Shattered Truth

by Michael Anderle

  Jia gaped at him. She’d thought she was jaded after everything that had happened with Ceres and the councilman, but even so, his statement managed to shock her.

  “That makes no sense,” she replied, her voice quiet. “How can you say that?”

  Erik tapped the side of his head. “Think about it. It logically follows.”

  “I don’t understand how it logically follows.” She didn’t care about her defiant tone this time.

  “You forget that Neo SoCal is the biggest metroplex on Earth,” Erik offered. “Not only that, it’s got the greatest concentration of major corporations, research centers, and that kind of thing. It’s got people from every major country on the planet, and it’s easy to get lost in the crowds and towers. Gangsters who pull protection rackets in smaller places stand out more. In those kinds of places, if the local police don’t clean up, CID will, but this place?” He shook his head, a faraway look in his eyes. “There are more people in Neo SoCal alone than live on most colonies, especially when you get away from the core planets. Way, way more, compared to some dome on the frontier that is basically nothing more than a village.” He looked around, noting the traffic jam the lights on the police flitters and ambulances were causing. “This metroplex is like an entire core world on its own. Crime’s about power and money, and criminals go where the power and money are. Otherwise, they’re wasting their time.”

  Jia let out a bitter laugh. “I spent so long wanting to fight crime, and now I’m having a hard time accepting it’s all around and threatening to smother me.”

  “At least you accept it. You know what they say about accepting a problem before you can solve it.” Erik nodded toward a cluster of officers. “Everyone has stopped pretending, and a lot of that is because we pushed and forced them to. We shoved the faces of everyone in the metroplex into a steaming pile of truth.” He sighed, looking around. “But that means we have to keep pushing. The more we do, the more we get people like Ragnar backing us. Hell, even Halil has our backs now, and more in the 1-2-2 will join him. People like following people who win, and we’re winning.”

  Jia slowly drew a deep breath and released it. “Okay, let’s stick with a simple plan. We should check in with Captain Ragnar and hit the Shadow Zone tomorrow.” She stuck her hands in her pockets before smiling. “We wouldn’t want to mess up our winning streak, would we?“

  Chapter Twenty

  September 29th, 2228, Neo Southern California Metroplex, The Big One Bar

  Erik settled into a chair that had probably been new before flitters had taken to the sky. He was in the small back office of the Big One, the bar he’d first come to when visiting the Shadow Zone.

  Jia sat beside him, eyeing Alicia, the owner, with faint disdain. The other woman gazed at them, a faint look of suspicion on her face.

  He wasn’t surprised. Despite her face, her gray hair betrayed the same truth his did: de-aging. She wasn’t some young woman still learning the world. She might have grown up on Earth, but unlike the coddled men and women of Uptown, Alicia knew first-hand how corrupt the homeworld was, and she’d made a career of profiting from that corruption without directly participating in it.

  “You’ve been making a lot of noise, Blackwell,” Alicia muttered. “I’m not all that sure I should be seen with you.”

  Erik offered her a merry grin. “It can’t hurt to be on the good side of the cops, can it?”

  She didn’t return his grin. “You would be surprised around here.”

  Jia folded her hands, obviously trying to look relaxed despite the tension in her shoulders. “We’ll clean up Neo SoCal with or without your help. You might as well help. Otherwise,” she waved a hand toward the outside, “you’re no better than the criminals.”

  “Don’t stick your nose so high in the air you trip, Lin.” Alicia scoffed. “It’s a long fall from Uptown.”

  “Hey, hey, ladies.” Erik spread his hands in a placating gesture. “This is an easy one because the people we’re going after were already stupid enough to get my attention. Three of them are dead since they threatened a hostage. If you’re afraid of those people, then help us take them down. It’s not like we’re in here asking about every two-bit hustler in the Shadow Zone.”

  Alicia’s mouth tightened into a thin line. She took a deep breath. “Yeah, I heard about that incident yesterday. You’re here about the Prospectors?”

  “Is that what they call themselves?” Jia asked. “It sounds ridiculous.”

  Alicia shrugged. “It’s not like I named them. They’re new, and they’re carrion-feeders.”

  Erik frowned, wondering if he’d missed out on some Earth slang he should know. “What do you mean?”

  Alicia pointed to Erik and Jia. “Between your little invasion and Tessan ending up dead, the Gray Circle’s pretty much finished. A lot of groups are targeting their rackets and territory, but the Prospectors came at the right place and right time and have been pushing into them hard. They’re kind of stupid if you ask me, but they make up for that with brutality. I’m not surprised you ended up needing to put them down. Nothing but rabid, hungry dogs. They want a foothold in Neo SoCal, and obviously not just in the Shadow Zone.” She shook her head, disgust on her face.

  “But they’re not that big yet?” Jia asked. “At least, that’s what it sounds like.”

  Alicia nodded. “They need to establish themselves more solidly before they can attract more people. If it weren’t for the Gray Circle going down, they wouldn’t have had a chance.”

  Jia wrinkled her nose. “It’s not like we can ignore criminals just because other criminals might take advantage of the situation. The Gray Circle are dangerous men, and the more of them in prison, the better.”

  “Not saying you should ignore crime, Lin.” Alicia leaned back, a weary look on her face as she stretched. “I’m just telling you what I know.” Her eyes shifted toward Erik. “I’m assuming I’ll be compensated for passing this information along? It’s bad enough that I might be risking my life. I don’t do my civic duty without a little something in return.”

  Erik nodded. “You’ve given me nothing but good information. I have no reason to screw you over. I’ll transfer a payment to you.” He reached down to his PNIU. A few swipes and taps and he’d sent the credits.

  Alicia reviewed her tablet, nodded, and looked up, satisfied. “Then I’ll give you one last bit of useful information. The Prospectors are led by a man named Lucius Canna. Like the rest of them, he’s not from Neo SoCal.”

  “A name is nice,” Jia interjected with a raised eyebrow, “but a location is better. We might not be able to arrest him yet, but it wouldn’t hurt to put him on notice.”

  “She’s got a point,” Erik added, scratching the scruff of hair on his cheek. “I’d like to talk to Lucius about his boys.”

  Alicia scoffed quietly. “If I knew where he was, I would tell you. I don’t want the guy gaining more influence than he has. The Shadow Zone might cover a large area, but it can get pretty small when certain people start throwing their weight around. That’s all I have.”

  Erik’s chair squeaked as he stood. “That’s enough to get started. We’re detectives. It’s time for us to do a little investigation.” He headed for the door, Jia following.

  They emerged from the back room and headed to the bar, walking in silence. Jia had a faint look of annoyance on her face. A few other patrons in the main bar looked their way before returning their attention to their drinks.

  Neither partner spoke until they emerged into the parking lot, the harsher air of the Shadow Zone attacking their lungs.

  Jia coughed. “I don’t trust her.”

  “A cop isn’t going to get far without informants,” Erik suggested. He headed toward the MX 60, Emma automatically disengaging the security system.

  “I understand that, but I worry about trusting people motivated by money. Necessity isn’t the same thing as comfort.”

  A black luxury flitter with tinted windows pulled off a n
earby street and stopped right in front of the MX 60. It couldn’t stop the other vehicle from taking off, but it was threatening.

  Erik’s hand slipped into his jacket as he prepared to grab his gun. Jia matched him, although she went for her stun pistol. The back door opened and a fit middle-aged dark-haired man stepped out in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts.

  Erik almost laughed.

  He’d barely seen anyone dress like that besides Malcolm since moving to Neo SoCal, and the vibe of the outfit didn’t match the vehicle. Despite the man’s ridiculous clothes, his gray eyes were hard, and he was frowning.

  “Detectives Blackwell and Lin?” the man drawled, his voice friendly.

  Neither cop dropped their hands.

  “Yeah, that’s us,” Erik replied. “Who are you?”

  “If you’re in there talking to Alicia, given what I’ve heard on the street, you’re probably looking for the Prospectors,” the man offered. He didn’t have any obvious weapons or hardware. “I want to be helpful. It’s a good thing, right? Being helpful.”

  Jia narrowed her eyes. “What we were doing in there was police business.”

  The man slowly lifted his palms in front of him. “Sure, sure. I get that, but I’m just saying if you happen to be looking for Lucius Canna, you might be interested in knowing that fella is going to be at the Golden Rooster restaurant in thirty minutes for a meal. I think he owns the place, even if he doesn’t go there much. I don’t know how long he’ll be there, and I also don’t know where he’ll be after that.” He rattled off the address. “Just thought you should know. We can’t have bad folks like him wandering around.”

  “Who are you?” Erik asked.

  “Just a concerned citizen, Detective.” The man smiled and slipped back into his flitter, waving. “Good luck.”

  Jia stepped toward him. “Wait right—” She fell silent at Erik’s headshake.

  The colorful man closed his door and the flitter slowly rose, as if challenging the police to try to bring it down.

  Jia turned toward Erik. “Why did you stop me?”

  “Because we don’t have time to mess with him. We just got actionable and perishable intel, and we should act on it.” Erik continued toward the MX 60. “Emma, how long will it take to get to that address without screaming across the Shadow Zone?”

  “About twenty minutes,” the AI replied.

  “Then let’s get going.” Erik opened the driver-side door and took a seat. “Give me the map. I’m flying.”

  Jia got comfortable, her brow furrowed in concern. “Don’t you think this is a little too perfect? What if it’s a trap?”

  “We’ll approach it carefully.” Erik didn’t even have to start the flitter before he pulled back on the yoke to lift the vehicle because of Emma.

  Jia stared at the nav map on the console display. “I get trusting Alicia—at least you have some history with her—but this is a random man you’ve never met before. You have no idea who he is.”

  “I do,” Emma offered cheerfully.

  “You do?” Erik replied, sounding surprised. He guided the flitter into a vertical lane close to street-level. There wasn’t a huge amount of traffic in the area.

  “I took the liberty of performing a facial analysis and running it through a police database,” Emma explained. “I thought it might take some time, but it turns out he’s a subject of interest in several recent investigations. He’s suspected, though not proven, to have connections to the Gray Circle. His name is Gabriel Kennick. He’s a fixer of sorts, although according to police records, he was likely exclusive to the Circle for some time.”

  Jia groaned. “We’re taking help from criminals to go after their enemies now?”

  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Erik replied with a slight smirk. “When I was doing counter-insurgency ops, there were plenty of times where one faction would leak information about another faction to the Army so we would do their dirty work for them. As far as they’re concerned, it’s win-win if the enforcer and their enemies whittle each other down. I’ve said it before, and I believe it: taking back this city from the criminals is a lot like dealing with an insurgency.”

  “So it’s not a trap,” Jia mused. “It’s just us being manipulated.”

  “If you’re swimming out to the ocean anyway, you might as well swim with the river’s current. The Gray Circle is already bleeding out. It doesn’t matter if something helps them for a few weeks or days. Why not decapitate another gang with the help of one of their friends?” Erik’s face set in determination after he adjusted their course toward the Golden Rooster.

  Jia stared forward as if she could already see the restaurant from kilometers away. “And what if Canna doesn’t take the bait?”

  “After the way his men acted at the garage, I doubt our guy Lucius is the master of restraint.” Erik grunted. “I don’t think he’ll try anything completely stupid, but if we can get him to at least admit to something, we can bring him in for questioning.”

  “Should we call for backup?”

  Erik shook his head. “Not until we’re sure. We still don’t know who we can trust in the local EZs. I don’t want to have to watch my back going into a place. We’ll call for help when we need it.” He smiled. “Time to go practice some community engagement.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The Taxútnta set down in a cracked parking lot in front of a modest single-story building.

  Both the hanzi and the English on the side read Golden Rooster.

  Other flitters filled the parking lot, and all looked expensive and rather new compared to the simple, worn building. The restaurant’s tinted windows denied any view of the inside. That wasn’t unique to restaurants in either the Shadow Zone or Uptown, but combined with the out-of-place cars, it was suspicious.

  Jia frowned. “It looks like we found the right place unless the food here is spectacular.” She looked above them to see if anything was closing in on them. “Here’s to hoping.”

  Erik chuckled. “You never know. I’m always on the lookout for a new place, although I doubt there will be any great beignets at a…” He stared at the text lower on the sign. “A Sichuan place.” He cracked his knuckles. “Might as well get going. Sitting around on our thumbs won’t catch Canna.”

  “I think we should call for backup,” Jia insisted, making no move toward either of her guns. “I know what you said, but there’s no way we’ll be able to clean up Neo SoCal by ourselves, or even with all of the 1-2-2 helping us.”

  Erik stared at the restaurant, the corners of his mouth curling down. “These people can come and go from the Shadow Zone without any trouble. They have somebody on their payroll, and the few lower-level arrests IA and CID have made aren’t enough to convince me the departments have been cleaned up.”

  “I know, and I’ve thought about that. We should contact Captain Ragnar directly and have him contact the local EZs. Any corrupt cops will be too scared to make a move once they realize it’s not just you and me wandering in there.” Jia patted her stun pistol. “But we don’t really have a reason to arrest Canna yet. We don’t have a warrant, and the man we arrested at the garage hasn’t named him yet. Alicia did. I don’t think the word of a Shadow Zone informant will hold up in court.”

  Erik shrugged. “We don’t have to arrest him. We just have to ask him a few questions. I’m sure his man will give up soon enough and sell out everyone up to and including his own mother.” Erik glanced at the time display on the central dashboard. “About ten minutes before our boy is supposed to get here. Okay, might as well call in the locals in case this gets messy. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Neo SoCal, it’s that the criminals here are too arrogant for their own good. Sometimes they almost make it too easy.”

  “Too easy? Such as when they lead us on mini-flitter chases?”

  “That was fun.”

  Twenty minutes later, Erik wasn’t laughing. In fact, he was scowling. “Something’s wrong.”

  Jia’s s
tomach tightened. She wished he wasn’t right, but she had come to the same conclusion. “Because he hasn’t arrived,” she asked, voice softer, “or because our backup hasn’t?”

  “Both.” Erik surveyed the parking lot through the windows and cameras. “I think our fashionable informant was wrong, or at least a little off. I think our guy is already inside. Emma, you see anyone flying this way on lidar? Picking up any transmissions or transponders signals? Either someone who looks like our guy or a bunch of cops?”

  “Nothing but normal traffic,” Emma responded. “If anything, I suspect some vehicles at the edge of my sensor range might be deliberately avoiding this area since it’s remarkably sparsely traveled.”

  Jia looked around. There were a few other small restaurants and shops, parking lots all empty, but the buildings weren’t abandoned.

  Erik opened the door. “That settles it. We can’t wait. We don’t even know what this Canna looks like. If he’s already inside, he might walk out a back door, and we’ll end up in another chase on mini-flitters. While that might be enjoyable, we can’t risk killing this guy.” He stepped out. “Canna shouldn’t have had his people screwing with Miguel, but we need to find out how he’s getting in and out of the Shadow Zone so easily.”

  Jia got out on her side with a quick look at the passenger seat, noticing he didn’t grab the larger gun. “And you’re sure about not waiting for backup?” she asked. It wasn’t long ago that even stunning a suspect felt excessive. Now, rushing into a building with only her partner to face off against multiple men seemed…

  Almost reasonable.

  Erik walked toward the restaurant, shaking his head as he kicked a small rock off to the left out of his way. “We don’t have time to waste. You checked five minutes ago, and they were still ‘en route.’ They might not shoot us in the back because Ragnar put in the call, but they can drag their feet and let other people do it for them. They might have even called Canna and let him know we were coming. If our informant was right about his timing, he might never show up. I’m just hoping we’re lucky and he was early.”