Fire and Steel

by Gavin Magson

  “Will do. I hope you find what you’re looking for, Aiko, I honestly do.”

  Arnold gave Aiko a grin as he stood, shutting the door softly behind him. Her office was quiet, the sounds of busy workers softened by the surrounding offices; ideal conditions for combing through the audio files.

  Aiko placed the Snooper on an inductive charging pad to the left of the screen in front of her. After a minute of charging the device synced with her computer, displaying a folder that contained a single audio file. Aiko opened some software that would perform speech recognition on the file, allowing her to search by words rather than listen to the full recording. When a prompt informed her that it would take over an hour to process the file Aiko knew there was only one thing she should do to while away the time; sleep.

  Aiko awoke to her tablet dancing across the tables surface, vibrating in short bursts to indicate an incoming message. She grabbed the dancing tablet, unlocked the screen, and skimmed through the message. It took her foggy mind a few tries to decipher the message, which was written in code, but soon she realised it was mostly an inventory list that Aiko would delegate to one of her staff to address.

  Aiko glanced across at her desk and dropped her tablet, spinning the chair to face her screen; the software had finished with the audio file. Her fingers danced across the keys before her, typing in any search word that came to mind: Ajax, Death, Seven, Henry. A single keypress initiated the search.

  Whilst Aiko had rarely used the software before, she knew enough about it that overloading the search with multiple queries would only result in an agonising wait for a result. As it was her fingers drummed the stone surface of her desk, cool and solid to her touch, her impatience growing.

  Several minutes went by before the screens display altered, showing that the search word Ajax had not been found. Aiko cursed under her breath, but this did not come as much of a surprise to her. Soon after this Death came back with four results, Aiko read through each result and was annoyed to find they talked of a family bereavement. When she checked the timestamp for these entries it confirmed that the staff member the Snooper was placed on would not have been on shift.

  Seven came back with numerous results, all of which were of use to her; too much mention of the recent troubles, as the staff called it. Aiko was thankful that the software was able to differentiate between the different voices, and now understood exactly why it had taken so long to process the audio; each unique voice was colour coded and, where there had been adequate addressing of the person by their name, the voice’s owner was also listed next to each text entry.

  Unsurprisingly Henry came back with the most results so far, and these Aiko poured over. She read about meetings with politicians, police, and persons unknown, though rarely any great detail about the meetings was mentioned. One instance managed to highlight a fragmented sentence, which stood out to Aiko.

  She opened her righthand desk draw and removed a transparent case that contained two small orbs. She took one in each hand and pressed them softly into her ears. Aiko then selected the line of text on her screen and played the corresponding audio, which was muffled and quiet, broken up by footsteps.

  Aiko expanded the audio clips playback to a minute before and after the section. She listened to footsteps along a long corridor, judging from the constant walk that did not falter, accompanies by the rattle of a trolley or tray. A humming began, the woman whom the Snooper was attached to was humming a childhood song Aiko was familiar with, though this rendition had a lot to be desired.

  When the footsteps stopped so did the humming, replaced by the noise of the host picking up several items from whatever she had pushed or carried along the corridor.

  “…you need to…Henry, it has been long…” was all that Aiko could make out over the footsteps. She paused and restarted the playback to listen to the snippet again, and again a footfall landed in the middle of the sentence that prevented her from hearing the words.

  Aiko’s only choice was the highlight the segment of audio and run it through an enhancing program to try and restore the remaining sentence. Whilst that segment was being processed Aiko listened to the remaining audio, which was comprised of more footsteps and the rustling of cloth; beds being made, or a table laid? Just as the playback was due to end the woman began walking again, and the start of a word could just be heard through her in-ear speakers.

  Another tap of the keys before her allowed Aiko to add a minute onto the playback. This time she could not make out any of the words, just that there was a faint voice speaking.

  Aiko let out a frustrated sigh, unheard by even herself with the speakers in place. She highlighted another section of audio to be run through the enhancement and added it to the queue, impatiently awaiting the results. Whilst the program counted down to its estimated completion she glanced over the remaining mentions of Henry Steel’s name.

  There was all forms of flattery, guests and employees alike, and many mentions of eccentrics, as the staff referred to it, but little information of worth. Some she would pass on to Rine, as there was potential for exploiting the information in the future. As she neared the end of the long list of text entries a notification informed her that the audio enhancement was complete.

  Aiko dismissed all but the new audio file from her screen. There was no accompanying text, as that would be too smart for the different software. Aiko fine-tuned the playback parameters, setting a cut off volume to protect her should there be an abnormally loud noise within the recording. Once satisfied she pressed play.

  An irritating burst of static greeted Aiko, the roar of it filling her ears. She checked over the settings once more and struggled to believe it wasn’t above the threshold she had chosen. Before she had chance to adjust the playback a voice filled her ears.

  “…you need to let her free, Henry; it has been long enough.” The man’s voice was more matter of fact, almost devoid of any human emotion. She did not recognise it, and Aiko had good reason to familiarise herself with the majority of Four’s officials.

  There was an obvious pause as one segment ended and the other began, though this time with little static. As distorted as the voice was when amplified the next she heard was undeniably that of Henry Steel.

  “That bastard paid with his life… whore hasn’t suffered enough. Ilya will…”

  Ilya? The sentence left Aiko’s gut twisted, her mind running over every possible meaning of the words. She replayed the clip again, noticing the way Henry spat out the word’s bastard and whore.

  Aiko started off a new search of the audio file, this time with only one search word; Ilya.

  What came back, after far too long waiting, was a brief conversation between the Snooper’s host and another unnamed person, though this time she could see their name mentioned in the dictated text. Aiko noted from the timestamp that it was recorded an hour after the conversation with Henry she had listened to. Aiko skimmed through the text and her heart fell; she played the audio, needing to hear the words herself.

  Footsteps approached, the noise slightly out of sync as if their owner was limping. Aiko heard the woman come to a stop, the sudden halt causing something to clatter to the floor.

  “Shauna, never mind the candlestick; have you any clean bedsheets left?”

  “Only the one, Rowan. Is it for her?”

  “Aye, our master is in a foul mood today. If you can find any more sheets I’d be grateful, one won’t be enough to bandage Ilya’s wounds.”

  “The poor dear, hasn’t she suffered enough? I don’t know why the other staff won’t stand up to him.”

  “I haven’t told anyone else, you’re the only one I have trusted with this. If Henry heard us mentioning her name Ilya would be dead, and so would we. Please find some bedsheets and I’ll take care of the rest.”

  There were no more exchanges of words, just footsteps as both parties seemed to walk in opposite directions.

  Aiko had heard enough, she did not need to find out whether Shauna eve
r came good with the second bedsheet. Ilya was at the mansion, and by the sounds of it suffering some form of violent punishment at the hands of her husband. Aiko knew that Henry was referencing Ajax’s death, there was no other explanation; she had to find his old crew.

  Rain had begun to fall shortly before her hover pulled into the Haven’s courtyard, the patter against the roof and windows distracting Aiko from her thoughts. Her driver pulled up close to the inn’s entrance, climbing out of the hover to race around and open Aiko’s door for her. She was too distracted to remember his name, instead all Aiko could do was flash him a quick smile before opening the Haven’s door and stepping inside.

  The evenings dinner service was winding down, evident by the three tables still eating whilst Sarah went about clearing away cutlery, plates, glasses, and bottles. Aiko didn’t give the dining area a second thought and headed through to the reception.

  She was somewhat deflated to find the desks seat vacant, no sign of the landlord; Saul, was it, or perhaps Sal? Aiko looked around the reception area for the bell, which she eventually found under a half-emptied box of pastries. The chime was light, reverberating from the walls.

  After a while Aiko became agitated and rang the bell a second time. Hurried footsteps from behind her caused Aiko to turn around, and it was the sight of Sarah, not her father, that greeted Aiko.

  “Can I be of any assistance, miss? Oh, it’s you, Aiko.”

  “I’m looking for Duke and his crew, Sarah. Do you know his room number?”

  “I do, but I’ll show you up; can’t have you getting lost, can we?”

  Aiko ignored Sarah’s sarcastic tone and the scowl she barely hid; Aiko was all too aware of Ajax’s past with the serving girl, and still had the woman’s tears at his wake fresh in her memory.

  Aiko followed Sarah up the stairs, instantly regretting waiting around for help. Sarah obviously subscribed to the school of thought that skimpier outfits equalled better tips from her customers, which left Aiko looking anywhere but straight ahead. It could have been her imagination, but Aiko would swear Sarah was trying to expose herself to Aiko.

  When they reached the first floor’s landing Aiko was glad of a sight free of needless flesh.

  “It’s strange not to see Sal at the Haven. Is he not working tonight?” asked Aiko.

  “He’ll be busy tidying the kitchen ahead of tomorrow. He doesn’t seem to trust our pot wash’s ability to clean, the old fool.”

  Sarah walked along the corridor, her footfalls causing creaks from the floorboard’s underneath. Aiko made a note of each rooms number, smiling to herself when she realised they weren’t in any logical order. She came to a stop behind Sarah, who stepped across to the other side of door seven and turned to face Aiko expectantly.

  “Thank you for the help, Sarah, I should be fine from here.”

  “You’re welcome. It’s been different, not having him around here. The crew aren’t the same, neither is Sal. I…never mind. Say hello to Duke for me.”

  Sarah rushed off before Aiko had a chance to think up a reply. She wasn’t sure what to make of Sarah’s behaviour, but right now she had far more pressing matters to think of. Aiko knocked gently on the room’s door.

  “Aiko? I didn’t expect to see you here, come in.” said Duke, stepping aside to allow her into his room.

  The room was much like the one she had spent many nights in with Ajax, save for the plume of cigar smoke that listed across the suspended lights above her, and some slightly more dated furniture. Aiko chose to stand, since there didn’t appear to be a chair in sight.

  “What have I got to thank for the visit, lass?” asked Duke.

  “It’s about Ilya and Ajax; I think it best you ask Greg and Lev to sit in on what I have to say.”

  Duke took one look at the woman’s face and felt his stomach knot; what had she discovered about the pair? He couldn’t get a read from Aiko’s expression, was she angry, upset, or on an emotional tidal wave?

  “I’ll get them right away. Make yourself at home, I think there’s a stool buried under the junk in that corner.”

  When the door shut behind Duke Aiko crossed the room, moving discarded items out of the way until she unearthed the stool. It had seen better days, probably years, but there didn’t appear to be any stains that would ruin her dress.

  Aiko brought the stool over to a dresser overflowing with anything but clothes, to the point that most of the drawers were unable to be closed they were so full of trinkets. She pushed apart some of the, what she assumed to be, souvenirs that had been dumped unceremoniously on top of the dresser to create space for the spherical speaker she placed carefully in the space. Next to the speaker she placed a much smaller device which, with the tap of her finger, unfurled into a mass of thin connecting rods arranged with no logical order to them.

  The rooms door opened once more, and Duke led the pair into his room.

  “Good to see you, Aiko. Has your employer been keeping you busy?” asked Greg, hesitating slightly as he spotted the two objects beside her on the dresser.

  “Don’t worry about mentioning Rine’s name, so long as you are not shouting it; this jammer will prevent all but the most primitive approaches to eavesdropping from working.”

  “What do you have to say that requires a jammer?” Duke seemed concerned, and Aiko wasn’t surprised from the lengths she was going to.

  “What I am about to say, and what you will soon hear, is not to leave this room.” said Aiko, preparing the audio clip on the tablet in her hands. “I used the same mercenaries that Ajax partnered with in Six to help me gain access to all records on Ajax’s tablet from a data centre. I was hoping that by going through his messages and calls on the day that he died I would be able to piece together what exactly happened to him.

  “Before he arrived in Seven Ajax received a single message from Ilya, asking him to come to Henry Steel’s mansion. The fact that she was supposed to be out of the system on her honeymoon is only one of many things that doesn’t add up. From tracking the movement of his tablet, I know Ajax made it to the mansion and stayed there for over an hour before the signal was temporarily lost.

  “I haven’t figured out what caused that loss in signal, but when it next appeared he was in Seven and… and then something took out the entire street he was on.” Aiko grabbed for a tissue she kept within her purse, dabbing at her eyes as they threated to once more spill tears.

  “I don’t know what to say, Aiko. Have you found out what caused the destruction?” asked Duke.

  “Not quite, I’m still clueless as to who ordered in the strike, but my advisors believe it to have been ordinance dropped from an aircraft. I’m not here to talk about that.

  “I had one of Henry’s staff bugged. We planted a Snooper on her and managed to retrieve it yesterday; I’ve only just finished combing through the audio file it recorded. I need the three of you to hear a segment of it.”

  Aiko energised the speaker to her right and tapped on the first audio file displayed on her tablets screen.

  “…you need to let her free, Henry; it has been long enough.”

  “Who is that speaking, and what does he mean free her?” asked Greg.

  “I don’t know yet, but I’ve some trustworthy people looking into the man’s identity. I’ve arranged for a team to go watch over the mansion, hopefully they’ll reach it soon and will have finished setting up later tonight or early tomorrow. I’m afraid it is Ilya he’s referring to. It gets worse.” Aiko selected the second file.

  “That bastard paid with his life… whore hasn’t suffered enough. Ilya will…”

  “I found out that someone in Henry’s staff called Rowan is caring for Ilya after Henry has… I don’t know what, exactly, but he’s enacting some form of violence on her to leave her needing bandaging. I think that he had Ajax killed, but I know he has Ilya imprisoned.”

  Duke let out an ungodly howl of pain, the noise he made filled with his anguish. “That fucker will pay for this, we can’t
let her spend another moment in that prison. How do we get Ilya out of there?”

  “Duke, I understand your pain, I really do; I want nothing more than to see Henry pay for all this, but it’s not that easy to access his mansion. The building is heavily guarded, and the grounds patrolled by a well-trained security team around the clock. The only way I could get ears in the mansion was to covertly attach a Snooper to a member of his staff. Despite how poorly his staff think of him none were willing to betray their employer. Let my men assess the mansion and come up with a plan of entry, then we can devise a way to rescue Ilya. I’d love to see him dead, but I think the only hope of justice I have would be Ilya’s testimony in a court of law. I promise the priority would be her rescue.”

  By the time Aiko had finished speaking Greg had his arm wrapped around Duke’s shoulder, doing his best to reassure the sobbing man.

  “We can’t leave Ilya to suffer; how long will your men’s surveillance likely take?” asked Lev.

  “Honestly? I don’t know, I can just hope no more than a few days. They’ll need to be confident of the patrol routes, when the shifts have their changeovers, how many staff come in and out of the mansion and at what times, the grounds layout, and no doubt a dozen other criteria’s I would never consider. There is a lot to consider, and since we might only get one shot at this I think it best we don’t go in half cocked.”

  “I hate how sensible all of that sounds.” said Duke. “If we can be of any use in all this I want you to contact me immediately. If you need fighters I’m sure that I could hire enough soldiers of fortune to take on Henry’s guards.”

  “That shouldn’t be necessary, but I will keep the three of you informed as best I can. None of you have encrypted tablets so I’ll need to meet you in person to avoid any officials getting wind of our plans.