Ronan: Ziva Payvan Book 3 (7 page)

Ziva tried not to grimace. This was exactly the problem she’d been mulling over at the rehab center. Half the galaxy probably knew who she was by now, knew who she worked for, could pick her face out of a crowd. It would make functioning as a covert operative rather tricky.

“I never did peg you for an ordinary field agent. The way you carry yourself, the apathy in your eyes…dangerous people recognize these things in other dangerous people.” Tobias stopped and watched her for a moment, then laughed again. “And don’t worry; I know your precious organization doesn’t like to talk much about who or what the special operations division consists of. I like you, Agent Payvan, and I have no reason to reveal your secret. Unless you give me one, of course.”

Another subtle warning. Ziva smirked. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Excellent. Now, let me see if I have this straight. You want to offer me your services—”

This time it was Ziva’s turn to cut him off. “I will carry out a hit for you. Maybe you want to maintain a low profile, don’t want anyone to know you sanctioned it. Or maybe you don’t trust any of your apes here to get the job done.” She paused and took a look around, reveling in the looks of contempt all the thugs were giving her. “You name the time and place, and I’ll be there – within reason, of course. I’m a busy woman, you know.”

Tobias had yet to stop smiling, but it was a cold, forced smile that told her he was silently weighing the benefits and potential consequences of her offer. “All right, Agent Payvan, I think you’ve got yourself a deal. And you know what? Go ahead and keep your money. The prospect of having an HSP agent in my pocket, even temporarily, is rather irresistible.”

Ziva remained silent, refraining from specifying that she most likely wouldn’t be employed by HSP anymore by the time she paid her debt, but she decided he didn’t need to know that. The thought of owing anyone anything was almost unbearable, but at the moment striking a deal like this seemed like the most efficient way to move forward. The galaxy only knew what kind of trouble Skeet and Aroska had gotten themselves into, and if Zinni had already been gone for four weeks, well…time was of the essence.

“So tell me what you’d like to know about your friends.”

She gave him a quick rundown of the situation, describing the data they’d obtained from Kat but keeping the details to a minimum. The Alpha team had come to Niio to investigate a warehouse similar to the one Kat had found on Chaiavis, and while there, Zinni had been taken. Skeet and Aroska had set up a temporary headquarters on the moon as they’d searched for clues, but they’d gone dark two days earlier when the agency implemented Condition Black. As she spoke, she studied Tobias’s face and saw, to her surprise, what appeared to be genuine interest.

“Yes, we heard about that incident at your base,” he said. His furrowed brow spawned a series of lines that crisscrossed all the way up his forehead. “Very unfortunate indeed.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know who was behind it.”

“I’m afraid not, but I think I have some information that might interest you.” He snapped his fingers and held out his hand, receiving a data pad from one of the men standing nearby. “Your team arrived a little over four weeks ago, just like you said. And, like you said, I know about everything that goes on in my city. They settled into one of the flophouses near the docks and ventured into the warehouse district after a couple of days. Then these guys showed up just a couple of hours after your friends.”

Ziva took the data pad when he offered it and examined the photos it displayed. They were stills taken from various surveillance feeds around the port, all depicting the same armor-clad figures. Their faces were all obscured by helmets, but everything about their outward appearance was identical, telling her they were from some sort of organized group. “Who are they?” she asked, sliding the data pad back across the table.

“Couldn’t tell you,” Tobias said with a disappointed wag of his head. “And normally I wouldn’t give a sewer rat’s ass who they were, but they killed three of my men. They left in a real hurry after they took your friend. But see here?” He leaned forward and pushed the data pad back toward her, zooming in on one of the photos. “That armor is Durutian. I’ve had a few of them in my ranks before, even hired a couple as hitmen, so I’d recognize it anywhere.”

The wheels spun in Ziva’s head as she stared at the photo again. It was obvious that these were Ronan’s soldiers, but with so little information regarding what Ronan actually was, that still didn’t really answer the question of who they were. The vast majority of Durutians were mercenaries, hiring themselves out to fight, kill, and sometimes even just do odd work for whoever was willing to pay. Hailing from a barren, rocky planet, their primary export was their own people, or more accurately, whatever specialized service each person provided. It made sense that they’d be working for or with Ronan if the mysterious entity was as powerful as it seemed to be.

“And my team?” she finally said.

“After your agent was captured, they came and went from the port several times – they were no doubt out searching nearby systems for her. Like you guessed, they packed up and hauled out of here a couple of days ago. Don’t know if they found a new lead or just thought it was time to leave. According to my man at Port Control, they set an FTL course for the southwest quadrant, the same direction those Durutians went four weeks ago.”

“There’s not much out there,” Ziva mused.

Tobias produced a second data pad and manipulated it for a moment, comparing a map of the nearby Fringe Space to the route the
Intrepid
had supposedly taken. “Charted settlements include Bectin, Plaunus, and Aubin. I’ve heard Aubin has a respectable little spaceport these days.”

Ziva nodded. Skeet would be just as familiar with Aubin as she was thanks to all of their independent service terms. If they’d been headed that direction, they’d most likely stopped there to regroup and look for signs of Ronan’s ship, just as they’d done here on Niio. And even if they weren’t there, that’s what she planned on doing.

She stood up, drawing tense reactions from Tobias’s thugs. “Well then, I suppose I should be on my way.”

Tobias gave her another ominous smile. “A pleasure doing business with you, as always. For what it’s worth, I hope you find your friend, Little Blue. I always liked her. So feisty.”

“Shall I save a slice of Ronan for you when we find it?”

“Oh, would you?” A sparkle of delight danced in his eyes, but it was immediately replaced by some cold quality that could only be what made him the most dangerous man on this side of the Fringe. He grinned. “Anyone who spills my family’s blood will pay dearly for it. Be sure to give me a call when it’s time.”

“I will.”

“In the meantime, there’s a car waiting outside to take you back to the port. And regarding your offer – I’ll be in touch.”

-11-

Residential Sector

Zylka, Aubin

Aroska brushed the tattered curtain aside just far enough to see out the window. As usual, Aubin’s scorching afternoon sun beat down on the city’s clay and brick structures, giving everything a distinct yellow glow that always made him squint after being accustomed to the dim lighting indoors. He almost wished the city could have been built in one of the jungles on the other side of the planet, but so much of the flora was toxic that living there was nearly impossible. Besides, he was pretty sure he preferred this dry heat and direct sunlight – however intense – to the heavy humidity of the jungle.

His eyes flitted about, taking in every person and creature that moved through the dusty streets below. He still hadn’t grown accustomed to the faint rippling effect produced by the force field above them; he kept seeing it out of the corner of his eye and being startled by the unidentified movement. Even now, the undulating shadows made it seem like there were extra people moving around, and his mind had to work twice as hard to process what was real and what was simply a product of the force field.

They’d been there a total of two days after the two-day flight from Niio. Their first priority had been to investigate the reports they’d received from the science team on Bectin, but by the time they’d arrived, Ronan’s ship and Zinni had been long gone. It was Skeet who had suggested they set up a new base there on Aubin, hoping a change of scenery might help. Thus far, they’d found no signs of their original quarry, but it seemed they’d still found something – or more accurately,
someone
– of interest, and that same someone had also managed to find
them
.

“Damn it,” Aroska muttered as his gaze finally fell upon a dark figure lingering in the entryway of the building diagonal from them.

“Still out there?” Skeet asked from his place at the tiny dining table across the room. He sat there motionless, staring at their collection of portable computer equipment with a deep crease cutting across his forehead.

Aroska grunted an affirmative. “Just the one guy, but I’m sure there are more.”

What unnerved him the most was that there was no way to tell
how many
more. These soldiers – some men, some women – had begun to appear almost immediately after the
Intrepid
had landed two days earlier. Some were dressed in what appeared to be mismatched uniform attire, and some wore the same armor as the men they’d spotted roaming the spaceport on Niio. But unlike the figures from the spaceport, none of these people had their faces covered by helmets. Based on the eerie silvery color of all their eyes and the various implants that jutted from their faces and heads, they were Durutians. While technically human, the race had been known to make use of extensive cybernetic modifications that gave its members many of the same abilities the Haphezians possessed naturally. Despite the fact that they no longer had a formal military or organized fleet, the Durutians were still a force to be reckoned with and were the only civilization the Haphezians had ever come close to considering “equal.”

“You really think these guys are working for Ronan?” he said. He’d meant to keep the thought to himself but the words escaped his mouth before he could stop them.

“Would I put it past them?” Skeet replied. “No, I wouldn’t. Whatever Ronan is, there are chemicals and scientific research involved, which means there’s probably a lot of money in it. Do I know for sure if these people are working for Ronan? Again, no. That’s something we need to find out, but right now we can’t just go waltzing into the street.”

He was right. The Durutians had been on their tail since they’d arrived. They’d settled into a small hotel initially so as not to compromise the apartment Skeet and the rest of the team used during their independent service terms. They’d already packed up and moved once after discovering they were being followed; now they were holed up in a different lodge, and it seemed Durutian scouts had found them once again. Aroska couldn’t imagine that the cyborgs were actually that good at finding people. They probably had spies and contacts throughout the city. According to one of Skeet’s local sources, they’d been there for about three weeks, long enough to establish themselves. This could very well be the group that had taken Zinni.

“You think that apartment complex down the street is their main base of operations?” Skeet asked, still staring absentmindedly at the computer.

“That area seems to have the highest concentration of them,” Aroska answered, eyes still glued to the man outside. The Durutians weren’t the only ones who had been doing some recon. Aroska had spent much of the previous afternoon studying the little compound the ‘borgs were calling home. He’d watched them interact with one another and made note of any changes in shifts. There were at least fifteen of them, probably a few more considering some of them were out patrolling the city at all times. Either way, he and Skeet were severely outnumbered, and they’d been forced to keep their distance, not wanting to risk one or both of them getting caught.

As he stood there watching, he found that his mind once again drifted to Ziva, something it hadn’t stopped doing since they’d received news of the attack on Na four days earlier. After a bit of calculating, he realized it had happened right around the time of – if not the
day
of – her hearing. Assuming she was still alive, and assuming the attack hadn’t stalled the trial, he wondered what the verdict had been. He’d volunteered to testify in her favor but the Royal House wouldn’t have it, saying he’d be too biased. When Kyron Hoxie had shown up at Headquarters and offered to tell his side of the story, Aroska hadn’t known what to think. The former captain’s testimony could definitely reinforce the fact that Dasaro was dirty, but it could also reinforce the fact that Ziva had killed Nejdra in cold blood. There was no way of knowing how the magistrates would respond to that.

In the event that the trial had ended positively and she’d avoided the attack, Aroska wondered where she was and what she was doing at this very moment. Surely she’d gone to the director and learned of their predicament. He once again found himself dreading the confrontation that would ensue should they ever meet again. All of this was his fault, after all; if he’d left Kat’s data pad and syringe in the strongbox, the team would never have gone to Niio and Zinni would never have been captured. He scoffed and shook his head.
And Ronan would still be running rampant somewhere out in the galaxy. At least now we’re closing in on some answers.

He finally turned away from the window, not terribly concerned about what the Durutian scout was doing. So far they’d done nothing but sneak around and spy, no doubt reporting everything they saw to someone higher up in the chain of command. They didn’t seem to be trying very hard to keep their presence a secret – it was almost as if they wanted him and Skeet to see them, hoping a glimpse of their superior firepower would deter them from approaching the base. He had a hunch they might be holding Zinni there. Even though there was no sign of the ship that had taken her, this could easily be some sort of drop site.

“I think we should go in tonight,” he said. “Maybe see if we can get a little closer under the cover of darkness.”

The room was silent for several seconds before Skeet made any move to respond. “Fine,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “We can’t stay cooped up in here forever.”

Operating under Condition Black was disconcerting at a time like this. Even if they
could
call in support, it would take at least four days for any backup to reach Aubin. Going in alone was the only way they were ever going to get any answers, but it was also the most dangerous option. With the Durutians scrutinizing them so carefully, the chances of them getting captured or killed were through the roof, and it would take the galaxy only knew how long for someone to notice their disappearance. Aroska sighed and reminded himself that this was the reality of special ops.

“This will still be strictly recon,” Skeet continued, rising and moving to the window to get a look for himself. “There’s nothing I want more than to take these guys down, but there’s no sense in getting ourselves blown away if we can help it.” The bright light from outside reflected off of his orange eyes, giving them an even more fiery quality than usual. Aroska could tell that he too was considering the consequences of going through with this mission but also knew this was the only way to save Zinni…assuming she was still alive.

“We have those jet suits in the ship,” he put in. “We could fly over and use infrared to get a bird’s eye view of the compound. It’d be stealthier than a larger vehicle.”

“With the way these guys are watching us, there’d be no way to get the suits back here from the port without being seen,” Skeet said, shaking his head as he stared at the man outside. “We could wait until dark, but by then we won’t be able to afford to waste the extra time. Every minute will count. We go in on foot.”

The next several hours were spent pacing around the tiny hotel room, reviewing the notes they’d compiled on the Durutian compound, and drawing up a plan for approach. Skeet had studied their nighttime arrangements the previous evening as Aroska had moved all their supplies from one hideout to the other. Unlike during the daytime hours, all of their soldiers remained in the apartment complex at night, though there were at least three of them standing watch at all times. Assuming their patrol patterns remained the same – which was likely if the group had indeed been on the planet for an extended period of time – it would be possible for the two of them to get close enough to see in through a few windows. After a bit of reluctant consideration, it was decided that they would split up, enabling one of them to theoretically escape should the other be captured. They would be armed, but lethal force was only to be used in the direst of circumstances.

The two of them set out two hours after nightfall; with Zylka’s long days and short nights, there wasn’t a moment to lose. They left their room illuminated so it might appear occupied to anyone lurking in the street. If their previous observations were any indication, none of the Durutians should be spying at this hour, but they treaded carefully regardless, not wishing to take any chances. They went their separate ways the moment they hit the street, with Skeet circling around toward the far side of the apartment complex and Aroska heading down the street toward the observation post he’d used the day before.

“Comm check.”

Aroska reached up to touch his earpiece. “I hear you.”

“Let me know when you’re in position.”

He turned down the first side street he came to, opting to approach his post from the rear. There weren’t many people out at this time of night, making it easier for him to spot any suspicious activity but also for anyone suspicious to spot him. He checked all reflective surfaces he passed and paused periodically in the entryways of any stores that were still open, studying his surroundings and searching for anything that had changed since he’d passed. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and somehow that unnerved him.

With a sigh, Aroska ducked down the next alley he found and wove back and forth between buildings for several minutes, keeping his eyes and ears open. It wasn’t long before he reached a rusty set of steps he recognized from the previous day. He ascended on light feet, wincing as the metal nevertheless squealed under his weight. The stairs took him to a small landing area on the roof of the building, a loading zone for the business below. He jogged across to the far side, stepping onto the lift that lowered cargo into the store. With a small roof over his head and a protective railing on three sides, he was well-concealed and invisible to anyone passing by in the street. The buildings across the way were shorter, giving him a nearly unobstructed view of the apartment complex where the Durutians were holed up.

Skeet’s voice crackled in his ear. “I’m all set. Where are you?”

“Just got settled in,” Aroska replied. He lifted his spotting scope to his eye and zoomed in on the Durutians’ compound, sweeping the area with the scope’s night optics. As far as he’d been able to tell during his previous investigating, the entire complex was occupied by their group. There were three buildings, each with five units, situated in a U-shape around a dusty courtyard. A small landing pad lay on the far side, closing off the circle.

From his vantage point, he could see one of the sentries pacing back and forth along the front of Building Three. A second man stood on the landing pad among the various groundcars parked there. Several of the apartments had lights on, but the courtyard was dark. Still, with cybernetics embedded in their eyes that could automatically adjust to a variety of lighting levels, Aroska imagined the sentries could see their surroundings perfectly. The majority of Haphezians could see well in the dark, but night optics still helped.
All
the Durutians had those optical implants, giving their eyes that eerie metallic quality and allowing them to operate in the dark better than any other civilized race.

“I’ve got two of the sentries,” Aroska said, “one in the landing area and one in front of the easternmost building.”

“I see the one on the landing pad,” Skeet replied after several seconds. “There’s another circling Building One.”

“You said they only use three sentries at any given time, right?”

“As far as I could tell last night. You move up and see what you can learn about Building Two. I’ll circle around and see if there’s anything interesting on the back side of Building Three.”