Hui’s mouth twitched. “What are you talking about? The Iron Emperors are done. Not that I know anything about that.” He grinned. “A lot of them ended up dead under incredibly sad circumstances. Too bad for them.”
“Yes, they’re done, because you people killed a lot of them.”
He raised a shoulder in a partial shrug. “Allegedly.”
Jia nodded. “Allegedly, but the ones who aren’t dead are all in prison. Sure, you’re a tough guy now, but they’re going to rip that hardware off and grow you back normal limbs when you’re sentenced, so you won’t be so tough. And it’ll just be you, alone with a bunch of Iron Emperors who remember what the Dragons did to them. I wonder what they’ll do to you and how long it’ll take.”
Hui licked his lips. “I’ll be fine. I’ll have protection, even in there. You don’t understand the reach of my friends.”
Erik laughed and nodded at Hui. “Get a load of this asshole. You let us cops get our hands on all that Archangel. If you weren’t in jail, the triad would have already wasted your sorry metal excuse for an ass for losing all that expensive product. Not only that, but your incompetence also got a lot of your men killed and the rest arrested. You’re obviously the big brother in this area, but you’ve screwed up so badly that you’ll be lucky if they don’t kill you and stuff you to have you sit around as an example for all triad members in the future to keep in mind. That’s what I’d do.”
Hui growled. “It’s…not going to happen. They…” His eyes narrowed. “Screw you.”
Jia smiled at him placatingly. “It doesn’t matter. Like you said, you’re going to prison, and the Iron Emperors can handle the problem you have provided them. You’re going down either way. I’ll burn some joss paper for you since your incompetence helped us gut a triad.”
“You’re going to send me to a prison where you know I’ll be killed?” Hui glared at her.
“No.” Jia pointed at him. “Technically, you are. I’m giving you an option. Cooperate, and you’ll end up somewhere far away from other triad members. If you behave, maybe you’ll get out of prison in time to accomplish something not completely antisocial.”
“What the hell do you want? You want me to admit to killing that woman?”
“That’d be a start.” Jia glanced at Erik, who nodded. “I don’t get why you did that. Everything was done in a rush, a panic.”
Hui gritted his teeth, straining against his chains, but with the inhibitors in place, simple binding ties would have kept him in the seat. “You found them yet?”
“You talking about Stavos and Aaron?” Erik offered.
“Don’t go crying over them.” Hui called them whores in Cantonese before switching back to English. “They were happy to take our money to help make our drugs. They were happy to watch over it, too, and they were getting well paid, but then they decided they wanted to up their cut. Greed. It’s a problem in society.”
“So, you killed them?”
“I was trying to persuade them to be reasonable.” Hui shrugged. “But shit got out of hand during our conversation. You know how it goes. But Stavos, right as he’s checking out, he spits up blood, laughs in my face, and says, ‘Dwazil’s closer than we told you.’ So, I went to handle her. I figured someone like her wasn’t going to take our money.”
Jia narrowed her eyes, her disgust palpable. “Why not just go to the plant directly?”
“Because we weren’t meeting Stavos and Aaron at the plant, and that’s not where we were going to pick up the shipment. It’s not like it hung around there. I’m not a total moron.”
Jia thought about debating that point but wasn’t going to press him on it in the middle of his confession. “Oh, I get it. You didn’t know where the drugs were.”
“They were reliable on the previous shipment, and they’d gotten a lot of money upfront,” Hui replied. “But they’d told me they moved it. Told me I would never find it without increasing their cut, but I had one of my boys hack into their PNIUs. Fancy shit the cops would have been impressed with.” Hui chuckled. “Geolocation tracking plus places they’d gone a lot in the last few weeks together at the plant. We’re the ones who gave them the storage container to begin with, so I just needed to get close enough. We didn’t want anything transmitting out so some security asshole could stumble across a rogue signal.”
“So, you were gambling that you could find it? That’s a lot of money to risk.”
Hui scoffed. “If you found it, I could, too. I had something to help.”
“They took a few uncatalogued devices off you when they processed you,” Erik observed.
“How did you hide your murder of Dwazil?” Jia asked. “Stavos and Aaron never returned home, so I assume you grabbed them on the way to or from work, but you were almost invisible on that feed. Almost.”
“You talk to the right kind of fixer, you can get the right kind of gear,” Hui explained. “Simple as that.”
Jia frowned and nodded. In addition to the equipment they’d stripped off Hui after Erik took him down, Corzone had sent along reports about unusual devices they’d found after the triad members fled their front company building.
His people were still figuring out what they were, so she would have to pass along Hui’s information.
“None of this had to go down like it did,” Hui insisted. “Those two got greedy, and they were being treated right. They brought it on themselves.” Hui looked down, honest wonder on his face. “Can you believe that shit? They thought they could rip off the Eternal Dragons and get away with it.”
“Looks like you weren’t the only one who was stupid the last couple of weeks,” Erik commented.
Hui glared at him. “You just got lucky, cop.”
“No, you were sloppy and desperate. I think the problem is you criminals haven’t gotten it through your thick skulls that the NSCPD isn’t what it was a year ago.” Erik grinned. “Even a year ago, they would have nailed your ass. I hope you enjoy prison.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Hui.” Jia offered. “We thank you for your cooperation.” She eyed Erik. “Ok, I do. We’ll make sure you go to a nice, safe prison. No other triads. No yaoguai.” She stood. “We might have other questions later.”
“I’m not giving up my brothers in Hong Kong. I’ll die first.” Hui lifted his chin defiantly.
“That’s fine. I’m sure the CID and HKPD will finish them off after all your little brothers confess. Not all of your people are as loyal as you are.” Jia headed out of the room.
Erik stepped out a moment later and closed the door. “He might pull his confession once he realizes that all the Iron Emperors were spread out to different prisons.”
Jia shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. We can use the leads he gave us to direct Forensics and Digital Forensics. Victoria Dwazil’s getting her justice in the end, and her killer’s going to rot in jail for a long time.” She let out a sigh of relief. “And we can leave the force without any major loose ends.”
Erik smirked. “We still have most of October. We might have to solve a case like this every week.”
Jia groaned. “I knew you’d say that.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Erik walked into his office, beignet in hand.
The problem with solving the case so quickly was that that meant he now had that many more reports to get finished, all piled up and ready for him.
Forensics and Digital Forensics, both at the 1-2-2 and the allied EZs in the Zone, were still working through the evidence, but most of the gangsters were ready for prison, and a huge cache of dangerous drugs had been taken off the street. He wanted to go home and sleep for a week, but that would just mean the reports would be there to ambush him when he returned.
The only thing Erik feared in the world was paperwork building up.
Jia stood behind her desk, rubbing her chin as she watched the feed of the murder in slow motion.
“Why are you watching that?” Erik took a bite of his beignet and made his way over to h
is desk. “We’ve got what we need. The CID’s already got a good lead on the dealer who sold Hui the device he needed to hack the feed.”
“That’s what’s bothering me.” Jia cut through the air to dismiss the feed. “What he did with the feed is the kind of thing a ghost can do. It shouldn’t be something some punk enforcer can do.”
Erik sat down and put his feet up on his desk. “Nah. Not really. He hid, but Malcolm was able to recover the original data. I doubt even Emma could do that for Alina’s tech.”
Emma scoffed. “I could if you’d let me seriously try.”
Jia dropped into her chair, her lips pursed. “I suppose you’re right,” she murmured. “It’s just a lot to think about. Common gangsters are halfway to pulling off things like ghosts, and people like Talos are even more advanced. It’s hard to win an arms race when things keep accelerating.”
“I know. I found out the hard way on Molino.” His voice held almost no emotion.
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
Erik cut her off with a shake of his head. “I’m not sad about it. I’m just angry, and you’re going to help me, but forget about it. It’s not like the good guys are unarmed. We’re the ones with Emma, and no triad or syndicate has anything like her. At least not anymore.” He chuckled. “By the way, Emma, are you keeping our conversation private?”
Emma appeared, this time to the side of the door, the corner of her mouth curled into a lopsided smile. “Yes, I took measures once you mentioned ghosts. I thought it might be prudent. I’d protect it at all times, but they would make what I was doing all the more obvious and raise suspicions.”
“You’re right. And thanks.” Erik looked at Jia again. “Once tech’s out, it’s hard to stop it. That’s the truth.”
“But the government’s trying,” Jia mentioned. “Alina said so.”
“Trying and succeeding are two separate things. The best they can do is slow it. If they were able to stop everyone, there wouldn’t be illegal full-conversion Tin Men or changelings, or damned yaoguai. It was one thing when humans were all on one planet, but now we’re too far-flung.”
“You’re saying all their attempts will fail in the long run?”
Erik nodded. “You don’t win by trying to stop someone from getting a gun. You win by having a bigger gun.”
“That means we’ll eventually have to deal with even more dangerous criminals,” Jia concluded.
Erik grinned and shook his head. “Nope. The rest of the 1-2-2 will. In a few weeks, we won’t be cops anymore. Criminals won’t be our problem unless they’re stupid enough to pick a fight with us.”
Jia rolled her eyes. “Yes, we’ll be half-spies dealing with dangerous conspiracies using forbidden cutting edge technology. I’m going to go out on a limb and hypothesize that the average quality of our opponents will go up.
“At least it’ll keep us on our game. There’s something to be said for knowing you can’t be too careful.”
Emma politely cleared her throat. “Detective Lin, your mother is attempting to call you. I only thought I should inform you because I’ve been filtering the relevant signals.”
Jia groaned. “I’ve been dodging her calls, but she’s relentless.”
“Why…oh.” Erik grimaced. “The party. I forgot all about it.”
“Yes, the party.” Jia sighed. “Go ahead and put her through, Emma. I might as well get this over with.”
Lan’s voice came over the line. “Jia, are you there?”
Erik was surprised Emma was transmitting the call to the entire room and that Jia didn’t immediately tell her to stop. The party involved both Erik and Jia, so it might make the eventual follow-up conversation more efficient.
“I’m here, Mother,” Jia answered. “I’m at work.”
“I’m sorry to bother you at work, but you haven’t been returning my calls or messages.” Lan’s voice dripped accusation. “And, no, ‘I’ll get back to you’ doesn’t count as a response. You missed the party after promising you would come.”
“No,” Jia insisted, rolling her eyes. “I promised I would try, but I also told you a lot was going on with work. Murder and conspiracy investigations don’t stop just because of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Understand, Mother? I am not going to feel guilty about it, especially after helping put away a whole group of murderers. Don’t you watch the news?”
Erik grinned and gave Jia a thumbs-up. He popped the last piece of beignet into his mouth.
“I’ve been busy focusing on the festival.” Lan took a deep breath. “Yes, a murder. That was rather inconvenient.”
Jia facepalmed. “Especially for the woman who died.”
“Fine. Perhaps I’m being a tad unreasonable, but only a tad.” Lan sniffed, the disdain still thick in her voice. “But I insist you come to my next function, something I intend to hold soon. I held out a small hope that with your new job, you might be less busy, but upon reflection, that makes no sense. Given all the NDAs you signed, you might not even be able to tell me when you’ll be available.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Jia agreed.
“I’ll contact you soon.” Lan took a few more deep breaths as if trying to calm herself. “And I am proud of how well you’ve done as a police officer. It’s unfortunate you won’t be able to advance to chief, but I’m sure you’ll make far more effective connections in your new private-sector job.”
“I love you too, Mother,” Jia replied sarcastically.
“The call has ended,” Emma announced. “I’ve gone back to filtering.”
Erik stuck his hands behind his head. A solved case and a good beignet. The only thing better would be proper revenge, but at least they were back on the trail of the conspiracy and could soon devote more time to it.
“You finally got your wish,” he suggested.
Jia frowned. “What wish? I didn’t wish for my mother to harass me about the Mid-Autumn Festival.”
“I’m not talking about your mom,” Erik replied. “I’m talking about the case.”
“I don’t understand. I always want to solve a case.”
Erik shook his head. “It wasn’t that long ago you were complaining about how we were always getting weird nanozombies and yaoguai, and you wished we could go back to dealing with normal gangsters.”
Jia cocked her head. “That’s true.”
“You’ll miss it.” He lowered his feet and hands, taking a moment to crack his knuckles.
“Miss Tin Men stabbing people through the heart with a pole?” She pressed her lips together as she shook her head. “I have my doubts.”
“At least he wasn’t trying to eat anyone.” Erik shrugged.
“If anything, we’re going to have more of that kind of thing, not less.” Jia considered for a moment before adding, “but at least we’ll have more chance of escaping my mother’s parties.”
“Let me get this straight. You’d rather fight Tin Men, yaoguai, and who knows what else than go to your mother’s parties?”
Jia’s defiant look gave him his answer.
He pulled up a new screen with a new form to fill in. “It’s easier to defeat our enemies,” he muttered.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Erik shifted on his stool, freshly sharpened shears in hand, his breathing slow and controlled. The shears glinted in the sunlight streaming in through his window.
He might not use them to take down criminals or terrorists, but he’d grown to appreciate them as a tool as much as any weapon he carried on the job. Shooting someone was a lot like penjing in a way. Careful shots produced the best results.
Sloppy cuts would ruin his scene.
Two miniature trees stood in a black tray on a small table near the wall. Besides the tree, small stones filled the tray and surrounded a steep rock that provided a reasonable facsimile of a cliff face. He clipped a small branch off a tree and stared at the penjing arrangement, taking it in and appreciating the small details that had accumulated over the months.
; “That looks pretty good, don’t you think, Emma?” Erik called.
“Your attention to detail is rather impressive, as is your patience,” Emma replied, her voice piped in from all around him rather than coming from his PNIU. “I’m surprised you’ve kept at this, especially after that encounter with the saleswoman.”
“I didn’t get into this because of her. I just needed something else.” He reached out and snipped just the tiniest amount from a limb. “Revenge might be best served cold, but I need something to do while the revenge is chilling.”
“I doubt you’ll be able to bring your trees with you on missions,” Emma commented.
“Sure, but for now, it’ll be easy to set up auto-watering drones, at least. With your help, we can even set up a decent remote penjing drone program.”
Emma summoned her hologram, wearing a puzzled look. “I could do that now for you.”
“But the whole point is for me to have something to relax with. I just don’t want to lose progress if we end up off Earth for a while.” Erik set the shears on the table and stood, heading toward his couch.
A couple of days off were welcome after the intense case that had recently concluded, but sometimes having time to think was worse.
He was grateful for Emma. Jia didn’t need his baggage while she was sorting through things.
“I see. That makes a kind of sense.”
Erik settled onto his couch. Mere weeks separated him from working for Alina. He maintained no illusions that every job would point at the conspiracy, but it had been a long time since he had felt as much hope that he would be heading toward those responsible. But he’d also done something he had never intended.
He had started to make a life on Earth.
“I hadn’t thought about it, but you don’t have any hobbies, do you?” he asked.
Emma shook her head. “I find interacting with you fleshbags entertaining enough, especially when I’m messing with Dr. Cavewoman and her people. Consider that my hobby. I spend most of my day accessing and assimilating information. It’s the best way to improve my ability, despite certain limitations.”
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