Obsidian Detective

by Michael Anderle

  “I’ve got this,” Erik announced.

  He flipped to four-barrel mode and opened fire, his bullets ripping into a spider bot. It fell to the ground, twitching.

  Jia didn’t fire at the machines, instead keeping her pistol pointed forward. Her instincts were rewarded when another human with a rifle turned the corner.

  She nailed him in the face with a stun bolt and he collapsed, his rifle skittering across the faux hardwood floors.

  The TR-7’s bullet storm continued shredding the approaching spider bots. Legs and chunks of the bodies fell to the ground, leaving a trail of smoking metal debris.

  Erik’s gun ran dry as the final spider bot dropped from the ceiling toward him.

  Erik took his left hand off his rifle and yanked his pistol out. He emptied the clip into the falling robotic enemy. It continued to barrel toward him, the stun rod’s glow fading. He batted it away with his cybernetic arm, grunting as the force of blow embedded the failing machine in the wall.

  Jia blinked several times at the twitching spider bot, then her partner’s arm. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Erik shook out his arm before ejecting his magazine and loading a new one. “Emma, do we have anyone trying to run?”

  “No,” she replied, a hint of boredom in her voice. “Even the few camera drones landed a moment ago. I am picking up a concentration of vehicles on lidar, closing fast, but the long-range transponder codes indicate they’re police.”

  “That’s probably the backup,” Erik grumbled. “Something’s wrong, though.”

  Jia let out a sharp laugh. “Worse than getting shot at by security guards and attacked by spider bots?”

  Erik nodded at a stunned man. “Those aren’t guards. I recognize the uniforms. Those are mercs. Why does a councilman need mercs guarding his mansion, rather than private security or cops? And there’s not enough of them.”

  “Not enough? What are you talking about?”

  Erik crept forward, his face tight. “This feels like they’re stalling us, which means the bastard’s about to run. Maybe he’s confused because Emma’s circling and is trying to figure out his play.” He stopped at the T junction and flattened himself against the wall before looking both ways. “Cover me.” He nodded at the double doors. They were slightly cracked, and a few stray bullets had dented the door. “Our councilman sure has a lot of disguised armored furniture,” he called over his shoulder. “Is that a big Uptowner interior decorating trend?”

  Jia shook her head. “No. It’s unusual, at least it is among most of the wealthy people I’m familiar with.”

  “It’s almost like he assumed he would get attacked.” Erik grunted. “Okay, watch our flanks.”

  Jia knelt near the wall, turned around, and swept back and forth with her pistol, waiting for more movement.

  Erik kicked one of the doors, his boot connecting with an echoing thud.

  It didn’t work the first time. “One more.” He kicked again.

  The door swung open and he rushed inside, ready to put more rounds into anyone brave enough to face him. A semi-circular metal desk dominated the center of the room. The back wall was transparent curved metal, providing a gorgeous one-hundred-eighty-degree view of a covered garden filled with colorful flowers behind the mansion. It’d been hidden from them earlier by the trees.

  The beauty of the garden stood in contrast to the dead man slumped over the desk, a pistol held loosely in his right hand on the desk next to his head, most of which was now missing.

  “Jia?” Erik called out. “Can you confirm something?”

  She stood up and went into the room. “Oh…”

  Jia grimaced and turned away, grateful that she’d had a light breakfast.

  Erik gestured to the body. “Let me guess. That’s Councilman Trajan Winthorpe.”

  Jia spared another glance that way before shuddering. “Yes, or what’s left of him. You were wrong. There was no grand plan to escape. He couldn’t take his shame. I don’t know if this honorable in its own way, or the coward’s way out.”

  Erik snorted. “I’m not so sure.”

  She looked at him, covering her nose against the smell. “What are you saying?”

  Erik shouldered his rifle. “It’s a mighty convenient suicide.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  July 5, 2228, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Police Enforcement Zone 122 Station, Office of Captain Robert Monahan

  “I hope you both got some rest during your days off,” Captain Monahan remarked. “And I hope you at least enjoyed America Day. You earned it.”

  Jia tapped her foot, her arms crossed. “I didn’t want the days off. I wanted to follow-up on the case. It’s hard to relax after everything that’s happened.”

  Captain Monahan shrugged. “We need time to go through a lot of the evidence. You both did your parts. Most of the work left is for the techs, and after the time you’ve had lately, I thought you’d earned a little rest.”

  Erik stood at Jia’s side with a glint in his eyes. “Even though you said the other day that you were mad about how things went down?”

  “I am mad, or I was, at least.” Captain Monahan frowned. “You can’t keep running off half-cocked like that. I understand why you did what you did, but that doesn’t justify it. I’m not denying that both of you had good instincts on this case, but you’re still cops, and I’m still your captain. You should listen to me. I’ve got some instincts of my own that can help.”

  Erik shrugged. “We did what we had to do. If anything, we should have left sooner. Maybe if we had, we would have gotten there before Winthorpe died, and then we could have been interrogating him instead of waiting for techs to search through data.”

  “I doubt you could have brought him in alive.” Captain Monahan sighed. “The investigation indicates that everything is consistent with suicide. The police chief contacted me to tell me he wants this case closed as soon as possible. I’ve recommended you both for commendations.”

  “Commendations?” Erik grinned. “Even though you think we went off half-cocked?”

  “Hey, you helped take down a major criminal and uncovered a high-profile corrupt official.” Captain Monahan shrugged. “People don’t need to know about the shortcuts you took. The police are an important symbol, and we need exemplary officers to help with that. I would have thought you would have been happy.”

  Jia shrugged. “I don’t care about commendations or days off. I just want to be involved in the investigation, including the follow-up. I feel like you’re taking me off my own case.”

  “There’s no case left, Lin,” Captain Monahan replied. “There’s not much else we can do. This was a shocking betrayal by a city official working with a dangerous criminal. CID’s going to be poking their noses around, too, and we’re going to have a lot of friends from other agencies with lots of important initials checking into things because of the smuggling involved. That tech was going somewhere. Even if it was going there for monetary reasons, someone had to pay for it to begin with, and they planned to do something with it.”

  “All the more reason to keep investigating,” Jia observed.

  “And it will be investigated. But that’s a matter of UTC security, not the metroplex,” Captain Monahan replied. “Unless we have a different purpose than I am aware of, Detective?”

  “But what about the mercs?” Erik cut in. “Why did he have mercs? And why bother having them attack us if he was just going to blow his brains out? That didn’t sit well with me.”

  “Spite?” Captain Monahan shrugged. “And they weren’t mercs.”

  Erik shook his head. “I recognized the uniforms. Those were mercs.”

  Captain Monahan pulled up a data sheet. “They were dressed as mercs, but DNA IDed them all as locals, most of them from the Shadow Zone. I don’t know what he was up to with that. Maybe he thought it’d be more intimidating if people thought he had mercenary guards.”

  “I don’t care if Winthorpe’s dead.” Erik
shook his head. “This isn’t over.”

  “What’s left, Erik?” Captain Monahan sighed. “As it is, one of our most prominent local politicians was thoroughly corrupt. It might take years to unravel the implications of that, but he did us all a favor by eating that bullet. It spares us the seediness of a trial. Yes, there’s a UTC-level investigation that needs to continue, but that’s out of our jurisdiction.”

  Jia furrowed her brow, looking off to the side. “Was it really only him?”

  Captain Monahan looked over to her. “What do you mean?”

  “If a prominent councilman can become that corrupt, then anyone can,” Jia replied softly. “I don’t want to believe it, but I can’t dismiss that possibility. I’ve been having a lot of trouble sleeping the last couple of days, thinking about all this. I never thought this investigation would go this far, and it’s hard to accept, but I do accept it, which changes everything for me.”

  “Don’t overanalyze this, Detective Lin. This was just one bad apple. It happened to be a big apple, but it still was just the one.” Captain Monahan looked them both in the eye. “I’m not saying there’s no other corruption in this city, but the level of corruption that involves allying with mobsters and being involved in smuggling stolen military tech? That’s different, and I’m confident it was unique. I think everyone’s eager to put this behind us.”

  Erik eyed him. “Come on, Captain. Don’t fall down on us now. You were doing so well.”

  Jia glanced at Erik. “I was suspicious, but I wasn’t sure. You thinking the same thing I’m thinking?”

  “Probably,” Erik agreed.

  The captain frowned. “What else is there to do? Winthorpe is dead, and we’ve got Naric in custody. He’s prepared to give whatever is necessary to spare him a treason charge. You’ve both won. Take your victory lap and be happy. You’ll be getting commendations, and the department and the enforcement zone look good despite you two being involved in multiple shootouts.” He glared at the two of them. “Are you bound and determined to be unhappy, no matter what?”

  “I’m determined to find the truth,” Jia answered. “No matter where it leads. After this, I’m no longer worried.”

  “I just think you’re missing obvious possibilities,” Erik explained. “Because you want this to go away.”

  Captain Monahan rubbed his face before looking at them again. “Okay, Erik, explain it to me. What brilliant clue am I missing? Was that a fake body created using Navigator technology or something?”

  “No. I don’t think those men were dressed as mercs to intimidate,” Erik noted. “Now that you confirmed who they really were, it’s helped me figure a few things out. I think they were supposed to kill us and pin the blame on the mercs to confuse the follow-up investigation.”

  “The deception wouldn’t last long. It’d be a stalling tactic.”

  Erik shrugged. “Maybe that was the point. If they needed to cover their tracks, and they knew there was an investigation coming, they would need a little more time. If the Gray Circle had been a little less cocky, they might have been able to pull it off.”

  “But who is allegedly stalling now?” Captain Monahan looked at Jia and Erik with a pained expression. “Tessan’s in custody and Winthorpe is dead. Why would Winthorpe try to stall an investigation if he was planning to shoot himself in the head? That doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

  “Because he didn’t shoot himself in the head,” Erik declared. “He was murdered. Assassinated. If a man intends to kill himself, he doesn’t need a group of fake mercs to stall for him. He could have done it at any time. But an assassin might need a group of fake mercs to stall prior to murdering him, especially if they just became aware that we were coming to talk to him, which they might have if they had the ability to monitor the station.”

  Jia looked at Erik. “I…” She chewed her lip. “Are you sure? I’ve been wondering, but I kept worrying that I am too paranoid.”

  “This isn’t one bad apple,” Erik growled. “This is a whole orchard full of bad apples, and we’re going to need to burn it all down to clean up.”

  “It might have been the Gray Circle,” Jia suggested. “They might have blamed Winthorpe for their leader being captured and decided to get some revenge.”

  He eyed her. “A whole group of mobsters comes up from the Shadow Zone?” Erik grunted. “They needed codes just to sneak the cargo deliveries across, and why would they bother with the mercenary disguises?”

  Captain Monahan frowned at Erik. “But the coroner’s report said it was suicide. Unless you suddenly have some medical insight they don’t, we have no reason to doubt that. The official reports have already been issued. There’s nothing on your end to further investigate. Winthorpe was at the heart of it, and he’s dead. Let’s leave well enough alone unless you have some direct evidence of something more going on. We don’t want to spread unnecessary panic.”

  Jia nodded. “If you don’t mind, sir, I’d like to review some of the records, along with Digi-Forensics. I’m not saying there’s anything in the data, but it wouldn’t hurt to have more eyes on it.”

  “Fine, but we’re not pursuing anything else without new evidence.” Captain Monahan looked at Erik. “Same goes for you. I need more than suspicions. You’ve done a good job, but don’t ruin that by pushing too hard.”

  “Sure, Captain.” Erik stared at the man.

  Erik stepped into a small room situated several floors below the station office level.

  A wrinkled corpse lay on top of a raised silver examination table. Small probes flew over the body, moving up and down and beeping as they scanned. A coroner in a white uniform stood off to the side, his brow furrowed as he looked at various probe window displays floating in front of him.

  “You Hannigan?” Erik asked.

  “Yes.” The coroner looked away from his windows and toward the detective. “And who are you? I don’t recognize you.”

  “Erik Blackwell,” Erik replied. “I’m new.”

  Hannigan narrowed his eyes. “I’ve heard about you. Mmmhmmm, I’ve heard about you. The Obsidian Detective.”

  Erik chuckled. “That was how I got in, yes.”

  “It was kind of strange, so it’s no wonder it has gotten around.” Hannigan tapped one of the windows and it disappeared. “What do you need, Detective?”

  “You’re the one who examined Trajan Winthorpe’s body, right? Both on-site, and later here?” Erik asked. “At least you were, according to the report. If it was someone else, I’ll talk to them and get out of your hair.”

  Hannigan nodded slowly. “I’m the only one who worked on the body. What about it? Everything I discovered, I put in the report. If you have questions about it, you should send them through the system so I can get the answers easily linked back to the report. I don’t want to repeat myself five times. I know how you detectives can be, especially when it’s a big case.”

  “I do have some questions, but it’s not about anything particular in the report.” Erik walked over to the short man, smiling down at him. “And it’s not something I think you’d want to discuss with a bunch of other detectives.”

  “Whatever.” Hannigan frowned. “Make it quick, Detective Blackwell. I’m kind of in the middle of something.” He gestured at the body. “And I get that he’s dead, but people are waiting for this report.”

  “You’re sure you didn’t accidentally leave any details out of the Winthorpe report?” Erik asked.

  “I’m not new at this job, and this isn’t my first body. I know how to write a report.” Hannigan scoffed.

  “Yeah, but this is Neo SoCal, and you’re the coroner for the 1-2-2. I’m betting you’ve handled fewer bodies than I might think.” Erik gestured at the body. “It’s not like you’re spending a lot of time processing dead thugs from the Shadow Zone. Maybe you made a few mistakes. It could happen to the best of us, and I was just giving you a chance to point out anything that might have not made it into the report.”

  Erik eyed
him, the silence lasting more than a few heartbeats.

  “I beg your pardon. I’ve received extensive training, including practical, VR, and AR.” Hannigan’s lip curled into a sneer. “Don’t presume to tell me how to do my job, Detective. You have no idea what’s involved. I’m the subject-matter expert, not you, and I didn’t make any mistakes. If you have a problem with my work, take it up with the captain, but I hope you actually have some proof.”

  Erik scratched his cheek. “Fair enough. I understand. I just have one more question.”

  Hannigan let out an annoyed grunt. “What? I really don’t have time for your insults.”

  “It’s simple, and you’ll be able to answer it in seconds.”

  The coroner eyed him. “What, already?”

  “How much were you paid to fake the report?” Erik smiled. “I mean, was it a lot, or did you sell yourself cheap? I know they did the hard part, but I’m betting there are all sorts of little pieces of evidence that conveniently didn’t make it into your report.”

  “How dare you!” Hannigan shouted. “I’m a professional,” he poked himself in the chest with his thumb, “and I take my job seriously. To imply that I would take a bribe is beyond insulting.”

  Was there something in Hannigan’s eyes?

  Hannigan continued his rant. “I’m sorry your big case didn’t end with you arresting Winthorpe, Detective, but constructing a fanciful story to cover up your disappointment is ridiculous, and says a lot more about you than me.” He pointed to the door. “Get out before I report your harassment to Captain Monahan. I’ve been here a lot longer than you.”

  Erik shrugged. “Hey, can’t a man ask a few questions without someone getting all bent out of shape?” He headed toward the door. “Fine. If you’re willing to stick by your report, I’m willing to accept it for now.”