One Dark Future

by Michael Anderle

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Jia took a sip of her tea and peered at the demolished remains of her chicken dinner.

  She would have loved to have some alcohol, but they both agreed they couldn’t risk even a minute of cloudy minds. If their targets were part of the conspiracy, they might be able to slip into the resort, contrary to the ID’s expectations. Exploring was different from actively handicapping themselves.

  Erik tapped his PNIU and frowned as he read a message.

  “Is something wrong?” Jia asked.

  Alina might have more information for them, and the chance of another terrorist attack remained. Venus made it clear that there was no limit for the conspiracy.

  “It’s Garth,” Erik answered.

  Jia set her cup down. It took her a second to recognize the name and put a face to it. That didn’t help her understand any better. “Garth as in the ‘Navigators are platypuses’ guy who used to live next to you?”

  “Yeah.” Erik let out a grunt of irritation. “He was nice enough, but there’s only so many crazy-ass conspiracy theories a man can take before he gets tired. No matter what I said to the guy, he took it as an invitation to shove more crap at me.”

  “What about him?” Jia asked.

  Erik gestured at his PNIU. “He just sent me a message out of the blue to my normal address. Emma’s got it set up so everything gets routed to this PNIU, just in case. We barely talked when he lived next to me, and he’s never sent me a message since moving. It’s not like I tried to keep in touch with him.”

  “Okay.” Jia nodded slowly, still marveling that platypuses would come up in conversation that meal. “What does the message say?”

  Erik shrugged. “He says he needs to meet me to talk about something major, something that will change how everyone looks at the world. He says only I can help him get the truth out and save the UTC.”

  “In other words, a conspiracy theorist wants to catch up over drinks.” Jia chuckled. “Maybe he’s planning to be in the neighborhood and figured it wouldn’t hurt to talk to you again.” She looked at him as if studying him in a storefront. “I don’t know. You can be charming in your own way.”

  “Glad you think so.” Erik frowned. “But he’s in Japan?”

  “No. Neo SoCal. He doesn’t know you’re here.” Jia grabbed her tea for another sip.

  “I don’t have time for crackpots, especially not with how things are heating up.” Erik shook his head. “If I tell him I’m out of town, knowing that guy, he’ll ask where I am. I’ll ignore him. If he asks again when we’re back home, maybe I’ll consider it.”

  Jia grinned. “You never know. Maybe he finally has stumbled upon a true conspiracy.” She set her tea down and sighed. “I get tired of the disguises,” she whispered.

  “It’s better than being recognized when we’re hunting,” Erik replied quietly, lifting his head to check the room for anyone suspicious.

  “Maybe it’s my problem. Your disguise doesn’t capture your true handsomeness.”

  He blinked at her a couple of times before sighing. “You make me want to get rid of it. If we’re lucky, this mission won’t take very long.”

  * * *

  April 28, 2230, Japanese Territorial Waters, Mizuchi Undersea Resort, Erik Blackwell’s and Jia Lin’s Room

  Jia stepped out of the bathroom and stretched, enjoying the softness of her bathrobe and thinking about her honeymoon lie. Their mission involved tracking conspiracy agents, and they had an AI hacking the facility.

  That was hardly honeymoon fun, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t slip in a little fake honeymoon action on the side.

  They’d spent most of the previous day exploring the resort, and now they had a good idea where everything was should they lose Emma’s help, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have fun on the side. It wasn’t like there was something else special to do that evening, so they’d gotten in a little exercise in the bed.

  Erik sat on the edge of the bed, pulling on his boots. They continued to close on their enemy. Minor scraps of leads and closed doors had turned into spectacular victories against not only the Ascended Brotherhood foot soldiers of the conspiracy but one of their leaders.

  If they slew all the generals, the army would crumble.

  Erik cracked his knuckles. “It’s weird running ahead of these assholes for once. I feel like we’ve got them on the defensive.”

  “We do.” Jia walked over and sat beside him, not all that surprised by the synchronicity of their thoughts. “But these two might turn out to be nothing more than accountants.”

  “Following the money helped us take down syndicates when we were cops, but if they are, we’ve spent a couple of days in this underwater deathtrap for nothing. At least we’re not paying for it. It’s just…” Erik looked down, his forehead furrowing in concern.

  “Just what?” Jia prodded. She didn’t want him to keep anything from her, especially if it concerned the mission.

  “I don’t know. It feels like something big is going to go down. I could be fooling myself because of us taking down Vand, but I trust my instincts, and this time they are screaming at me. They’re telling me the Lady’s setting up a major opportunity to rip another arm off these assholes.”

  “I don’t think that’s crazy.” Jia pursed her lips. “I think you’re right. The status quo is disrupted, which means we have an opportunity to take down an already weakened enemy. That’s why we’re here, because now we’re not nipping at their heels in the shadows. We’re hunting them down and they have to hide. They’re bleeding, and here, we are the sharks.”

  Emma appeared near the door. She’d ditched her ninja outfit for a resort uniform again.

  “You’ll be pleased to know I’ve all but finished my general system infiltration,” she announced. “I have general access to the resort’s systems, and the idiot fleshbags running it have absolutely no clue. I should note I’m not overly impressed with the system’s defenses.” She put her hand out, stretching out her fingers. “I’ve gotten used to a higher caliber of enemy.”

  “And what about the security subsystems?” Erik asked, wondering why she mimed a lady looking at her nails.

  “As I mentioned, I need to be cautious about that. It is difficult to push into controlling security without risking detection, but I can compromise drones and cameras easily enough with minimum risk. I’m coordinating with Technician Constantine for when we need direct control. He will act as a distraction in other systems while I complete my conquest of the security systems, but at that point, all secrecy will be lost, and I can’t guarantee control won’t eventually be retaken.”

  Jia nodded. “We’ll save that for when we need it then. What about our targets? Have they arrived yet?”

  Emma shook her head. “Neither Mr. Sillen nor Mr. Gallegos has arrived, but their rooms are currently being cleaned and prepared. They are staying in the luxury suites. According to their itineraries, they will arrive later today.”

  “Luxury suites in a luxury resort.” Erik shook his head in disbelief. “Seems kind of redundant, but it does make me wonder how much better they are than our room.”

  The spacious room and huge bed were pleasant enough, but Jia had seen her parents stay in nicer suites in Neo SoCal.

  “Oh, their rooms are much better based on the schematics and information in the system,” Emma replied with a smirk. “Interestingly enough, there are no internal cameras in those rooms, not even emergency cameras. I’m going to look into the records of guests staying near Sillen and Gallegos for any anomalies. If they’re here for something related to the conspiracy, then presumably it’s important enough to risk a direct meeting.”

  Erik nodded. “Sometimes you need to look a man in the eye to make sure he isn’t going to betray you. Or they could be handing off a data rod, something they can’t risk ID intercepting.”

  Jia walked over to the closet to search for an outfit. “This isn’t an explicit search-and-destroy mission.”


  “So?” Erik shrugged. “I told you before I don’t care all that much who pulls the trigger as long as the conspiracy gets taken down.” He stood and headed toward the table, where a thin silver rod lay, the privacy device Alina had given them. “But you heard what Alina said. They wanted us here in case this needs to escalate. That means we might get our chance.”

  “She also didn’t give us a local contact.” Jia tugged down a loose green dress. It wasn’t normal investigation wear, but wandering around in a suit or a tactical vest would be a bit suspicious.

  “You don’t need one.” Emma scoffed. “You have me. I’m finally being allowed to live up to my potential.”

  “It’s a contained environment and situation,” Jia replied with a faint shrug. “That makes ‘Send the super-AI to hack everything’ a more practical plan than normal, but I’m wondering if this means Alina sees us as disposable or trusts us?”

  Erik nodded to Jia’s purse on the table. “Too bad we can’t fit the TR-7 in there.”

  “That would be nice, but at least this way, we can keep our guns close without you wandering around looking like an ex-cop security contractor looking for trouble.”

  “It’s the coat, isn’t it?” Erik inclined his head toward the duster hanging in the closet. “What do you want me to do, wander around in a Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts?”

  Jia grimaced. “I didn’t say you had to dress like Malcolm,” she retorted. “I’m glad he likes his shirts, but they’re not to my taste, especially on you.”

  Erik snickered. “Sure.” He nodded to Emma. “If we know where they’ll be, we should check out that area. We don’t need to break into their rooms yet, but we should at least know where they are.”

  “They’re in one of the buildings you didn’t go into,” Emma explained. “You need appropriate security access to be allowed through the front door.”

  “Can you get us through without alerting anyone?” Jia asked.

  “I should be able to also offer a false feed to conceal your presence there without significant risk,” Emma reported.

  Jia smiled. “Sounds good. Let’s go check it out.”

  The targets’ building was even nicer than Jia had expected.

  “They have a fountain in their lobby.” She let out a quiet snort of jealousy. She looked over her shoulder as they headed down the hallway. “We don’t have a fountain.”

  They’d hurried over to the target one-story building. As predicted, Emma had granted them access with little difficulty. None of the staff or other guests had paid them any special attention. One man’s gaze had lingered a little too long on Jia’s chest on display in her dress, but a glare from Erik sent him scurrying outside.

  “What?” Erik asked, turned his head back from the guy who had annoyed him. “Who needs a fountain? You want to go swimming in the lobby?”

  They were just about to walk down the hall when someone emerged from the suite, a familiar face.

  Jia froze and slipped her arm into Erik’s. She plastered on a loving smile and leaned closer to whisper into his ear, “Isn’t that Javier Gallegos?”

  “Yes,” Erik whispered back, smiling.

  To the small number of people in the lobby or in one of the hallways, they looked like a couple whispering sweet nothings.

  “Interesting,” Emma transmitted. “Yes, the facial recognition is a match, but according to official records, he hasn’t checked in. I will note that conveniently, the other suites near his room and Mr. Sillen’s all featured morning check-ins. They’re cleverer than we anticipated.”

  “Why come here under your real name just to fake your arrival time with decoy rooms?” Erik murmured.

  “It’s almost as if someone is hunting them,” Jia replied.

  Erik released her arm and smiled even brighter. She wasn’t sure what he was doing before he stepped toward the approaching Gallegos on the other side of the hallway. Unlike their casual wear, the corporate officer was in a full suit and tie as if proceeding to a business meeting.

  Gallegos stopped and stared at Erik with a faint look of irritation. “Can I help you?”

  “This is great.” Erik gestured around. “When we won that contest, we never thought it would be like this.”

  “Contest?” Gallegos looked at Jia, his suspicion fading into appreciation. Her disguise might change things, but it didn’t conceal her natural beauty.

  Erik nodded. “Yeah, contest. Me and the little missus are from Detroit. She’s always wanted to go to a place like this, but I figured it’d be too expensive under the sea and all that.”

  Gallegos nodded slowly. “Um, it is a luxury resort. Price discrimination does help maintain a certain level of…quality.”

  Jia was offended on behalf of the entire Lin family.

  “What about you?” Erik asked. “You here with your wife?”

  “I’m here for a business meeting.” Gallegos offered him a tight smile. “I’m sorry. Have fun. I just remembered I forgot something in my room.” He looked at the two. “It’s unfortunate that we aren’t near each other.”

  Erik waved as the man departed. He took Jia’s arm in his and led her out of the building.

  “We didn’t say where we were staying.” Jia shot a disgusted look at the building. “Which means he knows who is booked near him. I doubt he went through and knocked on all their doors.”

  “If he’s here, then Sillen is probably here too,” Erik muttered.

  “I’ve determined they both arrived yesterday, local evening time,” Emma reported. “They arrived together. I’ve found video of them departing from a shuttle sub late last night and heading toward this building. It wasn’t worth the effort of searching through before now.”

  “Keep an eye on them. We can’t do anything about them when they’re in their rooms, but I doubt they came all this way just to chat in their rooms.”

  Jia chuckled and laid her head on Erik’s shoulder. “I wish those people would stop messing with our honeymoon.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  They walked toward a small, empty park nearby covered by a beautiful array of roses, both natural and in bright neon shades that might invite the attention of Purists.

  There were a number of parks spread throughout the resort.

  The effort struck Erik as odd. If he wanted to see roses and trees, he could do that on the surface. It’d make more sense to him if they built structures out of faux coral.

  Erik reached into his pocket to activate their privacy device before taking a seat on a nearby bench and patting beside him. “I’ve got everything secure, at least on this bench.”

  “You think it was smart to walk right up to him like that?” Jia asked, sitting beside him. “We are disguised, but that doesn’t mean no one will figure out who we are.”

  “I don’t know if it was smart, but I think we now know he’s not expecting anyone to come after him.” Erik narrowed his eyes and burned the man’s features further into his memory.

  Jia’s brow lifted. “You wanted to test how paranoid he is?”

  “With all the fake room crap, I wondered if he was being careful, but he was annoyed that some yokel was talking to him, not worried that an assassin had shown up. If he had any reason to suspect the ID was onto him, he wouldn’t have acted that way.”

  “You can’t be sure of that. Most assassins don’t walk over to their target and chat them up.” Jia surveyed the area. Her fake soft smile would distract anyone not used to the depth of that searching gaze.

  “I was also half-expecting him to be like that freak on Venus,” Erik admitted. “That guy was…not normal.”

  “I doubt the conspiracy has many like our friend on Venus,” Jia replied. “Too many weird half-alien freaks would paint a trail right to them.”

  “I’ve been going through the recordings of the cameras and drones that caught both of the targets,” Emma interrupted after a fake cough. “Not every surveillance device is capable of examining every spectrum, and their capabilities
are surprisingly limited inside the resort, but there are enough available, including thermal, for at least a general inspection. Incidentally, your disguises don’t seem hot enough on the thermal recordings to stand out in the masses.”

  “Forget about us,” Erik replied. “What about Sillen and Gallegos?”

  “There’s nothing unusual about them physically that I can detect remotely with the available equipment,” Emma answered. “The thermal and density scan information strongly argues against them being Tin Men, or if they are, their implants are subtle and limited.”

  “That doesn’t mean they aren’t strange half-Leem things.” Erik considered the options. “They might not have a warehouse filled with those guys, but I’d be surprised if he was the only one they had.”

  “Perhaps,” Emma agreed, “but Mr. Gallegos’ appearance, speech, and movement patterns are all well within what you would expect from a human, whereas the other gentleman was noticeably abnormal. I’m not saying that is definitive proof Mr. Gallegos isn’t a strange mix-and-match fleshbag, but I would suggest the probability of that being true is low.”

  Jia rubbed her chin and considered their possibilities. “We’ve got some transmitters. We can plant them in the rooms and spy the old-fashioned way.”

  “Probably risky. They might be more paranoid about their rooms than they are about random guests.”

  “Before you do that,” Emma interjected, “I want to make you aware of something I just found in my examining of resort files. This has bearing on the mission.”

  Erik checked to make sure there was no one suspicious around. Even with their privacy device and Alina-style hiding-in-plain-sight strategy, they couldn’t be too careful. But they also couldn’t do everything they needed to while hiding in their room.

  “What is it?” Jia asked.

  “I had assumed that all of the people registered around them were fake identities intended partially to shield them,” Emma explained. “But there’s one guest listed in a room adjacent to Mr. Gallegos, one Mr. Hans Konig. I found travel information related to him in the local systems. It seems the staff was trying to coordinate and prepare for his arrival because he’s a regular guest and a VIP. He was on the moon until recently. At least publicly, he works for a forensic accounting firm that has a relationship with Crown River, including previous conference interaction.”