“Are you going to sit down, Dixon?” She asks, lowering her head.
“Hi Sadie, I’ve missed you so much,” says RJ. Sadie frowns a little, looking at Dixon’s arm.
“You still have her plugged in there?” Sadie asks, quizzical at first, her expression softens as she looks into Dixon’s eyes.
He shakes his head quickly, his jaw quivering as he slides into his chair. Sadie had always said that he’d grown too attached to RJ. An appliance he’d affectionately named after his daughters as some sort of coping mechanism. He should have had the device restored to default settings, and the AI replaced. She didn’t have the heart to really tell him to get rid of RJ though. It was hard enough to have to let go of their children, let alone watch someone else struggle with it. Jimmy and Dixon sit on either side of Sadie as she slips into the chair at the head of the long conference table.
“Sorry, I uh, you changed your name” Dixon’s eyes looking kindly at his ex-wife.
“Well, we’re no longer married” Sadie’s tone blunt and to the point. She turns back to Jimmy, smiling slightly.
“They didn’t say it was you who was needing to see me. Don’t think I’d have been as nervous if I knew.” Dixon’s eyes take in her image again like it was the first time seeing her. Her suit jacket and skirt looking more expensive than Dixon’s entire collection of clothing, not surprisingly. Her hair well styled, coloured silver and draped to one side. A plainer colour of lipstick painted onto her lips with a blue edge to them. Her eyes a bluer shade than Dixon had remembered. Jimmy kicks him under the table as he notices him ogling.
“We tend not to operate with names when we need to question someone.” says Jimmy.
“Am I in trouble?” Sadie’s eyes flicking back and forth from Jimmy to Dixon.
“No, no. We just came into some information and wondered if you’d be able to help us.” Jimmy pulls his sleeve up and presses the display in his forearm. A holographic bust of Chester Lopez displays. “Do you recognize this man?”
“What the fuck is going on?” Sadie’s face contorting, warping to disgust and then to fury. Dixon’s face also pinches a little at the sight. “Why are you showing me his face?”
“There was a disturbance in his apartment, we did a routine check in to make sure all was well.” Jimmy swipes at the bust and it shrinks back into his display.
“We? You’re not back on the force are you, Dixon?” She gasps.
“This guy? God no!” RJ says.
“No, they wouldn’t let me even if I wanted to be. Jimmy invited me along to meet that little prick” he replies.
“Oh my god, you killed him didn’t you” Sadie’s face trembles.
“He’s alive” Jimmy interjects.
“Alive? What the hell did you do to the guy?” asks Sadie. Leaning on the table, her chest pounding.
Dixon leans onto the table, looking deep into his ex-wife’s eyes. “I beat that fuck who took our girls. I beat him within an inch of his life. He didn’t even recognize me. Now nobody will recognize who he is!” Dixon’s muscles tighten as he talks. Sadie looks down and leans back into the chair. Her breathing still heavy, she puts a hand on her chest trying to calm down. Her mind trying to figure out how to respond, how to feel.
“I hate that guy. I really hate that guy, Dixon. He’s the man who is responsible for the worst part of my life.” She looks up at Dixon, tears slowly emerging.
“You look good, I haven’t seen you look that good in a long time. Please don’t tell me this is some story of vengeance you’re on. You’re done with him, right?” A tear runs down her cheek, the blue eyeshadow lightly staining her skin. Dixon reaches over and lightly takes her hand.
“I’m done with him, Sadie. I blacked out when it happened. When I got home all I could think of was our girls. I still miss them.” Dixon says. Jimmy remains as quiet as possible, seeing more emotion being held back in Dixon than he’s seen in quite some time.
Sadie removes her hand and rests them in her lap. Another tear runs down her face. “So, uh, what was this all about, huh? Just wanted to come here and tell me you beat the hell out of the guy who killed our daughters?” She wipes her eyes. Jimmy leans forward, pulling out a handkerchief and offering it to Sadie. She curls her lips and accepts.
“While we were in Chester’s apartment we came across a document, or Dixon did at least. Legal documents, printed on real paper, mentioning a merger and a reconstruction of sorts.” Jimmy looks to Dixon, catching his eye, the former LAF cop regains some composure.
“So what? Mergers happen all the time. Are they reconstructing some building? Would make sense if there is a merger.” Sadie sniffs away more tears and calms herself.
“Worse, a lot worse” chimes RJ.
“The merger is of Halo and Fenghuang. I’ve heard of mergers before, countless times, but never two heavy hitters like this.” Sadie looks at Dixon in shock as he talks. “They aren’t planning on reconstructing a building. They want to reconstruct the GIDs.”
“Fenghuang? They want to merge with us? I haven’t seen anything like that come through here” Sadie’s brow narrows.
“Big surprise, huh?” says RJ, Dixon shrugs a little jokingly.
“That’s why we believe it was printed on actual paper. Keep it from eyes who might oppose it. Would you see those kind of documents anyway?” Jimmy asks.
“I’m a receptionist for Leanne Watkins, she’s part of Tom’s legal team. If there was any document like that, it would have to have gone through her, so I’d have organised it for her.” Sadie flutters her eyelids as she returns matter at hand.
“Tom?” Dixon asks.
“Tom Sutcliffe, big cheese of Halo,” says RJ not liking the sound of the news.
“Tom wouldn’t want to merge with Fenghuang, anyway. I’ve met him, he’s a good person. I’m pretty sure he hates them.” Sadie looks around as she contemplates possibilities. “Wait, reconstruct the GIDs?”
Dixon’s grits his teeth, “Yes, they want all low and mid-levels to be combined. The highs and executives become one new high level and only the council level are left at the very top. Bet Fenghuang and Halo would be excited to have so much cheap labour available to them.”
Sadie’s eyes widen, her eyes still darting around. “No. No, that can't be. The number of resources they would be able to automate with that level of labour. They’d take over the world. They’d have an army four times the size and four times as powerful.” She looks at Dixon.
“All those Fenghuang numbers armed to the teeth with the latest Halo tech. Who could stop them?” Dixon raises his eyebrows.
“We can,” Jimmy says confidently. Both Dixon and Sadie guffaw at the idea.
“A cop, an ex-cop and a receptionist take down two of the biggest corporations in the world. Real fucking movie like, Kersh” Dixon shakes his head.
“Don’t forget me!” RJ says, Dixon frowns.
“How would we do that, Jimmy?” Sadie looks at him sarcastically.
“We can put pressure on Chester. Before we were just inquiring into a domestic disturbance. Imagine how much information we can get out of him if we ask him about the merger.” Jimmy smiles, his cheeky grin making Dixon smile a little also.
“Well, he’ll recognize me this time I’m sure, but how does that help us stop this from going ahead?” Dixon asks, smiling, thinking he’s caught his friend. His investigation skills still catching up to his friends. Jimmy gestures with open hands.
“He’s going to be scared shitless. You’ll terrify him enough, and if that doesn’t then I’m sure he’ll get edgy when LAF want to enquire why Halo and Fenghuang are playing their cards so close to their chest. While we’re doing that - you can go to work.” Jimmy points to Sadie.
“Me?” asks Sadie.
“Her?” asks Dixon.
“Her?” asks RJ.
“Her. I’m sure you’ve got some level of access to stuff around here. Start digging around. Look for anything that would point to, or would accompany th
is merger. Movement of assets, changing of departments. If there’s anything on the reconstruction, then it’ll damn sure be adjustments in staff placement, and who’ll be taking orders from who.” Jimmy stands from his chair and walks around as he explains. The two of them eagerly looking at him as the plan unfolds.
“I’ll do my best, some of the stuff may be restricted” Sadie adds.
“The most incriminating stuff would be. The sort of things we’re looking for won’t be I’m betting. They’ll want everything to be ready to go through pretty fast once the deal goes ahead. We’re not building a legal case. We’re gathering ammunition” Jimmy turns to face the two, eyebrows raised waiting for their reaction.
“Ammunition, to take them down? But this isn’t a legal case?” Sadie says, still confused.
“Ammunition for who?” Dixon’s gears start to pick up pace as he begins to figure it out.
“Leistung!” Jimmy smiles.
Chapter 10
“Leistung?” Sadie, RJ and Dixon ask.
“Yup. Once we get all we can from Chester, and Sadie picks up all she can from the Halo servers, we can go to Leistung. They’ll damn sure be interested” says Jimmy.
“Are you trying to recruit them?” Dixon stands from his chair.
“Gentlemen!” A voice burst into the room. The three all turn as a tall woman enters. Her stick like figure making her seem like some giant elf-like creature. Long blonde hair curled down her back, a narrow slit revealing her face. From what can be made out, she is not a woman of tremendous beauty, though her presence would state that she is a person to be heard and respected.
“And you are?” Dixon enquires.
“I’m so sorry, Miss Watkins” Sadie quickly stands from the chair and drops her head in a submissive pose.
“Sadie, what are these gentlemen doing here?” Watkins asks, as she tilts her head upward, her hair parting further to reveal her aged face, a small straight scar running across the right side of her face from her eye to her ear. She looks down at Dixon and across to Jimmy, her disapproval the only thing cutting the tension.
“This is Detective Kershon,” Sadie says as she gestures at Jimmy, head still down. “And this is Dixon Callaway, my uh, ex-husband.” She looks up, slightly nervous, trying to judge her bosses reaction. Miss Watkins clasps her hands as her head swivels to look at Jimmy. Her right iris swirling into blue light, the light shooting down her scar behind her hair. Raising her eyebrow, she looks Jimmy up and down a little, before turning to Dixon and doing the same. The blue light zipping back up the scar to her eye and spins back into her iris before fading.
“And I’m RJ” Dixon tries to cover his arm as she calls out. Watkins looks at his arm and back to his eyes, smiling cynically.
“What is the reason for this line of questioning, detective? I was not informed of this interruption to my employee's work schedule.” She steps towards Jimmy, seeming to almost float. Both Jimmy and Dixon try to figure out if she is even human. An angel perhaps? Too old looking. A demon? Not evil looking enough. A robot seems just as viable an option as the others.
A little intimidated, being almost a foot shorter than Dixon and now presumably a foot and half shorter than this woman Jimmy responds. “We, uh, we’re just here to see Sadie, to inform her of some news regarding the criminal who crashed into her and Dixon when they were uh…” he coughs uneasily.
“Married? Yes, I’ve seen the record of that accident” Presumably she’d gathered the information when Sadie had applied for the job. She may easily have also gathered the information from the scan she carried out on Jimmy and Dixon. Watkins takes a long breath in her beak like nose “good news?” A small smile creeps along her cracked face.
“Good news, indeed” Dixon slips his hands in his pockets, he is slightly intimidated by her. Watching her float around the room with a clear disdain for the “lowers” in the room, he remembers his own disgust for those of a privileged life.
“Do tell?” Watkins turns, bringing her fingertips together, her excitement matched with an inhuman callousness. Dixon looks across the room to Sadie. She’s managed to raise her head and watch everything before her. He musters a half smile at the woman who once loved him. He can see the anxious fear she has of this woman.
“No, this was a personal matter” he turns back to face the thin old tree. “You understand”, he manages to manifest a smile on his face. So fake and rare a smile that Jimmy is repulsed but it.
“Yeah, you understand” RJ backs him up.
“Hmm, of course. Sadie? Please return to your duties” Watkins says, without breaking eye contact with Dixon. Sadie nods and makes for the door.
“Right away, Miss Watkins” as she passes and leaves the room, looking back at Jimmy and Dixon. Her eyes wide and anxious, but pouring frustration at the two of them.
“Well” Jimmy sighs comically, “we’d best be off”. He looks at Dixon, hinting for their departure.
“Gentlemen” they both halt their escape. Watkins straightens her back and looks to the back of the room. “If you need to speak to Miss Knight again please contact me. I like to be aware of any possible hindrance in my efficiency, or my staff directly beneath me.”
“Sure thing” Jimmy mumbles, through gritted teeth “ma’am”. His eyes flashing to Dixon, who stares back confused. Clearly, he is no longer daunted by her.
“Right, so can you show us out of this fucking ant farm?” Dixon pipes up. His words cutting through Watkins demeanour. She blinks and looks to him slowly, smiling as she does.
“The building shall return you to the lobby” She gestures her hand at the wall. The green blip returns on the wall. “I must leave you. Please have a good day, gentlemen” Her tone almost stabbing. She walks down the corridor, and disappears off into the white and blue on another. Jimmy turns back, adjusts his collar again, and lets out a large breath.
“Fuck, she was like some kind of cyber witch or something, huh?” Jimmy says, still a little creeped out.
“Yeah, or a rotting statue” Dixon still looks off in the direction she left with a lip turned. Jimmy slaps his arm and nods his head in the direction the blip is motioning.
“At least we got Greeny back!” Jimmy chuckles, and pats the wall where the green blip emanates. Dixon shakes his head, sighing heavily.
“I still don’t like it,” says RJ.
“This kind of shit explains why you’re still single” Dixon quips.
As they are lead out of the building, Dixon notices that the few people they do pass almost seem to be in a trance-like state. Jimmy eyes them also, and leans in to whisper.
“I’ve heard they use conditioning and drug psychosis on some of their staff, keep them working for a long as they can” One of the ghost-like figures slides past the two of them without any emotion on his face.
“I thought they just used coffee for that kind of shit, you think they’re doing that to Sadie?” Dixon leans across the path of another woman who is approaching. Her gaze doesn’t falter, her face doesn’t express anything.
“She seemed actually human in comparison to these zombies.” They enter the lift again and descend to the ground floor, both looking around feeling watched. Jimmy continues as they exit the lift. “If anything, I guess she’s just a little creeped out by her boss and doesn’t want to get herself in the shit, huh?”
Dixon grunts in response. As they walk out the door, the orb statue morphs into life again, blinking on and calling out “Goodbye, gentlemen. We hope you had a good experience at Halo and have a peaceful day.” They shrug off the feeling of unease as they jump into Jimmy’s car and speed off.
“Where to now then? Chester?” Dixon's eyes light up as he asks.
“Seems reasonable. First let’s swing by the precinct. I want to see if there’s any other information came in about our little friend. I have a sneaking suspicion he’ll have made some move since we last saw him” Jimmy manoeuvres around traffic quickly. There are so little actual cars around this region that i
t’s easy for him to navigate around the automated transport vehicles working for Halo.
Chapter 11
The LAF precinct looks as impressive as one could expect from any building in the area. Downtown Denver is an unfriendly looking place. Everyone strolling the streets has an abundance of clothes to cover up their face. The clothes may be bright and showing off big brand name logos, but you’d be hard-pressed to figure out if it was a man or woman hiding beneath the outfits. Even judging a person’s size and physique is difficult when an old punk style leather jacket with spikes, covers a trench coat painted with digi-tribal patterns along the length. A green skull face across a scarf that covers the mouth, and a bandana with the eyes cut out, covering the top half of the head. This particular figure trying to flirt with Jimmy as they park up in the car park. Most of the spaces are assigned to LAF officers, but the public doesn’t care anymore; they park where they want and some homeless people even set up camp in spots.
“Hey little guy, looking for something special?” The figure yammers at Jimmy, the eyes peeking out from behind the black bandana showing the only sense of humanity under the garb. Jimmy doesn’t care for this spin on humanity either.
“Special?” He steps to the figure. “What special thing you going to give to an LAF Detective?” He flashes his holo-badge and waits for a reply. The figure looks him up and down, followed by Dixon and chuckles softly.
“You LAF boys. You work too hard. You guys need to relax a little”, the eyes smile, staring back.
“Is this, THING, a prostitute?” Dixon is almost amused by the creature soliciting them. The figure pulls back, clearly offended by the remark. Grabbing the jacket and flinging it open the figure reveals itself. A middle-aged man, slightly malnourished, his bones and muscle hauntingly visible. Patches of his skin look blotchy and unhealthy. What little skin that doesn’t look infected, is poking through metal parts, wires leap around his chest. Metal pistons churn in his stomach, he reaches up to his scarf and yanks it down. The entirety of his jaw has been reconstructed with large metal pieces. Seemingly put together from various pieces of rusting metal and assorted pieces, the cheek muscles are bonded to it. A horrific smile appears from the half human half machine creature.
Neon Haze: Snakes and Roses Page 5