SHIAM Conspiracy- Book 1 (33 page)

Free will. Zak had always believed he had
free will. He had also believed that fate was something for the
superstitious, a crutch for the weak willed to lean on rather than
taking responsibility for their own lives. Could he have been
wrong? Was it possible that everything that had happened to him in
his life had been leading him up to a pre-destined role that would
decide the future of the planet? It sounded so lame...savior of the
world. That was for comic book heroes, not real people.

And if it was true, what twist in the road
had fate thrown at him now? He’d been taken off the Grimrok case,
ASID had taken over the warehouse homicides, and Megan now hated
his guts. Kind of hard to save the world when the world has turned
against you.

The cab suddenly swerved and shook as Kam
fought to keep the anti-grav engines stabilized against a sudden
gust of gale force wind.

“End of the world, dude.” Kam said, shaking
his head.

Ke’aira’s persistent barking could be heard
from the first floor entrance as Zak walked through the door to his
building. Marla Westford, Zak’s second floor tenant, had taken care
of the dog overnight and had let Ke’aira back into Zak’s apartment
before leaving for work.

The aggressive tone of the dog’s bark made
Zak’s heart pound as he wiped rain from his face and threw open the
gate to the freight elevator. His only thought was that an intruder
must be in his loft in order for Ke’aira to be acting the way she
was. He cursed the slowness of the old freight elevator as it
crawled its way toward the fourth floor. As he waited he listened
to Ke’aira, her bark aggressive, her growl hostile. She sounded
like she was running through the loft, as though she were chasing
the intruder. Zak strained his hearing, but could detect no
footsteps from above.

A deep roll of thunder echoed outside. The
lights went out and the elevator stopped, but then the power was on
again and the elevator continued on. He cursed again, this time at
himself for not taking the stairs.

He didn’t wait for the lift to come even with
the floor. He flung the safety gate up and climbed out of the car
as it was still a good meter from being level with his entrance.
The sharp pain in his side reminded him of why that wasn’t a good
idea, but it didn’t slow him down. He was immediately making his
way through the apartment, looking to find Ke’aira.

As he moved toward the basketball court, she
came scrambling up to him. She didn’t pounce upon him with her
usual enthusiastic affection. Instead, she looked right past him,
growling and barking as though there was someone right behind him.
But when he turned, there was no one there.

Ke’aira then ran to the kitchen area, barking
and growling at the windows. After that she made her way down the
far side of the loft, her head turned toward the windows as she
continued to snarl and bark at an unseen enemy.

“What is it, girl?” Zak called after her,
trying to keep up. He was even more alarmed now that he knew there
was no one in the loft.

He was dripping wet as he followed her
through the loft. The storm had become much more intense in the
last little while, more violent. It was late afternoon, but he
couldn’t tell it by the dark sky. The loft was dimly lit by a set
of lights Zak had connected to light sensors. He had rigged the
lighting to come on automatically so Ke’aira would not be left in
darkness if he wasn’t home.

Another heavy crack of thunder rolled above
the loft, followed closely by a series of blinding flashes of
lightning that penetrated the privacy setting of the windows. The
thunder and lightning seemed to renew the intensity of Ke’aira’s
aggression. As Zak caught up with her, she was turning in circles,
as though surrounded by invisible foes. Dropping to his knees and
throwing his arms around the dog, he pulled her close in order to
calm her. Ke’aira instantly lost her aggression. Following Zak’s
lead she pressed against him. While she allowed his affection, she
stayed alert and tense, a low growl serving as warning.

“It’s the storm, isn’t it girl?”

On his knees, they were eye to eye. She
looked at him and whined, giving him a few quick licks across his
face. Then she was back on duty, eyes scanning the room, ears set,
another savage growl rolling deep in her throat.

“Yeah, I’m worried too!”

Sometimes fate will claim you, even
when you don’t believe
.

Now available at your favorite online book
retailer.

###

Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it,
won’t you please take a moment to leave me a review at your
favorite bookstore or
Goodreads
.

Joseph Heck
lives in Southern Ontario with his wife and their two Australian
Shepherds, Kala and Kode.

Read the
author’s
interview
.

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continuing story, please visit
SHIAM.net

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