Read Online SHIAM Conspiracy- Book 1 by Joseph Heck - Free Book Online

typical of
Goblinesh. His oval face had cheekbones so pointed that it made his
head look nearly like a football. His weasel eyes met Zak’s with a
challenging gaze as he watched him approach the table.
    “Well, isn’t it Zachariah Harris,” he said in
a thick accent that hissed the words like air leaking from a rubber
tube. “I thought you retire. You working for Feds again?”
    The noise in the bar suddenly dropped to a
low buzz, as though someone had turned down the volume on a comm
set. Zak wasn’t surprised by this. He could feel the privacy spell settle in around them. It was a common practice for
conducting discreet business; those who needed to could hear, while
those who shouldn’t - couldn’t. These spells usually included a
blocker as well, to prevent anyone from listening in with the aid
of an audio enhancement device or a counter spell. He also knew the
source of the spell; the Goblinesh female was a sorceress.
    “It has been a while, hasn’t it Skrole,” Zak
said, pulling out the empty chair and sitting down. “No, I’m not
with ASID. I’ve got my own gig now.”
    “And you took time out to come here. Partake
in pleasures of Underworld?” The yellow toothed smile Theleon
Skrole gave Zak showed contempt. “How nice you to visit us.”
    “The place truly is a wonderland,” Zak
replied sarcastically. “But no, I’m afraid this is not a social
visit. I’m looking into a corporate break-in. Happened two nights
ago. The place is maxed out with security and someone still managed
to get in and out without leaving a trace. They took something very
valuable. Have you heard about anything like that going down?”
    Skrole sat for a moment, puckering his thin
lips in the pretense that he was thinking before saying, “No, I
know nothing about something like this.”
    “This was too big of job to run silent,” Zak
said. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a hundred
credits voucher, placed it on the table. “There has to be rumors
going around on this one. And you hear everything.”
    “Sorry,” he said, shaking his head
emphatically while eyeing the voucher.
    “My client really wants to recover his
property.” Zak pulled out another hundred voucher and placed it on
top of the first.
    Skrole’s eyes narrowed into tiny slits, a
snarl on his lips. He broke into a sudden smile and scooped up the
money. “The fraggin’ Elves.”
    “Say what?”
    “Elves,” Skrole repeated with a jerking
gesture of his arms. “EAST Group. There is big rumor that EAST
Group make mega score only days ago. Of course, there is also
denial of this rumor as well. That’s all I know.”
    “If you hear anything else, will you let me
know?”
    “But of course...as long as you pay.”
    The noise of the room closed in around him
again and Zak knew the meeting was over. It was time to leave.
    He was out the door and half way up the long
flight of stairs when he heard the door from Underworld open behind
him. His instincts signalled an alert. You simply did not ignore
people who decided to leave a building right behind you in this
part of the city. Not if you didn’t want to end up dead, you
didn’t.
    He kept his cool, didn’t turn around, kept
his progress up the stairs slow and steady. The rain was coming
down again when he gained street level. A quick peripheral glance
when he reached the top of the steps confirmed three shadows coming
up the dimly lit stairway. They were moving much too quickly to
simply be patrons leaving the club.
    He turned and stepped onto the sidewalk...
And walked straight into a fist.
    Zak took the punch square on the jaw and the
force of it knocked him backward.
    His head snapped sideways as a red curtain of
pain cloaked his vision. Momentarily stunned, he fought to maintain
his balance, but was caught from behind by a pair of powerful arms.
They wrapped around his chest, pinning his own arms at his side. He
was already soaked from the rain, his hair plastered to his
forehead. An