Erik growled, “I’m going after someone who committed mass murder as a cover-up.”
Malcolm swallowed, his eyes widening. “That’s all I need to know. In fact, I don’t want to know more. Good luck, Detective. I’m more than willing to continue helping.”
Dark thoughts swirled in Erik’s head as he drove toward the address. It wasn’t in the Shadow Zone, fortunately, meaning he didn’t have to involve anyone else or ask for any more favors, especially from Captain Monahan. The Halcyon office was the next clue that might point him to the truth.
How many conspiracies can I get wrapped up in? he wondered.
Erik furrowed his brow as another thought intruded. “Huh. I never asked you, Emma.”
“Asked me what?” she replied. “Did you want me to fly?”
“No, it’s not that.” Erik tightened his grip on the control yoke. “I’m getting involved in something dangerous, and you’re not immortal, even if you are an AI. If this vehicle gets destroyed, you might go down with it. I’m not going to pretend I have any answers to the philosophy of it, but Colonel Adeyemi said there’s no backup of you. That means you can die.”
“I’m confident you’ll do something reckless soon that will risk us both,” Emma responded with a laugh. Her grinning hologram appeared and she winked. “I’m also confident you won’t trash the MX 60 you’ve put so much money into. You’re not poor, but you’re not rich enough for that not to hurt. That should at least provide me some small measure of protection.”
Erik patted his pocket. “I’m not sure if I need the transmitter since I have you, but it’s good to have options. This could be nothing more than some corp alliance redoing a tower level, or it might be a clue to a dangerous conspiracy.”
Emma shrugged. “My existence is a conspiracy of sorts. Dangerous? Maybe, but given what you’ve already found, it wouldn’t be surprising if you found more.”
“True enough.” Erik snorted. “The greatest city on the shining homeworld, but under every rock I kick over, I find more darkness.”
“By the way, we’re being followed.” Emma gestured at the lidar display on the dashboard. “Someone has been trying to do a good job of it, but they’ve been too successful at maintaining an almost perfect half-kilometer distance from us. It might have worked better if there was more distance. I wasn’t sure until the traffic died down, but now I’m certain.”
Erik hit the brakes, the thrusters firing and the grav field modulating. The MX 60 halted almost instantaneously and hovered. He didn’t have time for more games right now. “Transponder code?”
“One moment.” Emma snickered. “Oh, she needs to learn better if she’s going to try this.”
Erik frowned. “Who?”
“Detective Lin. The transponder codes correspond to her personal vehicle.”
Erik dialed Jia immediately and maneuvered toward a nearby parking lot at the edge of a commercial platform.
“Hello?” Jia answered, uncertainty in her voice.
“Meet me at the parking lot,” Erik ordered. “We’ll talk there.” He ended the call before she could respond and continued flying toward the mostly empty lot. A few people trickled out of the buildings onto the platform or continued past them toward the main commerce tower.
Erik settled into an empty space. He exited his flitter and folded his arms before leaning against the side of his vehicle, adopting a relaxed expression.
Jia’s modest blue flitter descended into the lot and parked beside Erik’s MX 60. Erik waited as the vehicle settled to the ground, and his partner stepped out of it with a sheepish look.
“How long have you known?” Jia asked, avoiding eye contact.
“Not all that long.” Erik shrugged. “Emma actually spotted you. I should have had better instincts, but it’s good to have AI backup for when I’m distracted. Why are you following me?”
Jia managed to look him in the eye. “You know the best thing you’ve done for me?”
“Introduce you to a great bar you’d been avoiding?” Erik answered.
“Very funny.” Jia shook her head. “You’ve helped me learn to be suspicious in the right ways rather than just poking every shadow and hoping to find something.” She pointed at him. “I want to trust you, but after everything that’s happened, it’s hard for me to ignore strange behavior.”
Erik nodded. “What strange behavior is that?”
“I know you’re doing something unofficial,” Jia explained, motioning with her hand. “And I know it involves Malcolm, and then there’s the timing. It’s too coincidental.”
Erik couldn’t help but laugh.
Jia narrowed her eyes. “What’s so funny?”
“Coincidental timing is suspicious,” Erik replied. “But what about my timing is coincidental?”
Jia gestured around. “Everything. Things were stable in my life, then you showed up, and now things aren’t. Part of me feels that’s because we needed an outsider to stir everything up, but another part of me wonders if you’re somehow responsible, and I’m still being naïve and looking the wrong way. Looking outside the department when I should be looking right inside my own office.”
Erik nodded. “It’s good to be suspicious, especially of someone you haven’t known that long.” He glanced at her. “You’re a cop. Examine the evidence. What does it say about me?”
Jia sighed, lifting a finger with each comment. “That you’re obviously hiding something, but also that you’ve had plenty of opportunities to undermine or kill me. You could have easily made it look like someone else did it, too. You’ve saved my life, and you’ve stood up for me when it would have been advantageous for you not to.” She raised her other hand once the first had all five fingers up. “The evidence says you’re a good partner, but I can’t ignore the fact that you’ve got secrets.”
She eyed him, seven fingers up.
“We all have secrets.” Erik winked. “Especially when you’re as old as me. I bet you have an ex-boyfriend you hid from everyone you could in your life. Maybe it was a one-night stand.” He pointed to his head. “Remember, this handsome face is a lie.”
Jia frowned. “Even that jester persona you like to flip on is suspicious. Sometimes it feels authentic, but other times it feels like a mask. Like you’re trying to convince everyone you don’t care, but every once in a while, you let it slip, and I see the true you.”
Erik stared at her. “And what is the true me?”
Jia took a few shallow breaths. “Brave, honorable, and dedicated, but terrifying and single-minded.”
Erik thought for a moment, then scratched his chin. “That sounds about right.”
“You’re not going home,” Jia observed. “You’re not heading anywhere near your residential tower. I also know you just met with Malcolm, but it wasn’t about our case because you haven’t contacted me about it, and there’s no reason for you not to. Even when you have been up to something you shouldn’t be, you’ve been very open about sharing information and not trying to manipulate the case. My conclusion is you’re investigating something else. Something not related to local corruption, at least not directly, because you’ve more than proven you don’t care about the implications or politics.”
Erik lowered his arms and nodded as she put her dangerous counting fingers away. “That’s all accurate too. This Winthorpe and Tessan garbage isn’t the first conspiracy I’ve stumbled into, Jia. All I can tell you is that right now, I’ve got some things I need to investigate. And you’re right, they might only incidentally involve Neo SoCal. At the end of this investigation, there might not be perp walks and heroics, but it’ll involve bad guys and justice. Sometimes you end up so deep in the shadows, you never see the light.”
“That sounds like something Captain Monahan might argue.”
Erik shrugged. “Maybe.”
Jia stared at him in silence for a long moment. “And you don’t trust me?”
“This isn’t about trust,” Erik answered. “You’re a good cop. I’ve
told you that, but if I’m going to risk your life for my personal reasons, I need to be sure I have the right to do so.”
“Don’t I get to make that decision?” Jia folded her arms over her chest. “I could make the decision if you gave me the information you’ve been keeping from me.”
“The minute I do that, you’re at risk, regardless of what you decide. I’m not even sure getting Malcolm involved was the right thing to do, and he doesn’t really know what’s going on either. It’s not that I don’t trust you, Jia, but I don’t know if bringing you along on something that could end poorly and might involve the kind of corruption that makes the Winthorpe case seem like a hundred-credit false report is the right thing.”
Jia’s frown deepened. “You want me to just walk away after hearing all that?”
“I want you to trust me,” Erik replied. “I need to be sure first. For now, that’s all I can tell you. You can make the choice eventually, but tonight I’m going to investigate something that might turn out to be nothing, or it might end with a bullet to my brain. I’m not calling for backup even if I’m in trouble because this is personal, and I don’t know who in the entire UTC I can ultimately trust.” He opened his door. “I’ll leave the rest of the decision to you.”
Chapter Forty
Jia stared at Erik, her nails digging into her arms. She took several deep breaths, not sure.
Erik slipped into the driver’s seat. “Go home, Jia. This doesn’t have to concern you. I get that it’s not fair you don’t know everything, so I’m not going to ask for your help. I don’t know where this will end.”
Jia shook her head and walked around the front of the MX 60 toward the passenger door. She opened it and slid into the seat. “You didn’t know the situation when you first arrived either, Erik. You could have listened to everyone else, but you trusted me enough to push forward on the investigation. For now, I’m willing to help because I know you’ll tell me when the time is right, and I’ll be there, too. Might as well get to that point together since it will save you time explaining the background.” She jerked a thumb to where she was parked. “We can come back later to get my flitter.”
Erik grunted and started his vehicle. The MX 60 rose off the ground. He continued flying up, then pivoted and hit the accelerator, zooming away from the parking platform.
“It shouldn’t be too exciting,” he explained, deftly sliding into the traffic lane between the 80th and 82nd level. “Empty platform and empty tower level. This isn’t the Shadow Zone, so it’ll probably just be some closed-off buildings. I just want to take a look around. See if I can turn anything up.”
There was tense silence between them as Erik continued toward the destination. He reduced his altitude as he approached the single dark level on the brightly lit tower. Erik circled the area for a moment, checking his nav system and cameras.
“Looks clear,” Erik muttered. He tapped the screen and then gestured to a camera image of a long black building covering half the platform and running into the tower. “That’s where I’m going.”
“What’s in there?” Jia glanced at the camera feeds and then out the windows. There was no other traffic at this level even though vehicles moved along above and below. Pop-up warnings on the nav system indicated the tower level was closed and no services were available.
“Evidence, I’m hoping,” Erik muttered. He brought his flitter down slowly, parking right in front of the entrance. “Allegedly, they’re remodeling this entire area.” He opened his door. “But I don’t see any construction vehicles or drones. There’s no reason to keep it clear.”
Jia got out on the opposite side, calling over the top of the flitter, “They might be still working out the details or reconsidering the remodeling plans.”
“Maybe.” Erik paused and then leaned back inside to recover his TR-7. “Somehow, I doubt that.” He reached into the back and pulled out two ballistic vests. He shed his duster to slip his on before handing one to her. “With our luck, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Jia raised an eyebrow. “You expect to have to fight a lot of out-of-control construction drones with installed turrets?”
“I don’t know what I’m expecting.” Erik slipped a magazine in. “But it never hurts to be overprepared. Everything about this place has me suspicious.”
She looked around. “This isn’t the Shadow Zone.”
“Neither was the councilman’s mansion.”
“Point.” Jia peered at the building. “How are you even going to get in?”
Emma scoffed via Erik’s PNIU. “Just get close, and I’ll see what I can do. I’m sure it won’t be that hard.”
Erik nodded and headed toward the door. Jia followed, drawing her stun pistol after she finished securing her vest. Erik’s paranoia was starting to infect her.
Erik moved close to the door and waited, looking around for anyone or anything that might be trouble, but the platform remained empty. There were several no-trespassing holographic signs.
The door clicked open.
“Good job, Emma.” Erik grinned. “How did I survive without you?”
“Poorly,” she replied. “But in this case, I didn’t have to do anything. It wasn’t locked.”
Erik’s grin vanished. “That’s interesting.”
“Interesting like ‘huh’ or interesting like…” Her voice trailed off.
“Not the good kind of interesting, no,” he answered.
Jia hesitated. “Should we even be entering? I believe in you, but we need to have some real reason to go inside.”
Erik nodded at the door. “It wasn’t locked. I think, as police, we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t do a quick check. There could be someone in there who shouldn’t be there, and officially, this is supposed to be an abandoned building scheduled for remodeling. If they’re still maintaining a presence in there, they’re dodging taxes, at the minimum.” He grinned. “And we have to make sure companies pay their taxes, right?”
Jia frowned. “I am surprised it was unlocked.” She looked behind them at the city, alive and vibrant except at this level. “It wouldn’t hurt to do a quick check when you put it that way.”
Erik stepped inside, and the lights automatically flipped on. He frowned as he scanned the place. “Awfully clean for an abandoned level.”
The front room was empty but not dusty. The dimensions suggested some sort of lobby. Hallways led in opposite directions, each lined with metal doors for its entirety.
“No reason not to use a cleaning bot,” Jia pointed out. “They might be maintaining it in case they decide against doing the renovation. That’s not illegal.”
“This is prime commercial property on a commerce tower,” Erik countered, his face lined with worry. He kept his rifle pointed in front of him. “It’s not the Hexagon, but this isn’t the Shadow Zone. Why just sit on it? Isn’t that a big waste?”
They continued exploring, passing several unmarked doors. Erik opened a few and found empty storage rooms and several large white empty rooms. It could have been anything from former labs to breakrooms for all they could tell. The lack of anything from furniture to trash made it hard to tell.
“Emma, can you access the system here?” Erik asked.
“There are multiple overlapping networks, and it’s unclear which are related to this building,” the AI replied. “If you can find an access point, that would help, or I can just start breaching every network I detect. I don’t really care.”
Jia frowned. “No, you can’t. How would we even begin to justify that? It’s one thing to investigate a suspicious building, but we’re not going to start hacking into random networks without a reason.”
Erik looked like he was going to protest but just nodded. “Fair enough.” He headed over to an IO port near the wall. “What about this? Do I just need to get the PNIU close enough?” He pulled out the transmitter Malcolm had given him. “Or we could use the transmitter?”
Emma sighed. “Either would work, but t
hat IO port’s inactive. I’ve been trying to ping it from your PNIU. You’ll need to find another one.”
“That suggests they have abandoned the building,” Jia commented. “Whoever they are.”
“Maybe.” Erik frowned. “But I’m not so sure.”
“What exactly are you hoping to find here?”
“Clues,” Erik declared.
“For what?” Jia pressed.
Erik shrugged.
Her eyes took in the emptiness before she looked at her partner, wondering, What are you hiding, Erik?
The detectives stepped out of the room and headed deeper into the facility, their footsteps echoing in the empty hallway. A couple more minutes of walking brought them to an elevator. The reinforced door and isolated location suggested a security elevator.
Jia shook her head. “It is well-maintained, I’ll grant you that, but otherwise it looks like an empty building. There might not be any great clues here to be found, whatever it is you’re looking for.”
Erik stopped in front of the elevator. “I don’t suppose we’re lucky enough that this is still active?” He tapped the access panel, but nothing happened. “That would be too easy.” His gaze dropped to a covered access port. He moved the cover to the side. “Is it active, Emma?”
“Yes,” Emma reported. “I’m attempting to interface now, but you might still use Technician Constantine’s device in case the connection to the PNIU is disrupted.”
Erik inserted the transmitter.
“Actually, this will be helpful. It’ll require less effort on my part, especially since there are some irregularities with the data. One moment.”
“What are you doing?” Jia asked. “What’s that device?”
“It’s a way of looking for evidence.” Erik looked around and frowned. “Emma, can you route it to your storage?”
“Yes,” she responded. “The device will make it easier for me to pull down more files. Three unidentified flitters have touched down in front of the building. They’re using full tinting, so I can’t see who is inside, and they aren’t transmitting valid transponder signals. Suffice it to say, I don’t need to be a police officer to think that’s suspicious.”
Obsidian Detective Page 35