Reality Hack

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘You’ll make me blush, Boss.’

  ‘Don’t. It’ll look strange when you go pale in a minute.’

  They pushed through into the tent. Even Kellog went pale.

  The body was intact, which was to say that there were no bits missing. It was male. Nisa focussed on assessing the details to avoid seeing the whole picture. She could do that later when screaming into a pillow or hanging over a toilet was available. Male, maybe five-nine, dressed in fairly typical clothes for a younger man, T-shirt with what looked like a band logo, and faded denims. The laces on his sneakers were loose, which was the kind of dumb thing younger people did to be trendy. There was little sign that he kept fit: he was not overweight, but not heavily muscled aside from his shoulders and upper arms which looked almost swollen. He had probably had blonde hair.

  And that was about as far as she could go because of the blood. His scalp was a bloody ruin, but not from cuts or impact trauma; it looked as though the skin had erupted, shredding and streaming blood down over his face. The skin on his face and arms looked as though it was loose, trying to follow the scalp.

  ‘There are chemical weapons which could do this,’ Kellog said in a detached tone. He was trying to isolate himself from it just as Nisa was.

  ‘We’re getting blood work done,’ one of the crime scene officers said, ‘but I’ve never seen anything like this. It almost looks like a disease.’

  ‘Oh, that’d be great,’ Havers muttered.

  ‘Most of these things are spread by contact with bodily fluids,’ the man stated. ‘We’re probably safe if it is something like that.’

  ‘It almost looks like something else,’ Kellog mused. ‘Could you get blood samples and some skin scrapings sent to our labs?’

  ‘I can arrange it,’ Havers said. ‘What are you thinking?’

  Kellog frowned and nodded toward the tent flap. Nisa could not wait to get outside. The air in there smelled of blood and a few other bodily fluids she did not want to think about and… As she stepped outside and felt the tension in her head lift, she realised that there was something else wrong with the body.

  ‘Raw head and bloody bones,’ Kellog said once they were out and away from other people.

  ‘That’s a kid’s story,’ Havers stated. ‘A bogeyman. It’s a tale they used to tell around here to scare children into being good.’

  ‘Agreed. There are no fae answering that description and never have been as far as we know, but the resemblance to the myth… It migrated to the US, especially the southern states. I heard it when I was a kid.’

  ‘And…’ Nisa began and then stopped.

  ‘And?’ Kellog asked.

  ‘I could feel something magical in there.’

  ‘She can feel magic?’ Havers asked, raising an eyebrow.

  ‘It’s vague, just a feeling when there’s something nearby, something active. And it’s not reliable, but I couldn’t feel anything from the other body.’

  ‘Norbery needs to take a look at those samples,’ Kellog stated flatly. ‘Maybe the whole body if the samples contain anything interesting.’

  ‘Nothing much you can do until the results come in,’ Havers said. ‘I’ll take you back to your hotel and see if we can ID him.’

  ‘Huh,’ Nisa said. ‘Are there any clubs open? I don’t think I’m going to be sleeping any time soon.’

  September 16th.

  Nisa stumbled out of bed on the third round of knocking, made it to the door, and yanked it open. Then she looked, bleary-eyed, at Kellog, who had his hand raised to knock again.

  ‘What?’ she said. ‘I’m working on about three hours’ sleep here, so… what?’

  ‘We have a teleconference with Norbery in forty minutes. Havers is picking us up in fifteen.’

  ‘Shit. I’m going to stick my head under the shower for a minute. Come in.’ Kellog hesitated and she glared at him. ‘What, you’ve never seen a naked woman before?’ Turning, she headed for the small bathroom, not bothering to see if he actually did walk in.

  ‘Has Norbery found anything?’ Nisa asked over the noise of the shower. The water was clearing her head some and she could concentrate to ask questions which might be intelligent.

  ‘I believe so, but that is why we have the conference arranged.’ Obviously he had stayed.

  ‘Huh… yeah.’

  ‘Havers said that the toxicology people here found nothing particularly unusual. There was no sign of infection in the study they’ve done so far, but they’re continuing to work on it.’

  Hot water was not working so Nisa switched the shower to cold and waited as long as she could before letting out a gasp and shutting it off. Her head certainly felt clearer even if she was now freezing. Her nipples were standing out like thimbles and she had goosebumps.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Kellog asked.

  ‘Cold water. I can think again, at least for a while.’

  ‘Ah. Nightmares? Being flayed again?’

  ‘Couldn’t get to sleep and a nightmare. Wasn’t flaying though, just a dark room, couldn’t move, and there were voices.’

  ‘Saying what?’

  Dry, Nisa walked out of the bathroom rubbing at her hair. Kellog was standing beside the door as though he would rather have been elsewhere. ‘No idea. Or can’t remember. It was a nightmare; there were just voices in the darkness. If I’m bothering you, turn around.’ She started digging through her case for knickers. When she turned around from putting them on, he was still watching her. Maybe he had a libido after all.

  Newton Heath.

  The Greater Manchester Police had a rather modern HQ on the far side of town from the hotel Kellog and Nisa were staying in. Havers knew the roads, however, and got them there in time for the meeting, which took place in a very swish audiovisual conference room. Nisa was pretty sure that Norbery was in his office on a webcam, but that was XC for you.

  The witch looked serious when his face appeared on the curved, telepresence monitor. That had to be a bad sign.

  ‘Norbery,’ Kellog said, giving a nod. ‘This is DI Havers, dealing with the case up here.’

  ‘Detective Inspector,’ Norbery replied. ‘I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but under the circumstances…’

  ‘You found something?’ Kellog asked.

  ‘Took me all night once the samples arrived, but yes. Both the blood and skin had traces of something alchemical in them. Frankly I’m not sure what, but it was there. The blood has some additional ingredients. Mood altering for the most part. Psychotropics related to lysergic acid diethylamide, tetrahydrocannabinol–’

  ‘LSD and cannabis?’ Nisa asked.

  ‘Or something similar. The latter acts as a vasodilator aside from the other well-known effects.’

  ‘LSD, THC, and something that makes your skin fall off?’

  ‘Something destructive, certainly. This smacks of an unintended side effect. Someone has used alchemy to combine a number of drugs which should not coexist, and the result is something which is twisting the users physically.’

  ‘Twisting is right,’ Havers said. ‘I identified our victim.’ She leaned over to where a mouse and keyboard were set out on the desk and clicked a few times. A photograph of a young, blonde man, maybe nineteen, appeared beside Norbery on the screen. ‘You seeing this, Mister Norbery?’

  ‘I am. He looks young.’

  ‘Nineteen three days ago. Philip Nairn. Family say he went out with friends to celebrate his birthday and hasn’t been seen since, but he did that on more than one occasion.’

  ‘That’s not right,’ Nisa said. ‘The body is too thin, and the corpse had heavier muscles around the shoulders.’

  ‘Giving a more hulking appearance,’ Kellog mused. ‘Norbery… Test it for Daath.’

  The witch’s face paled noticeably even over the video display. ‘You’re serious? An alchemical elixir containing a Daath element. That’s–’

  ‘Supposedly impossible. Yes, I know.’

  ‘I’ll see what I can
come up with. I’ll message you if I find anything.’ The display went to black.

  ‘What are you thinking?’ Havers asked Kellog. ‘And what’s Daath? I’ve never heard of it.’

  ‘Unreality,’ Nisa said. ‘Non-existence.’

  ‘Or more precisely,’ Kellog said, ‘it is the boundary between non-existence and existence. It’s a concept more than a thing. The tenth Sephiroth, the tenth path of magic. Forbidden knowledge, but not entirely unknown. Demonologists have been known to study it, and some wizards succumb to the potential. It can be the ultimate weapon, wiping something from reality entirely, or it can make impossible things possible. So here we have a collection of drugs which should not coexist, certainly not safely, and we have a fairy-tale monster which seems to be trying to become real through those taking that drug.’

  ‘And Nairn has a conviction for possession,’ Havers put in. ‘He was sent for rehabilitation, but it likely failed.’ She pursed her lips. ‘I know this isn’t the case you came here for, but…’

  ‘If Norbery finds evidence of Daath magic, Hanson will agree to us helping. You don’t mess with reality. Bad things can happen.’

  Manchester City Centre.

  Nisa stepped through the door of her sixth low-rent bar in the Deansgate area, walked over to the counter, and ordered a white wine. She was in stacked heels, a miniskirt, and a loose-fit, cropped T-shirt, all of which had been bought that afternoon on expenses so that she could trawl bars after dark.

  Havers had tracked down a couple of people who had been out with Nairn when he had gone missing, and they had tried their best to remember where they had gone. Now Nisa was retracing their steps, more or less, in the hope that somewhere along the trail something would turn up which could lead them to the source of the drug.

  It was Nisa doing it because she looked the part with her semi-shaven haircut, and she could certainly manage the attitude given that she was not that much older than the people who had done the original pub crawl. After six cheap bars and a couple of more expensive ones, she was feeling a lot older. The ‘gentleman’s club’ had been a real barrel of laughs. Though, she conceded to herself, it might have been more fun if she did not have Kellog and Havers talking in her ear.

  ‘This is the second from last we were able to get,’ Havers said as Nisa walked across the floor with her drink, sat down, and prepared herself to fend off offers to buy her more. She was taking the odd sip of her drinks so that she did not look too strange in the places, but getting drunk was really not on the menu.

  ‘This was a long shot,’ Kellog said, ‘and not an especially safe one. If Norbery hadn’t confirmed the Daath…’

  ‘She’s doing fine. I have to admit, I don’t think I could walk around town this late at night, on my own, in an outfit like that.’

  ‘You’d look great,’ Nisa said softly. She was unsure how good the pick-up was on the microphone. It apparently worked through bone conduction, and they had had no trouble hearing her, but she thought it was some sort of magic.

  ‘Not what I mean,’ Havers replied, though it sounded as though she was grinning. ‘I’d get mugged, or at least propositioned more times than I could count. Even the drunks are leaving you alone.’

  ‘I grew up on… well, not these streets, but ones like them. I still live on them. You learn things or you get the snot beaten out of you.’ Her eyes caught something and it took a second for her brain to figure out what it was she was seeing. ‘Speaking of which…’ Two men were in muttered conversation, one of them holding something in his hand which looked like money. The other seemed reluctant to take it.

  ‘You have something?’ Kellog asked.

  ‘Maybe… hold on.’

  Reluctant Guy snapped something Nisa could not hear over the heavy metal playing over the bar’s speakers, but something was produced from a pocket and passed over, and the money took its place. Then the dealer, Nisa was sure he was a dealer, got up quickly and headed for the door.

  Nisa waited a couple of seconds and then followed. ‘There’s a guy in here, looks to be about twenty, blonde, short hair, black jacket, black jeans, red around the eyes. One of you get in here and detain him.’

  ‘What about the other one,’ Kellog asked.

  ‘I’m following the man who just left. He’s the dealer. Might not be our stuff, but it’s the best lead tonight.’

  ‘On my way in,’ Havers announced.

  ‘What do you plan to do about the dealer?’ Kellog asked. ‘If he’s not dealing the tainted drug–’

  ‘I’m wasting my time. That’s why I need you handy. I’m going to see if I can get some from him.’

  ‘Nisa…’

  ‘It’s that or we tip our hand early.’

  ‘Be careful.’

  ‘Hell yeah.’ She was out the door and checking for the man. Denim jacket… denim… She spotted him and followed, her heels clicking on the pavement. She was not trying to stop the sound; she wanted him to hear her and notice her following. She quickened her pace, closing the gap, and then slowed a little as she saw his steps faltering. He glanced back and she knew he had seen her, taken in the walk, the look on her face, the way she held herself. He turned a corner.

  When she turned after him, it was into an alley and he was standing barely three yards in. She stopped and waited for what she knew he was going to say.

  ‘You’re following me.’ A statement, not a question.

  Nisa circled a little, keeping her distance, but moving out of the light from the street. ‘Yeah. Need a hit. Saw you in the club. The guy with the jacket. Need a hit.’

  ‘Talking to the wrong man, girl.’

  ‘Come on, man…’ She stepped in and he held his ground. ‘I saw you. I need something. I got money!’

  ‘I don’t want your damn money…’

  ‘Anything!’ She stepped closer, pushing her chest out, and dropped the tone of her voice. ‘You make me feel good. I can do the same for you…’

  He stepped back this time, but his hand came out of his pocket holding a small, plastic, zip-lock bag with something powdery in it. The little light from the street suggested a brown colour, but there was something about it, a slight sparkle, which suggested it was not the obvious drug. There was also the tingle of something in her mind to suggest this was something else.

  ‘I don’t want that either. Fifty.’

  ‘Fifty? What is that?’

  ‘Best high you’ve ever had. You want it, it’s fifty.’

  Looking reluctant, Nisa counted out notes from her shoulder bag and handed them over. He kept a grip on the bag as she took it.

  ‘I ever see you round here again, I’m gonna rearrange those pretty features. Got it, bitch?’

  ‘Okay,’ Nisa said. ‘I got it.’ He let go and she pushed the bag into her purse quickly, though it was more to do with getting it out of her sight than appearances.

  He stepped out onto the street, turned the way he had been walking, took two steps forward, and then staggered backward, falling onto the pavement where he lay, groaning and shifting a bit as he tried to figure out what had just happened.

  ‘He was resisting arrest,’ Kellog said as Nisa stepped out of the alley.

  ‘Oh… yeah,’ Nisa replied. ‘I totally saw him throw the first punch.’

  Kellog nodded. ‘You may have to punch me in the jaw later in case anyone questions it.’

  ‘And I will do it very professionally and take absolutely no pleasure in it.’

  There was a grunt of a reply. She was almost certain he was trying not to grin.

  ‘Didn’t we want to follow him, though?’ Nisa asked. ‘I mean, tail him to his… lab, or whatever.’

  Kellog bent down, grabbed the front of the dealer’s jacket, and hoisted him to his feet. ‘No point. This piece of rectal tissue isn’t making the stuff. But maybe he knows who is…’

  Newton Heath, September 17th.

  ‘Where did you learn to act like that?’ Kellog asked. They were taking a break from question
ing their suspect. The coffee in HQ was not great, but it was coffee and they had been up all night.

  ‘Huh?’ Nisa said in reply.

  ‘When you were getting him to give you the drug, you sounded fairly convincing to me.’

  ‘Oh… One of the Queens was a smack addict. Nice kid until she got into that stuff. I helped Trina clean her up after a really bad trip because… Well, I guess no one else was going to.’

  ‘You seem to have a lot to do with a gang you aren’t part of.’

  Nisa gave a shrug. She was tired, she felt dirty, and she had not had time to change out of the stupid outfit she had been wearing for her not-pub crawl. ‘I… Trina’s kind of a good person, for the leader of a gang of violent, thuggish women. And I stay on her good side, without getting too much on her good side, and the rest of the gang leaves me alone.’

  ‘Must take some balancing.’

  ‘Yeah, but it makes things easier and… I kind of like flirting with Trina. She’s fun.’

  ‘You have an overcomplicated life,’ Kellog suggested.

  ‘Uh-huh…’ She stopped as he twitched and then reached into his jacket for his phone.

  ‘Results from Norbery’s analysis of that drug.’

  ‘Let me guess… Like the man’s been saying, there’s nothing in there that we could actually hold him on. It’s a legal high…’

  ‘Oh… No, this is much better than that. Come on, we’ll go talk to Mister Sudbury again. Just stay standing and play along. Okay?’

  Sudbury was a fit, thirty-something with no record to speak of and the kind of solid face which suggested that was because he did not get caught rather than that he was innocent. He looked tired, but confident.

  ‘Mister Sudbury,’ Kellog said after reintroducing them to the room’s tape recorder, ‘are you still adamant that the drug you’ve been selling is entirely legal?’

  ‘Yeah, I am,’ Sudbury replied. ‘There’s nothing illegal in there.’

  Kellog gave a grunt. ‘Well, we put a rush on the analysis and you’re partially right. The powder contains chemicals related to LSD and THC, but nothing which is technically a controlled substance.’

  ‘What did I tell you…?’