SHIAM Conspiracy- Book 1 (15 page)

He had felt an attraction toward her from
that very first glimpse he had of her on his security monitor, from
the very first words she had spoken to him. Even after he’d learned
that she was an Elf, the attraction remained. And even now, after
learning who she was... Thinking about her identity brought back
the guilt and with the guilt came regret. He fought back the
memories that pressed at the edges of his mind. He needed to put
those things behind him. It had all happened a very long time
ago...

“What of the Orks?” Megan persisted with her
questions. “Why do you hate them so?”

“They aren’t exactly favored among Elves
either.”

“No, but it is different with you.” She
glanced over at him, those penetrating green eyes of hers searching
for something from him. “You have a lot of unresolved anger.”

“Don’t try to psychoanalyze me!”

The slapping of the wiper blades suddenly
sounded harsher than before. Angry. Then Zak realized that the
anger was his own. He cursed her, but silently.

“How old are you?” he asked her, determined
to change the subject.

“Thirty-three.”

“You are barely out of puberty.”

“I am an adult!”

“Talk to me again when you’re two
hundred.”

Unlike Humans, Elves lived as long as five
hundred years. Being half-Elf, at age fifty, Zak was still
considered to be a fairly young man, but could only expect to live
to be two hundred at most.

They drove the rest of the way in silence. As
they approached his loft, Zak realized that he had again been
watching Megan out of the corner of his eye. She’d dropped the
fashion spell and was now back to the degenerate version of herself
he’d first met. He was surprised when he realized that her punky
fashion statement and Elvish features were no longer the focus of
his attention. She was a desirable woman... No! Those kinds of
thoughts had to end now!

Fortunately, He was home. Megan pulled over
and let him out at the curb.

“I’ll call you,” he told her.

“Yeah, right!” They both knew he would not
call her.

Megan drove off without another word. Zak
watched her disappear into the pouring rain before turning and
walking towards his building.

. . .

“Ke’aira!”

Zak didn’t appreciate the unexpected spray of
water as the dripping wet Wilderdog shook herself. Not that Zak was
any drier himself. The storm had let up shortly after Megan had
dropped him off at home. He had decided to take advantage of the
break in the weather and, although a light rain was still falling,
he took Ke’aira for her walk. They were only about halfway through
their normal circuit when the light rain once again turned into a
full-fledged monsoon.

Zak was more worried than angry as they
headed for the bathroom to dry off. Ke’aira had been in a constant
nervous state ever since he had returned home from his second visit
to Grimrok Corporation. He had hoped that the walk would help calm
her, but the dog had only reluctantly agreed to the walk, her
worried eyes continually shifting from side to side as they went.
She had not been her normally curious self and had remained glued
to Zak’s side as they made their way down the riverfront. When the
storm hit again she turned and headed straight for home.

She now paced nervously, her eyes still
filled with worry as she repeatedly glanced up at Zak as if
expecting him to do something to fix whatever was wrong.

“Look at this floor. It’s sopping wet. Who’s
going to clean this up!” Zak was hoping to provide Ke’aira with a
sense of normalcy with his mock complaining. Even though he kept
his voice light, he wasn’t able to shake his concern over the dog’s
behavior.

Ke’aira cut his rant short by springing up on
her hind legs, her front paws landing on his shoulders. She gave
him several generous licks that did nothing to dry him. He was
pleased that his distraction seemed to work.

“Okay, I forgive you. Now get down so I can
dry us both off. And the bathroom.”

She dropped down to the floor, but rather
than waiting to get dried, she turned to leave. She gave one more
shake-off, glancing over her shoulder as she walked out. Zak could
have sworn that the dog was smiling as she left.

“I need to dry you off. Don’t you go sitting
on any of the furniture until you’re dry!” he called after her,
knowing full well that she was heading straight for the living room
couch.

As he finished cleaning up and changed into
dry clothes his thoughts returned to the Grimrok theft. Whoever
pulled it off went to a lot of trouble, first by covering it up and
then, apparently, by leaving intentional clues behind. If that was
really the case. Megan admitted that she wasn’t sure about what she
had sensed. Could the beacon-like affect be some sort of an anomaly
caused by the magic used in the break-in? If the echoes really were
planted, did that mean the distorted Ork signatures were part of
the plant? Or were they unintentionally left behind by the Ork
sorcerers who had cast the spells?

Zak had more questions than answers and he
found it beyond frustrating. Even his one and only solid lead was
suspect. How could EAST Group have been involved? From all
appearances, they didn’t have anywhere near the funding to finance
something like this? Could their financial woes possibly be bogus?
Could they have had a financial backer for this operation? If so,
then the question was; who was the backer...the Dhoraz? That seemed
unlikely. Elves and Orks barely tolerated each other for the most
part. The better odds were on one of the Elvish nations secretly
backing EAST Group.

There were just too many possibilities right
now. The anti-SHIAM sentiment wasn’t the only possible motivation
for the theft. The commercial value of the SHIAM technology was
worth billions of credits. And, even though the World Federation
had set restrictive guidelines in the use of AI technology in order
to prevent it, the possibilities for military applications were
numerous. Which brought Zak back to the possibility of both
domestic and international involvement.

He used the towel he’d dried off with to dry
the bathroom floor and walls. One big question was; how did
information about the new generation SHIAM leak out of Grimrok in
the first place? It didn’t seem likely that one of the SHIAM would
have leaked it. Could one of the low level employees be a spy? It
was the only thing that made any kind of sense. Even though Zak had
accused Vennhim, he really couldn’t see the ex-ASID agent being
involved. Vennhim was all about patriotism. He was excessive and
fanatical, but not the kind of guy to hire out for industrial
espionage. Unless...

No. Zak immediately dismissed the idea
Vennhim could be on a covert assignment for ASID. What possible
motive could the Aragne government have for stealing technology
from one of their own military contractors? Still, there was
something about Vennhim leaving ASID that picked at him. Vennhim
was the lifer type. He liked the intrigue, not to mention the
violence. Was it possible that even Vennhim had reached a point
where he’d had enough? Zak made his way from the bathroom to his
office area. He ignored the wet spot on the couch as Ke’aira jumped
off it in order to follow him. He didn’t quite make it to his desk
when the lower lobby intercom buzzed.

“It is Megan,” the voice from the intercom
responded. “I need to speak with you.”

Zak hesitated. The sound of her voice
produced both apprehension and anticipation within him. When she
left him on the curb, he had intended for her to be out of his life
for good. Now that she had returned, he felt relief at the prospect
of seeing her again. But a sense of dread followed close behind.
Her return signified a complication in his life that he had no
desire to deal with.

“Zak, can I come up?”

The tension in Megan’s voice pulled him out
of his dilemma. Something was wrong.

“Sure, come on up,” he told her.

When the elevator appeared Megan slid the
gate up and stepped into the loft. She had changed into a pair of
faded blue jeans that were no less tight than those she had worn
earlier. She also wore a man’s styled shirt beneath a denim jacket.
The top buttons on the blood red shirt she wore were undone,
distracting Zak with a generous view of her cleavage. She had
traded her military boots for a pair of high-heeled black leather
boots. Her make-up was slightly different. Not as dark, but no less
exotic. But even the make-up could not mask the worry that made her
face tight with stress.

“What’s wrong?” Zak asked. He immediately
felt protective of her. Seeing her distress sent something
resembling chills down his spine, but he denied that it was
anything more than compassion.

Ke’aira had also sensed that something was
not right. She pressed her body against Megan’s leg in a protective
stance and nuzzled her hand. Megan began absently stroking the
dog’s coat, massaging Ke’aira’s neck and back.

“I am sorry to bother you,” Megan said
apologetically.

“It’s okay. What is it?”

“Do you believe EAST Group is really involved
with all this?”

The question threw Zak for a moment. He had
expected a personal problem from Megan, judging by her mood. He
hadn’t expected her to be worrying over the case. “There’s no solid
proof either way. Why?”

“Well, I have friends who are members of EAST
Group...” She hesitated as though unsure if she should
continue.

Why was he not surprised at this revelation?
“And you didn’t think it was important to mention this to me
before?”

“I did not think it mattered,” she said. “I
never imagined that my friends would become involved with...”

Zak pushed back his irritation with a deep
breath. “Okay. It’s all right, forget it. Why don’t you just tell
me what’s going on.”

“I have these friends...Samarah Lenetha and
Gavril Iliadd.” She stooped and gave Ke’aira a hug as the dog
continued to offer her comfort. “Samarah... She called me a little
while ago. She is concerned about Gavril. She has not heard from
him for a few days. At first, I told her not to worry. I have known
Gavril a long time. He is good at disappearing for days at a time.
Usually, he takes off into the forests or wanders from place to
place on walkabout...”

“He’s an Elf?”

“Yes.” Her expression turned instantly
cold.

“I was just asking,” Zak said, holding up his
hands defensively. “I didn’t mean anything by it!”

Megan warmed slightly and continued. “He can
be very irresponsible at times. And Samarah tends to overreact. But
then I got this really bad feeling.”

“You’d better come have a seat.”

Zak led her into the living area with Ke’aira
keeping pace at her side.

“Ah, Ke’aira!” Zak had forgotten about the
couch. The plush leather was wet and small pools of water had
accumulated in the recessed areas of the cushions. “You’d better
sit in the chair.”

As Megan seated herself in the chair with
Ke’aira taking up position on the floor in front of her, Zak sat on
the arm of the couch, ignoring the puddles of water for the
moment.

“So, you have a bad feeling,” he repeated her
words. “What, exactly, does that mean?”

“Well, I am not a seer or fortuneteller or
anything, if that is what you are getting at!”

“I’m not trying to get at anything,” he
assured her. “I am simply trying to understand what you are
saying.”

She was silent for a moment. And then she
said, “I just started thinking about all the stuff about the theft
and all. I realized then that, according to what Samarah told me,
Gavril disappeared about the same time as the burglary.”

“Does this Gavril seem like the type to get
mixed up in something like this?”

“Samarah and Gavril both joined the EAST
Group together. Samarah only joined because it was what Gavril
wanted. It was Gavril who was really committed to the cause. He
felt very strongly against the SHIAM, any kind of artificial
intelligence for that matter. He believes that it is an
abomination, that machine intelligence mocks the sacredness of true
life.”

“There are a lot of people who feel that way,
Humans as well as Elves.”

“If EAST Group was involved in the theft, I
would not be surprised if Gavril was a part of it.”

“And this feeling of yours,” Zak said,
watching her closely. “Elvish premonition?”

Well, yeah.” she said as she idly stroked
Ke’aira’s coat.

“Of course.” Zak sighed. “You do realize that
even Elvish premonition is not infallible?”

“I know that!”

He watched her for several silent moments.
Her concern and fear for her friend acted like a catalyst, stirring
his desire to help. The pain on her face failed to detract from her
natural beauty, but he didn’t like seeing it there. His mind was
made up before he realized it.

“Right, then let’s go visit your friend,
Samarah, and see what we can find out.”

Megan cheered up noticeably at his
suggestion, but Ke’aira voiced her disappointment that Zak and
Megan were leaving, and that she was being excluded from the
outing. She whined scratching at the elevator gate as the lift
began its descent to the ground floor.

“You know, it’s really weird how Ke’aira has
taken to you so quickly,” Zak said as his loft disappeared from
sight. “She usually doesn’t take to people.”

“
T
his bad feeling you got. Is there
anything specific?”

“No, it is not like that. It is just a
feeling, nothing concrete.”

They had taken Megan’s Pegasus again. The sun
was setting somewhere deep in the west, still completely hidden by
thick black clouds. Although it was only early evening, it was
already dark. Fortunately, the rain had once again subsided to
nothing more than a persistent drizzle. Megan drove at ground level
and too fast, as usual. They headed east on Slough Street with very
little traffic to deal with.