Veil

by Aaron Overfield

  Hunter took a large gulp of the drink he poured and sucked air through his teeth. He clicked his tongue and finally responded.

  “I know all of that. And you know my point. What about your brain? What about your heart? What about what it will do to you? After everything you’ve been through, how do we know this won’t be the final straw? We’re pretty much shooting in the dark here. We have been from the beginning. We have no idea what this will do to you.”

  “It’s a small risk that I’m willing to take, Hunter. It’s a risk I want to take. For Jin.”

  Hunter rolled his eyes and looked at Suren. “And you? You’re willing to let him take this risk? So you can finally get your revenge? You’re willing to risk my Ken for that worthless piece of shit?”

  “I’m willing to let Ken decide for himself. It was his idea; it’s what he wants to do. It’s up to him.”

  “I helped you,” Hunter slightly slurred and wagged his finger at Suren. “Have you forgotten already? Forgot everything else I’ve done for you? I was the one who worked with the investigators and let them Veil my memory from when the General admitted he had Jin killed. Without that, without my memory, they would’ve had nothing. No reason to go after him. Nothing. Did I say nothing? … And not only did it lead to the General’s execution, but to Schaffer and Pollock’s sentences as well. Way before vAtonement was ever put in place. The General was fucking executed, and those two poor bastards are still in jail. For life. Because of me. Because of my fucking help. All of which I did—for you. And now this is how you repay me? By taking his side?”

  “It’s up—to him,” she repeated herself flatly.

  “Fine!” Hunter screamed, took a large gulp of his drink, and threw his empty glass against the wall directly behind her. He stormed out of the kitchen.

  As Ken went for a rag, the two of them remained silent and could hear Hunter screaming to himself from the other room.

  “They’re both stupid fucking crazy bitches!”

  Lundy was pushed through the main entrance of the courtroom by two guards. He was strapped down into a wheelchair by his arms and legs. Judging from the commotion and chanting he could hear coming from outside the courthouse, he was expecting the courtroom to be chock-full of people. Family members, press, observers, people who wanted to get a look at the killer of the Great Jin Tsay, or people who wanted to get a look at the Great Widow Tsay herself. He was expecting a swarm of people, shoulder-to-shoulder, unable to move.

  Good. Let’s give ‘em a goddamn show.

  When the doors swung open, only five people in the section for the victim’s family greeted Lundy. There was a man in a wheelchair positioned behind the last row of seats. He obviously couldn’t fit in the rows and would block the aisle if he were positioned next to the row where everyone else was seated.

  Lundy immediately recognized the other four people who were seated in the back row, and then the identity of the man in the wheelchair dawned on him as well. Those were the famous five Tsay Trustees. All five of them, in the flesh. Suren Tsay, Ken Wise, Hunter Kennerly, Brock Elsbeth and one more person whose identity had not been announced but whom Lundy recognized immediately. He was the fucking guard from the hospital: the lazy, fat fucking guard.

  Another thing dawned on Lundy. Through his cloudy, jumbled, swirling thoughts, he realized that fat fuck was probably the person responsible for the vFlatline memory. Jin Tsay’s memory. That’s who released it. The one who sold it to that annoying little troll at the shop.

  Motherfucker.

  What a fucking fat, lazy snitch. As much as he was able, Lundy laughed to himself. He wondered what the Great Cunt Tsay would do if she knew how much money the fat man sitting beside her earned from selling the memory of her husband’s murder. Better yet, he chuckled to himself, her husband’s memory of being murdered.

  He heard whispers and rumors about a memory available on the black market. A memory that had something to do with Jin Tsay’s death. Supposedly, it was a memory of Tsay’s murder. Lundy had to see it for himself. See if he had another loose end to add to the list of those that were in need of tying up.

  That was exactly why Lundy never let himself be shadowed. He had a private vPort installed and everything, to make sure he could get around the whole ‘voyeur’ clause of the Right To Veil bill. If someone paid for their own vPort, they couldn’t be forced to let Veilers shadow them. Nobody was going to shadow him. Nofuckingbody.

  Initially, he thought maybe the source of the rumored memory was that soldier from outside Tsay’s lab, the one who helped him move Tsay’s body. Then he heard about how that idiot soldier set himself on fire outside of the Tsay Temple. Apparently, he was afraid they’d track him down and he’d suffer the same fate as the General or those two military scientist faggots.

  Lundy did the math and realized chances were the memory wasn’t from the soldier. The kid offed himself before the memory market became some giant underground phenomenon, so it was highly unlikely it came from him. Lundy had to see it; he had to see what was in it and where it came from.

  When he called the store, the owner informed him the memory was a vFlatline and anyone who bought it needed to know about the risks before they could purchase it. Lundy immediately realized what the memory contained. He knew Tsay survived at the hospital for a period of time, so it wasn’t a stretch for him to imagine that one of the staff realized who Tsay was and decided to profit off it. Hell, he could see himself doing that.

  Who knows?

  All that mattered was that the memory couldn’t be used to identify him; that’s all he cared about. As time went on, he realized the memory could be utilized for other, more personally useful purposes. All thanks to that fat fuck sitting right over there next to the Great Whore Tsay. Lundy suddenly found himself wishing he spat on that pizza. Or worse.

  The guards rolled Lundy past the four Tsay Trustees. They all sat frozen, motionless, facing forward. As Lundy was escorted through the gallery, each of the Trustees refused to look at him, just as the families of all his other victims had. As if he were too disgusting to look at. As if he didn’t deserve for them to look in his direction.

  The ninety-nine Veil Atonements he suffered through in those last few weeks left him fundamentally changed. He was constantly overcome with regret and guilt over every crime he ever committed. He was on the verge of tears at every moment. He was on the verge of tears for no reason. Lundy was broken, defeated.

  However, what little did remain of his once over-healthy ego simply couldn’t let him feel the same about the Tsay murder. It wasn’t the same. The Tsay murder, the Great Wench Tsay, and now that fat fucking guard. They were the reason he was in that courtroom in the first place. The other ninety-nine trials would have never happened if not for Jin Tsay. Jin fucking Tsay. Such a small blip on his radar. Such a meaningless elimination that he barely remembered it—even as Veil was first announced.

  After the guards finished preparations they sent the signal and the court doctor entered, followed by the rest of the court members. Lundy didn’t even feel the guard insert the deck into his vPort that time. Then again, he figured, he didn’t feel any of that shit the last eighty fucking times either, so why should that one be any different?

  As everyone took their seats, Lundy noticed they were all wearing pins in the shape of little ribbons. The ribbons all said the same thing: “Justice For Jin.”

  How fucking cute.

  Lundy scanned the faces of the court members, and as they always did, they were staring directly at him. Except that time, Lundy noticed … that time they were all smiling. They were all smiling at him. He whipped his head around as far as he could, which wasn’t far, but it was enough to see the faces of the Tsay Trustees as well. They were all smiling, too. Everyone in the courtroom was looking at him and smiling. Everyone was smiling, as if they were all in on the same joke—as if he were the joke.

  “Why the fuck is everyone smiling?” he shouted as loudly as he could, which in his conditio
n wasn’t very loudly at all.

  One of the guards elbowed him in the side of the head to shut him up. Before he could respond, the judge entered the courtroom and the other guard instructed everyone to rise. The only people who did not stand were the two men in wheelchairs.

  “It was through a technological innovation that the Great Widow Tsay, Dr. Ken Wise, Dr. Hunter Kennerly, Mr. Brock Elsbeth, and Mr. Royce Houze could track the killer, at which point they brought him to our attention,” one of the Surveillors informed the court.

  Not to be out-shadowed in the highest profile case of anyone’s career in the entire history of the Surveiled Court, the other Surveillor chimed in, “And as you will learn through Veiling with Surveillor McPeak and myself, our Surveillance of the Accused—of Lundy—proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that he was the one and only person responsible for the murder of the Great Dr. Jin Tsay, the Almighty Father of Veil.”

  “Jurors,” Judge Jacobsen instructed, “please begin the transfer of your Witnesses over to Surveillor Benhoff, in order to begin Veiling his testimony.”

  The testimony of the Surveillors took nearly four times longer during the Tsay trial than all his other ninety-nine trials, which was no surprise to Lundy. He knew they were going to drag out everything and make the trial as much of a spectacle as possible. The court even installed six additional press chairs, and the Tsay Trustees were allowing the press to use the vNet in order to stream the trial.

  The court proceedings were essentially being Veiled live to anyone hooked up to the vNet during the trial—or basically, Lundy figured, to the entire fucking world. One of the guards at the jail informed Lundy there were rumors Judge Jacobsen was actually considering allowing the press to remain, so they could witness and broadcast the Veil Atonement. Something for which there was absolutely no precedent.

  After the jury completed Veiling both Surveillors, the two men took their places on either side of Lundy, with their scripted questions in hand. The judge instructed the jurors to transfer their Witnesses over to the Lundy to begin Veiling the testimony of the Accused. Lundy’s vPort beeped after all twelve jurors uploaded their Witnesses onto him and their shadowing began.

  The trial of General Hoffman and Lundy’s first trial for the murder of Jackson Page provided Surveil Enforcement with enough information to question Lundy in such a manner that would cause his mind to recall absolutely every single detail of the Tsay assassination, including the events leading up to it. Not only that, but they also had information from the widow of Scot Helmke, Lundy’s plastic surgeon; from the widow of Private First Class Gary Austen, the soldier who helped Lundy move Tsay’s body out of the lab; and from Royce Houze, a security guard from the hospital where Tsay worked. Combining all their witness information—plus what they could garner from Surveillance on Lundy himself—they possessed enough detail to script out an entire movie, let alone obtain a guilty verdict.

  Jurors witnessed as Lundy met with Jackson Page, who acted as his contact and liaison for the job. The jurors learned how the Tsay assassination wasn’t Lundy’s first military job and that all his military jobs were arranged through Page. The fee Lundy charged for eliminating Tsay was three-and-a-half million dollars, which was to be transferred to his account on the day of the elimination. Lundy was provided with a dossier by Page, which was prepared by General Eugene Coffman, who was already executed for his involvement.

  Lundy smirked when he testified that Page failed to inform him the job was not only for the elimination of Dr. Jin Tsay but also that of his wife, Suren Aksu Tsay. He craned his neck to look at Suren during that part of the testimony, expecting to see a reaction to that news. He hoped to see the shock of her hearing how close she came to death. There was no reaction; there was no shock.

  Suren learned at the outset of her hunt for Jin’s killer that she was also an intended target. During the trial of the General, in fact. Suren had to sit and listen to the General as he expressed his disgust over the fact that, despite his wishes and his careful planning, Suren Tsay continued to live and to possess Jin Tsay’s research. Having not gotten the reaction he hoped, Lundy returned his gaze to the jurors.

  The questioning led the jury through Lundy’s reconnaissance for the job as he cased the hospital, followed Jin, and familiarized himself with the hospital floor plans and Jin’s routine. The jurors lived each moment through Lundy’s eyes as he inserted himself into the hospital atmosphere and practiced how to make himself less noticeable, less visible, less suspicious—more natural. They experienced it as Lundy spoke with the Great Widow Tsay herself once and as the Surveillors pointed out, she had no idea she was greeted by her husband’s future killer.

  The timeline and all the details of the case were unfolded, and the jury experienced each through Lundy’s mind, as if they were Lundy themselves. There was no point in Lundy attempting to hide or deny anything. The jury would simply live out the entirety of the crime for themselves, as if they were all him. Even if Lundy wanted to lie or hide, he was too exhausted to put up any kind of fight.

  When the Surveillors arrived at the point in Lundy’s testimony that coincided with the day of the Tsay murder, Suren Tsay rose to her feet. She leaned down and whispered to Ken that she would be in the hall, and he was to retrieve her after that part of the trial was over. Ken nodded.

  Judge Jacobsen, partially concerned but equally aware of the appeal of the case and not wanting to forfeit the chance for dramatics, stopped the questioning and asked the Great Widow Tsay if everything was all right. Suren responded quietly and gracefully that she would not allow that man, that killer, the satisfaction of filling her mind with the images of her husband’s murder, so she was excusing herself, for the time being.

  The judge told her to explain no further and nodded in acknowledgement. Although Suren could not hear it, around the world billions upon billions of people clapped and cheered in support of the Great Widow Tsay. Unbeknownst to her, that one small act of elegant protest created the largest and loudest worldwide, simultaneous display of unity and support in the history of humankind.

  Approximately twenty minutes later, Ken popped out his head from inside the courtroom. His drying eyes found Suren, who was seated on a bench in the courthouse hallway. She was facing forward with her legs crossed and was mindlessly wringing her purse as she struggled to keep from crying. When she looked at him, he nodded and she slowly rose to her feet, smoothed her dress with her free hand, and entered the courtroom.

  After Ken and Suren returned to their positions on the courtroom bench, the judge asked the jury if they reached a verdict. The presiding juror rose and announced that the jurors reached a unanimous verdict. There was a momentary pause while the judge instructed the press to Veil the presiding juror.

  The juror then reviewed the details of Lundy’s crime, announced the jury found Lundy guilty, and stated the sentence the jury recommended was daily Veil Atonement for life, in addition to life imprisonment. Combining all of Lundy’s trials, that equaled one hundred daily Veil Atonements for life and almost five hundred years of imprisonment, plus an additional life sentence.

  After the sentence was approved and handed down, Judge Jacobsen dismissed the court except for the guards, the court doctor, the Tsay Trustees, and Lundy. With Suren’s permission, the judge allowed one member of the press to remain. All the Witnesses shadowing the other press were then transferred over to that press member. The courtroom cleared, and the judge came down from her chair atop the pedestal. She walked past Lundy and took a seat on the bench in front of the Tsay Trustees.

  “Widow Tsay,” Judge Jacobsen conferred with the five of them, “will you be acting as vAtoner for the Accused?”

  “No, I will not. I do not want any part of that man near me, let alone inside of me,” Suren replied sternly but quietly.

  “I understand.”

  “I will be acting as vAtoner,” Ken announced.

  “Ok Dr. Wise, I’m sure you’re familiar with the process.”

>   “Yes, your honor, I am. I’ve found that I respond with emotion more effectively if I don’t speak, so when you ask the Atonement questions, I won’t answer out loud. I prefer it that way.”

  “However you wish, Dr. Wise. It’s entirely up to the vAtoner. We can get started as soon as you’re ready.”

  The judge left the Trustees and, rather than return to her chair atop the pedestal, she took a seat next to the remaining press member. The judge and the press did not look at or speak to each other; they observed the remainder of the proceedings intently and with solemn reverence.

  Ken removed a syringe from his jacket and, out of view from the rest of the court members, handed it to Hunter.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Hunter growled in a whisper as he snatched the syringe.

  “Please, Hunt,” Ken pleaded.

  Despite his urge to protest and cause a scene, Hunter sighed and whispered back, “Oh, fine.”

  Ken stretched out his arm toward Hunter, who pushed up the sleeve on Ken’s jacket—enough to administer the shot as secretively as he could.

  “It should start working in about two minutes,” Hunter whispered to Suren over Ken’s shoulder.

  “That’s enough time,” Ken added. He flinched slightly and then nodded as he pulled down his sleeve. Hunter returned the cap to the syringe and placed it in his pocket.