“Yeah, I know who you are.” Erik moved his bag to the other hand and shook his hand. “Erik Blackwell.”
“I know who you are, too. That’s why I’m here.”
Kane moved to shake Jia’s hand before Lei followed up with a handshake and greeting. Erik and Jia exchanged looks. Emma had made it clear there were no incidents at the match, so they weren’t sure why the two players had sought them out. There was plenty of security to handle petty incidents.
“Did you need something?” Erik asked.
Jia cleared her throat. “Would you mind delivering a message to your goa—” She stopped and folded her arms at Erik’s “not now” look.
Kane shook his head. “Someone told us the Obsidian Detective and Lady Justice were here. From what we’ve heard, you come to most of our home matches. I didn’t realize we were so popular with you.”
“I’m a fan,” Erik admitted with a shrug. “And there’s nothing like seeing a match in person.” He shook his bag. “The whole arena experience and all that. The crackers don’t have the same crunch at home.”
“He converted me,” Jia added, along with a smile. “But I can’t disagree. Running stats is fun at home, but the action being right in front of you is another thing. The roar of the crowd, the thud of impacts.”
Kane chuckled and turned to Lei. “I told you they’d be like this.”
Lei shrugged.
“Like what?” Jia asked.
“Just normal fans. We might be in the news more than you two, but winning a match isn’t the same as taking down a triad or terrorists,” Kane explained. “We’re big fans of the two of you.”
Erik chuckled. After everything that had happened with Lance, it was nice to be reminded that not everyone was hunting the detectives because they’d made too much of a splash. At the same time, it was a stark reminder that they’d become too visible when even UTC-famous athletes gushed about them.
“That’s kind of you to say,” Jia replied. “You keep providing quality gameplay, and the police will keep cleaning up the trash around Neo SoCal. We’re both good at our jobs.”
“Mind if we get pictures?” Kane nodded up. A panel near the ceiling opened, and a small drone emerged to circle the detectives and players. “Knew we had that thing following us for a reason.”
“Can I keep eating my crackers?” Erik asked. “I don’t know what is about the ones you buy at matches. They are damned addictive. Somebody probably adds drugs to them.”
“Sure. No reason to deny a hungry fan.” Kane chuckled. “You can keep eating.” He gestured to Lei. “Get in here before they have to go answer a call.”
The players took up positions on either side of the detectives, the drone weaving back and forth, taking several pictures. Erik continued devouring his crackers. Jia stood with a bright smile until the drone retreated.
“Thanks for all you do, Detectives,” Lei offered. “But we have to get back to the rest of the team. A lot of them wanted to meet you, but we didn’t want to cause a big scene.” He motioned at the crowd. “Or a bigger scene.”
“Thanks for continuing to be a quality team,” Jia replied. “Goal-keeping aside,” she muttered under her breath.
Erik elbowed her and nodded at the players. “See you around.”
The men waved and turned to cut through the crowd, leaving dozens of people surrounding Erik and Jia with hungry looks in their eyes. If they couldn’t have one set of celebrities, another pair would work.
Forty-five minutes passed before Erik and Jia escaped the stadium and made it back to the MX 60. They’d taken pictures and shaken hands with half the line by the time they got outside. If he’d known it was going to take that long to get out of there, Erik would have bought another bag of shrimp crackers.
He laughed at the thought as his flitter sped away from the tower holding the Aurum Sphere Ball Arena. “Ever feel like the universe is trying to tell you something?”
Jia didn’t look at him. She was focused on three different data windows filled with graphs and statistics concerning the team’s defensive play during the last several matches. “I’m quitting my lifelong dream to go work for a spy, so yes, I do think the universe is trying to tell me something. And I’m listening. I’ve stopped being surprised at this point.”
“I never intended to come back and become famous,” Erik explained. “I thought being a cop was the best way to get a line on the people responsible for Molino. Everything else was just supposed to be a cover. Not that it was a huge sacrifice buying a luxury flitter and getting the de-aging.”
Jia jabbed at a name on one of the screens. A picture of a reserve goalie appeared, along with additional statistics. “It’s not like I became a detective so they could give me silly nicknames and ask for pictures. Is it going to bother you that we’re giving that up?”
“It’s not like we’re disappearing. We’re not even going into deep cover.”
Jia tore her gaze off the stats screen to look at her partner. “No, we aren’t, but a lot of what we’ll be doing will be lower-profile. Even if we end up making a big mess, I’m sure Alina will help cover things up. I’m not going to say I hate people recognizing me as someone making Neo SoCal a better place, but I suspect once we’re out of the news for a few months, people will forget about us. People always are waiting for the next big thing.”
Erik nodded slowly. “That’s probably for the best. We know what we need to do. We don’t need people shaking our hands for doing it.”
She swiped her hand through the air, dismissing all her windows. “You ever regret coming back to Earth?” Jia asked. “Some men, after going through something like you did, would have taken all those savings and set themselves up on a frontier world where they didn’t have to worry about anything ever again.”
“It never even occurred to me to do anything but avenge my unit. Getting pointed at becoming a cop was a nice bonus, but I still would have done it even if I didn’t become a detective.” Erik shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I would have started a security company and tried to attract high-profile clients.”
“If you’d done that,” interrupted Emma, “you would have never met me.”
“Good point.” Erik chuckled. “The universe or the Lady or whoever pushed us together. I’m not going to say there’s some grand plan, but we’ve got a good team, and we can deliver the pain to those who have it coming.” He barked an even louder laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Jia asked.
“Lady Justice works for you even if you’re not a cop, but it’ll be pretty stupid if I’m the Obsidian Detective but no longer a cop. I’m not even going to be a private detective.”
Jia rolled her eyes. “A very important thing to focus on.”
“Always.” Erik grinned. “Besides, with the captain not assigning us new cases, it’s not like we have anything better to think about.”
“Who knows? Someone could try to assassinate one of us?” Jia shrugged.
Erik pursed his lips. “Sure. That might be fun.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
October 31, 2229, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Police Enforcement Zone 122 Station
Jia and Erik stepped off the elevator and into the hallway leading to the bullpen. A sense of resignation dueled with excitement, keeping Jia’s heart from beating calmly.
She had been convinced the last couple of weeks at the station would draw them into some other dangerous case, but Captain Ragnar kept to his original plan and focused them on reports. If it hadn’t been for Lance Onassis’ stunt, they might have cruised through most of the month without any trouble. Jia didn’t have a problem with a quiet exit.
There were worse things. She half-suspected an alien assassin would show up that morning and challenge her to a duel for control of the Solar System.
“I’m surprised they’re not making us help with patrols tonight,” Jia admitted. “Especially after what happened last year. It wouldn’t be crazy, and they can always use more cops patro
lling.”
“It’s probably because of what happened last year that they’re not making us do anything.” Erik wiped crumbs off his face, left over from the beignet he’d chowed down on their way over. “If we stay at home, any terrorists who want to blow us up will only blow up our apartments.”
“Oh, comforting thought.”
“I didn’t say they’d blow us up, just our apartments.”
Working for Alina might not bring a daily routine. The simple things Jia had gotten used to, such as hitting the nearby diners and restaurants for breakfast and lunch with her partner, would vanish.
Being a police officer was unpredictable, but being a contractor for a ghost made a mockery of predictability. Every month could take them somewhere different, fighting someone different.
Jia pushed the thought out and froze as they stepped into the bullpen. She jammed her hand under her jacket and gripped her stun pistol. The room was devoid of people. All the rows of desks and chairs remained, but there wasn’t a single person around. She narrowed her eyes. Silence choked the area.
All the office doors along the outer walls of the room remained closed. There was no blood, and no bullet holes or scorch marks. Nothing had been knocked over. There was no way someone could raid a room full of armed officers and not leave a trace.
She frowned. Gas, maybe? That was one possibility, but how would they have limited it to one room?
Small points of light flickered across the middle of the room between two desks. Jia yanked out her stun pistol and pointed it that way, her jaw tight. Attacking the 1-2-2 on their last day there would make a sick sort of sense if someone wanted to send a message to Erik and Jia. No. It couldn’t happen. Even Talos couldn’t pull that off without leaving a trace.
“Calm down, Jia,” Emma suggested, her tone amused. “You’re overreacting.”
“No, she’s right. This shit is strange.” Erik frowned. He reached into his jacket. “I’ve never seen—"
The bright points of light danced in the center of the room, spinning a circle and rising toward the roof. They exploded in a shower of sparks that crackled and formed a message.
Erik and Jia, this is your going-away party.
The office doors all slid open. Captain Ragnar, Halil, and Jared emerged from one office. Uniformed officers and detectives streamed out of the others, including some holding large cakes or stacks of plates and forks. They set them down on the desks. Jia sighed and shoved her stun pistol back into its holster.
“Oh,” Jia muttered, feeling silly about the convoluted conspiracy-attack scenarios she’d explored.
She’d forgotten how much she hated surprise parties.
A stupid grin had broken out on Erik’s face. He didn’t share her disdain. Emptiness and silence gave way to a room filled with police officers and a loud din of chattering and laughing.
Halil bowed over his arm in front of Erik and Jia. “You know how hard it is to pull off a surprise party for you two, of all people? I think it would have been easier to surprise the head of the CID.”
Jared patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t feel too bad. We didn’t place the bet.”
Jia frowned. “Bet?”
“Yep.” Jared nodded toward Halil. “We were discussing whether you’d pick up on it, especially since Dumbass here kept harassing you about when you were leaving. I had to handle a lot of the logistics. Halil had the easy job. He was just supposed to get the information and make sure you didn’t suspect anything.” He frowned at Captain Ragnar. “And he wouldn’t tell us at first.”
The captain shrugged, his smile mischievous. “I like my detectives to work for things. I’ve got to take my amusement where I can get it.”
Halil grumbled. “The really hard part was getting her to agree.”
Jia pointed to her chest. “I didn’t agree to this. I didn’t even know about it.”
“No, not you.”
Emma appeared, a festive pointed red party hat atop her holographic form. “I noticed some irregularities some weeks ago, so I investigated, then realized what was going on. On a whim, I initiated direct contact with Detective Mustafa, and I agreed to not alert you to this recreational ambush because I was curious to see your reaction.”
“You noticed irregularities, and you didn’t tell us?” Erik asked, sounding surprised.
“If I bothered you with every odd thing I notice, you’d never get anything done.” Emma shrugged. “Even with my abilities, it can be difficult to monitor the environments and systems around you, and you don’t understand how many out-of-parameters events occur around you in any given day.”
Jia wasn’t sure if she should be insulted, so she didn’t respond.
Captain Ragnar cleared his throat and raised his voice. “Okay, everyone. Before we get into the cake, I’ve got something to say, and before that, a little reminder. We’re going to have another party with a lot more beer at Remembrance tomorrow night, even if Erik and Jia don’t want to come.”
The crowd laughed, including Erik and Jia.
She couldn’t stop the huge smile from taking over her face, the joy of the event overwhelming her residual irritation over the surprise. Last year, almost everyone in the 1-2-2 had hated her and wanted her gone.
Now they were throwing her a party, including two of her former enemies.
She was never sure if people truly respected her. She hadn’t cared much, but it was nice to go out knowing she’d left a positive impact on something other than the crime rate.
“You’re all lazy,” Captain Ragnar declared. He waited for the scattered laughs to die down. “And those of you who were here before I came know what things used to be like. Not just at the 1-2-2, but in the entire department. I came here as part of the reforms.” He pointed at Erik and Jia. “But those two are the ones who got all that started. They took a lot of shit from a lot of you, but they didn’t care. All they cared about was taking down criminals.”
No one laughed anymore. Jia’s smile faded. If her last day at the station had to be one where she stood by her work, so be it. She was surprised at the captain’s choice of speech, but he understood better than most the struggles of reform.
He could have easily been a target of assassination like the new chief.
“But that was before,” Captain Ragnar thundered. “Everyone left at this station is a great cop. Maybe some of you were asleep before, but now you’re awake, and you’ve spent the last year helping clean up the syndicate trash infesting Neo SoCal and stopping terrorists. The 1-2-2 is one of the top enforcement zones, if not the top, in the department. Detectives Blackwell and Lin—Erik and Jia—might have led the way, but you choose to follow them, and now I’m proud to be your captain. 1-2-2!”
Every officer in the room bellowed as a chorus, “1-2-2!”
The captain pointed to a cake. “Let’s get something to eat before terrorists decide to bomb the station to get at Erik and Jia.” His comment summoned more laughter.
Captain Ragnar shook both their hands. “I couldn’t have done it without you. I wouldn’t have even been here without your efforts. I want you to know that.”
“We needed you too, Captain,” Jia replied. “We needed someone who had our back. We couldn’t have done as much without you.”
Erik surveyed the room slowly, a distant look in his eyes. “Damn.”
“What’s wrong?” the captain asked.
“I’m going to miss this place,” Erik admitted.
A couple of hours later, Jia ran her hand over her desk with a smile. “You are planning to go to the party tomorrow night, aren’t you?’
Erik sat in his chair with his feet up on his desk, perhaps for the last time. “It’s not like I had big plans tomorrow. We’re on standby until Alina points us somewhere. I figure she’s not going to want us wandering around doing our own thing at first.”
“Does that worry you?”
Erik shook his head. “If we sit around for more than a few weeks, maybe we’ll look into making
our own moves, but she remains our best bet. I don’t have a strong enough lead on my own right now.”
Jia sat on the edge of her desk. “It doesn’t feel like the same office in the same station as it was when I started. I used to think I might not be able to make a difference, but now everyone acknowledges that I have.”
“It doesn’t matter if they do or not.”
“True, but it helps. Would you have liked it if all your soldiers hated you?”
“No.” Erik sighed. “Good point.”
Jia chuckled. “Halil was having such a hard time, but it occurs to me that we still don’t know when Malcolm is going to leave. When I last talked to him, he suggested it wouldn’t be for months.”
Erik nodded. “That was what Camila suggested. It looks less suspicious that way.”
“I talked to her the other day. She told me she’ll be resigning in a few days, citing family issues.” Jia scoffed. “Isn’t that suspicious?”
“Sure, but she’s not going to be working with us, so it’s less of a link.” Erik shrugged. “We’ll just have to make do without Malcolm in the beginning. We’ve got Emma.”
“Yes, we do. The AI who is holding onto secret surprise parties.” Jia smirked. “I think she’s becoming more like a fleshbag each day.”
“Just for that,” Emma declared from Jia’s PNIU, “I’ll spoil the ending of the next movie you watch. There’s no reason to be insulting.”
Erik laughed. “Don’t take it personally.” He cracked his knuckles and lifted his linked hands above his head. “It does feel weird to think I won’t be a cop soon.” He lowered his arms. “Oh, while I’m thinking about it, I want you to do me a favor tomorrow at the Remembrance party.”
“What?” Jia asked.
“Let go. Drink a lot.” Erik’s voice grew soft. “Sometimes it’s good to not give a shit for one night. To lose control.”
“Even in our situation?” she asked, eyebrow raised.
“Especially in our situation,” Erik insisted. “It might be a long time before either of us can let go again, but at that party, we’ll be surrounded by the best cops in Neo SoCal.”
Maelstrom of Treason Page 25