Enlightened Ignorance Read online

  “That means they wouldn’t have internal cameras then, either.”

  “Yes. That would be accurate.”

  Erik nodded. “Works for me. Heavy weapons and taking position to repel the cops.” He inclined his head toward the door separating them from the hallway the men had fled down. “This can’t be all Carl. I think he got his hands on mercs.” He took a position by the door and waited for Jia to reach the other side. “Which might mean he’s not here, just Rena.”

  “The alerts will keep him from jumping on any transports,” Jia observed. “He’s not getting away.”

  “Yeah. Let’s move. We can save the girl and then go find him and punch him.” Erik pointed his gun at the door. “Can you still open this door, Emma?”

  “Yes,” she replied. “The diagnostic mode hasn’t disabled the door systems.”

  Erik flipped his TR-7 to single-barrel burst mode. When he got a nod from Jia, he spoke up. “Do it.”

  He spotted a rifle barrel and pulled the trigger before the door fully opened. His bullets ripped into the head of a black-masked mercenary standing a few meters away in the narrow hallway that ran alongside several windows. A man behind him hesitated in shock, and Jia fired two stun bolts into his face. His mask didn’t save him.

  He collapsed to the floor.

  The detectives advanced. Jia secured the man’s hands with binding ties before picking his rifle up and slinging the strap over her shoulder.

  Erik smiled when he saw her slip the gun on. “I should have Miguel add more weapons compartments to the MX 60 if this is how it’s going to be.”

  Jia shrugged. “Sometimes you need a stun pistol, and sometimes you need to jam twenty bullets into someone. Just want to be prepared.”

  Emma’s red arrow floated in his smart lenses. Thanks to Rena’s tracking implant, even without cameras or hacked drones, they wouldn’t have to run all the levels looking for her. Erik doubted anyone had thought she would need the tracking implant to save her from her own manager.

  Erik stepped over the fallen mercenaries and headed toward a nearby intersection. “I really, really hope it’s not another trick. Don’t get me wrong; I want to save Rena, but I want Leonard to squirm if he’s here.” He kicked open a door, his gun tracking across the office. “Clear.” He closed the door, picking up their previous conversation. “And I want to be the one who makes him do that.”

  Erik flattened his back against the wall at the intersection and nodded to Jia. She lifted her stun pistol and nodded back. Erik spun around the corner. Two more mercenaries were waiting, but he head-shot one before he could fire back. The other man fired a burst, which slammed into Erik’s vest, stinging but not doing much more.

  Jia’s stun bolt hit his face at the same time as Erik’s bullet. The man fell backward, spraying blood.

  “I’ll give these guys credit,” Erik grumbled, rubbing his chest. “They’ve got discipline.”

  Jia frowned down at the dead men. “I wish they were smart enough to surrender. I can’t believe anyone would be stupid enough to take payment for a fight against Earth authorities.”

  Erik crept down the hall, watching for sudden movements. “You saw how much Trevor got paid. Leonard’s a rich guy desperate to save his ass, and that includes splashing a lot of credits around. He probably spent half his savings trying to get out of the hole he dug.”

  “This likely comes down to greed.” She kicked open a door. “Clear.”

  “Yeah, so?” Erik did the same to a door on his side of the hall. “Clear, but someone stunk this bathroom up something terrible.”

  “TMI, Erik.” Jia sighed. “Now he’s having to spend all his money because he did something twisted to get it. Something that has to do with Rena.”

  They approached another intersection. Their tracking arrow and navigation line indicated a left turn. A quick sweep around the corner wasn’t greeted by new mercs.

  “I think we’ve got a kidnapping,” Erik suggested. “I mean, from the beginning. Confused records, two mysterious parents who aren’t Rena’s parents. Maybe this sick bastard has people trawling for future stars.”

  “That would explain what Chau was talking about in her diary.”

  The detectives fell silent as heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway. Erik and Jia crouched, waiting for their targets. Erik almost laughed. The bastards might as well have been one of the simulated terrorists from one of his and Jia’s training scenarios. They’d performed a very similar rescue training session a few weeks prior.

  Mind you, that one hadn’t started with them crashing a flitter into the building. Emma needed to up her game. It was also satisfying to know he was reaching the level of tactical synch with Jia that he had with his soldiers.

  Erik took a deep breath and waited. Four men walked around the corner. They wore dark clothing and tactical vests, but they were unarmed, and their hands were up. Unlike the other men, they weren’t wearing masks.

  “Didn’t expect that,” Erik explained.

  The men fell to their knees and put their hands behind their heads.

  “We surrender,” one of them called. “We’re not getting paid enough for this.” The man shook his head.

  Erik and Jia approached the men warily, weapons at the ready.

  “Oh, no one does hard work anymore,” Erik commented. “You guys giving up just like that?”

  “We know you’ve taken or killed several of our guys already, and this wasn’t supposed to be the job. He said it was going to be just escorting him out of the city.” The man grimaced. “The money was great, but we didn’t know what he was planning.”

  “So, are you mercenaries?” Jia asked.

  “I prefer the term ‘freelance military specialist,’” he replied.

  Erik set his TR-7 down a few meters away and walked over to the men. They didn’t resist as Erik slapped on binding ties while Jia kept her stun pistol aimed at the surrendering mercenaries.

  “He’s right around the corner,” the mercenary explained, inclining his head toward the corner. “There’s a small theater. He’s got the girl with him.”

  “Leonard Carl?” Jia asked.

  “Yeah.” The merc shrugged. “He’s a level-eleven asshole on a ten-point scale.”

  “So we noticed. So everyone who meets him notices.”

  “TPST is almost here,” Emma reported.

  Erik shook his head. “If his mercs have given up on him, he’s going to be desperate.” He grabbed his TR-7 and clicked it to four-barrel mode. “This ends now.” He walked to the corner, spinning around it in case it was an ambush.

  Jia was right behind him, covering the opposite side

  The theater’s double doors were open, slid into the wall on either side. A small number of plain gray stadium-style seats surrounded a mostly circular stage.

  Leonard Carl stood in the center of the stage, the pistol in hand pointed at the head of the woman standing next to him—a wide-eyed Rena Winston. His other hand gripped her arm tightly. Her cheeks were slick with tears, and the source of the earlier blood was revealed—a cut in the side of her face, surrounded by a purple-black bruise.

  “This is what I get for not doing a better job of screening ex-employees,” Leonard snarled.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Leonard’s finger twitched near the trigger. His hand trembled. “It’s not my fault. I had this all worked out. Then she had to go and spoil it.”

  “How did Rena spoil it?” Jia demanded.

  “Not Rena. Are you really that slow?” he spat. “Nguyen. It’s all her fault. She couldn’t leave well enough alone. What kind of idiot gets involved in the entertainment industry and doesn’t learn to look the other way when they see something strange? You don’t get to the top without taking shortcuts. Everyone knows that.”

  Erik kept the TR-7 pointed at Leonard’s chest. If the man hadn’t been pointing his gun right at Rena, Erik would have taken the shot. For now, Erik couldn’t be sure he could kill the bastard before he f
ired. A direct headshot might kill Rena instantly. Modern medicine had done everything from make serious injuries a minor consideration to fighting aging, but it couldn’t bring someone back from the dead, no matter how many nanites they shoved into them.

  “Let her go,” Erik growled. “You surrender right now, and maybe you walk out of here. You’ll at least get out of prison someday. You kill that girl, and you won’t live long enough to regret it.”

  Jia kept her finger near her trigger, her eyes blazing with anger. A stun bolt brought the same risks as a bullet.

  Leonard had the perfect shield.

  “I’ve warned TPST of the situation,” Emma’s voice sounded in their earpieces. “They’ve made entry to secure the surviving mercenaries, but they understand the sensitivity of the current standoff. They’re heading toward adjacent rooms and preparing for a wall breach, but they won’t make a move without your go-ahead. The safety of the sweet songbird is maximum priority.”

  Erik didn’t respond. He didn’t want to give Leonard even a hint reinforcements had arrived. TPST wouldn’t let Erik and Jia use their training facility, but they would take his tactical direction.

  It was an acceptable trade-off.

  “How do you think this is going to go down, Mr. Carl?” Jia asked. Her voice was solid, but there was no mistaking her anger. “You obviously killed Chau Nguyen, and now you have a hostage. You think you can escape? You must be on Dragon Tear if you believe that.”

  “I don’t have a hostage,” he screamed, jamming his pistol into Rena’s head hard enough to move it. “I made her. I can dispose of her.”

  Rena whimpered.

  Leonard tightened his grip on the girl. “Nguyen was nothing. A nobody! She was going to endanger everything I’d worked for, and for what? Because of something she couldn’t change. You think you’re making demands, cop? I’m in charge here now!” He gritted his teeth. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to help me get out of here. Get me a flitter, and then I’m going to take a transport somewhere.”

  “This isn’t a colony.” Jia snorted. “You really think you can escape the law on Earth? What, you think you can run to the Moon? Mars? All the way to the HTP?”

  “Sure, I can. I’ve got money, money you don’t even know about. I can find people to help me.” He licked his lips nervously. “But it doesn’t matter what you think because I’ve got this hostage, and if you don’t want me to splatter her brains everywhere, you’ll back off.”

  Rena sniffled, her tears flowing freely. “I never wanted any of this. Please, Leonard, just st—”

  “Shut up,” he screamed, speaking to the side but not taking his eyes off of the cops pointing guns at him. “You speak when I tell you to. That’s all you’ve ever needed to do. Do you get it? You would be nothing if it wasn’t for me. You wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for me, you stupid doll.”

  “You killed Chau. She was my friend,” she whispered in response.

  Leonard pushed the barrel of the gun into her cheek. “She was nothing but an obstacle. You don’t need friends. You don’t exist to have friends. You exist to be my little songbird who makes me money. Understand? That’s all you ever were, and that’s all I’ll ever let you be.”

  Rena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You’re a monster.”

  Leonard laughed, and mania laced the sound. “No, all these years and you still don’t get it? I don’t blame you. In a way, you really can’t. I’m not a monster, Rena. I’m just in show business.”

  “Let her go,” Erik rumbled. He subtly flipped his fire selector to single-barrel, single-shot mode. Burst risked hitting Rena.

  “The TPST officers are now in position on both sides for a breach,” Emma reported.

  Rena took another long, shuddering breath. “I’ve always known you were cruel. I didn’t like it, but I thought I had to put up with it to bring my gift to everyone, to make them happy. It didn’t matter if I was happy, because what’s one person’s happiness compared to everyone’s? But all this time, I was helping a monster grow.” She eyed him. “A murderer.”

  “This is your last warning,” Leonard snapped, hissing his words at her. “Right now, you’re only not dead because you’re the only thing keeping these cops off me, so shut your stupid trap or—"

  “Or what?” Rena let out a hysterical laugh. “You’ll kill me?” She jerked her head back, clearing the barrel, and slammed her elbow into his stomach.

  Leonard grunted and stumbled. Rena leapt forward. Erik gritted his teeth. The girl was heading in his direction. He didn’t have a clear shot.

  A bright bolt blasted out of Jia’s gun and slammed into Leonard’s face. He toppled backward, his arms flailing. His right arm slammed into the stage first, and his gun skidded several meters away.

  Rena landed on her hands and knees and yelped in pain. Erik rushed to her as Jia advanced on the stunned suspect, hatred in her eyes. The bastard deserved more than a stun, but he had confidence his partner would do what she needed and no more. Death was too good for someone like him. He needed to rot in prison and reflect on what he’d done.

  Erik set his rifle to the side and knelt by Rena. “You okay?”

  She pushed herself up, grimacing. “Nothing serious. I think I might have sprained my wrist.”

  He put a hand on her shoulder as he eyed her manager. “You did good. You saved yourself, and you helped us catch Chau’s murderer.”

  Rena nodded weakly, peace returning to her wounded face.

  Jia holstered her weapon and dropped her knee into the stunned suspect’s back. “Leonard Carl, you’re under arrest.”

  Erik adopted the most obnoxious smirk he could muster as he spoke to Leonard in the interrogation room. “You can not talk to us if you want, but if you think some big-shot lawyer’s getting you out of here, you’re delusional. Hiring mercs to fire at cops while kidnapping a famous singer?” He chuckled. “Speaking of singing, all those mercs are doing just that, but not in a way that’s going to get you shared royalties.”

  Jia glared at the man. “I hope you enjoy prison, Leonard. Fortunately, you’ll find the food and accommodations not up to the standards of which you’ve become accustomed.”

  “I should have known.” The suspect let out a dark chuckle, eyes unfocused. She wasn’t sure if he was talking to them or someone inside his head. “That stupid Nguyen.” He shook his head, disbelief on his face. “I offered her so much money to keep her mouth shut. More than I offered that idiot Fairchild, but she told me she didn’t care about the money.” He laughed, looking up. “Can you believe that? She actually tried that line on me. Everyone can be bought.”

  “Apparently not. You killed her because she was going to go the cops about whatever it is you were doing to Rena?”

  “She wanted things to be different. She wanted contract changes for Rena.” Leonard stared into the distance, his mouth slack with disbelief. “I’ll admit it; I got stupid. I panicked. I’m not some gangster thug. I’m a businessman. The few connections I have with criminals are…necessary, but not deep. I thought…”

  He waved a hand. “Forget it.” He squared his shoulders, pride radiating from him as if he’d just won an award. “I thought about stonewalling and waiting for my lawyer, but you’re right. I’m done, but you need to know why I did what I did, and only then will you realize my genius. You’ll realize I’m the ultimate manager. It’s pathetic. I put in years of my life and all my energy into Rena. I took on all the risk to make her. She wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for me, and now that prissy little doll is sitting somewhere thinking she’s better than me.”

  Jia eyed him. “That’s because she is.”

  Erik snorted. “Just because you helped her career doesn’t mean you get to stick a gun in her face and murder people. Get over yourself.”

  Leonard locked eyes with him. “You stupid, asinine cop. You don’t get it. This isn’t just about promotion or the perfect find. I used all my experience, all my talent, to ensure the pe
rfect star singer. I’ve done something no one has ever done in the history of humanity. I did something that’s practically out of a myth.”

  Jia’s eyes widened and she gasped. “No, you didn’t! She’s a changeling?”

  Erik wasn’t sure which was worse. A yaoguai, humanoid or otherwise, was an obvious monster, but a changeling was heavily modified but still human. Upon reflection, it was difficult to think of someone like Rena as being equivalent to the monsters and mutants he had fought in the Scar.

  “That’s right,” Leonard crowed. “Nothing more than a genetically engineered science project. A child designed in a lab.” He jerked a thumb at his chest. “So, I’m her father in a sense. Not that I donated genetic material. I don’t have the talent, and it would have been a waste to start with me.”

  Jia eyed Leonard. “You stole her from her parents? Not the fake ones who died in the accident?”

  Leonard shook his head. “She has no real mother or father. A lot of it was custom from the ground up, all from a single egg. They didn’t even need a father’s contribution.”

  Jia wondered how the man could switch so fast. Now, he was singing about his exploits as if they didn’t break enough laws to put him on the moon without a suit.

  “How about that?” he continued. “I don’t understand all the science, but money bought enough brilliance that I didn’t need to.” Leaning forward, he nodded eagerly. “Don’t you see? I didn’t make a monster. The people who helped me didn’t make a monster. They told me they couldn’t do everything I wanted, but they were willing to do most of it. Willing to take a risk, like I was. We made a perfect girl, a beautiful girl who was easy to control and existed only to please others and sing. A controllable virtual idol made flesh.” He tried to spread his hands, but the binding ties stopped him. “Don’t you see? This isn’t like the horror stories in the dramas or the monsters you fought that I read about. All we did was make the perfect entertainer. Can you really blame me?”