by Vanessa Muir
Now, they weren’t so much walking bags of memory, as they were walking sacks of cash. Bottomless because of their psychological need to preserve themselves.
Little Danny probably wouldn’t care that his great-grandfather had taken a shit on a Sunday morning before his eggs and bacon breakfast, but great-grampa had saved it for him, anyway.
“What have you done, Spade?” Boss Ink pressed his fingers to either eyelid. “What have you done?”
“I followed the leads. I did what I was meant to do,” she said. “I did what I’m paid for, sir.”
“No. No, don’t you dare use that excuse. You pissed off half the folks over at Mem Store. Don’t get me started on the Councilors,” Ink said and dropped his hands. “For fuck’s sake, Spade, I’m having a hard time keeping your job for you. The least you could do is try to stay in line.”
“I did try,” she said. No, she hadn’t, not really. Trying to be something that she wasn’t was beyond her capabilities. And she was nothing but that bag of memories, throw in a pinch of morals for good measure. “Sir, they’re spinning this their way. They want to make it look like Black Mars did this when it wasn’t them. They’re hiding something.”
“That’s enough!” Ink slammed his fists down on his desk. The glass cracked. They’d already replaced it once this week. “That’s enough. Memory help me, you’re making me lose my fucking hair. You’re shaving weeks off my life.”
“I’m just doing what I’m paid —”
“You are NOT paid to go off on your own tangent and compromise Stormshield! You are NOT paid to harass members of Mem Store! You are NOT paid to illegally remove memories from a Mem Store Facility.”
“It wasn’t illegal. I’m within my bounds as an SSG investigator to remove information which I deem integral to the case,” she said in a monotone. It was a direct quote from the SSG handbook.
“It isn’t integral to the case,” Ink said, “and that makes it illegal. Look, Spade, I’ve tried to help you out here. I know you’re a fantastic investigator. I understand you’ve got whatever baggage you’ve got.”
“I don’t have baggage,” she said, stiffly.
“You’re off the case,” Ink said.
The walls caved in around her. Charlie lost her breath.
“Do you hear me, Spade? You’re off the case. I’m giving it to Eli. He’ll have to fly solo until you’ve recovered from whatever this is. This breakdown you’re having.”
“I’m not.” She shook her head, and it was like the room had filled with water. Everything moved in slow motion. Eli? Eli couldn’t handle the case. Eli wanted to investigate Black Mars.
“I don’t know what happened to you, Spade. Highest scores in a century of SSG graduates. So ambitious. Maybe too ambitious.” Boss Ink’s tattoos transformed into dancing, squiggly snakes. They zipped across his skin. “This isn’t the end for you, Charlie. I’m putting you on paid leave until further notice. You’ll have to get a psychological evaluation before you rejoin the force, and even then, it will be pencil pushing for a while. I think that’s for the best. Don’t you?”
She blinked. Didn’t speak. Couldn’t formulate thoughts or words that would make sense to him.
“Listen, do you want me to call our therapist? I’ve got her on the line, here. I can call her up. You can talk about this. She’ll prescribe you something to help you sleep.”
“No,” she managed and stumbled to her feet. “I’m fine. I think I’ll go home, now.”
“That would be for the best. I’ll be in touch, Spade.” Boss Ink’s concern was comical. Since when did the big man give two bills about her?
She turned on the spot, and the room hurried to catch up. Charlie trundled to the exit, maintaining an iron grip on her sanity. She just had to make it to her car. That was all. The car.
Charlie opened the door and entered the hall. Eli stood at the end of it, hands in his pockets.
“Spade, are you okay? I – I’m sorry. I didn’t want this to happen. I thought we were a good team.”
“Fuck away from me,” she whispered and pushed past him. Heads turned and watched her exit.
Charlie Spade the spectacle. The failure. Disgraced.
16
Damn key wouldn’t go in the lock. Curse of these swipe door pad things. God damn, it’d be better if she got one of those thumb pads. Charlie grimaced and tried again with the key card. The light on her apartment door flashed green, and she pumped her fist in triumph.
Perhaps, that last shot at the bar had been overkill. Better than staying home and obsessing over Natalya Maxis and the State. And Droggo, wherever they’d carted him off to.
Charlie inhaled a breath heavy with alcoholic vapor, then pressed her palm to the steel and fell into her apartment, face first. She groaned into the carpet. “Good game,” she muttered.
“Here, let me help you up.” A man spoke above her.
It took a second for that to register. “What the fuck?” She rolled onto her back and met his gaze. An upside-down face, dark skin, smiling, crinkles around the eyes, cute in that ominous “how the fuck did he get into the apartment” way.
He bent and hooked his arms under her pits, then dragged her into a sitting position behind the sofa. She leaned against it and worked the current problem over.
Charlie was plastered. Her legs wouldn’t move. She couldn’t defend herself. She couldn’t get her phone out and call security. All she could do was accept the fact that a strange man had entered her apartment.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.
“Ain’t that a relief.” She snorted a laugh.
The stranger shut her front door, locked it, then picked up her keycard and placed it on the entrance hall table. “I’ll get you a glass of water.”
“Whatever. I’m just gonna throw it up later.”
He disappeared and clinked stuff around in her kitchen. The water ran, a bottle rattled, and he strode back into view. He crouched in front of her and held the glass of water to her lips. “Here,” he said.
“I can hold it.” Her lips moved against the rim. She lifted her right hand and managed to grab the middle glass out of the three copies which floated in front of her. She drank from it, then smacked her lips.
“And two of these.” He popped the top on the pill bottle and handed her two of them.
“I’m not big on drugs,” she said, words slurring.
“Headache tablets. They’re from your drawer,” he replied.
She took them anyway, because fuck it, if he wanted to murder her, he could do it without drugging her first, then finished off the glass of water.
He took it from her and placed it on the carpet close by, then sat down opposite her.
“All right,” she said. “So who the fuck are you, and what are you doing in my apartment?”
“Levi Daniels,” he said. “Nice to meet you.”
“Pleasure’s all mine. But that’s still as clear as a nun’s nipple.”
“What?”
“You know what I mean,” she said and flopped her arms at him. “Who are you with? Who do you work for?”
“I’m Black Mars.”
“Get out.” Charlie pointed at her door. “Get out of my apartment.”
“Not the reaction I was expecting,” Levi said. “You’re supposed to be the operative with the highest chance of transforming.”
“Transforming into what?”
“Someone who isn’t brainwashed by the State?” Levi sighed.
“I don’t know who sent you, but this isn’t funny,” she said. “I got fired today.”
“I know.”
“I know you know. That’s why you’re here. To rub it in. You think I’m going to call Eli and tell him that a Black Mars rebel is in my living room? Think again. I’m not adding fuel to that bullshit fire.”
“I’d love to know what all of that,” Levi said and gestured with his palm at her face, “was about, but I’m here on a clock. Could we cut past the disbelief? We ne
ed to discuss something important before I scamper back from whence I came.”
“Fine.” Charlie folded her arms, but they didn’t want to comply and flopped down again. “But I’m not believing any of it.”
“Short version is I’m a Black Mars operative. We have eyes everywhere. You were on the right track with the case before they let you go.”
Okay, so he had her attention now.
“We didn’t do this. We don’t know who did, but it wasn’t one of ours. We suspect the State is trying to conceal something by pinning it on us,” Levi said. “It has to be something big since they’ve tried to deny our presence since our inception.”
“They’re up to something,” she said, then rammed her mouth closed. She hadn’t meant to let it slip out. “Not that I believe you.”
“Believe what you want, but know that something is coming, Charlie. Something big, and it’s going to be up to the sane among us to stop it before it destroys the rest.”
“What do you mean? What something big? Is it bad?”
“Yes. Why would I warn you about something big that was good?” Levi rolled his eyes. “I think you need some rest.”
“Whatever, dude, you’re the one who broke into my apartment.”
“Stay alert,” he said. “Don’t give up on this case, Spade. It’s the first step.” He got up and walked off, toward the window.
“Just leave through the front door,” she called out. “I’ve already seen you.”
“Cameras in the hall.” The window slid open and icy wind gusted through. How he planned to scale the side of the skyscraper was beyond her booze-addled brain’s reckoning power.
The window shut again, and the sound from outside cut off, apart from a dull scrape-thunk, scrape-thunk.
Charlie sat in place and stared at the glass he’d left on the carpet. Her thoughts drifted through a mess of pain and memory. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, but she didn’t have the coordination to get it out and read the message.
She sagged and let her eyes close, let the world spin in darkness, Levi’s face at its center and the rest confusion.
17
A blinding headache wouldn’t stop her from viewing the surveillance tapes again. Perhaps, there was a clue she’d missed within them, something that would give her the answer she needed.
Sunlight filtered through her window, the glare blocking her from viewing the city outside. Noises drifted up, as usual, folks going about their normal business, untouched by the drama which had befallen her. Or perhaps, she’d befallen the drama.
She was the one who’d stepped right into it. She’d tried doing the right thing, but it hadn’t paid off, just like the last time.
Charlie massaged her forehead. The reality had already hit home, but she’d refused to accept it. There were no clues in the videos where the woman had her eye ripped out. They’d scoured through this footage already, found everything unusual and made note of it.
She shut down the video on her tablet, grabbed her glass of water, then massaged her neck — cricked from the weird sleeping position behind the sofa.
The appearance of the Black Mars agent had to have been a dream. A fever dream or a drunken vision induced by her subconscious seeking to torture her further.
But Levi Daniels’s words remained with her, even now. “Something big. Destructive,” she muttered.
If only she could access the memories. It seemed the only answer left to her, and it was locked behind a code wall. Fiddling with the code, guessing, would alert Mem Store to the fact that someone had a memory they shouldn’t.
Three tries, and if each one failed to unlock the data, the memory would be locked down indefinitely.
Droggo Boersma was the answer, but he’d likely died or been wiped from Mem Store’s database, had his authority removed.
Her timepiece pinged, and Charlie squeezed her eyes shut. “What now?” She clicked the button on its side and text scrolled across the screen.
Call in — Eli Yoke — immediately.
She gritted her teeth. Now, he had the authority to order her around? Wonderful, this would be a fantastic way to start the week. A lovely chat with her former partner turned megalomaniac boss.
Charlie brought out her cell and noted the text notification in the top right corner of the screen. It’d have to wait. She dialed Eli’s extension at work, then tapped her temple plate and listened to the shrill rings.
“This is Eli Yoke,” he said. Sounded self-important. It pushed all her buttons at once.
“That’s how you’re answering the phone now? This is Eli Yoke. A simple ‘hello’ would suffice,” she replied.
“Charlie.” A plangent sigh. “I’m glad you called. How are you holding up?”
“What do you need from me, Eli? I highly doubt you pinged me on my timepiece for a meet and greet. So, what is it? What do you want? Should I hand in my badge to you? Did you get Boss Ink’s position?”
“What? No.”
“Then what do you want? Make it quick. There’s a bottle of whiskey with my name on it here.”
He hesitated again, hovered on some imperceptible ledge. What he wanted would likely anger her if he’d stalled this long. “I need the incorruptible drive back. The memories you took.”
“The memories I took. I see. It was me alone, was it? I stole the memories from Pi Sector, is that what you’re putting in your official report?” Her insides twisted into knots. Not a fucking chance she’d give them back. That drive was her only link to this case, now.
“That’s not what I meant, Spade. Do you have to blow everything out of proportion? I’m in charge of this investigation, and I need to operate with all the evidence at my disposal.”
“You have all of it. You have your own drive, remember? All your own copies of the memories from the bank,” she said. As if he wanted the memories to view them.
“I can’t have you in possession of State evidence.”
“State evidence?!”
“You know what I mean. That data belongs to Mem Store. Just bring it in, or I’ll send someone over,” Eli snapped.
She let the comment sit for a second. Time was the issue here. If she had more of it, she might find Droggo.
“Hello?”
“Yeah, fine. But I’ll come in later. I’ve got a shit-kicker of a headache, right now.”
“Fine,” Eli said. “As long as it’s today.” He clicked off the line before she had a chance to curse him for pulling rank with her.
Charlie grunted and tapped her temple plate. The dull tone in her ear cut off, and she stared at the canceled call indicator on the phone in her hand. So, that was that. Bring in the evidence, then get out of the building and don’t come back until we’ve buried the memories in the cloud.
They would be truly unreachable, then. At least this way. she had some leverage.
The notification light on her phone flickered, and she touched her thumb to the message icon — she’d almost forgotten about the text again.
It opened on the screen. A single line of dialogue.
Come to the Mem Store Facility in Pi Sector tonight at 10 pm. Urgent. Levi.
Levi. So, he was real then. Last night hadn’t been a fever dream. He was either a psycho or a trap. Or he was legitimate, and this was a chance to find out more about Black Mars and that something big he’d mentioned the night before.
What was in it for him? What would colluding with an SSG operative help him?
Another text pinged through in the same chain.
Bring the incorruptible drive. Delete the messages. L.
Charlie’s finger hovered above the screen, caught between reporting this and deleting the evidence like it’d never happened. If Black Mars was real, it was entirely possible he’d use her to cover his own tracks, and that those annoying Councilors had been right about Natalya’s case.
But her gut told her differently.
Charlie deleted the messages, then set an alarm for 10 pm.
18
&n
bsp; Nothing.
Only an empty street, flickering lamps, and the distant moans of streeters earning their living in dark alleys and the backs of cars. The Pi Sector facility lit up its surroundings, a glowing egg of blue and white, the Mem Store logo glaring down at her, judging her for having embarked on this bullshit journey.
Levi was a no show. She’d wait five more minutes, and then she’d admit defeat and head over to SSG HQ. Hand in the drive, bury herself in another bottle of booze, pray for the day to end and a new one to bring anything but the inexorable draw of depression.
Appetizing.
“Where are you?” she muttered. “Come on, Levi.”
Footsteps approached the end of the alley behind her, the slow clip of a man who had all the time in the world. She spun and watched the end, hand straying to her belt, though she’d handed in her weapon the day before.
“Levi?” she whispered.
A figure exited the alley, stopped just outside the circle of light from the closest street lamp. Charlie skirted the vignette, put the light behind her, then gasped. “Droggo?”
The magnificent-haired man jerked back. “Spade? What — what are you doing here?”
“I can’t believe it. You’re alive,” she whispered. Hope exploded in her chest. “You’re alive!” She took him by the shoulders and shook him on the spot. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
“I know,” he said in a monotone. His face was wan, skin tighter against his skull than it’d been the last time she’d seen him.
“What did they do to you?”
“You don’t want to know,” he muttered. His gaze darted past her and to the front of the Mem Store Facility. “I can’t talk long. I’ve got something I have to do.”
“Okay, that’s fine. Listen, I’ve got the incorruptible drive you gave me, but they kicked me off the case. The State believes Black Mars is behind the murder, but I know it’s bullshit.”
“Typical.”
“Exactly. I need your help. I need you to give me the access code to the memories. They’ve got another one built in.”