by K. C. Finn
It is now that the second crossed-off name catches Cae’s eye again, just as Kendra reads it too.
“Angelica Lane,” she exclaims angrily. “I knew that little hussy was no good!”
“One of your people came to Angelica Lane’s apartment a few months ago,” Cae states, remembering the event. “Why was that?”
“She was working for Jobe, so we thought she might lead us to The Face,” Archie answers. “But I’m afraid she was a dead end. Aside from climbing the career ladder in a rather unscrupulous way, she’s clean as a whistle.”
Redd gives a chuckle from his chair. “More’s the pity,” he remarks. “She’s a foxy little thing.”
“We took her name and Jobe’s out of the robot’s surveillance system just a few days before it started to malfunction,” Archie continues, ignoring Redd with a passion. “Damian Jobe isn’t the only official involved with The Face. There are suspected to be several high-ranking agents in major public industries all across the district. It’s a nationwide conspiracy.”
“Hence the secret cult,” Kendra adds. “If word got out that all these high-up people are in cahoots with a major crime magnate, the whole zone could go into an uproar.”
“It doesn’t take much to get the peasants revolting these days,” Redd pipes in.
“There’s a lot more people on this list,” Cae murmurs in a worried tone. “And they’re all in danger. How do we stop this thing?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Archie says flatly.
“But you made it!” Kendra protests.
“Yes, but I didn’t design it,” Archie counters. “We are just the production and maintenance operatives. A doctor of physics developed its programming for us, but he’s gone missing. I haven’t been able to reach him since the start of the stranglings.”
“What’s his name?” Cae enquires.
“Doctor Howard Fowler,” Archie answers.
Kendra’s water glass tumbles clumsily in her hand, but she manages to catch it. “You’ve got to be kidding,” she says. “Howard Fowler’s here in town.”
“How do you know that?” Cae asks her, amazed.
“Because he’s my appointment later this morning,” she replies. “He worked with the Prof at my military base; I’ve known him for years.” The surprise on the soldier’s dark face takes years off her appearance. “He kept me on the phone all yesterday morning at your place arranging the meeting, said it was really important.”
“So that’s where you were,” Cae breathes with relief, remembering the accusations of Detective Smyth almost twenty four hours ago in Kendra’s office.
“Perhaps the doctor is already aware of the situation,” Archie Watt suggests. “You should keep your appointment with him, madam.”
When the door of the little sitting room is opened all four occupants tense a little, but the figure at the door is only the robot from earlier. It gives Cae back his gas mask, which has been masterfully repaired.
“Wait,” he says to the bot. “Would you stay here a moment? I want to look at you.”
The bot is not programmed for speech, but a gentle incline of its head shows acquiescence. Cae and Kendra examine it carefully, whilst Redd looks into his empty water glass, now thoroughly bored by affairs which no longer concern him.
“What I don’t understand,” Cae remarks, “is how we didn’t see one of these anywhere on the security footage.”
“Robot,” commands Archie in a clear tone, “show this man your travel features.”
The shining clockwork beast stands at its full height, but then slowly starts to shrink. Cae’s eyes divert to the android’s feet, where it is folding itself down, piece by piece, gears and mechanisms grinding until it is no bigger than a shoe box.
“It can conceal itself anywhere at that size,” Archie reveals. “And it’s magnetised all over to attach itself to objects that can transport it.”
“Like the inside of a cleaning trolley!” Cae suddenly says. “The cleaning bots must have carried it into the lab when Li was killed.”
“It could have been tucking itself away under chairs and car seats, anywhere really,” Kendra continues.
“And in storerooms,” Cae adds; now a little embarrassed. “I’ll bet it was just sitting on a shelf watching us when we found Thomas knocked out at the cotillion. I should have spotted it.”
“You weren’t to know,” Archie soothes with a kind look. “They were designed to be undetectable spies, recording data and coming back to report.”
“But this one hasn’t come back to you?” Cae questions.
Archie just shakes his head. “I think Doctor Fowler will be able to answer the rest of your questions better, detective. I’ll have someone take you all home now if that’s alright?”
“Yes, of course,” Cae answers.
“I really am sorry we didn’t come to you with this sooner, madam” Archie says to Kendra. “If we’d known you were in touch with the doctor, well, perhaps none of this would have happened.” He takes her arm gently, but Kendra gets free of the gesture, shrugging her shoulders independently.
“At least we know now,” she replies.
The robot that had collapsed itself has reassembled at the mention of escorting people home, and now it beckons for the three prisoners-turned-guests to follow it. Redd leaps from his chair happily.
“You can take me home first,” he orders it as he leaves the room.
“Oh no, we’re not done with you,” Kendra begins as she too leaves the sitting room. “We’re all going to the station, right now.”
Cae is about to follow the arguing pair, but Archie makes a little noise in the back of his throat that causes the young detective to stop in his tracks.
“There is one more thing I think you ought to know,” says the head Clockworker. Cae turns to see Archie’s face flooded with sadness. “This criminal, The Face, first came to our attention six years ago when a particularly horrific murder incident hit the news.”
The date puts a lead weight into Cae’s stomach, his pale face draining of all colour. He dares not ask Archie for more information, but the older man continues to speak.
“We have reason to believe that The Face was responsible for the death of a scientist named Jennavive Rex,” Watt explains. “She is a relation of yours, I presume?”
25.
After fitting Redd Richmond out with a change of clothes and putting Kendra on the phone to everyone in the station, Caecilius Rex races to the contraband storeroom with every ounce of energy he has left. He hurricanes into the small room stacked with boxes and jars, racing to the big red container on the third shelf at the back.
If there is ever a time that he needs a little HOPE, it is now.
The HOPE drug is accompanied by three scoops of RESISTANCE for good measure, and suddenly Cae feels more able to process his feelings. He is finally on the path to the crime he never solved, the first step on the road to discovering who killed his mother. As the drugs course through his system, the young man lets loose a conniving smile. At last he will find this man, The Face, the man who destroyed everything good in his life, who made Caecilius Rex the loneliest nineteen year old in the world all that time ago.
“Well, well,” says a snide voice from the doorway of the storeroom. “Now this is interesting.”
The detective jumps out of his skin at the sight of Redd Richmond in a police sports kit, watching him from a few feet away. The conman slicks back his greying hair, his olive green eyes twinkling with mischief.
“I thought the teaspoon was weird,” he muses. “But now I know why you have it.” Redd pulls his handsome face into a distasteful expression. “And I held you in such noble esteem,” he continues. “But you’re nothing but a helpless little addict. Such a shame.”
Cae’s bright blue eyes watch Redd anxiously as the conman makes a show of looking outside of the storeroom door.
“If anyone here were to find out about this,” Redd begins again, “it would look terribly ba
d for you, would it not?”
The detective grits his teeth, putting away the big red box.
“Name your price Richmond,” he snarls.
“You’re going to dismiss me now,” Redd suggests in a happy little tone. “And I’ll go home in peace, and I won’t be bothered by you again for quite some time. In fact, I think you’ll turn a lovely little blind eye to me and my endeavours from now on, don’t you?”
Reluctantly, Cae nods his head. “I suppose I’ll have to,” he answers, thoroughly ashamed of himself.
“Smashing,” says Redd brightly. “Well, I’d say it’s been lovely working with you, but we all know that’d be a huge lie. Enjoy your buzz, Rex. It won’t last long.”
And with that the conman goes, leaving Cae to his moment of shame. But the HOPE in his system cancels out a lot of what he ought to feel, so with only a slightly heavier heart Cae heads back to Kendra’s office, only to find it is once again occupied by the prying Detective Smyth.
“Over a hundred files of classified information transmitted from this unit!” Smyth rages, pointing at Kendra’s desktop computer.
“I don’t know who could have done it,” Kendra protests angrily. “And you’re starting to take that tone with me, Smyth. You know I don’t like that tone of yours.”
The older detective curbs his anger, looking instead to Cae for support.
“Rex,” he pleads, “there’s been a massive security breach in here, files were sent from-‘
“I sent them,” Cae interrupts. Smyth and Kendra both look at him blankly. “I sent them to my own computer at home for reading. I’m sorry Smyth, I didn’t realise it would cause a panic.”
“Oh.” The older man looks blankly at Cae, his moustache drooping in disappointment. It seems that Cae’s answer has stopped him from having a good rage. “I’ll be off then, I suppose,” he says sheepishly. “But if you’re going to do that again, please let me know first.”
“I will,” Cae replies with a curt nod. As Smyth leaves, Cae congratulates himself on a lie well told. He did not send the files, but he has a good idea of who did, and the slimy little blackmailer will be disappearing off somewhere at this very moment in his borrowed police sports kit, wearing a grin a mile wide.
“Did you alert everyone?” Cae asks Kendra, quickly moving the subject away from the missing files. He’ll deal with that particular breach of security later on if he can.
Kendra nods from behind her desk, beckoning her friend to come and sit with her. “The whole station is on red alert for descriptions of the bot; they’re conducting a full search of the building as we speak in case it’s still hiding here after yesterday.”
As Cae settles into a chair, he shakes his head unhappily. “I don’t think its programming would allow it to hang around like that,” he muses. “What time do we meet your Doctor Fowler?”
“In half an hour at that awful little cafe at the end of our street,” she replies.
The young detective takes in a short breath. He looks at Kendra for a moment, and she has that same sort of caring, inquisitive expression on her face that mothers get when they’re concerned about their little boys. Cae lets out the breath in a sigh.
“Before we go,” he begins. “I want to tell you what Archie Watt told me just before we left the Clockworkers.”
26.
At the Buchanan Cafe Caecilius Rex is busy trying to scrape the grease off his spoon before he puts the sugar in his coffee. Ex Special Brigade sergeant Kendra Nai is far more mentally occupied, looking around nervously and jumping in her seat.
“I’ve never seen you so on edge,” Cae comments worriedly. “This doctor must be something special.”
“Howard and Julius gave me my whole life after my accident,” Kendra reminds him. “I owe everything to them.”
As the words leave her lips the little bell over the cafe’s door tinkles, and Kendra’s hazel eyes light up as a fat, balding man enters the seating area through the clean air partition. He takes off a shiny gas mask to reveal a little ginger beard on his double chin.
“Kendra!” The doctor exclaims happily, coming to sit beside her and Cae at their table. He claps her shoulder affectionately. “You look great, dear girl, really great.” He then turns his gaze to Cae. “And you are…?”
“Oh, this is one of my special detectives, Howard,” Kendra begins.
“I’m Caecilius Rex,” Cae completes.
A flicker of something strange passes across the balding doctor’s face for a fraction of a second, but then he smiles cordially and nods his head to Cae. “Charmed,” he adds.
“Howard, something pretty godawful’s been happening here,” Kendra gushes with urgency. “We met the Clockworkers this morning.”
Fowler’s round face falls a little, his small eyes turning serious. “Yes, I came here to warn you about the rogue machine.”
“How did you know about it?” Cae asks quickly.
“I saw it on the mainframe back at Lachrymosa,” the doctor explains.
“That’s my base,” Kendra adds for clarity. Cae nods keenly.
“Any programming faults come through to me straight away, but I’m afraid it took me a long time to get here from the East Atlantic.” Howard rings his hands nervously. “I suspect that it wasn’t a natural fault in the system,” he suggests. “I think someone has altered my program.”
“Can’t you override it?” Kendra asks just as Cae thinks of the same question.
The doctor shakes his large head sadly. “The only way to get into the program bank will be after we’ve disabled the bot.”
“Can we power it down?” Cae presses.
Another shake of the bald head. “They’re clockwork. Self-winding. Designed for twenty-four hour surveillance.”
“So they’re unstoppable,” Kendra remarks. “Great. Thanks for being such an efficient designer, Howard. I didn’t even know you did stuff with robotics.”
“It was always a forte of mine,” Howard answers gingerly. “But I’m afraid it’s rather backfired now, hasn’t it?”
“Well it can’t keep running if it’s in pieces,” Kendra states plainly.
“What are you suggesting, sergeant?” Howard asks, and Kendra visibly swells with pride at being addressed with her former rank.
“That we smash the hell out of it,” she completes.
“It’s a fair plan,” Howard concedes. “So long as we can find it.”
“Ah,” Cae says, retrieving Archie Watt’s list from his pocket. “But we know where it’s going. It’ll still be looking for people from this list.”
Howard Fowler takes the list and studies it carefully for a moment. “A lot of these people work at your station, I think?” He asks Cae. The detective nods. “So why isn’t it there right now trying to kill them?”
“Perhaps it’s had trouble getting past security?” Cae suggests. “It has to travel in that compact shape, it can’t just walk around pretending to be a person with everyone on red alert.”
“Hmm,” Howard muses, rubbing his little red beard. “What do you have that connects these three deaths?”
The detective rubs a gloved hand through his black hair. He can only think of one thing.
“Kendra,” he states reluctantly.
“Excuse me?” She blurts, clearly annoyed.
Cae turns to Howard objectively. “Kendra was talking to both of the first two men just before they died, and the third was strangled on the spot where her car is usually parked.” Kendra looks at Cae as though he has betrayed her. “I’m sorry but it’s true,” he offers.
She is about to retort when the doctor slams his chubby hand on the sticky cafe table excitedly. “I have it!” He exclaims. “I’ve just walked down your street, Kendra!”
The ex-sergeant looks at her mentor blankly, and Cae does the same. “Yeah? And?” She prompts.
“Your house is full of smog!” Says Fowler happily. “When did that air filter break down?” He asks.
“The same night that
Spinner was killed,” Cae informs. “But it’s not connected, is it?”
“The bot needs somewhere secure to hide between seeking targets at the station,” explains Fowler with a small smile. “Where better than a deserted house nearby, especially one that belongs to a police chief?”
“Ah crap,” Kendra says flatly. “It’s been travelling in with me, hasn’t it?”
27.
As Kendra, Cae and Doctor Fowler sit buckled and masked in Kendra’s old car; Cae has another of his brainwave thoughts.
“You don’t think the bot was with us when we met Redd’s little informant last night, do you?” He asks.
Kendra recalls the figure she had tried to chase down in the rainstorm, with that strange metallic glint that had flashed up now and then as it ran. “No ordinary guy should have been able to out-run me,” she says with a nod.
“You were always the fastest in the brigade,” Howard confirms. “And that’s saying something.”
The soldier’s hazel eyes smile over her mask. “Do you think it ran back here after I chased it?” She asks.
“It’s likely,” Howard replies. He looks at his watch over the nosepiece of his own gas mask. “I think we’ve given it enough time to sneak up from the house and attach itself to the car.”
It is only a short while before they arrive at Dartley Station, Kendra’s badges and key cards taking them up through the security doors. The trio walk at a slow pace through all the checkpoints, ensuring that their little friend can pass through with them from wherever it may be hiding.
They settle in the cafeteria whilst Cae consults his list. The detective circles all the listed people who are currently present at the station, and Kendra calls the security office to have the guards monitor those people from their screens.
“The second any camera image goes down, you call me with the location,” Kendra orders. “Thank you boys,” she adds, then puts down the phone.
Unfortunately, they don’t have long to wait.
