Page 58 of Soros
Nerix went in first with me right behind him. The room we saw was empty, with three doors. One led to a hallway with more doors.
“It’s like a maze,” Nerix said telepathically. Opening the first door, his whole face scrunched with concern. I looked inside and saw a woman lying on the floor. She looked dead and from the whip marks on her back we could tell she had been severely beaten. It made me angry and extremely worried that I wouldn’t find Tania alive.
“We’ll come back to her,” Nerix said and moved on to open the next door. He stood between me and my worst nightmare. Tania was tied down on the bed with Ko’roz next to her and a tattooed man on top of her. He was astride her chest with one hand on her throat and his other hand pinching Tania’s nose. I could tell she was fighting not to open her mouth.
Nerix immediately went into beast mode. Taking two quick steps forward, he grabbed onto the naked man and hauled him off Tania with such force that he collided headfirst with the wall, creating a massive hole in it. Dust mixed with water as a pipe was torn loose in the small toilet on the other side of the wall. The naked man moaned in pain, but Nerix and I had turned our focus onto Ko’roz, who looked as stylish as in the research material I had on him. He wore rings on his fingers and standing up, he held out a palm and spoke in his persuasive voice. “Wouldn’t you like to calm down and talk about this?”
Nerix and I were both trained to withstand mind clouding, but with Nerix so full of adrenaline, I worried that maybe he couldn’t focus on mentally protecting himself.
I ignored Ko’roz and went straight for Tania, pulling down her shirt to cover her exposed chest. My hands were shaking when I couldn’t get her hands out of the handcuffs.
“Give me the key,” I ordered the man who had been on top of her. He was on the floor, groaning with a hand to his head. When he didn’t respond, I shook him and sneered. “The key.”
He pointed to a side table. Opening the drawer, I found the key and with my hands shaking, I freed Tania from the bed.
Nerix was facing Ko’roz now with extreme contempt in his glance. “You are a dead man.”
“You’re not really angry. You just think you are,” Ko’roz told Nerix.
My worry about Nerix withstanding mind clouding was for nothing. He moved closer to Ko’roz and even though Ko’roz was Malbreean, Nerix was slightly taller than him.
“I said, you’re not angry.” Ko’roz was still trying to mind cloud Nerix. Seeing that Nerix didn’t respond to his manipulation, Ko’roz widened his eyes and asked in a whisper of disbelief, “Who are you?”
“I’m Ziba’s friend,” Nerix said. “I’m Keindra’s friend. I’m Star’s friend.” Looking to Tania, who sat clinging to me, he said, “And I’m Tania’s friend.” Leaning closer to Ko’roz Nerix sneered. “I’m a friend to anyone unable to defend themselves and I don’t tolerate anyone hurting my friends.”
“I didn’t touch her,” Ko’roz defended himself as Nerix grabbed onto his upper arm and moved Ko’roz out of the small room. “Hedid it.” He craned his head to look back at the naked man still reeling on the floor where he was now covered in a layer of wet dust.
Just then Lios came into the waiting room with Carlos, Stanley, and the two other criminals whom he’d had mind clouded upstairs.
As soon as Ko’roz saw the bikers, he eagerly ordered them to protect him. “You wouldn’t allow these men to hurt me, would you? Attack them!”
They looked at him with indifference while Lios came from behind them and moved over to stand in front of Ko’roz. “They won’t listen to you.”
Wrinkling his forehead, Ko’roz kept giving orders until Lios calmly pulled his own hair behind his ear.
Ko’roz paled. “You… you’re Ugon?”
Switching to Malbreean, Lios declared, “I’m Captain Lios from the Cultural Defense Unit. You have a long list of interstellar crimes to your name, including kidnapping and murder. We’re here to arrest you and bring you back to Fedaros for prosecution.”
Ko’roz was trembling with fury and pointed at Lios. “You can’t do that to me. I’m an influential politician and my government won’t stand for the Federation overreaching like this. You have no authority over me.”
Remaining calm, Lios stood with an annoyed expression on his face. “You are on Earth without a permit. That alone is a considerable crime and so is using mind clouding on a protected species for no other reason than personal gain.”
“How did you find me? I paid enough that they shouldn’t have told on me.”
“No one told on you. It was a skilled criminologist who led us here.” Lios looked at me and then back at Ko’roz, who exclaimed, “That’s impossible. You’re lying.”
Tania was up from the bed. I had helped put her pants back on. Walking out to face Ko’roz, I gave him a cold glare and cut to the bone. “I’m the criminologist. Do you want to know how I found you?”
He didn’t answer, but I still elaborated. “You are small-minded and predictable. That’s how I found you. You chose Earth because humans wouldn’t know who you were and that you’re a murderer on the run. They don’t even know there is intelligent life in space. It was the perfect place to hide and exploit a local population who had no way to protect themselves from mind clouding. Your skills are well developed but severely lacking.”
Ko’roz scoffed. “They’re not lacking.”
Lios shrugged. “You have a limited range, and your influence isn’t strong enough to last long.”
Tania was done listening to Ko’roz and with us speaking Malbreean she didn’t understand it anyway. Looking up at me, she spoke with urgency. “We need to call an ambulance. Malene is hurt and needs medical attention. And we need to get Star and the others out from the room.”
Turning to Carlos and the other criminals, Lios asked nicely. “Would you call for medical help and go and fetch the two detectives? Invite them inside and have them come down here. Please explain everything to them on the way.”
