In the case of the latter, it would be worth finding out who. Checking her distance, Molly was careful to appear casual, but not lose sight of her mark.
Not half a block later, Chaakwa turned into a mocha shop. Molly followed quickly and saw her get in line. She was looking at the pastries, not trying to find someone.
Probably safe to say she’s just grabbing food.
Molly watched her order mocha and food, and then did the same. As they were waiting for their mochas in the line at the end of the counter, Molly caught her eye.
Chaakwa wore a look of recognition, and almost said hello. It took another couple of tries before Molly was able to break the ice.
“Greetings. You may not remember me, but I worked with Joel Dunham….”
Chaakwa smiled and held out her hand to shake Molly’s, still racking her brain, trying to place her. Then she did. “Bates?” she clarified.
Molly nodded. “Yes. I was probably your suspect a couple of times,” she paused, blushing a little. “But we’ve come to think of you as something like a sympathetic force in our little team.”
Chaakwa looked intrigued. “Really?” she asked, trying not to smile, but her eyes giving her away. Her mouth crumpled up in a kind of confused wiggly line. Chaakwa’s drink arrived and she picked it up, her food in the other hand. “I was going to sit and eat. Would you care to join me?” She signaled towards an empty table by the window.
Molly nodded, smiling. “I’d like that,” she told her. The two women waited, making small talk until Molly’s mocha arrived, and then they sat down together.
“So, I take it your visiting me isn’t to pass the time over a mocha,” Chaakwa started.
Molly looked down into her dark mocha, and shook her head. “No. Not at all. I’m aware of the work you did on the Dewitt case, and from our meeting when we brought Garet back, I got the impression that bringing down The Syndicate was verging on personal for you…”
Chaakwa stopped eating, and put her food down. Her public persona evaporated, and for a moment Molly could see her as a little girl.
Chaakwa nodded. “They killed my grandfather, and then they killed my father for investigating them.”
Molly tilted her head. “I’m… I’m so sorry.” She paused, trying to decide whether it was something that Chaakwa would want to talk about. She frowned, confused by the choice. She wanted to know, but she didn’t want to pry. Then she remembered something Joel had taught her. “Hey, look, it’s none of my business, and if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s cool… But, what happened?”
That was almost word-for-word how Joel coached you!
Shut up, Oz. I’m trying to focus.
I’m going to start calling Joel ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’.
What the fuck does that even mean?
I’ll fill you in later. Go back to your conversation.
Molly’s brain itched as Oz chuckled away to himself. She had to resist scratching at her head. It wasn’t appropriate. The woman in front of her was about to open up about her driving wound…
Chaakwa had a tear forming in her eye, but she breathed in quickly and started telling her story. “My grandfather had insurance. Expensive insurance through Iantrogen, the Newld company.” She paused, getting her thoughts in order. “The family had made a lot of sacrifices to make sure he was going to be covered; to make sure we’d all be covered. My brother and I worked, instead of continuing in higher education. Father had said an education is no good if you’re dead. So we worked. And we worked hard.” She took a sip of her mocha.
Molly glanced out of the window briefly, and then back at Chaakwa. She didn’t want her to feel the weight of her staring. Joel had told her she could be a bit “intense” sometimes in these kinds of conversations. She thought about sitting back a little, but it might come across as disinterest. Maybe in a little while… she told herself.
Chaakwa continued. “Everything was fine. Grandfather had a condition that the company knew about, but we’d chosen a plan that covered it, and he was getting the treatment he needed. Then, one day, out of the blue, we got a message saying that his condition was being re-categorized, and that it was no longer covered. If we wanted him to receive the treatment, it was going to cost three times the amount.”
Molly’s mouth dropped open.
Chaakwa looked up and nodded. “Yeah. That was our reaction.” She glanced out of the window, her eyes now distant. “Obviously, we couldn’t afford it, so nature ‘took its course,’ as the doctors called it. But around the same time, there were rumors of corruption in the company. My father was a captain at the time, and he was overseeing a task force who was investigating allegations of corporate manslaughter. Of course, as you probably know, the legislation on this has been deteriorating over time. Even back then, it was pretty bad, though. My father was pulling a good case together. I have looked over his personal notes since, and it seemed like he had found a legal recourse, and that he was building a case along these lines in collaboration with a city prosecutor. He would have made things very difficult for The Syndicate to continue the way they were doing.”
Molly bobbed her head sympathetically. “So that’s why they killed him.”
Chaakwa nodded. “Made it look like a car accident.”
Molly shook her head in dismay. “How old were you?” she asked gently.
Chaakwa looked back at her. “Twelve. Made me decide that I wanted to be a cop, to avenge my father’s death and do some good in this place.”
Molly put her hand flat on the table, as if reaching to touch Chaakwa, but stopping short. “It looks to me like you are making a difference,” she told her. “And I’d like to help you with that. If you’ll allow me?”
Chaakwa was still a little emotional, but nodded with a look of determination in her eye.
Molly was interrupted by a thought. “Did you ever catch the person directly responsible for your father’s death?” she asked.
Chaakwa shook her head. A strand of raven hair dropped over her blue skin, and she reached up and tucked it back behind her ear. “There were a few suspects, but not enough evidence to get a conviction.”
Molly pursed her lips, thinking for a moment. “I have some resources at my disposal. We need to take out The Syndicate, and I need your help to do it so that they can’t rebuild. But how about you let me and my team take a look at the case file, and anything else you have on your father’s murder? Would that be okay?”
Chaakwa’s mouth dropped open. The emotions from talking about her father to a near stranger, and then the possibility of getting some help with a case nobody would touch, made her feel a lot of things all at once. Her face showed she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Yes!” she said enthusiastically. “Yes, I think that would be okay.”
The two women finished their mochas and lunches as Molly explained the intricacies of her plan to her new ally. When they were done, it was decided they should get to work right away. Chaakwa would sign Molly in as a visitor, and they would work from a spare room in the precinct - which is where they headed back to, armed with additional mochas for the afternoon ahead of them.
Senate House, Spire
Joel, Garet, and Paige had been working for the last several hours on the phones, rallying support for a new bill that Garet and Paige had written together only hours before. Molly’s notes and outline had helped, but there had still been a ton to do.
A couple of interns who had helped with the research were still buzzing about the office, dotting the ‘i’s and crossing the ‘t’s on various sections and footers. The piece was pretty much ready for submission, though.
Joel came back in the room, closing the door gently behind him. “Senator Beaufort, it’s time we made our way over to the meeting with the Attorney General. I’ve just been told he’s arrived in the building.”
Garet looked up from the sofa and held up a finger. He was dialed into a conference line. He glanced at Paige, who s
eemed to be on the same call. She nodded and took over, explaining that the Senator had to go to another meeting.
Joel was impressed at how well Paige had just jumped in and adapted. That ability would probably have taken someone else years of training. He had a feeling that, though she had been in this world before, today had still been a learning curve for her.
Garet got up, straightened his suit, and strode over to the door where Joel was waiting. Joel regarded him carefully. “Sure you’re ready for this?” he checked.
Garet nodded sincerely. “Yes. Ready.”
Joel reached for the doorknob and pulled the door open for Garet, who stepped through. Joel followed him, and they made their way down the hall to the official Senate House conference room.
When they got there, the Attorney General was already present. He was a nerdy, weedy kind of Estarian, but from what Joel knew of him, he was actually a good man. The men shook hands, and Joel stayed by the door while the two civil servants sat and talked.
The meeting lasted maybe twenty minutes, after which, the AG sat back in his seat and crossed one ankle over his thigh. “You know,” he said, now smiling, “I never had you down as a humanitarian, Senator.”
Garet shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Yeah,” he scratched awkwardly at the back of his head. “I’m a work-in-progress. But this is just the right thing to do, given the funding we’re being provided with, and the need that will be hitting us.”
The AG bobbed his head and sat up. “Cool. Well, I’ll draw up the paperwork from our end, and make this official.” His official demeanor was dropping. He leaned forward, confiding in Garet, and glancing in Joel’s direction. “Personally, I’ll be thrilled to run this racket out of town.”
A boyish glee danced in his eyes.
The two men stood up and shook hands before the AG left. He even nodded and tapped Joel on the shoulder as he went out. Joel sniggered silently in his head.
The moment felt like the geek slapping the quarterback on the arm and saying, “thanks buddy.”
Joel shook his head as he watched the nerdy AG walk down the corridor with a spring in his step, finally able to feel like the big man in a town that had made him feel impotent despite his position, his qualifications, and his smarts.
Garet sighed, walking towards the door. “One down…” he sighed as Joel followed him out.
Police Precinct, Downtown Spire
Chaakwa pulled up the last of the case files onto an index holoscreen. “That’s all of them, plus my notes,” she told Molly.
Molly sipped at her mocha. “Shit. That’s a lot of notes to go through…”
Chaakwa nodded. “It is, but I’ve got half of it memorized, if that helps?” Chaakwa’s voice was bright, but Molly suspected she wasn’t entirely joking.
Molly peeled her eyes from the holoscreen in front of them. “You know, actually, it might.” Then she dropped her voice a little, conspiratorially. “Hey, are we being monitored in here?” she asked.
Chaakwa shook her head. “Not that I know of. Budget cuts…” she looped her eyes to the ceiling to punctuate her regard for the bureaucracy.
Molly leaned forward. “Okay. Good. So it’s probably time I fill you in on a few things…”
Molly explained to a gobsmacked Chaakwa some of the details of their operation, including the existence of Oz and their in-house tech abilities. She carefully omitted the part about living on an asteroid, though. The fewer people knew their location, the better.
When she was done, Chaakwa took a few minutes to process — alternating between stunned silence, and rapid-fire questions. Eventually, she understood enough to help Molly with the task.
“What we’re looking for,” Molly explained, “is anything that can tell us where the remaining pieces of Andus’s empire are hidden. Code names, shell companies, groups we don’t know about, and, of course, any properties he has access to.”
Chaakwa’s ears pricked up at the last item. “Not that he owns?”
Molly shook her head. “Remember how we said we’re taking them down? We’re going to physically take them down, too. And to do that, we need to know where they might be staying. We’ve got Newld holed up in her office building under heavy security. We have a suspicion where Mac might be; he has a safe house in the city. But Andus? He’s disappeared. Nothing to track; no trace. Nothing to hint at where he might be.”
Chaakwa thought for a moment, and then pulled up her holo. “You know, he owns so many properties. I have no idea how we might possibly narrow down his location…”
Molly’s brain was going a million miles a minute.
If I may intervene?
Sure.
He has a holo. We know that from learning he was in the same location as us and Garet the morning we went to pick up The Syndicate.
Hang on! You mean Garet met with them before we arrived, guns blazing, at the Senate House?
Yes. I thought you’d assumed that.
Yes, Oz, but it’s also nice to have actual evidence to back us up.
Okay. Well, I just found this out now, as I was contemplating how to solve our immediate problem.
I see. Anyway, go ahead. You were saying?
Yes. So we know he has a holo. It was registered under a random company, and to a fake name, but it must have been him, because the other two were Kerr and Newld. Then I tracked all the data from any previous holo he’s had registered under that name, assuming they were all him.
Okay, and?
Well I’ve traced his activity, and mapped his behavior over the last decade. Then I isolated the behaviors when he wasn’t under any perceived threat, and took those out. Now I’m looking at his geographical profiles for when he’s under threat. He has a few different hideouts he’s used.
Okay, so how do we narrow it down?
Well, his holo went dead between meeting Garet, and disappearing. But if we can overlay the properties he owns, plus any other building he might be associated with, we can look at what he was near — or moving in the direction of – when he killed the signal.
Molly nodded. Chaakwa looked up at her. “You’re talking to him now? Your AI?”
Molly smiled. “Yes,” she confirmed. “And he’s been doing an excellent job at solving our problem. Here’s what we need to do…”
Chapter 10
Mac Kerr’s Spire Safe house
“Okay, this is the address that Maya gave us.” Sean undid his safety harness and sat forward in the pod.
Jack did the same. “Let’s hope he’s there. I’m itching to try out these new hand guns.”
Sean glanced over at her. “Anyone ever told you you’re not like most girls?”
“All the time,” Jack smiled. The pod came to a stop a couple of feet above the sidewalk. The door slid quietly open and Sean slipped out, landing gently on the ground, followed by Jack. As soon as they were clear of the pods, the pods disappeared off into the air. Barely anyone on the street noticed their arrival, or departure.
Jack looked up at the building. “Looks just like a normal apartment block,” she commented.
Sean looked over at her, and then followed her gaze up. “I guess that’s the point when one is selecting a safe house.”
Jack glanced at him sideways, and then back at the building. “Okay, let’s do this.”
Sean nodded and strode forward towards the door, and then typed something into his holo. Jack couldn’t see what. A moment later, the door clicked open.
Jack stared at the back of his head. Sean could feel her eyes on him, but pretended not to notice as he slipped his weapon from his holster.
Jack wasn’t letting it go. “How the hell did you do that?” she asked in a hushed whisper. She briefly examined the door’s access point, and the door itself, as they moved past and into the hallway.
Sean turned slightly so she could see his profile. He put a finger to his lips, and then indicated forward.
Guess that con
versation’s over, Jack thought as she took her weapon out and started sweeping the area.
Sean held up three fingers and pointed upward. Jack nodded and followed him as he found the stairwell. The pair made their way up the three floors, and found number 307 as fast as they could.
As they stood on either side of the apartment door, Sean contemplated what to do. Announce or just breach? Announcement would just give Kerr a head start, he figured. And who knows what kind of armament he has on the other side of the door?
His decision came down on the side of breach.
He signaled to Jack, relieved to have someone on his team who understood his hand signals easily. Not that Joel didn’t; he just always felt like he was being a dick when he went all military with Joel, for some reason. Jack, on the other hand, was a soldier through and through. She lived for this shit. He could tell.
Like, just now, when he signaled to breach in three, her eyes lit up as if it were her birthday.
Kinda cute, in a tomboy kinda way, he thought, before putting his mind back on the job.
He tapped at his holo a few more times, and the door slid open. He was the first into the apartment, quickly followed by Jack, who was ready to cover him and lay down fire wherever it was needed. Their weapons swept the whole scene to find nothing but a sparsely furnished apartment.
They stepped farther inside, and still drew no fire.
No movement.
Sean used his hand signals to tell Jack where to search, and then he did a sweep in the other direction. Eventually, they both arrived back in the central living room, guns now lowered and shoulders slumped in mild disappointment.
“Nothing,” Sean concluded.
Jack pushed out her bottom lip. “Pooh,” she remarked.
Sean grinned. “Now you look like a girl!” he told her.
She quickly straightened her face and copied Sean’s normal pose. He couldn’t help but laugh.
Jack looked around, noticing details. She wandered back into the kitchen, looking for any signs of heat, food, or recent activity.
“I don’t think he’s been here for a while,” she called through to Sean.
The Ascension Myth Box Set Page 78
