Obsidian Detective Read online

  Erik glanced behind them. “I know that. If it were, I would have taken out the driver as he was getting into his vehicle.”

  Jia pointed to him. “And as for your insistence that your gun is acceptable, you’re going against the spirit of the regulation. It’s clearly not intended to mean a detective should carry around something like your monstrosity.”

  Erik shook his head. “I spent thirty years in the military.” He glanced to his left. “You think you know about regulations? Cop regulations talk about what you can do on the job. Military regulations tell you what to do in your whole life.” He glanced her way. “And let me tell you something, Jia. It took me a long time to learn this lesson, but the only way to do your best in any organization is to sometimes bend the regulations. The spirit of a regulation is always open to interpretation.”

  “I don’t… I can’t…” Jia rubbed some more. “I’m not going to allow you to break regulations while you’re my partner. Let me make that clear.”

  “Oh, a challenge. I like it. You do what you want, and I’ll do what I want. For now, we’re partners, and that means I intend to have your back. And I’ll be blunt with you. I’ve put a lot of time and effort into becoming a cop, even with the Obsidian Detective Act.” Erik let his smile fade. “I’m pretty sure the captain assigned me to you because he wants to get rid of me.”

  “How ironic.” Jia scoffed. “I suppose you must have your reasons for wanting to be a police officer after thirty years in the military.”

  “Oh? Not going to give me a big speech about how bored I’ll be? That was what the captain did. I think he only laid off because he got a call about you and the drunks.”

  “It’s not my place to run you off.” Jia returned to looking out the window. “And besides, I need you. I might as well be honest about it as well. It’s not as if it’s some big secret in the enforcement zone. If we’re going to be working together, we don’t have to like each other, but we should try not to lie to each other.”

  “Fair enough,” Erik offered. “I wasn’t some shadow-dancer chair ranger playing in intel. I was assault infantry. Tip of the spear. We are…were straightforward.”

  Jia grimaced. “You could be a little less assault infantry. I wouldn’t mind.” She shrugged. “Not that I have a choice.”

  Erik nodded. “Because you can’t work cases without a partner.”

  Jia scoffed quietly. “So you do know all about that.”

  “Yeah. The captain mentioned it, but he didn’t go into the details.” Erik grunted. “What happened to your last partner? You choke when you needed to fire? I can work around that, but I need to know what I’m dealing with so I can prepare.”

  Jia jerked her head back around. “Excuse me?” She pointed to herself. “I haven’t lost any partners because they were hurt. For that matter, the department and enforcement zone haven’t lost anyone to anything other than freak accidents in a long time.”

  Erik shrugged. “Just checking. In the parking lot, you were acting like you’d never fired a gun at anyone before. I get the problem. It’s hard to take a person who has grown up in a place where they have known nothing but peace and train them to shoot someone else, but the point isn’t to make it easy. The idea is that they can shoot when and if necessary.”

  “I…” Jia looked around. “I have very good scores at the range.”

  “You just got done talking about honesty.” Erik grunted and glanced her way for a moment. “Have you actually fired your weapon at someone before? I’m not asking if you’ve killed them, just if you’ve ever shot someone, even with that little toy.”

  “No,” Jia murmured. “I haven’t,” she added, her voice louder. “This is the first time in a long time I’ve even had to draw my weapon. I keep trying to tell you, this is Earth. And not just Earth, but Neo SoCal. We don’t have the kind of problems you were used to dealing with as a soldier. That level of violence isn’t necessary.”

  “That’s true,” Erik replied with a smirk. “Usually, the guys I was dealing with just shot at me rather than trying to run me over.” His smirk shifted to a frown. “And you’re a cop. You should always keep in mind that people will kill given enough reason, even if it’s just because they want what the other person has.”

  “On the frontier,” Jia assured him. “Not here. Not Earth.”

  Erik jerked the control yoke, the MX 60 turning sharply.

  “Careful,” Jia admonished. “It’d be very embarrassing for the enforcement zone if one of our detectives got a ticket.”

  “If that’s the worst thing you’re worried about,” Erik chuckled, “we’re doing okay.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Erik narrowed his eyes as Biyu jogged out of the mine entrance, several of the other Knights trailing behind her, their weapons at the ready.

  Wait. Something’s wrong.

  “I don’t know, sir,” she transmitted. “The whole thing seems like a waste of time if you ask me. What are we even doing here looking for some lost auditor? And terrorists? How are terrorists going to end up on Mu Arae?”

  It’s not the same.

  Erik surveyed the area. It was all too familiar, even if he hadn’t been there for a year: the dusty surface of Molino, the huge Quijote looming in the sky. The exoskeleton-wearing soldiers of the 108th surrounded him, no hurry in their movements.

  A loud roar cut through the air.

  “Incoming!” screamed Biyu. She jerked back a moment later, collapsing to the ground, a massive hole in her chest. Explosions knocked several other soldiers down.

  Erik gritted his teeth as his soldiers fell to enemy fire.

  That’s not how it happened. This isn’t real.

  His eyes shot open and he sat up, taking deep breaths, his body bathed in sweat.

  It’s just a damned nightmare.

  Erik threw off his blankets and rolled out of bed. Differences in his memories or dreams didn’t matter. None of that changed the fact that his unit had been wiped out, and forty-nine men and women, good soldiers, had died.

  What am I really here for? He pulled his sheets tight, tucking in the corners, and reached for his top cover. Justice? Revenge? What is the difference, and if there is one, should I care?

  He finished making his bed and stepped into his bathroom. After he waved a hand over the sink, the water started to flow. He splashed some water on his face and looked up, staring at himself in the mirror.

  The de-aging could take away wrinkles, but it didn’t do anything for the scars on his soul. Could that be why his hair remained the same? As a reminder that some things, you shouldn’t forget?

  Erik waved his hand again to stop the water. He’d made it to Earth. On some of his darker days in the last year, he hadn’t been sure he would.

  There were a small number of people who had first-hand knowledge of what had happened on Mu Arae, and it would be easy to make them disappear, especially on a trip between frontier planets.

  But the expected knife in his sleep had never come. Whether that represented arrogance, contempt, or fear on the part of the people responsible for the massacre remained unclear.

  Staring at himself, he considered the implications. Someone had to get those bastards there in the first place, whether it was someone in the UTC government, Xingguan, or someone else entirely. Maybe another corp?

  Erik thought about it for a moment or two longer. Is there a huge advantage to controlling Mu Arae? What am I missing?

  He walked out of the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed, taking several deep breaths. As he sat there, he thought about it rationally.

  This entire plan of his was insane.

  He had flown across the entire UTC, fifty light-years, with the barest scraps passing for clues.

  Some suspicious time-encoded messages had been sent from Neo SoCal to Mu Arae, but that only gave him a location to investigate: a metroplex covering a vast area, filled with over a hundred million people.

  He let out a slight chuckle. A one-in-a-hu
ndred-million chance was far better than one in billions. He didn’t need to scour every system in UTC, or even every country on Earth.

  A tiny hope was better than none.

  Erik lay back on his bed, thinking about Jia’s insistence that Earth was a near-perfect place with only a few small pockets of darkness. He grunted. He hadn’t believed that for a long time, and the year he had spent traveling back from the edge of UTC space had only hardened him.

  Earth isn’t a shining beacon in a universe of darkness. It’s just a nice, juicy-looking fruit that has a rotten, worm-infested core.

  Erik sipped coffee at his new desk in the office he shared with Jia. She was taking care of some errand on the orders of the captain.

  He was content to wait for her return.

  Although he had no problems performing police work, he’d taken the position to get access to police resources to help with his personal investigation.

  It would take him some time to familiarize himself enough with the area and the enforcement zone before he could start pushing some of those resources toward investigating Mu Arae and the messages.

  There was a knock on the door.

  “Yeah, come in,” Erik called.

  The door slid open and a dark-skinned man with a shaved head stepped through. His suit suggested another detective, but Erik could only recognize a few people on sight, given it was the morning of his second day on the job.

  The detective walked over and extended his hand over the desk. “Welcome to the 1-2-2, Detective Blackwell,” the man offered, his voice a rich, deep bass.

  Erik stood and shook the man’s hand. He had a few inches on his visitor. The other detective had a firm shake.

  “Captain Monahan said he was going to introduce me to everyone later,” Erik explained. He took a seat and then nodded toward the open chair in front of his desk. “So I’m clueless about who you are. Sorry.”

  “Halil Mustafa,” the other detective related, sliding himself into the chair before continuing. “I’ve been at the 1-2-2 my entire career. I started out as a patrol officer and made detective five years ago.” He offered Erik a broad grin. “But look at you, coming in here straight up as a detective.”

  Erik shrugged. “Yeah, I did.” He smiled. “Let’s cut the crap. I need to know where I stand because I don’t have time for games. Do you have a problem with how I came in? I don’t care if you do, I just need to know.”

  Halil shook his head, a faint smile lingering on his face. “Nothing like that. I heard you did thirty years in the UTC Army Expeditionary Corps. You obviously got enough bonuses to buy a de-aging treatment, too, so you must have been in the real trouble spots. I’ve got great respect for that, Detective Blackwell.”

  “Call me Erik or Blackwell. No reason to use titles when we’re both detectives.”

  Halil nodded. “All right, Erik. Your choice. As I was saying, it’s one thing if someone comes in here and they’ve got no real experience at life and manages to find a way through. That means they don’t understand the importance of everything around them or the traditions.”

  Erik nodded slowly.

  Something about the smooth tone of the other detective’s voice made Erik suspect this conversation might end in an unpleasant manner, but he couldn’t afford to alienate everyone at the station.

  The captain had been remarkably blasé about his discharge of the TR-7, only warning him to ensure that “no significant collateral damage occurred.” Erik presumed this was because the captain saw him as a way of running off Jia. He still wasn’t certain of the history there.

  “I respect tradition,” Erik replied. “I’ve got my own way of doing things, sure, but I’m here to do a job, first and foremost.”

  Halil scratched his eyebrow. “Yes, the thing is, you fought for the UTC. You were wounded for the UTC. You understand what it is to be a leader in a difficult environment. You’re not some little corporate prince who wormed his way in here to tell everyone how to be a better cop.”

  Erik shrugged. “I’m a guy who spent far too long away from home.”

  “Here’s the thing.” Halil looked over his shoulder toward the door before leaning forward. He lowered his voice. “Your new partner, Lin? She didn’t do what I did. She didn’t put in her time. She pulled something like you did, straight to detective, but it wasn’t because she’s a veteran who fought insurrectionists. She’s only twenty-four, so she’s not that long out of college. She was twenty-three when she joined.” He snorted in disgust.

  “I read about the direct promotion programs for people with certain educational backgrounds.” Erik picked up his cup and took another sip of coffee.

  Halil scowled. “She’s a corp princess, Erik. Both Mommy and Daddy Lin are bigshots. She shouldn’t even be a cop. She should be off doing something like that, but she comes in here and decides to be a detective.”

  “Are you saying she did something wrong to get in? Pull strings? And if she did, do you have proof of that?”

  Halil’s mouth quirked into a tight smile. “All right, all right, I get it. You’ve got your new partner, and you’re feeling defensive. Plus, I also get that she’s nice to look at when she’s cleaned up, and no, I’m not saying she did anything wrong. Not that I can prove, anyway, but come on! You think they didn’t take her background into account when they hired her?”

  Erik nodded. “Of course, they did.”

  Halil snapped his fingers and pointed. “Smart man. That’s all I’m saying, and the problem with her coming in here like that is that she doesn’t understand sacrifice and camaraderie the way a military man like you does, and that makes waves throughout the entire enforcement zone.” He sighed. “I’m not saying she doesn’t genuinely care about being a cop. God knows she has that in spades, but it’s not just about wanting to be something. It’s about understanding.”

  Erik swished the coffee around his mouth, not sure if it was acceptable or not yet. “And what does she not understand?”

  Halil nodded, a satisfied look on his face. “That there’s a time and place for certain types of effort, and that there’s a status quo that needs to be maintained. You’re a military man. You understand staying in your lane.”

  Erik chuckled. “Yeah, I heard that more than a few times during my time in the service. That’s her problem? She doesn’t stay in her lane?”

  “That’s a big part of it. Yeah.” Halil sighed. “You know what we call her?”

  “No idea,” Erik admitted.

  Halil grinned. “The Black Widow.”

  Erik swallowed another sip. Yup, coffee quality was obtuse, no verdict yet. “She said she hasn’t gotten any partners hurt,” he replied.

  “Sure. That’s true. Not physically.” Halil scoffed. “But her last two partners both resigned before putting in their time for a pension, and one was only a few years away. She’s been here a year, and she’s driven off two good cops because she thinks she’s better than all of us and knows how to do our jobs better. She won’t listen to the captain when he tells her to back off cases that aren’t going anywhere. She gets obsessed. She won’t let go.”

  Erik thought for a moment, allowing a note of curiosity to seep into his voice. “Isn’t a little determination good for a cop?”

  Halil leaned back. “Yes, if they have something real to follow, but she thinks every case that comes in is some big grand chance to prove herself.” Halil shook his head. “If she dialed it down, she might be okay.”

  “Maybe she should head down to the Shadow Zone and poke her nose around,” Erik suggested.

  Halil tensed and his eyes narrowed slightly. “The 1-2-2 doesn’t concern itself with the Shadow Zone. The department has a kind of unofficial policy on them.”

  “If they stay in their lane, we’ll stay in ours?” Erik asked.

  “About like that. It’s not something we worry about since Shadow Zone complaints would not come to the 1-2-2. Let other specialized enforcement zones worry about them.”

  Erik chuc
kled. “It doesn’t bother you that some huge spot of trouble,” he pointed down, “is sitting underneath us?”

  “Huge? It’s not like that.” Halil offered a tight grin. “Come on, Erik. I’m sure when you were beating down insurrectionists, sometimes you had to leave a few pockets of troublemakers in place because it wasn’t worth the trouble.”

  “Winning a battle might cost you the war. Is that what you’re saying?”

  “Definitely a smart man,” Halil agreed.

  Erik leaned back, adopting his laziest lopsided smile. “I’m surprised Jia’s not interested in going down there.”

  “It’s one of the few times she’s been smart. Even she seems to understand the Shadow Zone isn’t for us to handle.” Halil shrugged. “And it’s not like anyone’s going to stress it to her. She’s annoying enough.”

  “Because she wants to push on too many cases?” Erik offered.

  “Yes, but those are cases that aren’t our business to solve, if they are even real. Someone sneezes, and Lin thinks there are insurrectionist cells with Zitark tech ready to appear.” Halil pointed to Erik. “She’s been benched doing busywork, but now that she’s got a partner, she’s going to start pushing again. That means she’s going to be screeching in your ear to go waste time investigating her paranoid excuse of the week. You don’t have to get taken down by her. I know the captain’s worried about booting her because of her family connections, but it’s not like he can complain if she quits, am I right?”

  Erik eyed his coffee, thinking. So the question is whether Monahan is trying to get me to quit by sticking me with Jia, or to get Jia to quit by sticking her with me.

  The smart and political play would have been to smile and nod along, perhaps offer some non-committal statement that could be interpreted as agreement. One of the reasons Erik had preferred serving on the frontier was, the level of political crap was much, much lower.

  There was only so much obsequious maneuvering that anyone could accomplish or worry about when they were sitting in a habitation dome light-years away from anything approaching advanced civilization. That experience and reality might have been responsible for what he said next.