(In their hotel room Brill and Tatya lay intertwined in the bed for an hour: Tatya nestled into his shoulder while he buried his nose into his former lover’s blond hair.
“How come you were at the scene of the incident so quickly?” Brill asked quietly.
“Workaholic,” Tatya giggled.
“No, I mean it. You showed up right after it happened.”
“We got an anonymous tip that something was gonna happen.” Tatya shifted against him to try and get closer, if that was possible.
“From who?”
“Whom. From whom. I don’t know, anonymous means, by definition, ‘We don’t know, nor do we care.’” Tatya’s eyes were open and questioning now.
“Did you tell anyone about the tip off?”
“Just the Coroner, why?” Tatya picked up her head from his chest to stare into his eyes.
“A captain in the GDF doesn’t hang around the waiting for ’something’ to happen. Tea, get your clothes on, quick. Leave your badge and let’s get outta here. Smitty knew about that tip. He probably was the one that called.” Ully’s voice trailed off.
“What does that mean?” Tatya spoke with her eyes wide.
He snapped his face towards hers.
“It means: if Smitty didn’t find that bad brain he’s probably gonna come looking for us.”
She swung herself out of bed to sort through the tangle of clothing while Brill snatched up his weapon, moving to the door, pressing his ear close in case someone might be waiting outside. He cocked his head momentarily, listening intently, before he yanked the door open quickly. Glancing both ways he stepped into the hallway with his weapon in his hand.
Before tonight he had felt uncomfortable with the pulse weapon at his side, now with Tatya back in his life and a possible threat lurking for both of them he felt naked without it.
He was naked actually but carrying a weapon that was locked and loaded he did not feel vulnerable. A trace cam sped around the corner into the hallway alerted by quick opening of the door. Testing his new found courage he snapped off two quick rounds and blew the cam apart with the second. Tatya ran to the open door.
“Hey, cowboy! Are you outta your mind?” She blurted out.
Brill smiled lasciviously as he looked her up and down as she was wearing nothing.
“Oh, Jesus!” She giggled before she sprinted back inside to put on some clothing. “Try not to shoot anything while I’m getting dressed. Okay?” she pleaded.
Brill smiled but stared at the weapon in his hand as the glow finally faded. Only then did he close the door to sort through his clothing.
The pair quickly dressed and readied themselves but Tatya tugged on Brill’’s arm, the one holding his weapon, before they reached the door.
“Please, Ully. Let’s take this to somebody. This is scary.”
“That’s not an alternative. I don’t know how high up this goes in GDF. If this is something connected to the DA they’ll take me down the second I walk in that door. If somebody’s still looking for that thing… We’re both in trouble. No, we need to wait this out. Somewhere, safe.”
Sighing heavily Tatya nodded. “All right… I’m ready.”
“I’ll take you to a place I know and you can…”
“You ass! I’m in this up to my neck. I will not stay behind while you’re out shooting up half the sector. If you blow this we both go down. I’m not lettin’ you outta my sight.”
“Tea, you can still plead ignorance…”
“Oh yeah, and wait for Smitty to show up? Pass.”
“Tell ‘em what you know and the DA’ll protect you,” Brill begged
“‘Tell ‘em what I know’ and I’ve already broken the law.”
“How so?”
“I was only supposed to make a rulling on your actions with that guy. Now, I’ve got myself in as an accessory. The moment you told me something was munged up… I was an accessory. I’m supposed to report that sorta stuff…” she finished sarcastically bobbing her head.
“But you didn’t know what was going on.”
“Uh uh. That ain’t gonna fly. I didn’t report the information you gave me. That’s why they didn’t want me workin’ with you. Don’t you…?”
Brill held up his open palm to halt her tirade.
“Wait, you’ve got a chip still. Don’t you?”
“Yeah…” she answered.
“You gotta get rid of it.”
Locator chips used to be implanted almost all children at birth, though the practice had fallen out of vogue in the last few decades. Unseen chips were preferred to visible marking—due to the 20st century polico-religious considerations—but with the advent of the ubiquitous ID cards the argument became moot. Since that time society had calmed down but some practices remained in the wake of the last “deadly episode.” The “deadly episodes” were those eras that brought on numerous human deaths, religious intolerance having brought on the last of the notable eras.
Many old-fashioned parents still had chips inserted in-vitro. Depending on a parent’s status newborns got chips implanted in a different part of the body and later could be used to locate that individual. The practice began as far back as the late 20th century but had wavered in popularity many times.
Tatya drew a sharp breath and shuttered. “I can’t do it to myself!” Tatya whined. “It’s in my right index finger.” This location indicated a birth to parents of moderate affluence.
The more important a child’s parent the more obvious a missing chip would be and pricing of the implant varied accordingly Brill’s parents were of a relatively low social class and Brill’s had been installed on his left baby toe but like most wispers he had removed it long ago. Like almost all wispers he was untraceable except by ID card.
The location of the implant in an unborn child was more of a status symbol, prices controlled by aethestics rather than surgical difficulty. Loylon controlled chip tracking despite the rarity of the process at present.
Now implanting a chip in an adult was easy but required consent or was required in the miscreant population.
Most parents consented to have their children implanted to prevent kidnapping or to find them quickly if the child simply wandered off. Once a card was issued, at about seven years old, the chip was no longer needed. In fact, at present the only adults required to have a locator were convicted felons. Brill had never stumbled during his years as a whisper so he had never been required to have another chip implanted after he had his birth chip removed
Brill stared at Tatya wide-eyed. “I can’t do it. I couldn’t do anything to hurt you.” His shoulders sagged. “Really, I… I can’t hurt you… I mean it…” He looked like he would cry.
Through clenched teeth she growled, “Damn, you Ully Brill! Watch the door.”
He ran to the door and opened it slowly this time. No cams showed up. The hotel he chose was not one with many trace cams assigned (Brill knew many of the out-of-way locations in the sector) and the previous trace cam had been blown to bits before it could it run a spotter alert back to sector headquarters. But it would be noticed when the hourly check-in was missed: giving its location at that time it was dispatched.
The sound of a breaking glass was not loud but was unmistakable. The thought of Tatya cutting open her skin made Brill’s stomach churn. He knew that she would have to dig under her skin to pull out the twenty-five-millimeter chip placed in her finger in-vitro. Despite his unease Brill turned to tell Tatya to hurry. She was at his elbow before he could speak.
“Let’s go,” she said flatly, her face pallid.
Brill swallowed hard. “Tea, I’ll buy you the best finger on the market. I promise, baby.”
Holding up a bloodied towel around her hand she wavered before she replied, “I think I need to find a med ‘bot.”
Brill moved in rushes from one corner to the next in case someone was laying in ambush while Tatya staggered, her shoulder rubbing the walls to support her.
They moved cautiously but quickly into the darkness.
On the street Tatya grew more woozy from the loss of blood. At last Brill found a public medical robot call box and there she had her finger bandaged and got a quick transfusion.
“Ma’am this is a serious injury and may require further attention. May I suggest…” The ‘bot disappeared in a shower of plastic causing Tatya to jump back.
“Jeez, Ully! What’s gotten into you?” she squalled.
“Tea, that ‘bot had to know you removed your chip. We’ve gotta be careful.”
Tatya raged, “No, you gotta to be careful. They’re gonna to find us by following the trail of blown up ‘bots and trace cams.”
“Damn. You’re right.” Brill kicked the larger parts of the medical robot towards the curb. Shoving the debris into a disposal slot Brill pushed the “call” button. Brill knew the ‘bot would be disposed of before the recall program could be activated. His whisper experience was coming back to him quickly.
Hailing a passing taxi he snapped his ID card from the lanyard around his neck and tossed his badge inside before he pressed the “home” button. Brill knew the onboard camera would record his face but he hoped to be far from this location by the time the uniformed police or the GDF figured out what had happened.
Watching the door close he gathered up Tatya and led her to a door step where they sat down to wait. Almost 30 seconds to the mark a police vehicle whizzed by followed by several trace cams. One trace cam slowed and turned towards them.
Brill whispered to Tatya, “Don’t move.” The cam hovered momentarily and dashed off to join the chase. “We’re free,” he said.
“And, we’re broke,” she finished.
Reaching into his pocket Brill pulled out 200 Loylon food credits. Most financial transactions were handled through a citizen’s ID card except for food purchases. The Loylon belief was this allowed independent food vendors to operate outside of the system thus encouraging entrepreneurial commerce while reducing pressure on the banking bureaucracy.
But prepared food purchases were conducted primarily between humans using credits off the financial grid where hard goods, robotic services, and the Loylon controlled food banks regulated the market. Because of this the lingua franca could change from sector to sector. Ulysses Brill only carried Loylon script accepted all official food banks. This script was usually alloted within upper class circles and exchanged, not directly for food, but for wisp credits or sexual trafficking making these scarce notes inflation resistant.
Tatya furrowed her brow spying the wad of script. “Do I wanna know where that came from?”
Brill smiled. “I’m an honest civil servant, ma’am.”
Tatya rolled her eyes and sighed. “I’ll take that as a no.”
Together they wandered down the street mixing in with the regular crowd.
*****
Their first stop was the morgue. Brill stormed in and alerted the attendant robot to rouse the human attendant. Without a badge the robot was unwilling to do so, but out of the back room came the man who they had spoke to just hours before.
“What can I do for you now, detective?” the man asked suspiciously.
Glancing over the man’s shoulder Brill noticed retrieval vehicle slot was empty. “Take me to Flo and Eddie,” was Brill’s reply.
“Oh come on. I told you I was clean, detective, why would you…”
“Where is it?” Brill interrupted nodding towards the empty vehicle bay.
The man didn’t even bother to look in the direction of the bays. “I had to hide it somewhere…”
“Where?”
“Some… where… Somewhere… else,” the man bleated.
Brill pulled out his pulse weapon. It was a savage looking hunk of metal, especially when it was pointed at your face. The man looked desperately at Tatya who held up her bloodied bandage and shrugged.
“You wouldn’t do anything that…” the man started.
Brill pulled the trigger and blew an attendant ‘bot on the shelf behind the man into little pieces that showered unto the man’s shoulders before he could finish his question.
“Jeez!” The man cringed.
Trace cams didn’t alert to the comings and goings in an office where many ‘bots were running around. Even though Brill’s actions would have definitely been considered “dangerous” trace cams rarely alerted to actions that involved ‘bots. But Brill knew the stationary cameras had picked up his actions and uniformed police arrive shortly.
“Better, tell him what he wants to know or…” Tatya raised her bandaged hand.
“Okay, Okay! Flo and Eddie are in place that you might know. Sector 15-d, sub-j, number…”
“23.” Brill finished the man’s sentence. The man nodded. “You’re coming with us.” Brill was tugging at the man’s sleeve pulling him over the low counter.
“Oh, come on! Why do I have to go?” The man begged.
“Because, you’re the only one of us who has a working ID badge,” Brill said with a cruel smile.
Now the man knew he was at the whims of two dangerous and desperate individuals. In a system where every detail of a person’s life was embedded on their badge being caught without it brought severe penalties. The man sighed and fell behind Tatya as she led the way into the night.
The trio used the man’s card to catch a taxi headed towards Flo and Eddie’s place.
Approaching a waiting cab the man turned towards Brill to ask a question.
“How come you didn’t roll over on Flo and Eddie to skip prosecution?”
Nodding towards Tatya Brill stated plainly, “I got a prize if I took the fall.”
The man looked her over quickly and sniffed. “So why’d you ‘do’ her finger?”
Brill’s expression turned serious, “That’s what I do to someone I love.” Leaning close to the man he continued, “Imagine what I could do to someone I don’t even know their name?”
“Billy Buxton,” the man blurted out. “I’m Billy Buxton, detective, what’s your lovely friend’s name?” The man jabbered in a nervous voice.
“Shut up, Billy!” came Brill’s reply. Tatya stifled a laugh, turning to stare out the window of the moving cab as they fell into the back.
After a moment Tatya spoke. “I’m Tatya. He’s not like this usually, but tonight he…” she turned serious. “He… killed a man and he’s feeling a little…” she turned to eye Brill before she returned her gaze to Billy Buxton and finished. “I don’t know what he’s feeling but he’s already killed one man and blown three ‘bots to the ‘here after.’”
Brill sat nonplussed staring at the man.
Billy shook his head uneasily and blurted out, “Sure, no problem. Not for Billy Buxton.”
No other words were exchanged for the rest of the cab ride.
The cap stopped outside a nondescript building and the trio walked through the ground floor entrance. Billy pressed a button and a mellifluous voice wafted over a loud speaker. “Billy, what are you doing back, here?”
“I’m not back,” Billy blushed tried to cover his lie. “I’m here with some friends of ours.”
“We don’t have any friends, Billy.”
Brill stepped forward and fired a single round into a fixed camera in the entryway, blowing it apart.
Billy meekly spoke, “Flo… Eddie, I think you already know Detective Brill?”
There was pause of several seconds followed by telltale buzz of a door release. Now they moved into the elevator. It started with a jerk and after several floors stopped again.
“Drop the weapon to the floor, please.” A different voice boomed through a loud speaker.
Brill glared at the camera in the elevator. “Fuck you.” He turned and winked at Billy. The elevator sat still for several seconds and then continued on. It opened into a opulent hallway with one door at the end and several chairs along the decorated walls. The voice from the elevator rang out once again.
“Have a seat, Flo will be with you shortly.”
“Tell Flo, if he isn’t here in 10 seconds I’m gonna…” The door flew open and a flamboyantly dressed man beckoned. The man was short and round with a pasty complextion but wore a beaming smile and was flanked by two large men wearing the hard look usually seen on hired bodyguards.
“Ulysses Simpson Brill, you old dog, how are you? You look simply wonderful, do you know that? And who is this ravishing creature?” With non-stop patois the man approached Tatya eyeing her at great length.
“Hey Flo, how are ya?” Brill started offhandedly. “This is Tatya Chenkovich. She’s the one who got me off the dime. Where’s Eddie?” Brill finished curtly.
Flo made a grand maneuver, sweeping his arms in a faux curtsy. “I’m absolutely in awe of your beauty. I might even have some of your features copied for myself.” Pointing to his rotund body he asked, “Do you think I would look good with those lines?”
Tatya just nodded wide-eyed trying to fight back a laugh while Billy piped up, “Oh yeah, Flo.”
“Shadup, Billy,” Flo snapped without turning his head. “I was talking to this ravishing creature.”
Still wide-eyed Tatya pointed to one of the buff body guards who had followed Flo into the hallway and asked innocently, “Why don’t you ask them? I’m not really qualified.”
“Piff, they say what I tell ‘em to say. My dear, what happened to your hand?” Flo threw up his hands to his cheeks in an overemoted display of horror when he spotted her bloodied bandage.
Brill walked towards her and pulled his weapon out of the holster. “That’s what happens to people who piss me off. Flo… where’s Eddie?”
The bodyguards flinched and uncrossed their arms at the sight of a real pulse weapon but Flo was unmoved. “Ully, have a drink or would you rather ‘hook up?’ Whatever you want, we’ve got it for you.”
Brill was nonplused. “I wanna talk to Eddie.”
With a wave of his hand Flo motioned all into the apartment. “Where are my manners? Please, come in.”
The body guards entered first and posted themselves near the doorway.
Flo grabbed Tatya’s elbow and drew her close. “You are simply beautiful. How did you end up with that old whisper, Ully?”
Brill stopped at the doorway, scanning the interior quickly, refusing to enter with the two men standing guard on the other side.
Brill leaned back. “Flo… where’s Eddy?” He snapped impatiently still holding his pulse weapon.
The fay man waved the body guards away from the door. “Oh, go on, you two. This is Ully Brill, for goodness sakes. He’s an old friend…” The two men retreated slowly to the opposite side of the room.
Now Flo cocked his head and continued. “She’s in there.” He said, motioning towards another doorway, with a flourished limp wristed wave, before he peered at his old partner. “She still talks about you. You broke her heart, you know, going GDF.”
Brill started towards the doorway while Flo intercepted Tatya who fell in step behind him. “Please, stay with me and talk for while. You have such lovely skin.” The corpulant man reached out to stroke her face. Brill turned and nodded his approval. Acknowledging that, Tatya sat down across from Flo on an opulant settee.
Brill parted an expensive silken curtain where he saw a beautiful woman in lingerie propped up at the top of a daybed. She smirked at him as he entered.
“My brother’s right, she’s ravishing.” The pretty woman in the bed flicked off a screen by her her side.
“Hi ya, Eddie. Billy brought you my package?” Brill asked cooly.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean…” she started
“Don’t touch it for a while. I don’t know if it’s even in there, but it could be… very bad. So… uh… if you do get a package stay off it until I can get back to you, okay?”
“Anything for you, Ully,” Eddie was coy. “I haven’t seen you in three years and you don’t even have a kiss for me? Don’t you think I look good?” She was beautiful but long ago Brill had lost a taste for this temptress.
“I don’t know who is the more vain, you or your fruitcake brother.”
“Ouch, Ully. You used to talk so nice to me.” Eddie pouted.
“Yeah, that was before I took the fall for everybody else.”
“Ully, come on, they wanted you. You were the leader… and I was yours. Remember?”
Dispassionately, Brill made his play. “Eddie, I need two badges, I’d like a level 5… but I’ll take a 6, and about 500 credits.”
Eddie’s eyes widened. “Level 5 ’scratch?’ “
“Scratch” was the argot for a badge “built” from scratch and each level of badge had a graduted automatic main computer cross-checking built in so higher level badges were harder to come by.
“Hunting big game, are we? Why do you need two? Are you taking ‘blondie’ with you or that little worm, Billy?”
“Oh yeah, I need you guys to hold Billy for a while. It’s for his own good as much as mine. Just keep him off the commo-grid and watch out for a guy named Smith, some guy with GDF credentials and an access 4 ’scratch.’ He’s very dangerous.”
“Hm… I’ll do it for you.” Eddie pushed out her bottom lip, now. “Ully, come back to the fold.” The woman extended her arms towards him, beckoning. “I’ll make you forget ‘blondie’ and the GDF.”
Brills eyes narrowed at Eddie. “You can’t walk, can you?”
Sometimes an illegal wisp was pieced together from disparate parts or were sometimes programmed with pirated strings that could temporarily interfere with a certain motor functions in some users. The ability to walk was the most common fuction a long time user of a piecemeal wisp might lose. Wisp created in illegal labs were sometimes made from an inferior energy plasma that couldn’t hold the entire imprint of a legitimate wisp and the missing strings of data “burned” some motor function connectors, for extended periods. Commonly a wisp dealer might keep a piece-meal wisp for their own use in order to keep customers coming back for the real thing.
“What a horrible thing to say. I’m just tired, Ully. Come here.” She begged, arms outstretched again.
“Give me what I need and I’ll get you the best there is. Deal?” Brill asked flatly.
“Best what?” She pouted.
“A full Loylon wisp…”
She caught her breath quickly. “Real deal, huh?”
Brill nodded.
“You know, I can’t make a decision without my brother’s approval.”
“Bullshit.” Brill turned to leave.
“Ully, I like your new girl. She’s pretty, and level 6 looks good on you.”
“Get off the dime and you’d look good, too.” He threw over his shoulder.
Eddie simpered, “Fuck you… Ully, you really look good.”
“Fuck you,” turning back Brill replied with a smile. “Give me what I want.”
“Promise me you’ll come back, and I will,” she pressed her bottom lip out.
Shaking his head, Brill held the curtain momentarily, smirked at his former girlfriend, before he strolled back into the front room.
Flo was going on, “… and that’s when Ully brought us our first big score.” He turned to look at his former partner. “A full government wisp and 5, 000 credits. It was fabulous.”
“Eddie wants you to give me two level 5 badges and 500 credits,” Brill interrupted.
Flo stopped dead in his story, trying not betray his surprise. His ID card lit up and he turned away so no one else could see it. Turning back to his guests, Flo continued.
“Well, it seems we’ll have to finish this story another time.” He waved to the body guards. “Hurry up, get him what he wants,” he barked impatiently.
The two men disappeared. Leaning in close he stared at Billy and said, “Billy, be a dear and give ‘em a hand.” Now, his attention turned back to Tatya and his face grew somber. “Take care of him, please. If it wasn’t for him, my sister and I would be street wispers, hustling for a living.”
Shaking her head Tatya replied, “I’ll do what I can. He’s become a bit dangerous of late, but I’ll do my best. Promise.”
Turning to Brill, Flo asked icily, “And, what guarantee do we have that you’ll uphold your end of the bargain?”
Brill returned Flo’s cold stare, “Shut up, Flo.”
The body guards returned minus Billy with a package in hand. Flo waved them over and taking the package from the one guard it turned towards Brill again.
“Are you coming back?” He asked holding the package just out of Brill’s reach.
Brill looked away from the man towards the carpet and back again. “There’s full government wisp in a package at a postal box in sector 11-a. It’s being held under the name Ben Dover. The clerks have been instructed to give it up to whoever asks for it by that name.”
“You were holding out on us.” Flo pouted extending the package to his former partner.
“No, it came from an old score. It’s yours, and tell your sister we’re even.”
Flo nodded once and offered his limp hand to Tatya. “It was enchanting to meet a lovely creature like you, don’t be surprised if I look like your twin next time we meet.”
Fighting back a grin Tatya said, “Or maybe I’ll look like you next time we meet.”
Flo burst into a full laugh at this. “Oh, keep her, Ully.”
With half smile on his lips, Brill replied, “Watch out for that package Billy brought you.” Flo nodded.
Brill and Tatya left with their parcel. The pair walked out into the night and turned a corner. Brill sat down on the front step of an old brownstone.
“We can program our badges here.”
“Jeez, we can’t do that out here in plain sight,” Tatya started her eyes darting around the neighborhood.
“Sure we can,” Brill continued. “This whole area’s a dead zone.”
“What do you mean?”
“When this was my place, I crossed stationary cams all over this district back to other locations. The spotter programs won’t alert to anything here because these cameras are crossed to very quiet locations. A couple of the rooftops around here have call boxes that alert the trace cams to go other locations selected at random, if anything does happen.
“We got a taxi ride here, but any uniformed officers that were dispatched to the morgue, after my little shooting incident, are looking for Billy boy and us in another sector. My old signal scrambler makes this look like quietest street around. I didn’t think they’d keep this place running all this time.”
Tatya shook her head. “Now I see why they wanted you in the GDF. They couldn’t catch you.”
“But, I did get caught. I wanted to move uptown and look like a respectable citizen. Not staying here is how I ended up getting caught.” Brill sighed. He had finished Tatya’s card and told her to hold it up to her eye to let the program run.
“Now tell your card a name and we’re done,” Brill looked pleased with himself. “Without a locator chip you can use any name you want.”
Smiling Tatya asked “How about Tatya Brill?” This brought a grin to his face.
“Say it to the card,” Brill replied. Tatya complied. “These cards should be good for about a week… until the computer does a cross check and then we’ll have to get rid of ‘em.”
The computer systems ran cross checks to keep a data in the system up to date. Eventually the computer would determine that these cards were forgeries and would shut down access to all services.
“So we have a week to find out what’s going on?” Tatya asked.
“More or less.”
“Well where do we start?” Tatya looked directly at Brill.
Holding the card to his eye, “Brill, Ulysses Simpson. We might as well find those college kids that your access 2 wanted me to find.”
“Oh damn. I’d almost forgot,” she pressed her palm to her forehead. “Should we go back to talk to Flo and Eddie?”
“No need. They kept this place running so there’s no reason to think they didn’t keep the rest of my enterprise intact. Come on,” Brill offered Tatya his hand.
“Where to?”
“A place I know.” Together they set out walking
About 30 minutes later the pair arrived at a plain looking stucco building in a run down neighborhood. Punching a code into the keypad at the front door Brill looked both ways before hitting the “enter” button. Nothing happened. Rubbing his chin Brill spoke, “The code’s changed. Not to worry.” Pushing Tatya in front of the camera Brill began pressing the call buttons next to the door. Several angry voices responded, most asking if the person ringing their bell knew how late it was. Brill lowered his head and spoke in conspiratorial tones. “Isn’t she the one you wanted?”
Tatya turned to face Brill and glare at him. He nudged her forward and she turned back to the camera smiling broadly. There was a brief silence followed by the buzz of an electronic door release. Brill pushed her into the doorway. Spinning around she shoved him playfully in return.
“Where are we?”
Putting his finger to lips his he motioned her to a door with a sign that read “Stairway.” Taking the steps two at a time until they reached the forth landing, Brill stopped in front of an access panel door. The door was about three feet tall and Brill reached into his pocket and took out a one credit coin and turned the lock. The door eased open and Brill stooped inside the dark hole. Feeling with his hands in the dark he, at last, whispered “got it,” and pulled Tatya into the dark hole and closed the door. She stood up inside the closet with Brill holding her close to his body.
Tatya whispered sarcastically, “This is romantic.”
Fumbling in the pitch black Brill pushed another panel open and flicked on a light. The hidden room behind the closet was small but well furnished. It was equipped with a bed, several chairs, and a numerous large pillows on the floor. At one end was a makeshift kitchen and a small bathroom.
“I used to own this building, so I had this room built as a safe hiding place. It’s a little dusty but it’ll work until we can figure out what to do next.”
Dragging her finger along the top of a piece of furniture Tatya commented, “This is pretty nice stuff.”
Brill shook his head as he spoke. “I was doing pretty well for myself. Nobody knows about this place. We can stay here as long as we have food. I’ll figure out the new entrance code before we leave.”
They both washed up and Tatya threw herself on the bed as hint of dust swirled into the air.
“This place isn’t to bad for being empty, for how long?”
Brill smiled. “I set it up so a maid ‘bot would come through every three months. I figured anymore than that might arouse suspicion at the service. One extra room every three months wouldn’t even show up on the records.”
“Great, but we don’t have much time ’til these cards show up as scratch.”
“I know.” Drying his hands on a towel Brill sat on the bed next to Tatya. “Tell me about this access 2 that wanted you to meet me.”
“Don’t know his name,” she said as she laced her fingers behind her head. “The DA told me you could take us to Flo and Eddie and maybe the Billy Weed… I guess somewhere in there I was supposed to find out more about that bad brain. ‘Some access 2 ordered this.’ That’s all they told me.”
“Okay, you’ve seen Flo and Eddie, well Flo anyway. Did you see what they wanted you to see?” Brill asked holding her bandaged finger in his hand.
“I don’t know what I was supposed to… see. The DA was going to contact me before we made the visit. They’ve been setting this up for two and a half years.”
“Wait a minute, the DA has been chasing this bad brain for two and half years without any luck? Then, out of the blue I find a guy carrying it? I don’t like coincidence.”
“Well, I… out of the blue? Why were you there tonight? I mean right when that guy de-poled?”
“Damn.” Brill shook his head. “I got a ‘violent disturbance’ call from a spotter program. But that guy wasn’t even outside yet. It took me almost five minutes to get there. The spotter sent the message more than five minutes before that guy hit the steps.”
“Huh?” Tatya was confused.
“A spotter program won’t run indoors.” Privacy issues had arisen many times over the years of spotter programs and only activity in public areas could legally be accessed by the main camera programs.
“So that trace cam might have been…” Her voice trailed off.
Brill nodded and finished for her, “… programmed or running illegally inside or it was… Who has access to the spotter programs?”
“DA only. I know, I work there.”
“Did they try to talk you out of this assignment?”
Tatya rolled her eyes. “They begged me to stay off of this… but because of you.”
“Uh uh.” Brill closed his eyes, took a deep breath and continued. “Whoever set this up, doesn’t want any witnesses, or loose ends, or whatever you want to call it. Someone wanted me to shoot that guy tonight and they didn’t want you involved because they want everybody involved in this to be… dead or completely discredited.”
“But they wanted you to go after that ‘bad brain’ in the first place. They thought that a long-time wisper might be able to handle Zeke.”
“Zeke?”
“That’s what they called it. The ‘bad brain’… Zeke.”
“The guy I shot tonight… was a…” His voice trailing off.
Tatya sat up quickly and pulled her finger out of Brill’s grasp. “Ouch, that hurt.”
Staring into the wall Brill apologized quietly. He suddenly stood up. “One GDF dead and one uniformed officer dead… They won’t hesitate to kill Flo and Eddie! Damn! We’ve got to go back and tell ‘em. I don’t think we can do this over the commo,” he snapped stuffing his badge under his shirt.
“The DA doesn’t know where they are that’s why they wanted you.”
“It’s only a matter of time before Smitty figures out that he got the wrong transport. As soon as he looks up the record he’ll know, and then he’ll trace our friend Billy Buxton to…”
“I thought you said that was a dead zone.”
“It’s good, Tea, but nor perfect. Somebody carrying a level 4 scratch can figure it out.”
Turning towards her he spoke again. “Tea, these are dangerous people I want you to stay here.”
“No chance, Ully.”
“Listen, Tea. Smitty… smiled the whole time he was on site remember?”
“So…”
“Tea, he was ‘hooked up’ that’s why he was so happy. And he was protected from any ‘bad brain.’” Only one wisp at a time could inhabit a human psyche so someone already carrying one wouldn’t be susceptible to a bad brain.
“How can you be certain he was hooked up?”
“What better way to protect yourself from a ‘bad brain?’ He was hooked up, all right. I should’ve seen it in his eyes.”
“He wouldn’t know if the transport or the uniformed officer had the wisp because he couldn’t take on another. That would explain why the strap marks on that guys head. Smitty killed him and then waited for a wisp to retrograde through the straps…”
“How long can a wisp live in a dead human?”
“As long as a current can flow through the body, but a wisp would try to leave the body as soon as the electrical activity stopped. But that poor ‘uniform’ didn’t have it. And Smitty couldn’t flush it out of the transport because it wasn’t the right one.”
“Won’t you please stay here, Tea?” Brill spun towards his lover.
“Nope.”
“God, you’re beautiful when your stubborn.”
“I bet you say that to all the assistant DAs.”
*****
After securing their hiding place Brill showed Tatya how to get back in if anything happened to him or if they were separated.
Arriving at the apartment building of Flo and Eddie, Brill spotted an almost imperceptible line of melted metal where the lock held the door into the jamb.
He ran his fingers along the metal. Looking over his shoulder he scanned the area for any sign of tampering with his misdirected cameras. He saw none.
The door opened at this touch and he examined the lock’s destruction more closely. The tool was a precision burglary tool.
Pointing to the clean cut Brill spoke. “Professional job. Please, wait here.”
The sight of the laser cut metal on the doorway convinced Tatya that it would be in her best interest to wait downstairs.
Nodding her head she moved to a dark corner and turning her back to it slid down the walls until she sat on the floor in a heap. Brill took a deep breath and headed to the stairway. The elevator was partially ajar indicating someone had taken extra pains to destroy the mechanism before leaving the scene.
Pulling out his pulse weapon he entered the unlit stairwell. He stood for a long time in the dark letting his eyes adjust and listening for any sounds. A sound, like a refrain from a song came from the next landing. Slowly moving up the steps Brill came closer to the source of the sound, until he was next to it. Kicking open the door on the landing Brill saw in the light from the hall one of Flo and Eddie’s bodyguards lying in a pool of blood, his head on the lowest step and the rest of his body above. A hole was in his chest and part of his lung lie outside his ribs. The noise Brill heard was the air squeaking through a hole in the bodyguard’s lung.
As breeze from the opened door hit the man’s body it convulsed one time and Brill heard a long slow release of breath from a dead man.
Brill sat down on his heels to gather himself letting the door close. After several deep gulps of air Brill yanked open the hall door again and rushed through.
The apartment occupied by his former partners in crime was turned upside down. A quick scan of the room revealed no signs of life. Brill moved quickly to the other side of the room with his pulse weapon in front of him. A slight movement to his right caught his attention and he wheeled the weapon in that direction with his finger on the trigger. it was a small movement from someone very near death. Flo lifted his hand but not his wrist. Spinning around, Brill made one last scan of the room before he leaped to his old friend’s side.
“Flo, lie still.”
A smile crossed Flo’s lips as he haltingly spoke. “You just missed your friend, Smitty. He took the carrier… I… I told him… we had… a real deal wisp…”
“Easy Flo I’ll get…”
Flo’s hand moved again. “No. I told him… we were going to… pick it up at sector…6f. Gave him… the name and everything”
Brill cradled Flo’s head in his arms now. “Flo I told you it was in Sector 11a.”
“Yeah… we picked… it up.
Flo haltingly raised his finger to point to a corner where a small box mixed in the ruins of the room. There sat Brill’s package he had promised to his former partners. Flo smiled again.
“Ully… he’ll go to every… postal sector in the metro… to find it… he can’t resist… I could see it in his eyes…” A weak smile crossed the wounded man’s face knowing he set up his murderer.
“Kill him, Ully. He killed, Eddie. Made me watch. Kill him, Ully… Promise me.” Brill looked to the package and set his jaw.
“I will, Flo… Flo?” It was too late.
Brill laid him back down on the floor and went to check the other room. There was Eddie two meters from the bed where she had tried to pull herself away from Smitty using just her arms to move across the floor. Anger rose inside Brill. He walked back into the front room and stood in front of the small package in the corner. Falling into a cross-legged sitting position, Brill tore the wrapper off the box and found the device that held the wisp in limbo. The radio had been equipped with a new battery when Brill had stashed it and the wisp could have survived on the charge for several more years. He didn’t have a plan when he stashed it but now it would come in handy.
A wisp thrived on emotion and wispers who were hooked up could have superhuman strength in a fight due to the wisp’s stimulation of a person’s fight or flight center. Whatever emotion was strongest in the human’s mind was the center that got the most stimulation from the wisp. Hard core wispers could control where the wisp was taking up residence in their mind and could direct a wisp to the center they most wanted stimulated. That is what made wispers so dangerous, the wisp cared little what emotional center was producing the energy, the wisp just found it and fed stimuli to that center to create more energy creating a self perpetuating feedback. While Brill was in GDF academy the cadre told a story from the Uzbekistan metro area. A dealer had been making a potent copy of a governmental wisp. A user stole a bad brain and, after being cornered, had killed two uniformed officers, one GDF Detective and was only taken down after three direct hits from a pulse weapon and multiple stingers. The man lived for almost 10 full minutes after the majority of his insides were turned to mush.
Closing his eyes Brill reached inside the back of the radio and placed his finger onto the battery connection. He had been off the dime for three years and he felt good about it. He was going back into the world that had consumed his every waking moment until he met Tatya. There was a moment’s hesitation as he thought about Tatya back in his life. Then his thoughts shifted to his promise to Flo and Brill touched the connectors. His body involuntarily shuddered as the wisp found it’s way into his cerebral cortex. There was always a short period of adjustment but being the old wisper that Brill had been he made the wisp move to the area of the brain that controlled anger. Brill wanted to be ready for Smitty when they came face to face.
Turning to leave Brill caught his reflection in a broken mirror hanging on the wall. Rage made his eyes glow in his mind’s eye. He stepped to the mirror and banged into it with his forehead causing a small trickle of blood to flow as the remnants of glass fell to the carpet. Inside the wisp was in a feeding frenzy after three years of nothing more than a battery to dine on. A wisp could live about a year without any electrical energy and indefinitely on human generated energy. The small line of blood flowing down Brill’s forehead fed his anger. He was approaching the superhuman stage.
Tatya didn’t hear Brill hit the bottom step so when he stepped into the light of the alcove she jumped.
“Ully, are you okay?”
Staring straight ahead he replied. “Yeah, let’s go,” his voice carried no hint of emotion.
“Where?”
“To get Smitty.” Tatya had never hear his voice so determined.
“Where’s Flo an…”
“Dead.” Brill did not look towards the girl he loved so much. He needed to focus to keep his hated aimed at Smitty.
“Are you okay, Ully?”
Slowly Brill’s head turned towards Tatya’s pretty blonde head. “No. We have to go. Now,” was his mechanical response. Tatya was scared when she saw Brill’s head turn slowly back towards the front door.
“Ully…” she started
Without changing his affect her calmed her fears. “You’re safe with me. We gotta find Smitty. I know where he’ll be.”
Standing up Tatya moved forward to stand by Brill’s shoulder while keeping her eyes on his head looking for sign of recognition. He moved through the door and out into the night air. Walking to a cab “Summons” post Brill pressed the button that would hail a computer controlled taxi cab. Within thirty seconds a cab silently slid to a stop at the curb and the door popped open. They both stepped inside and sat down. Brill flashed his phony ID and spoke. “Eleventh Sector Postal Center.”
A computer response came back quickly. “I’m sorry sir that ID cannot be billed at this time. Would you like to speak to a human supervisor or can your companion…”
A kick from the back seat smashed through the on board computer causing sparks to dance around the inside of the cab. Tatya started at Brill’s action.
“Ully, you’re scaring me. Stop it!” Brill pulled out his pulse weapon and took a direct aim at the broadcast unit of the cab and let loose with a blast. Immediately the lights inside the cab went dead.
“Smitty, is one step ahead of us. Please, trust me, Tea. I love you.” His mechanical speech terrified Tatya.
“Why should I? What’s going on, Ully?”
Staring straight ahead he replied slowly with a flat affect. “I’m hooked up and need to focus. I will not harm you for anything.” His head turned in a slow manner towards her. “Please, trust me.”
Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, “Ully, you’ve been clean for so long. I don’t know what to…”
“Trust me… Tea.”
Nodding, she close her eyes to stop the flow of tears. She had worked so hard to keep him off the dime and now she knew he was on a wisp. How could she explain her actions to her supervisor? Her position was on the line, and the man she loved was back on the wisper track. But at this point all options were exhausted she would have to take this ride to the end, for better or worse.
Tatya sniffed and asked, “Okay, how do we get there, now?”
He pushed her out of the disabled cab before he tossed his scratch inside and he walked straight to the call box for the apartment building next door. Pressing all the call buttons quickly Brill yelled into the box, “Give me a ride in a personal transport to the Eleventh Sector Postal Central and I’ll give you 200 credits!” Stepping back they waited several moments until the telltale buzz of the electronic door release sounded. Moving into the alcove they were greeted by a man who stepped out of the first door next to the elevator and eyed them suspiciously.
“Show it to me,” was his greeting.
Brill’s hand moved inside his coat to his holstered weapon and Tatya put her hand on his arm to stop his action.
The man’s eyes narrowed, “Do you want a ride or not?”
Pulling Brill’s arm from under his coat Tatya said, “We really need the ride. Ully, give him the money.”
After a pause, Brill reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of paper, extending it towards the man. Stepping forward the man picked through the bundle and pulled out what he wanted and handed the remainder back to Tatya.
“Two hundred it is.”
Another tenant burst around the corner at that moment and Brill’s hand moved towards his shoulder holster, again. Tatya caught his hand quickly and turned towards the man directly in front of them.
“Go back to your room Woody. It’s just some crazy wisper, I’ll take care of it,” the man said without taking his eyes from the uninvited guests. “I’m out back,” he continued after the tenant had left. Staring at the pair for long time, the man finally turned on his heel and led them to a narrow hallway that led to the back where personal transports sat recharging in their stalls.
The door popped open as the man put his palm on the handle. Mechanically Brill slid inside with Tatya close behind.
“Thank you for…” Tatya started as the man sat down and closed the door.
“Wait,” the man pointed to the partially open door. When the finally closed with a clunk. He raised his badge to his eye and placed his palm on the starter plate. “Sector Eleven Postal Center,” and the vehicle moved into the street. As they picked up speed the man leaned back, dug into his pocket and pulled out the wad of bills. Handing it to Tatya he looked directly at Brill. “You’re Ully Brill.” Brill stared straight ahead into space.
Tatya glanced at Brill and back to the man. “What do you..?”
“I want a piece of whatever you’re into.” Now, it was Tatya who turned a suspicious gaze back at the driver of the transport. “I’ve lived here long enough to know who ‘the great’ Ully Brill is. He set up this whole neighborhood. Flo and Eddie talk about him all the time. They say he went GDF… but if he were straight you two wouldn’t need a ride.” His eyes searched Brill’s. “I’m Sammy, just Sammy, and judging from the glow behind his eyes he’s not really with us.” He turned to face Tatya, “Is he?”
Her bottom lip pushed her mouth into a slight pout as she fought back more tears. “Get us to the Postal Center and we’ll give whatever we can.”
“And what’s your name?”
“Tatya, just Tatya.”
“All right, “just Tatya’, we’ve got a deal.”
October 31, 2008 at 7:57 am |
Interesting Read! Very detailed blog,thanks for sharing