Investigating Deceit

by Michael Anderle

  “You heard what the captain said,” Erik replied. “We need something else before we go up against ID agents. But I’m with you. This is mighty convenient. That alone is enough to annoy me and stop me from walking away from all this.”

  “Convenient?” Jia thought she knew what he was getting at, but she wasn’t positive.

  Erik nodded and pointed at an image floating to his side. In it, three cyborgs stood near Kevin Tomlinson, talking. After Emma had regained control of the systems, she had been able to access the camera feeds.

  The three Tin Men had entered a few minutes before Tomlinson had arrived and had a very short conversation prior to one of them shoving his fist through the security guard’s chest. There were no great mysteries solved by the additional conversation. Tomlinson was agitated, and he blamed the Tin Men. The important piece was verification of what they already suspected. The third man had escaped through the vent during the battle.

  Jia narrowed her eyes. “The more I think about it, the more I wonder if they knew they might lose. Why would he run, otherwise? All that sophisticated technology and he ran from us.”

  Erik stopped the video. “Yeah. They might not have known everything about us, but we do have a reputation. It’d be common sense to assume that if we can take down a giant bot, we can take down a cyborg. Let’s hope we can pick him up.”

  They’d flagged the escapee’s face for recognition by drones and cameras. If the ID agents complained about it, the 1-2-2 could claim they were planning to send any leads their way. It wasn’t as good as working the case officially, but it gave them a chance to be involved. If they just happened to be in the area, the ID couldn’t complain.

  “I keep going back to the ID showing up,” Eric continued, turning to face Jia. “It’s not like we just started working this case yesterday, which means there is a good chance those ID agents already knew what was going on. That’s assuming that’s all that is going on.”

  Jia’s breath caught. “What are you saying? If you’re implying what I think you’re implying, that’s a pretty big deal.”

  “All I’m saying is, Emma’s not easy to beat. She won eventually, but she had to put in a lot more effort than normal.”

  The AI chimed in. “That’s true, and I take it you’re remembering what I stated at the storage bay about the capabilities. Government-level resources might explain why I had trouble.”

  Emma might also be trying to cover up for not achieving total domination. Maybe the secret to self-awareness was a healthy ego.

  Jia shook her head, uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation. “You’re saying those Tin Men were working for the Intelligence Directorate?”

  Depending on one’s perspective, illegal modifications might be a small price to pay for the security of the UTC. Jia hoped it wasn’t true. Threatening a researcher and goading a man into committing crimes didn’t serve galactic security.

  Since she had shed her earlier naïveté, she’d need one hell of a good explanation to accept that.

  Erik closed all his data windows, a thoughtful look on his face. “Don’t know. It’s possible. Corruption doesn’t limit itself to the occasional dirty cop or politician. It could go higher—a lot higher. We know this is about much more than some angry ex-employee. If we walk away now, those spies will bury all this, and we’ll never know the truth. We can’t even be sure they’re burying it for the right reasons.”

  “Okay, I agree.” Jia frowned. “But what do we do? Even Captain Ragnar said he couldn’t do anything. We don’t have the resources to go up against the ID.”

  Erik smiled, then shook his head and laughed. “Are you the same Jia Lin I met last year?”

  “Meaning what?” Jia tried to not be insulted and managed to push the thoughts aside. They had more important things to worry about than her feelings.

  “You were willing to run off partners and a captain to pursue a much less important case than this one,” Erik observed. “And now it sounds like you’re ready to give up.”

  Jia harrumphed, her eyes narrowing at her partner as she jerked her thumb between the two of them. “Technically, we both ran off the last captain.” She let out a sigh of relief. Her partner agreed with her, just as he always had, even when they were planning to do something incredibly stupid. “If we try to pursue this, we might end up tangling with ID agents. Are you prepared for that? I’m not saying we’re going to fight them, but if we poke our noses into something we shouldn’t, it could hurt our careers.”

  “I’m like you. I’m willing to take on anyone if I think I’m right.” Erik shrugged. “They’re spies, not cops. They’re probably not going to care about protecting Dr. Chen, and while the guy might be an ass, that doesn’t mean he deserves to die as part of some twisted ID plot.” His shoulders stiffened and his expression darkened. “And we both know I didn’t become a cop to climb the ladder.”

  “Emma, can you ensure that no one can see or hear us in here?” Jia asked. While the station didn’t monitor every office, they had the capability to do so, and she could tell what Erik was thinking. Freedom to speak would help clarify things.

  “If you want,” Emma replied. “Do you want it to be obvious or not obvious?”

  Erik relaxed and nodded. “Good thinking, Jia. And make it obvious. If anyone asks about it later, that’ll verify something we need to know anyway.”

  “Done,” Emma announced. “There was no active recording, but I’m now monitoring the relevant systems, and I’ve shoved the cameras into a diagnostic cycle that’ll take them some time to come out of, even if the sartorially challenged Technician Constantine attempts to fix them.”

  She appeared and curtsied with a wry smile before disappearing again.

  “Thanks,” Erik offered before turning back to Jia. “You know why I became a cop, and you know the level of resources needed to pull off the massacre. It’s not impossible that some rogue faction in the ID or DD is involved. The way Colonel Adeyemi is acting, he’s thinking the same thing, so I don’t mind mixing it up with people. If they’re corrupt and they come at me, I’ll stop them and make them tell me everything they know.”

  “Most of the evidence you’ve found points to a corporation,” Jia countered, a lack of conviction in her tone. “You really think the government would slaughter its own troops?”

  “It’s hard to know where the corps stop and the government begins. And I’m not saying for sure that the ID or DD had anything to do with what happened to my unit, but I’m also not going to ignore coincidences or not follow up on potential leads, especially when they involve crimes in Neo SoCal. We know someone doesn’t like us sniffing around. This case might have something to do with that.”

  “It also might not have anything to do with it.” Jia looked down. “It would help if we could at least narrow the possibilities, but to do that, we need to get back on the case, even if indirectly. If we just go charging in Obsidian Detective-style, Captain Ragnar might not be able to protect us. If we both end up fired, where does that leave us?”

  “I understand,” Erik replied. “But we can’t run away because we’re scared.”

  “I’m open to ideas. I’m just not used to having to fight the UTC government.” Jia ran a hand through her hair. “I’ve advanced from corrupt councilmen to corrupt intelligence agents. Why do I get the feeling I’ll eventually end up having to arrest the Prime Minister?”

  Erik let out a low, throaty chuckle. “I’ll do whatever I have to if it’ll help me avenge the Knights Errant, but let’s hope he didn’t have anything to do with that. We might be reading too much into this situation. The ID agents might just be helping to track down some terrorists in the end.” He swiped across his PNIU, and a small text window popped up. “But I do have an idea. We should pull the same stunt I did to become a detective. That’ll give us some maneuvering room.”

  Curiosity filled Jia. She’d grown more comfortable with bending the rules in service of justice, especially when they’d been contort
ed for so long for the opposite. Was that a form of corruption?

  She would have said yes before, but now she wasn’t sure.

  “I assume you’re not literally talking about the Obsidian Detective Act?” Jia asked.

  “Nope, just taking advantage of the letter of the law.” Erik pointed to the data window. “We’re the assigned primary investigators on this case, but I did not receive a formal jurisdictional transfer request to sign-off. Did you? This isn’t an interdepartmental transfer. It shouldn’t be that easy.”

  Jia shook her head. “Almost no one uses those, which is why someone up the chain generally just signs them retroactively. We’ve done it a bunch of times for transfers to the CID. It’d slow down everything otherwise.”

  “I know,” Erik replied. “Bring up the actual regulation and read it. I’m counting on slowing things down, or at least giving us a plausible excuse to look into this case for a few more days.”

  Jia summoned the full text of the regulation and read it. Even with an agile and quick mind, she still spent a few minutes examining it in silence, Erik waiting patiently. Her eyes widened when she finished reading, and she reread the whole regulation to make sure she was seeing what she thought she was.

  She gasped and looked at Erik. “I’ve read this before, but I never thought about it much since I wasn’t worried about things getting transferred to a UTC-level authority, and I assumed it was basically the same procedure.”

  “Do you see what I see?” Erik asked.

  Jia jabbed a finger at the regulation. “If the immediate transfer of the case beyond another agency in the metroplex would do irreparable damage to the current investigation, jurisdictional transfer can be delayed for up to seventy-two hours while the initial investigators work with their successors to ensure a smooth transition.”

  “Exactly.” Erik stood. “We’ve just got to convince the captain to back us.”

  “I’ve got an idea about that. I need to make a call first.” Jia pointed at her PNIU. “We need to make sure we still have a potential victim to worry about.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Jia and Erik stood in front of Captain Ragnar. They had explained their plan and their formal request to delay the full jurisdictional transfer.

  “Dr. Chen says he hasn’t been contacted by anyone else about this,” Jia explained. “I just called him to confirm. He was told that since the stalker’s dead, this is no longer a matter requiring law enforcement’s assistance. I didn’t tell him ID was involved, and he didn’t seem to realize that it wasn’t the NSCPD who contacted him. I find that suspicious in and of itself.”

  “And you don’t agree with that danger assessment?” Captain Ragnar asked. He looked more curious than dubious. Jia liked their chances. “It’s not exactly like ID ghosts are always upfront about what and who they are, even when they don’t have to hide it.”

  “Those Tin Men put Tomlinson up to it, or at least helped him.” Jia tapped one of her holsters. “And they killed him to cover something bigger. That much seems obvious. The ID showing up proves it.”

  Captain Ragnar nodded slowly. “Knowing you two, I bet you’re half-convinced the ID is involved in this as the culprit, but I can’t delay a jurisdictional transfer to a directorate-level authority based on mere suspicion.”

  Erik suggested. “It doesn’t sound like you’re convinced they are innocent.”

  “Full-conversion Tin Men targeting a biotech researcher isn’t the kind of thing we get a lot of, even in Neo SoCal. I’m not going to say I don’t have a few suspicions of my own, but I also don’t know if that’s enough.”

  This sort of situation was why Jia wished the captain knew the truth about Erik’s past. It would have helped push him over the edge, even if the case didn’t end up involving anything more than a corrupt researcher.

  “But I’ve got an idea.” Captain Ragnar leaned forward. A small smile grew to a huge grin. “You two want to go up against the Intelligence Directorate?” His gaze switched from one to the other. “You sure? This could go badly for all of us.”

  “No, we don’t want to go against the ID,” Jia replied. “We want to take down whoever is responsible for crime in Neo SoCal, and we’re not sure the ID cares. They’re not even law enforcement.”

  The captain tapped a finger on his desk before speaking. “Okay. You’ll get your seventy-two hours, Detectives. I won’t submit the transfer documentation until then, with the reasoning you haven’t been fully able to follow up on potential local threats to Dr. Chen. I think the best way to play this is just to go forward and ask for forgiveness once they realize what is going on. Try to keep it low-key while you figure out if there’s something there. I’m trusting your instincts that this is worth investigating.”

  “We’re police officers.” Jia turned to leave. “Our instincts are the best weapons we have.”

  Chapter Thirty

  February 1, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Restaurant Casa De Azteca Parking Platform

  “I could really use a chimichanga. A big one.” Erik stretched his arms above his head and shifted his butt in the driver’s seat. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had one. A few months.”

  “You’re hungry?” Jia held up a bag. “We have two of the beignets from breakfast. I know you prefer them hot, but it’s better than nothing. We don’t want to go into the restaurant and spook Chen. If he gets concerned, he might call around, and then the ID agents will show up and put a stop to all this.”

  She gestured toward the colorful green and yellow façade of the building. They’d gotten lucky that Chen was eating at a place on the edge of the tower, and they’d also gotten lucky that it had a dedicated parking platform. He’d changed the color of the MX 60 to dull gray to make it less noticeable.

  Their searches of Tomlinson’s PNIU and other records hadn’t turned up anything useful, not even a suspicious influx of money. He’d made several poorly concealed calls to the pet supply company, but it was obvious from the content that the initial contact had been made offline. The lack of money and his earlier ranting pointed to him being a useful idiot for the Tin Men rather than a direct agent, but it didn’t do much to shed more light on who the cyborgs were or why they were involved.

  All the advanced technology available, including an AI, and they couldn’t do the simplest task: identifying potential suspects.

  The lack of new evidence left Erik and Jia running out of time and leads until Emma noticed that Dr. Chen was leaving the 46 Helix building for the first time without protection. It was the logical thing to do since they believed he was no longer in danger, but Erik and Jia didn’t want to take the risk that someone would assassinate him. If there were any ID agents around, they were doing a good job of hiding from Emma’s drones.

  Tailing Chen the entire day had proven annoying. He was taking a day off but not helping them by staying home, and they didn’t want to risk contacting him yet and have him complain to the ID.

  Erik remembered the smirking agent. It was like she thought she’d pulled one over on the police. She needed to learn who she was dealing with. If terrorists, corporations, and even a conspiracy hadn’t taken him out, a handful of directorate lackeys wouldn’t.

  “How is everything going with Mr. Down-to-Earth-Businessman?” he asked, suddenly curious about Jia’s boyfriend. She needed someone more worthy of her than a boring drone. It might not have been his business, but he was her partner. He needed to look out for her.

  “Corbin?” Jia blinked, caught off-guard. “What about him?”

  “Do anything with him over the last few days?”

  “No. I’ve been sort of busy with all this.” Jia chuckled. “Why? You running through hot baristas after clocking out? Want a new bet?”

  “After we finish this case, maybe.” Erik reached over to the offered bag, grabbed one of the beignets, and took a bite. Freshly baked was always better, but the sugary sweetness of the pastry satisfied his mouth even hours later.

  “Yes, the case.
” Jia licked her lips and glanced at Erik. “What if we don’t find anything? We only have until the end of the day before our little trick runs out.”

  “I don’t know,” Erik admitted. “We could always investigate without formal jurisdiction.”

  Jia looked uncomfortable with the idea.

  “It’s not illegal, Jia. It might get us chewed out, but even regular people can look into crimes.” Erik shrugged. “You’ve had good instincts about this case from the beginning, and I think you should trust them.”

  “I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it. We’d be risking a lot more than just a slap on the wrist.”

  “Sometimes you can’t win unless you take a big chance,” Erik countered.

  “Dr. Chen appears to be ready to leave,” Emma reported. “They are clearing his table, and he’s gathering his things.”

  “That’s it?” Jia sounded disappointed.

  “What did you expect? It’s lunch, not a rendezvous in the Shadow Zone.” Erik chuckled. “It’s not like we expected an exploding taco or a nuclear enchilada.”

  “I know. I’ve been hoping that maybe we were wrong, and now that he thought he wasn’t being watched, he would do something.” Jia chuckled. “But he’s just a scientist at lunch.”

  Emma laughed. “Perhaps not. There’s trouble.”

  Erik blinked. “Don’t tell me a taco just exploded? That’d be a hell of a way to die.”

  “No exploding Mexican food as of yet, but I did take the liberty of gaining access to an external camera that points from the restaurant exit on the opposite side. The one that leads to the main commerce level. I lost connection to the camera, but not before I spotted a familiar face. It’s the man who jumped into the vent. He’s wearing a long coat not too dissimilar from your fashion choices, Detective Blackwell, and a hat. I have my doubts about random cyborgs showing up at the same eatery as Dr. Chen, but perhaps you feel it’s a move by your Lady.”