Her door popped open and Giustino poked his head in her office. "Everything going okay Kanti? I saw you go by my office."
She nodded her head, happy to see Giustino had finally arrived. "Just wanted to get an early start to the day. I decided to do a quick search on Moran."
"I was running a little late today. I stayed up late working on our case."
Kanti exited the Net and shut the computer down. "I was wondering if we could pay Moran a visit right now to see if he could give us any more information that would help us out on the case."
Giustino smiled. "Sounds like a great idea. I was about to suggest the exact same thing. I worked all night on the case and I haven't gotten any further."
"I'm ready to go," She stood up. "What are we waiting for?"
Moran turned a walked out the door. "This our last option to get anything else on the case. If Moran is a dead end, we're stuck until a miracle happens."
"He has to know something," She jogged to keep up with him.
Kanti could tell that Moran was in a big hurry because when they passed his office she saw that he still hadn't gone inside. She didn't blame him since he had been up late working on the case, she just hoped that this Moran guy could actually help them out. If not, maybe all hope was lost for the case.
She entered the elevator and stood next to Giustino silently as they descended down to the first floor of the station. Giustino quickly got off and briskly made his way towards the parking garage with Kanti trying her best to keep up. The circular door recognized the sensor that was embedded on the strip of Giustino's I.D. and automatically opened.
He took a right as he went through the door with Kanti right on his heels, not wanting to slow him down. She stopped on the passenger side of his metallic silver coupe and waited for him to unlock the doors. It was a much more elegant car than her piece of junk, but she knew that she would be able to afford something like this eventually, maybe even a cruiser if she was lucky.
When she heard the door unlock she pressed her four fingertips on the sensors of the door and it quickly responded, opening straight up for her to enter.
Giustino glanced over to Kanti. "Tell my mapping system the address to Moran's place of residence."
"1575 Woodburn Lane."
"Now mapping together a route to 1575 Woodburn Lane," The car responded.
Before the mapping system had finished creating the route for Giustino, he was already pulling out of the parking garage. The entire ride to the city was accompanied by silence. Kanti was eager to talk, but she wasn't sure that Giustino felt the same way, so she kept quiet.
After entering the main city where Moran lived, Kanti looked around confused at what she saw laying before her. The whole city seemed to be falling apart. People lay sleeping in the streets and drug deals were going on out in the open for everybody to see. She didn't understand why there weren't officers patrolling this city, but opted not to ask Giustino since he was in charge of the District.
As Giustino neared a huge one hundred story tall apartment building, the mapping system alerted him that he had arrived at his destination. He stopped the car and looked out the window then over to Kanti.
"Are you sure this is the right address Kanti? The building looks like it has been abandoned since Exodus Era."
Kanti looked down at her notepad. "It's the address that came up on the database. Unless the database was wrong, this is the place."
Giustino nodded his head and opened his door. "If that's what was in the database, then we're at the right place."
Both officers approached the building and entered through the broken door. Giustino looked around to see if there was anyone that could help them, but all he saw were broken tiles, chandeliers, and glass scattered all over the floor.
He heard a crunching of glass to his right. "Could I help you find someone?"
"We're looking for a Moran Borislav," Kanti responded to the robot that had appeared out of nowhere.
"Floor fifty-two. Room two forty-seven," The robot replied without hesitation.
Giustino went towards one of the five elevators that were directly in front of them and pressed the call button. They both entered and Kanti pressed the floor. The elevator lurched up to the fifty-second floor of the old, beat up, building. Kanti was the first to exit when they had reached their floor.
She pointed to the left. "Let's start this way. I don't see any directions on the walls."
Kanti took the lead down the hall and within a minute she was staring at room two forty-seven. Giustino knocked on the door and took a step back. The door opened and a large man filled the doorway.
"How can I help you officers today?" The man asked.
Giustino cleared his throat. "Are you Moran Borislav?"
"Yes, that's me. What can I do for you?"
"I'm Officer Giustino and this is Officer Kanti," he motioned. "We just wanted to ask you some questions pertaining to the recent death of Armino Valens. It is to our knowledge that you were close to Armino and we thought that you could help us."
Moran moved aside and put his arm out. "Then come on in officers. I'll help you as much as I can."
Kanti and Giustino walked into the apartment and sat next to each other on one of the couches in the living room. Moran followed behind them and sat in a chair across from them with his hand on his legs.
Kanti cleared her throat. "I'm sorry to intrude on you like this Moran, but we really need your help. We've hit a dead end and you're the last person there was to come to if we have any chance to solve this case."
Moran smiled. "Don't worry, you're not intruding. I'll do everything that I can to help you find who killed my partner and his family."
Kanti squinted her eyes. She hadn't mentioned anything about his family, but somehow he was already aware.
Giustino took out a notepad. "We know that you're a part of the GSOU, so we'll try not to ask any questions that you're not allowed to answer due to confidentiality, but remember, we're trying to do a job too."
Moran shook his head. "Understood. I'll help you as much as I can."
"We have reason to believe that this was a planned out murder, Moran. Given the line of work you and Armino are in, we think someone may have been seeking revenge," Kanti informed him.
"What makes you think that it was planned out?" Moran asked.
Giustino took out some pictures. "Very advanced weaponry was used, except for one death, and every person was killed one by one with Armino being the last one killed, according to Anlon."
Moran picked up the pictures. "So Anlon watched the whole thing?"
Kanti shook her head. "He was tied in a chair the entire time and was forced to watch. He told us exactly what kinds of weapons were used and the races of all the killers. That's all he knew though, he didn't hear any names or where they may have come from. Nothing that can really help solve this case quickly."
"That's where you come in," Giustino picked up. "We thought that if they knew Armino, that there was a chance that you may also know who these races are and where we can find them."
Moran let out a breath. "Well, tell me the races that were involved and I may be able to help you out. I'm not making any promises, but it can't hurt to see if there's any that I'm currently after that are involved."
Kanti looked down at her notepad. "There were three involved in the murder: a blue and grey Arachnid, a black Malak, and a red and black Darza."
Moran rubbed his head for several seconds. "They all sound very familiar, but I can't say I know exactly who they are or where to find them. Not one of them jumps out at me, so none of them have been part of any recent assignments. Armino and I hunted down and stopped all kinds of threats. There are countless races we hunt in our line of work on a daily basis. I'm sure that the killers are a part of a group we took out, but honestly, I have no idea off the top of my head."
Giustino looked at the floor and slowly got up off of the couch. "Well, thank you for your time Moran. If you don't know any
thing about the races, I'm afraid that there's not much else we can do that wouldn't be wasting your time. We fully understand you see a lot every day in your line of work, but we thought we might give you a try since we've lifted every other stone."
"Sorry I couldn't help with identifying or locating these guys for you. If I do think of anything, I'll make sure to give you a call right away," Moran lied. "How is Anlon doing by the way?"
"He's handling it all pretty well from what we can tell. He's helping us as much as he can and is still clinging on to hope that these races will be found," Kanti responded. "Unfortunately, it's looking slimmer by the day."
"I'm confident that there's hope that they'll be found, it might just take a while," Moran said. "Guys like this make it their job to stay hidden, but even they make mistakes that get them caught."
Giustino held out his hand to Moran. "I'd like to thank you again for your time."
Moran grabbed Giustino's hand. "If I run across anything that may be of help to you and the case, I'll make sure to let you know immediately."
Kanti smiled and wrote something on her notepad. "This is the number you can reach us at if you do."
"Thank you. I'll let you know as soon as I know anything," Moran reached out and took the paper from her. "I wish you guys the best of luck at catching these races."
Moran opened the door for the officers to leave and watched as they made their way back to the elevator. He shut the door as soon as he saw them enter the elevator to descend back to the ground floor, knowing that he had just lied to two District officers which could land him in a heap of trouble if caught.
Little option was left though, after Anlon had left he had thought long and hard if he should let the boy know the truth about the identity of the Malak. He had laid on the couch thinking if it was the right thing to do and had completely lost track of time; his robot alerted him that there were two police officers heading up to see him while he was still deep in thought.
Armino had always talked about how Anlon would be a great fit in the GSOU, so this was something he could surely handle. Since Anlon wasn't trained as GSOU yet, he could technically go out on a mission without any repercussions for breaking rules because he was bound by none. Moran would have to find races to provide equivalent training to the GSOU and several other things, but it wouldn't be too hard. This probably wasn't something that Armino would recommend, but he could hardly keep himself from going out and killing the races himself. He had a feeling that this kid would do more than just go out and kill the races that killed his family; he had a feeling that this kid was going to change Orion completely.
Giustino sat down in his black leather chair and stared blankly at the computer screen. He had been so sure that he would've found something out when interviewing Moran, but nothing at all turned up. Moran claimed he knew nothing at all, but he wasn't buying it. Whether it was true or not, Giustino didn't know for sure, but he would find out in time. If Moran knew anything, anything at all, it was crucial for solving this case. Having just a name or planet could be a breakthrough for this case and that's why he needed every minute detail.
Giustino started typing a report of the interview on his computer, frustrated that nothing had come up. He put everything in that Moran had told them, which amounted to nothing new at all. He didn't want to skip the report though, this was a big case for Hassental and skipping a report for a case like this would raise questions later that he didn't want to be hassled with answering. Giustino saved the report to his computer and shut it down. He left his office and locked the door behind him, giving the case a rest for the day.
Kanti was in her office typing up a report of what she had found out in the meeting with Moran. He hadn't revealed any new groundbreaking information to them, but she had a feeling that if anyone could find anything out about this case, it would be him. She was finishing up her report when her phone vibrated. She looked down at the phone and read the text that had just come in.
"Do you want to go out tonight to the Planerizza at 7:00?"
She smiled at the text and responded. "I would love to go Anlon."
Kanti finished up her report, saved it to her computer, and left to go home for the remainder of the work day. Other than this case and other miscellaneous work, she really had nothing to do in Hassental. She hadn't gone out much with anyone since she had come to Gaea a couple of months ago and was looking forward to finally hanging out with an actual person.
Camillus heard the ding go off that had been set up to tell him when either Giustino or Kanti saved work under the Valens Murder File. The humanoid wanted to keep up with this case so he could know everything that was going on at every moment. The best way to do that was to set a tone that alerted him whenever Kanti and Giustino saved their work. They were the two main officers working on the case, therefore, they would have the most information.
Camillus knew if any of the officers were aware that the humanoid in the basement could keep tabs on them, they would destroy him and replace him. None of the officers knew he could do things on his own without being programmed to do them and that's how he planned on keeping it. No one, but a select few who weren't on Gaea, knew Camillus was built for much more than keeping the database in order. The person who had built Camillus had much more in mind for the humanoid.
Camillus walked over to the computer that had just gone off and read the files that it had downloaded. "Interesting. He would probably like to hear this later," He plugged a cord behind his head and downloaded the file into his memory for later.
Anlon had arrived at the Planerizza fifteen minutes early to hang out with Kanti. She hadn't arrived yet, but he had a feeling that she would be right on time since she didn't have many other things to do outside of work. They had hit off from the first time they met and he figured she'd be the only chance of a friend that he'd have for a very long time.
Anlon saw Kanti pull up to the Planerizza parking lot in her beat up sedan and he quickly exited the building to show her inside. He walked up to where she was parking and waved at her as she her got out of her car.
"Hey Kanti!"
She waved back and smiled. "So this is the Planerizza? Interesting."
It was a tall building with eight legs for the base that all came together in the middle to create one long pillar pointing straight up to the sky. The building was made out of glossy red metal and tables were spread around the entire base of the building.
He blushed. "My family loved to come here and eat when my Dad was home. I guess I was thinking about them when I decided to come here."
She hugged him. "I'm sure it'll be great. Let's go get some food."
They sat down at a table that was under the giant pillar and ordered their drinks from the chubby waitress who had greeted them. When the waitress came back with the drinks, Anlon already knew what he was going to order for the two of them. His father had always gotten it for the family whenever he came home from work and he thought it was the best thing on the menu.
"I would like the Orion Plate," Anlon told the waitress. "Make it with extra of the exotics."
The waitress wrote the order down and walked away. "What's the Orion Plate, Anlon?"
He smiled. "I know you're from Demeter, so you obviously haven't tried everything on Gaea yet, or the rest of Orion for that matter. This is a big meal where they give you different things from all over Orion. My Dad would always get it when he was home so we could try different things that he got to try while he was traveling for work. The exotics are always the best because the change regularly. Of course, it's not exactly the same as on the planet, but it's close enough for two humans who haven't tried the real thing."
They talked about their lives and how they grew up while they were waiting for dinner and all the way through dinner. Anlon could tell this was the beginning of a really good friendship of two humans who were in very similar situations. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about the killers, but he knew that he would let Kanti know before h
e did anything, even if she was a District officer.
Kirill opened up his hologram. "What information to you have for me about Armino?"
The display was of a hooded figure, with an unrecognizable face. "The boy, Anlon, is still alive. Your men didn't kill him like they were supposed to."
Kirill's face reddened. "Does he pose any threat to our future plans?"
The hologram was silent for a moment. "He knows a lot. The men you sent out were very careless on this mission. He knows that they have a link to Armino, along with races, names, and a planet."
"Has he said anything yet that will lead the GSOU to come after us?"
"He hasn't and he doesn't appear like he will, but Moran lives nearby. He may not tell the officers anything, but that doesn't mean he'll keep quiet with Moran."
"Moran... that may be a problem. Has the boy talked to him?"
The hooded figure shook his head. "He did before any officers could arrive. Moran provided no information to the officers, but it's unclear about Anlon. If he did, Anlon hasn't taken any action yet, but we should know soon."
Kirill stroked his chin. "Keep an eye on both of them. If need be, take them both out before they can do anything that will mess with our plans," Kirill got up. "I don't need some boy trying to be a little hero and screwing up my plans."
The hooded figure nodded. "I will keep you updated and provide you with more information as I receive it."
Kirill shut off his hologram and headed to his dark quarters. He had given Donnchadh the mission of revenge that he had been begging for since he joined the Deimos Brotherhood and he screwed it up by letting Armino's son live. Anlon was by no means anything like Armino, but Kirill had a feeling that he could be an even bigger problem than Armino due to the fact that he could link the murders to the Deimos Brotherhood.
Since he was just a kid and it didn't look like he was going to reveal anything, Kirill decided to let him live for now. There was no point in going back to kill a kid who posed no immediate threat. It wasn't worth the risk, not with the other plans that Kirill had falling through right now.
War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past Page 5