Dominance (Fox Meridian Book 8)

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘Kidnapping and drugs,’ Fox said. ‘Yeah. Taking what they want describes them perfectly.’

  ‘And what we do is far different from that. DS is a matter of trust. Mutual trust. I trust you, Fox, and I always ask whether you trust me. In truth, I already know the answer, but I ask anyway. Usually I know already. I don’t know the details of what you watched earlier, but I sense that it caused you distress and uncertainty. Do you trust me, Fox?’

  Fox looked into Naomi’s clear, blue eyes. ‘Yes. Always.’

  Naomi smiled. ‘Good. Take off your clothes.’

  Getting to her feet, Fox began to strip. Naomi had just said to take her clothes off, but making a show of it seemed appropriate. She peeled away her jacket and shimmied out of her jeans. She had to sit down to take off her boots; it was not exactly the sexiest striptease in the world, but Naomi smiled and seemed to be enjoying the show as Fox’s body was revealed.

  Then Naomi got to her feet and started for the door, leaving Fox to briefly wonder what was going on. ‘Come,’ Naomi said. ‘I’ll take you to the bondage suite in the brothel. It’s free at the moment.’

  ‘You want me to walk over to the brothel like this?’

  Naomi turned a stony face on Fox. Her blue eyes were hard, brooking no argument. ‘Come. Head high, chest out. You’ve nothing to be ashamed of.’ When Fox did not instantly start to move, Naomi added, ‘Don’t make me get the collar and leash.’

  Fox stepped forward, lifting her chin. ‘Yes, Mistress.’

  25th January.

  ‘I would like to further protest my client’s treatment during his arrest. He is suffering from extreme physical stress following–’

  Fox fixed her eyes on the lawyer and he cut himself off. His name was Artemius Slocomb and he worked for Wayden Executive Services, and the fact that he did indicated that Sherman Wayden was probably panicking. ‘Your client resisted arrest,’ Fox said. ‘Stupidly. Violently. He had to be stunned to ensure that other users of the airport were not harmed. He has been checked out by medical professionals and, aside from the bruise he sustained when he hit the ground, he’s fit to be interrogated.’

  Sitting across the table from Fox, his wrists locked into cuffs which were looped through a metal ring on the table, Andrew Pons glared at Fox. The effect was diminished by the bruise across the right side of his face, which had partially closed his eye. He looked lopsided. However, the bruising had been caused by the impact of head and security barrier, and the event was all on camera. Pons glared, but said nothing: he had asserted his right to silence and he was sticking to it.

  ‘There is no need for my client to be chained–’

  ‘Please see above comments regarding resisting arrest,’ Fox snapped. ‘Would your client like to make any further comment regarding the shooting of a police officer which occurred yesterday morning at approximately zero three thirty?’

  ‘My client was nowhere near the house of David Neiman where this shooting took place and has never been to that house. We have nothing to say regarding this matter.’

  ‘Then it’s just me. Fine.’ Fox turned to a screen mounted high on the wall to her left. It sprang to life and started playing video of the pool room. The shape of Patricia Lomax in infrared could be seen right up until the point where Fox had turned and seen the two men. The video froze and boxes appeared around the rifle and the two faces. Identification panels appeared beside each box. The one beside the rifleman said he had been identified as Andrew Pons.

  ‘Captured memory evidence from a witness is inadmissible in court,’ Slocomb said, dismissing the video with a wave. ‘This was established in–’

  ‘Caravine versus New York, twenty forty-six,’ Fox interrupted. ‘It’s an outdated ruling based upon a lack of understanding of the technology, but it’s also irrelevant. The following year, Donaldson versus New England made it legal to utilise video evidence captured by an AI-driven cyberframe. The argument was that the frame records directly to memory, bypassing any human alteration of the memory during perception. That is video, and audio by the way, captured by a cyberframe. It’s placed into local memory as it’s passed to my brain emulation. This is unprocessed visual imagery and it is admissible.’

  ‘We’ll see about that.’

  Fox smiled. ‘I guess we will. So, your client is looking at trespassing, aggravated assault, attempt to commit murder, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit rape, conspiracy to–’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Slocomb said, frowning in the manner lawyers employed to make sure you knew they thought you were an idiot. ‘Even if you can get that video into court, which I doubt, there’s nothing here to go higher than assault.’

  ‘Aggravated assault. He shot a cop.’ Fox held up her hand to forestall the next statement. ‘He knew I was a cop, because his buddy, Mister Rampton, has been following me for days. I have fully admissible video evidence of that too. The rest of the charges come from the videos we obtained during the search of David Neiman’s house.’ Fox turned her gaze on Pons. ‘Neiman just couldn’t leave that camera of his at home. He took video of all sorts of stuff. That includes you and Rampton carrying girls around, holding them while they were injected with drugs. Of course, you didn’t get to play with them, at least not that we can see, but you conspired to allow all the other stuff Neiman documented for us.’ Her eyes snapped back to Slocomb. ‘I spent a lot of time last night going through as much of it as I could, so I can tell you that I am super-motivated to see your client put away for the rest of his natural life. Hell, I might pay to have it extended so he can enjoy Cold Harbour for longer.’

  ‘My client has nothing–’ Slocomb began.

  ‘You’ve got the videos that porn prick was shooting?’ Pons asked, cutting the lawyer off.

  ‘Mister Pons,’ Slocomb said, trying again.

  The video on the screen changed. There was sound with the clip Fox had cued up and it cut through the air like a knife. Screaming. A girl screaming as she fought against strong hands to get away from a needle. The screaming began to die within a few seconds, but the hands held her for longer. Sherman Wayden’s voice cut in though he was not visible on the screen, yet. ‘She’s ready. You can let her go, Pons.’

  Fox froze the playback. ‘Voice identification gives us Sherman Grant Wayden as the speaker, but we have him visible in other scenes. Very visible. That birthmark on his ass is quite distinctive, for example. He’s not going to be any use to you, Pons. Mister Slocomb here is going to be running away in the next few minutes to try to fight the warrant I’m busy getting to arrest your boss, and I’m willing to bet he’ll throw you to the wolves as soon as I get him in an interview room.’

  ‘Now just a–’ Slocomb began, but it was his day for never finishing a sentence.

  ‘Get out,’ Pons snapped at his lawyer. ‘You’re fired.’

  ‘Mister Pons, I don’t–’

  ‘Get out!’ It took Slocomb several minutes to gather his tablet and put it in a briefcase. It took far more time than was reasonable, but Fox sat back and watched as the lawyer tried to persuade Pons to change his mind. Pons, it seemed, was not a stupid man; he knew Slocomb’s job was to stop Pons testifying against Wayden, and he also knew that Fox was going to crucify the lot of them, no matter what the lawyer said. ‘Here’s the deal,’ Pons said once Slocomb was out of the room, ‘I admit to trespassing and assault, even aggravated assault, and you drop the other stuff. I give you everything I know about Fargo.’

  Fox pulled in a long breath through her nose; there was no reason to do so, but it gave the right impression. He knew she had him on pretty much every charge she had listed, and could guess she had his boss on worse. She raised an eyebrow at him, saying nothing.

  ‘I can tell you how they got the Fargo operation through that audit,’ Pons added. ‘I know who was in on it. I was there when Wayden met with Meier, the audit guy. He’s got way more subtle ways of controlling them.’

  ‘Sherman Wayden?’

  ‘Of course,’
Pons said while giving the best shrug he could given his restraints. ‘Daddy Wayden is ambitious and ruthless, but he’s not stupid enough to openly bribe a NAPA official.’

  Fox smiled. ‘Kit, you might want to start proceedings for an official complaint to NAPA.’ Aloud, she said, ‘Alright, Mister Pons, assuming that what you tell me checks out, I think we can probably make a deal. You understand that we have to go through NAPA Judicial to confirm it?’ He nodded. ‘Good, but since all but the charges we don’t want to stick happened in a jurisdiction which is just about to collapse, I don’t think we’ll have a problem.’

  ~~~

  Senior Judge Celia Lamont materialised in the apartment viron with a frown on her face. It was not an unexpected expression and, in this case, it was not actually a bad sign. Fox had dumped a real nest of vipers on NAPA’s judicial wing and it was unsurprising that one of the most senior judges in the metro would be dealing with it, and that she would be unhappy about it.

  ‘What have you got me into, Fox?’ Lamont asked. She had never been one for small talk. She settled onto a sofa, sitting primly with her back straight, knees together, and her hands folded into her lap. Lamont was an attractive woman who was allowing her sixty-seven years to show where it enhanced and not where it did not. Her hair, long enough to reach past her shoulders and worn down today, was the kind of silver-white you got in movies and it was all natural. She had never felt the need to enhance any of her physical features, but she did have her wrinkles smoothed out: a few crow’s feet and soft laughter lines were the only indications that she was aging. Her eyes were greyer now rather than the bluer colour you could see in early photographs of her, but they were just as hard and sharp as ever.

  ‘Sorry,’ Fox replied, ‘but we’ve got plenty of evidence, all obtained legitimately with a paper trail you can’t fault. The testimony from Pons is just wax on the seal.’

  ‘You have video evidence of these… crimes in Fargo?’

  ‘Yes. Neiman recorded just about everything. You can review it if you want, Celia, but… Well, let’s just say I wish I hadn’t needed to.’

  ‘The media are going to have a field day with this. Palladium arresting the son of their main competitor? Your memetics department are going to be running around like rabid dogs.’

  ‘Our problem. They’ve been informed. Apparently, they already had the shell of a campaign ready for this. They weren’t expecting to need it, exactly. They just figured it was something they should be ready to cover if it happened. They weren’t expecting to need it so soon, or that it would involve someone this high up in Wayden, and they weren’t expecting the other thing either…’

  Lamont sighed. ‘You’re sure you have enough to arrest Meier? This is going to be a total PR disaster. Corruption in the audit teams and detected so early in the process. Anyone who’s had a negative review is going to be screaming it was fixed, and we’ll probably have to audit all of the audits we’ve done… You’re sure?’

  Fox nodded. ‘Again, Pons has given us names and dates, but the financial history we dug up on Meier is suspicious. Our forensic AIs are sure they can find a lot more with a warrant to pursue things. It’s not all bad. This was a deal between Meier and Sherman Wayden. There’s no indication Wayden Executive Services was involved and every indication that Norton Wayden knew nothing about it. It’s not his style. I’ve got suspicions about how Wayden does business, but I think he’ll influence the audits through political pressure, not by bribing the officials.’

  ‘Yes… I didn’t hear that, but yes. Norton has strong backing among a lot of the more conservative vote brokers. He has influence. Though, that influence is going to take a hit when it comes out that his son is a multiple rapist and murderer. What on Earth prompted them to do this?! I thought I was a cynical old woman, Fox, but I truly fail to see how they thought this was in any way a good idea. How did they expect to get away with it?’

  Fox gave a shrug. ‘I talked to Naomi Lind about it. In vague terms, obviously. The psychology of dominance and submission. It’s complicated, but it comes down to dominance. Well, Neiman was just in it for the kink, and he couldn’t stomach some of it. He’s just an idiot who got carried along with the others. But men like Thomas Winsford? They grew up believing they had all the power in the world and women were there to do whatever they wanted. Standard misogyny amped up to eleven. They weren’t going to get caught because it was unthinkable that they could get caught. Important people, powerful people, don’t get caught. That simple.’

  ‘I’ve dealt with that attitude my entire life, Fox,’ Lamont replied, ‘but this… I thought this kind of thing had, at least, been relegated to the insides of men’s minds.’

  Another shrug. ‘Power corrupts?’

  Lamont sighed deeply and then looked up, her expression hardening. ‘You’ll get your warrants. See to it that these people do not escape what they deserve.’

  ‘Oh, I plan to.’

  Detroit–Chicago Metro.

  Palladium had contracts in Detroit, which meant they had an office and, given that this was Detroit, they had vehicles suitable for transporting prisoners. One of them had met Fox at the airport and she drove it to the Wayden arcology with the vehicle’s sensor array watching for any sign of problems. She was not expecting resistance, but not keeping an eye out for it would have been plain stupid.

  The warrant details had been sent ahead, so Wayden knew what was coming. There had been no response, but the building acknowledged Fox’s arrival and gave an assigned parking space near to the reception area. An android identical to the one she had spoken to on her last visit, though not returning the same ID, smiled as Fox walked up to the desk.

  ‘Captain Meridian. How can I help you?’

  Fox stared at the machine for a second. ‘I think you know the answer to that already.’

  ‘Mister Wayden is not in this building at this time.’

  ‘Where is he?’

  ‘I have not been supplied with that information.’

  ‘Would you like me to supply you with an arrest for obstruction of justice?’

  There was a pause and then the android said, ‘Please proceed to the elevators. Major Wayden will see you.’

  The elder Wayden wanted to talk? Okay. ‘Thank you,’ Fox said and turned toward the bank of elevators.

  ‘The receptionist would not lie to a police officer,’ Kit said. ‘Sherman Wayden is not here.’

  ‘Isn’t a lie if it’s the only information available. He may have decided to run. He probably heard about the warrant before we sent it out. I’d imagine this place has ears in the judiciary. We do. Let’s see what Major Wayden has to say.’

  The elevator went up past the floor they had stopped at last time and Fox reached behind her back, putting her hand on the butt of her gun. There was the possibility that Norton Wayden meant to handle the situation in a direct manner; he had a reputation for directness. On the other hand, he was not stupid. Plenty of people knew Fox was there to serve an arrest warrant. On the other other hand, the warrant was for Major Wayden’s son…

  Fox stepped out into an empty lobby area as soon as the doors opened. It was set up for people to wait with three doors off it. One of those was labelled as a restroom. Fox figured one led to an office, perhaps belonging to Wayden’s PA. With no direction presented as obvious, Fox headed for the door straight ahead of her; it was a little more ornate and suggested that there were private rooms beyond. She was not wrong: a second later, she was stepping into a large lounge with a fake fire, massive entertainment screen, comfortable sofas, and Major Norton Wayden, sitting near the fire with a tumbler of whiskey in his hand. The liquid circled smoothly as Wayden moved his hand and watched the wave progress.

  ‘Major,’ Fox said when the man failed to speak. ‘My name is–’

  ‘I know who you are. General Graves’s favourite cop, come to arrest the son of his greatest competitor. You haven’t managed to take full control of the policing system by legitimate means so–’


  ‘I don’t want control of law enforcement. That’s your bag. Your strategy was terrible and you should never have put your son in charge of anywhere. An hour ago, my team in Topeka and a squad from NAPA arrested Alan Meier on corruption charges. Your son paid him to give the operation in Fargo a clean bill of health.’ Fox moved closer, her hand moving away from her pistol. ‘Judging from Meier’s financials, Sherman was paying him to give the Topeka Watch a hard time, probably to fail the audit. If that happened, would Sherman be taking over in Topeka too?’

  Wayden did not look up, but his brows furrowed briefly. ‘So, you come up with this trumped-up–’

  ‘It’s all solid evidence. Witness testimony. Video evidence. Would you like to see any of it, Major? I can show you video of your son banging away at a woman so hyped up on Cupie she would hump a donkey. I can show you your son injecting the stuff into her and then watching while the drug takes hold. Do you know what that stuff does to people? Have you ever seen it? It’s perfect for a man like Sherman, or like Winsford. She’s begging for it. Her mind, what’s left of it, can only focus on one thing. She’s hot, restless. She feels so empty that nothing can fill the hole, but she’s going to try. She’ll try anything to get off, and when she does, all she wants is more. Fourteen girls. All those families who don’t know where their daughters vanished to, except for the one who got a body to bury, and the sister who wants your son dead because he raped and murdered a girl who had seen far too much tragedy in her life already. She’s still after him, Major. I need to get to him before she does.’