Jia frowned. “All the more reason to go to IA. You shouldn’t give her more time to set you up and screw with police records.”
“And how do I prove I’m innocent if I go to IA? It’s not like they’re going to just take my word for it,” Malcolm complained. He ran his hands through his dishwater-blond hair. “That’s what I really don’t get about this entire situation. The level of skill she’d need to screw with these records and make it look like I did it is damned high, but she’s a doctor, not a systems specialist. And if she’s that good, why does she need me?” He turned to Erik. “She also made a big point of testing my loyalty to you and Detective Lin. I didn’t think about it until later, but you two were the only cops she mentioned by name.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I’ve never wanted to know the details of the side stuff I’ve helped you on because I always knew you weren’t doing anything shady, but I think it’s caught up with me.”
Jia sighed. “Erik, he’s right. He deserves to know.”
Erik nodded. “You sure? Once I tell you, you might have trouble getting to sleep.”
“The woman I liked is ready to frame me,” Malcolm complained. “I’m already not sleeping well.”
“I’m sorry about this, Malcolm. It all goes back to the terrorists who killed my unit on Molino.”
Erik revealed to Malcolm the broad overview of the conspiracy, including what they had found and alluding to some of their high-level government help, and the technician paled.
He stumbled over to Erik’s desk and braced himself with his arms.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Malcolm muttered.
“Don’t be sick on my desk.” Erik nodded toward the door. “Do that in the bathroom.”
“I thought you were just going to tell me some corporate guy killed your dog and you’d sworn vengeance, and he kept sending assassins after you, and you were planning to go to the Tokyo Metroplex and blow up his headquarters or something,” Malcolm replied.
“That’s a very elaborate scenario,” Jia commented after a moment of silence. “Especially with the dog starting it all.”
“It’s not any more elaborate than some super-secret cabal co-opting terrorists to send at you.” Malcolm scrubbed a hand down his face. “Damn. You guys take trouble to the next level. I always suspected something big, but nothing that big.”
“There’s still a chance that Camila isn’t an agent of the conspiracy,” Jia observed. “She could just not like Erik and me. But if there’s even a small chance she is, we shouldn’t go to IA right away. She might lead us to the conspiracy.”
Erik nodded. “I agree. She’s gotten cocky. I think she must have gotten frustrated, thinking she could seduce or bribe Malcolm. That’s left us an opening to turn it around on her.”
Malcolm groaned. “Of course, a great woman is only interested in me as part of some evil plot.”
“Suck it up for now.” Erik gestured at him. “She thinks she’s got you by the balls, so that’s an advantage we have. When’s the next time you’re supposed to meet her?”
“She stopped by my office first thing this morning,” Malcolm explained. He rolled his eyes. “She gave me this big speech about how much she enjoyed last night and how she wanted to come over again. I couldn’t say anything like, ‘Hey, remember the part where you threatened me?’ but I got the message. She wants to come over and give me marching orders.”
Erin grinned. “Then we’ll just get there first. She should have been smarter than to mess with you.”
Chapter Thirty
Erik stood a short distance away from the closed door to Malcolm’s bedroom. He’d already made an unusual sacrifice since the weapon he held was a stun pistol.
Even though he had no problem killing any member of the conspiracy, he needed leads. If Camila was their agent, even unwitting, he and Jia would get useful information out of her.
Jia stood beside Erik, her own stun pistol in her hand. If the meeting went badly, they would need to move quickly to save Malcolm’s life.
It wasn’t fair that his life might be in danger because he’d helped them investigate.
Emma was transmitting a feed through hacked cameras. They’d followed Camila all the way from her flitter to the elevator and during her stroll down the hall toward Malcolm's apartment. She didn’t look tense, worried, or ready to kill a man, but her long black coat offered plenty of places to conceal a weapon. Breaking his neck or strangling him was always a choice, too.
Not to mention poison.
Another feed displayed the situation in Malcolm’s empty living room. Erik considered the practical tactical implications of having furniture. If a man didn’t want to get assassinated, he at least needed a loveseat to jump behind. For a brief moment, Erik wondered if he should invest in bulletproof furniture. It was only a matter of time before the conspiracy sent their next assassin.
“I’m detecting extremely unusual activity in the camera feeds for this level,” Emma commented. “Incredibly sophisticated and well-hidden. I could disrupt the activity, but I doubt I can do it without whoever is involved becoming aware, not in the short time we have available prior to her arrival. There is almost no chance it’s not being used to conceal something.”
Erik growled. “Damn it.” He shoved his stun pistol into a pocket and pulled out his slug-thrower. “That can’t be good. It also probably means Camila isn’t alone. That changes things.”
“Backup,” Jia suggested. “In case Malcolm resists.”
“That level of sophisticated hacking proves this isn’t about helping a few crap gangsters,” Erik concluded. “And it’s not like they need special muscle to take down Malcolm. The conspiracy pushed too hard. They shouldn’t have mentioned our names. It might be a Tin Man with a self-destruct.”
Camila knocked on the door. Time was up. They needed to figure out how to handle things.
Jia shook her head at Erik, lowering her voice. Emma amplified it in his ear.
“If we start shooting right away, we’ll lose any chance of finding a new lead. I know how much you want to move forward with the investigation. I’m not saying we let Malcolm get hurt, but let’s see how this plays out. If this was just about killing Malcolm, would they really need a second person?”
Erik considered that for a moment before frowning. “They might know we’re in here.”
Jia’s jaw clenched. “Then I suggest we be ready.”
Malcolm took a deep breath in the other room and tapped his PNIU to open the door. “Hey, Camila.”
Camila strolled in and slapped the access panel to close it. “Before we start talking about anything else, I need your answer. I understand that you’ll be uncomfortable with a lot of this, but I wasn’t lying. If you cooperate, you’ll end up rich. I also think you’ll find after you’ve helped me out a few times that a lot of your guilt will fade. If not, donate a bunch to charity.”
Erik no longer trusted their previous plan, but the window for change had been slammed shut the moment Camila entered the apartment.
“No.” Malcolm squared his shoulders and lifted his chin. “I’m going to IA first thing tomorrow. The only reason I didn’t go today is that I wanted to give you a head start. Despite you being an evil bitch, I still have a thing for you, and I would like to think you’re only doing this because you’re desperate.”
Camila scoffed and folded her arms. “You can’t be this stupid. They’ll never buy that you’re innocent. They’ll just think you got burned. You’ll do time. And don’t you think I know people who could take care of you in prison?”
“I’m giving you this one chance. If you don’t want to run, then surrender right now. I can make sure things go better for you. We can do it through Erik and Jia.”
“You have no idea who you’re messing with, Malcolm.” Camila shook her head and sighed. “I really thought you were smarter than this, but if you’re not going to work with me, then I can’t have you working with other people.”
“Scr
ew the plan,” Erik muttered under his breath. He slapped the access panel and charged into the living room, his gun pointed at Camila’s head. “Hands up! If you so much as blink in a suspicious manner, I’ll put three rounds into you before you finish closing your eyes.”
Camila’s face twitched. “Touchy.”
Jia kept her stun pistol trained on the coroner. “And if you think we don’t know about your friend, you’re wrong. He can’t help you. We tagged him a while ago.”
“Already saw through that, huh?” Camila chuckled and raised her hands above her head. “Fine. That makes it easy.” She inclined her head toward the door. “Open it. That’ll make everything a lot clearer, and you’ll both be a lot calmer.”
“You think we’re complete idiots?” Erik snorted.
“Detective,” Emma sent, “the camera manipulation has ended. They were concealing a woman with an athletic build. I’m running facial recognition, but I’m not coming up with any matches. She doesn’t appear to be armed, and given her skintight dress, I’m dubious there are many places she could hide a weapon.”
Erik frowned and whispered, “If she’s a Tin Woman, she might be hiding a weapon internally.”
“Thermals check out as human,” Emma reported. “But admittedly, there are many ways to simulate that well enough to deceive the modest cameras in the hall.”
Camila looked at Erik and Jia. “Talking to the AI, huh? It’s hard to get anything past you two. Add her into the mix and it’s downright obnoxious, but just open the door. I don’t like the idea of getting shot by accident.”
“If your friend starts trouble, you‘ll get shot on purpose.” Erik shook his gun a couple of times for emphasis.
Camila shrugged. “Once you hear what she has to say, I know you’ll all see things my way.”
Jia nodded at Erik and pointed her stun pistol at Camila. He shifted his to cover the door, his heart beating faster.
“Open the door, Malcolm,” he ordered.
“This is not how I planned to spend my evening.” Malcolm sighed. “What’s next? A bomb?”
A quick tap of his PNIU and the door slid open to reveal a blonde woman in a bright yellow dress that looked practically painted on her body. Erik half-wondered if she was wearing anything or just using some sort of sophisticated holographic emitter. Something seemed vaguely familiar about her figure of all things, but her face was a mystery.
The new arrival stepped inside and closed the door. “You don’t want to shoot me, Erik.”
Erik narrowed his eyes. “Alina?”
The woman nodded. She pulled at her face, yanking off thin putty in several spots, which left her skin uneven and splotchy. “I’m sorry for not bringing you in on this directly. It would have saved some trouble, but I needed to be sure about a few things.”
“Sure about what?” Jia demanded, her hostility plain and upfront.
Alina gestured at Malcolm. “We knew you’d worked with him on occasion, and we needed to ensure he wasn’t compromised. You both know what’s at stake. It doesn’t hurt to double-check.”
Erik holstered his gun. Jia did the same, but she looked more annoyed than relieved.
“Who the hell are you?” Malcolm asked. “And what’s going on?” He looked at Erik. “She doesn’t work for the conspiracy?”
Erik shook his head. “Far from it.”
“We don’t all become what we hate.” The ID agent chuckled. “Agent Alina Koval, Intelligence Directorate.”
“ID? That’s what you were getting at when you explained everything to me, wasn’t it, Detectives?” Malcolm groaned. He backed into a wall and covered his face with his hand. “This is so damned embarrassing. Here I was, first thinking an awesome woman might be into me, and then I have to deal with the humiliation of believing she’s about to blackmail me into helping criminals. At least in that situation, I could cling to the idea that I was awesome enough that criminals wanted to force me to work for them, but now…” He dropped his hand and looked at Camila. “So, what, you’re a ghost, and you were never interested in me?”
Camila averted her eyes, a hint of red on her pale cheeks. “It’s not like I set out to screw with you from the beginning, Malcolm. My job was to keep an eye on the troublemaking detectives over there and evaluate the rest of the 1-2-2 for useful assets.”
Malcolm scoffed. “So that’s what I am? A useful asset?”
“Yes,” Camila replied flatly. “But you’re still talented and cute in your own way.” Her gaze cut to Alina. “And since I can’t immediately leave my position at the 1-2-2 without blowing my cover, I don’t see a problem with getting to know you better.”
“Is this about evaluating my value to the ID or dating?” he asked.
Camila smirked. “A little of both.”
Malcolm’s expression brightened. “Whoa. Really?”
Erik laughed, his tension leaving with the sound. At least Malcolm was getting something for all his trouble.
Alina gestured toward the bedroom. “I have some things to talk to the two of you about. If you want to tell him later, that’s on you, but for now, let’s leave them to flirt.”
Camila glared at her. Malcolm shrugged with a sheepish grin on his face.
Alina, Erik, and Jia reconvened thirty seconds later in Malcolm’s bedroom, the door now closed.
“It’s time you stopped messing around with local garbage,” began Alina.
“You mean, you want Erik to take the offer?” Jia asked.
Alina nodded. “Both of you, actually. I would settle for him, yes, but you’re a package deal if I want maximum efficiency. I might even be able to get Emma in the deal, too. I’ve got some people working things behind the scenes. If we let certain parties in the DD know you’re working for us in some capacity, they’ll be willing to leave Emma alone.”
Emma appeared and sat on the edge of the bed. “Using me as leverage?”
“Simply pointing out options.” Alina frowned. “I don’t even see why you two want to stick around in Neo SoCal. Yes, there will always be a crime for you to solve, but going forward, you can potentially help save the entire UTC. And it’s not like you’ll never do investigations with us.”
Erik scoffed. “We’re taking down a lot of criminals, sure, but there will always be corruption, and rich assholes who end up corrupt often end up working for people in dangerous conspiracies.”
“You two are scaring people. I wouldn’t be surprised if all the most dangerous players have already shifted to other areas, if not off-world. The criminals and those above them always move on to softer targets. There’s no way you haven’t seen it.”
“That doesn’t mean there isn’t work for us to do here,” Jia insisted, emphasizing the point by stabbing toward the floor with a finger.
“What is it going to take to convince you?” Alina asked. She gestured at the door. “I brought Camila in because I want to build you a support team you trust and control. I’m serious when I say I want you as contractors and not direct agents. Things would be far different from what you’re used to dealing with as cops.”
Erik glared at her. She’d fed him useful information, but if she truly wanted him to work for her, she needed to understand that no one could push him around. He’d stopped caring about taking orders the day his unit was slaughtered.
“We’ll let you know,” Erik told her, his voice almost a growl, “when and if it’s the right time for us. And don’t do this kind of crap again.” He pointed toward the living room. “If you’re sniffing around us, do us the courtesy of telling us.”
Alina scoffed. “Hubris was one of the greatest sins of the ancient world. Always keep that in mind.”
“Perhaps you’re the one who needs to learn that lesson,” Jia retorted.
Alina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m not here to fight with you. I came to make my feelings clear, but you’re both right. I should be earning your trust, not making you suspicious.” Resignation settled over her face. “I will have
a surprise gift for you in a few days, something I hope will further demonstrate my good intentions. Even if you don’t want to take me up on my offer immediately, you might find it useful. It could help you avoid certain problems you’ve had to deal with lately.”
Erik nodded. “I’m not going to turn down anything useful. What’s the gift?”
Alina’s thin grin almost felt like mockery. “It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.” She headed toward the door. “Don’t worry. You’ll like it.”
“And if I don’t?” Erik asked.
“Then it’ll just be another in a long line of mistakes I’ve made handling you,” Alina stopped and frowned. “Damn it. I’ll need to fix my face before I go.”
Erik barely heard her. A surprise? By the sound of it, Alina intended to deliver something physical, not more intelligence. The only thing he couldn’t figure out was what she could possibly give him that Colonel Adeyemi hadn’t.
A faint grin appeared despite his best efforts to suppress it. He wouldn’t mind having some ID toys.
Chapter Thirty-One
Aug 26, 2229, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Police Enforcement Zone 122 Station, Office of Detectives Jia Lin and Erik Blackwell
Jia stepped into the office, two piping hot beignets in hand. Her stomach growled at the smell. She’d liked them okay before becoming Erik’s partner, but his obsession was beginning to bleed over into her as well. She didn’t mind.
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