“It’s unfortunate we couldn’t do this on a call.” Malachi’s smile dimmed for a fraction of a second. “I understand that this is an important matter, but as you implied, I’m a very busy man.”
“Sometimes it’s good to look a man in the eye when you’re questioning him.” Jia gave him a cool look and put a chill in her tone. “Most people aren’t sociopathic enough to lie without giving off a tell. I suppose if they were, civilization would have collapsed a long time ago.”
Malachi frowned, but the downturn of his mouth and narrowed eyes suggested anger more than offense. “I see. I assure you that I don’t intend to lie to you, Detectives. I’m proud of my management of this plant, and it’s unfortunate what happened to Victoria, but I’m sure it has nothing to do with us down here. I know once I have a chance to show you around, you’ll understand that.”
Erik scratched his cheek and glanced at the tall fencing. “Down here, huh? It can’t be fun being stuck in the Zone. It makes some frontier colonies look luxurious.”
“It’s not like I live here.” Malachi scoffed as he rolled his eyes. “I only work here, and I work remotely half the week. Besides, you don’t understand.”
Erik asked. “What don’t we understand?”
Malachi spread out his arms out to his sides with a practiced theatrical flourish. “This place has such a sinister name, Shadow Zone, but I don’t like to think of it that way.”
“You just don’t want to live here,” Erik observed.
“Yet.” Malachi smiled.
Jia interrupted. “If you don’t think of it as the Shadow Zone, what do you think of it as, then?”
“The Land of Opportunity.” Malachi pointed up. “Opportunity raining from above, a mutually beneficial opportunity for those down here and those of us who don’t live here. I’m happy to do my part to improve this great place.”
“But you’re not from the Zone,” Jia pointed out. “You’re not even from Neo SoCal originally. You’re from Greater Seattle. Why do you care so much about the Zone?”
“Do you only care about crime if it’s in Neo SoCal?” he countered, lowering his hand.
“I care about crime everywhere.”
“Exactly.” He pointed at her. “And I care about opportunity everywhere. Anyone who wants to advance themselves in the business world comes to Neo SoCal eventually. I’d expect you to understand that, Detective, given your family background.”
Jia folded her arms. “There’s a reason I decided to become a police officer.”
Malachi’s expression turned appraising. “When I talk about opportunity, I want to stress that I don’t mean solely for myself. I mean, for this community as well. These forgotten people, ignored by so many Uptown, treated like criminals simply for being here. Yes, some antisocials have snuck into the bunch, but your fine department has done a lot to clean those people out. That means we can accomplish our original goal of helping revive this economically depressed area by providing jobs and stability.”
He probably practiced the speech in the mirror, but Jia didn’t point that out. She found a new appreciation for her mother’s and sister’s more direct if cutting manner. They won political struggles at their companies more through force of will than subtlety, not much different from how Jia had handled her time at the department.
“Victoria Dwazil was paying a lot of special attention to this place,” Erik interjected. “But it wasn’t like she was only responsible for overseeing QA in this one plant. We’re not accusing you of anything, but it’s not impossible that someone here is up to something they shouldn’t be.”
“As far as I knew, she had her eye on most if not all of the company plants.” Malachi smiled, but his occasional mouth twitch spoke to his effort in maintaining it. Being nervous around the police didn’t make him guilty. He might not like them taking time out of his day, but it might also mean he had something to hide. “You’re right. Roaches can always sneak in, but I don’t believe we have a problem with that sort of person.”
“You sure there wasn’t a special reason she focused on this plant so much?” Erik pressed. They knew the answer, but sometimes the best way to ferret out who knew the truth was to observe how a suspect lied about it.
Malachi rubbed his chin and furrowed his brow in deep thought before his face twisted in confusion. “That’s a good question, Detective. It’s one I’ve been asking myself a lot these last few weeks.”
“Why the last few weeks?”
“Because Victoria was contacting the plant every day with questions.” Malachi sighed and shook his head. “I understand that QA is her job, but we’re well above quota and our random testing always comes out well, so it was kind of annoying that corporate would be leaning on us so hard.” He waved his hands. “Not that I’m saying they don’t have a right to investigate, but I just didn’t understand why she was so obsessed with us. Maybe she was overcompensating for a bad relationship. I read that most murderers are someone the victim knows.”
Jia stared at him. “That’s true, but that doesn’t mean they have a close, personal relationship. You, for example, knew Victoria.”
The manager’s smile turned pained. “True enough.”
“And you’d characterize her interaction with your plant as ‘obsessed?’ Or is that hyperbole?”
“I don’t know what else to call it.” Malachi let out a quiet sigh of exasperation. “She sent constant messages. I was wasting an hour a day these last few weeks double-checking and triple-checking numbers for her and trying to figure out the reasons for the discrepancies. Admittedly, one was a reporting problem, but it wasn’t a big deal. It’s not like I can shut down the plant to investigate a reporting error, especially when it wasn’t affecting the bottom line, but the QA Queen didn’t seem to understand that.”
“She’s dead,” Jia replied. “And it might be because of her job.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” Malachi insisted.
“Maybe, but it’s not like you’ve never had problems down here,” Jia noted. “You keep acting like this plant’s a perfect operation, but that’s not true.”
“We’ve been at or above quota since this plant opened.” Malachi sniffed. “She was probably just angling for a promotion. I’m sorry about what happened to her, but it’s not our fault down here. You should be Uptown harassing people at corporate. It’s not like they do anything important.”
“Quota isn’t the only thing you can have issues with.” Jia wrinkled her nose. “Smell that lovely Zone scent?”
“You stop noticing when you come here all the time.”
Jia always noticed it. Maybe she’d not come to the Zone often enough. Or Malachi might not pay enough attention to detail, despite his job.
“I noticed in my background checks that the company has been fined for improper disposal at a few plants, including this one,” she explained. “Maybe Victoria was concerned about that.”
Malachi snorted, the corporate mask disappearing as a genuine scowl appeared. “That’s what you think? That I or someone at the plant murdered Victoria Dwazil over a nothing fine that happened last year?” He flung his wrist dismissively. “Whenever you open a facility in a place like this or use probationary workers, issues inevitably arise. Part of our agreement with the Council was that we had to staff with a certain minimum percentage of locals. And, while acknowledging that many people’s presence here in the Zone isn’t their choice, it’s not an area that encourages an excellent work ethic.”
“Meaning what?” Jia challenged.
“Meaning, Detective Lin, that some of the workers here can be a little sloppy. That resulted in corners being cut and the fines you mentioned, but those workers were let go, and we haven’t been fined for improper disposal since then. I won’t let a handful of lazy deadbeat antisocials tarnish this plant’s reputation forever.”
“Oh? So now this plant being here isn’t about uplifting the poor, misunderstood denizens of the Shadow Zone?” Jia snorted.
“Of course it is.” Malachi recovered his composure, along with his plastic smile. “Luminous River is fully invested in improving the Shadow Zone. As I said earlier, mutual benefit.”
“But it doesn’t hurt to have cheaper workers you can blame for being sloppy when things go bad,” Erik observed. “Especially since most believe far worse about people in the Shadow Zone. It sounds like you’ve got a lot of convenient excuses working for you.”
“I think you’re misunderstanding me.” Malachi pressed his mouth in a thin line and took a deep breath through his nose. “Those fines are old news. I’m sure you’re already looking through all the records as part of your investigation. These last few months in particular have been great. What happened was unfortunate, but why would anyone murder a person in QA when our production numbers and quality were all topnotch?”
Jia narrowed her eyes, suspicion almost radiating off her. “That’s a very good question.”
“Detectives,” Emma transmitted directly to Erik and Jia. “Just to be careful, I borrowed access to several cameras and drones in the area. Ten flitters are approaching rapidly from the south, all matching descriptions of vehicles registered Uptown but stolen. We have to assume altered transponders, but that’s not the important part. They all contain men holding weapons, including two with rocket launchers.”
Jia spun toward Malachi. “You need to evacuate the plant immediately.”
The manager scoffed. “We’re in the middle of a shift.”
“That’s a police order. We have people flying in from the south with heavy weapons. I doubt they’re here for a pollution protest. Now evacuate the plant!” Jia stomped over to him and glared at him, her face right in his. “Or I’ll make sure you’re charged with reckless endangerment and whatever else I can think up if anyone gets hurt.”
“This would never happen Uptown.” Malachi stepped away from Jia, sighed, and tapped his PNIU a few times. Ear-splitting alarms sounded from all around the plant grounds. Bright flashing blue and white orbs appeared above every building and along the fence.
“Warning!” shouted a stern female voice. The sound overlapped from speakers spread throughout the complex and even Malachi’s PNIU. “Mandatory evacuation is in effect. Fire suppression and chemical containment protocols may be deployed. Please evacuate to your designated north-side safety zone. Do not approach the south side. I repeat, do not approach the south side.”
“We have security,” Malachi shouted over the alarm. “They’re trained for this. I’m sure this is just some local gang trying a shakedown. You’re overreacting.”
“Or the people who murdered Victoria,” Jia replied, gesturing toward the sky. “Get your security ready. We’ve got ten flitters incoming, with at least two rocket launchers.”
“R-rocket launchers?” Malachi swallowed, looking at the sky. “That does sound dangerous.”
Jia ran toward the MX 60, yelling over her shoulder, “Make sure all the workers have armed guards with them as they evacuate! We don’t know what the other guys are planning. This could be a massacre if we don’t handle it aggressively.”
“You have about three minutes before they arrive,” Emma reported.
“Do whatever you can to stop the bastards with the rocket launchers,” Erik ordered, sprinting behind Jia. “And get cop reinforcements here yesterday.”
“I don’t have any weapons, Detective. Hacking a flitter control system remotely isn’t that—"
“We’ll get our gear, and then you get up there. Ram them if you have to. If you can bring even one down, it’ll be worth it.” Jia opened her side of the flitter as he reached it.
Emma scoffed. “Perhaps you forget, I’m in this vehicle. If it is destroyed, I’ll perish as well.”
“We fight people all the time who could blow our heads off.” Erik caught the TR-7 as Jia tossed it to him. “Risk your own damned life if you want respect.”
Jia grabbed grenades and stuffed them in her pockets. She reached into the back to snag a tactical vest and threw it to Erik before taking one for herself. “We don’t have a lot of options or time here, Emma.”
“Risking a unique AI to save fleshbags you don’t even know,” Emma grumbled. “It’s not a good trade, but I’ll see what I can do.”
Chapter Fifteen
Erik stuffed magazines into his pockets like a desperate man hoarding food after starving for weeks.
Jia swept the sky with an assault rifle. He didn’t worry about this being a sign of a relapse into bloodthirstiness. A woman didn’t show up to fight rocket launchers with a stun pistol.
He looked over his shoulder.
Ten dots jerked and wove in the distance. He had done some maintenance work on the laser rifle and the launcher the previous evening, but it wasn’t like he could fly back home to pick them up. They’d need to rely on Emma to contain the rocket launchers. He’d handle everyone else with the TR-7.
Loud rifle fire erupted from the security towers. If the snipers could take down the flitters before they rained hellfire on a chemical plant, it would help. The thick, reinforced walls of the containment tank might be able to take a beating, but Erik didn’t want to bet anyone’s life on how well they could take multiple direct rocket hits or even a direct collision with a flitter.
Emma hadn’t given any indication the vehicles were fitted with explosives, but that didn’t mean it was certain. She could see more than the average human, but sensors missed things.
Erik backed away from the MX 60 and slid his TR-7 off his shoulder before selecting four-barrel mode. The dots resolved into flitters. They broke formation, all heading different directions. Emma activated full power, and the MX 60 tore into the sky.
Malachi watched as the luxury flitter zoomed into the sky. “You’re evacuating your flitter? I get that it’s expensive, but it’s hardly the fir—”
“Shut it,” Jia ordered. “We’re trying to stop a chemical spill, not save Erik’s bank account. You might know something about managing a chemical plant, but we’ve got a lot more experience with violent criminals and terrorists.”
Malachi nodded quickly and took another step away from Jia, his lip trembling even though he towered over her. Erik chuckled.
The manager might not be able to hear Emma, but he should have at least assumed they weren’t totally self-interested. A bright yellow indicator arrow appeared in Erik’s smart lenses.
“I’m marking the other flitter with known heavy weapons,” Emma reported. “I’ll handle the blue one with some absurd stratagem that unnecessarily risks my existence.” She infused the words with thick derision.
“Now you’re really learning from us.” Erik spun until he was lined up with the second vehicle. Any regrets about not grabbing his heavy weapons vanished as he watched the erratic flight path of his target. Attacking fixed ground targets was easier than defending against moving aerial enemies.
The approaching flitters bobbed, wove, and rolled. Erik couldn’t help but be impressed by the maneuvers.
It was too bad he’d have to kill the people pulling them off.
Rifle fire continued from the towers. All the impressive dodging might keep the approaching flitters from taking disabling hits, but it was also slowing their approach. Every second of delay meant another second for reinforcements to arrive.
It was time for Erik to add his efforts. He lifted his gun and lined up a shot, not bothering with aim assist. In situations like this, it could not take all the variables into account as well as he could from thirty years of experience. The TR-7 came alive, spitting out a burst. He was glad they were in the Zone where the skies weren’t choked with flitters.
“The more they’re dodging, the less they’re shooting,” Erik noted.
Emma sped toward her prey. Erik’s jaw tightened as the MX 60 closed on the other flitter and flew right in front of it. The suspects’ flitter banked to the left at the last moment, avoiding the collision but keeping them away. He had to trust that the AI’s desire for self-preservati
on would keep her from doing anything too crazy, but after his speech and his examples over the last year, that might be hoping too much.
One of the other flitters spun out of control after several more sniper shots.
It rolled as it plummeted to the ground, crashing outside the fence. A cloud of smoke and debris billowed into the sky. More approaching flitters spiraled out of control, one crashing into the fence and ripping through it with a resounding crunch. It flipped onto its side and skidded into a building, embedding itself in the wall.
“That’s going to leave a mark.” Erik chuckled.
With a flash of red and yellow, a rocket shot from the back of the yellow flitter, Erik’s target. Another rocket blasted from the blue flitter. Neither was heading toward the MX 60 or Erik or Jia. The rockets sped along, leaving a trail of gray smoke.
Malachi groaned. “Oh, no. The repair costs al—”
The first rocket exploded against a security tower. Burning men careened to the ground, screaming and waving their arms. The second rocket took out another tower, but this time, the guards leapt out before impact. The steep drop was survivable, but not without broken legs.
“Get your people out of there,” Jia shouted to Malachi.
“I-I don’t control that. The security chief does, and…” Malachi’s teeth chattered. “This is ridiculous! Why is this happening?”
“Yeah, good question,” Erik muttered.
Malachi yelped and crouched, his hands over his head even though the damaged towers were not close.
Emma charged the blue flitter again, forcing him off-course. Another rocket ripped away from the back of the vehicle, but the awkward angle sent it past its likely target, another security tower, and it exploded against a fence.
“Keep up the pressure, Emma,” Erik yelled. “You just saved some fleshbag lives.”
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