“Okay, Detective Lin,” he spat. “Let make it clear. It’s to everyone’s advantage for all of this to go away, not just mine.”
“Hypothetically,” Erik offered.
His eyes switched back to Erik. “Yes, hypothetically.” Naric put his hand over his heart. “I’m a reasonable man. A patriot, even. I know when to shut my mouth for the good of the UTC, but the longer I’m here against my will, and the more I begin to wonder if that loyalty and patriotism mean anything, the more the chance I might accidentally let slip some dangerous truths.”
He gave Jia an apologetic look and a shrug. “Where does that leave any of us? Sometimes the truth should stay buried because it doesn’t help anyone. It’s a sad truth, but that doesn’t make it any less the truth.”
Jia glared at him. “And sometimes the truth needs to come out even if you shatter it, no matter how sad or disturbing. You think you’re going to get out of this because a few people will look bad? It wouldn’t be the first time the military made a mistake, and they’re not going to let some criminal,” she used the word “criminal” but her face said “scum,” “get away with trafficking in their tech just to avoid a few bad news stories. If that’s your defense, you should just give up.”
“A few people? No, no, no.” Naric stared at her, his grin growing. “The wheels of society in Neo SoCal need to keep turning, and part of that involves people like me doing things the precious Uptowners wouldn’t dare to try themselves, even if they could.” He pointed to himself with both hands. “I serve a necessary purpose, Detective, even if you find that purpose distasteful. You shouldn’t hate me, sweetness. You should be on your knees, thanking me for doing my part to keep society going. Just call me Mr. Pro-Social. I sacrifice my good name to help society function.”
“You’re not necessary,” Jia countered. “And how dare you imply you are? You’re a parasite feeding off honest society, drinking more than your fill and then some, and we are the cure. You think you’re so smart, Naric?” Erik looked at Jia, and he saw the disdain dripping from her words before his eyes flicked back to Naric. “You’re a fool, and the people who work for you are incompetent idiots. That’s why we ended up in that warehouse. If you were half as smart as you think you are, we would have never tracked you down. Your arrogance and your dependence on those who supposedly had your back took you down, and all the smug posturing in the galaxy won’t save you now.”
Erik glanced her way again and then back at Naric, his expression neutral.
Naric scoffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Anyway, remember all those hypotheticals? I’m just a humble businessman offering services to paying customers. You seem to be implying the services I provide are somehow illegal or antisocial, but you two are the maniacs who came into my warehouse and started gunning down people after being rude and threatening me. If we shot back, we were only defending ourselves.”
“I doubt you have licenses for any of those weapons,” Jia countered. “Did you notice the video at the beginning of our talk?”
“How’s the shoulder?” Erik asked with a smirk. “That must have really hurt. I know what it’s like to take a bullet to the shoulder. The medpatch helps, but it’s not like it can do anything about that initial pain.”
Naric shook his finger. “I wonder if this ends with just you off the force. Maybe it ends with you in prison for your brutal assault and attempted murder. Wouldn’t that be a laugh? The real corruption is when the people who are supposed to be protectors are the ones preying on people. I think you can’t remember that this isn’t the frontier, Blackwell.” He looked at Jia. “And you’re enabling him. He could have stunned us.”
“I’m allowed to defend myself with lethal force when I’m under lethal attack.” Erik shrugged. “The first shot hit his gun, not the space between his eyes. You do remember the comment about me enjoying hell?”
“How do you even sleep at night?” Jia grimaced. “You weaken society. You spread disorder and corruption, everything we’ve been fighting for thousands of years. Humanity has a chance of uniting, but people like you continue to do everything they can to try to stop that. And for what? More money? Do you really need more?”
“I sleep plenty well, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting a little money.” Naric sighed. “And you’re getting mad at the wrong man. I’m just as much a victim in this situation as anyone.”
“How do you figure?” Jia protested. “Do you have a twin somewhere who framed you for all your crimes? If so, point us his way, and we’ll have a talk with him.”
Naric shook his head. “You don’t understand, sweetness.” She eyed him. “Detective,” he corrected. “I’m a victim of society. I didn’t create the Shadow Zone. Don’t get angry at me because I’m trying to take maximum advantage of the cards dealt to me.” He gestured toward the door. “It’s your precious Uptowners who want to look away from the truth and the darkness.” He waved a hand in a circle around his head. “And your precious metroplex that is responsible for all this.” He jerked a thumb at himself. “For me.”
His voice lowered and a sneer formed on his lips. “It’s not the people of the Zone who implemented the travel restrictions. We would love to be able to travel freely.” He chuckled. “You all in the high and mighty seats want to sit up here and pretend Neo SoCal’s perfect, and that there’s nothing but a few problems here and there. Easy fixes, despite the truth. Now who’s more disgusting? A man who simply tries to make a better life for himself, or people like you, who look away because it makes them uncomfortable? We both know that even if I did any of things you have accused me of, I couldn’t do them by myself, so why should I feel any guilt? You think you’re better than me, sweetness? No.” He shook his head. “I’m better than you because I wasn’t handed a nice life. I had to scrape and fight for everything I had.”
“Spare me the self-righteousness,” Jia spat, glaring at him. “We’re not looking away now, are we? And a lack of opportunity doesn’t justify becoming a thug and a killer. I’m willing to bet most of your victims are other people trying to live their lives in the Shadow Zone, and I don’t think you stop for one second to think about how hard they’ve had it when you hurt them or take from them. You don’t care about anyone but yourself, and it’s finally brought you down, Naric.”
Erik put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head. “Don’t let him get to you.”
Jia folded her arms over her chest and continued trying to burn through Naric’s smug face with her eyes.
“The funny thing,” Erik began, his tone bored, “is that you’re acting as naïve as she is. She’s got an excuse, but I expected better of you.”
Jia frowned and glanced at Erik. She wasn’t sure where he was going with the statement, but she was willing to trust him.
Naric snorted. “Oh, you think so, Blackwell? I understand reality, and I’ve lived my whole life accepting it for what it is. Not like you, soldier boy. You think following those rules made you special? You think killing—”
“Shut up,” Erik interrupted, sounding more annoyed than angry. “We don’t need to repeat your weak attempts to convince me. If anything, I feel sorry for you. It’s kind of pathetic. A lot of Uptowners have excuses for being clueless, but you don’t. I really thought you had more,” he reached up and tapped his head, “up here.”
“Oh? What’s pathetic? And how am I clueless? Forget that question; let me ask you something else.” Naric glanced at Jia. “You dip your wick in that yet?”
Erik kept a placid smile, even as a hint of fire appeared in his eyes. “You just gave her that big speech about Uptown corruption, but you don’t understand, do you? Do I have to draw you a picture? Barring that, you want me to use a couple of…”
He started using his hands, opening and closing them.
Jia eyed him. “Hand puppets?”
“Right.” Erik pointed to her. “Hand puppets. You need something even simpler to get it?”
“What do you think you know,
Blackwell?” he asked, ignoring Jia. “You spent more time on the frontier where all you had to do was point a gun at someone to solve your problems.”
Naric snorted, this time taking in Erik’s clothes. “You have no clue how things actually work here Neo So-Cal. It’s all about nuance. Subtlety. Maybe you should head back out there before you end up in prison.”
“A gangster talking about nuance and subtlety?” Jia asked.
Erik laughed. “I don’t have a clue about things work?” He nodded at Jia. “She’s disgusted by you because you’re an affront to everything she believes humanity can be.” He shrugged. “Me, I’m disappointed you’re such an idiot. I thought you were a practical man.” He leaned forward. “I left my big gun in the car when we came to talk because I believed in you, Naric.”
“That part is true. He was pretty sure of your intelligence,” Jia added, thinking back. “Cocky, even.”
Erik eyed her.
“No.” She stared at him but waved at Naric. “Go ahead and finish your discussion. I just wanted to point out how wrong you were.”
Erik turned away from Jia. “Look, now you’re going down, and going down hard. Whether it’s the metroplex or the UTC authorities, you’re finished. Maybe, just maybe, you can get a little revenge on your way to hell. Sometimes that’s all we have left, Naric. Revenge. Trust me, after thirty years in the military, I know revenge all too well.”
A dangerous promise underlined his last sentence.
“What are you talking about?” Naric narrowed his eyes. “Revenge? Against who? You?” He nodded to his right. “Her?”
Erik straightened in his chair. “Don’t you understand? All those Uptowners who made you do all the hard work are going to walk away free. They’re going to leave you while they sit up here in their sky castles smiling about how their pretty little gangster pet is going to rot in a cell for the rest of his life. You’re a sacrificial lamb, a convenient slab of meat to toss to the hungry wolves.”
“I don’t understand.” Erik clucked his tongue. “Doesn’t that piss you off? They were handed everything, and they’re not going to have to deal with any consequences of the screwup. Sure, their smuggling gets disrupted for a few months while they find your replacement. Hell, even I will admit you aren’t a common thief and are a cut above the rest. So, they lose a little profit trying to replace you, but they’re all wealthy and have connections. They’ll just wait until you disappear to continue doing what they were doing. Or maybe they’ll arrange for you to have a little accident.”
He pointed up at space. “If you die in prison, do you think anyone’s going to care enough to investigate? Do you think anyone’s going to care? They’ll just chalk it up as another antisocial piece of trash disappearing and making the UTC a better place.”
“That’s crap, Blackwell, and you know it.” Naric waved a hand dismissively. “Spare me.” His voice wavered.
“Is it crap?” Erik nodded at Jia. “She keeps telling me about how this isn’t the frontier, and people like you keep telling me that, but that’s based on the wrong idea. Both of you don’t get it.”
“What don’t we get?” Naric asked. Erik saw Jia start to ask the question but stop herself.
“That the frontier isn’t any different from the core or Earth.” Erik shook his head. “You think you’re the first gangster I’ve caught smuggling for someone allegedly more important and law-abiding? Out on the frontier, your type is often in deep with insurrectionists, and this kind of thing always ends the same way, no matter who it is.”
Jia’s eyes flicked to him, curious.
Erik continued, “Maybe a governor was making a little money on the side while simultaneously asking for the UTC military to help him, or some local corp manager sees a way to score more money, so they need someone like you. But what happens when those guys get caught? They always find a way out, but that gangster at the bottom?” He shook his head slowly. “He’s antisocial, right? He’s the one destroying the colony, and that fall guy doesn’t even have a decent day job to hide behind. There’s nothing left to do with him other than throw him away where he can’t undermine the UTC anymore. I’m sure if they could ship you off to the Zitarks to eat, as an example, they would.”
Naric made a face. “They eat people?”
Jia folded her arms over her chest, affecting her most blasé smile. “I don’t care, Naric. I’ll be satisfied with taking an antisocial criminal off the street however I can.”
Did Erik just hear her snap her teeth, or were his ears playing a joke on him?
Naric glanced at the two of them, his eyes narrowed. “You can’t touch me. This is all just words.”
“Yes, we can, and we will.” Jia nodded at the crystal hologram. “You were in possession of stolen classified UTC military property, and your people tried to kill us at your direction. There’s no getting out of this because you have a few highly placed friends. If the government can link you to any major insurrectionists, they might have you executed for treason. The only reason the UTC isn’t here to drag you away right now is that they want us to do all the hard work first.”
Erik nodded. “Typical UTC high-ranking-officers’ laziness. I’ve seen that happen a lot. That’s another thing that’s the same on the frontier or here on Earth.”
The gangster’s smugness slowly evaporated and he licked his lips, a nervous twitch of his mouth. An oppressive silence filled the room as the detectives stared at the gangster.
A full minute passed before he uttered, “Trajan Winthorpe.”
Jia almost fell out of her chair, her eyes widening and her heart racing. “You’re lying.”
Naric scoffed at her. “Oh, now I’m lying, sweetness? Screw you, cop. If I’m going down, I’m taking him with me, and I’m done here without my lawyer. But, yeah, he’s the guy calling the shots. If you really want to clean up, it’s got to start with him.”
“Sometimes revenge is all we have, Naric,” Erik agreed. “You’ve done the satisfying thing.” He stood, his chair scraping across the floor, and headed toward the door.
Jia shook her head, stood, and followed her partner, still not wanting to believe what she had just heard. She didn’t speak until she’d left the interrogation room and closed the door behind her. Erik was waiting a few feet away as she spoke. “Maybe he’s just throwing out a name. It’s hard to believe someone like Trajan Winthorpe would be involved in this.”
“I have no idea who that is,” Erik admitted with a shrug. “Not that I was going to tell him that.”
Jia stared at him, waiting for him to grin and indicate it was a joke, but he didn’t. “You seriously don’t know who Winthorpe is?”
“I spent a lot of time preparing for this job, which meant studying police procedure and a few other things.” Erik shrugged. “Not memorizing every random person in this metroplex. There are a lot of people in Neo SoCal. I take it he’s a rich guy?”
“Not just a rich guy.” Jia sighed. “He’s Councilman Trajan Winthorpe of the Metroplex Council. He’s one of the longest-serving on the council. Not only that, but he has direct connections to Ceres Galactic.”
Erik barked a laugh.
“I fail to see what’s so funny about that.” Jia frowned.
“You don’t? The guy’s a bigshot politician, he’s connected to one of the most powerful corps in the UTC, and he’s still messing around with trying to make more money.” Erik shook his head.
“Just goes to show you,” Erik turned to head toward the interrogation office. “When someone’s greedy, there’s never enough money for them.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Of course, Erik thought. Too bad I couldn’t have eased into this kind of garbage.
“We need to move now,” Erik suggested. “If he’s that much of a big shot, he’ll find out sooner rather than later that Naric gave him up. For all we know, he’s watching a live feed of the interrogation and already making arrangements to leave.”
“We don’t have enough evidenc
e.” Jia nodded to the external screen depicting the inside of the interrogation room. Naric sat there, worry on his face. “One desperate criminal’s statement against a councilman?”
“We have a witness and a co-conspirator,” Erik retorted. “That’s enough evidence, and I’m sure once Malcolm and the rest of DF start digging a little deeper, they’ll find something. Arrogance is what has kept a lot of these guys going, and now it’s going to help take them down.”
“That co-conspirator,” she pointed, “is a Shadow Zone gangster.” Jia sighed. “If he’s telling the truth, I want to take down Winthorpe as much as you do, but we need to be careful, given the stakes.”
Erik exited the room and started down the hallway.
Jia moved after him. “Don’t you agree?”
“No.” Erik shook his head.
She continued following. “Where are you going?”
“To my flitter,” Erik explained. “Kind of hard to go anywhere in this city without it. That’s the problem with building everything up instead of across.” He shook his head. “That’s one thing I miss about the frontier colonies.”
Jia grabbed his arm. Erik stopped and frowned at her.
“We need to go to the captain and do everything using proper procedure,” she suggested. “Especially if what Naric said is true.”
Erik chuckled. “You’ve managed to come a long way in a short time, but you’re still letting your ideals blind you to the truth, Jia.” He leaned toward her and lowered his voice, looking around them as they spoke. “Captain Monahan is finally getting off his butt and doing something, but it wasn’t all that long ago that he assigned me to you to get you off the force and he had you rotting looking through traffic fines because he thought you were too aggressive about doing your job. I think he was prepared to take down some mid-level corp guy, not a councilman.”
“But he’s come around,” Jia insisted. “He’s on our side now.”
“He might be going in the right direction, but he still doesn’t have the right velocity for my liking.” Erik shook his head. “Let me put it a different way. You know why soldiers are ultimately so much more effective than civilians in battle?”
Obsidian Detective Page 28