Blood Fever

CHAPTER TWO-1

CHAPTER TWO

THE DEPARTURE TERMINAL seethed with passengers making their way off-world. It forced Zeth to separate from his partner, Rel, in order to search for the target.

Zeth raised a hand to scratch his unkempt beard. Wading through the crowd was a mission in itself. Manic laughter, children squealing and the mixed scents of a dozen different restaurants created a barely contained sense of chaos. A red-headed boy in a green pullover hurtled into Zeth’s legs, bringing an unusually violent curse to his lips as the kid’s bag smashed into his junk. The little bugger looked up, blue eyes widening and mouth falling open, exposing his crooked teeth, the front incisor missing.

The boy pointed to Zeth’s chest. “Are you a cop?”

Eagle-eyed scamp! Zeth tugged his ratty jacket closed over his shoulder holster and the glint of the g*n there. “No.”

When he and Rel discovered The Spiral Guardians deadline had been pushed up, they’d taken off for the hub, leaving no time to change out of their disguises.

Six months they’d watched the g**g, and The Spiral Guardians were finally making their move. Zeth trusted Rel’s intel. He trusted Rel. They couldn’t fail now.

Raising his head as the kid darted away, Zeth eyed the surging crowd. Travelers with trolleys and hovering baggage carriers blocked every door and walkway. In the cacophony of noise and light, it was next to impossible for Zeth to maintain his usual focus. There was a constant bombardment of announcements that flooded the air, flashing in the space above their heads in neon-lit holograms. Calls to inform the weary and the excited of changed arrival and departure times, and advertisements that ranged from Ketal Seven’s stone fruit plantation fruit hamper specials to Tripness’s ‘No questions asked, no job too big or small’ courier services to a sale on pure, crystalized water.

Zeth tapped his earpiece to call his partner, but the resing thing popped useless static into his ear. The travel hub’s communication systems had to be generating a blocking signal. Damn old tech—always created issues synching to the new stuff. It was like hunting through a labyrinth blind, and now deaf. His lack of control over the situation made Zeth twitchy.

Where the hell was Rel? His partner had a gift for technology. The only thing that could have prevented Rel from hacking the hub’s communication signal already would be ...

He must have eyes on the target.

With a sliding movement, Zeth weaved his way through a group of gathered school children. High-pitched voices quickly surrounded him. Directly in front of Zeth, two black girls with emerald tresses squealed and clutched at another girl who jumped up and down, enormous grins splitting their faces wide open.

By the One! Zeth winced at the volume of the next squeal. The rapid chatter died away as he tried to wriggle past.

“Ew!”

“Rank.”

The girls giggled.

Without turning, Zeth scowled. His gaze shifted sideways, catching sight of their smirking faces and, beyond them, the narrowed gaze and furrowed brow of their teacher. As though she’d heard Zeth’s unspoken thoughts, the school marm clutched her tablet to her crimson coat and stared him down. Zeth turned away only to find he was completely surrounded. What a nightmare.

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“YOU CANNOT LET THIS go on, my dear boy.” Her honeyed voice flowed softly into his ear, wrapping around his confused thoughts and twisting them into a focused point of pain.

“I can’t?”

“Of course you cannot. Speak to the ketallian; his work is good—exactly what you need.”

“Yes. What I need. What you need, right?” He waited, desperate for her answer. She would tell him what to do. She would help him; she had promised.

“Dear boy. It is what she would have wanted. Justice and peace all in one. It will be perfect.”

“Yes.” He sighed deeply. She was right. He stroked the brooch’s surface, etched with her pretty face. She looked so beautiful and full of life.

“You will do it?”

“Yes.” His fingers caressed the face again and the voice in his ear sighed happily.

“Good boy.”

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