“You can read his lips?” Erik asked.
“I just said that,” Emma replied, sounding annoyed.
“What he’s saying?” Jia looked around, gripping her stun pistol so tightly her fingers were turning white.
Emma laughed. “Oh, he’s not convinced his guys will be able to stop you. He’s going to make a run for his flitter once they start shooting at you again.”
Erik frowned. “If he gets away, we’ll have lost our best lead. He might leave the metroplex.”
“Don’t worry,” Emma offered. “His flitter’s nav system is interfaced with the systems in this building. I’ll have decent short-range tracking, at least, but you better hurry.”
Erik whispered to Jia, “Snarky, self-aware AI in a gangster’s warehouse. Can’t say that I ever ran into one of those on the frontier.”
“I heard that.”
The security door slid up. Erik raised his gun, but there was no one there. He couldn’t decide if the Lady was helping him or prepping to screw him over once more. It looked like they were going to escape, but they shouldn’t have ended up in a running gun battle to begin with.
Emma offered them hall by hall directions, retracting the security doors when necessary. They didn’t encounter any more gangsters.
“And we’re here,” Emma announced. “I’ve been looping security feeds and spoofing the door statuses so the thug patrol doesn’t know what’s going on, but once you step outside and get near your flitter, they’re going to see you. There’s nothing I can do about that. They’ll be to your back and left.”
Erik looked around, confirming no one was on their six. “Then we’ll take them out. How many?”
“Four near your vehicle, and Naric’s now in the garage. He’s getting ready to leave.”
“There goes the time.” Erik nodded to Jia and swapped magazines. He would need to institute a policy of bringing his TR-7 to all future mobster discussions. If anything, Earth criminals were more brazen than many he’d encountered on the frontier. “Ready?”
Jia nodded back and hoisted her stun pistol, determination on her face. “Ready.”
“Lift the door, Emma,” Erik ordered, and tossed his gun into his left hand, pressing a button on the side.
The security door slid open and he charged out. Emma had been right; four thugs with pistols waited near his MX 60.
They shouted as they raised their weapons.
Erik’s smart lenses highlighted the four men, including the two taking cover behind the MX 60 but looking over the top. The aim assist was useful even without his cybernetic arm, but sometimes confidence shouldn’t replace assuring he would down targets.
After all, he hadn’t bought a new MX 60 just to fill it with holes.
Using full aim assist with the cybernetic arm was always a surreal experience. He still had to think and move his arm, but at the same time, the system anticipated his movements, speeding them up, as if he had two minds in one body.
He squeezed the trigger, moved his arm, and squeezed the trigger, his bullets striking the thugs square in the head.
He fired two more times.
All four men fell to the ground, dead, with no damage to Erik’s MX 60. He would need to use the active clean mode to get the blood splatter off, but that could wait.
Jia blinked and shook her head. She hadn’t even gotten a shot off.
Both ran toward the vehicle as Erik slapped his PNIU. “Basic request, unlock and start engine.”
The vehicle came to life, lifting off the ground.
A loud buzzing noise filled the air and a glowing blue dome rose, covering the area.
Erik eyed it. “A containment field? That’s a lot of power and tech for one little mob warehouse. Emma, can you do anything about that?”
“Sorry, not right away,” she replied. “I don’t think the field’s connected to the main warehouse systems. I think they’ve figured out what I’m doing. They’re starting to take countermeasures.”
Erik threw open his door as Jia ran around the front to the passenger side. “Is that brains?” Her eyes widened, and she jerked up her stun pistol to fire off three quick rounds, then snapped a fourth off.
Three thugs who had just cleared the corner collapsed to the ground, piling on top of each other.
He grinned and jumped into the driver’s seat. “Nice.”
Jia dropped into the passenger’s seat and closed her door, a look of surprise on her face. She pointed to a black luxury flitter zooming away. “That must be Naric.”
“It is,” Emma clarified. “I can’t do anything to his systems, though, other than short-range tracking.”
“Don’t need it.” Erik slammed his door shut and accelerated toward the other vehicle. “The idiots were trying to pin me, but they pinned him in, too.” He closed on Naric.
The mobster’s vehicle sped up and climbed and the containment field dropped.
Erik moved to match. A quick spin sent Naric hurling toward a narrow space between two buildings.
“We're going to have to bring him down,” Erik noted. “And it has to be in one piece.”
Jia took the opportunity to make a call now that they were free of the warehouse and containment field jamming. “This is Detective Lin of Enforcement Zone 122. We are requesting backup, and are in pursuit of an armed and dangerous suspect. We have already been fired upon by multiple suspects. Please send additional units to the following address.” She rattled off the address. A few seconds later, she frowned. “We’re dealing with the Gray Circle. Didn’t you hear me? We took rounds.”
Erik grunted. The captain had thought Jia would crack when the truths she held so dear were revealed to be nothing more than pretty lies, but she was rising to the occasion. She would have made a good soldier.
She adapted and overcame.
Jia frowned and shook her head in disgust. “I don’t think they believe me, Erik. They’ve got me on hold, but they assure me they’re tracking us and are passing the information on to the local police.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t count on their help, Jia. You heard what Naric said. The local cops might either be unwilling or afraid to touch them without someone higher telling them what to do.”
She sighed. “A few days ago, I would have told you that wasn’t possible, but now I don’t know what to believe, and even I’m getting tired of hearing myself say it.”
Her breath caught as Erik missed a wall by less than a meter. They were keeping Naric in sight, but they couldn’t use the MX 60’s full speed near ground level in a maze of buildings and walkways. The grav field emitters could provide some protection, but not enough to save them from a full-speed head-on collision.
“A little close there!” Jia remarked. Her voice was calm, but the squeak at the end gave the lie to her feigned calm.
“There’s no way I’m letting him get away,” Erik answered, jerking his hands left, then right to dodge a vehicle. “I can’t shoot and drive at the same time,” he added. “You’re going to need to get the TR-7 out and take him down. Your toy won’t do it, and even my pistol won’t do it.”
“I’ve never fired a weapon like that.” Jia shook her head. “I don’t know how to use it.”
Emma cut in. “Might I make a suggestion before you smash into a wall and I end up in an alley somewhere?”
“What?” Erik barked. “You already said you couldn’t do anything to his flitter.”
“That’s true,” Emma explained. “But I can fly your vehicle, and then you’ll be free to shoot. I’ll need direct access to eliminate any accidents due to latency.”
Jia pointed to an IO port in the console. “She was plugged into something like this in the warehouse.”
Erik growled as Naric cut hard to the right, the side of Naric’s vehicle scraping the wall.
Erik’s follow-up turn only barely saved his MX 60 from needing repair. He wasn’t sure how much the self-sealing damage control systems could handle.
Erik nodded. “Do it. But don’t
get used to this, Emma. I’m not the kind of man who lets a machine do his job for him. And don’t damage my car, or I’ll throw you into a barrel and sink it in the Pacific.”
“I’m sure you say that to all the helpful girls,” she replied.
Jia fished the crystal out of her pocket. “You’re the weirdest AI I’ve ever encountered.” She slotted Emma into the IO port. “But you’re obviously a lot more than a chat program.”
“That’s for sure,” Emma replied.
The flitter accelerated.
“It’s nice to have a body again,” Emma commented. “Do what you need to do, Detective.”
Jia yelped as Erik leaned over and lifted her legs. “Sorry,” He retrieved the TR-7 from the hidden panel underneath her. He pulled back, slid in a new AP magazine, and turned off the safety.
“We have to be careful,” Jia insisted. “We can’t risk bringing him down anywhere where he might run into other people.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” Erik opened the window and leaned out, holding the TR-7 with his left hand. It was time for a little more aim assist. He selected single-barrel mode, doing his best to keep his body steady as the vehicles banked, dropped, and rose, zooming between and over buildings.
He had no idea where Naric might be running, but he hadn’t seen another person for several blocks, and the buildings had grown dilapidated even by the standards of the Shadow Zone.
For all of the mobster’s bragging, he didn’t try to leave the Zone, which suggested whoever might be helping him had made it clear he should stay away from Uptown.
“Keep the car as steady as you can, Emma,” Erik ordered. “This is as good a spot as we’re going to get.”
“I’m trying,” Emma replied. “Please note that I’m a brilliant driver, but even this body has its limits.”
“It’s top of the line!” Erik argued, the targeting in his reticule coming closer.
Jia looked out the windows and then at the cameras. “I’m not seeing anyone.”
“I’m almost ready.” Erik took a deep breath and held it as the aim assist highlighted the emitters on the vehicle. He would want to take them all down in rapid succession. If Naric’s flitter spiraled out of control and he ended up dead, they wouldn’t be any closer to whatever secrets he held.
Jia grimaced as she looked at a rear-view camera. “We’ve got trouble,” she shouted. “We’re being followed!”
Erik grunted a response.
Three other flitters were closing on them in tight formation, men leaning out of the windows with guns. At least that challenge was straightforward.
The lackeys weren’t necessary for the interrogation.
Erik looked back and switched to four-barrel mode as he changed his aim. He held down the trigger, sweeping back and forth.
Emma swerved a few times to provide him with a wider field of fire.
The bullets ripped right through the windshields and forward compartments of the trailing flitters, leaving the vehicles smoking as they fell toward the ground.
The lingering grav field and secondary thrusters helped cushion their landings, but they threw up showers of sparks as their bottoms scraped across the ground and the bullet-riddled vehicles coasted to a stop.
Erik looked forward and pulled his arm in as Emma twisted the MX 60 to follow Naric through a small tunnel. He took the opportunity to switch back to single-barrel mode.
“A little warning next time,” Erik suggested.
“Oh, sorry,” Emma replied, sounding almost too cheerful for the situation. “You’re doing great, Detective.”
Jia slapped her hand on her knee, her face pinched in anger. “I just lost the connection with the enforcement zone dispatcher. I’m not sure if it’s interference or they killed the call on their end.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Erik replied. He held his gun out as they cleared the tunnel. “This is over.” He took four quick shots.
Each struck an emitter.
Naric’s vehicle lurched and began to fall. Secondary thrusters fired, but they couldn’t do much to arrest the loss of altitude.
The flitter hit the ground and slid toward a wall, then turned to the side, and slowed to a halt. It was smoking and battered, but it didn’t collide with anything else. It was in far better shape than the other vehicles Erik had downed.
Emma dropped the flitter as Erik continued aiming his weapon at the downed mobster’s vehicle. He opened the door a few meters from the ground and jumped out, landing with a wince before advancing on the drivers-side door of his target.
Tinted windows denied Erik a view of the inside. Jia waited until they were just off the ground to exit. She pointed her stun pistol at the passengers-side door.
“Get out with your hands up,” Erik bellowed. “You talk about respect, Naric? You should have shown respect to the two nice detectives who showed up to ask you a few questions instead of trying all this crap. Now your car is all busted up, and you’re going to jail. See what happens when you screw with the police?”
The driver’s side door opened, and the huge guard stepped out, his hands up, his face bloodied. He turned around, fell to his knees, and placed his hands behind his head and his head against the ground, a tight frown on his face.
“Not your first time, huh?” Erik smirked.
The passenger-side door opened and Naric stepped out, looking, if anything, even smugger than before despite the blood-soaked hole in his jacket. He adjusted his tie. “You have no idea what you’ve done, Blackwell. You’re a fool.”
“No idea what we’ve done? We fought off a bunch of Pink Circle.”
“Gray,” Naric and Jia corrected.
She shrugged when he glanced at her.
“Whatever. We fought off the Gray Circle in their own place, trashed several of their vehicles, and killed several of their men even though there were just two of us.” Erik smiled. “I would hate to see what would have happened if there had been three cops. There wouldn’t be any of you left.”
“On your knees, hands on your head,” Jia commanded, her pistol steady. “Naric Tessan, you are under arrest. All Article 7 rights apply. Do you need these explained to you?” She approached him slowly, pulling out a binding tie with her left hand, her stun pistol still at the ready in her right.
Naric laughed. “Oh, sweetness, I want whatever it is you’re taking if you think I’m going to jail. Let me guess: you called for backup but no one showed up.”
Jia kept her gun pointed as she applied the binding tie. “You know one of the Article 7 rights is the right to remain silent.”
“That means shut up, Naric,” Erik explained as he finished binding the guard on the other side. “Take your example from your friend here.” He jerked up the guard and brought him around to the back of the crashed vehicle.
Naric walked over to the back of the car willingly and knelt next to the man. “You two could have been smart, but you wanted to be heroes. You think I would have done anything I’ve just done if I didn’t know important people had my back? If I didn’t know important people wanted you to stop sticking your nose into things? This isn’t the frontier, Blackwell. We don’t need heroes anymore.” He snickered, looking up at Jia. “Heroes are antisocial.”
Jia moved closer to Erik and asked in a whisper, “Should I contact the local enforcement zone again?
Erik shook his head. “It’s one thing if they didn’t believe you, but after that chase through town, they should have been here without even a call. I don’t know if it’s incompetence, cowardice, or something else, but I don’t want to give up our suspect to them.”
Naric shook his head, not saying anything.
Erik ignored him. “We already have Shadow Zone clearance. Let’s take him back to our station before it gets revoked. Once we’ve processed him there, it’ll take some bureaucracy for him to get back down here. We’ve got enough on him for prison, let alone transportation.”
“You’re sure?” Jia sighed and glanced at the two suspe
cts. “That might cause tension with the local enforcement zone.”
Erik snorted. “Not having our backs when we were chasing a suspect already did that, in my book.” He glanced at his car. “I’m going to go grab Emma. I don’t want them realizing we have her yet, and we’re going to have to transport them ourselves.” He walked over toward the suspects. “It’s your lucky day, Naric. You get a ride in my sweet, sweet MX 60.”
Naric rolled his eyes. “I’ll make sure to take it as part of the settlement when I sue you.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Captain Monahan sat behind his desk, his face tight as he scanned the incident reports displayed in data windows, along with a few images of the downed flitters.
He’d been silent since they arrived in his office shortly after escorting Naric to processing. Jia couldn’t read his face.
He seemed angry, but then again, he almost always seemed angry when it came to her investigations.
He grunted and glared at them. “Can either of you explain to me how you can justify going into the Shadow Zone without my permission? For that matter, how did you even get down there? If you’ve done something remotely illegal, you’re done in this department, and the fact you disobeyed my direct orders is already pushing me that way.”
Erik glanced at Jia, his confusion evident. “You want to take this or should I?”
She nodded. “You gave us permission, Captain. How do you think we managed to get past the restrictions?”
“I did not,” Captain Monahan bellowed, his rejection punctuated with a slap on his desk, then his hand raising and pointing. “I told you I wasn’t going to. Erik tried to convince me, but I never agreed.”
Jia kept her face smooth even as her heart pounded. “You said you were going to think about it, and the next day we received permission.”
She gestured to one of his data windows. “Look at the authorization reports. It’s not like we hacked our way in. We had legal codes that both the nav and traffic systems accepted. I might disagree with you a lot, sir, but I’m not going to do something as blatant as descend into the Shadow Zone for my first time in direct defiance of your orders.”
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