Spirit Walk_ Enemy of My Enemy (Book 2) - Christie Golden [45]
“Isn’t that impossible?” he asked weakly.
“It ought to be,” Kaz replied. “Then, as I examined the rips made in Ellis’s clothing and the corresponding injuries on his body, I realized they were too clean to have been made by animal claws. The computer said they were made by a scalpel. Even gave me the type. And I have to agree.”
Kim ran a hand through his just-combed hair, rumpling it. “So what you’re saying,” he said, groping his way to a conclusion, “is that the body has actually been in stasis for several years and was fatally injured by someone wielding a scalpel who managed to leave no DNA behind?”
“That pretty much sums it up.”
Kim gave him a faint smile. “Either you’re insane or I am,” he said.
“I wish it were that simple,” said Kaz. “I’m trying to get more evidence, to figure out just what the hell is going on. This seems ludicrous to me, fantastical, impossible, but the facts are there. That’s why I need you to get me into the weapons locker. Chakotay said that both he and Ellis fired their weapons at the creatures who attacked them. I want to make sure…”
His voice trailed off and he looked slightly sick. Harry could empathize.
“You want to make sure that this man, our captain and our friend, isn’t lying to us,” he finished.
Kaz nodded. “I can’t believe it’s come down to this, but there it is. Yes, I want to make sure he was telling the truth. I want very much to believe that he’s acting so erratically for one of the most basic of human reasons—simple, honest grief at losing a loved one, nothing more.”
“You realize that I could put you under arrest for proposing this to me,” Kim said, testing the waters.
“Of course I do,” Kaz replied, “and frankly, that would be a relief. There’s nothing I could do in the brig to keep investigating. And, of course, if you do what I ask of you, you’ll be involved, too.”
Kim sat for a moment, gathering his thoughts, although he knew in his heart his mind was made up.
“Let’s go,” he said.
The lights were dim and the corridors were quiet as the two conspirators approached the weapons locker. Kim entered the clearance code, and the door slid open.
“Lights,” Kim called. The air was cool and slightly more stagnant than elsewhere on the ship, and Kaz looked at the rows of weapons neatly lined up on the wall. He’d told Kim which two phasers to look for, and Kim located them quickly.
Kim examined the first one. “This one’s been fired within the last twenty-four hours,” he confirmed. Kaz was disproportionately pleased; it meant Chakotay hadn’t lied about that. Feeling more hopeful and confident, Kaz watched as Kim examined the phaser that Ellis had carried with him on his final mission.
Kim’s face revealed the answer.
“That one hasn’t been fired?” Kaz asked.
Kim shook his head. “Negative. This is about as unused as a phaser can be, fresh from the armories. You’re certain it was this number phaser?”
“Ask the computer yourself; I could have been mistaken.” But he wasn’t, and Kim knew it, and even as Kim went through the motions of reconfirming the phaser’s number and who had last been assigned it, they both knew what he’d learn.
Kaz felt cold. Chakotay had told him a bald-faced falsehood. But why? Why would he lie? None of this made any sense! It was like being in a bad dream.
Things are not what they seem.
He shivered.
“What would you like to do now?” he asked Voyager’s chief of security.
Kim’s full lips tightened, and Kaz saw a flash of anger mixed with a sense of betrayal in his dark eyes.
“I’d like to go wake up the captain and get him to explain all this, but my gut is telling me that that would be the absolute worst thing I could do.”
Kaz nodded; he shared the sentiment. Something was very wrong here, and until they figured it out, they couldn’t trust their own captain.
“We can’t trust him,” Kaz said, finally speaking the words, his voice sounding hollow in his own ears. Looking miserable, Kim shook his head. It was probably worse for him than for Kaz, as he’d been so close to Chakotay for so long.
“Well, then,” Kaz continued,