“Well, hardly anyone makes it out to this part of L30. So you’re safe here for the night. We can figure out what we’re going to do with you in the morning. Uh…” He glanced around the studio. “You can take the bed. I’ll uh… I can just crash in that folding chair.”
Maybe it was the meds, but Jayne was feeling very friendly. She stood up, close to Tom. “That’s okay. I don’t mind sharing.” She thought maybe Tom wouldn’t get the hint. She took his hand, and led him through the neon night to the bed.
+++
The studio looked less romantic in the morning. It looked like an even messier mess. Tom gave her the bottle of anti-inflammatories. She took two and watched the swelling go down.
Tom paced up and down the studio. “I didn’t sleep at all last night.”
Jayne pulled her shirt on. “Me neither.”
Tom paced back toward Jayne. “But I think I have an idea.”
Jayne pulled her boot on and laced it as tightly as possible. “Spill it.”
Tom held both his hands out as if he was presenting a great work of art. “I’m going to call the cops on you.”
+++
Two hours later, hover cruisers swarmed Tom’s abandoned building. Police from precincts ten rows in each direction shut down the entire block.
Inside the building, a riot team moved up the narrow stairwell to the top floor. Commissioner Cromwell himself had given authorization to shoot on sight. Officer Ariel Briggs, leading the riot squad, called down to Chief Bjornstrom waiting outside. “We’ve secured the stairwell. We’re positioned to move in.”
Down on the street, Chief Bjornstrom paced behind the perimeter secured around the building. She turned to Cameron. “I’m going to be a little unprofessional, Cameron, and level a personal criticism against you.”
Cameron nodded, trying to hide what a nervous wreck he was on the inside. “Oh, really? And what’s that chief?”
“You’ve got bad taste in women.”
Cameron smiled. “Well, we’ve always worked well together. What does that say about you?”
She dropped her cigarette and stamped it out. An old habit made new again. “If anything, it proves my point.” Chief Bjornstrom did her best to remain sympathetic to Cameron’s past relationship with Jayne. She knew a situation like this was eating him up inside, but she personally requested he accompany them on this raid. He was their ‘Jayne consultant.’
Cameron shifted a 50 nano-credit coin back and forth between each finger. It was a nervous habit. He had secretly been rooting for Jayne the whole time. Their involvement together had become the talk of the entire force, and Chief Bjornstrom didn’t want his presence to be perceived by the others as some form of punishment. Although, she would have been lying to herself if she said Cameron might make good bait to encourage Jayne’s surrender.
Chief Bjornstrom smiled at Cameron. “Too bad things never worked out between you two.”
Cameron stopped the coin between his index and middle finger and slid it into his pocket. He shrugged. “What can I say? My mom always told me I had bad taste in women, too.”
The Chief’s comm buzzed to life. “We’ve secured the stairwell. We’re positioned to move in.”
The Chief held the comm up. She was thinking about retirement. Someday. Hopefully. If she lived that long. “Authorized.”
Officer Briggs kicked the door open. Boots pounded up the stairwell.
The riot squad filled the studio. They kicked over work benches and rifled through piles of junk.
One of the grunts lowered his weapon. “Room secured!”
Jayne was gone. Desperate for anything, any clue, Officer Briggs spotted a note hanging on a support beam. She ran over to it, her riot gear suddenly weighing heavily on her. She tore the note off.
Flip Me
Beneath the note was an ordinary, low-tech light switch. In any other situation, Officer Briggs would have ordered immediate evacuation. They would have sent in a bomb-bot. But she felt like she already knew the twist of the trick Jayne had pulled.
She flipped the switch.
Buzzing neon lights shone down onto the riot squad. Hanging on the far wall, in beautiful pink and blue incandescent cursive, was a message: “Jayne’s Not Home Right Now”.
+++
The massive crowd of police looked even more ridiculous fourteen stories up and three blocks away. Their ineffectual appearance comforted Jayne.
Tom checked his watch. “If you move fast, you can probably make it up several levels without being bothered.”
Jayne climbed onto the first rung of the ladder connecting this support building to the next level. She leaned back and faced Tom. “What about you? Your home?”
Tom shrugged. “It needed to be cleaned out anyway. And now the cops will do that for me.”
Jayne hopped off the ladder and grabbed Tom’s face. She pulled him and locked her lips with his. It took Tom a little longer than it should have to figure out what was going on, but when he did he made up for the lost time.
Finally she broke away. She looked at Tom and bit her lip.
Tom’s cheeks turned bright red. “Now go!”
Jayne hopped onto the ladder and ascended to the next level.
CHAPTER FIVE
ISA Offices, Malicarsh Building, L45, Theron Techcropolis, Amaros
Fred’s nose twitched, hound-like. “Pizza.”
Merry looked up from the porn on her tablet. She’d been trying to relax ever since they lost Jayne. Usually Merry could rely on a quick trip down the pornographic rabbit hole to put her in a better mood, but even the most depraved and ridiculous pornographic excesses weren’t cheering her up.
She shut off her tablet. “What?”
Fred’s nose sniffed the air. “Pizza. It’s close.”
Vlad stepped out of the bathroom drying off his hands. “No, I’m afraid you’re just smelling the remains of my breakfast. I had leftovers. I tried to cut the smell with a…” he held up a joint.
Fred dismissed Vlad with a wave of his hand. “No, trust me, I know my smells.”
Merry shook her head. “Fred, there is no pizza here.”
Fred nodded. “No, I definitely smell pizza. Smells like… three, maybe four. Extra-large.” His nostrils flared out. “Two double-meat, one veggie powerhouse, and one…pineapple and… green peppers?” He took a deep inhalation through his nose. He smiled. “Oooh, cheese-stuffed crust and four marinara dipping cups, too. Based on the seasoning…” he wafted the scent toward him with his hand. “Foxy’s Pizzeria. Definitely.” He smiled, content with himself.
Merry examined Fred for any sign of brain failure. “Buddy, are you having a stroke? Because… Holy shit, I smell pizza, too!”
Cameron swung the door open with an armful of pizza and beer. “Honey, I’m home!”
Vlad held out his arms. “Papa! You’re back after all these years! Did you ever get those cigarettes you stepped out for?”
Merry sneered at Vlad. “You would have daddy problems.”
“Says the girl who looks at porn therapeutically.” Vlad accidentally placed the joint in his mouth backwards. “Ouch! Damn, damn. I burned my tongue.”
Cameron shut the door with his foot and set the pizza down on the desk where Jayne would ordinarily be sitting. “Vlad, you’re supposed to burn your mouth on the pizza.”
Vlad held his tongue out for Merry to look at. “Duth thith look ath bad ath it feelth?”
Merry turned away from Vlad’s joint breath. “Anything that keeps you from talking is an improvement.”
Fred was already up and going through the pizza. “Pineapple and onion! Oh well, I was close.” He grabbed two slices and folded them together.
Cameron opened the twelve pack and distributed the beers like a boozed-up Santa Claus. “Take two, Merry! We’re celebrating!”
Vlad cracked his beer open. “What are we toasting to?”
Cameron paused and let the tension build in silence. He opened his beer and raised the fizzin
g can skyward. “To Jayne! May she continue to outsmart the cops!”
Vlad and Merry clacked cans with Cameron and Fred toasted with his pizza.
Merry took a swig and belched. “Wait a minute, Cameron. Aren’t you technically the cops?”
“Yeah, but… I mean, aren’t I like a cool cop?”
Merry gave Cameron her most condescending look. “You wear pleated pants.”
Cameron slumped. “I’d be happy to take my beer and go celebrate alone.”
Fred reached for another slice. “That’s fine, just leave the pizza.”
Vlad offered Cameron the joint. “So, you’re saying Jayne is okay?”
Cameron’s good mood inclined him to break one of his cardinal rules by accepting the joint and giving it a long toke. “Well, I don’t know. But the cops haven’t caught her yet. So more than likely, she’s fine. As long as we don’t have her in custody, I’ll be optimistic.” He handed the joint back to Vlad. Cameron had smoked it down to the end. Vlad shrugged and ate it.
Cameron chugged the rest of his beer. He crushed the can and grabbed another. “Oh, man. I really wish you guys had been there. It was beautiful. It was just classic Jayne.” He leaned on the desk and floated away into his own thoughts.
Merry waited. “Uh… Care to elaborate?”
Cameron smiled. He looked at Merry blankly. “About what?” It had been a long time since Cameron got high, but the thought came back to him eventually. “Oh! Jayne. Oh man. We got a tip on Tuesday morning. Some guy told us he found Jayne hiding out in this old department store on the lower levels. He gave us an accurate description and everything. Chief of Police freaks out, every precinct in the lower levels showed up and surrounded this building. I mean it looked like a cop convention. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
Vlad lit another joint. Cameron reached out for it, but Vlad shook his head. “No, you’ve had enough.”
Cameron nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Anyway, Bjornstrom sends up a riot detail, okay? Way overkill. But the riot detail enters the building, works their way all the way to the top… And there she was… Dead. She had taken her own life.”
Merry jumped, her skin went even paler than usual. “WHAT!?”
“No, I’m kidding!” Cameron laughed. “It’s a joke, yeesh. Sorry… I’m stoned. What was I talking about?”
Fred chowed down on a triple-stack of each type of pizza. “I like you more this way, Cameron.”
Cameron bowed. “Thank you, Fred.”
Merry banged on the desk. “Cameron! I am about ready to wad this entire pie into a ball and shove it up your ass until you choke on it. News. On. Jayne!”
Cameron wet his whistle with another sip from his beer. “So, the riot leader finds a note over a switch, says “Turn Me On” or something. So, she flips the switch. All of a sudden, this giant neon sign hanging on the wall flashes on with a message. It said, ‘Jayne’s Not Home Right Now.’” Cameron doubled over in a delirious cackle.
Merry finally felt the relief she’d been seeking for the last five days in pornography. She laughed. Cameron’s boyish glee was infectious. It was vague news, but better than nothing. And it was pure Jayne.
“Where’d she get the neon sign?”
Cameron shrugged. “This guy, Tom. He’s a bartender or something. Makes neon signs as a hobby. Now, according to the police report Jayne forced him to make the sign under the threat of death, so the guy’s scot-free. We’ll probably even provide some victim counseling. That’s the official report. Obviously, all bullshit. I’m sure Jayne just made yet another ally.” He looked down at the pizza. “Have I eaten pizza yet?”
Merry shoved a box in Cameron’s direction. “Nope! But I imagine that performance worked up an appetite.”
Cameron bit into some pizza and slumped against the wall. Vlad sat down in the chair next to Fred, and Merry kept her spot sprawled on the couch. They had naturally formed a circle around the room, but there was a gap at the desk where Jayne was supposed to be.
The intoxicating joy for Jayne’s victory against the police morphed into a stark dread that everything could still end in disaster.
Fred finished his eighth or ninth slice of pizza and walked over for another one. He grabbed a slice of double-meat and placed it on a napkin on Jayne’s desk. He cracked open a beer and placed it by the pizza.
Somber reflection should have been appropriate, but no one was in the mood. Merry took the beer. “I need this more than her.”
Vlad took the pizza. “Yeah, and I’ve got pretty bad munchies.” Vlad’s bite took more cheese off than crust and grease dripped into his patchy beard. He chewed, pulling the dangling cheese into his mouth. It was an appropriate preamble to his grotesque question. “What if she’s guilty?”
Merry crushed the beer against her knee. “Jayne would never do that!” She tossed the can and missed the waste basket by a mile. “We’ve all worked with Jayne. She’d never lie to us.”
Vlad picked a crumb out of his teeth. “What about a lie by omission?”
Merry hated Vlad’s penchant for playing devil’s advocate. He could find the worst in the good and the best in the worst. He loved defending his contrarian stance. It was a mind game. But Vlad wasn’t entertaining a notion or proposing a theory. Vlad was asking a question. The question didn’t piss off Merry, but now that it had been said, now that Vlad opened Pandora’s Box and released the curse of doubt and paranoia, Merry was forced to face her own growing ambivalence she’d been feeling toward Jayne.
Cameron’s buzz officially died. “I’d be lying if I said I haven’t looked at this from all angles.”
A headache crept up Merry’s spine and made itself at home behind her eyes. “I know. I know.” She massaged her temples. “I know.”
Vlad sat at Jayne’s desk, an act of sacrilege. “We all know Jayne hasn’t been herself since Burrett.”
Merry looked to Fred, desperate to hear him defend Jayne, but he let her down. “I’m sorry, Merry, but… we need to consider this.”
Cameron hoisted his belt up. It was a nervous tic Merry had jokingly referred to as “going into cop mode.” It was a sign that Cameron meant business. “Okay, right now we’re feeling doubt. Doubt doesn’t solve a case. It never has. What do we know? We know that Jayne hasn’t been the same since Burrett. What else?”
Merry leaned forward enlivened by some action. “We know she didn’t want to take on this case.”
Cameron pointed at her. “That’s a point in her favor. What else do we have?”
Vlad licked the seasoning off his fingertips, popping them free from his lips for emphasis. “Our client was a ghost.”
Merry opened her tablet and turned on projection. She typed out the case file they had begun putting together, each bullet point hovering 3D above the projector. “The man in black didn’t want Jayne dead.”
Cameron’s head tilted like a puzzled German Shepard. “How do you know that?”
Merry typed as she spoke. “We hacked the entire surveillance system in the Black Hole. We had eyes on everything, including the roof. Just a minute…” Merry minimized the memo program and opened up a video file, a record of Jayne coming face to face with the man in black on the roof. “Wait for it… Wait…” They watched Jayne step out onto the roof and pull a gun on the man in black. “Watch the man in black.”
The sleuths watched the man in black pull a gun from his coat. Merry excitedly narrated the scene. “Despite the fact that Jayne is wide open, he turns and shoots the young gangster.”
Merry played the video again in slow motion. “If the man in black wanted to kill Jayne, he would have. But he shot some random schmo.”
Fred gasped. “Please, Merry. Show some respect for the dead.”
“Yeah, yeah. Rest in pieces, whatever. The man in black didn’t want Jayne dead. He wanted her framed.”
Cameron walked around the projection. “Interesting. But—"
“It’s not enough.” Vlad joined Cameron for a closer look a
t the video.
Cameron grunted in frustration. “He’s right. Maybe Jayne… What if Jayne knew about the hand-off?”
“So? That doesn’t make her guilty. Especially if the information was, in fact, illegally acquired. She’d be doing her job.”
Cameron’s eyes lowered in thought. He held up one finger as the knot of this mystery remained tight. It would not give as he tried to pick apart the threads with his fingernails.
Vlad threw some more chips on the table. “Jayne didn’t abort. We told her the client was a ghost, and she didn’t abort.”
In this moment, Merry hated Vlad more than anyone else in the entire damn universe. “It was too late.”
Cameron shook his head. “There’s something we’re not seeing here…”
“Exactly!” Merry threw her hands out. “Because there’s nothing to see! I don’t know why you two are so intent on proving Jayne is guilty.”
Cameron threw his beer can across the room. “I’m doing my damn job, okay?”
That shut the room up. Even Vlad kept his mouth closed. His high was wearing off and he craved another joint, but his guy was out of town. Bad time for him to go on vacation. Vlad reminded himself to buy extra next time that was going to happen. Hell of a time to run out of pot.
“You guys are thinking about this too much.”
No one noticed Fred had finally swallowed all the pizza in his mouth. Until he spoke, his presence in the room was forgotten.
Cameron’s voice choked. “But how, Fred?”
Fred wiped his greasy face clean with his sleeve. “The briefcase had information about Jayne, right? It doesn’t matter that the man in black didn’t shoot her, or shot the other guy, or whatever. If she is trying to interrupt the exchange of information that was illegally acquired, and failed to turn over that information as soon as she acquired it, then she’s guilty. Of at least one crime, just according to the word of law alone. For my money, Jayne didn’t know the briefcase was full of information on her. But once she discovered it was, she had a reason to flee the cops. Now she’s guilty, and with a concrete motive.”
Exposed (Interplanetary Spy for Hire Book 2) Page 6