Shelby continued to walk closer.
“So why are you holding a kill switch?”
“Kill switch?”
“In your hand. It’s a kill switch. Put it down and we’ll talk.”
“I can’t it’s glued to the palm of my hand.”
Larsen raised his arm in the air. “Look, I’ll show you.”
A shot rang out and echoed over the caldera. Larsen’s head exploded and his body dropped like a rag doll.
Shelby sighed with exasperation. He had not given the signal to fire. He looked around him until he saw the blue uniform in the dragon’s nest. It was Detective Bonny with a high calibre rifle less than fifty yards away.
Shelby walked up to him. “He had given himself up.”
“He was activating the kill switch. I took the shot. That’s how I saw it.”
Shelby let out a sigh. He understood. The young officer had seen his own partner blown away. He had wanted justice. Larsen was culpable of two kidnappings and prime suspect behind the murder of Diane Chambers.
“That’s how I saw it too,” said Shelby. There was no point in ruining a good officer’s career because of his over-zealous actions. By now, the police were everywhere, releasing Meg Rawlings and Mitch Hathaway.
Chief Anderson walked up to Shelby. “I guess the Angel City PD takes the credit this time.”
“Yeah. The hostages are safe. That’s all that matters to me.”
“And it closes the case.”
Shelby turned to leave. “Yeah.”
“One moment, Shelby. This morning I met the Chief Justice. She insisted that I see you today and give you this back.” She held out her hand to Shelby holding his Marshal’s badge. “Things got a little heated during the case. But it’s over now. There is no reason to harbour any ill feelings?”
Shelby took the badge and shook her hand. “No hard feelings.”
Shelby walked over to the dead body of Larsen and looked at Larsen’s hand. The switch was glued to Larsen’s hand.
“Don’t touch that, sir,” said a voice behind him. “The switch is still live.”
“It’s glued to his hand.”
“You’re lucky. He obviously intended to use it. Why else would he glue it to his hand?”
Unless it was glued by someone else, thought Shelby.
Shelby walked back to Scarlet. “Larsen’s dead. It’s over,” said Shelby. “Let’s get out of here.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Jess flew the heli-car while Shelby and Scarlet sat in the back.
“I can’t believe it’s over,” said Scarlet.
“With Larsen dead we’ll never know if he was behind your mother’s murder or not. He claimed he was set up.”
“Did they have to kill him?”
“He had abducted Mitch and Meg and he was a murder suspect. He raised his arm as if he were going to press the switch. I can’t blame the officer for being trigger-happy.”
Shelby’s wrist communicator rang, and he answered it. Detective Bonny was on the line. “We’ve had an unusual report from Guardian. It’s identified a location for Walker.”
“But Walker’s dead. I saw his yacht blow up. He couldn’t have survived it.”
“Looks like he did. There’s also a problem. He’s on Angel City beach. And right now, there’s a full-scale riot going on there. An android lifeguard killed someone trying to give them CPR, and the crowd has gone crazy.”
“I’ll take a look.”
Shelby instructed Jess to bring the heli-car around and headed towards the Angel City beach.
When he arrived, the beach looked like a battle zone. Several police heli-cars were circling around using megaphones to direct a rampaging crowd of several thousand. Gas canisters had been fired, creating small plumes of smoke to disperse the crowd, but with little effect. The life guards’ huts and towers were ablaze. Finding Walker in this chaos would be difficult. None of the police units seemed prepared to land for fear of being attacked.
It was a difficult situation for the police to resolve. There were too many people to arrest; too many people to muzzle; and the media’s heli-cars and cameras were already on the scene. It was a major human-android incident and politically explosive. But Shelby wasn’t interested in the politics of the situation. He had a fugitive to arrest.
Shelby checked the heli-car’s computer monitor. On screen, he saw pages of faces of the rioters below as the facial recognition program scrolled through looking for Walker. Then the screen flashed red over a face. It was Walker.
Shelby could take him out with the fifty-millimetre sniper rifle, but shooting into a rioting crowd could make matters worse. He asked Jess to close in on him and opened the cabin door.
As they got closer, Walker ran. Jess followed him and circled about twelve feet above him. The surrounding crowd opened up trying to avoid the strong down-blast from the heli-car’s powerful rotors.
Shelby launched himself at Walker, crashing onto his back and taking him down onto the sand. Shelby and Walker got to their feet and circled each other with fists at the ready. Walker kicked out and Shelby blocked him with his left forearm and struck out into the back of Walker, sending him crashing to the sand again.
Shelby let him get up. He was enjoying the fight. Walker struck again, this time with a flurry of fists. Shelby blocked each with his forearms and returned a kick that caught Walker’s head and bloodied his nose. Walker span around and kicked out, catching Shelby in the thigh. Shelby pulled back. Walker kicked out again and caught Shelby’s jaw. Shelby spat out blood and attacked with a kick and fusillade of punches that pummelled Walker’s face and chest. Walker collapsed in a heap.
Shelby sensed the crowd gathering around them.
“Special marshal — stand back,” he cried out.
They converged on him when a gunshot boomed. Shelby turned to see Jess pointing the fifty-millimetre rifle in the air. The surrounding crowd dispersed.
Jess landed. Shelby cuffed Walker, and they headed off in the heli-car to the Angel City Police Department. Shelby handed over Walker to Detective Bonny for processing. At last, he had one of Diane Chambers' assassins in custody. With the video evidence against him and the prospect of facing the death penalty, there was every chance that Walker might reveal who was behind the murder of Diane Chambers.
Shelby felt good: he had done his job at last. Scarlet felt good. It was time to celebrate. They headed back to the apartment and landed on the helipad.
“Before we celebrate, I have a confession to make,” said Scarlet. “I hacked Guardian.”
“I kind of guessed that. How else would Angel PD have found him? I don’t mind. Just keep quiet about it.”
“But I also found James Harrison. He’s at a private rest home called Psychonomy.”
Shelby’s jaw dropped open.
“Say something.”
He kissed her. “Thank you.”
“Then you must follow it up.”
“But we were about to celebrate.”
“It will wait,” she said and kissed him back. “I’ll see you later.”
He left her and took off in the heli-car. It was time to find out the truth about the murder of his wife and daughter.
* * *
Shelby landed the heli-car on Psychonomy’s helipad. Psychonomy was a private rest home for psychiatric patients, sectioned as a danger to themselves and others. James Harrison was one such patient.
Shelby met Doctor Reisman, Harrison’s doctor.
“You are welcome to speak to Harrison. But you need to understand that he’s been in a coma for twelve months. His paraplegic injuries have exacerbated his mental anxieties and sociopathic tendencies. He has attempted suicide on multiple occasions and I suspect that sooner or later he may succeed.”
“So can I see him?”
“Of course.”
Doctor Reisman took Shelby to Harrison’s secured unit. Harrison was a shell of the man that Shelby remembered. He was in a wheel chair, paralysed from
the neck down with most of the muscles in his body atrophied.
“Shelby, you made me what I am.”
“What happened to you?”
“A car crash. They think I’m insane because I want to kill them all. I can’t kill anyone like this. In the regiment, I was good at it. But you screwed my life and stopped me doing what I’m good at… killing.”
“Do you know why I’m here?”
“I can guess it’s something to do with your poor little wifey and that stupid whining girl of yours. You think I killed them.”
“Did you?”
“Oh, that would be telling wouldn’t it? If I said ‘yes’ would you kill me?”
“I would make you face justice.”
“Ah, the lethal injection. Would that be a bad thing? Yes, I did. I enjoyed it. I heard the little girl scream as I raped her ass. Does that make your blood boil? And I enjoyed cutting your little wifey’s throat from ear to ear. Yes, I did it. And I enjoyed every moment.”
Shelby remained calm. His hidden recorder had captured all the details he needed to prosecute. Harrison couldn’t have known the facts about the murder because they weren’t public knowledge. He had to be the killer. At last, he knew the truth.
He wanted to pick up the pillow and squeeze the life out of him. Instead, he turned to leave.
“You’re not leaving, Shelby? Look I’m resisting arrest.”
His electronic wheelchair whirled forward and bumped against Shelby’s legs.
“Do it,” he said. “Shoot me.”
Shelby looked him in the eye. He saw desperation. What better hell was there for Harrison to suffer than the one he had made for himself?
Shelby smiled. “Have a nice day. Enjoy the rest of your life.” And Shelby turned to leave.
Harrison shouted at him. “I killed them, I killed them. Don’t you want revenge? What kind of man are you?” He was laughing insanely.
Shelby turned and saw the terror on Harrison’s face. It was the terror of being left alone. This was real justice — karma. Why waste public money on a trial that would give a killer what he wants? A better solution was to leave him to rot in his own private hell.
Shelby shut the door behind him and deleted the recording.
* * *
Back at the apartment, Shelby explained to Scarlet what had happened to him. “I found him — Harrison. I’m sure he did it. But he’s a pathetic worm that can’t hurt anyone again and he’s living in a hell of his own making. Why should I want to change that?”
“But you wanted justice?”
“I’ve seen it — divine justice. Maybe that idiot King Karma was right after all: you reap what you sow.”
“Now you can let the pain go.”
“Pain? Yes, I’ve kept my promise to them.”
He looked into her eyes and saw the love radiating from them. He had been blinded by pain for so long he had forgotten what love felt like.
“You’re looking at me like you’ve never seen me before,” she said.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare.”
She smiled. “Stare all you want. I like it.”
“Were you serious before about wanting to make love?”
She moved closer to him and stared into his eyes. “Yes, I was. But then I was still woozy on the dream juice.”
“Oh.”
“You seem disappointed.”
“It’s nothing.”
She leant forward and kissed him. “I get woozy too when you kiss me. So if you want what I think you do, you have to kiss me until I turn woozy.”
At first, he felt unable to move and then his repressed desires kicked in and he kissed her back. Then while locked into a kiss they started to rip each other's clothes off.
Jess came through the door after them and observed them.
“What is it, Jess?” said Scarlet.
“Can I watch? Human biology is fascinating.”
“Jess,” Scarlet called out, “switch off. We don’t want an audience.”
Jess smiled and walked to the corner of the apartment, lowered her head and powered off for the night.
Shelby picked Scarlet up and carried her into the bedroom. That night, they made love as though their lives depended on it. It was more than real, more than a dream fantasy: it was everything.
* * *
Something woke Shelby. He opened his eyes and there in the middle of the room was Jess staring at him in bed.
He turned to the side and saw that Scarlet was in bed, naked next to him, asleep. So it wasn’t a dream. He felt tired and exhausted from making love all night.
“What is it, Jess?”
“Detective Bonny is at the door, demanding entrance.”
“Demanding? That doesn’t sound like him. There must be something wrong. He got up, pulled on a gown and headed to the main entrance.”
“Security, open the door,” he said.
The A.I. responded, “Opening now.”
As the door opened, sunlight flooded in. Shelby squinted making out Detective Bonny.
“What is it, Bonny? Have you managed to de-brief Walker?”
“Walker’s dead. Shot through the chest.”
“How on Earth did that happen in a Police Station?”
“You should know. You killed him. I’m here to arrest you for the murder of Walker. And the attempted murder of Chief Justice Haglon.”
“What are talking about? I’ve been here all night. Scarlet will confirm it. I haven’t been near the police station.”
“That’s right. He’s been with me all night,” said Scarlet. “The A.I. will confirm that too.”
He turned and saw her in a gown behind him.
“I’m sorry, I have to bring you in. I don’t have any choice — Chief Anderson’s orders,” said Bonny, showing him the cuffs.
Shelby turned his back and let Bonny cuff him.
“Okay, let’s sort this out as quickly as we can.”
“I’ll dress and follow you in a heli-taxi,” said Scarlet.
Bonny led Shelby out of the apartment and away in a police heli-vehicle. Shelby looked out of the heli-vehicle. He could see Scarlet below. She looked distressed, but there was nothing he could do about it.
* * *
Ten minutes after Shelby had been arrested, the air taxi arrived at Scarlet’s apartment. Scarlet got into the air taxi. “Angel Police Department, please,” she said without looking at the driver.
Her mind was elsewhere. What was she going to do when she got there? She needed to hire a lawyer, maybe bail money. The money didn't matter. She had millions, but she needed to access it.
As the thoughts ran through her mind, she didn’t notice the gas filling her compartment. It had a strange smell, like roses. And when she noticed, it was too late. Her eyelids were closing, and she was collapsing into her seat. Then there was nothing.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“I’ve told you a hundred times. I was in Scarlet’s apartment all night. We shared a bed together. The A.I. will confirm that neither of us left the apartment. How have I meant to have killed Walker?” said Shelby.
“We have the security footage from Walker’s cell. It’s you. It couldn’t be anyone else. I’ll show you it,” said Detective Bonny.
Detective Bonny ran the cell cam video. A man looking like Shelby walked into the cell and shot walker in the chest twice at close range.
“It’s not me. Look, he must be ten years younger than me. Look at the shots: two to the chest. I would never do that. Anyone trained by Special Forces shoots first to the head and then to the chest. This image is not me.”
“Guardian has confirmed from facial recognition it is you.”
“Then get the video-cams from Scarlet’s apartment and have Guardian look at them. I’m sure it will confirm they are me too.”
“We'll look into that.”
“Please do. And why do you think I would want to kill Walker? I could have done it when I arrested him. Why would I bring him in alive and
then go back and kill him? It makes little sense.”
“Chief Justice Haglon identified you as the shooter.”
“She’s back at the Justice Department. Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. She says you tried to kill her.”
“If I had tried to kill her, she would be dead. At least she is alive. Can I speak to her?”
“We’re not letting you anywhere near her.”
“I need to speak to her. I think I know who my doppelgänger is, but I’m not telling anyone else but her. Fix up a secure video link and I’ll explain it.”
“I’ll have to ask Chief Anderson.”
He wasn’t on the best of terms with Chief Anderson, but at that moment, she seemed like his only hope.
“Where’s Scarlet? Is she here at the station?”
“She never arrived.”
A cold fear ran down Shelby’s back. What if his arrest was a diversion to get to her?
“Bonny, if she’s not here, she’s in danger. You need to send a unit.”
“You’re in no position to make demands.”
“I’m not making a demand. I’m begging you. She’s in danger.”
“Okay. I’ll see what I can do. I owe you that.”
“Just one last thing. I have a right to a call and legal representation.”
“The Chief said no contact with anyone.”
“You know, the Chief is breaking the law. I’ll sue her ass off when I get out of here.”
“Here.” He passed his communicator to Shelby. “I lost this sometime today. Maybe I’ll find it later, when I come back in half-an-hours’ time.”
“Thanks.”
Shelby waited until Bonny left the room. He called Jess and found out that Scarlet had left the apartment in a heli-taxi, but never arrived at the police station. Shelby feared the worse. “Jess, get me out of here. See if Cordite will help. I have to find out what’s happened to Scarlet.”
* * *
They left him alone for two hours in the interview room. He knew they were watching him on the other side of the one-way glass mirror. They were making him sweat, and it was working. All he could think of was Scarlet. He needed to escape and find her.
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