SHIAM Conspiracy- Book 1 (21 page)

Zak watched her closely from the chair
opposite the couch. Her hair was matted to her head from the rain,
her blonde streaks hanging in stringy highlights to the natural
darkness of her hair. He had insisted that she change into
something dry when they had arrived back at the loft. She was now
wearing a pair of his jeans and one of his t-shirts, which were
both too large on her and made her look even more petite and
vulnerable. The sound of Zak’s old second-hand clothes dryer could
be heard in the background, the worn barrel of the dryer clunking
as their wet clothes tumbled noisily within.

“Zak, I do not know how long that containment
spell is going to last!”

“We’ll figure out a way to take care of
it.”

“Yes, but if that thing gets free...” She
grew silent again, burying her face in Ke’aira’s thick coat, as she
attempted to find comfort there. Finally she said, “Poor
Gavril...just lying there like that. We should not have left him.
We should call the police!”

Zak raked a hand through his hair, fatigue
pressing in on him. He sympathized with her pain over losing her
friend, but his instinct insisted that they keep what they found at
the warehouse to themselves for the time being. “No. No, not a good
idea.”

“We should not have just left Gavril there
like that!” Her voice became argumentative. “We need to tell
Samarah what happened. She has a right to know.”

“We can’t do that.”

“You do not feel that murdering Elves is
sufficient reason to report any of this?”

“Look, back at the warehouse, you said this
is no longer about some stolen technology,” He leaned forward in
his chair, hoping that he could make her understand. “You were
right. There is more at stake here than a missing SHIAM. I know how
badly you’re hurting, but there is even more at stake than five
murdered Elves.”

“You are a cold hearted bastard!” Megan’s
anger became instantly palpable. She struggled to jump up from the
couch, but Ke’aira’s weight held her in place, the dog unwilling to
allow her to leave. Her tirade went on as she struggled with the
dog. “You have so little regard for Elves. You hate us that much.
You have spent your entire life trying to separate your Human side
from the part that is Elf. You probably had a blood transfusion to
get rid of any Elvish blood you may have had and replaced it
entirely with Human. Well, if you will not do something about
Gavril and the others laying there dead, then I will...”

“That’s enough!” He exploded from his chair
in his frustration with her. “That gateway and the dark thing
inside it isn’t the only threat to the world. What do you think the
reaction will be when people learn that an Ork is linked to a
break-in of a major Aragne military contractor?

“There are people that would love nothing
better than to find an excuse to go to war with the Orks. People
like Senator Donovan and Defense Minister Hakkim and Karl Redcliffe
of the Miner’s Guild. They see it as an opportunity for profit, a
chance to gain control over the Akkasson Mountains and the arganite
ore that’s buried there. They don’t give a rat’s ass about the
lives that would be lost in a war. Orks, Elves or Humans!

Megan stopped struggling against Ke’aira. Zak
was pleased that she appeared to be listening.

“Look, if you are convinced that the magic
used at the warehouse is linked to the magic used in the Grimrok
break-in, then that also links the dead Ork to the break-in. If we
call the police in on this now, it won’t be long until the
reporters sniff it out and make it public. What do you think
Donovan and Hakkim will do when they find out Orks broke into
Grimrok?

“I have no love for the Orks. Hell, I’d just
as soon see every last one of them disappear from the face of the
planet. But I have no desire to be the one responsible for starting
a war. All these greedy fools are clamoring for war and we’d be
giving them an excuse to start one. And a war between the Aragne
Commonwealth and the Orkensha nations would almost certainly
escalate into a full blown world war. It’s a given that the other
Human nations and the Dwarves would fall in behind the Aragne’s
against the Orks. The Kremloch Colonies have already said they
supported the Orks in the border dispute. That would inevitably
pull the Goblinesh nations in on the side of the Orks. How long do
you think it would be before the Elves would be drawn into it?”

Zak paused, trying to judge the affect his
words were having on Megan. The thoughtful expression on her face
provided him with encouragement. “I would just as soon prevent a
war if at all possible.”

“Okay, we will wait,” Megan said softly. She
seemed calmer now, but the tension around her eyes and forehead and
jaw-line were still there. Her mouth puckered with resolve. “So
what do you propose we do?”

“We need to figure out what is going on,” he
said. “What were they using the warehouse for - a staging area? Why
would they kill the Elves if they were in on all this together? And
this whole thing with the portal and whatever it is trapped inside
it... None of it makes any sense. What does any of it have to do
with steeling SHIAM technology?”

“They could not have used sorcery to get into
the Grimrok building from the warehouse,” Megan said. “Magical
teleportation is not only illegal without permits; it is also
extremely difficult and would have surely set off Grimrok’s
security alarms. It would have also been detected by the city’s
sensors.”

“What about the portal?” Zak wondered. “Could
they have created some sort of wormhole into the Grimrok
building?”

“It would have been detected.” Megan frowned
and shook her head. “I do not care how good these sorcerers were.
Doing something on that scale would be impossible without setting
off both Grimrok’s and the city’s alarms.”

“Then what was the point of it?”

They sat in silence. Judging by her sad
expression, Megan was again thinking of her dead friend. Ke’aira
raised herself up and offered her sympathy in the way of several
wet licks to Megan’s cheek.

“It is amazing how she’s taken to you so
quickly.” It seemed to bother him on some level, although it was
too foolish to admit.

“Yeah, you said that before.”

Now he felt foolish anyway. He pulled his
thoughts back to the problem at hand. “That thing in the energy
field, could they have tried to conjure something to help with the
break-in? That could explain the gateway.”

“If they did, something went wrong before
they could use it,” Megan said. “I do not believe that creature was
ever inside the Grimrok building. I would have sensed it if it had
been.”

Zak didn’t respond as he continued to watch
Megan. He had no further theories that made any sense. Faced with
the impasse, his thoughts changed direction. Megan was a beautiful
woman. If things were different, he could be attracted to her...
Who was he kidding? He already was attracted to her.

As he watched her, Megan’s expression
withered again. “I just cannot stop thinking about Gavril lying in
that warehouse...dead.”

”I know how much you’re hurting right now.”
Zak used that gentle, consoling tone he’d used during his time with
ASID, the tone he’d developed for those occasions when it had been
up to him to console a family who had lost a loved one. “I wish
there was something I could do about Gavril. But I’m sure he’d
understand that it must be this way. If he was the kind of man you
said he was he’d know that we mean no disrespect to him. We’ll go
back in the morning and search the warehouse. Hopefully, we’ll get
some answers and then we can take care of your friend.”

Megan did not answer. Her eyes were again
glossy with tears, but she didn’t cry. Ke’aira began lapping at her
face again, this time more earnestly as she was determined to
comfort the young Elf. Megan hugged the dog to her with a deep
shuddering sigh. When she pulled away, she had regained control.
Outwardly, at least.

“It was projection sorcery that I used to
look into the office at the warehouse,” she finally said.

“Like astral projection?” Zak asked.

Megan nodded. “The whole thing was so
strange. It was like a nightmare that made no sense. Everything had
a red tinge to it, the same glow that was coming through the
window. There was a swirling fog so dense I could see nothing else.
For a long time I seemed to just float there, within that blood red
fog.”

“You were only in there for a few
minutes.”

“Really?” She appeared to be too distracted
by her thoughts for it to really be a question. “It felt like
forever. After a while the fog became less dense. I could see that
I was in a forest. The land kept changing somehow. There was a path
or a road. And a sign.
Tahmore
...something. Perhaps a town
or some other place. Then the shadow came. And the fear!” Megan
shivered at the memory. “Do you have any beer?”

“Sure.”

He got up and went to the kitchen area.
Ke’aira was noticeably absent during the trip, choosing to stay
with Megan rather than follow Zak. He grabbed two Darkstone Ales
out of the fridge and headed back to the living area.

Offering Megan one of the bottles of beer, he
said, “Tahmore. That name seems familiar, but I can’t place it. I
know I’ve heard of it before somewhere.”

“I have never heard of it.” Megan took a long
drink from the bottle he’d handed her.

“Well, there’s one way to find out,” Zak said
after taking a drink of his own beer. “Computer, search Comm Net
for any references to the word
Tahmore
.”

“Searching,” the computer answered.

While the computer searched, Megan used the
time to thank Zak for helping her. She seemed to be feeling better
now and even attempted a joke. “That was some tackle you made on
me,” she smiled and gingerly touched her ribs. “I can still feel
it.”

“Geeze, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to
hurt you.” He began to get up. “Can I get you more ice for your
side?”

“No, it is okay! You did what needed to be
done.” She turned her smile up a notch. “Besides, it is no worse
than when I played football with my cousins back home.”

“You actually played football?” Zak was
dumbfounded. “Tackle football?”

“Yeah, it has always been one of my favorite
sports. I told you that.”

“I thought you were just trying to get on my
good side.”

“Search complete,” the computer interrupted.
“There are no references to the word Tahmore on Comm Net.”

“There’s got to be,” Zak insisted. “Try
searching all available data sources in all languages for any
reference to the word
Tahmore
.”

“The current search included all data sources
in all languages. There is no reference to...”

“Well, do it again!”

“Very well, searching!”

“It has to exist,” Megan said. “I saw the
sign. I am not mistaken.”

“If that energy stream is some sort of a
gateway to another world... What if
Tahmore
is from whatever
place the gateway leads to?”

“It is possible.” Megan admitted.

While they waited, Zak steered the
conversation in a direction that he hoped would help Megan to relax
and take her focus off her dead friend for a while. “So, you really
played football when you were a kid?”

Megan laughed at his question and told him
the story of how she came to enjoy the sport. As she recounted her
experiences as a rebellious tomboy during her youth, preferring the
activities of her boy cousins over those that were more
traditionally accepted for a refined young Elf girl, Zak became
even more mesmerized by her. It didn’t take him long to determine
that she was a uniquely determined and courageous young woman. Each
time her father had insisted that she behave as a proper Elvish
lady, it had led to an argument as Megan would defend her right to
be herself. Megan’s mother would then patiently act as arbitrator
and work out a peace between father and daughter, which would
require some compromise on both their parts. Unfortunately, the
peace was always short-lived as Megan would inevitably slip back
into her old comfortable habits and the cycle would begin
again.

“I guess there came a point where my father
gave up,” Megan concluded with a sad smile. “While he still does
not always approve, he has come to accept me more for who I
am.”

“You sound like you were quite a handful.”
Zak recognized that her rebellion went much deeper than simply
being a spoiled child. Her individuality did not spring from
selfish desires, but from a deep sense of who she was and what she
believed in. He found himself admiring her. But he still could not
overlook who she was. If only things had been different...

“Search complete,” the computer interrupted
once more. “No data relating to
Tahmore
found on
any
available
data source!”

“
O
h, crap!” Zak strained to get a better
look through the sheets of rain rolling down the windshield in
spite of the wipers.

Megan had slowed down as they approached
Tanner’s Warehouse. The parking lot of the warehouse was a swarm of
activity. Emergency lights refracted in a prism of color through
the cascading water on the windshield. Men and women in yellow rain
coats and red emergency vests hustled in and out of the same small
door Zak and Megan had gone through the previous night. Camera
crews from at least three separate news stations were also there in
spite of the heavy rain, trying to press as close to the action as
possible, kept back by the uniformed officers that had been
assigned to secure the perimeter of the building.

“Keep driving,” Zak said. “How the frag did
the cops find out!”

“Do not look at me, I did not tell them!”
Megan said, her forehead crinkling.

“I didn’t accuse you of anything.”