The Easytown Box Set

by Brian Parker

  “Maybe it is,” I replied. “But I’m still gonna go out there and be on scene when this goes down.”

  Since I’d been evacuated from Warehouse Six, Karimov had taken control of the Dockyards. He’d organized the workers and they’d arranged the shipping containers into a massive wall. It wasn’t impenetrable by any means, and the drones could easily drop in behind them, but hundreds of workers hadn’t supported him and were now hostages intermingled with Karimov’s people, making it impossible to tell who was a hostile. That meant using the drones was out. It also meant that Lieutenant Fairchild’s SWAT team was once again on the hook to go into harm’s way because of something I’d done.

  “I’m not sure that Brubaker is gonna allow that,” Drake said after an extremely long pause.

  “Why’s that?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.

  “You know; the IA report of findings…”

  “Shit,” I groaned.

  Lying in bed over the course of two days, I’d had ample time to go over the report, all one hundred and four pages of the main report, plus the additional five hundred pages of supporting evidence and video files. The backup document was full of useless information like insurance claims, annual performance evaluations, a detailed report of all misconduct claims—founded and unfounded—filed against me over my career, generalized psychological findings, and transcripts from the character witness interviews of fellow officers and department employees. The last section was truly eye opening since I was able to see exactly what people really thought of me.

  There were even a few pages on Katheryn Townlain’s involvement, along with video from our conversations, including when I told her why I was a cop, followed up by the close-up of my chest when we shared a sloppy, drunken kiss. Of course she’d been wearing a camera. The whole section with her was utterly pointless since nothing happened, and none of it made it into the main report.

  The actual findings of the report recommended my termination based on a pattern of misconduct. It detailed the various suspensions I’d been given, pointing to them as corrective measures that were ineffective, the most egregious time being when I was on suspension and interfered with an investigation, which resulted in the death of one hundred and twelve innocent bystanders at the St. Louis Cathedral. There was a note from Governor Talubee’s staff stating that none of the citizens died as a result of my actions and thousands of lives, including the Pope’s, were saved because I was the only police officer on scene. They left out the fact that Sergeant Drake was there, I’m sure it was meant to minimize the collateral damage to the department.

  It seemed that my good buddy, Councilman Jefferson, had finally been able to get back at me for detaining him last fall. The councilman was the one who’d requested the formal investigation into my police misconduct, based on tips from anonymous sources who said I was a troublemaker.

  Bullshit. The ‘tips’ were his own personal vendetta against me for exposing his adultery to his wife.

  I’d read and reread the file while I lay in bed. Termination was just a recommendation, it still needed to go to the board of police chiefs and the mayor, so I was still a cop. As long as I was a cop, I would do my duty to defend the city and her people.

  “It’s just a goddamned report,” I grumbled, slapping my hand on my phone where the pages were stored. “Karimov is a threat to this city and I sure as hell have a score to settle with that bastard.”

  “Exactly,” Drake rumbled. “You have a score to settle. You always have a score to settle. That’s why you’re in this trouble, Detective Forrest. Maybe you should sit this one out. That might look better in the eyes of the district chiefs’ panel if you take the time to allow others to do their job.”

  He had a point. If I let Fairchild’s SWAT team go in and clear the Dockyards, the panel would see that I was taking the Internal Affairs recommendation to heart and following the straight and narrow. I could potentially save my career if I followed the rules and colored within the lines.

  But I couldn’t let it go. This was my investigation, from start to finish, and I intended to see it through.

  “What did you find at the Ortega house?” I asked.

  Drake’s smile stretched from ear to ear. “We found the murder weapon. Forensics agreed that as far as they could tell, the pneumatic disks came from that handgun versus one of the rifles. Also…”

  He pulled out his own phone and tapped a few keys, projecting an image between us. It was a bunch of lines of text. “This is Ortega’s journal. He was stupid enough to write stuff down; had it in chapter format like he was going to publish an autobiography or something.”

  “Can I see that?” I asked, reaching for the phone. I couldn’t read the words on the projection.

  Drake handed it over wordlessly. I read for a few minutes, and agreed with his assessment. Ortega was trying to get himself published. His journal recorded that he’d also been having an affair with Henderson and had learned of Karimov’s involvement in the synthaine production. He wanted in on it and Karimov refused. Henderson sided with Karimov, breaking things off with Ortega. I’d been right. Henderson’s murder was a crime of passion. Ortega couldn’t come to terms with the fact that he wasn’t up to par with Karimov.

  It still left the question of why Terri Solomon’s thugs had tried to kill Karimov, though. The connection didn’t make sense—yet. I’d figure it out in time.

  “What did the cyborgs have to say about this?” I wondered aloud.

  “Nobody’s talked to them yet.”

  “What? Who’s the city got on this while I’m out?”

  “Sanders, again,” he replied. “He’s been pretty busy with the Dockyard hostage situation. All of us have.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That idiot couldn’t investigate his way out of a pillow fort.”

  I flipped through several pages of love poems and shit like that, most of them directed at Dale Henderson. “Something about this isn’t right,” I stated. “Why would he keep all of this evidence in a journal where we could find it?”

  Drake stretched out his hand, open palm up. “May I?”

  I passed him the phone and he tapped the screen a few times. Soon, another picture appeared between us. It was a framed computer programming degree from MIT bearing the name Carlos Ortega.

  “So?”

  “The son of a bitch thought he was better than anyone else,” Drake stated. “He was damn good. It took our techs about six hours to break his encryption. This journal was buried deep down; you and me wouldn’t have found it, but the techies noticed keystroke patterns that pointed to a hidden folder. I’m not sure what he was planning on doing with it since it would implicate him in several crimes, but he was meticulous.”

  “Narcissistic fuckwad,” I surmised.

  “Yeah, that was my assessment as well,” Drake deadpanned. “So you see, the case is wrapped up, even with Sanders on the job. You can stay here and get some rest.”

  Maybe it was all wrapped up like he said. The only outliers were why the cyborgs had shot up the Liquid Genesis and arresting Karimov, who’d tried to kill me. I wanted revenge, but that was part of why I was in the trouble I was in. Not every action needed to be avenged. Fairchild could handle this guy.

  Besides, I felt like I was ninety. The genetic regeneration wasn’t fully complete. My calf muscle felt fully healed, an unintended beneficiary of the treatment on my hip, but everything else was still not completely healed. I could use another day of lying on my back and letting the process play out. Lord knows I deserved some time off.

  “Goddammit, Drake. Maybe you’re right,” I relented. “I should be smart and let someone else handle things for a while.”

  One of Drake’s massive paws slapped down on the bedside railing. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about. Following the doctor’s orders, allowing others to do their jobs, and listening to some sound advice—who are you and what have you done with Zachary Forrest?”

  “Funny, Drake,” I replied. “I’m right here.
But like you said, maybe I should try to show some restraint if I want to keep my job.”

  “That’s good advice,” he chuckled. “Who could have given that to you?”

  “Okay, I admit it. You gave me some good advice.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Oh! Thanks,” I said, realizing he wanted an acknowledgement.

  “No prob—”

  A soft knock on the door to my room cut him off. He glanced at me and I shook my head; I wasn’t expecting anyone.

  Drake walked over to the door and rested his hand on the grip of his pistol as he pulled the door open. There were some whispers that I couldn’t make out and then he reappeared. “Ah, Detective? You have a visitor…and I think it’s time for me to leave. You know, paperwork and such.”

  He stepped out of the way and Katheryn appeared behind him.

  “Hi, Zach,” Katheryn said with an awkward wave of her hand once my partner had left.

  “Katheryn,” I replied guardedly. Our last interaction at the NOPD headquarters had been civil and even friendly, I wasn’t sure how I felt about her yet—and hadn’t had time to think about it. On the one hand, she tried to entrap me to strengthen the case against me. On the other, she’d been ordered to do it and came clean with me. It still didn’t alleviate the sense of betrayal I’d felt when I learned she was a cop.

  “Thank you for the flowers.”

  “You’re welcome,” I replied without thinking about it.

  “I heard about what happened,” she motioned toward the bed.

  “You can come in. I won’t bite,” I assured her.

  “Even with the report?”

  She looked like she was going to vomit. “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “No.” She hesitated and then walked across the room quickly. “I’m not okay, Zach.” She sat in the chair Drake had previously occupied. “What they’re doing to you is wrong. It makes me sick.”

  I shrugged, attempting to show more nonchalance than I felt. “It is what it is. There’s nothing I can do about their findings. Everything listed in there is true, even if they chose to downplay the good parts of why I’ve done the things that I’ve done.”

  “Exactly,” she replied. “They mention that your actions resulted in arrests and things like that, but no emphasis is placed on anything except the negative. Smith and Jones have it out for you. It doesn’t matter what anyone said, they had a predetermined outcome in their minds and that’s what went into the report.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed. “I know. The only thing I can hope is the panel will read my rebuttal and look at my body of work for the entire time I’ve been a police officer, and not place as much emphasis on the findings of a bunch of pencil-dicked, paper-pushing IA fuckers.”

  I stopped, remembering too late that Katheryn was one of those pencil-dicked, paper-pushing IA fuckers. “Sorry. I know what you do is important most of the time.”

  “It is, but I understand your frustration and lack of faith in the system. Hell, I would too if I were in your shoes and the department was hanging me out to dry…which, is why I wanted to come see you.”

  “You mean you didn’t want to stop by and see the wonders of modern medicine patching me up before your very eyes?”

  She laughed half-heartedly. “No—I mean, yes! I wanted to make sure you were okay, and see if you needed anything. But, I have some information about the case that you may not be aware of.”

  I frowned, wondering what news she had that I didn’t know about. “What is it?”

  “The district chiefs’ panel met this morning.”

  “And?” I asked, already knowing the answer. I didn’t know her that well, but I didn’t think she’d be stalling if it were good news.

  “The chiefs voted almost unanimously in favor of termination. Ten-to-one. Only your chief, Brubaker, voted to retain you.”

  She blubbered for a moment and then burst out in tears. “Zach, I’m so sorry.”

  “Hmpf,” I grunted, not feeling as hurt as I’d expected I would. I felt numb more than grief at the prospect of losing my job and no longer being a police officer. It sure as hell wasn’t where I thought I’d be when I joined the force almost fourteen years ago, but to be honest, I wasn’t torn up about it. I had plenty of money set aside since I’d lived well below my means. I’d be fine on the financial front. Emotionally, though, that may be a different story as time wore on.

  Besides, I told myself. The politics of the department are exhausting. I’m fine with the outcome.

  But I still wanted to bust Karimov.

  “Who else knows about the findings?” I asked.

  “As far as I know, only the chiefs and IA detectives know about it. Chief Brubaker is supposed to issue a formal one-month notice to you immediately.”

  “So, regardless of what happens, I’m still a cop for another month?”

  “Yeah. It’s meant as a transition period to give you time to settle your accounts and get everything ready for your life after public service.”

  I threw aside the thin hospital cover and ripped out the IV line stuck in the side of my thigh. The nurse had said something about a nerve blocker and pain medication, but I didn’t have time for that bullshit. I was about to have all the time in the world for recovery.

  “What are you doing?” Katheryn asked.

  “I’m going out to the Dockyards to arrest Karimov while I’m still a police officer,” I said.

  “That’s not the intention of the notice, Zach. If you do that, you may end up getting fired outright without a severance.”

  I paused. The severance package would include money, obviously, but also some type of medical coverage for a few months as well as retaining my firearms licenses. If I went out there to settle a personal vendetta, I could lose it all. Was arresting Karimov that important?

  “You’re goddamn right it is,” I answered myself aloud.

  “Huh?” she asked in confusion.

  “Nothing,” I replied, testing my legs’ ability to hold my weight.

  Karimov was behind one of the worst drug epidemics the city had seen in decades, and was responsible for the rise in Easytown’s cyborg explosion since he paid for them to be made to protect his budding empire. I couldn’t pin any murders to him directly, but he sure as hell tried to kill me with a forklift. That was enough.

  “I haven’t been officially notified of anything,” I reminded her. “As far as I know, the police chiefs haven’t even met yet, so I’m within my jurisdiction to follow through on this case.”

  “You’re playing with fire, Zach.”

  I cast about the room searching for my clothes, finally finding a bag marked “Patient Belongings” in a cabinet. It was extremely light when I picked it up.

  “Aww, what the hell?” I grumbled, looking inside. The bag contained only my Oxfords, socks, and wallet. My weapons were missing. So were my pants and shirt.

  I limped back to the bed and pressed the nurse call button. After a full thirty-second wait with no response from the nurse, I ripped the IV from my wrist, blood oozed from the hole where the catheter had been. Alarm bells began to chime, bringing the nurse almost immediately.

  “Mr. Forrest!” the nurse exclaimed. “Do you need to go to the restroom? Your ah…” He glanced at Katheryn and took a step closer, lowering his voice. “Your catheter will drain the fluid for you.”

  “What?” I said, reaching down and pulling up the bottom of my hospital gown. A tube ran from a bag taped to my leg into the head of my penis. My guest whirled around when she saw my dick. “Oh, goddamn it. Pull this thing out of me. I’m leaving.”

  The nurse put a restraining hand on my chest. “You better remove that if you want to keep it,” I hissed.

  “Zach!” Katheryn said, having turned back around, despite the intense rosy color of embarrassment plainly splashed across her cheeks.

  “I… Ah, okay,” the nurse said, taking his hand away quickly. “But, you can’t leave, Mr. Forrest. See,” he pointed to the b
edside monitor. “You’ve only received about eighty percent of your regenerative genetic stimulation treatment—that was what you were getting intravenously before you tore it out. Without the remaining twenty percent, you may have a pronounced limp for the rest of your life.”

  I turned and tapped the IV bag. “This the remaining twenty percent?”

  “It’ll take that one and another bag to complete this series of stem cell administration, and then we need to provide the radiation treatment to force the cells to mutate and repair themselves.”

  I held out my arm, blood dripped to the floor from where it had ran down my hand. “Put the IV back in and go get that machine. I’ll be ready for the second bag by the time you get back. I’m leaving in thirty minutes, one way or another.”

  “Mr. Forrest, please.”

  “No. I have buddies that could be getting shot right now. I need this to be over.”

  “I can’t authorize an early release.”

  I jabbed my arm at him again. “Put the IV back in and go get that machine.”

  “This is highly irregular, sir.”

  “Welcome to my life. Just hook me back up.”

  He complied, quickly sterilizing a spot further up my forearm from where the initial IV had been and inserted the catheter. He began to tape it off when I stopped him. “Don’t bother. Just go get that machine.”

  “Don’t tell me how to do my job,” he countered. “I’m going to tape it off so you don’t rip it out.”

  I relented and he taped the head of the catheter against my arm, then hooked the IV drip back into the catheter. “Now, how do you—”

  “Like this,” I said, knowing what he was going to say. I grabbed the IV bag from the hook and began squeezing, forcing the fluid from the bag faster than it would have flowed normally.

  “Mr. Forrest, I don’t think—”

  “It’s fine. We used to give IVs to each other all the time in the academy. Forcing it is okay as long as you don’t blow out the vein. Now, please, go get that machine.”

  He mumbled something to himself, and rushed out the door. Katheryn gave me a dirty look and followed him into the hall. I could hear them talking for a few seconds, but couldn’t make out the words that they said.