Investigating Deceit Read online

  “You can’t resolve every situation without lethal force.” Erik’s expression darkened. “And the kind of men who take hostages or threaten innocent people have no one to blame but themselves should they end up dead. If we had held back against any of the terrorists or criminals we’ve dealt with in the last few months, a lot more innocent people would be dead. We might be dead.”

  “I know. I know.” Jia sighed and gave a slight shrug. “It’s like you said. I’ve come a long way, and I don’t always think about the implications. And my adrenaline is pumping too much after a real showdown for me to always think about what’s happened.” She waved around the room. “This is good training, but I never completely forget it’s not real, either. If that makes sense.”

  “Perhaps you missed your calling,” Emma interjected. “Maybe instead of a detective, you should be a tactical terror with the TPST.”

  “The same logic applies to that as to me joining the Army to become infantry.” Jia shook her head. “Being able to take down bad guys is all well and good, but it’s not why I joined the force. It’s like I said before. Cleaning up Neo SoCal needs investigation more than gunplay.”

  “So you say,” Emma responded, mockery underlying her tone.

  Erik nodded. “We get more done as detectives anyway.”

  “Exactly,” Jia replied. “And—” She winced. “Darn it.”

  “What’s wrong?” Erik frowned.

  Her eyes shifted to the side as she looked at something on her smart lenses. “A personal alarm. I lost track of time. I’ve got a date with Corbin in less than an hour.”

  Erik snickered. “And how is the down-to-earth businessman doing these days?”

  “He’s doing well enough.” Jia headed toward an exit. “We’re going to the symphony tonight.”

  Eric scratched his razor stubble. “Sounds boring.”

  Jia rolled her eyes. “I like the symphony.” She stopped and spun toward Erik, her eyes narrowed as she pointed at him. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten.”

  “Forgotten what?” Erik grinned. “You can’t force me to like the symphony.”

  “This has nothing to do with the symphony. Not directly, anyway.” Jia stabbed her finger at him. “I’m talking about our bet for December. I have clearly had more dates than you in one month. Not that it was hard, given that any positive number is greater than zero. I don’t even know why you took the bet if you weren’t going to try. My victory isn’t as satisfying that way.”

  “I meant to try.” Erik stopped scratching his cheek and started scratching the back of his head, a blush coloring his face. “I’ve, ah, I’ve been busy.”

  “With your miniature plants?” Jia folded her arms. “Or your girlfriend the car?”

  “I consider myself more an overbearing virtual cousin,” Emma offered. “Or perhaps a nagging ex-wife?”

  Jia snorted. “That’s about right.”

  “Whatever.” Erik shrugged. “You won the bet. We never did set stakes.”

  Jia furrowed her brow in concentration. “An oversight.”

  “How about I pay for drinks at Remembrance and beignets for the next three months?” Erik suggested.

  “I think you’re more into beignets and beer than I am, but in the spirit of being a good partner, I accept.”

  Erik grinned. “Glad you could be reasonable. I didn’t know if you’d try to strangle me, given your new bloodthirst.”

  Chapter Two

  January 6, 2229, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Police Enforcement Zone 122 Station, Briefing Room

  Jia drummed her fingers on the table in front of her. She sat next to Erik, unsure why Captain Ragnar had pulled the bulk of the on-duty members of the 1-2-2 into the briefing room.

  A low, constant rumble, the cacophony of the combined conversations, filled the room as the detectives and uniformed officers awaited their briefing.

  She looked around, thinking about how much things had changed.

  Many of the detectives, such as Halil in the back, no longer spent their time undermining her. The supporters of their old captain dwindled with each passing month or had at least learned to keep their mouths shut, even if a few, such as Jared Thompson, openly harbored grudges.

  There was little they could do as long as Captain Ragnar remained committed to Jia’s and Erik’s views on law enforcement.

  Jared might be annoying and lazy, but he did do a halfway decent job when he was pushed. That was the only reason he hadn’t been bounced from the department already.

  Jia looked forward to a time when the entire department was filled with cops who cared about doing their jobs, and not just men who only cared about maintaining the status quo.

  Erik turned to Jia, his voice low as he leaned toward her. “How was your date?”

  “It was okay.” Jia frowned. “Do you really want to talk about that right now?” She nodded at the captain, who was murmuring quietly as he finished a call. “I don’t think he called us in here so we could talk about arranging a fundraiser. Something’s about to go down.”

  “Something’s always about to go down.” Erik shrugged. “That’s Neo SoCal. It’s what keeps us busy.”

  “You could be less busy, even with the job,” Jia suggested. “Then you could go on dates, too.”

  Erik grinned. “With Corbin?”

  “I don’t think he’s your type.”

  “You got another fangirl?” Erik replied, his grin widening.

  “I’m sorry about that particular mismatch.” Jia looked away, her cheeks burning. “It seems absurd now that I think about it.”

  A tall, skinny detective in an ill-fitting suit wandered in. Detective Luis Martinez. He had transferred into the 1-2-2 in December, and Jia was still getting a feel for him. Thus far, he seemed dedicated enough to the job.

  Luis dropped into an empty seat on the other side of her. “Jia. Erik.” He looked around the room before smiling. “You two didn’t stir something up, did you? Find some gangsters smuggling WMDs or something?”

  “Not yet,” Erik replied, lifting his eyebrows. “But it’s only Tuesday.”

  Luis reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver-wrapped piece of chocolate. “Want one? It’s Venusian. I don’t know what it is they do. Maybe it’s the way they handle the air cycling in the cloud cities or something, but it tastes much better than anything we produce on Earth.”

  Jia and Erik shook their heads.

  “Really?” Luis looked surprised. “Your loss.” He plopped the candy into his mouth and chewed slowly. “Delicious.”

  Captain Ragnar cleared his throat, cutting into the conversations. “All right. Listen up, 1-2-2. Sorry for the abrupt call, but something has come up, and we’re going to need to move fast.” He tapped his PNIU.

  A hologram of a dark warehouse appeared. Given the haze, roads, and tower bases visible in the image, it had to be in the Shadow Zone.

  “CID has been investigating the smuggling of Dragon Tear into NSC for the last three months,” the captain began.

  Surprised murmurs swept through the room.

  Jia narrowed her eyes. The highly addictive and often deadly drug couldn’t be produced on Earth since it required a particular combination of soil chemistry to native gravity for successful production.

  To the best of her knowledge, all attempts at terrestrial cultivation had failed. Some even claimed it was an alien plot. Criminals were desperate to establish facilities on the small numbers of moons or colonies with both the appropriate conditions and a smaller governmental footprint, given the insane premium on the drug.

  “It would have been nice if CID had shared a little more of their investigation with the locals,” the captain continued with a nod at the warehouse, “but I’m sure they have their reasons. Now, though, they need our help, along with a few other EZs, for a raid.”

  “CID doesn’t have enough people?” asked Halil. “If they’ve been watching this place for three months, you’d think they would be better pre
pared.”

  Several other cops nodded their agreement with his question.

  Captain Ragnar’s smile never wavered. “I’ll just note that it’s not only the NSCPD who has had to clean things up last year. They have operational security concerns and are reaching out to select EZs for manpower. The thing is, we don’t have a lot of time. This raid is going down in two hours, and everyone in this room will be participating.”

  “That’s crazy,” Jared complained. “We’re participating in a major raid with barely enough time to gear up and go there. There is challenging, but that is simply dangerous.”

  “It’s a short timeline.” Captain Ragnar nodded his agreement. “I’ll grant you that, but this is a chance to help cripple, if not eliminate, Dragon Tear-smuggling, not only into Neo SoCal, but onto Earth, and I’ve already given my approval.” His eyes traveled around the room. “This isn’t up for debate. I called you in to tell you what you’d be doing tonight.”

  He tapped his PNIU and two additional holograms appeared, an overhead and a wireframe layout of the warehouse.

  Jia heard a few whispered comments as the captain continued. “Our part is easy. We just have to cover the northside entrances. We are to make sure no one escapes. CID and TPST are going to be hitting the main entrances.”

  “Dragon Tear-smuggling is extremely profitable,” Jia observed, her gaze fixed on the overhead layout. “I’m assuming this isn’t just a couple of Uptowners making a little additional money. I’d also assume we might face potentially fierce, well-equipped resistance?”

  “No, this is a major criminal operation, and you’re right. We probably should expect significant resistance. We will, of course, give anyone a chance to surrender, and primary weapons will be stun-based, but every officer is authorized to take a lethal firearm.” Captain Ragnar’s smile finally faded. “LEO protection is our primary concern. I don’t want anyone getting hurt while we take these bastards down. If all goes well, between the CID and other teams, we might not even see any action.”

  Luis swallowed his latest bite of chocolate and groaned. “That’s no fun. We can’t let those other guys have all the glory, am I right?”

  “CID believes an overwhelming show of force might convince the criminals inside to surrender,” Captain Ragnar explained. “To the best of their knowledge, and based on our own local information, there are no direct links between the syndicate running this operation and terrorists, which means they have sufficient reasons to surrender. There’s no glorious ideology to die for today, other than money.”

  Erik shook his head as he spoke up. “No offense, Captain, but this is Dragon Tear-smuggling. They’re all going to be spending a lot of time in an off-world prison. That might be enough to convince them to not cooperate.”

  Captain Ragnar nodded. “We’ll see. For now, we’ll go through the plan, then we’ll arm up. Tonight, one way or another, we’re going to make Neo SoCal a safer place.”

  Erik’s MX 60 hovered about two hundred meters away from the warehouse.

  Erik had adjusted its color to gray and black to better blend with the shadows. That didn’t do anything for the dozens of other police vehicles in the area, but they weren’t using their lights, and a swarm of drones kept an eye on the warehouse.

  Only a few minutes remained until go time.

  Erik patted his tactical vest, his heart offering a steady beat. There was something routine about the whole affair, so it didn’t trouble him.

  His TR-7 was nestled in his lap, and the pockets of his duster overflowed with magazines. Two hours’ notice might not be a lot of planning time, but it was better than the almost monthly surprises involving terrorists or killer robots.

  Jia wore her dual holster with both her stun pistol and her slug thrower.

  In theory, neither detective would have to worry about running out of ammunition as they had in previous encounters, but there was no such thing as being overprepared when your life was on the line. Emma had even rehashed a recent scenario where they’d had to clear a building with only one full magazine.

  They’d run out and had to depend on hand-to-hand for the last few opponents, but her point was well-taken.

  Emma spoke up. “I’ve taken the liberty of examining some of the drone feeds. There are a sizeable number of gun goblins inside, based on the thermals. The warehouse’s systems have enough basic security that attempts to hack them might alert the criminals, so I’ll avoid doing any of that until the raid has begun. As far as I can tell, the CID and rest of the NSCPD are operating under the same assumption.”

  “We’re a minute out,” Erik noted. “Go ahead and take us that way nice and slow.” He cracked his knuckles and picked up his rifle. “When we land, I want to head straight into the fun.”

  The MX 60 headed toward the darkened warehouse. The lack of nearby external lighting, even in the Shadow Zone, was suspicious in and of itself, but if the locals understood it was controlled by organized crime, that was all the reason they needed to avoid it.

  Jia pulled out her stun pistol, turning it sideways to check out the small status lights. “CID trusts the 1-2-2.”

  “Huh?” Erik slapped a fresh mag into the rifle.

  “We’re one of the few EZs they’ve selected, and the only one of the closer EZs involved in the raid.” Jia smiled. “I’d like to think that’s because we’ve proven ourselves.”

  “It’s because we’ve kicked criminal ass,” he offered. “Nothing gets you noticed like success.”

  “All units, we’ve got movement,” announced the incident commander over their PNIUs. “Go, go, go!”

  Emma accelerated. Red and blue holographic lights lit the area.

  Men scurried from nearby alleys in fear, their worn clothes and ragged appearance suggesting they were homeless rather than gangsters. The police vehicles descended on the warehouse, several circling the area, along with the drones. The MX 60 stopped a few meters from their appointed entrance.

  Erik threw open the door and leapt out, pointing his gun. Jia exited at the same time. “Hey!” Emma shouted as Jia vaulted over the hood to catch up with her partner.

  He grinned but chose not to point out that Jia’d copied a move she had previously mocked.

  CID agents and police flowed out of their cars to form an instant army. Large TPST transports opened their back doors, allowing exoskeleton-clad specialists to leap out with loud, resounding clanks as they hit the ground.

  Another officer arrived at the door first and slapped a small black metallic patch on it. They didn’t have time to hack it, so the override patch would have to do unless they wanted to blow the entire thing open.

  The door slid open a second later and the officer charged in, followed by Erik, Jia, and several others.

  Several large cargo flitters were parked in the main bay. Judging by their appearance, they were either disguised or stolen from different companies, including local delivery specialists such as Windward and Lee and Sons.

  CID could follow that up later.

  Dozens of criminals with pistols took up positions behind the vehicles, crates, tables, and even overturned chairs. Additional police and CID agents rushed into the room. The large bay door rose with a rumbling hum, revealing several officers in exoskeletons.

  “This is the police,” bellowed a loud voice from the intercom. “This facility is completely surrounded. Drop your weapons and put your hands up.”

  The criminals loudly spewed profanities in a number of different languages. Neo SoCal was where the best of the world gathered, and after the best came the worst, hoping to make a few dollars of their own. The criminals kept looking around, hoping to see a way out as cops continued to pour into the building. Finally, they dropped their weapons and raised their hands, spouting curse words that impressed Jia with their comprehensive command of the language.

  “Erik,” Emma transmitted. “Someone’s escaped the cordon.”

  Erik spun, catching Jia’s attention, and they started running back ou
t of the building. “Where?” His head swiveled from left to right.

  “Multiple suspects.” Emma transmitted a green directional marker to Erik’s smart lenses. “Alerting 1-2-2 Incident Command.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll catch them.” He sprinted toward the fleeing suspects with Jia following, looking for anyone trying to ambush them.

  The two detectives now led a small force of four other cops. The group rapidly closed on the six fleeing criminals. The suspects broke into two groups and ran in different directions. Erik and Jia followed one group, and the other cops rushed after the second.

  The chase led Erik and Jia away from the darkened warehouse to a narrow street between distressed buildings in need of repair, but at least the occasional light shone to fight the gloom.

  Jia jumped a pool of stagnant water. “Why always the stench?” she griped. “Couldn’t they choose an alley with better airflow?”

  Eric snickered. What he was thinking, she was willing to say out loud. He dodged a shaky-looking pillar of boxes. “Why aren’t they shooting?”

  “Maybe they don’t want to risk additional charges,” Jia called to him. “Or they realize who they’re dealing with?”

  A bright yellow Taxútnta MX-60 hovered down the street. The car’s doors popped open, and the suspects picked up the pace of their desperate charge toward the vehicle.

  “You obviously…share…similar tastes,” Jia remarked, panting as the two of them continued their effort to catch the criminals.

  “Now they’re just pissing me off,” Erik growled. He ejected his magazine, catching it and slipping it into his pocket as he selected a different one, pulled it out, and popped it into his gun. He whipped up the weapon and narrowed his eyes. Using aim assist wouldn’t hurt, given the distance and the lighting.

  Jia glanced at him, having overtaken him while he was switching magazines. “You haven’t fired a shot yet. Why did you reload?”