by Brian Parker
“Detective,” Voodoo answered after a few seconds. “Anastasia tells me that you have good news.”
“Yes and no. You’ve got some more explaining to do, Ladeaux.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“Of the twenty-two people I rescued from that theater today, only one of them was a clone.”
“Come, now, Forrest. It’s impossible to tell a clone from a human without serious, intensive DNA testing. You know that.”
“I had the tests done. Only one of them had the chemical dependency that clones exhibit.”
“What? That’s impossible.”
“And none of them could remember who they were, where they worked or if they had a family. Isn’t that strange?”
“They probably had a memory wipe. That’s easy to do.”
“Who’s researching how to do that shit?” I asked.
“Biologiqué had a defense contract to test the feasibility of the effort, turns out with a few chemicals, some targeted radiation bursts and you’ve got a walking, talking, functioning person who’ll believe anything you tell them.”
I stared out into the light rain while he blathered about the practical applications of the science and probabilities of an accidental lobotomy out of a given sample size. The blinking aviation safety lights of several police drones took shape off to the southeast, in the direction of Easytown. As I looked at them, I realized that the red lights were all on the right and the greens were on the left. Remembering back to my fishing trip with Amir, the old boat captain we’d hired explained to me that the lights on the port side of all boats—and aircraft—were red and the green ones were on the starboard.
Which meant the drones were coming this way.
“Shit. I’ve gotta go. Drones are inbound to my location.”
“Detective, I haven’t had the oppor—”
I clicked the phone off and dashed inside. The drones were still a mile away or more. I couldn’t remember how close they needed to be to use their intersecting signal scans to accurately determine where a target hid. I didn’t plan on sticking around to find out.
“Everyone, get in the Jeep. Now!” I shouted, startling the two women in the living room.
“What’s going on, Zach?”
“Just go, Teagan!”
I pulled her gently to her feet and noted with satisfaction that Sadie was already moving.
“Is Rebecca in her room?”
“No. She’s… She’s at class,” Teagan stammered. “Zach, what’s happening?”
“Get to the Jeep!”
I made sure to grab Teagan’s keys off the counter and lock her door. If they sent black and whites, an unlocked front door was an invitation for further investigation. At a minimum, they could charge Teagan and Rebecca with interfering with a police investigation, possibly even aiding and abetting a fugitive if they found any of my DNA in the place.
The girls dashed through the rain to the upper parking lot where I’d been parking the Jeep and waited as I unlocked the door. I jumped in the driver’s seat and made sure the headlight button was turned off before starting the car.
I couldn’t see the drone lights anymore and I wondered if I’d been overreacting to a few lights in the sky. I decided to follow my gut and backed out of the spot, then put the car in drive and turned on the lights.
Behind us, the telltale brrrt brrrt brrrrrrrt sound of the drones’ miniguns told me that I hadn’t been paranoid.
“Oh my God! My apartment!”
“I can’t see. What is it?” I asked, pulling smoothly out into traffic on the first road leading away from the complex.
“They destroyed her house,” Sadie stated. “One minute, everything was fine, the next minute holes started appearing through the front of the apartment.”
If that many rounds were making it all the way through the apartment, then they’d used a lot of rounds. They weren’t trying to take prisoners. I’d hit them hard with the rescue of all those people and they weren’t going to pull any punches.
I considered using the throwaway phone to call Amir and warn him, but decided against it. I’d only gotten about three minutes after Anastasia identified who I was before the drones arrived. Now that they had the IP for the phone, it was basically useless. Next time I turned it on, they’d zero in on me once more.
Time for a new phone.
“I’m sorry, Teagan,” I finally remembered to say.
“What am I supposed to do, Zach? They’ll probably suspend my classes and accuse me of murder like they did you—” Her hand flew up to her mouth. “Oh my gosh. My mom is going to kill me!”
“Let’s take it one day at a time. First, we need to find a safe place to stay for the night. Tomorrow night, I’m going to the clone factory to investigate. I’m going to get to this fucker. I promise.”
“Where are we going?” Sadie asked from directly behind me.
“We’re going to disappear in Easytown.”
“Are you sure?” the older woman pressed. “There are so many cameras down there, they’ll see us and then kill us like they did that female cop.”
“That’s just along Jubilee Lane. There’s a whole lot of Easytown that people don’t know about.”
We drove in silence for a while until we reached the edge of Easytown. Teagan’s hand tightened on my leg as we passed the first sex club.
“Nervous?” I asked.
She nodded. “I’ve never actually been in Easytown before. It’s too dangerous for a woman.”
I snorted. “It’s got nothing to do with your sex. This place is just as deadly for a male—if you don’t know what you’re doing. You’re in luck though, because I know what I’m doing.”
I was being cocky. That sort of attitude was what got you killed in Easytown as a cop. I needed to reign it back in. I wasn’t down here alone, I had two women that I cared for who were depending on me to keep them safe in the armpit of humanity.
The Jeep’s tires bounced over ruts in the hastily-laid asphalt as I turned off The Lane down a side street. The denizens of Easytown, the ones who didn’t typically venture to the main thoroughfare except to rob the tourists, watched us from dirty, cracked windows or popped their heads out of wherever they’d lain for the night.
The girls were getting nervous with the attention that the Jeep brought.
“It’s okay,” I stated. “I’ll pay a guy at the motel to watch the car. We should be fine.”
“Should be?” Teagan repeated. “Five minutes ago, you said you knew what you were doing. I’ve got my purse; we could get some cash here in Easytown, then go to a nicer part of town, or even the next town over. We really don’t need to be down here.”
I dropped my hand to hers, which was still on my leg, and massaged it gently. “It’s okay. This is our best bet to stay undetected now that they know about you… Ah, there he is.”
“Who?” Sadie asked.
“Tyrone. It’s cool. Just sit back and don’t say a damn thing.”
I unholstered my Sig Sauer and placed it on my lap, barrel facing out and pulled up to the man I’d indicated, rolling the window down.
“Zach, my man. What can I do for you—and your ladies—tonight?” the fence asked.
“I need another throwaway. The cops tracked the last one.”
He held up his hands and said, “Hey man, that ain’t my fault! When I sold you that, it was off the registers.”
“I know. They tracked it.” Tyrone didn’t need to know anything beyond his small part. “They tracked the phone after a couple of days of use. I need a new one.”
He eyed the ladies in the car. “Sure, I can give you one. Give me ten minutes with one of your girls and it’s on me.”
“I’m not some goddamned pimp, Tyrone. These ladies aren’t for sale. I need another phone.”
“You got the old one?”
I reached over to the console and searched for the old throwaway without taking my eyes off Tyrone. I needed his assistance, but I didn�
��t trust him—especially now that he’d shown interest in the women.
Teagan leaned forward and pushed the phone under my searching fingers. I passed it to him.
He reached into his pocket and I picked the pistol up, jamming it through the open window.
“Whoa, man!” he shouted, pulling his hand from his pocket and putting it up in the air with his other one. “See, it’s just a screwdriver.”
He held a small flat-tipped screwdriver between the fingers of the hand he’d slipped into his pocket. I relaxed and pulled the Sig Sauer back inside the Jeep.
“Jumpy fucker, aren’t you?” Tyrone mumbled as he popped the back of the phone off with the screwdriver and then pried out the integrated communications chip. I watched as he dropped it to the pavement and ground it under his boot.
“There, now that one’s gone. Time for a new one.”
“What’s your price this time?” I asked.
His eyes wandered over to Teagan, visually undressing her. “You sure neither of these ladies are for sale? You don’t need both.”
“Back off. They’re mine.”
“What the fuck?” Sadie objected from the back seat. I held up my hand to silence her. I knew she didn’t like being described that way, but it was the only way to get Tyrone to drop it. On the streets of Easytown, friends, girlfriends, even wives were easily traded for favors and drugs. I needed to get the point across to him that the women were not part of the equation.
“Alright, man. I’m just making sure. A man could use a fine lady like that down here.”
“I’m sure you would use them,” I replied coldly. “How much for a new chip?”
“A thousand.”
“You charged me three hundred for the old chip and a phone.”
“Inflation, Zach. You’re a hot commodity right now. If I was a less-loyal friend, then I’d turn you in for the two hundred and fifty thousand going around the streets right now.”
“That’s all I’m worth?” I laughed. Chris’ sources had been right. I couldn’t stay in Easytown now that I knew everybody was in on it.
“Apparently,” Tyrone answered, his eyes narrowing. “And that redhead in the back seat is worth five hundred—”
I slammed the Jeep into drive and shot forward. “Get down!” I shouted.
Chunks of concrete flew off the buildings on either side as my friend Tyrone fired at us. I took the first turn and sped down an even shittier street than the one we’d been on before.
“I thought you knew what you were doing,” Sadie shouted from the floorboard.
“I do. That’s why we got the hell out of there.”
Several men ran into the street, leveling weapons at us. I knew that asshole did something inside his pocket besides just getting the screwdriver.
The men blocking our way expected the Jeep to stop, like all autodrive cars did when there was an obstacle in the way. Too bad for them, I’d turned off the nav system to avoid detection from the police. I gunned the engine. Picking up speed, the Jeep plowed into the men, knocking them over like bowling pins. I grimaced and held on tightly to the steering wheel as the Jeep’s passenger side tires chewed through one of them and threw us around the interior.
The car fishtailed and threatened to overturn, but held on somehow. I caught a glimpse of a hulking beast coming out of the alley that startled me. A man, easily close to seven feet tall, wearing mismatched armor of some type stomped forward. I could hear the clump of his feet with each step through the Jeep’s windows. Arcing electrical wires, some of them emitting sparks from their ends, sprouted from his head and fell around his face.
I realized this was the same creature that the tweaker thought was the octopus god-thing. A goddamned cyborg.
It raised an arm and I jammed the gas pedal to the floor. Several thin, half-inch long holes appeared in the windshield and one of the disk projectiles embedded into the dash. I heard the high-pitched reports from the weapon and the sound of an air compressor refilling a tank.
Then we were running free to the next intersection. I took the turn and made it back to Jubilee Lane and jerked the steering wheel hard to take the ramp to the highway.
“At least we know for sure that there’s a price on our heads now,” I muttered, slowing the Jeep to the pace of all the other cars.
“What was that thing?” Teagan asked, running her fingers lightly over the holes in the windshield.
The places where the disks went through the glass were clean, not the typical messy spider-webbing that a bullet would produce. It reminded me of a hot knife sliding through butter.
“It was a cyborg,” I responded, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “And it’s not our problem right now. We need to get someplace safe before we can begin worrying about that.”
“Where are we going?” Sadie asked.
“We need gas and then I’ve got an idea of a place to go. It’s over in Slidell…” I trailed off.
“Slidell? Who do you know out in Slidell?” Teagan asked.
“Avery.”
“Are you shitting me? That cop you were dating who threw you to the curb because she couldn’t handle your personality quirks?”
“Yeah,” I acknowledged. “She’s a good person, Teagan, regardless of our past. She wouldn’t allow herself to get caught up in all the political bullshit and corruption going around.”
“Will she let us stay there?” Sadie asked. “Your last suggestion for help didn’t turn out so well.”
“That’s the better question,” I muttered, ignoring the jab she’d thrown at me.
TWENTY-THREE: MONDAY
I made the familiar trek down Avery’s brick walkway, stepping around the loose paver that had conspired with my drunkenness to make that night a complete disaster. I grimaced as I remembered broken pieces of the event. It seemed like so long ago, but in reality, it’d only been a week and a half.
Time flies when you’re having fun, I mused.
It was late—once again. I was sure that the time of day would piss her off, probably even more than me asking for help. I reached out to ring the doorbell and paused. The plastic button felt rough under my finger, like it was purposely designed to be unwelcoming.
We’d parted on such bad terms. As I stood there with my finger on the button, I no longer thought this was as good an idea as it had seemed back in New Orleans. Actually, it had seemed like a terrible idea there, too. One born of desperation.
Avery was a state cop. Was I putting us at risk by going to her house?
A small, brown finger settled over mine and pushed down, ringing the doorbell. Teagan smiled back at me.
“We’re not going to do anything except raise suspicions standing out here in the dark.”
“You’re right,” I replied. “I was just thinking that maybe this wasn’t the best idea.”
“I know you were. That’s why I took the decision away from you.”
“That’s not really you’re place—”
“Don’t start, Zach. I may be all twisted up inside about you, but I’m still a smart and independent woman. You don’t get to tell me where my place is when it comes to saving my own life.”
I liked the fiery attitude. It was just one of the many things I admired about her.
“You’re right. Sorry.”
“Yeah, what do—” the intercom crackled. “Dammit, Zach. What are you doing here? I’m calling the local police department.”
“Wait!” Teagan answered, pushing me aside. “We’re in trouble and we need your help.”
“Who are you?” Avery asked. “Hold on. Have the redhead come closer to the camera.”
Sadie stepped up onto the townhome’s small porch and smiled. “Uh, hello,” she said with a little wave.
“You’re the clone that they found dead yesterday,” Avery accused.
“Guilty—sort of. I am the person who gave the interview to the television station, but I’m not the one that the mayor had killed.”
“What? Oh, hold on.�
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Avery’s voice retreated from the microphone and after a few seconds, we heard the chain fall away from the door, then the deadbolt twist open. The door swung inward and my former lover stood there in pajama pants and a tank top that did nothing to hide her assets as her arms pressed them together.
My eyes were immediately drawn away from her ample breasts to the pistol she held clasped in both hands near her navel.
“Whoa, Avery!” I said, raising my hands above my head. “We’re not here to start any trouble.”
“You’re not? Is that the same thing you said to that poor woman right before you shot her in the head?”
“He didn’t do it,” Teagan cut in, stepping close to me. “They released vid evidence today showing that the original feed was doctored.”
Avery shifted one foot backward, keeping her body squared up toward us as she assessed the situation.
“I didn’t see that,” she admitted. Her eyes narrowed. “Who are you, anyways?”
“Oh, sorry. I’m Teagan Thibodeaux. This is Kelsey Bloomfield.” She paused after using Sadie’s real name and then lowered her hands slightly. “You can keep us under guard, I don’t care—but we need to get off this porch before Mayor Cantrell’s goons see us.”
“What’s the Mayor of New Orleans got to do with a fugitive cop and two women ringing my doorbell in the middle of the night?”
“Can we please come inside, Avery?” I pleaded. “We’ll tell you our story and you can decide if you want to help us.”
I could see that she was considering it. “Give me your weapons, Zach.”
“Avery, I’m not—”
“Then go someplace else.”
I frowned. This wasn’t going like I thought it would. I thought that once Avery saw Sadie alive, it would have changed things, but she hadn’t seen the report exonerating me from Sandra’s murder so she wasn’t open to helping.
“Zach, please.” Teagan said. “You know the longer we stay out here, the more likely somebody will see us. The vid of the undoctored footage didn’t get nearly as much airtime as the original cop killer vid. There are probably a lot of people who haven’t seen it and still think you killed that woman.”