Pirate Assassin

Page 54

Zack was working in the engine room. Every musclebound marine always ignored the fact that the engine room was one of the prime areas for sabotage. A well placed charge could severely cripple the ship. Then again, he thought with a sigh, this is my job after all. He was confident that the twelve men would be able to protect her from anything else. "Warkins!!" Zack stomped to attention. "Sir!" The supervisor scowled. "Assessment," he said simply and he and Zack walked down the engine room and pointed, explain, shouted and, as he said, assessed the entire place. The supervisor grunted his approval at the end and walked off. Zack was secretly proud of his knowledge of engineering matters. If only Carvin could see me now, he thought then he turned to leave when he spied something out of the corner of his eye: a barrel with a broken seal. He glanced around. There was no one in the vicinity. He opened the cover and peered inside. It was empty. Curious, Zack inspected the barrel. The barrel was opened by the appropriate means, not broken as he had previously thought. There was nothing threatening about an open barrel, it might have contained maintainance materials but his gut was telling him otherwise. He examined it closely, then he saw it. The Government seal attached was fake. The seal was two crossed swords surrounded by a laurel leaf with four stars above it; on the barrel there was a smudge in the middle of the two top stars. This wasn't a Government shipment. What had it contained? Zack inspected the barrel again closely. There was a circular patch of faded wood on the barrel but otherwise had nothing else. Zack walked off in deep thought.

They reached the port of Juetan II where Zack subtly dismounted and made contact with the nearest Spectre agent with a report on his findings. The girl, who was a travelling fortune teller, read the note and nodded. She was an informant and she would pass the message by other means. She in turn passed him a slip of paper and Zack exited the tent. It had a slightly comforting message but in his line of business, he was inclined to be more than a little paranoid. The message said: No thrt. Suspct mssd atk. J f or f, which translated as: No threat. Suspected massed attack at either Juetan IV or V. Then again, it could be a diversion.... Zack was suddenly reminded of the what he found on the ship. Something didn't feel right and he thought about it over and over.

The day passed without incident, which made the guards even more tense. Zack felt for them; if he didn't have Spectre training, he probably would've felt the same. He had been taught against that due to two contrasting reasons. On the emotional side, it built up stress and an overly heightened state was also one where people made bad decisions. On the more technical side, it strained the muscles and so one was more liable to cramps and fatigue. If a passerby saw Zack lying on his portable settee, he would've thought there wasn't anything like the cool beach breeze to help one relax but Zack was alert, just like a sleeping Wolf. He would spring into action at any given moment. He spied the crowds beginning to gather at the boardwalk. The beach was a nightmare, too many buildings overlooking the area and it was too large a space to monitor properly. If Zack hadn't received that intel, he'd most likely be chewing his nails off trying to come up with protective measures.

Genais came out of the ray-proof limo wearing beach slippers and a loose shirt with shorts. Her multicoloured hair was flying about in the sea breeze and she regarded it with humour. There was a path cleared for her by security guards as she made her way to the stage, often stopping for a wave, a gift, uncountable autographs, a picture request and a small chat. She was smiling the whole way, enjoying herself immensely. She bounded up the stage and as if by some unspoken signal, the musicians began to play. She grabbed the mike from the stand and shouted, "Are you ready?????" The crowd yelled. She began to sing - rock songs and slow songs - some of them nonsensical and funny, others more meaningful. Zack listened as was surprised to hear some songs condemning the violence throughout the galaxy. Zack lapsed into a watchful, but thoughtful mood.

"That was an excellent performance, miss Genais." Genais frowned. "I'm only a few years older than you, Zack, just call me by name." Zack grinned, a hint of white in the shadows, "Good. I was getting tired of it." Fint came up to her, "Did you say something?" Zack fell silent and slunk deeper into the evening shadows. Genais shook her head and Fint continued, "The forward group has given the okay. Shall we go?" Genais nodded. They had come up with a very good plan, even to Zack's advanced tactical brain. Two groups would scout ahead and signal whether it was clear. Once the main group set off, they would go further ahead and the main group would stop at a certain point to wait for the next signal. It was a little time consuming but it was efficient. The five of them: Genais, Fint, Kelv, Jist and another marine set off with Zack trailing a little behind, unnoticed. They reached the hotel safely and they barred the balcony door and set up air purifiers in case of gas attacks. The marines were barely out the door when they heard the dragging of a chair and saw the familiar grey-cloaked figure. Kelv and Fint jumped but Genais by now had gotten used to his unheard appearances. He threw another pill bomb to the middle of the room where it exploded in a poof. "What IS that?" Kelv asked.

"SEMP, or a specific EMP. Only shorts out electronics sending out non-Government signals."

"What if their hacking our signals?"

"I doubt that the Government has listening posts in every hotel," Zack replied dryly. Kelv blushed. "Well. Just trying to make a suggestion is all...." Zack sighed, then began tapping his chin thoughtfully. He sipped at his tea and stopped. "Shit." The three looked at him as he put down his cup and jumped out the window before they could even say a word.

Zack ran down the dimly lit street. He thanked whatever higher power there was that he decided to wear his casual soft sole sneakers instead of his default armoured boots. He reviewed all the information he had gleaned from Spectre informants and his own clues. The first two accidents, Zack recalled, were loud and amateurly done. Hotel bombings and car sabotage. But the third and the fourth were almost professionally done and at the places where there was the best chance of success. How had they known where she was staying and her schedule? It was supposed to be revealed only to him. The barrel was also another factor. How did it get there in the first place? The government stamp wasn't something that was bandied about. There were subtle markings and small prints which was not commonly known to the outside plands. It meant only one thing: there was a traitor.

Previously, Zack had given the three brief overviews of the attempts on Genais' life in the safety of the hotel room. Now, he would pop by suddenly at random instances and in different disguises. Genais was slightly startled by this but slowly adapted. She was sitting on a bench with a small crowd of people clamouring to get her attention when a blind man came walking by. Some courteously gave way for him to walk past. Others were more intent on getting an autograph or picture of the famos star. Consequently, he was accidentally pushed to stumble right into Genais. He mumbled embarrassed apologies and left as quickly as he could. Genais stared at the man as she felt a small slip of paper in her pants pocket. The first time Zack had contacted her this way, the message read: 'Don't show these to anyone and completely destroy these. Trust me.' Genais thought she had quite a good scope on Zack's style. He had hardly met Kelv and Fint, so she assumed that this was a secret between the two of them alone. When she found herself alone, or rather the others were occupied with something, she hurriedly scanned the paper. It read: 'Tell Fint and Kelv to be on guard. Walk bravely on Juetan III. I'll be right behind you.'