by J P Carver
“But you did kill the two troopers.” He stood right next to me. His cologne stung my nostrils. “See, it doesn’t matter much who killed Park right now. All anyone is worried about is who killed those troopers. I want you to take a moment and think carefully about what you’re going to say next.”
Someone knocked on the glass. Dougherty turned to it and gave a small salute.
When he turned back, the chair I sat in tilted back and then tipped over. I landed hard on my back, my hands crushed beneath me. Dougherty’s hand over my mouth stifled my cry.
“Whoa, careful there, Ragan. You could hurt yourself.” He moved his hand down and lifted me up enough to cut the cuffs on my hands before dropping me back to the floor.
I lay there, breathing heavily as I tried to get a grip on the nausea that washed over me. He picked up one of my hands, and I moaned as he closed my blood-slicked fingers around a bridge.
He bent down next to me. “The person you were looking for is coming through those doors after I leave. Ziller said you need this bridge, so here it is. You can tell him our debt is square—if you actually get out of here. Clear?”
I nodded as I cradled my right hand, which held the bridge. He gave me another smile, righted me with ease, and locked my wrists into a pair of cuffs that were attached to the table by a small length of chain. “Stay put.”
He left the room. Pain drew my gaze to my fingers, and I found the pinky on my left hand turned at an odd angle. It didn’t feel broken, just popped out. I put the bridge on the table and jerked it back into place. I gave a sob to release the pain as the door opened.
A woman who looked very much like her picture entered and walked to the table. She placed a bag down next to the chair and then took a seat. She wore a maroon dress shirt and a floral scarf that lay neatly over her sagging neck. She smiled at me, red lips pulled across slightly stained teeth, and blue eyes that barely receded into their sockets squinted at me. “You certainly are what I expected. That looked very painful.”
“I’ve had worse, Vera.” I said. Her smile faltered enough to be noticeable.“Why are you here?”
She leaned forward and folded her hands on the table. “Well, you seemed to want to see me, since you were at my hotel. Were you coming to return my stolen property?”
“Yours? You don’t own MicroManagement Systems yet. Until that deal goes through, I don’t have anything of yours.”
She sighed, and the smile disappeared. “It would have all been so simple if you had never taken that job.”
“Believe me, I know.”
“A Cracker like you should have never had that ad job. We were banking on someone young and inexperienced. Even then, had you just allowed yourself to be arrested, this would have all been over, and you’d probably be in a four-by-four jail cell right now, eating mashed carrots or something.”
I sat back in the chair and shrugged. “Sorry to mess up your well-thought-out plans.”
“And your snark—I could really do without that.” She bent down and removed a vaporette from her bag. “I assume you know who I am—even more, what I have control of.”
“I’ve got an inkling.”
“Good. Then you know that I can bury you and your friends… The Mourning Stars, isn’t it? What an idiotic name for a group.” She waved a hand through the smoke. “That’s no matter, but I don’t want to spend the time and energy to do it. I’m very busy.”
“Cut to the chase. What do you want from me?”
“I want Park’s virtual body and his prototype. The bridges that were already released were only betas, and they don’t do what I want them to do. With the VB, we won’t have to reinvent the wheel.”
“What do I get out of the deal?”
She took a long draw from the vaporette. “Death is off the table. Best I can do, because someone has to take the fall, and since you’re already here…”
“Not exactly a sweet deal for me, is it?” I slid the bridge from my pocket and rolled it along my hand.
“You killed two troopers, Miss Eisen. I don’t know what exactly you expect.”
“I want you to protect my friends from any blowback.”
“That’s a—”
“That’s the deal. I’ll go down for this, and that’s not a problem, I’ll be dead inside of the week, but you need to step up for my friends. Otherwise, you get nothing.”
Vera gave a thoughtful smile. “What’s to keep me to my word after you’re in jail?”
“You’ve spent a lot of time and money staying under the radar. I spent a lot of time and money digging you up. We both know you had Park killed. It wouldn’t be hard to smear your name with the information I have. Keep your end, and it never gets out.”
“Blackmail. Well, I guess you can’t expect anything to ever change. Very well. Let me see the bridge.”
I rolled it over to her.
She picked it up, her mahogany-colored nails shimmering in the light. “This is it?”
“It’s the bridge I’ve had since the beginning.”
“Well, I can’t very well take your word for that. You’re a criminal.” She smiled and raised a hand toward the glass.
A moment later, the door opened, and Nina was shoved into the room. I cursed.
“Get off me, you jack-off!” she yelled as she pulled her arm free and glared back at Dougherty.
“Lovely girl.” He leaned beside the closed door.
Nina turned to us, her look of confusion turning to surprise as she saw me. I shook my head just slightly, and she blanked her face. “What’s going on?”
“Your name is Nina, isn’t it?” Vera asked as she turned in her seat. “Welcome.”
“Do I know you? Why the hell was I picked up on my way home from school?”
“Last time you went to any sort of school was three years ago. Don’t play coy here, Nina. I need you to help Ragan and me out.”
“Who?”
“Dougherty, please get Nina a seat.” Vera turned back to face me.
Dougherty picked up a metal chair from against the wall and placed it on the right side of the table. Without a word, he went to Nina and forced her into the chair. She sat with a huff and looked between Vera and me.
“Now, I assume that Ragan has done something to this bridge—at least, if I were in her shoes, I would—so I need someone to test it. I’m sure she built herself a fail-safe, but I doubt she did the same for you.” Vera held out the bridge to Nina. “I want you to use the bridge and tell me what you see. After that, you’re free to go.”
“I’m not putting that thing in my neural. I don’t know where it came from.”
This was not a place to make a stand. I shot my gaze to her. She caught the movement, and I hoped she understood.
Before she could speak again, Vera stood and shoved Nina’s head down to the desk with a thud. “Everyone is always so obstinate, these days. Dougherty, insert the bridge for me, won’t you?”
Nina wiggled underneath the gnarled hands of the old woman, but there wasn’t a thing I could do but watch. Dougherty sighed as he pushed off the wall. He took the bridge from Vera, and I looked over to find her watching me intently as he inserted the bridge.
Nina cursed, and then her breathing evened out and her struggle stopped. I started to move to help her, but Dougherty smoothly pulled out his gun and trained it on me. I sat back down and watched along with everyone else.
Vera was stone still, gaze never leaving Nina as a few minutes passed, and she turned to me. “Well, I’ll take that as a mistake on my part. Apparently you are nothing like me.”
She pulled the bridge out, and Nina jerked and gasped back to life. Her wide eyes searched the room until they fell on me. She looked betrayed as she stared at me, and I wanted nothing more than to apologize, but I didn’t get the chance.
“What did you see, Nina? Be honest.”
“A… a white room. There was a man there, and he asked if he could help me with anything and then offered me a meal. We ate—How lo
ng was I out?”
“A few minutes. Dougherty, take Nina out and release her on the street. I’ll be along to give my statement in a bit.” Dougherty dragged Nina out of the room without a word.
“I must thank you for keeping my property safe,” she said as she ran a ringed thumb across the bridge. She held it up and frowned. “I’m too old for the implants, but a bridge works just fine. Will you stand by while I try this? Just to get a feel for my investment, you understand.”
“It’s yours, as long as you keep our deal.”
“I think we’ll be okay there.” She reached back and inserted the bridge, a grin spreading across her face that quickly went slack.
Seconds later, blood began to leak from her nose, and a bruise appeared on her wrinkled cheekbone.
Something was going on in the bridge. I was still chained to the table, and calling for help would just bring more trouble down on me. Best option I had was to wait and see.
Vera’s eyes went wide and then rolled up as her head came down to meet the desk with a thud.
Park had gone too far.
Seven
Nothing Definitive
I hadn’t known how Park would react when he came face to face with the person he thought murdered the real him. I didn’t completely expect to see him on the other side of the table, though.
It was a small change, and it happened in an instant. Her eyes went blank, and the smile became the lazy half-smile of Park.
“How have you been, Ragan?” he asked in her voice, and he flexed his fingers on the desk. “So, your little plan worked.”
“So far. Now it’s up to you to get me out of here.” I held up my still-handcuffed wrists.
He scratched at his chin and shrugged. “Well, give me some details I can use. She tell you anything?”
“It was her, all right. They were looking for a newbie to pin the murder on. Seems like she’s got pull around here. The question is how much, and if she confesses, will it be enough?”
“Hmm. This could be interesting. She does have an encrypted data uplink. I should be able to dig up something there. Anyone specific I should talk to?”
“There’s a man named Dougherty outside the door. He’s a detective, I guess, but he and Vera seem on shaky terms, and he’s dealt with Ziller before. I’d confess to him. He’d eat it up and probably ignore anything that seemed off.”
“Devious, little Ragan.”
I sneered.
“Okay, then I’ll go turn myself in. Thank you for your help. At least my Other gets some kind of justice. Sadly, I doubt we’ll meet again.”
I nodded. He stood, moving strangely for a moment, as if trying to get used to the new body. He stretched out all the old limbs and groaned as he turned around, the bracelets on each wrist jingling. “Why all the jewelry? It just seems to get in the way. And the joints—they pop like corn over fire. I much preferred your body.”
“So do I, which is why you ain’t riding along with me again.”
He laughed as he went to the door.
“Wait, Park. Your nose.”
He placed shaking fingers to it and noticed the blood. He used her scarf to wipe it away and gave a small salute as he left. I watched him close the door, worry running rampant through me—not just for myself, but for Nina. I wondered if they had actually released her. Even if they didn’t, she was a non-issue without a record. She’d get out soon enough, but I worried that she thought I had set her up in some way.
It had never occurred to me that Vera would pick up Nina and bring her in, but it should have. CES had probably seen me coming from a mile away after Ziller reported me, as I wasn’t exactly hidden, and they would have seen Nina with me.
There had been a lot of ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes’ in my plan, but when Park had injured me in the bridge, it led me to the idea that someone could be taken over by force if Park wanted. I hadn’t actually known if it would work.
All I could do was wait and see if I would be released or not.
Dougherty came in just when I was beginning to contemplate whether I should piss myself or let my bladder explode. I had lost track of time, but from my guess, it had been at least three hours since Vera and Park had left.
He walked to the table and leaned down on it, his gaze darting over my face. Finally he turned his head and cocked his jaw, obviously annoyed. “Whatchyado?”
I sat up in the chair. “When?”
“I know you did something. Was it that bridge? Did you do something with that bridge?”
“I don’t know what you’re expecting me to say. What happened?”
He stood up and shoved a hand into his pocket and came up with the bridge. He tossed it to the table, and it rolled into my lap. “Why did you need that? It’s blank.”
“Blank? Are you sure?” I asked and picked up the bridge.
Park had deleted himself. I was surprised to feel a bit of sadness at the idea.
“I had it analyzed after Vera choked herself to death with her scarf in interrogation.” He rubbed at the back of his neck. “She confessed to everything, said she’d pinned it on you. She paid to have Park killed. She said she sent the troopers and had two of them killed to give us more of an incentive to track you down and make you disappear.” He kicked out the chair and sat down heavily. “And it doesn’t make a bit of sense. We have you on the camera. We have your DNA. You were there.”
“No, I wasn’t,” I said flatly.
He gave me a blank stare and then cursed. “I don’t know how you did it. I just don’t. She had everything to prove her words, and she just handed it over. No dealing or plea-bargaining. Just ‘Here you go; here’s the proof that I did it all.’ Even gave us an assassin that we’re in the process of picking up. No one does that, Ragan, especially not someone like Vera.”
“Maybe she had a guilty conscience.”
“Maybe something else is going on, and you’re too damn smart for your own good.” He reached across the table and took my hands, held them tightly. “We got nothing to hold you with, and while I would love to just shut you away, I’ve been ordered to release you on the condition you keep that trap of yours shut.”
He undid the cuffs, and I rubbed at my wrists.
“You’re gonna find yourself on the wrong side of me again, Ragan. We both know that. It’s only a matter of time, and I don’t owe any of your little buddies a damn thing anymore.” He glanced at the mirror and then leaned forward. “I hated Vera. Most of us did, so I don’t much care that she’s dead. I do care about how you did it, and because of that, I’ll be keeping my eye on you. Slip up, and I’ll haul your ass back in here. Understood?”
“Sure. Can I go now?” I stood.
He turned his head up to follow me. He seemed to mull over my question and then swiped his hand toward the door. “Get out of here.”
I hurried past the table and to the door, sure that he would change his mind before I reached it.
“Oh, and Ragan, even though you cleared out the data CES had on you and your other cracker friends, don’t think that I’ll lose sight of you.”
I froze in the doorway. Someone had wiped the data on their systems.
One last gift from Park.
I took a deep breath before I stepped out into the hall.
A young woman greeted me with a strong hand on my wrist, and I yelped a little in pain. “Follow me out, please.”
We walked through the sterile halls of bright light and white tiles. Metal doors appeared every ten feet against the walls, and beyond them, I could hear sounds that unnerved me. Muffled cries and screams and shouts were everywhere. I’d been blindfolded on the way in, so I’d not had the full experience before.
The woman took me into a room off the main hall, and inside a very harsh-looking man tended to my wounds before I was taken back out. The woman’s hand grew tighter when we stepped out of the hall and into what looked like a bees’ nest of CES troopers.
For a moment, I thought Dougherty had lied and that they wou
ld all just shoot me right there. But they only spared me the smallest of glances, too absorbed in their Omnis or their newest captured lawbreakers.
The woman led me through the rows of metal desks and stacked folders that still lingered on some desks. Paper still worked just fine, it seemed, for some troopers.
We were almost out of the nest when I heard a voice call out from across the room. “Where the hell are you taking that piece of shit?”
I turned slightly, already knowing the voice, and I felt my stomach drop.
Standing up above everyone else was another woman. She wore a trooper uniform, without the armor, and had what looked like a padded guard running along the left side of her jaw. Her lips were pulled tight until they’d turned almost white, and she began to stalk across the room.
“Sit down, Jepsen.” Dougherty appeared from the hall and was already crossing toward the woman.
“Sit down? Screw that, Dougherty. That bitch did this to me. I saw her! She was on my vid!”
“You didn’t see a damn thing. You even said so in your report. All your video showed was a person in dark clothes. This has already been resolved, so get back to work before I write your ass up.”
Jepsen looked as if she was about to swing at Dougherty, but instead she shoved the guy she had been bringing in, and he slammed into the wall. Without another word, she dragged him into the halls, and I felt a slight pang of guilt for him.
Dougherty sighed and looked back at me and the woman holding my elbow. “Get her out of here before someone decides to end her.”
The woman nodded and pulled me out of the main room and down a set of steps. We reached the bottom floor, this one mostly inhabited by the sobbing families of those who had vanished into the rooms upstairs. The desk officer was having a hard time keeping everyone in line, and I wondered how many of these people would never see their loved ones again. I doubted even half of them would make it through the next month without being picked up themselves.
It was a messed-up system we had somehow ended up with, and I realized that I had contributed to that. I had done jobs that both helped and harmed the system. A job was a job, and as long as it was paying, it hadn’t much mattered to me who I hurt, digitally or IRL.
