Heart of the Beast

by Sonia Nova

  Kira let out the breath she had been holding. This warehouse investigation was actually turning out much more successful than she had expected. Even if the new information she had was making her head hurt and her stomach sick, at least she was going to get out of here without blowing her cover.

  She heard Xeegan’s heavy footsteps on the stairs behind her. When – if – they worked together again, she’d have to try to impart the importance of stealth on him. Somehow.

  A warm afternoon breeze drifted through the doorway that Xeegan had broken open. Kira stepped over the door, about to set her foot down on the first stair to the outside, when she was suddenly pulled back into the hallway and thrust against the wall with a movement that knocked the wind out of her.

  Xeegan’s large hands on her shoulders kept her firmly in place, out of sight of the open doorway. She swore at him and was about to give him a swift kick between the legs when she saw the serious expression on his face. He wasn’t even looking at her, but toward the doorway.

  Kira listened carefully. Of course, she wasn’t going to be able to hear exactly what had Xeegan’s attention, but there was clearly something going on that she hadn’t noticed.

  A distressed voice came from somewhere outside. A second later, a slightly distorted voice – like from a wristband – answered.

  She pushed against Xeegan’s hands, getting his attention. “What do you hear?” she mouthed.

  His mouth twisted. Apparently, it wasn’t anything good. He dropped one hand from her shoulder and guided her toward the door with the other, stopping her before she could actually step outside.

  “Look,” he whispered in her ear.

  The head and outstretched arm of the guard that Xeegan had taken out was just visible past the corner of the building. But the body wasn’t alone.

  Another pirate was crouched over him, talking urgently into his wristband.

  Kira shook Xeegan’s hand off of her. There was no need for him to hold her back now that she had seen what he had just saved her from. If she had walked out back onto the sidewalk…

  Xeegan might have just saved her life.

  CHAPTER 11

  XEEGAN

  How the hell did humans ever survive to adulthood with such weak senses?

  If he hadn’t stopped Kira, she would have walked straight into sight of the pirates she was trying so hard to avoid.

  Xeegan looked out over Kira’s head. They both watched the pirate outside, barely breathing. Xeegan tried to make out what the pirate was saying, but he spoke in the hissy Mehelian language – as did whoever he was talking to on his wristband.

  Dammit.

  Whatever the pirate was planning, Xeegan hoped for his sake that the male didn’t head toward the side door. He stretched his arms out in front of him and cracked his knuckles, ready to take out the pirate if he made the wrong choice.

  Instead, the guy started to run in the opposite direction.

  “We need to leave,” Kira whispered.

  “What?” Xeegan asked, incredulous. “I bet he’ll lead us straight to the main operation. Why would we leave now? We should follow him.”

  “Are you crazy?” Kira asked, her voice laced with just as much disbelief. “If we get discovered, we’re not going to find out anything at all. We need to get to a safe place far, far away from here.”

  Xeegan shook his head. “All those pirates in there – except maybe that Mehelian guy shouting orders – they’re just pawns. Desperate pirates from Riala looking for some quick money.”

  Kira just looked up defiantly at him. He was starting to appreciate her stubbornness. It made him think through what he was saying more – if he had to convince her of something, then he had to have a fully fleshed-out plan and solid reasoning behind it.

  Not that he was about to let her know that.

  “So?” she asked, prompting him to continue. “What’s your point?” She was clearly on guard and kept looking out the open doorway toward the sidewalk and then back up the stairs.

  “If we want to learn anything useful, we need to find the pirates in charge. The off-planet pirates and maybe even their client. This guy was talking to another Mehelian on his wristband. He’s probably running straight to them.”

  Kira bit her bottom lip, seeming to consider his words. She glanced back to the corridor they had come from, as if to remind herself exactly what they had seen, and then turned back to him.

  “Okay,” she said after a brief moment. “Is there anyone else out there on the street?”

  Xeegan listened carefully. “No,” he said. “But I can hear the pirate’s footsteps fading away toward the right. We better get going, so–”

  Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, Kira was already sneaking along the side of the building, past the unconscious guard. An amused grin tugged at Xeegan’s lips. Apparently, he had convinced her.

  Xeegan followed after Kira, and they both began to tail the jogging pirate, hanging behind him by about a block at all times. Xeegan glanced at the rooftops, and saw Zorq running along.

  They ran for several minutes, and while Xeegan had originally been excited about the idea of following this pirate, he was now having second thoughts. After nearly ten minutes of carefully staying out of the guy’s view, Xeegan was bored out of his mind. He was about to suggest that Kira stay behind and let him catch up to the pirate, capture him, and start an interrogation, when the pirate stopped in his tracks.

  Had he noticed them?

  Kira and Xeegan froze as well.

  No – the pirate had stopped for another reason. He spoke into his wristband and ran down a gravel driveway that led into an open lot between two warehouses. A couple of large metallic trucks were parked in the lot, along with a few smaller flying vehicles.

  They moved forward to keep a visual on the pirate as he ran toward one of the flying vehicles. Fuck.

  Kira pulled at the sleeve of his jacket. Xeegan looked down at her in surprise.

  “What?”

  “We can’t catch him anymore. He’ll take off in a minute and if he does… We need to find cover before he gets that vehicle in the air,” she said, as if it should be obvious.

  “Or,” Xeegan said, “We get into one of those other vehicles as quickly as possible so we don’t lose him.”

  Kira narrowed her eyes at him. “We can’t just ‘get into’ one. You mean steal a vehicle that belongs to the pirates we’re trying to investigate.”

  “Exactly,” Xeegan said, starting to speed walk toward the lot, which was still about half a block away.

  “Stop! He’s going to see you!” he heard Kira whisper from behind him.

  “What does it matter?” Xeegan asked, turning his head back toward her without slowing his pace. “I doubt he’s going to care if he sees anyone walking on the sidewalk.”

  “Are you serious?” Kira exclaimed, this time not keeping her voice quiet at all.

  Just then, the revving sound of the vehicle’s engines echoed down the block. The pirate began to back up with the vehicle and swiftly moved out of the parking lot. He took off into the sky, moving away from them and toward the edge of the city.

  “See,” Xeegan said. “He didn’t see us at all. Come on, we still have time to follow him in one of the other vehicles.”

  “No,” Kira said obstinately. “There’s no way in hell I’m letting you get in one of those and follow him. It’s too risky and it’s not worth it.”

  Xeegan looked at the vehicles and then back to her. He frowned. “Why?”

  “We don’t actually know where the pirate is going. He could be going home to hide for all we know, or to an underground medical bay to pick up supplies, or to a bar to get a drink, or who knows what else. We can’t just assume he’s going to the main operation – or even that something will come out of it if we follow him.”

  “Okay…” Xeegan said. “Any other reason? You sound like you’re not done lecturing me.”

  “He could be leading us into a trap,” Kir
a said flatly. “If he did notice us, especially if he noticed us following him in one of their own vehicles, he would probably drive anywhere but the main operation or his bosses.”

  Maybe she had a point. Maybe. But…

  “I could handle any kind of trap a scrawny idiot like that would think up. If he led us somewhere other than the headquarters, we could just interrogate him. Could be useful.”

  “I’m glad you’re so confident in yourself,” Kira said sarcastically. “But you have to know, as much as I do, that it’s not smart to go headfirst into an unknown situation like this without backup. You know we don’t have to do this alone. If we’re going to move on from surveillance to some kind of action, let me call the agent I’m working with.”

  Alliance backup.

  Xeegan made a face. There was no way he would slow down an investigation to wait for bureaucracy to figure out when, where, and how to help them after a week of signing paperwork and putting together committees.

  Her comment made him think of Zeon. Just months ago, the Ezak-X would have been called upon in situations like these. Instead, he had made the choice to forge his own path. As annoying as Xeegan had found the Ezak-X, he could recognize the bravery of that choice. Zeon had left the organization that fed him, housed him, and taught him how to exist in a world outside of Krezlian captivity.

  And look how that had turned out for him.

  “It doesn’t matter either way,” Xeegan said, nodding toward the receding end of the flying vehicle in the distance. A second later, the vehicle had turned a corner and was completely gone from even Xeegan’s sight. “We lost him.”

  “Damn,” Kira said, her tone dejected.

  “Damn is right.”

  Zorq clambered down the building beside them and joined them on the sidewalk. He made a questioning noise, looking over toward the vehicles. Xeegan grinned. His friend had the same idea they had just argued about.

  “Sorry, buddy. We lost him.” The Ezak-T’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah, well, blame Kira.”

  She crossed her arms at the both of them. “You know I want to know where that pirate went as much as either of you do.”

  “Looks like we’re not going to find out any time soon.”

  “Great attitude,” Kira said. She started to walk back in the direction they had come from. “This is far from over. And in my books, today is a success. Come on, let’s go find somewhere quiet to figure out our next steps.”

  Xeegan grunted halfheartedly in agreement and followed suit. He looked behind them, toward where the truck had disappeared. No matter how hard he strained his hearing, he still couldn’t detect any trace of the fleeing pirate.

  If only he was investigating this on his own. He wouldn’t have to listen to Kira’s ultra-cautious suggestions. If he hadn’t teamed up with her, he could be halfway to finding Zeon by now.

  No, he reminded himself. He needed Kira.

  He still had to find out what she wasn’t telling him about the off-planet pirates.

  CHAPTER 12

  KIRA

  Kira looked up at the building in front of them. The awning above the stretch of first-floor windows read “Authentic Ghelian Cuisine” in a fancy Ghelian script, but the windows were dark and Kira didn’t see any hours posted anywhere. Judging by the rest of the neighborhood, the restaurant was probably a front for something illegal.

  “This is where you live?”

  “Pretty much,” Xeegan answered cryptically. He pulled a ring of old metal keys out of his jacket and unlocked the front door.

  Kira followed him into the shadowy building, keeping her guard up. Even though she trusted Xeegan a bit more after working with him, that didn’t mean she was about to walk into a strange building in a strange neighborhood with him and not be ready to defend herself.

  They walked past a couple of tables to a narrow hallway that was barely wide enough for Xeegan to walk through, let alone Zorq. The Ezak-T rose to two legs and shifted around behind Xeegan. After climbing a rickety set of stairs, Xeegan unlocked a door at the top. He disappeared into the dark for a moment, and then must have flipped a light switch somewhere, because a single light bulb flickered on to illuminate the room.

  How old fashioned…

  Kira had always thought that pirates were loaded, but she realized now that was because the pirates she studied were all bosses and at the top of their respective illegal fields. Of course, it made sense that the average pirate would be struggling financially in such an unpredictable career.

  And Xeegan and Zorq were definitely struggling.

  Kira had thought this must be the tiny living room to an apartment, but as she entered the room and looked around, she realized this was the only room. A half-open door led to what looked like a small bathroom across from her, but that was the only other room in the studio.

  A bed sat in one corner, blankets in a crumpled pile. There was a dresser and a wall with a stretch of counter and a sink with a couple of dishes in it. That was it.

  Even though the place was a little messy in an unorganized way, it was surprisingly clean. No roaches visible at least, and those things had taken over the universe. Kira had a feeling Xeegan would keep surprising her.

  Zorq crawled to the bathroom, where he curled up on the rug and shut his eyes. Kira smiled a little, remembering how absolutely terrified she had been when she had first seen Zorq. Seeing him comfortable and exhausted, just ready to relax, was another reminder that maybe she had been too quick to judge by appearances.

  “Does he always sleep there?” she asked Xeegan, who was rifling through a cupboard above the sink.

  “Yes,” he answered. “He’s never gotten used to the idea of sleeping in a bed after…”

  Xeegan went silent. After more than a few seconds passed, Kira knew not to expect him to finish. She could imagine what he had been thinking: after being raised by the Krezlians. Of course, the evil lizards wouldn’t have provided beds or anything else comfortable for the creations they considered their experiments.

  It didn’t take a lot of observational skills to sense that Xeegan didn’t want to talk about the subject.

  “I’m going to call my supervising agent and update him,” Kira said. She wondered whether she should leave the apartment – go at least a couple of blocks away this time – but she figured Xeegan already knew everything they had done today. And Agent Grimmor wouldn’t spill anything she didn’t tell him.

  “Don’t give your location,” Xeegan said, still messing with what looked like a couple of glasses by the sink. Although his voice sounded casual, there was an underlying threat to it. Just like Kira had started to trust the pirate a bit, Xeegan had probably determined she wasn’t an immediate danger to him. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t on guard…

  As if he had any say over what she reported to Agent Grimmor though. It probably didn’t even matter. Xeegan was small fish. Even if she did give the Alliance his location, most likely nothing would come out of it.

  Still, she could respect his privacy. She was already planning on pretty much omitting him from her report. Might as well not mention that she had gone home with him.

  She walked to the other side of the room to give herself some space. A window next to the wardrobe opened up to the dingy brick wall of the building next door, probably less than six feet away.

  “Nice view,” she kidded.

  Xeegan turned away from the glasses and frowned at her. Shit, maybe she shouldn’t have insulted his home. She turned away from him and pressed a button on her wristband to call Agent Grimmor.

  “News, Agent Medina?” Agent Grimmor’s voice erupted from the speaker in her ear.

  Kira went on to explain the day’s events to him. She kept her report focused on finding the warehouse and the oddity of the lab equipment inside. She omitted Xeegan’s involvement and finished by telling him how she had almost been discovered, so she had taken cover for the evening.

  “Good work,” Agent Grimmor said finally.

 
They signed off, and Kira was left staring at the wristband for at least a minute after the call, the agent’s words echoing in her mind. Ordinarily, she would have been proud of herself right now. And on some level, she was proud. Today was a definite success.

  But the guilt of keeping details from her superior was starting to eat away at her. Alliance training emphasized the values of loyalty, honesty, and teamwork as essential to keeping the universe safe. Kira felt like she was failing on at least a couple of those values.

  As long as she found out what was happening to the missing human women, she could forgive herself. Part of her understood Xeegan’s sense of urgency and preference for action. If she thought it would lead to anything useful, she would be back on the streets heading toward the warehouse again to conduct more surveillance.

  “A drink?”

  Kira looked up at Xeegan in surprise.

  “Sure,” she said, taking the small glass from him. She swirled the golden liquid and smelled it. “I don’t recognize it.”

  Xeegan took a sip of his own drink. He leaned against the counter, keeping his gaze on her in a way that made her feel self-conscious.

  “It’s an Ekrin liquor with a dash of tonic water. Can’t remember what it’s called. A client gave it to me and Zorq as a bonus a couple of weeks back.”

  Kira nodded. She sipped it, expecting something strong and bitter. Instead, the drink was sweet with a sour aftertaste. “You don’t think Zorq wants any?” she asked.

  “He’s already asleep,” Xeegan said with a little smile.

  Kira looked toward the bathroom. Even though she couldn’t see much of the Ezak-T through the mostly closed door, she could hear soft snoring. She smiled back at Xeegan. It really was… sweet… how Xeegan cared for Zorq. “Sweet” seemed like the wrong word to use to describe an Ezak-X, but it felt right in this case.