“What about vehicles coming and going to the building?” Jia asked.
“I looked into that yesterday.” Malcolm shook his head. “Nothing stands out. There’s nothing close to the time of the murder, and no indication those camera feeds were modified.”
“A masked suspect with no DNA.” Erik snorted. “Not a lot of leads there.”
“Hey, at least you know he’s a cyborg. That’s something, right?”
“Let’s just hope it’ll be enough.” Jia narrowed her eyes at the data window.
Jia rubbed her eyes. “I’ve been staring at employee files for hours. I never thought I’d say this, but I almost wish Richard was being less helpful instead of sending over so much.”
“You think he’s trying to bury us in evidence?” Erik stretched his arms above his head before lifting his feet and placing them on the desk. “He’s kind of an idiot, but I don’t think he’s involved.
“I don’t either. No suspect could put on a performance like that.” Jia pointed at a data window displaying an image of a smiling man from the company’s maintenance division. “We did ask for all employees with known or previous cybernetic enhancements. I suppose we’re lucky there weren’t thousands.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Erik rested his head in his hand. “None of them fit what we saw of our suspect. We double-checked all the ones who fit the build, and almost none of them have cybernetic limb replacements.”
Jia’s gaze lingered on his arm. “I’m still surprised you haven’t replaced it after all these years.”
“I told you—”
“It’s lucky,” Jia finished. “But it might not be as lucky for our suspect, and it’s not like they could hide a cybernetic arm if they worked for the company. Luminous River requires the same standard physical and genetic inspection that most companies do.”
Erik scoffed. “Yeah, have to make sure no Purist associations boycott your company. It’s crap, too. It’s not like having a cybernetic arm is illegal, but the way they all act, anyone who doesn’t meet their standards might as well be a criminal.”
“They’re not all like those psychos we dealt with recently.” Jia sighed. “But you have a point.”
“There are a lot more non-pure people out there than people want to admit, especially in the colonies. I wonder if groups like our friendly neighborhood psycho Friends of Purity will get worse when they realize that.”
“Maybe.” Jia dismissed the data windows. “But I doubt this case has anything to do with Purists, Grayheads, changelings, or even terrorists. The victim and company profiles aren’t right.”
“The tech they used to spoof the feeds isn’t off-the-shelf gear,” Erik observed.
“That’s what worries me. But if this was some spy versus spy game, Alina would probably have given us a head’s up.”
“You really think she’s going to tell us all of the ID’s business just because we’ll be doing odd jobs for her?” Erik chuckled. “I envy your optimism.”
“It’s not that,” Jia insisted. “It’s more that if she doesn’t tell us, she stands a chance of us interfering. But assuming it has nothing to do with her kind of ghosts, that sends us back to the beginning. We’ve got no motive. We have a suspect we can’t identify. Without something decent, we can’t do much except question people who don’t have any obvious link to the victim, and none of them even have the right kind of hardware.”
Erik dropped his legs to the floor and sat up. “It’s not the first time we’ve hit a dead-end in the investigation.”
“The who can come later. We know the how.” Jia frowned. “If we knew the why, that would drive everything. By process of elimination, we circle back to the same place. It’s most likely related to her job, which means there might be something in the QA records.”
Emma appeared in the middle of the room. “The probability of a bizarre conspiracy theory must now be increased. I’m receiving a coded message from Agent Koval that’s being routed through the Rabbit. It’s not simply me intercepting a PNIU message for Erik. She’s being unusually safe.”
“She might just be trying to get us used to that kind of thing.” Erik grunted in irritation. “This better not turn out to be ghost crap. What’s the message say?”
“She’s requesting a meeting in a couple of hours and has sent an address,” Emma replied. “It appears to be a mid-tier restaurant. Your normal clothing should suffice.”
“What do we do if this does turn out to be an ID case?” Jia asked.
“We’re still cops for now, even if we accepted her offer,” Erik suggested. “And if this was about burying the case, she would have brought the captain into the loop.”
“Unless she thinks she owns us now.”
Erik’s grin turned vicious. “Then it’s as good a time as any to correct her.”
Chapter Nine
The door to the restaurant opened and they entered, to be fully embraced by the warmth and glory of the atmosphere inside.
Succulent, mouth-watering scents laid siege to Erik’s nose. Cumin, garam masala, turmeric, and other spices dominated the air.
His stomach rumbled in abject surrender. His light dinner wasn’t enough to give it the strength it needed to resist. A happy couple sat at a table a few meters away with a large blue bowl of butter chicken in front of them, juicy and delicious. Dozens of people filled the restaurant, all chatting while gobbling down their late meal.
Erik was beginning to see the disadvantages of meeting in a restaurant.
“Not exactly the middle of nowhere,” Jia murmured. “I’m a little surprised.”
Erik nodded in agreement. He still didn’t have a good handle on Alina, but as a ghost for the Intelligence Directorate, her unpredictability was likely a carefully and intentionally planned method of manipulation.
He didn’t doubt she ultimately saw them as an expendable weapon to use against the shadowy enemies of the UTC, but that didn’t bother him. He wouldn’t have been spending his time hunting the conspiracy if he was worried about getting hurt.
At least this way, he had one group of conspiratorial, shadowy agents helping him against another.
A smiling hostess in a crisp white shirt and a long black skirt smiled at them from the podium. “Welcome to Blessings of Hyderabad. Just two this evening?”
“A friend of ours already has a table,” Erik replied.
“What’s her name?”
“It’s okay,” Jia replied. “We see her.”
According to Alina’s message, she would be at the farthest table back and to the left from where they entered. A redheaded woman in a suit sat in that seat, not looking their way. She nibbled on her naan like a careful mouse. She didn’t resemble Alina from a distance, not that it meant anything, given the woman’s penchant for disguises.
Jia offered a polite nod to the hostess before stepping past the podium and heading toward the table. Erik matched her pace, glancing around the restaurant.
If anything went down, they’d have to contain the situation until the civilians could flee, or it’d be a bloodbath. He was surprised that Alina would pick a place so full of people, given how she’d contacted them, but in a sick way, the other diners acted as human shields. Conspiracies that massacred restaurants filled with people stood out, and that worked against them.
The thought helped comfort Erik as they walked toward the redhead’s table, but not enough.
There was a vague resemblance to Alina in the woman’s eyes, but they were the wrong color. Her hair was short, and she had a good ten kilos on Alina. She could be the spy using any combination of disguise technologies, or she could be a random woman having a meal. She might even be someone working for Talos or a syndicate. It wasn’t like ID agents were never caught. The government just didn’t announce it to the entire UTC.
The woman smiled up at them. “Can I help you?” she asked, a faint hint of a French accent in her voice.
Erik looked at Jia. Alina had given the code phrase, but he was hesit
ant to use it without more evidence they had the right woman. It’d take him a while to get used to working with spies. He might have kept a lot of things to himself as a cop, but once they’d pushed out the first captain, he knew he could trust the average cop on the force.
Jia brought her fist to her mouth and cleared her throat before offering the code phrase, a quote. “Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy.”
Erik frowned. She was normally more careful. They might have just given the go-ahead for someone to go after them. Emma should be able to warn them if anyone approached the MX 60. Even if their enemies somehow knew about her, there wasn’t a lot they could do to stop her.
“It’s her.” Jia glanced his way. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice already.”
“Notice what?” Erik’s frown deepened, and he looked around until he had an observational epiphany. “Oh. Got you.”
He chuckled. She was right, he hadn’t noticed. A room full of dozens of diners, but he couldn’t hear their low voices and laughter nor the clatter of their silverware. They were in a void, where they could only hear their own voices.
Jia lowered herself into a seat across from the woman, her hand inside her jacket, obviously resting on her slugthrower. Not so trusting after all. “Don’t you have something for us, too?”
“The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide,” the woman quoted in Mandarin.
Jia let out a sigh of relief and dropped her hand. Erik was grateful Alina hadn’t made them memorize the first code phrase in ancient Greek.
Erik took a seat. “Feeling ghostlike today?”
“I’m glad to see you could remember everything, cut off from Emma.” The voice was unmistakably Alina’s, the French accent gone.
Erik looked down at his PNIU. The other diners weren’t the only noise he was cut off from. He’d gotten so used to Emma’s omnipresence, he often forgot that in practical terms, she lived in the MX 60, not his PNIU.
“You don’t always jam her,” he noted. “Do you have a reason for that? I’m not trying to be a dick, but it doesn’t hurt to be a little more suspicious now that I’m a junior ghost.”
“Junior ghost?” Alina snickered. “Is that how you think of it?”
“Or merc ghost. But the question’s the same.”
Alina gave him an easy smile. “Sometimes it’s best for humans to decide what they want to share, don’t you think? Emma’s a questionable entity at times, and implicitly trusting her in all situations might be inadvisable.”
“Without Emma, we’d be dead.” Jia glared at her.
“Jia’s right. I trust Emma.” Erik stared at her defiantly. She needed to understand that this deal would be on their terms, not hers. “You don’t have to, but I do. If that’s going to be a problem, we should reconsider our relationship.”
“Calm down, both of you.” Alina smiled mischievously. “I’m not saying you have to rid yourself of the AI. I understand what an asset she is, but you’ll find, now that we’re working together more closely, I’ll be relying on additional safety precautions and techniques for confirmation. It’s easier to handle things purely technologically only when we’re not chatting as regularly. That includes blocking her on occasion, and things like the code phrases.”
“Fine.” Jia sighed. “Did you call us here about the Luminous River murder?”
Alina’s brow lifted. Her smile remained more impish than mocking. “I saw something on the news about that. If it has anything to do with our extended interests, I’m not aware of it, and I’ll leave it to you to figure out.”
“Is this more test shit?” Erik asked. “I’m getting tired of hoops.”
She shook her head, her smile fading. “I can assure you it’s not. I genuinely don’t know anything about that incident. Do you have reason to believe it’s not a local matter?”
“No. Not yet. It was the timing of you contacting us that got us thinking. When you show up, it usually ends with us having to shoot a lot.”
“I understand. I apologize for any confusion. I thought it would be useful to update you on the preparations for your job change.” Alina gave him an apologetic smile. She gestured to a plate stacked with buttered naan. “Feel free. I wasn’t sure if you’d want anything, but I ordered some extra bread, just in case.”
“Is there a problem with the prep?” Erik’s stomach rumbled again. He snatched a piece of naan and tore off a huge chunk, barely bothering to chew before swallowing. He was hungrier than he had realized.
“No problem.” Alina nodded to the bread and looked at Jia. After the other woman shook her head, Alina continued, “Everything’s moving rather smoothly, despite all the nested cover companies we’re having to create. I’m not going to sit here and claim it’s impossible for someone to pierce the corporate disguises we’ve set up, but it won’t be something even the not-so-average person can pull off. Your main corporate identity will be as contractors for Cassandra Security. I’ve got a wonderful number of ways to contact them, and a nice little history. That sort of thing. Although there will be some interface with certain ID front companies, Cassandra is something new we’ve created for you two. That lowers the chance of anyone linking you to the Directorate.”
Jia’s questioning look didn’t portend anything good. “Are you trying to say something with the name?”
“Don’t worry. Cassandra had prophecy to help her out. We’ve got you two. When the enemy shows up, you can kill them. You don’t have to rely on the gods.” Alina grabbed her fork and pulled a piece of chicken out of her bowl. “In a sense, it’s also a joke. I’m hoping that anyone who becomes aware of you doesn’t believe you’re accomplishing anything of note. I’m even going to spread false rumors with Directorate resources to encourage that belief. I hope you’re not insulted. You’re going to go from the most famous cops on Earth to two shadows among billions, contractors working for a small company. People will assume you’ve sold out.”
“We’re not in it for the fame. And people already have made that assumption.” Jia finally gave in and took a piece of naan. “But that sounds like it’d be easier for us.”
“You can’t totally disappear, but a lower profile will help. Even if this ends with you not being a useful asset after taking down Talos or whoever is backing them, you’ll have accomplished a lot.”
“Avenging my unit is enough for me,” Erik offered.
“And taking down a UTC-wide conspiracy is enough for me,” Jia explained.
Erik finished his last bite and swallowed. “Since we’re talking about preparations, maybe we should also talk about the ship situation.”
“What about it?” Alina asked. “Is there a problem with the ship?”
“Come on.” Erik shrugged. “Not trying to be greedy, but there’s no way we’ll stay on Earth for everything you’ll want us to do. We need the proper resources.”
Alina nodded slowly, a curious glint in her eye. “That’s true, but I don’t understand. I’ve provided a ship and a pilot.”
“What about something a little sexier?” Erik suggested.
“Excuse me? Sexier? How is a ship sexy?”
“You know. Sexy. Like, my flitter is sexier than most flitters.” Erik grinned.
Alina smirked. “I didn’t come here to talk about your kinks.”
“I want something sexier and a little bigger,” Erik continued. “If we’re going to be flying around the UTC, we shouldn’t be stuck in a cramped transport. It doesn’t even have any guns. Talos has cutting-edge tech, and while you’ve given us some neat toys, you’ve given us a basic ship with nice ways to hide things.”
Alina eyed him, her mouth remaining curled in a small smile, this one much more mocking. “It’s not only a good, reliable ship, but it’s also perfect for this kind of work. Sexy stands out, Erik. The whole point is to not stand out.” Her gaze flicked over to Jia. “I assume you don’t agree?”
“I agree with Erik,” Jia responded.
Alina raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
Jia’s face remained impassive. “I’m not as interested in a sexy ship as Erik, but something with a little more capability would be helpful. There’s a lot we’ve only been able to do because Erik’s MX 60 is heavily modified, and at least with the flitter, we’ve always had back up to call on. Flying around in deep space, it might come down to what we have on that ship.”
Alina looked at Erik and Jia, her smile lingering. “I see. I didn’t anticipate you’d feel that way.”
Something about the way she spoke made Erik suspicious. She hadn’t explicitly told him another ship was off the table. Stressing the useful features of the Rabbit struck him as a temporary placation. Just because she wanted to play games, it didn’t mean he had to like it.
“What are you hiding?” he asked.
“Hiding?” Alina set down her fork. “Why do you think I’m hiding something? Obviously, I have access to many pieces of classified intelligence that I’m not going to freely share with you, but I’ve tried to be very open about everything that’s relevant. I know you might never trust me, but I’m not trying to screw you.”
“You’re a ghost.” Erik’s lopsided grin challenged her borderline smirk. “Even when you have no reason to lie, you can’t help it. I doubt you can go ten minutes without lying.”
She eyed him for at least five seconds before lifting her right shoulder in a shrug. “That’s truer than I’d like to admit.” Alina laughed. “I’ll look into things, but for now, you’ll have to be satisfied with the less sexy ship.”
“What about mechanics and engineers?” Erik gestured toward his PNIU unconsciously. “Decent drones and systems access mean Emma could handle some repairs, and Cutter already said he can handle basics, too, but at the end of the day, that’s not the same thing as having a dedicated mechanic or engineer. You gave us a ship because you’re planning to send us to places other than Earth, and we don’t want to end up floating in space waiting for rescue because we didn’t have someone who knows what they’re doing.”
Maelstrom of Treason Page 7