Post Total: 1893 words
Novel Total: 28,300 words
Chapter Seven finished!
“She’s in love with him. She believes the best and worst of him at the same time.”
Mealte clicked his teeth together a couple of times. “That viewpoint on relationships would drive a being insane.”
“Ever heard the expression crazy in love?” Zy shook her head as she stopped in front of the office with large glass windows. “This is the place.” She used the reflection in the window to glance down the corridor. No one had followed them up from their docking level. She needed a nice, simple embezzeling case after this to cure this paranoia.
A male blue-skinned humanoid stood up behind his desk. “Greetings, I am Tain Idson, Spaceport 422’s docking official. How can I assist you?”
Zy passed her vidID with her credentials across the desk as she sat down. “I need your help for the investigation I’m currently conducting.”
Tain sat down quickly. “Of course, Agent Zy. The Spaceport Association of Per 3’s policy is to always assist IGA in anyway that we can. I only hope that the crime is not associated with the Spaceport Association in any way. We strive to adhere the highest legal standards.”
“It has nothing to do with the Spaceport or Per 3 at this point. I’m chasing a murderer and suspect that he has picked a citizen of Per 3 as his next target.”
His dark blue lips opened in an O. “Murder? I don’t see how I can help with that.” He shuffled a stack of thin, vidDocs on his desk.
The door entry chimed before Zy could answer. She swiveled in her seat. The young blue-skinned male in a docking crew uniform stepped back from the two sets of glares.
Tain recovered first. “What is it? I am busy at the moment.”
“I’m sorry, sir. It only requires your signature.” He strode forward with a vidDoc in hand.
Zy stood up and stepped to the side of the chair. The way he held the vidDoc against his body wasn’t natural. He was hiding something with it. She gripped the chair’s back to swing it off the floor.
The dock worker jerked the vidDoc away and pointed a thin cylinder at her. The chair knocked it from his hand. Mealte snarled as he pounced on the dock worker’s back and drove him to the floor. His snout stayed centimeters away from the would-be assassin’s neck.
Zy set the chair down. “Don’t kill him, Mealte.”
“He tried to kill you, Mistress. He deserves no mercy.”
“No death happened.” The would-be assassin’s voice was muffled by Mealte pressing him into the floor. “I didn’t even get a down payment.”
“Now that’s just stupid. All good assassins insist on payment in full before taking an assignment.” Zy retrieved the cylinder where it had rolled under the desk, a one-shot laser pistol and a cheap one at that. “I don’t predict a long future for you in this field.”
Mealte pressed harder between his shoulder blades, and the wannabe assassin groaned in response. “A coward of a warrior should not live.”
“Let him up, Mealte, I want him to tell Hiqurguet a few things.”
Mealte clicked his teeth together, and climbed off him. The taloned hands gripped his arms as he jerked the prisoner to his feet. Mealte didn’t let go of him either.
Zy pointed the one-shot laser pistol at the would-be assassin. “Lesson for you, killing an IGA Agent insures IGA will swarm all over you. Now you tell Hiqurguet that just because he doesn’t like something doesn’t make it any less true. And that I will ignore this little episode and still try to stop the murderer before he gets to kill again. But if there are any more run-ins with assassins, I’m liable to forget about helping him and let him deal with the problem all by his self. And I’m not going to stop Mealte from dishing out whatever justice he wants to on the next assassin. Got that?”
He nodded hard. Mealte escorted him out of the office. Zy turned back to Tain Idson, who gawked at the scene from behind his desk. “Tain Idson?” She waved a hand in front of his unblinking stare. His skin color had lightened considerably to a pale blue. “It’s all over now.”
“I never saw him move." Tain shook his head hard. His skin color started to darken again. "Was that the murderer?” He swallowed hard.
“I’m not so lucky. That was just a distraction. I need to find a ship registered to Goumbi that has arrived in the last three Standard days. And if it’s not registered to that name, I need a list of all passanger and private crafts that have arrived in the last three Standard days from the Ecan system hyperlane route.”
Tain swallowed hard again. “Those parameters are still going to take the computers hours to sort through the information.”
“I expected that. I’m docked in Bay 33 of this Spaceport. Thank you, and I’m sorry for the disturbance.” Mealte fell in step behind her as they left the office.
The docking agents were going through all the spaceports records of arrivals looking for a ship or saucer registered to Goumbi. It was a long shot, but the murderer had to have his own ship. Public transportation didn’t travel to Ecan 2. Of course, there was the potentiality it was registered under another name. She was trying to ignore that one until the information was searched.
Zy pulled out her easel and paints to the center of the main living area of her saucer. All she could do now is wait on information. She also asked them to provide her with ships that had come from the Ecan system’s area of the galaxy. Maybe that would provide a clue to the murderer’s identity if he has another name.
She focused on a spot inside the canvas but beyond the plane the paintbrush was affecting. This information was depending on the murderer coming after Hiqurguet. If he had gone after another racketeer, this was all wasted time. She dipped into the paints again, switched brushes and switched colors. Not that she felt any love for Hiqurguet, not after he sent an assassin for her. But he still didn’t deserve to have his head exploded, at least on an ethical level.
Abstract painting was as far as art lessons got. She didn’t have the patience to capture still-lives or portraits. And brushing paint onto the canvas randomly allowed her mind to focus on the case.
Mealte was coming in handy, like Spencer’s friend Hawke. Not that she needed a bodyguard under normal circumstances, but these racketeers respected his muscle. What was she going to do with him after this case was over and she didn’t have pissed-off possible victims sending assassins after her? He never brought up what he was planning to do after Cobaine’s killer was found. She should ask him about it.
She was vaguely aware Mealte had wandered into the living area. Probably had to search the ship to make sure it was secure. She smiled slightly at that and switched to the broadest brush she owned. Side to side strokes of red paint; it was thing enough not to ruin what she had created so far. Even if it was ruined, Zy was calm again and that’s what mattered.
There was a shocked gasp for air and the sound of teeth clicking together from behind. “Mistress! Did you intend to paint that?”
“I don’t intend anything when I paint, I just paint.” Zy turned to look at Mealte. His large black eyes were open wide and focused on the canvas. His jaw and throat worked at swallowing. She whirled back to the canvas.
The background was a light red. The central object was a black head-shaped blob, like a shadow. It was surrounded b white that became more jagged at the edges—almost like lightening bolts. Blue squiggles arced behind the blob head and they resembled dead bodies jumbled together. And drops of thick red paint still ran down the canvas like drops of racing blood. “My God.”
“You did not have that picture in your mind?”
“No, I never have a picture in my head. I just paint.”
“Are you sure that what happened earlier in the docking agent’s office did not upset you?”
“Do I look upset about that? I’ve had my life threatened before. I just paint. You want to look at my other works?” Banging echoed from the saucer door. “Are you expecting someone?”
Mealte shook his head (or the equilvant to).
“Maybe Hiqurguet wants to talk.” Zy headed to the door. Mealte moved into position to pounce on whoever was behind it.
Lue Ality stumbled inside once Zy opened the door. “Agent! Something’s wrong with Hiq. He told me to get you!”
“Where is he? What did he say?” Zy opened a built-in cabinet near the door and pulled out her laser pistol.
“He said he was coming here. He kept muttering that Goumbi stopped being Goumbi. He was frightened. I’ve never seen him frightened!”
“Calm down, Lue. Hiqurguet contact you how?”
“Over the vidcomm. I told him where you docked and rushed over.”
Metal screeched against metal. A symphony of vehicle horns echoed down the store-lined corridor to the docking bays. Zy moved down the ramp of her saucer for a better look. The crowd of dock workers and shoppers turned away from the corridor.
A hovercar turned as it hurtled out of the corridor and scraped its side against the concrete corner of a store. Its crumpled front end lined up with the saucer’s ramp. Her heart pounded. The hovercar wasn’t slowing. Zy jumped off the ramp and ran toward the street, turning to see the driver of the car.
The engine protested with a shrill whine as the hovercar skidded into a turn and stopped. Hiqurguet threw open the driver’s door and fell out on his hands and knees. His head swiveled until he saw her. “You have to help me! Goumbi changed in front of me. Wasn’t Goumbi. The pain! You have to help me!”
Zy started toward the kneeling racketeer. “Did Goumbi follow you? Where did you leave him?”
He opened his mouth to answer and screamed. Zy covered her ears with her hands, but that didn’t block the agonizied sound. His wedge-shaped head bulged.
“No!” She moved to shield Hiqurguet. The force of the explosion picked Zy off her feet and slammed her into the docking bay wall. She slid down to her feet. They didn’t hold her up. Zy sat on the docking bay floor and stared at Hiqurguet’s unmoving, decapitated body. The silence was numbing.
No one was on the steet. Lue and Mealte peered out of the saucer’s doorway. “Hiq! No!” Lue scrambled to get through the door first.
“Mealte, keep her there!” The shout made Zy’s head ring. Mealte wrapped his arms around Lue’s waist. Zy looked down at her clothes splattered with purple blood. I’m part of the crime scene. “Sara?”
“Yes, Agent Zy?” The computer answered through the outside speakers. They hadn’t been damaged by the explosion.
“Call the local authorities. Tell them we have a murder.” Zy looked back at the street, now starting to fill with curious onlookers. But where did the murderer go?
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