The captain looked up. He looked even worse than Malcolm had. Had he gotten any sleep the night before?
“I don’t want to be your enemy, Erik,” the captain began, his voice quiet. “You understand I was dubious of you joining us, but I have respect for what you’ve done. I haven’t been out there on the frontier, but I understand how dangerous it can be.”
Erik nodded. “I’m not here to cause trouble. I’m just here to do my job.”
“Your job. Right.” Captain Monahan managed a pained smile. “Your job, as a detective in the 1-2-2, isn’t just solving crimes. It’s also upholding public order. That’s what it fundamentally means to be a cop.”
Erik smirked. “You sound like Jia.”
“We’re not that different, despite what she thinks, but here’s the thing. This enforcement zone and the entire department needs to stay in its lane.”
“Investigating crimes is not staying in our lane?” Erik quirked an eyebrow. “Are you seriously going to try to argue that?”
Captain Monahan shook his head. “I’m not saying that,” he explained. “I’m saying that running around the metroplex investigating everyone and everything and everywhere is going to rock the boat. We have a hundred million people here.” He waved a hand at the map. “It’s already hard enough keeping everything that happened on the Windward raid quiet. We’re lucky they have every reason in the world to want to keep it quiet themselves, but doing that means we have to rely on a lot of existing relationships. Those relationships are built on mutual understandings about how to handle certain situations. When one side does something that violates those understandings, it strains the relationships. I know you understand this, even if Detective Lin doesn’t.”
Erik narrowed his eyes. “What does Jia not understand specifically?”
“She’s a good woman in a lot of ways.” Captain Monahan stretched and swept a hand through his hair. “Frustrating as hell, but a good woman. She means well, and you have to believe me when I say I understand that, but she’s a corp princess who has had her head in the clouds her whole life. She’s not a man like you, a man who has seen the darkness of the real world.”
“Halil already gave me a version of this speech.” Erik grunted. “I wasn’t impressed by it then, either.”
Monahan nodded. “A lot of the detectives here don’t like her because of how she came in. I don’t care about that.” He jerked a thumb at his chest. “I only care if she can adapt to how things actually work, and not how she wants things to work.”
Captain Monahan grabbed the edge of the holographic map on this desk and rotated it until it stood upright. “Civilization’s a story we tell ourselves, but everyone has to agree on the story for it to work. The antisocials don’t agree, so we get rid of them. Kick the problem light-years away so men like you can deal with it, but Lin?” He blew out a breath. “She’s almost worse.”
“Worse?” Erik tried to follow the captain’s logic. “How do you figure?”
Monahan leaned forward. “An antisocial agrees with a normal person on one important truth: The world isn’t perfect and never will be,” the captain related, his voice low. “An idealist disagrees with both of them. An idealist will convince themselves that extraordinary measures are necessary to bring about the perfect world as they see it and know it. It’s not surprising that the worst terrorists start out as idealists.”
“Are you serious?” Erik asked. “You’re saying Jia’s a potential terrorist?”
“I’m saying she’s too stubborn for her own good. I’ve tried to keep her out of trouble here because I don’t want her rattling the cage. I want to allow her time to mature her understanding. Eventually, she’ll be forced to accept the truth of Neo SoCal, and if she sees the truth too early, she will not, absolutely not, be able to handle it.”
Captain Monahan grimaced. “There’s nothing worse than an idealist who starts cracking. I can’t have her damaging relationships I’ve spent decades cultivating because she can’t handle the truth. If she were anyone else, I wouldn’t care, but she is a corp princess with connections of her own.” He tapped a finger on his desk, punctuating his concern. “If things go badly, she could cause a lot of trouble.”
Erik fell silent and scratched his cheek, processing what the other man had said.
The captain nodded slowly. “All cards on the table: I didn’t want you here, and I still don’t know if I do.” He waved in the general direction of Erik and Jia’s office. “I was hoping you might be able to scare her off, but it’s only gotten worse. I try hard to protect every cop who works for me, and one way I do that is by keeping them from poking their noses where they don’t belong. Even with her powerful family connections, if she ends upsetting the wrong people.” He shook his head slowly. “I might not be able to save her.”
“You’re basically saying, what? That if this investigation leads to an angry corporation, she’s going to end up getting hung out to dry?” Erik asked.
“I’m saying you can’t be a cop for as long as I have without realizing there are some fights you shouldn’t pick.” Captain Monahan shrugged. “Am I wrong? You’re like me. You’re a man who lives in the real world, not some idealistic dreamer whose dream will disappear when they are forced to deal with the slightest pushback.”
“It’s because I’ve seen the real world that I know sometimes you have to rattle the cage.” Erik leaned against the wall. “She’s not going to let this go, and I don’t see why she should. If you’re trying to say some corporation will destroy her, then they will have to deal with the fact she’s got a powerful family, right? The worst thing that will happen is she ends up off the force.”
“I know you probably don’t care at all about what I’m saying because you’re not from Neo SoCal and you’ve been offworld.” Captain Monahan’s jaw tightened. “And I understand being a cop seems like the logical next step after what happened.”
“Huh?” Erik asked.
“I just got done telling you about connections, right?” Captain Monahan shrugged, his mouth twitching. “I know you left the service after your unit got slaughtered by terrorists.”
Erik forced a placid smile on his face, even as his neck muscles tightened. “Be careful. Don’t presume you know what’s going on with me.”
“I know enough.” Captain Monahan gave him a pitying look. “I’m not going to even pretend to claim to understand what that feels like, and I get it; you thought coming back to Earth and being a cop would be easier. You can still be with a band of brothers and sisters, but with less death. I can see the attraction. Other veterans, even if they aren’t as distinguished as you, have told me that sort of thing.”
Erik snorted. “Don’t try to get in my head, Captain. I’m afraid you won’t like what you find.”
Monahan nodded. “I’m just trying to tell you that I understand where you’re coming from, but I want you to think about the implications of that.”
Erik’s eyes narrowed. “What implications?”
“If you start poking around in certain places, things will get dangerous.” Captain Monahan gestured at the crime density map, his finger trailing over several patches of red. “If she hadn’t pushed on this case, she wouldn’t have ended up getting shot at. I know what they call her out there. The Black Widow; she said it herself here in this office. But those partners didn’t die. They just resigned or threatened to resign. Now she’s close to actually getting people killed.”
“I can take care of myself,” Erik replied, his voice full of sincerity. “I don’t need your help. Even if Lady Luck played games with me in the past, I don’t think the universe is done with me. Otherwise, I would have died fifty light-years from here, along with my unit.”
Captain Monahan frowned. “I don’t think you understand. I don’t doubt you can take care of yourself. But what about her?” He pointed to where Jia was likely located. “How are you going to feel if you end up surviving and she doesn’t?”
Erik ground his teeth as a l
ow, guttural growl erupted. He didn’t know whether Captain Monahan actually believed what he was saying or if it was just petty manipulation.
It didn’t matter.
Captain Monahan’s eyes widened at whatever he saw on Erik’s face, then he swallowed. “You can’t say it’s impossible, Erik. Cops die, even on Earth, and if you’re obsessed with ripping the mask off the metroplex, that is where it might lead, both for you and for her. Can you live with that?”
“I think she’s a grown woman who can make her own choices,” Erik replied. “And she’s my partner, so I’ll have her back. Now the question is, what are you going to do? Because if it’s not clear, let me make it strikingly plain. I don’t care about political considerations. I’m working a case, and now I’m pissed because someone tried to kill my partner and me. They didn’t even have the balls to be in front of me when they were pulling the trigger.” His hands curled into fists. “Kicking this to another enforcement zone won’t stop me. We’re going to be involved until we shouldn’t be for good reasons, not political crap, because if this department is so worthless they turn tail and run every time they ruffle some feathers, they might as well tear this building down.”
“This isn’t the military.,” Captain Monahan’s voice had gone up, his own anger rising. “This isn’t some battle you can win with bravery and a big enough gun.”
“You’d be surprised, Captain. And for someone who has been Jia’s supervisor for a year, you don’t know her very well.”
The red-faced captain’s face contorted in confusion. “Excuse me?”
He snorted. “You think she’s going to give this up, especially after everything that’s happened?” Erik asked. “She knows her life is in danger. She’s the one who got shot at! She’s not ready to leave the case, and I’m not ready to leave it either. You want to try to bury it, fine, but whatever plan you had to run her or me off has failed. If you don’t want a bunch of flaming political garbage falling on you, I don’t think trying to mess with a decorated military veteran and a woman from a well-connected family makes for a good plan.”
Captain Monahan shook his head, raising an eyebrow. “Ok, hero. What do you suggest I do, then?”
Erik locked eyes with the captain. “It’s simple. Give us the clearance to go into the Shadow Zone. I think you also don’t understand that if this goes well, you can do what every supervisor has done throughout history; you can claim it was all your idea from the beginning. Neither of us is in it for the glory.”
“This will end badly,” the captain muttered. His left hand was on the desk, four fingers tapping as he added, “You can get in my face all you want, Erik, but I’m not going to do something I believe is a bad idea. If you think you’re just going to go down there without permission, are you prepared to attack other cops? They’re not going to let you pass without my clearance.”
Erik shrugged. “You still have some time to not be worthless.” He spun on his heel. “But ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. Make the right decision.” He grabbed the door handle.
“You might have spent thirty years in the military fighting insurrectionists, Erik,” the captain called, “but I have spent thirty years in this metroplex. I know my enemy. Are you sure you do?”
Erik looked over his shoulder as he pulled the door open. “No, but I’m a quick learner.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
June 30, 2228, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Police Enforcement Zone 122 Station, Office of Detectives Jia Lin and Erik Blackwell
Jia’s eyes darted back and forth as she pored through some of the recovered records.
The hackers’ efforts had been thorough, and they had even destroyed some of the original data she’d analyzed before the Smythe incident, but fortunately, she still had her copies.
“What do you think’s at the end of this?” she asked without looking at Erik.
“Trouble,” Erik replied, then looked up. “It might be a small amount of trouble or a big amount, but it’s definitely trouble.”
“All crime is trouble in the end,” Jia murmured. “That’s why we have our jobs.” She sighed. “The captain hasn’t given us his approval yet, but I also haven’t received anything about the case being transferred. That’s a decent sign, at least.”
Erik grinned. “It’s still the morning. He’s got plenty of time left to screw us.”
“Very funny.” Jia closed a few of the windows in front of her. “Do you think whoever did this believes they’re going to get away with it?”
Erik’s expression turned thoughtful. “On the frontier, a lot of times you see some insurrectionist or terrorist who knows he’s going to lose, but he still fights. It’s because he’s fighting for a cause he believes in, misguided or not. But criminals, especially the kind of criminals who mess with complicated fraud schemes?” He shook his head, his voice annoyed. “They’re doing it for money, which means they did it because they thought they would succeed.” He looked at her. “Can’t spend money if you are dead or in jail.”
“Maybe they’re desperate.”
Erik chuckled. “Nothing about this entire case smells that desperate except for the bot attack. I know Malcolm said the guys were lazy, but that’s just because the cops are lazy, too. They were probably depending on the police to not look too deeply into a lot of this.”
He paused for a moment, thinking and Jia let him simmer. He looked at one of his own data windows. “It’s not desperation; it’s arrogance.”
“Maybe. If they regularly let this kind of thing happen in the Shadow Zone, the criminals might have grown bolder.” Jia looked to the side for a moment. “But the fact that they were able to get past the border restrictions is worrisome. Once the captain clears us, I suppose we’ll find out.”
Erik gave her a long, curious look. “And you’re ready for that?”
“Of course, I’m ready.” Jia shrugged. “I would be down there investigating already if I had permission.”
Erik thought back to the conversation with the captain. “It’s a little rough down there. I hope you’re prepared for that.”
“I’m more than prepared. I’m not as naïve as either you or the captain seem to think.” Jia gave him a small smile. Her PNIU chimed, and she brought up the message on a smart lens. Her breath caught in surprise. “This is interesting.”
“What?” Erik asked.
Her eyes darted as she read the information floating in front of her “It’s Shadow Zone approval codes, but they’ve been routed through the system directly to me instead of from the captain.” Jia chuckled as she looked at him. “Do you think he’s telling us to investigate but trying to keep his distance if something goes wrong?”
“That sounds about right,” Erik muttered. “Coward to the end.”
“Shouldn’t we ask him for backup?” Jia’s finger hovered over her PNIU.
Erik shook his head as he stood up and grabbed his coat. “Let’s go before he changes his mind. We’ll just watch our step.”
She stood as well and retrieved her jacket. “It’s not like backup did us a lot of good last time.”
Erik opened the door, allowing her to walk through first. “Wow, your cynicism is growing.”
“Perhaps it was always there,” she retorted, “hidden behind proper etiquette.”
Erik opened his mouth to retort but realized before he replied there were too many potentially explosive traps lying in wait.
Sometimes, the bravest option was to shut the hell up, he mused.
Erik’s MX 60 cruised slowly along as they headed through the narrow streets of a Shadow Zone neighborhood.
The haze had counterintuitively thickened as they dropped into the Shadow Zone proper, and Jia was grateful for the vehicle’s air handling systems. The tall towers around them might block out much of the sun, but the haze meant there was little hope of the sun ever shining directly on the area.
The vehicle pulled to a stop at an intersection, giving Jia a brief moment to focus on her im
mediate surroundings.
Streams of people filled the streets, and a steady flow of flitters zoomed between the sidewalks. Unlike the upper levels, there didn’t seem to be many air lanes, although the occasional vehicle flew between buildings.
Jia stared at a man walking down the street in ill-fitting clothes, an obvious cybernetic hand on display. He didn’t even wear a glove to attempt to hide it.
Her eyes moved down the street. An emaciated woman in a mesh dress that would barely qualify as lingerie stood in an alley, her arms wrapped around the neck of a man.
A man in a torn puffy jacket half-lay nearby against a wall, drooling.
Broken windows and abandoned buildings were everywhere, and graffiti marred the walls.
Every once in a while, some teen might try something like that in their enforcement zone, but city maintenance drones took care of it within minutes of discovery. She hadn’t seen a single maintenance drone since entering the Shadow Zone.
Jia shuddered in distaste as Erik turned to the right. He glanced at her.
“What’s wrong?” Erik asked, his lips pressed together.
“This is…disgusting,” Jia offered, another shudder passing through her. “This is wrong.”
Erik laughed. “It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact you’re a cop who has never been down here.”
Jia shrugged. “How would I even come down here? I need clearance, and the Shadow Zone’s not for most people anyway. It’s just…” She glanced around as they drove down the street. “I don’t understand. I know they tolerate the Shadow Zone because it’s a convenient place to find antisocials to be transported, but I always imagined it as having a small number of people.”
Erik looked up and around, noting the flitters, the windows with activity behind them, and the people out and about. “Does this look like a small number of people?”
“No,” she answered. “it doesn’t, but that’s what doesn’t make any sense.” Jia shook her head as she waved in front of them. “This is effectively an entire city, if not a metroplex, right under us. I can see allowing a few antisocials to gather, but this many? And why would anyone choose to live this way? Even transportation offworld might be better.”
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