“First full-conversion Tin Men, and now yaoguai,” Jia muttered through clenched teeth. “I wish we could go back to gangsters, but I’m starting to see threads connect, and explanations are falling into place.”
Erik closed the data window after reading for a few more seconds. “Genetically engineered monsters show up shortly after we have a case involving a biotech company?”
“Exactly.” Jia dropped into her chair, her jaw still working. “Do we go directly to 46 Helix and demand information?”
“They were stonewalling before. If they are involved in this, they aren’t going to roll over just because we ask, and yaoguai are so nasty that we need to be completely ready when we make our move.” He rubbed his eyes as he continued his thoughts. “Because this will end with some important people going to prison.” He faced Jia. “We need more information before I blast through doors with my laser rifle.”
“Just itching to use that thing again, aren’t you?” Jia shook her head. “Men always want everything bigger.”
Erik eyed her with a corner of his lips upturned. “Hey, sometimes bigger is better.”
Jia smirked. “I’m sure.”
Erik smiled. “Check out the report. I’ve got some ideas, but I want to know what you think. I couldn’t follow some of the more technical stuff. That’s your domain.”
She brought up a data window with the forensics report. “Give me a minute to look at this.” She narrowed her eyes, murmuring quietly under her breath for a few passages. “This is worse than I thought. The DNA recovered from the murder site indicates at least two distinct yaoguai with different phenotypes.”
“Different phenotypes?”
She looked up. Erik’s carefully schooled face hid his lack of knowledge.
She decided not to needle him. “Different types of monsters, basically.”
Erik sat on the edge of the desk, excitement building. “I wonder if I could shoot through two at once with the laser rifle?”
It wasn’t like he needed to worry about reading a test-tube monster its Article Seven rights.
He could test his newer gear in an extermination raid that would end with some dirtbag human going to prison. He didn’t care if Talos or 46 Helix was behind it. Terrorist or company, somebody had let monsters loose, and people had died.
He wouldn’t mind punching both Frankenstein and his monsters on the same day.
Jia jabbed her finger at a line of text. “Yaoguai genetic analysis isn’t something Forensics has a lot of expertise with. They’re going to farm out the sequence analysis to private subcontractors. They should be able to give us better insight into who might have created the yaoguai.”
“How long will that take? While we’re waiting around, a seven-legged spider is getting ready to munch on someone else.”
“I don’t know. They didn’t say.” She looked at him. “What would you suggest we do?”
Erik patted his holster. “We should set up a bug hunt. If the victims are near the Scar, the nest is probably in there. I say we start near the murder site and work our way out from there.”
Jia stood up. “Always with the guns and explosions.”
Erik smirked but didn’t say anything as he led the way toward the captain’s office.
Captain Ragnar stroked his beard as he listened to Erik’s and Jia’s evidence. “Monsters in a contaminated wasteland.” He let out a hearty chuckle. “What’s wrong, you two? Getting bored just dealing with terrorists with heavy weapons?”
“We go where the evidence takes us,” Erik insisted.
Captain Ragnar looked at them. “You’re asking for a lot. The Scar isn’t the Shadow Zone. It’s not technically under police jurisdiction. It’s not even considered part of Neo SoCal. I’d have to reach out to the Militia to obtain special permission.”
Jia stepped forward. “Then, as suggested, we’ll leave the politics in your capable hands. The case is pointing us toward the Scar, and unless we’re willing to give it to CID, we should get to be the lead on this.”
He eyed her. “I said I would handle the politics, not be a political lackey.”
“Same difference.” Jia lifted her chin in challenge.
Captain Ragnar shook his head, but underneath his hard eyes was a smile. “I’d try to rein you two in, but where’s the fun in that? This won’t be as easy you think, though.”
“I don’t care if Militia wants to babysit us, but I don’t want to sit this one out.” Erik curled his left arm. “Those cyborgs messed me up, and I owe them. I don’t know if they have anything to do with the yaoguai, but if they do, I don’t want a Militia soldier taking them down.”
“It might not have anything to do with the Tin Men at all,” Captain Ragnar suggested.
“Still get to take down monsters. Win-win.” Erik wiggled his eyebrows. “At least the yaoguai won’t lecture me about their terrorist ideology.”
Erik figured if he couldn’t persuade the captain with facts, he’d try baffling him with bullshit.
Captain Ragnar didn’t look convinced, but at least he wasn’t frowning. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do, but I can’t ask a bunch of other officers to go into a place like the Scar when it’s the Militia’s job to handle that area.”
Erik wasn’t sure he needed or wanted the Militia, but there was no way Captain Ragnar would accept Jia and Erik monster-hunting by themselves. “That’s fine,” he answered. “We just want to finish what we started.”
“I’ll get back to you. Until then, keep working leads.” He waved his finger in a circle, so Jia turned toward the door. “The more evidence you have, the easier it’ll be to convince them to let you in.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Jia stood in the middle of her office with her arms folded over her chest. A projected map of the Shadow Zone floated in front of her, angled at forty-five degrees.
The confirmed murder location was marked with a pulsing blue dot, and several other possible abduction or murder sites were marked with red dots. She traced the dots with her finger.
A black line appeared.
“You seeing what I’m seeing?” she asked over her shoulder. “Am I kidding myself?”
“No, I see it.” Erik sat on the edge of his desk. “It’s clustered. That means we don’t have to search the entire border area. We also know the yaoguai can’t be running around the surface. They would eventually be spotted by a drone or a satellite.” He frowned. “But maybe they did. Emma, how are we doing on that favor I asked you about?”
Emma appeared beside Jia. She’d added a holographic badge to the front of her dress. “Per your earlier request, I have been examining the available satellite and drone data. I’m sure the DD and ID have additional information of interest, but unless you would like potentially negative attention, it’s probably best for us to avoid using it. Those two groups lack appreciation for your preferred investigative strategies.”
Erik shrugged. “The Army loved me.”
She gave him a look that would have made a dour school principal proud. “You followed the rules better when you were in the Army.”
Erik grinned. “That’s true. The non-classified stuff is fine. Come up with anything?”
“Other than confirming the small number of people who visit the area, no. Of the people who do visit the area, it’s almost entirely salvagers or criminals. None of the activity I spotted on satellite appears unusual. There were a few fights, but rather conventional. No yaoguai. No cyborgs.”
“A directed search with drones under your control might work better,” Jia mused.
Emma turned. “I’ve considered the possibility, and I’m preparing a strategy.”
Jia nodded, her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth. She kept her gaze on the map. “At least we now have a better idea of where to search. The sooner we find these monsters, the safer it’ll be for everyone.”
Erik’s and Jia’s PNIUs chimed with a call from Sergeant Callas at the front desk.
Jia tapped her P
NIU. “This is Lin.”
“Detective,” Sergeant Callas replied. “You’ve got a visitor who insists he needs to talk to you right away. He demanded it be face to face.”
Jia tried to think of anyone who might want to talk face to face and grimaced. She’d dumped Corbin on a call, an event so insignificant in her mind that she’d honestly forgotten about it, with everything else that was happening.
He didn’t seem like the type who would show up at her workplace, and he hadn’t even seemed to care that much when she broke it off, but maybe she’d been wrong.
“Who is it?” she asked.
“Dr. Chen,” Sergeant Callas answered.
“Are there any CID agents with him?”
“No, Detective,” the sergeant answered. “It’s just him. He’s pretty frantic.”
Erik grinned. “The Lady’s not normally that nice, but don’t spit in her eye when she is.”
Sergeant Callas sounded confused when she finally replied. “Uh, I’m not following you, Detective Blackwell.”
“Send him to our office,” Erik clarified.
“Perhaps we should place bets on if one of you will end up punching him. If he put you in danger by helping produce monsters, I could see the temptation, and I can’t even punch people.” Emma disappeared.
“You want a humanoid body?” Erik asked the empty air.
Emma scoffed, her voice coming from his PNIU. “Why ask for something so flawed?”
“No one’s punching anyone.” Jia closed the map and turned around. “But you’re right. It’s time to see if Tomlinson was right to hate him, even for the wrong reasons.”
A couple of minutes later, Dr. Chen paced between the two desks, mumbling under his breath. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
“Don’t you have CID agents watching you still?” Jia asked. “Where are they?”
“Yes, but I told them I needed to go to the police right away,” Dr. Chen replied and kept pacing. “And when I said I was going to you two about the case, they brought me here and dropped me off. They said you could bring me back or provide protection, depending on what happened.”
“Huh.” Erik nodded slowly. “I would have thought they’d want the collar, but it’s good to know they are willing to toss it back our way.”
“Maybe they didn’t want the trouble when they realized it wasn’t just going to be babysitting anymore,” Jia suggested.
“Can we talk about why I’m here?” Dr. Chen asked, throwing his hands up.
Jia raised an eyebrow and put out her hands, palms down. “Calm down, Doctor. Before we continue, we need to know if 46 Helix is aware that you’re here?”
Dr. Chen froze in place. He took several deep breaths and swallowed before answering Jia. “They know I left the building with CID agents and was on the way to see the police. I didn’t explain why I was going. I thought that was best until you were informed of certain facts related to your case.”
“And why would you do that?” Jia asked.
He might have come to talk to them, but that didn’t mean he was innocent or a victim. Erik asked, “Because they don’t want the world to know they are involved with creating yaoguai?”
Dr. Chen nodded quickly. “I’m not saying the higher-ups are aware of what’s going on, but if there was even the smallest chance, I couldn’t wait. They might stall for PR reasons, too. I can’t wait around for them to cover their asses while the monsters are out there.”
Jia’s heart sped up. He’d said it without hesitation.
Erik watched the man with an easy, almost hungry smile on his face. “Here’s the thing, Dr. Chen. It might be public knowledge that there have been brutal murders in the Shadow Zone, but it’s not public knowledge that yaoguai are involved. Why are you here, and how do you know 46 Helix might be involved?”
Dr. Chen looked confused, then insulted. “My research team receives certain sequence information automatically from various subsidiaries. Basically, anything that might be of interest or potential use. Normally, I don’t pay any attention to it, but I’ve been examining many things in the lab with renewed interest and closer attention in recent days.” He took a shuddering breath. “A 46 Helix subsidiary is among the contractors sent unusual genetic data for analysis by numerous police departments, including the NSCPD.”
Erik frowned. “Forensics is sending evidence to random companies?” He looked up at the ceiling, eyes closed. “I should be surprised, but I’m not.”
“Not random,” Dr. Chen insisted. “Licensed contractors under NDA, and the use of the information for potential research results in city revenue under a sharing agreement. Yes, it’s a rather small percentage, and the company takes a processing fee, but…” He blinked, then waved a hand. “That’s not important. I can see why you might be concerned in this particular case, but it’s relevant because of that data, and that’s what is important. When I saw the yaoguai sequence, I was intrigued. My high-level access lets me examine the data directly. That was when I learned it was affiliated with a case you two were investigating, and I found the coincidence too much, given what happened with that guard. I thought about calling, but I didn’t want to risk being overheard, and I needed to confirm you heard my information in case I ended up dead.”
Jia sighed and rubbed her forehead with both hands. This man could give a rock a migraine. “I don’t understand. I get that a contractor sent you the information, and I don’t have time to unravel all the mess that comes with that, but why did you rush over here? They figured out it was yaoguai DNA before they sent it along. Did you compare it to a company database or something and find those sequences?”
Dr. Chen scoffed, his familiar arrogance overcoming his fear. He straightened his back. “As if something so twisted would be easily found in a 46 Helix database. Please, Detective. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Get to the point, Doctor,” she snapped. “Why do you think 46 Helix is involved? Do you have evidence, or is this just you guessing?”
Dr. Chen’s shoulders’ slumped, and all the confidence drained off his face. “Because it’s highly likely that they were made using information produced by my lab.”
Jia shot out of her seat. “What?”
Erik chuckled. “I knew this was about a lot more than a disgruntled security guard. You making monsters, Doc? Come clean now, and we might be able to help you.”
“Me? Never. I despise yaoguai.” Dr. Chen shook his head. “I won’t go into the technical details, because to be honest, I doubt you would understand, Detective Blackwell, but the summary version is that the company is always concerned about the use of data without appropriate licensing fees. One way we protect custom sequences is through the use of algorithmically generated genetic watermarks in the sequence data. There are genetic watermarks in the yaoguai DNA sequence that point to my lab. Those watermarks aren’t present in any currently publicly sold 46 Helix product or organism.”
“And those couldn’t have been from random mutation?” Jia asked.
Dr. Chen’s mouth twitched as if he wanted to insult her, but he kept his tone even and polite. “It’s theoretically possible, but the chances of it happening are so low that it’s more likely an Orlox will be elected Prime Minister.”
Erik snickered. “Doesn’t sound half-bad. Even if we ignore our new fungus leader, this doesn’t make sense. If you didn’t do it, why would someone be so stupid to make a yaoguai and leave evidence they knew would point back to the lab? I get that you think us cops sit here and bang rocks together, trying to make fire, but we’re not totally ignorant.”
Jia put up a hand to forestall an argument between the two men. “Wait.” She furrowed her brow as she processed the new evidence. “Doctor, are you the only one who gets the forwarded genetic information from the lab contracted to the police?”
Dr. Chen shook his head. “No, I’m not, but that doesn’t matter, and that speaks to the question Detective Blackwell asked. There are actually two sets of genetic watermarks used in my lab. The f
irst set points to material produced based on data from my lab, but that was absent in the data. The second is one I added for specialty projects. No one in the lab or company knows about it except me. None of my lab managers have ever known. It’s a little private nod to myself, in case someday I needed to prove my involvement with certain projects. I don’t care much about wealth, but I don’t want to have my legacy taken from me if there’s a change in company management.”
Jia pursed her lips. “Nice, Dr. Chen.”
Satisfaction suffused Jia, the feeling almost intoxicating and overwhelming. From the very beginning of the case, her instincts had screamed that it was about something more than a stalker. After the death of Tomlinson and the CID taking over, she’d worried she would never know the truth.
She owed Erik’s Lady a big favor.
“Could they remove the watermarks in your lab?” Erik asked.
Dr. Chen shook his head. “They wouldn’t need to do that. In the end, genetic information is just that—information. The genetic code is surprisingly simple and easy to manipulate using computers. All they would need is the genomic sequence data and relevant chemical notes to finetune the artificial gestation. For all their lackluster physical defense, industrial espionage is a major concern. The only reason Tomlinson got away with more than one theft was that he was in Security. Even I get inspected when I leave the facility to ensure I don’t have company property. It wouldn’t be trivial to smuggle the data out, but it’d be easier than smuggling a physical sample.”
“If it’s about data, it sounds like it’d have to be someone who knew what they were looking for,” Erik concluded. “This isn’t something Kevin Tomlinson pulled off. The guy wasn’t a criminal mastermind.”
“That murderous fool?” Dr. Chen scoffed. “No, absolutely not. It would require someone with scientific and technical training. It has to be one of the researchers in the lab. Unfortunately, as you may have noticed, my social skills aren’t the best, so I don’t know who might be a likely suspect. I presume it would be someone who harbored resentment or was dissatisfied with their place in the lab.”
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