would prove to be invaluable. The only thing that made him uneasy was the fact that Tarbic had been away from the agency on leave for over a month. According to the director it was nothing more than accumulated vacation time, although it had escalated from some personal time awarded to him after the Solaris group had been disbanded.
He maneuvered the car into a busier traffic lane and began weaving back toward downtown Noro and HSP headquarters. Once they settled down to a steady speed he reached over and activated the mobile comm system on the car’s control panel.
“She hasn’t been at Tarbic’s place,” he announced when Nejdra Venn answered the transmission.
The woman swore. “We’re running out of ideas and time,” she said.
“That doesn’t mean we stop trying,” Dasaro snapped. “I’m bringing in another resource. Tarbic volunteered his services – says he thinks he can help us find her. I think he’ll be a valuable asset.”
“Whatever you say.”
“Gather up the information we have and make a copy of the files so we’re ready to brief him when he arrives. We’re about twenty minutes out.”
“
Nejdra
,” Ziva corrected. “Nejdra Venn. The woman is a complete
shouka.
I guarantee she’s going to hate you the moment you walk through the door so don’t do anything that’ll dig you deeper into the hole. She’ll eat you alive.”
“Nejdra,” Aroska repeated from behind the closed door of his bedroom. “Nejdra, Kyron and Diago.”
Ziva was leaning against the wall at the end of the hallway, arms crossed, just as she had been since she’d heard him emerge from the lavatory. “Don’t bother getting on a first name basis with them,” she said. “They won’t be friendly enough to do so with you – hold your ground.”
There was a thump as a footlocker closed, followed by some rustling. “Venn, Hoxie and Dasaro, then,” Aroska said, his voice muffled as if his head were inside a piece of clothing.
Ziva looked down and watched his shadow shifting around under the door, listening as he moved across the floor to the closet and began going through it. She felt like a mother waiting on her dawdling son. After nearly two hours, she was beginning to wonder if there was another man in the galaxy capable of taking so long to get ready. Taking into consideration the condition he’d been in, however, she was grateful he’d taken the time to do a thorough clean-up job. Not only would it allow him to fit in at HSP as if he’d never left, but she wasn’t sure how much longer she could have put up with being around him before he showered.
She stepped out of the way when she heard him come back to the door and stop. The door slid open slowly and light from the bedroom poured out into the dark hallway. She strode out into the living room with him hot on her heels and snatched up her communicator from her meager pile of belongings.
“What do you want me to do if I see Skeet or Zinni?”
Ziva turned back to face him in the better light, startled by what she saw. She suppressed her shock by coming up with a speedy reply. “Tell them everything except where I am. I don’t need them getting in trouble for knowing more than they should.”
She hoped her mouth hadn’t hung open as long as it felt like it had. The man standing before her was neither the Aroska Tarbic from two months ago nor the one who had locked himself away in the lavatory two hours earlier. She studied him for another microsecond. The warm amber eyes and the kind face belonged to the man she had known, the one who had helped her bring down Dakiti and the Sardons. However, his familiar shoulder-length hair had disappeared entirely – it had been replaced by a close-cropped cut he had styled into a short mohawk. He had also done a careful job shaving, masterfully resurrecting the thin black goatee she remembered. In addition, he had successfully gotten rid of the musty alcohol stench that had been hanging around him. He was dressed in a set of clean clothes and wore the same black field jacket he had always worn.
He shrugged. “Do you approve?” he asked with a smirk.
Ziva placed her hands on her hips and nodded, allowing a slight smirk of her own. She wagged her head. “I have to say I’m impressed,” she said, eyebrows raised. “Much better.”
Aroska shrugged and scraped his fingers against the short, bristly hair on the back of his head. “So what is this, the second or third time I’ve ever done anything right by you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Maybe I’ve got some points in your book. Maybe it’s time to stop treating me like I’m totally incompetent.”
“Oh, so this is all a game and we’re keeping score now?”
“I think you know that’s not what I meant.”
“
I
think you should learn that there are times for joking and now is not one of them.”
“
And I think
you need to lighten up a little.”
Ziva felt her face flush with anger as she ventured a step closer to him. “Damn it Aroska, what will it take for you to figure this out?” she exclaimed. “You want to get shot? How about tortured? Maybe then you would understand why I take everything I do so seriously. The more you focus now, the faster we can get this all over with. Then –
then
– I might ‘lighten up a little’.”
She stared him down for a moment, giving her words ample time to sink in. Then, after turning over the communicator in her hand and tossing it into the air once, she offered it to him.
Aroska took it and examined the tiny screen for a moment before pocketing the device. He opened his mouth to speak but looked away, wisely choosing to remain quiet and allow her to give him further instructions.
“I’ll contact you on that by early evening,” she explained. “Ignore the transmission if you’re not in a position to talk. By all means do
not
let Dasaro know you have it.”
“I
have
a comm,” Aroska said, raising a cynical eyebrow.
“You can bet Dasaro will have yours bugged. It’s a standard part of his initiation process – everyone under his command has been through it at some point, including me.”
He shuffled his feet and glanced toward the door. “If you’re in such a hurry to get this over with then I suggest we get this show on the road.”
Ziva caught his arm with a firm hand as he turned to go. “Be smart, Tarbic.”
“You know me.”
“Exactly – that’s why I’m worried.”
