“No. It’s the talking that matters, not the hearing. It’s grief.”
Scarlet understood it all too well. If only she could talk to her mother. If only they had made up before she died. But it was too late now. She was gone. But the need to talk hadn’t.
“Do you know what happened to them?”
“No. Shelby never talks about them. I’m not even sure if I should have told you.”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure he’ll tell me when he’s ready to. Grief affects people in different ways.” Scarlet wondered what must have happened to them to make Shelby so sensitive to talking about it.
“Jess, will you help me go through my mother’s files today. I want to see if there is a way to access Guardian.”
“I'll be pleased to help.”
They went downstairs to her mother’s laboratory and Jess plugged herself into her mother’s server. Scarlet sat at the keyboard and stared at the screen.
“I’ve found the link to Guardian on the AndroDigm server,” said Jess. “This is easy. She has a backdoor. This should be fun.”
“Be careful. We can’t leave any trail.”
“So this is not legal?” said Jess. “That makes it more fun.”
‘Fun’ wasn’t a word normally associated with an android's behaviour. But Scarlet was getting used to surprises from Jess. “Just make sure we’re not caught by any security bots that could track us here.”
Scarlet’s screen changed to green and the word ‘Guardian’ in yellow flashed onto the screen with a menu of options, one of which said, ‘Edit’.
Scarlet held her breath and clicked on ‘Edit’. It pulled down a list of edit options, one of which was ‘VIP Exceptions’.
“Damn, this is far too easy,” said Scarlet, choosing the option.
A find box appeared. She typed the name of D.C. Johnson and hit return. The record of D.C. Johnson came up in a separate window. She had found him. His record had a status showing ‘VIP’. Scarlet moved the cursor over the status box and clicked. The status changed to ‘Norm’.
Now all she had to do was run a location search. She entered D.C. Johnson’s name and pressed return. Up on the screen came the location: The Dietrich Hotel.
“Yes. Now for the next,” she said to herself.
She typed the name of R. Adams and hit return. His record appeared in a separate window showing ‘VIP’ status. She moved the cursor over the status box and clicked and the status changed to ‘Norm’.
“You need to get out,” said Jess. “A security bot is trying to find us.”
“But I’ve only got one location report.”
“Get out. I’m doing my best to confuse it, bouncing off different ISPs. You have three-seconds at best.”
“I’m out,” said Scarlet. “Did it find me?”
Jess disconnected herself from the server and laughed. “No, I outran it. Home and free. That was fun.”
“Fun for you,” said Scarlet. “I could go to jail for hacking a Justice Department computer.”
“That’s why it’s so much fun. Can we do it again?”
“No. I’ve located one of the men, and changed the status of another. The Angel City Police Department will have to find the third. Thanks Jess.”
Scarlet was pleased with herself. Now there was nothing to stop them finding the first of her mother’s killers.
* * *
Shelby left the heli-car back at the cabin and headed up the mountain trail. It was a trail he had walked along a hundred times before. The trail took him to a special point on the mountain that meant so much to him. From there he could see for miles.
He sat there in silence staring into the horizon, lost in thoughts about the past, comforted by the ghosts he carried with him and couldn’t let go. If only he could be with them one more time. He had become a shell of his former self. The man who enjoyed life so much now despised what he had become: a cold killer.
He killed bad guys: the scum of humanity that inflicted their evil on others. But it didn’t make him feel any better about himself. And how long could he continue doing what he did? At Lucifer’s Pleasure Cave, he had pushed his luck to the limit. But eventually, the odds would catch up with him. Perhaps when they did, he would find the peace he craved.
Why couldn’t he have saved them? He was too busy playing soldier and wasn’t there when they needed him the most. How could he forgive himself? He couldn’t even find their killer. So all he could do was find other evil men and hunt them down.
He could hear his wife’s voice in his head, soothing him, calming him, urging him to move on and find peace and love. But he couldn’t move on. Not yet. Not until he had found the killers of his current case. And then what? There would be more cases, more evil, more evil men to hunt. They were part of humanity: the bad apples. And his job was to remove them before they contaminated the rest.
Hour after hour passed. He spent all day at his special point, until the sun decided it was time to set. He made his way back to the heli-car and set off for Angel City.
* * *
When Shelby got back to the apartment that evening Scarlet wasn’t around. So he took a shower and had just started when Scarlet burst into the bathroom.
“I’ve done it,” she said, gabbling. “I’ve been working in mum’s lab and hacked Guardian. I found the VIP entries for Johnson and Adams and deleted them from the exception list.”
“That’s great.”
“I ran a Location report for Johnson and I’ve got his address. It’s a hotel in Angel City: The Dietrich Hotel.”
He reached for the towel and climbed out of the shower.
“How did you do it?”
“My mother’s computer has its own backdoor access to Guardian. It was a piece of cake.”
“You hacked the Justice Department systems?”
“Technically… yes. I hacked in through the AndroDigm’s servers where the main system resides. Mother’s laboratory computer is linked to it. From here, I can do whatever I want to the system.”
“Hey, don’t get carried away. Hacking a Justice Department database is probably a felony offence.”
“Are you going to arrest me?”
“Not while I’m naked.”
He dried his hair with the towel. He watched her face in the mirror change as she realised he was naked.
“Oh… Awkward. I wasn’t thinking. Sorry. I’ll give you some privacy.” Slowly she walked backward out of the room.
He laughed. “It doesn’t matter,” he called out. “I don’t mind.”
She came back into the bathroom with a smile on her face. “You don’t?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Didn’t your school and college have mixed shower facilities?”
“Yeah. But I never liked using them.”
“Well, I don’t mind what you see, if you don’t mind.”
She laughed. “Why should I mind? Quite the contrary…” She gave him a cheeky smile and left him.
An hour later, Shelby was outside The Dietrich Hotel where Johnson was staying. Located in a notorious red light area, it was the type of hotel that rented rooms by the hour. Inside, it looked like it hadn’t been renovated for years. There was an unpleasant mustiness about the place.
He flashed his badge at the male receptionist. “Johnson, which room?”
“Two-one-seven.”
“Don’t tip him off, or I’ll be back for you.”
“I won’t,” he said, shaking his head.
Shelby pressed for the lift.
“It’s not working,” said the receptionist.
Shelby took the staircase to the second floor, passing a woman on the stairs. Single women didn’t rent rooms in these types of hotels, so there was a strong likelihood she was a prostitute. He wondered whether prostitution was a dying profession in a world hooked on free love. Then he thought no more of it.
Shelby reached room 217, drew his gun and badge and kicked the door open.
“Special Marshal. Johnson, you’re
under arrest,” he shouted.
The room was silent. Shelby walked in to find Johnson lying on the bed with a hole in the middle of his forehead. Damn. He was too late. He touched the corpse’s face with the back of his hand — still warm. On the floor the victim’s cigarette was still burning. The killer must have just struck — the prostitute.
He ran down the stairs and into the reception area. The receptionist lay on the floor in a pool of blood — dead. The drawer for the video cam was open, and a disk was missing. Shelby raced outside, but the woman was already out of sight.
He called detective Bonny. “I’ve found Johnson. He’s dead: a professional hit. She even hit the receptionist at the hotel he was staying at and took the video evidence. Someone is cleaning up the mess. There’s going to be more, unless we can find the other two before the hitman does.”
“I’ll tell the Chief. But he’s not going to be thrilled.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The following day, Shelby was at his desk when Detective Bonny approached him. “I don’t understand it,” said Bonny, scratching his head. “I’ve run these Guardian reports a dozen times with no response. And then suddenly Adam’s name and location just popped out from nowhere.”
“Maybe it was a gremlin in the system,” said Shelby.
“Where is he?”
“This time the Chief wants Taylor and me to assist you on the arrest. Actually, she insists on it.”
“But I work alone.”
“She says I can’t give you the location unless we assist.”
“All right,” said Shelby, “I don’t like it, but I won't make a fuss.”
Detective Bonny flew Shelby and Taylor to the location.
“Back me up,” said Shelby. “And don’t shoot anyone unless you have to.”
Detective Bonny smashed open the door of Adams’s apartment. Shelby entered the apartment first, followed by the two detectives with guns drawn. He was met by three giggling bikini-clad young models and shooed them away.
Shelby spotted Adams on a lounger around the pool. He was determined to arrest him without using lethal force. As Adams stood up and reached for a weapon, Shelby fired, shooting Adams in the foot. Adams keeled over, screaming in pain. Shelby kicked away Adams’s weapon. The detectives kept their weapons trained on Adams.
“What are you doing?” said Adams. “Just walk away, and I’ll put a million credits in your account… Okay I’ll throw in another million for the cops to share.”
“I can’t do that,” said Shelby.
“You don’t understand what you’re up against.”
“Tell me.”
“You have no idea…”
Adams was still smiling when his chest exploded. He keeled over to reveal a huge hole in his back. A second high calibre bullet thudded into the pool.
Shelby caught sight of a heli-car in the distance approaching them and dived into the water. From the water, Shelby saw the body of Detective Taylor blown apart by three high calibre bullets. Detective Bonny squatted behind a covering wall and discharged his handgun at the heli-car, but with no effect.
The drone of the heli-car grew louder as it approached the pool. Shelby surfaced from the water and emptied his gun into the vehicle.
The heli-car turned and flew away with a trail of smoke billowing from its engine. Five-seconds later, it exploded and crashed into the sea.
Shelby dragged himself out of the pool. Detective Bonny was bawling as he held his dead partner in his arms.
“I’m sorry,” said Shelby, “He’s gone.”
Detective Bonny turned towards him, his eyes full of tears. “Why?”
“I don’t know. This was an expensive hit. Someone important wants to prevent these killers from talking.” Shelby put his hand on Detective Bonny’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll get who’s responsible for this and we’ll make them pay. You have my word.”
* * *
Chief Anderson was red faced and about to explode when she caught sight of Shelby. “What the hell happened? All you had to do was arrest Adams. Now Adams and Johnson are dead and worst of all I have a dead police officer. This case is a shambles. I’m taking you off the case.”
“I don’t report to you. I’m a special marshal of the Justice Department with warrant for the arrest of K.M. Walker, and I intend to serve that warrant. You can go to hell.”
“Fuck you. You won’t get any further cooperation from the Angel Police Department. Go home Shelby. Let the real detectives do their job.”
“So what real detective work have you done so far? I heard you released Larsen.”
“We had to. With two dead witnesses and the other still missing we didn’t have a strong enough case against him. And some big City lawyer has posted bail for him. We’ve had to let him go.”
“What was the bail?”
“Ten million credits.”
“What? Where did he get the money?”
“I want you off the case Shelby.”
“I can still find Walker and make your case for you.”
“How many times do I have to say it. I want you off this case.”
“Then you’ll need to convince the Chief Justice. Until then I’m working this case.”
Shelby walked away from Chief Anderson’s office.
Nothing made sense to Shelby. Why was bail set at all on a capital crime as heinous as this one? And who put up the bail money? Larson was not capable of raising that kind of money. There was only one way to find out.
* * *
The AAA office was in a basement of a high-rise block in one of the poorer districts of Angel City. Shelby opened the door and was met by stares from young office workers and volunteers behind desks on an over-cramped floor. He had seen their type before: intellectual liberal lefties fresh out of university crusading for a socio-economic cause and with no experience of how the real world works.
“Anyone know which one is Larsen’s office?”
One of the office girls pointed it out. It was the only office on the floor. Shelby smiled back at the girl, walked across to the office, and opened the door.
Larsen froze when he saw Shelby. “What do you want?”
“Just some information.”
“I want my lawyer.”
“You won’t need him.”
“The last time you broke my nose.”
“Then maybe if you cooperate, I won’t have to break it again.”
“I’ve got dozens of witnesses out here. You can’t touch me.”
Shelby laughed. “Believe me, touching you is the last thing I want to do. Just tell me: how did you make bail on a capital charge?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“This lawyer just turned up from that big legal firm, Saxons. He said his fees were being paid by an anonymous benefactor who was also covering my bail.”
“Didn’t you ask who this benefactor was?”
Larsen laughed. “Are you kidding? I was pleased to get out of there. Bail was set at ten million credits. I couldn’t have raised ten thousand myself.”
“Aren’t you just a little curious?”
“He said his benefactor wants to remain out of the public eye. It was a condition of his appointment that the benefactor’s name wasn’t made public. Look, I wasn’t involved in that poor woman’s death. He’s a top lawyer. Says he can get me off. Why shouldn’t I take his help?”
One of Larsen’s workers pushed through the door. “Are you all right, boss?”
Shelby turned and gave him a glare that stopped him in his tracks. The young man had the look of fear in his bulging eyes.
“It’s okay,” said Larsen. “I was just about to explain to the marshal that there is no evidence that links me to the crime.”
“What about the funds transferred from your computer to the killers?”
He turned towards Shelby. “It wasn’t me that transferred those funds from my computer. It couldn’t have been. That day I w
as in Apple City giving a conference speech to over two hundred delegates.”
“So someone in your office did it for you?”
“Then why would I instruct them to use my computer. I’m not stupid. It makes little sense.”
His argument rang true. It was more likely that someone was setting him up to take the fall.
“So who would want you to go down for this crime?”
“That’s easy: any one of the large cyber corporations has a motive.”
“Any in particular? Who did you work for before you set up AAA?”
“That would be the world’s largest android manufacturer, AndroDigm.”
“AndroDigm?”
“Yes. I was working in their cybernetic division. They were looking at doing all kinds of crazy shit. You know — making androids sentient. Soon they’ll be producing androids that are more intelligent than us. They’ll take over. How stupid is that?”
“You really believe that?”
“Don’t you? It won’t be long until they’ve replaced all our jobs with androids. Then what do we do? You don’t get it, do you? We’re in a paradigm shift. The social order is changing and it will never be the same again. Where do you think AndroDigm gets its name from? It’s the fusion of two words: Android and Paradigm. That’s what it is seeking to do — create a new world order.”
Shelby thought about Jess. He would never consider her a threat to him. But she was already making her own decisions on what she thought was right. Wasn’t that a form of sentience? If androids weren’t sentient yet, it wouldn’t be long until they were.
Shelby thanked him for his help and left.
* * *
That evening, Shelby updated Scarlet on the case and the fallout with Chief Anderson. Two of the assassins were dead, but they were still no closer to finding out who was behind the attack.
“I could hack Guardian and find Walker for you.”
“No. Under no circumstances are you to go near that system. It’s too dangerous. I’ll just have to find him the old fashioned way.”
“But even if we find him, we still won’t know who’s really behind my mother’s murder.”
AndroDigm Park 2067 Page 9
