Ronan: Ziva Payvan Book 3 (12 page)

The woman sighed. “Well, thank you for letting me know. Are you headed home or back to the Core?”

“Back to the Core,” Reddic said. “We’ll see if the Feds have any new information we can act on. But hey, before you go…is anything interesting going on there? Heard anything more about that attack on the base you were telling me about?”

“Nothing much. Why?”

“Just curious.”

“Let me check the local news feeds.” There was silence for a moment, interrupted only by some faint shuffling in the background. “They said the lockdown was in effect until they could determine whether there was still a threat to HSP Headquarters or the military base. If it’s over, that must mean they didn’t find anything….” Her voice was quiet, distant, like she was talking to herself. “Oh, this is interesting.”

Ziva tensed.

“There was some sort of gas released during that attack, and it looks like the people who were exposed are starting to show what they’re calling ‘adverse symptoms’.”

A shiver ran down Ziva’s spine and she took a step forward, clenching her jaw to keep her facial expression from changing. There was no need to say anything to Reddic; her eyes did all the talking.
Go on
.

“Like what?” he asked.

“Headaches, numbness, partial paralysis, seizures. Sounds like it was some sort of nerve agent.”

The pressure of Skeet and Aroska’s collective gaze was almost tangible. They knew better than to say anything right now, but Ziva refrained from turning around all the same. A lump was beginning to form in her throat as she silently mulled this new information over. Unless she was mistaken, the gas on Na was the same substance Kat had been injected with, just as she’d feared. And that, in turn, meant only one thing: Ronan – the Resistance – had been behind the attack.

In the back of her mind she could still hear Reddic speaking with the woman, discussing when they’d see each other again, but all she could focus on were the chilling words:
the people who were exposed are starting to show what they’re calling adverse symptoms.
If the manifestation of these symptoms had been so delayed and the onset so sudden, there was no telling when hers might start. The prospect terrified her.

“Satisfied?” Reddic asked, ending the transmission. “Now, if you don’t mind, we have a job to do. Under normal circumstances, I might wish you the best of luck. But seeing as how you’re once again trying to go after one of my targets, I can’t bring myself to do it. I might also say I hope you find your missing agent, but you killed four of my people – good soldiers with families – so maybe it’s only fair that you lose someone too.”

“
Huhren shouka souhn!
” she growled, raising her pistol and taking aim for the man’s head. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was hoping to accomplish. Shooting him was out of the question when there was a whole unit of Durutians waiting just outside. Skeet and Aroska had drawn their own weapons behind her and no doubt had Mae and the technician in their sights. Neither Reddic nor the woman had had a chance to pull their own guns, and a simple wag of Ziva’s head told them what the consequences would be if they tried to.

“You can show yourselves out,” she muttered.

Each party exchanged one more wary glare before parting company. Ziva waited until Reddic, Mae, and the tech had all passed through the doorway before turning to face Skeet and Aroska. Their intense defensive expressions disappeared altogether as they shifted their attention from the departing Durutians to her.

“Don’t try to tell me you weren’t involved in that attack, Z,” Skeet said. Something verging on fear flashed through his eyes. “We’d hoped you were nowhere near it, but I see it in your face. You were there.”

Was she really being that careless with her body language, or could he just read her that well after all these years? “I was there,” she murmured as the implications continued to weigh down on her. “I was exposed.”

“Well then we have to go home!” Aroska said as if the solution were that simple.

Ziva shook her head. “We can’t just leave Zinni hanging.”

Both men were quiet for a moment. The way they stared at the floor and refused to make eye contact told her two things: they recognized the merit of her point, but they’d also begun to give up on the prospect of finding the intelligence officer. None of them, including her, wanted to say what they were really thinking.

“These symptoms sound exactly like what Kat described,” Aroska continued, more softly this time. “If that’s the case, maybe you can get help in time. Maybe they can synthesize a cure.”

“The labs have been studying that syringe since you found it,” Ziva said with a wag of her head. “They still don’t know what the hell the stuff even is.”

The room was silent once again. Even the sounds of Ray’s bustling had ceased; perhaps he had gone out the back door for a smoke.

“He’s right, Z,” Skeet finally said. “We need to go home. We’ve been out here chasing false leads for close to five weeks. It was pure coincidence that we even found the Durutians here.”

“If we stop now, Reddic is going to find Ronan first and that bastard is going to wipe out everything in his path, including Zinni!”

Skeet took her by the shoulders. The ferocity of his grip told her he knew that as well as she did, and he was devoting all his energy to staying focused. “The Durutians have to regroup too – it will be a little while before they can cause any damage. We’re a three-person team with limited resources and no current means of contacting our agency. If we try to press on right now, the outcome probably isn’t going to be pretty, and who knows what could happen to you in the meantime.”

Going home and recuperating a bit did sound nice, especially after such a quick turnaround upon returning from Na. But going home also meant wasting what could be valuable time and possibly receiving health-related news she didn’t want to hear. And it meant facing Aura Stannist again. Ziva didn’t blame the woman one bit for –
how had she put it?
– fighting fire with fire, but dealing with her didn’t seem the least bit appealing right now.

“Okay,” she finally said. “Where’s my ship?”

“Docked in a secure landing bay at the port,” Skeet replied.

“One of us will need to fly the
Zenith
. If we cut across one of the Core FTL lanes, it’ll get us to Haphez in a little under four days.” Ziva heaved a sigh and glanced between the two of them, glad she’d found them and wasn’t going back completely empty handed. “Let’s go home.”

-20-

Unknown Location

Fringe Space

What do you know?

She was lying flat on her back; that was about it. She was in the same small, dark room, or at least she assumed it was the same one. It smelled the same – like stale air and cold metal – and it looked the same – nothing but blackness. But in reality there was no way to tell.

My name is Zinnarana Vax. I’m an HSP agent. They took something from me
.

She wasn’t sure who “they” were or what that “something” was, but there was a certain emptiness inside her that told her something was missing. It was a very small amount of something, possibly something she didn’t need or something that would grow back. The difference left her feeling weaker than usual.

I can’t move
.

As far as she could tell, she wasn’t being restrained by anything except her own weight. Her arms rested on the floor at her sides and were rendered numb by an ache that throbbed just above each elbow. Rather than lift them to perform a self-exam, she mentally took herself through the process, focusing on each body part and thinking, feeling…
is something different?

She reached her toes without finding anything of interest. Unless she was mistaken, she’d had this peculiar feeling on other occasions sometime in the past, but with the way the hours ran together and the way she slipped in and out of consciousness, she had no idea when. She hadn’t been able to pinpoint the “Difference” then either, hadn’t been able to focus long enough to think about it. Maybe she was just a little more lucid now, or maybe the Difference had somehow become more significant.

What is everywhere but nowhere? Skin, maybe? No…would feel that on the outside. Blood? Did they take my blood?

The thought made sense, though she had no idea why. She didn’t have enough information about her situation or surroundings to know whether it made sense in relation to her circumstances, so she decided it only made sense in relation to her body. Yes, some of her blood had been drawn – not enough to kill her of course, but more than what was necessary for a typical blood test, hence the severe weakness and ache in her arms.
Well, the weakness is nothing new
.

Satisfied with this conclusion for the time being, she shut her eyes – or maybe they’d been shut the entire time, she couldn’t tell – and let the subtle swaying of the floor carry her off into a dream-like state that really felt no different than when she was awake.

My name is Zinnarana Vax. I’m still alive
.

-21-

HSP Headquarters

Noro, Haphez

“
That’s
your probation officer?” Aroska said as the three of them left the
Intrepid
and
Zenith
behind and moved across the landing platform toward the cluster of people gathered at the door.

“Disciplinary and Personnel Control Specialist,” Ziva corrected with a roll of her eyes. The picture was all too familiar; she couldn’t believe it had already been over a week since she’d crossed this same landing pad and found Aura Stannist waiting for her. The woman’s outfit was even the same, and she wore the same thick braid draped over her shoulder. At their first meeting, she’d stood tall and erect with a very dignified air hanging about her. This time, she stood with one hand resting on a cocked hip, clutching her data pad with the other. One foot tapped impatiently at the ground.

“Even before the trial, there were rumors the Royal Offices would be sending a stiff, but damn,” Skeet said. “The only other eyes I’ve seen that are that cold are yours, Z.”

Ziva could only scoff. There
was
something rather unnerving about Aura, no doubt the reason she’d been selected to come here. The woman’s icy glare could be felt from across the platform, and for a moment Ziva wondered if this was what people felt like when
she
stared at them. If so, she was pleased it had the desired effect, but she wasn’t enjoying being on the receiving end of it.

Emeri was moving toward them, mercifully giving her something else to focus on for a moment. She extended her hand to shake, but he bypassed her arm entirely and came closer still. For a split second she thought he might hug her for some inexplicable reason, but he simply took her by the shoulders and looked her up and down as if searching for injuries or abnormalities.

“I’m fine,” Ziva said, surprised by the fatherly concern he was showing. “We heard about what’s going on, but I swear I’m fine.”

“How did you know it was clear to come home? We weren’t expecting you for at least another week.”

“We ran into some Durutians on Aubin who had a contact here on the planet. It’s kind of an interesting story, one that should shed some light on everything that’s been happening. I think it’s time for a long, thorough—” her gaze flitted past him toward Aura “—and private debrief.”

He nodded. “I understand, though I’m not sure if it’s possible. She hasn’t reported either of us to the Royal Offices yet, but she doesn’t hesitate to remind me that she
can
and
will
. She’s been obsessed with getting you back since we heard about what was happening with the attack victims, so I doubt she’ll want to let you out of her sight. I’d tread lightly if I were you.”

As tired as she was, Ziva had half a mind to heed his advice. Upon thinking harder, however, she knew she’d never give in to the probation officer. Maybe it was partially out of spite, but she also knew if she’d remained on the planet where Aura could keep an eye on her, Skeet and Aroska would probably be dead, they’d be no closer to finding Zinni, and they’d never have learned the truth about Ronan or the Resistance.  She’d defy the woman again in a heartbeat if that was what it took to keep the people she cared about alive.

The four of them proceeded toward the door where Aura waited with Adin Woro and his team. Based on his calm demeanor, Ziva guessed someone had finally briefed him on the situation, successfully quashing the fear he’d felt after Skeet and Aroska’s disappearance. She gave him a respectful nod, throwing one toward Mari Rebek and Colin Zier as well before bracing herself and turning her attention to Aura.

To her surprise, the woman wasn’t looking at her at all. Her eyebrows were arched and her focus was directed down at her data pad as she made a show of entering something into it.
So much for a clean slate
, Ziva thought as she continued inside behind Emeri. She cringed when she heard the
clack
clack clack
of Aura’s shoes chasing after them.

Adin, Mari, and Colin broke away from the procession and returned to the field ops squad floor, armed with the new data Skeet had compiled on Ronan during the trip home. The rest of them continued on to Emeri’s office, where the doors were immediately locked and the windows tinted.

“Doctor Baez requested that I send you to Na for observation forthwith upon your return,” Emeri said, glancing across the conference table at Ziva as they all gathered around. “We shouldn’t waste any time here.”

Ziva nodded toward Skeet and Aroska, who began updating the director on everything that had happened since the implementation of Condition Black. They’d picked up emissions signatures from the ship that had taken Zinni right around the time they’d received the order to cease communications. They’d gone to investigate those signatures near Bectin, but the trail had been cold by the time they’d arrived so they’d continued on to set up a new base on Aubin. Ziva was already familiar with most of what had happened after that. She listened as they talked about scoping out the Durutians, unable to help but notice the unimpressed look on Aura’s face when they confessed to being captured.

She waited until they got to their would-be execution to chime in. “That’s when I got there. I’d started by checking out Niio, just like you suggested.” She thought it best to not mention the part about owing Tobias a favor as long as Aura was in the room and opted to leave her visit with the mobster out of the story entirely. “I traced the
Intrepid’s
trajectory and headed for Aubin, hoping for the best. A local contact confirmed my team’s presence and pointed me toward the Durutians’ stronghold. I arrived just in time to see them transporting Lieutenant Duvo and Sergeant Tarbic to the desert for execution. I followed them out and neutralized all four of the ‘borgs before they could act. We barely made it back into the city before the sandstorm hit.”

“You killed four members of the Durutian Special Forces,” Aura muttered, aghast. She tapped furiously at her data pad. “I cannot believe this.”

“It was either that or allow them to kill two of our people,” Ziva retorted. “Which would you have preferred?”

“Payvan,” Emeri said, his voice quiet but firm. She whipped her head toward him, jaw clenched. The message in his eyes was clear:
Please be careful
.

“We thought they were working for Ronan,” she said, attempting to maintain composure. She produced the data pad with Tobias’s photos. “It made sense considering it was a group of Durutians who took Officer Vax from that warehouse on Niio.”

“Except it turned out they weren’t working for Ronan,” Skeet said.

Both Emeri and Aura stood in stunned silence. The probation officer once again went about entering something into her data pad. Ziva could only imagine what kind of memo she was compiling –
“murdered four members of a neutral foreign military who actually
weren’t
conspiring with the enemy.”

“If they weren’t working for Ronan, why the hell were they going to execute you?” Emeri said.

“Because they thought
we
were working for Ronan,” Ziva answered. “I arranged a meeting with their leader. Turns out we’ve met before; he was the Durutian operative I injured on that solo mission on Vellom a couple of years ago.” She was about to elaborate further but caught herself. Her eyes shifted toward Aroska for a split second.
The mission I left for right after I killed Soren
.

“Long story short,” she continued, “this particular group of ‘borgs is currently employed by the Federation. And Ronan, as it turns out, is the leader of the Resistance. The people who took Zinni were Resistance agents dressed in the uniforms of a Durutian patrol they captured. It happened just outside our system, yet another reason Reddic’s group was so suspicious of us.”

“
Sheyss
,” Emeri muttered. “You’re saying the
Resistance
was behind Kat Reilly’s illness and Vax’s capture?”

“And, unless I’m mistaken, the attack on Na.”

Based on the look on the director’s face, he’d already begun to form that theory. “We’ve confirmed that the substances from the base and Reilly’s syringe are nearly identical,” he said with a nod. “The purpose is clear: attack the nervous system. The gaseous state allows it to affect multiple individuals simultaneously. But this particular chemical composition isn’t in any of our databases.”

To Ziva’s surprise, the sour look on Aura’s face had abated in the last few moments. “Is Ronan some kind of scientist, then? Records indicate that the name was printed on Reilly’s syringe.”

“Could be,” Aroska said, “or at least the person in charge of this chemical’s development and distribution.”

“Forward me the data, please.” The woman paused and shot Ziva a glance that looked almost apologetic – perhaps she was beginning to realize the merit of their encounter with the Durutians, however unorthodox. The flicker was gone in an instant though, replaced by her usual deadpan expression. “It would be best if we kept the media completely out of the loop on this, but I need to go connect with Haphor and alert the Royal House to the situation. Excuse me.”

They all watched in silence as she strode out. Ziva couldn’t help but notice how similar she and Aura were; it was no doubt the biggest contribution to their continual clashing. Both of them functioned by making threats until they got their way, but their drive to learn the truth often kept them from making good on those threats. To the Royal Officer’s credit, Aura was the perfect candidate for this assignment. A lesser agent would have crumbled under the pressure and Ziva would have taken delight in running circles around them. It was almost a relief to be babysat by someone for whom she could actually muster up some semblance of respect.

“You’re sure you’re feeling okay?” Emeri said after a moment.

“I’m fine,” Ziva reassured him. “We heard the news from a Durutian diplomat who was held here during the lockdown.”

“Ah yes, Devani Reddic. I spoke with her at length regarding the Resistance presence – or lack thereof – in the region. Some relation to this Taran Reddic you encountered?”

Ziva raised an eyebrow at the mention of the woman’s last name. “I assume so. The way she spoke, it sounded like things were getting pretty bad on Na. I half expected to get sick on the trip home, but I kept a close watch on my vitals and ran myself through a series of cognition and motor tests during the flight. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“You haven’t experienced
any
of the symptoms?” Emeri said. “No numbness? No headaches?”

She shook her head. “No more than…” She stopped when something clicked in her mind. A series of memories presented themselves all at once, and she struggled for a moment to sort them all out. “…normal,” she murmured.

She took a step away from the table, staring straight ahead at Emeri and Aroska. “Skeet, will you excuse us?”

“What?” He crossed his arms. “Why?”

“Just do it. I’ll brief you later.”

“But Z—”

“Lieutenant! Do not make me tell you again!”

He hesitated for a few more seconds, clearly unnerved by the request. Then he spun on his heel and went out, walking with heavy footfalls Ziva could still hear even after the door had closed. Emeri and Aroska kept their focus on his departure for a moment before warily turning their attention back to her.

“It’s nostium,” she said.

Both men watched her with gaping mouths for a moment before speaking simultaneously: “What?”

Ziva looked around until her gaze fell upon a crystal award on Emeri’s display shelf across the room. She extended her hand and called to it with her mind, and it was in her grasp in the blink of an eye.

“It’s
nostium
,” she repeated, unable to suppress a shiver as the telltale surge of energy rushed down her spine. Several seconds passed and she felt no stabbing pain in her head. She held up the crystal statue. “Before that attack, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do what I just did. Even if I could do it, I would have been left with an excruciating headache.”

“But why is it having such a negative effect on everyone but you?” Emeri asked as if he were speaking to some ethereal being.

“Gamon – my trainer, master – never elaborated on the science of it all, but it’s possible that my brain is just conditioned to the chemical and everything it does. I remember the first time I received a real infusion; I was dizzy and sick for hours before my body started to adapt. A little dizziness is normal – happened with every infusion after that – but it’s immediate and temporary. These symptoms the Na victims are showing are abnormally delayed and severe. This isn’t how it’s supposed to work.”

She caught herself when she realized what she was saying. She’d never talked about any of this with anyone, not even Gamon. The closest she’d ever come was the dinner conversation while they’d had Jayden Saiffe in custody, or maybe when Aroska had teased her in the kitchen with the kytara. Both men were watching her as if she were speaking some foreign language neither of them could understand.

“So you really are one of them,” Emeri said, shaking his head. “That man you killed – he wasn’t trying to kidnap you at all. He was your teacher.”