SHIAM Conspiracy- Book 1 (23 page)

“Sir,” Sarkof whined. “This man is involved
in a multiple homicide. He was at the scene and failed to report
the crime, which makes him the prime suspect in this
investigation...”

Captain Mashkkha held up his hand to quiet
the Detective. “When are you ever going to give it up, Sarkof. He
reported it to me. Early this morning, just before the call came in
from Star Comm. I haven’t had time to write the report yet.”

“But Sir, you never mentioned...”

“Are you questioning me, Detective?”

“I, um...no Sir.” Sarkof stood with his mouth
open, his anger turning his complexion a deep shade of red. He
rubbed his hand across his bald crown once again, sweeping the rain
water there into the nest of hair at the back of his head. He
glared over at Zak, but clamped his mouth shut, unable to say
anything further.

“Good. Now, don’t you have something more
constructive to do?”

“Yes, Sir. Of course.”

Captain Mashkkha watched the angry detective
stomp off, splashing water as he made his way toward the door of
the warehouse. When Sarkof was out of hearing range, he turned
toward Zak and said, “What the frag is going on here?”

“Tieget, look...”

“Captain Mashkkha to you,” he interrupted.
“What the hell you doing, leaving the scene of a multiple homicide
without reporting it!”

“I’m sorry, Tie...Captain. I just couldn’t
get the police involved. This goes way beyond a simple homicide
case. There are things going on here that...”

“Dragon shit, Harris!” Mashkkha interrupted.
“Whenever you’re involved there’s always things going on. This is a
multiple homicide, not some corporate computer virus! You aren’t
the law. You can’t go around making decisions whether to include
the police or not in something like this!”

“Zak is correct in his evaluation, Captain,”
Megan broke in. “There is a lot more to it. Have you not noticed
the energy buildup inside the building?”

As she spoke, Zak glanced over at her and
then did a double-take. She remained perfectly dry, obviously
through the use of magic. “Hey, you could have included me in on
that weather protection spell.”

“Sorry, I thought you did not approve of
sorcery,” she said sarcastically.

Captain Mashkkha was also watching her. An
appreciation of what he saw had interrupted the scowl on his face
for an instant, but then it was back. “I suppose you’re the sorcery
expert Dr. Raghnall sent?”

“That would be affirmative, Sir,” Megan
answered. She glanced over at Zak, and then added, “We were both
sent.”

Mashkkha looked back to Zak. “This is a
murder investigation, not a computer glitch. Since when do you work
for the Institute?”

“It’s a long story,” Zak said.

“And you,” he said turning to Megan again.
“You look more like a homeless degenerate than a sorceress. In any
case, I am not impressed with all that magic hocus-pocus, so save
the dramatics for someone who cares. I have six dead bodies and no
suspects.” He pointed a warning finger back toward Zak. “And don’t
tempt me or I’ll let Sarkof put you back on the suspect list. That
means I want to know everything you do, everything you find. I even
want to know everything you think concerning this case!”

“Sure, Captain, no worries,” Zak answered
cheerfully. “You know I always keep you in the loop.”

“Dragon shit!” Mashkkha growled again. He
called over to the uniformed officer, who was attempting to look
busy guarding the parking lot, “Give these two clearance IDs to
access the crime scene. They’re the
experts
we’ve been
waiting on.” He then turned and walked away.

“You hang with those guys a lot, do you?”
Megan stared after the large man.

“Ah, Mashkkha’s all right,” Zak said wiping
the rain from his face. “Sarkof, on the other hand, is an absolute
dick. Come on, we better go find what’s his name.”

“Harry Mathers,” Megan said.

Inside the warehouse the pressing darkness of
the night before was now replaced by the dull grey light of day.
Without the sun, the lighting inside the building was dim and
filled with dark shadows. The overhead lights had been removed long
ago; the bare wires left behind were dangling loosely from open
conduit. The building was swarming with activity as investigators
poured over the crime scene. Each team carried bright mobile
lighting units that pushed away the shadows, ensuring that nothing
would be overlooked.

Zak struggled with the same Elvish dread he’d
dealt with the night before over the deaths that had occurred
inside the warehouse. He knew that Megan was dealing with the same
emotions as her movements stiffened and the stress turned her
expression grim. When they arrived at the place where they had
discovered the bodies they found that the dead Ork had already been
removed, but the Elves still remained. A group of forensic
investigators were hovering over the bodies, carefully examining
each one as they made notes on small electronic tablets. Megan did
her best to avoid looking as they passed by the bodies.

Harry Mathers was standing a discreet
distance from the small prefab office that contained the mysterious
portal. He was a tall man with a lean build, looked to be in his
mid-fifties. Being completely Human the years had worn heavier on
him than they had on Zak. Though casually dressed, he was very
neat. The tan slacks he wore were precisely creased, the blue
short-sleeved shirt wrinkle free. He wore his greying brown hair
cut short.

Even though he seemed oblivious to their
approach, his gaze fixated upon the shimmering stream of energy
that pulsated up from the small office and into the rafters of the
warehouse, he was the first to speak. “Dr. Raghnall filled me in on
how you’re involved in all this. Of course, I knew you had been
here. You never bothered to wipe your residual auras.”

“We had a close encounter with the office
over there,” Zak said. “After that, Megan wasn’t in any shape to do
much of anything.”

“Yes, the being in there seems to be quite
formidable. It is, of course, trapped at the moment, which seems to
be limiting its abilities considerably for now. Unfortunately, I am
not at all certain how much longer it will remain trapped there.
The containment is weakening.”

“Can we do something to reinforce it?”

“I have strengthened the binding spells,”
Harry said. “That should hold it for a while, though I am afraid it
is only a temporary solution. The creature is quite powerful and is
struggling to break free. And the portal itself is exerting a great
deal of force against the containment as well. If the sorcerers who
created it hadn’t been highly skilled, the sorcery would have
already failed.”

“What would happen if the containment broke
down?”

Harry looked over at Zak and shrugged. “Who
knows? The creature would most assuredly be free to enter into our
world. The portal would likely remain open. What would follow is
difficult to say at this point. We need to know more about what it
is we’re dealing with.”

He turned toward Megan. “You say you had a
close encounter with the office. Are you saying that you actually
came in contact with the structure?”

Megan nodded without speaking. Zak could see
a flicker of emotion in her expression...pain...or maybe fear.

“Can you show me what you experienced?”

Megan offered her bandaged hand and the
wizard took it, his eyes glossing over as he reached within himself
to make contact with Megan’s mind. After a few moments he broke
contact with her.

“You are lucky to be unharmed,” he said to
her. “This shadow creature is even darker than I first thought. So,
you think this is the evil referred to in the foretelling?”

“It makes sense.” Megan looked at the door to
the office thoughtfully. “But at this point I am not certain about
anything.”

Zak had become preoccupied with watching
Megan as she conferred with Harry Mathers. He was concerned about
the affect this mysterious force was having upon her. She looked
ill. He felt the need to protect her again...and something more.
When he recognized his desire, he forced it away.

“Wait a minute!” he said. “How come you were
able to scan the office without any ill effects?”

“Firstly, because I was not so foolish as to
make direct contact,” Harry answered. “And because that is what I
do.”

“Harry is a trained paranormal investigator
and demonologist,” Megan explained.

“I am much more capable of handling the
situation,” Harry added. “I am specially trained to investigate
unknown paranormal occurrences. And this is not something that the
untrained should be tinkering with.”

“Okay then,” Zak said clapping his hands
together. This guy irritated him already and they’d just met. “What
do you say we use a remote viewing technique that
I
happen
to be an expert with? Let’s find a computer terminal and see if the
network is up and running.”

“Whatever for?” Harry asked in a puzzled
tone.

“Because
that
is what I do,” Zak
answered with a toothy grin. Without another word he turned and
started walking toward a group of nearby investigators to see if
any of them could tell him where the nearest computer terminal was
located.

He didn’t get far when he heard Harry say to
Megan, “Your friend seems not to like me.”

“No, Harry, he is just mentally challenged,”
Megan said, falling in behind Zak. She changed the subject by
explaining to Harry the reason why Zak wanted to check out the
virtual network.

“In that case, there’s a computer terminal in
an upper office over there,” Harry said, pointing toward the back
of the warehouse. “I had a bit of a look around while I waited for
you to show up.”

In the dim light they could barely make out a
stairway leading up to a small landing in the corner of the
warehouse. They skirted around the area where the bodies were,
dodging teams of police and forensic personnel. The stairs were
metal, wobbling and creaking as they climbed them. The upper level
supported a short walkway that led to a long narrow office. This
was obviously a security station. There were no windows to the
outside of the building, but the entire length of the inner wall
was glassed for observation of the floor below. Zak watched the
uniformed police and white smocked crime scene investigators
scurrying around like an over-sized ant colony, streaming in and
out among the tall shelving.

The office was maybe three meters wide by
five long. What little natural light that filtered into the room
created an even gloomier affect than down below. Megan tried the
light switch on the wall next to the door, but nothing
happened.

“There is power to the building,” Harry said.
“The lights in the main offices still work.”

A custom built bench containing a series of
computer workstations ran the length of the observation window.
They found a small lamp sitting on the far corner of the room that
worked, but the light from the dim bulb did little to improve
things.

Zak went directly to one of the computer
terminals. A small green indicator light showed that the system had
power and was running. “There seems to be a program already
running.”

“That means someone has accessed the network
recently,” Megan said.

“Maybe,” Zak said.

“But why?” Harry asked.

“Computer, access system,” Zak said into a
microphone located at the terminal, ignoring Harry’s question.
There was no response to his verbal request for accessing the
computer. After trying again, he gave up and used the keyboard. He
was surprised when he was able to access the system without
receiving a request for a password. The terminal screen showed all
network functions operating normally. When he checked the security
status, he discovered that the firewall and security sentinels had
been disabled. He worked the keyboard again. “The network seems to
be working, but security is down. It could be kids hacking the
terminal in order to get free access to Comm Net. I can’t access
any of the offices. The energy from the portal might be
interfering. Do you see any VR cables?”

“Why VR cables?” Captain Mashkkha asked from
the door.

“You know, for a guy who could stand to lose
a few kilos, you sure have an effective stealth mode.” Zak began
making his way down the front of the long workbench, opening
drawers and digging through them as he went, looking for cables.
“The network seems to still be up and running. If we can get into
it, we may be able to learn something about what is going on
here.”

“It’s pretty common for these old buildings
to remain on line,” Mashkkha said. “If something’s running, it’s
probably from kids hacking in to play video games.”

“Probably,” Zak said as he checked the last
drawer. “But it doesn’t hurt to take a look-see. Damn, no
cables!”

“Nothing here, either,” Megan said, as she
and Harry finished checking the row of cabinets on the opposite
wall.

“I’ll get some from our tech,” said Mashkkha.
With that he was off to find one of the police technicians who were
on the scene.

“Shouldn’t be a problem getting in,” Zak
said, back at one of the terminals, working the keyboard.
“Everything looks good to go.”

Several minutes later Mashkkha returned with
a short, skinny fellow in tow. Handing the cable sets to Zak, he
said, “This is Officer Kailin Aakil, one of our techs. He can
monitor us while we’re in.”

“We?”

“I think I’ll just tag along and keep an eye
on things.”

“Whatever makes you happy,” Zak replied. He
took the cables and began plugging them into the terminals. As he
did this, Aakil went to a monitor at the far end of the room and,
after unsuccessfully attempting voice control, began poking at the
keyboard.

“I can’t get a feed on virtuality,” the tech
said after several attempts.