Tales of Kid Crimson: Issue #9

Several blocks away from the police station, Quell waited patiently while I broke into a hover. I found an older model so I wouldn’t need any crackers just old-fashioned tools.

“I hope this isn’t going to be added to the list of charges.” I said and popped the lock.

“I haven’t decided yet.” She kept an eye out for the hitters.

“Just saying, this might qualify as entrapment.” I said as I worked on the ignition. “You know, this might go a little quicker without the shackles.”

“Well, life’s unfair.”

Two minutes later the engine sputtered to a start.

Quell got the cheapest room in the cheapest flophouse. There were specks of dried blood on the headboard of the bed. The roll-blinds on the window were rusted shut. It reeked of damp rotten fabric. I didn’t want to touch anything.

“You couldn’t spring for a better room?” I peeked into the bathroom, more out of morbid curiosity than anything. It did not disappoint.

“It’s low profile.”

“So’s a place with plumbing. There are a lot of those around.”

Quell turned on the wallscreen and scrolled until she found the news. They were doing a segment on the upcoming Sataball season so she went to the desk. I swept some crap off a chair and dragged it over by her.

She flipped on the light and examined the badge she pulled off the hulk’s body. It looked pretty official to me but, then again, I’ve managed to avoid having to look at them up close.

“See? He’s got people in your own bureau.”

“It’s a fake.” She said without hesitation. She picked at the encoded chips, incorporated into the badge to authorize the agent to bypass security protocols. They were stickers. “And one of the sloppier ones I’ve seen too. Someone did this in a rush.”

“Fine, they weren’t dirty Advocacy Agents. Hannigan still knew you were taking me to that station and just dressed up some thugs to do the deed.”

“Or it could have been any other criminal you’ve crossed in the past. Maybe someone with a good Tapper on their payroll who could access police bands.” She sat back and eyed me suspiciously.

“Think about it. Hannigan is on the Subcommittee for Development & Expansion, which means he’s got access to planets full of undocumented labor. He’s got the political juice to keep tabs and manipulate Imperial investigations. It explains why Caro has been as elusive as he has been.”

“I don’t know. The politician-moonlighting-as-criminal-mastermind thing seems too far-fetched to me.”

“Aren’t they one in the same?”

Raina Quell actually laughed. She ran the hulk’s photo from the ID. He had a record, a lengthy one too. Piracy, assault, murder-for-hire, he was multi-faceted muscle but nothing that tied him to Hannigan. Time to pull out the big guns.

“Does this screen have Recall?” I said, motioning to the wallscreen.

“I don’t know, probably.”

“A nicer room would.” I brushed past her to get to the screen.

“Drop it.” She glared at me.

I went to the SSNewsFeed Archive, brought up the coverage of Hannigan’s speech, and advanced frame by frame until I saw Laser-burn.

“That’s the guy. He clipped the trafficker in the landing park who said he could implicate Caro.”

Quell stepped up to the screen to get a good look at him. She leaned in a little closer to look at the mess of pixels. “The feed-compression’s too thick to pull an ID.”

She was weighing my story. I couldn’t tell how she was leaning but needed this to go my way.

“I’ll bet you my freedom.”

Quell looked at me, amused.

“Seriously. If I’m wrong, I’ll let you bust me.” That was the second time I made her laugh.

“You’ll let me? I already busted you.”

I dropped the handcuffs. I picked the key when she brushed past me. “I was going to save this until later, maybe the next time you left me in the car…”

I unlocked the leg shackles, laid them on the desk, and leaned back against the wall. Quell already had her pistol on me.

“For you it’s a win/win. If I’m right, you take down the most notorious trafficker in the ‘verse. If I’m wrong, you get me. What do you say?”
* * * * *
Quell was quiet for five minutes then laid down two rules. One, I couldn’t have a weapon. Two, if I left her sight she would consider that an escape attempt, find me, and shoot me.

Now, we were back in the stolen hover headed to the SSN News Archive to look at the uncompressed footage of Hannigan to try and pull an ID on Laser-burn. First, I had one request of my own: we go back to the police station. Most things I could part with, there was one in the trunk of her vehicle that I couldn’t.

Quell came within sight of the station and slowed the hover. There were cops everywhere assessing the destruction. Fortunately she had parked a little further down the block. So we walked. A couple of the cops eyeballed us as we passed.

“You mind telling me what’s so important?” She hissed at me. “For all we know they could still be here. Watching.”

“You’ll see.” We got to her hover. She went to the trunk and opened it. Inside was the LR-620 and one of my bags. I opened the bag and pulled out the Vanduul blade. That piqued her curiosity.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“Yup.” Sticking to Rule #1, I handed it to her. “Don’t lose it.”

“I thought only Vanduul could have these. Any other species would be marked and hunted.” She stared entranced at the exquisite craftsmanship of the metalworking; refined, intricate, and elegant in its simplicity.

“Special exception.” I glanced back at the station. A cop was watching us.

“I gotta hear this story.”

“Later. We should motor.”

It’s amazing what some authority will give you. At the SSNtv News Archive, the second Quell showed her badge, every courtesy and accommodation was extended to us. I had a fantastic cup of tea while they dug up the original back-up chips from the camera.

“This is amazing. I should have been a cop.” I said, polishing off the cup. “You’ve really turned me around here.”

“Please. You wouldn’t have made it through training.” Quell grinned.

“I’ve seen Advocacy training regiments. I can jog too.” I motioned to the intern for another cup. Third time she laughed.

The extremely prim data manager hustled out of the back and apologized for the delay. He ushered us to a viewing bay. Sifting through the hours and hours of footage, we finally came to the moment of truth. With the uncompressed resolution, we could see the slight sweat on his brow. We’ll get an ID easy.

On the screen, Hannigan finished, headed off-stage, and went out of frame.

We both looked at each other. Quell scanned back and played it again frame by frame. It was the exact same result.

Laser-burn wasn’t there.
* * * * *
We raced back to the hotel to sort this out.

“Someone implanted him into the Feed. Do you have any idea how difficult that is?” I was rolling, my mind raced faster than the hover.

“Whoever accessed the SSN feed had to leave footprints. Which means we could track them, at least start to figure out who’s pulling the strings here.” Quell pondered it some more. “How are your System skills?”

“Definitely not at the level we need, but I got a guy I can contact.”

“Can we trust him?”

“Well, he’s a criminal so technically no, but we know they’re tapped into Advocacy channels so we don’t have a lot of options.”

Back at the room, I hit up Raj Benny. He used to be one of the best at cracking systems before he moved onto skulls. As luck would have it, he was doing some protection racket in the system and could be here the next morning.

“Look at this.” Quell said and threw the hulk from the police station’s record on the wallscreen. I scrolled through the data. It looked pretty much the same.

Pretty much.

There was one fact added, buried in the chronology of crimes. The file now said he served in the military in some obscure unit and was dishonorably discharged.

“Huh. That’s weird.”

“Not really.” Quell said, a knowing smile on her face. She brought up another screen and sat back, waiting for me to be impressed. The unit he supposedly served in was one of the guard units assigned to a developing system. So that tied him to the Subcommittee of Development and Expansion, therefore, to Hannigan.

Quell leapt up, invigorated, and went to the screen.

“They’re perfect puzzle pieces building a case that Hannigan is really Caro. Obscure enough that any investigator won’t feel like they’re being duped.”

“Or a potential assassin with a vengeance for slavers.”

“Exactly.” Quell turned and looked at me. “They wanted you to start digging and constructed this narrative for you to follow.”

“So who’s at the end of this? Who wants Hannigan dead?”

“Well, now we know where to start looking. I mean, who’s got a grudge against Hannigan?” she said. I shook my head. This was unbelievable. She looked at me with a grin. “Looks like you might lose that bet.”

“Looks like.”

We spent the night talking and diving into Hannigan’s life. His political rivals. Contacts in the business world. Developers he might have crossed. Even his ex-wife. By the end, the list of potential suspects was long.

The sun peeked through the rusted roll-blinds when there was a knock on the door. Raj buzzed me as well with an all-clear. It was an old trick. Knock with no buzz means trouble.

Quell got in plain-sight; hand on her gun, just in case.

I opened the door. Raj shuffled inside. He looked like he hadn’t slept since I saw him all the way back at the Covalex Shipping Hub. The second he saw Quell his hand immediately darted for his gun. I got between them.

“Easy Raj. She’s level.” I put my hands up. Quell did the same.

“What the hell, Ethan?” He looked around suspiciously. “You running with Law now.”

“Trust me. When you hear this…” I said. The Tevarin slowly relaxed. We explained it to him. Everything, the cloaked assassin, the trail to Fake-me, Laser-burn and Hannigan, Caro, the deception, everything.

Raj listened, shaking his head in disbelief a couple times in the beginning. He stopped shaking near the end.

“So we need you to find out who accessed the feed. Trace it back to a terminal or even better a name.” I said.

“Can you do it?” Quell chimed in.

“Maybe.” Raj thought about it. “I might be a little rusty.”

Quell set up her system and Raj set to work. We sat on the bed and waited. About an hour passed.

“The report on this case is going to be a nightmare.” She finally said with a groan.

“Maybe you should switch to life of a crime? Very little paperwork.”

“I’ll think about it.” She smiled. Another few moments passed, she got up and went into the bathroom.

“Hey Ethan,” Raj mumbled, “Check this out.”

He moved out of the chair so I could sit down. I looked at the screen. He had all the files collated into a single directory.

And was deleting them.

I barely felt the needle slip into my skin. A cool numb feeling quickly expanded through my system. My body crumpled before I could react. Raj caught me and laid me on the ground.

“You couldn’t just play along like the predictable little rage-monkey you are.” He whispered.

I heard the toilet flush. No.

Raj smiled at me and drew a pistol. My pistol. The one I lost at the landing park. I strained to move. To scream. To do something.

Raj calmly walked by the bathroom door. She was fast. Much faster than Raj. She could get him. I only needed to warn her somehow.

The door opened. Raina Quell walked out drying her hands.

No.

Raj shot her in the back of the head. She never saw it coming. Her body stood there for a second. Shocked. She hit the dirty carpet looking right into my eyes.

I saw the life leave her.

Raj opened the door. Laser-burn and a couple other thugs entered.

“Make sure she’s found.” Raj handed off my pistol to the thugs and looked down at me. “Looks like you just executed a decorated Advocacy Agent, Ethan.”

. . . to be continued

Einige Blocks von der Polizeistation entfernt, wartete Quell geduldig, während ich in einen Schwebezustand einbrach. Ich habe ein älteres Modell gefunden, also würde ich keine Cracker brauchen, nur altmodische Werkzeuge.

"Ich hoffe, das wird nicht in die Gebührenliste aufgenommen." sagte ich und öffnete das Schloss.

"Ich habe mich noch nicht entschieden." Sie hielt Ausschau nach den Killern.

"Ich sage nur, das könnte als Falle gelten." sagte ich, als ich an der Zündung arbeitete. "Weißt du, das geht ohne die Fesseln vielleicht etwas schneller."

"Nun, das Leben ist unfair."

Zwei Minuten später sprudelte der Motor zu einem Start.

Quell bekam das billigste Zimmer in der billigsten Absteige. Auf dem Kopfteil des Bettes befanden sich Flecken von getrocknetem Blut. Die Rollos am Fenster wurden verrostet. Es stank nach feuchtem, faulendem Gewebe. Ich wollte nichts anfassen.

"Könntest du dir kein besseres Zimmer wünschen?" Ich schaute ins Badezimmer, mehr aus krankhafter Neugierde als aus allem anderen. Es war nicht enttäuschend.

"Es ist unauffällig."

"Ein Ort mit Klempnern auch. Es gibt viele davon."

Quell schaltete den Wandschirm ein und scrollte, bis sie die Nachricht fand. Sie machten einen Beitrag über die kommende Sataball-Saison, also ging sie an den Schreibtisch. Ich habe etwas Mist von einem Stuhl gefegt und ihn von ihr rübergeschleppt.

Sie schaltete das Licht ein und untersuchte das Abzeichen, das sie vom Körper des Rumpfes zog. Es sah für mich ziemlich offiziell aus, aber andererseits habe ich es geschafft, sie nicht aus der Nähe betrachten zu müssen.

"Siehst du? Er hat Leute in deinem eigenen Büro."

"Es ist eine Fälschung." sagte sie ohne zu zögern. Sie wählte die verschlüsselten Chips aus, die in das Badge integriert waren, um den Agenten zu autorisieren, Sicherheitsprotokolle zu umgehen. Es waren Aufkleber. "Und eine der schlampigeren, die ich auch gesehen habe. Jemand hat das in Eile getan."

"Schön, sie waren keine schmutzigen Advocacy-Agenten. Hannigan wusste immer noch, dass du mich zum Bahnhof bringst, und hat sich nur ein paar Schläger angezogen, um die Tat zu vollbringen."

"Oder es könnte jeder andere Verbrecher gewesen sein, den du in der Vergangenheit überquert hast. Vielleicht jemand mit einem guten Tapper auf der Gehaltsliste, der auf Polizeifirmen zugreifen kann." Sie lehnte sich zurück und sah mich misstrauisch an.

"Denk darüber nach. Hannigan ist Mitglied des Unterkomitees für Entwicklung und Expansion, was bedeutet, dass er Zugang zu Planeten voller undokumentierter Arbeit hat. Er hat den politischen Saft, um die imperialen Ermittlungen zu kontrollieren und zu manipulieren. Das erklärt, warum Caro so schwer fassbar war wie er."

"Ich weiß nicht. Die Politiker-Mondbeleuchtung als kriminelles Superhirn scheint mir zu weit hergeholt."

"Sind sie nicht eins im Gleichen?"

Raina Quell lachte tatsächlich. Sie hat das Foto des Schiffsrumpfes von der ID überprüft. Er hatte eine Vorgeschichte, eine lange auch. Piraterie, Körperverletzung, Auftragsmord, er war ein facettenreicher Muskel, aber nichts, was ihn an Hannigan band. Zeit, die großen Kanonen rauszuholen.

"Hat dieser Bildschirm einen Rückruf?" sagte ich und bewegte mich auf den Wandschirm.

"Ich weiß nicht, wahrscheinlich."

"Ein schöneres Zimmer würde es tun." Ich stürzte an ihr vorbei, um auf den Bildschirm zu kommen.

"Fallen lassen." Sie starrte mich an.

Ich ging zum SSNewsFeed-Archiv, brachte die Berichterstattung über Hannigans Rede zur Sprache und verbesserte Bild für Bild, bis ich Laser-Burn sah.

"Das ist der Typ. Er hat den Schlepper im Landepark angegriffen, der sagte, er könnte Caro belasten."

Quell trat auf den Bildschirm, um einen guten Blick auf ihn zu werfen. Sie lehnte sich ein wenig näher heran, um das Durcheinander der Pixel zu betrachten. "Die Vorschub-Kompression ist zu dick, um eine ID zu ziehen."

Sie wog meine Geschichte ab. Ich konnte nicht sagen, wie sie sich lehnte, aber ich brauchte das, um meinen Weg zu gehen.

"Ich wette um meine Freiheit."

Quell sah mich amüsiert an.

"Im Ernst. Wenn ich falsch liege, lasse ich mich von dir verhaften." Das war das zweite Mal, dass ich sie zum Lachen brachte.

"Du lässt mich? Ich habe dich bereits erwischt."

Ich ließ die Handschellen fallen. Ich wählte den Schlüssel, als sie an mir vorbeikam. "Ich wollte das für später aufbewahren, vielleicht das nächste Mal, wenn du mich im Auto gelassen hast...."

Ich öffnete die Beinfesseln, legte sie auf den Schreibtisch und lehnte mich zurück an die Wand. Quell hatte bereits ihre Pistole auf mich gerichtet.

"Für dich ist es ein Gewinn/Gewinn. Wenn ich Recht habe, nimmst du den berüchtigsten Schlepper im Vers zur Strecke. Wenn ich falsch liege, verstehst du mich. Was sagst du dazu?"
* * * * *
Quell war fünf Minuten lang ruhig und legte dann zwei Regeln fest. Erstens, ich konnte keine Waffe haben. Zweitens, wenn ich sie aus den Augen verlasse, würde sie das als einen Fluchtversuch betrachten, mich finden und erschießen.

Nun waren wir wieder im gestohlenen Schwebezustand, der zum SSN-Nachrichtenarchiv führte, um uns das unkomprimierte Material von Hannigan anzusehen, um zu versuchen, eine ID für Laser-Burn zu finden. Zuerst hatte ich eine eigene Bitte: Wir gehen zurück zur Polizeiwache. Die meisten Dinge, von denen ich mich trennen konnte, gab es im Kofferraum ihres Fahrzeugs, die ich nicht konnte.

Quell kam in Sichtweite der Station und verlangsamte den Schwebeflug. Überall waren Polizisten, die die Zerstörung beurteilten. Glücklicherweise hatte sie ein wenig weiter unten am Block geparkt. Also gingen wir zu Fuß. Ein paar Polizisten starrten uns an, als wir vorbeikamen.

"Würde es dir was ausmachen, mir zu sagen, was so wichtig ist?" Sie zischte mich an. "Soweit wir wissen, könnten sie noch hier sein. Ich schaue zu."

"Du wirst sehen." Wir kamen zu ihrem Schwebezustand. Sie ging zum Kofferraum und öffnete ihn. Im Inneren befand sich das LR-620 und eine meiner Taschen. Ich öffnete die Tasche und zog die Vanduul-Klinge heraus. Das weckte ihre Neugierde.

"Ist es das, was ich denke, was es ist?"

" Jawohl." Ich hielt mich an Regel #1 und gab sie ihr. "Verliere es nicht."

"Ich dachte, nur Vanduul könnte das haben. Alle anderen Arten werden markiert und gejagt." Sie starrte verzaubert auf die exquisite Handwerkskunst der Metallverarbeitung; raffiniert, kompliziert und elegant in ihrer Einfachheit.

"Besondere Ausnahme." Ich blickte zurück auf den Bahnhof. Ein Polizist beobachtete uns.

"Ich muss diese Geschichte hören."

"Bis später. Wir sollten fahren."

Es ist erstaunlich, was eine Autorität dir geben wird. Im SSNtv Nachrichtenarchiv zeigte die zweite Quelle ihr Abzeichen, jede Höflichkeit und Unterkunft wurde uns gewährt. Ich hatte eine fantastische Tasse Tee, während sie die originalen Backup-Chips aus der Kamera ausgruben.

"Das ist unglaublich. Ich hätte Polizist werden sollen." sagte ich und polierte die Tasse ab. "Du hast mich hier wirklich umgedreht."

"Bitte. Du hättest es nicht durchs Training geschafft." Quell grinste.

"Ich habe gesehen, wie Advocacy Regimenter trainiert hat. Ich kann auch joggen." Ich bewegte mich zum Assistenten für eine weitere Tasse. Zum dritten Mal lachte sie.

Der extrem primitive Datenmanager stürmte aus dem Hintergrund und entschuldigte sich für die Verzögerung. Er führte uns in eine Aussichtsbucht. Beim Durchsehen der Stunden und Stunden des Filmmaterials kamen wir schließlich zum Moment der Wahrheit. Mit der unkomprimierten Auflösung konnten wir den leichten Schweiß auf seiner Stirn sehen. Wir holen uns einfach eine ID.

Auf dem Bildschirm beendete Hannigan die Vorstellung, ging von der Bühne weg und verließ den Rahmen.

Wir sahen uns beide an. Quell scannte zurück und spielte es Bild für Bild wieder ab. Es war genau das gleiche Ergebnis.

Laserbrand war nicht da.
* * * * *
Wir fuhren zurück zum Hotel, um das zu klären.

"Jemand hat ihn in das Feed implantiert. Hast du eine Ahnung, wie schwierig das ist?" Ich rollte, mein Verstand raste schneller als der Hover.

"Wer auch immer auf die SSN-Feed zugegriffen hat, musste Fußspuren hinterlassen. Was bedeutet, dass wir sie aufspüren können, um wenigstens herauszufinden, wer hier die Fäden zieht." Quell dachte noch etwas darüber nach. "Wie sind deine Systemkenntnisse?"

"Definitiv nicht auf dem Niveau, das wir brauchen, aber ich habe einen Kerl, den ich kontaktieren kann."

"Können wir ihm vertrauen?"

"Nun, er ist ein Krimineller, also technisch gesehen nicht, aber wir wissen, dass sie in die Advocacy-Kanäle eingespeist werden, so dass wir nicht viele Möglichkeiten haben."

Zurück im Zimmer, habe ich Raj Benny angefahren. Er war einer der Besten im Knacken von Systemen, bevor er sich auf Schädel bewegte. Wie der Zufall es wollte, machte er einen Schutzrausch im System und konnte am nächsten Morgen hier sein.

"Sieh dir das an." Quell sagte und warf den Schiffsrumpf aus der Akte der Polizeiwache auf den Wandschirm. Ich scrollte durch die Daten. Es sah ziemlich gleich aus.

So ungefähr.

Es wurde eine Tatsache hinzugefügt, die in der Chronologie der Verbrechen vergraben ist. Die Akte sagte nun, dass er beim Militär in einer obskuren Einheit diente und unehrenhaft entlassen wurde.

"Huh. Das ist seltsam."

"Nicht wirklich." sagte Quell, ein wissendes Lächeln auf ihrem Gesicht. Sie brachte eine weitere Leinwand hoch, lehnte sich zurück und wartete darauf, dass ich beeindruckt war. Die Einheit, in der er angeblich diente, war eine der Wacheinheiten, die einem Entwicklungssystem zugeordnet war. Damit war er an den Unterausschuss für Entwicklung und Expansion, also an Hannigan gebunden.

Quell sprang auf, belebte sich und ging zum Bildschirm.

"Es sind perfekte Puzzleteile, die einen Fall bilden, dass Hannigan wirklich Caro ist. Es ist so dunkel, dass sich ein Ermittler nicht das Gefühl hat, getäuscht zu werden."

"Oder ein potenzieller Attentäter mit einer Rache für Sklavenhändler."

"Genau." Quell drehte sich um und sah mich an. "Sie wollten, dass du anfängst zu graben und bauten diese Geschichte, der du folgen kannst."

"Also, wer ist am Ende der Sache? Wer will Hannigan tot sehen?"

"Nun, jetzt wissen wir, wo wir anfangen sollen zu suchen. Ich meine, wer hat einen Groll gegen Hannigan?", sagte sie. Ich schüttelte den Kopf. Das war unglaublich. Sie sah mich mit einem Grinsen an. "Sieht so aus, als ob du diese Wette verlieren könntest."

"Sieht so aus."

Wir verbrachten die Nacht im Gespräch und tauchten in Hannigans Leben ein. Seine politischen Rivalen. Kontakte in der Geschäftswelt. Entwickler, die er vielleicht überschritten hat. Sogar seine Ex-Frau. Am Ende war die Liste der potenziellen Verdächtigen lang.

Die Sonne blickte durch die rostigen Rollos, als es an der Tür klopfte. Raj hat mich auch mit einer Entwarnung begeistert. Es war ein alter Trick. Klopfen ohne Begeisterung bedeutet Ärger.

Quell kam in Sichtweite; Hand auf ihre Waffe, nur für den Fall.

Ich öffnete die Tür. Raj schlurfte innerlich. Er sah aus, als hätte er nicht geschlafen, seit ich ihn den ganzen Weg zurück am Covalex Shipping Hub gesehen habe. In der Sekunde, in der er Quell sah, warf seine Hand sofort nach seiner Waffe. Ich habe mich zwischen sie gestellt.

"Vorsichtig, Raj. Sie ist auf gleicher Höhe." Ich nahm meine Hände hoch. Quell tat das Gleiche.

"Was zum Teufel, Ethan?" Er sah sich misstrauisch um. "Du fährst jetzt mit Law."

"Vertrau mir. Wenn du das hörst...." sagte ich. Der Tevarin entspannte sich langsam. Wir haben es ihm erklärt. Alles, der getarnte Attentäter, die Spur zu Fake-me, Laser-burn und Hannigan, Caro, die Täuschung, alles.

Raj hörte zu und schüttelte am Anfang ein paar Mal ungläubig den Kopf. Er hörte gegen Ende auf zu zittern.

"Also müssen Sie herausfinden, wer auf den Feed zugegriffen hat. Verfolgen Sie es bis zu einem Terminal oder besser noch einem Namen zurück." sagte ich.

"Schaffst du es?" Quell schlug ein.

" Vielleicht." Raj dachte darüber nach. "Ich bin vielleicht etwas eingerostet."

Quell richtete ihr System ein und Raj machte sich an die Arbeit. Wir saßen auf dem Bett und warteten. Etwa eine Stunde verging.

"Der Bericht über diesen Fall wird ein Alptraum werden." sagte sie schließlich mit einem Stöhnen.

"Vielleicht solltest du in das Leben eines Verbrechens wechseln? Sehr wenig Papierkram."

"Ich werde darüber nachdenken." Sie lächelte. Ein paar Augenblicke vergingen, sie stand auf und ging ins Badezimmer.

"Hey Ethan", murmelte Raj, "Schau dir das an."

Er bewegte sich aus dem Stuhl, damit ich mich setzen konnte. Ich sah auf den Bildschirm. Er ließ alle Dateien in einem einzigen Verzeichnis zusammenstellen.

Und war dabei, sie zu löschen.

Ich fühlte kaum, wie die Nadel in meine Haut glitt. Ein kühles taubes Gefühl breitete sich schnell durch mein System aus. Mein Körper zerknitterte, bevor ich reagieren konnte. Raj erwischte mich und legte mich auf den Boden.

"Du konntest nicht einfach so mitspielen wie der vorhersehbare kleine Wut-Affe, der du bist." flüsterte er.

Ich habe die Toilettenspülung gehört. Nein.

Raj lächelte mich an und zog eine Pistole. Meine Pistole. Die, die ich auf dem Landeplatz verloren habe. Ich habe mich bemüht, mich zu bewegen. Zu schreien. Um etwas zu tun.

Raj ging ruhig durch die Badezimmertür. Sie war schnell. Viel schneller als Raj. Sie könnte ihn kriegen. Ich musste sie nur irgendwie warnen.

Die Tür öffnete sich. Raina Quell ging hinaus und trocknete ihre Hände.

Nein.

Raj schoss ihr in den Hinterkopf. Sie hat es nie kommen sehen. Ihr Körper stand eine Sekunde lang da. Schockiert. Sie traf den schmutzigen Teppich und schaute mir direkt in die Augen.

Ich sah, wie das Leben sie verließ.

Raj öffnete die Tür. Laserverbrennung und ein paar andere Schläger kamen hinzu.

"Stell sicher, dass sie gefunden wird." Raj reichte den Schlägern meine Pistole und sah auf mich herab. "Sieht so aus, als hätten Sie gerade einen dekorierten Advocacy-Agenten hingerichtet, Ethan."




. ... wird fortgesetzt

Several blocks away from the police station, Quell waited patiently while I broke into a hover. I found an older model so I wouldn’t need any crackers just old-fashioned tools.

“I hope this isn’t going to be added to the list of charges.” I said and popped the lock.

“I haven’t decided yet.” She kept an eye out for the hitters.

“Just saying, this might qualify as entrapment.” I said as I worked on the ignition. “You know, this might go a little quicker without the shackles.”

“Well, life’s unfair.”

Two minutes later the engine sputtered to a start.

Quell got the cheapest room in the cheapest flophouse. There were specks of dried blood on the headboard of the bed. The roll-blinds on the window were rusted shut. It reeked of damp rotten fabric. I didn’t want to touch anything.

“You couldn’t spring for a better room?” I peeked into the bathroom, more out of morbid curiosity than anything. It did not disappoint.

“It’s low profile.”

“So’s a place with plumbing. There are a lot of those around.”

Quell turned on the wallscreen and scrolled until she found the news. They were doing a segment on the upcoming Sataball season so she went to the desk. I swept some crap off a chair and dragged it over by her.

She flipped on the light and examined the badge she pulled off the hulk’s body. It looked pretty official to me but, then again, I’ve managed to avoid having to look at them up close.

“See? He’s got people in your own bureau.”

“It’s a fake.” She said without hesitation. She picked at the encoded chips, incorporated into the badge to authorize the agent to bypass security protocols. They were stickers. “And one of the sloppier ones I’ve seen too. Someone did this in a rush.”

“Fine, they weren’t dirty Advocacy Agents. Hannigan still knew you were taking me to that station and just dressed up some thugs to do the deed.”

“Or it could have been any other criminal you’ve crossed in the past. Maybe someone with a good Tapper on their payroll who could access police bands.” She sat back and eyed me suspiciously.

“Think about it. Hannigan is on the Subcommittee for Development & Expansion, which means he’s got access to planets full of undocumented labor. He’s got the political juice to keep tabs and manipulate Imperial investigations. It explains why Caro has been as elusive as he has been.”

“I don’t know. The politician-moonlighting-as-criminal-mastermind thing seems too far-fetched to me.”

“Aren’t they one in the same?”

Raina Quell actually laughed. She ran the hulk’s photo from the ID. He had a record, a lengthy one too. Piracy, assault, murder-for-hire, he was multi-faceted muscle but nothing that tied him to Hannigan. Time to pull out the big guns.

“Does this screen have Recall?” I said, motioning to the wallscreen.

“I don’t know, probably.”

“A nicer room would.” I brushed past her to get to the screen.

“Drop it.” She glared at me.

I went to the SSNewsFeed Archive, brought up the coverage of Hannigan’s speech, and advanced frame by frame until I saw Laser-burn.

“That’s the guy. He clipped the trafficker in the landing park who said he could implicate Caro.”

Quell stepped up to the screen to get a good look at him. She leaned in a little closer to look at the mess of pixels. “The feed-compression’s too thick to pull an ID.”

She was weighing my story. I couldn’t tell how she was leaning but needed this to go my way.

“I’ll bet you my freedom.”

Quell looked at me, amused.

“Seriously. If I’m wrong, I’ll let you bust me.” That was the second time I made her laugh.

“You’ll let me? I already busted you.”

I dropped the handcuffs. I picked the key when she brushed past me. “I was going to save this until later, maybe the next time you left me in the car…”

I unlocked the leg shackles, laid them on the desk, and leaned back against the wall. Quell already had her pistol on me.

“For you it’s a win/win. If I’m right, you take down the most notorious trafficker in the ‘verse. If I’m wrong, you get me. What do you say?”
* * * * *
Quell was quiet for five minutes then laid down two rules. One, I couldn’t have a weapon. Two, if I left her sight she would consider that an escape attempt, find me, and shoot me.

Now, we were back in the stolen hover headed to the SSN News Archive to look at the uncompressed footage of Hannigan to try and pull an ID on Laser-burn. First, I had one request of my own: we go back to the police station. Most things I could part with, there was one in the trunk of her vehicle that I couldn’t.

Quell came within sight of the station and slowed the hover. There were cops everywhere assessing the destruction. Fortunately she had parked a little further down the block. So we walked. A couple of the cops eyeballed us as we passed.

“You mind telling me what’s so important?” She hissed at me. “For all we know they could still be here. Watching.”

“You’ll see.” We got to her hover. She went to the trunk and opened it. Inside was the LR-620 and one of my bags. I opened the bag and pulled out the Vanduul blade. That piqued her curiosity.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“Yup.” Sticking to Rule #1, I handed it to her. “Don’t lose it.”

“I thought only Vanduul could have these. Any other species would be marked and hunted.” She stared entranced at the exquisite craftsmanship of the metalworking; refined, intricate, and elegant in its simplicity.

“Special exception.” I glanced back at the station. A cop was watching us.

“I gotta hear this story.”

“Later. We should motor.”

It’s amazing what some authority will give you. At the SSNtv News Archive, the second Quell showed her badge, every courtesy and accommodation was extended to us. I had a fantastic cup of tea while they dug up the original back-up chips from the camera.

“This is amazing. I should have been a cop.” I said, polishing off the cup. “You’ve really turned me around here.”

“Please. You wouldn’t have made it through training.” Quell grinned.

“I’ve seen Advocacy training regiments. I can jog too.” I motioned to the intern for another cup. Third time she laughed.

The extremely prim data manager hustled out of the back and apologized for the delay. He ushered us to a viewing bay. Sifting through the hours and hours of footage, we finally came to the moment of truth. With the uncompressed resolution, we could see the slight sweat on his brow. We’ll get an ID easy.

On the screen, Hannigan finished, headed off-stage, and went out of frame.

We both looked at each other. Quell scanned back and played it again frame by frame. It was the exact same result.

Laser-burn wasn’t there.
* * * * *
We raced back to the hotel to sort this out.

“Someone implanted him into the Feed. Do you have any idea how difficult that is?” I was rolling, my mind raced faster than the hover.

“Whoever accessed the SSN feed had to leave footprints. Which means we could track them, at least start to figure out who’s pulling the strings here.” Quell pondered it some more. “How are your System skills?”

“Definitely not at the level we need, but I got a guy I can contact.”

“Can we trust him?”

“Well, he’s a criminal so technically no, but we know they’re tapped into Advocacy channels so we don’t have a lot of options.”

Back at the room, I hit up Raj Benny. He used to be one of the best at cracking systems before he moved onto skulls. As luck would have it, he was doing some protection racket in the system and could be here the next morning.

“Look at this.” Quell said and threw the hulk from the police station’s record on the wallscreen. I scrolled through the data. It looked pretty much the same.

Pretty much.

There was one fact added, buried in the chronology of crimes. The file now said he served in the military in some obscure unit and was dishonorably discharged.

“Huh. That’s weird.”

“Not really.” Quell said, a knowing smile on her face. She brought up another screen and sat back, waiting for me to be impressed. The unit he supposedly served in was one of the guard units assigned to a developing system. So that tied him to the Subcommittee of Development and Expansion, therefore, to Hannigan.

Quell leapt up, invigorated, and went to the screen.

“They’re perfect puzzle pieces building a case that Hannigan is really Caro. Obscure enough that any investigator won’t feel like they’re being duped.”

“Or a potential assassin with a vengeance for slavers.”

“Exactly.” Quell turned and looked at me. “They wanted you to start digging and constructed this narrative for you to follow.”

“So who’s at the end of this? Who wants Hannigan dead?”

“Well, now we know where to start looking. I mean, who’s got a grudge against Hannigan?” she said. I shook my head. This was unbelievable. She looked at me with a grin. “Looks like you might lose that bet.”

“Looks like.”

We spent the night talking and diving into Hannigan’s life. His political rivals. Contacts in the business world. Developers he might have crossed. Even his ex-wife. By the end, the list of potential suspects was long.

The sun peeked through the rusted roll-blinds when there was a knock on the door. Raj buzzed me as well with an all-clear. It was an old trick. Knock with no buzz means trouble.

Quell got in plain-sight; hand on her gun, just in case.

I opened the door. Raj shuffled inside. He looked like he hadn’t slept since I saw him all the way back at the Covalex Shipping Hub. The second he saw Quell his hand immediately darted for his gun. I got between them.

“Easy Raj. She’s level.” I put my hands up. Quell did the same.

“What the hell, Ethan?” He looked around suspiciously. “You running with Law now.”

“Trust me. When you hear this…” I said. The Tevarin slowly relaxed. We explained it to him. Everything, the cloaked assassin, the trail to Fake-me, Laser-burn and Hannigan, Caro, the deception, everything.

Raj listened, shaking his head in disbelief a couple times in the beginning. He stopped shaking near the end.

“So we need you to find out who accessed the feed. Trace it back to a terminal or even better a name.” I said.

“Can you do it?” Quell chimed in.

“Maybe.” Raj thought about it. “I might be a little rusty.”

Quell set up her system and Raj set to work. We sat on the bed and waited. About an hour passed.

“The report on this case is going to be a nightmare.” She finally said with a groan.

“Maybe you should switch to life of a crime? Very little paperwork.”

“I’ll think about it.” She smiled. Another few moments passed, she got up and went into the bathroom.

“Hey Ethan,” Raj mumbled, “Check this out.”

He moved out of the chair so I could sit down. I looked at the screen. He had all the files collated into a single directory.

And was deleting them.

I barely felt the needle slip into my skin. A cool numb feeling quickly expanded through my system. My body crumpled before I could react. Raj caught me and laid me on the ground.

“You couldn’t just play along like the predictable little rage-monkey you are.” He whispered.

I heard the toilet flush. No.

Raj smiled at me and drew a pistol. My pistol. The one I lost at the landing park. I strained to move. To scream. To do something.

Raj calmly walked by the bathroom door. She was fast. Much faster than Raj. She could get him. I only needed to warn her somehow.

The door opened. Raina Quell walked out drying her hands.

No.

Raj shot her in the back of the head. She never saw it coming. Her body stood there for a second. Shocked. She hit the dirty carpet looking right into my eyes.

I saw the life leave her.

Raj opened the door. Laser-burn and a couple other thugs entered.

“Make sure she’s found.” Raj handed off my pistol to the thugs and looked down at me. “Looks like you just executed a decorated Advocacy Agent, Ethan.”

. . . to be continued