SHIAM Conspiracy- Book 1 (22 page)

“Yeah, right.” She slowly drove on down the
street. “Now what do we do?”

“I’m not sure,” He swiveled his head as they
passed the warehouse, watching the unexpected scene in the parking
lot. “Drive down to the end of the street and stop at the river. We
need to figure out our next move. Crap!”

Venmuroo Road ended abruptly a few hundred
meters past the warehouse. A small concrete wall marked the end of
the road. Just beyond the land dropped off, giving way to the
Serpent River. A weather worn diamond shaped sign was attached to
the center of the wall, with a rather obvious warning of ‘DEAD END’
slowly corroding away with time. The storm-laden water beyond the
barricade flowed in choppy waves toward the Dragon Sea. The weather
hid any hint of Sol Kappur West on the far shore, creating the
illusion that the dismal water stretched indefinitely into the
bleak horizon. Tanner’s Warehouse, only a short distance behind
them, had nearly disappeared from view as well, now only a dark
outline in the greyness that surrounded them.

Megan stopped the Pegasus without bothering
to pull over to the side of the road. There was no sign of anyone
in the immediate area. Not even one ship could be seen on the
water. It felt like they were suddenly the last two people left on
the planet. Even the grey-white gulls that normally glided lazily
upon the air currents above the river were now missing.

Zak and Megan sat in silence for a time.
Megan had, at Zak’s insistence, spent the night at his loft so they
could get an early start. He had given her his bed for the night
and Ke’aira had insisted on staying with her new-found friend
rather than sharing the couch with him. They woke to another dark
and gloomy morning that did nothing to lift their spirits, but they
had forced themselves into the day. Megan had logged into the
Institute’s database before they left for Tanner’s Warehouse,
hoping to find some additional information on the sorcery she had
detected the previous night. Unfortunately what little she had been
able to detect at the warehouse failed to turn up any significant
information. She was able to verify that the mysterious flow of
energy they’d found was, in fact, most likely some sort of
portal.

As he now stared bleakly out at the rain, Zak
asked, “Are you sure you didn’t mention anything about last night
to anyone when you contacted the Institute?”

He felt awkward asking her, especially after
her reaction a few minutes ago. But he needed to know.

“I told you I did not!” Her resentment toward
the question was obvious.

“Okay, I just had to make sure,” he said
defensively. “This is just too weird. How did they find out?”

“A very good question.” The attitude in her
voice fell away. She sounded as puzzled as he was about the police
being at the warehouse. “It is a pretty strange coincidence, the
police coming onto the scene the very next day after we found it.
It is almost like we were being followed.”

Zak turned sharply in his seat and looked
over at her. “Followed,” he considered. With the technology
currently available, if someone wanted to keep tabs on them, they
would not necessarily need to physically follow them in order to
track them.

“I did not mean it, really,” she said. “I
mean, our involvement in the Grimrok theft is supposed to be
secret, right. Who would be following us and why?”

“That’s also a very good question,” Zak said.
He didn’t have an answer, but he was definitely getting the feeling
that someone was playing him. The question was, who and why? He
didn’t have anywhere near enough information to even begin to
guess. Instead, he turned his attention toward avenues he could
explore. “Those traces of magic you detected in the Grimrok
network...”

“Yes?”

“If the thieves were using the warehouse as
some sort of staging area, I wonder if they used the building’s
comm system to tap into the Grimrok network.”

Megan gave him a puzzled look. “Would the
system in the warehouse not be disconnected? I mean, the building
looks like it has been empty for a very long time.”

“Doesn’t mean Comm Net was necessarily
disconnected,” Zak said. “A lot of times Star Comm and the other
providers leave the connections turned on when these old buildings
go empty. They figure it is cheaper than trying to keep up with all
the vacancies and the high rollover of occupancy, so they just
leave them connected. Besides, if these bad guys are as good as
they seem to be, tapping into the city grid wouldn’t be a problem
as long as the building was still hard wired. Let’s go back to
Grimrok. If the warehouse network is still connected, we may be
able to tap into it from there.”

“What about the police?”

“They have six dead bodies and an unexplained
tower of power leaking into the sky to deal with.” Zak gave her a
half-hearted smile. “I don’t think they’ll get to the computer
system any time soon.”

Megan put the Pegasus in gear and began
turning around when her comm rang. She answered it, paused while
listening, said ‘yes’ into the headset. She looked over at Zak, a
perplexed look on her face as she lowered the device from her
ear.

“It is Dr. Raghnall,” she said. “He asked if
you were with me. He wants me to put the call on the external
speakers.”

She worked the keyboard on her comm and sat
it on the dash between the two of them. “Ok, Dr. Raghnall, we can
both hear you.”

“Good, I was hoping that you two were
together.” Dr. Raghnall’s calm voice came over the car speakers.
“There has been a development I think you should know about. It
seems that the police have discovered the bodies of five Elves and
an Orkensha...”

“Yeah, at Tanner’s Warehouse,” Zak
interrupted.

There was a brief silence before Dr. Raghnall
responded, “So you
were
there.”

“You know?” Zak asked, unable to mask his
surprise.

Dr. Raghnall continued without answering his
question. “Since you were already there, you are aware of the
anomaly located within the warehouse.”

“Yeah, we know.” He glanced over to Megan.
“How did you find out we’ve already been there? Better yet, how the
hell did the cops find out about the warehouse?”

“According to the police, Star Comm called
them in,” Dr. Raghnall answered. “It seems they received a
complaint about interference within the communications grid for the
area and had a maintenance unit investigate. It was the maintenance
crew who found it”

“Okay, and how do you know all this?” Zak
questioned. “You have a tap on the local police frequencies?”

Dr. Raghnall chuckled. “Not quite. Since the
city decided to cut back on the budget for law enforcement, they
have eliminated the full time positions for paranormal
investigation personnel. They have been using our services at the
Institute since then. So, you see, when they discovered the
anomaly, they requested our assistance. I sent Harry Mathers to
look into the matter. He’s just reported back to me. It was Harry
who told me you two had been inside the warehouse. He is quite good
at picking up residual auras.”

“Dr. Raghnall, we believe that this anomaly
is somehow related to the foretelling...”

“Now wait a minute, I never said I thought
this had anything to do with any vision,” Zak objected.

Megan glared at him for interrupting, her
voice tight with tension. “I am sorry I did not report what we
found to you, Dr. Raghnall.”

“That is quite all right.” The doctor’s voice
crackled with sudden static interference as a particularly violent
flash of lighting cut across the sky. “From what I have learned of
the situation, you are correct in believing that this is somehow
connected to the prophecy and I understand your decision to keep it
quiet. I assure you, my dear, there is no need for you to feel
obligated to report your every move to me. I will certainly help in
any way that I can, but I believe this task has been appointed to
the two of you to resolve. You must do as you see fit. I place my
trust in those powers that guide us.”

“We need to get back inside that warehouse,
Doc,” Zak said, doing his best to ignore the references to the
foretelling. “We need to find out what’s going on in there.”

“Yes. Yes of course,” Dr. Raghnall said. “In
fact, I have already anticipated that you would. I have instructed
Harry to advise the police that he requires additional assistance.
How soon can you get to the warehouse?”

“We’re there now.”

“Good,” Dr. Raghnall said. “May the Power of
Light guide you.”

“Thank you, Dr. Raghnall,” Megan said. She
disconnected the comm and looked over at Zak. “Do you think the
police will find out we have already been there?”

“They probably already know. Harry Mathers
would almost certainly have told them. He’s bound by contract to
reveal anything he finds during an investigation.” Zak leaned
forward in the car seat and shrugged out of his jacket, then
removed the shoulder holster he was wearing. After finding the
bodies the previous night, he had decided to revise his approach to
this job. Carrying a weapon was one of the adjustments. He had even
supplied Megan with his spare laser pistol after she assured him
that she was capable of using it. “Better leave the weapons in the
car. The cops tend to get annoyed with civilians who carry
guns.”

As they started back towards the warehouse
something occurred to Zak. “Dr. Raghnall said Star Comm received a
complaint about interference in the communications grid for the
area. Other than static from the lightning, did you notice how
clear our comm connection was?”

“What does that mean?” Megan asked him.

“Now that’s another very good question,” Zak
said.

M
oments later they were pulling into the
crowded parking lot of the warehouse. As they got out of Megan’s
car they were immediately intercepted by a rain soaked uniformed
policeman.

“I’m sorry, this is a crime scene,” the
officer said. “Please get back in your vehicle and vacate the
premises.”

Before either Zak or Megan could respond, a
shout came from behind the uniformed officer. “Don’t let them
leave, they are under arrest!”

The mood of the officer changed instantly and
he placed his hand on his holstered weapon. “Please, remain where
you are. Keep your hands where I can see them.”

“Oh, this is just great!” Zak said as the
plainclothes detective approached them. He pulled his corduroy
jacket close in a futile attempt to protect himself from the cold
rain. “Couldn’t we do this somewhere out of the rain?”

“Remain where you are,” the officer repeated
in an even less friendly voice.

Detective Ramesh Sarkof and Zak had very
little affection for one another. The hostility between them began
shortly after Zak had opened his network security business.
Detective Sarkof had been assigned as lead investigator on a case
concerning a hacker breaking into the city’s main computer network.
Zak had the misfortune of being called in as a consultant. Sarkof
developed an attitude towards him right from the start. Each time
Zak offered any input into the case, Sarkof would dismiss it. While
Sarkof was busy following leads that led nowhere, Zak managed to
not only discover how the hacker circumvented the city security and
access the network; he also identified the person responsible.
Sarkof went ballistic over the fact that Zak had upstaged him.

Unfortunately, the hacker was dead when the
police arrived to arrest him. Sarkof, of course, did everything he
could to pin the murder on Zak. Shortly after the charges were
dropped due to lack of evidence, Zak was also instrumental in
catching the real killer, which aggravated Sarkof even more.

Zak, for his part, never made any real effort
to cooperate with Sarkof. He thought the detective was a simpleton
with delusions of grandeur and had informed Sarkof of his opinion
of the man upon several occasions. They clashed every time they
came within close proximity of one another.

“You’re under arrest, Harris.” Sarkof’s
shrill voice cracked with excitement.

He was, as Zak described him, a rodent type
guy. His nose and chin were equally pointy, his face sallow, with
small grey eyes that appeared much too far apart. If that didn’t
make him look sufficiently unusual, he was also well on his way to
premature baldness, with a crown of carrot colored hair framing his
burnished dome.

“Good morning, Sarkof, nice to see you too.”
Zak said. He smiled as he watched the steady trickle of water run
off the pointed tips of the detective’s nose and chin. “What’s the
matter, the department can’t afford weather protection spells for
you guys?”

“Cut the crap, Harris,” Sarkof said, brushing
his hand over his balding scalp. “I know for a fact that you were
here within the past twenty-four hours. Officer, cuff this man and
his accomplice and put them in the squad car.”

“Check that, Detective!” The order came from
the same direction Sarkof had come from. Zak immediately recognized
the gruff authoritative voice. Apparently, the uniformed officer
recognized it as well. He visibly cringed as he turned toward the
owner of the voice, then immediately backed off several steps in
order to maintain a discreet distance between him and the
approaching man.

“Ah, Captain Mashkkha,” Zak said, turning
toward the heavyset man. “Just in the nick of time. Could we do
this somewhere where it’s dry?”

“Can it, Harris,” Mashkkha growled. His
demeanor left little doubt as to who the ranking officer was at
this crime scene. Although his features showed the weather worn
look of age, his short brown hair revealed no sign of grey. He was
a big man. Although obviously overweight, he was solid and muscular
just the same. He moved with a natural ease that validated his
self-confident mannerism.