LiseEclaire
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Uncharted Waters (Chapter 10)
🕑 Added 2023-01-21 22:29:19 +0000 UTCIt wasn’t the first time someone had come to beat me up. In my line of work, it was inevitable that some of my targets weren’t especially appreciative of my efforts. Sometimes the clients weren’t either. Having people break into my home to give me a piece of their mind was unfortunate, but understandable. When someone tore down my door to get out of my house to beat me up, then I knew this was a lot more than old debts or unhappy customers.
I grabbed half a dozen charms in my pocket and threw them at my home. Within seconds shards of ice appeared in the air, blocking the entrance. In a best-case scenario this was going to gain me five seconds. More importantly, it was going to make the people inside hesitate a bit. If I had ice charms, there was no telling what else I was equipped with.
I was just about to turn around and rush off, when a gunshot sounded, sending hundreds of pellets into my shoulder. If I were naked, such a shot would have hurt, though little more. Since I was in a suit, the force of the shot sent me flying backwards.
Fuck!
It was stupid to assume that a single group of people had been sent after me. The door was just to make a point. My hunters never had any intention of letting me escape.
“Get him!” A large man in a tank top and shorts dashed towards me. Everything from his clothes to his movements suggested he was low level hired help, probably a thug enforcer. Facing him would be difficult, especially since he still was carrying a shotgun.
Several shots sounded behind me—the people in my house were shooting at the ice. If I were human, I’d be worried that a stray bullet could kill me. Now, I prayed that it would hit the thug in front of me instead.
Taking all the charms from my other pocket I threw them at the thug. Inactivated they were nothing but a desperate distraction. Yet, everyone who had grown up on the street had developed a healthy fear of charms.
The man quickly reloaded and shot, blowing the charms out of the air and missing my hair by inches in the process. I took advantage of the fact to extend my hand and cover his face in water.
Unlike what people thought, spirits didn’t have the ability to transform any part of our body into sharp objects. No matter how hard we tried we could never stab someone, but we were experts of choking. The thug’s head was quickly covered in a thick layer of water.
He tried to pull back, dragging me along, but to no avail. I had him. All I had to do was steer him in the direction I wanted to and—
A sharp piercing pain shook me as someone shoved a stun baton into my neck. The force was enough to have it pierce the surface in my being, then discharge.
Despite my will, I released my grip of the thug. My only consolation was the knowledge that a healthy dose of charge had gotten to him too.
“Check for memories!” A new voice said as I was slammed to the ground.
The thug in front was still coughing. One of the other two—an equally wide thug with a ski mask, ripped the top of my shirt open and plunged his hand into my chest.
“Crazy fucker,” he said, searching through my upper torso. “Where’s the memory crystals?”
Pain and questions were the worst combination. Despite having heard and understood what the thugs were asking, I didn’t have the ability to answer, and I wanted to. My mouth moved, but combined with my reflective struggling, it came out as if I were just trying to break three.
“Get him inside!” The thug with the shotgun said, getting back up on his feet.
Thankfully, that put a pause to the pain. And during that pause—as I was dragged into what was left of my home—I had a few moments to think and plan. I knew for a fact that they were searching for something. Their particular skill sets, along with the first-rate gear, and peculiar timing, suggested it was related to Janas.
“Where d’ you keep the crystals?” One of the men shoved me against the wall.
My place had never been in a particularly good state, but right now, they had absolutely trashed the place. Anything of value or importance they already had, including all the info relating to the Midnight Ten massacre I’d managed to gather. My prayer was that they hadn’t destroyed it.
“I’ve no crystals,” I lied. “More complicated that way.”
“Where’s the case?”
Bingo. I was just coming up with excuses to explain the five memory crystals I had pushed down to my ankles. The crystals were something they could do with, but the real reason they were here was information about Janas’ mysterious suitcase.
“Ellcron,” I managed to say. “Ellcron has it.”
The thugs looked at each other. That was apparently the right answer, but not the one they hoped to hear.
“You sure?”
“It wasn’t at Jasan’s place. The cleaner must have taken in before H-Sec arrived.”
Silence followed.
“What’s so important about the case, anyway?”
A boot made its way through my chest, displacing my internal liquid until it reached the floor.
“We’re asking the questions.” The thug pressed the stun baton against my forehead, just enough so a bit of it sunk in. “Move away from this. If you don’t, next time we visit, things won’t be this friendly.”
“Cool. Be sure to send me a postcard.”
The trick about terror is that it was all relative. Back when I was working Duty, such a threat would have made me obey their order to the letter. The massacre had changed that. This entire incident, unpleasant as it was, didn’t even rate among my top ten worst nightmares. The thug must have guessed the same by my expression, for he stepped back.
“Crazy fucker.” He smirked. “Know this. Crazy doesn’t keep you from getting dead. Back off. No more warnings.”
After staring at me for a few more seconds, he left, taking his friends with him. As relief swept through me, I quickly made a new memory crystal. There was a potential chance that someone could identify the thugs from somewhere. It was a long shot, of course. Whoever had hired them could do a lot worse.
The sound of sirens came from outside, coming closer. Before they could reach my house, my wristcomm chimed.
Now you appear, I thought to myself. Forcing myself up, I activated the device.
“Waters!” Nixen shouted. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Nice to hear you too, detective.” I dragged myself to where my door used to be. I could see the flashy light of law enforcement approaching. Clayton was probably too far away, so he sent some of the locals to lend a hand. Impressive response time, considering it usually took half an hour for anyone to get moving in the slums. Knowing Clay, he probably had threatened the local chief in his typical polite fashion.
“What happened?”
“I got a visit. Someone wasn’t happy about my involvement in the investigation.”
“Who?”
“Ellcron would be my guess. Whoever it was, they were very interested in Janas’ missing case. Oh, and tell your RI’s to check the fridge. There’s something interesting for them there.”
“Damn it, Waters! What did I tell you about consulting!?”
“No need to thank me. See you when you get here.” I ended the call.
One of these days this habit of mine was going to get me in trouble. Not now, though. I knew that Nixen would be more interested in what I’d found in the victim’s place.
A few minutes later, the street was filled with cars with blinking lights and sirens. There were so many that I felt every law enforcement officer west of the waterline had come here. The last time I’d seen a gathering such as this was during the docks massacre.
The following events moved rather quickly. I was detained, arrested, released, questioned, brought to the first H-Sec agent to arrive, then questioned again. My story was simple enough to be conveyed in ten seconds, which was why no one believed me. Even Clayton had his doubts once he arrived at the scene—which would no doubt mark the start of my third, be it more polite, questioning. I planned to tell him the same I’d told everyone else, when he grabbed me by the hand and shoved me in his rune carriage.
It wasn’t the untypical harshness with which he’d done it that surprised me, though; rather, it was the person who was already in there.
“Hi, Nep.” Summer said, sitting comfortably in the car. “Looks like you ruined the suit.”
“I’m sure they’ll deduct it from my pay.” Once I actually got any pay. “Why are you here?”
“Because I brought her along.” Clayton said from the front as he slammed the door behind him.
“Just so you know, I’m billing you,” Summer said. She and Clayton had met back when I used to work for him. They never were particularly close. In fact, the only common thing between them was me. “So, what’s the story?”
“A warming for me to back down.” I leaned back as well. “Whoever sent them was searching for something I didn’t have.”
“Something your cleaner-than-clean victim had?” She gave me a confident smile. “And you’re sure you don’t know what that is?”
“Summer…” I sighed. “Whatever it is, it’s gone. H-Sec searched the apartment. I searched the apartment. It was there until it was gone.”
“You’re half right. I checked one of the charms you gave me.”
“You gave her a charm from the crime scene?” Clayton asked, the pitch of his voice rising to the universally accepted level of disapproval.
“Clearly it wasn’t missed. What did you find?” I turned to summer.
“Where’s my chips? Cost me a lot to find the info,” she said with a wide smile. “Ten large should cover it.”
“Could you assist, detective? I would, but as you know, I still haven’t—”
“Yeah, yeah.” The man sighed. “Coins?”
“Preferable, though transfer also works.” A QR code formed at the bottom of her palm. “Here’s good.”
Clayton pressed his watch against the code. There were a series of chimes, after which he moved it away. “Ten thousand mundis.” He tapped in the amount. “Sent.”
Summer waited for a few moments for one of her left earring to chime, then continued.
“Ellcron was making the charms. More specifically, your victim.”
“Come on.”
“I didn’t believe it myself. A few acquaintances of mine analyzed the materials. They were pretty high end. Refined to industrial purity. And that’s not all. The charm patterns were imprinted on them straight on. Oh, and before I forget, the method of imprinting was patented by Ellcron a decade ago. One of their less-well known patents.” She turned to Clayton. “I have an acquaintance at the patent office.”
“Ellcron printing their own illegal charms.” Clayton shook his head. “That’s a new one.”
“Not necessarily.” Things were starting to make sense. “There’s been talk that uppers would be removed from the restriction list for years. And even if they aren’t, Ellcron could use them internally to keep their employees happy. Part of the employee entertainment package.”
“You think Janas was the guinea pig testing them?” he asked.
“It’s not a task that requires any skills. That explains why his son thought he’d lost his skills, and also why he constantly used so much.”
“Makes sense. Who would kill him, though? Or do you think he offed himself? Seeing everything around him go to shit—displeased wife, distant daughter, and a deviant son who wants Janas to accept his relationship with an uncharted. After years of using Ellcron’s illegal chars, he had no more and decided to end it all in front of his entire family?”
“Not impossible.”
I’d seen people do stranger things. There was no telling what went through the minds of the rich. It would be in his style or orchestrate everything. Although, who made the killer charms? It definitely wasn’t Ellcron, and if Janas had hired someone, H-Sec would be all over them by now.
“Guys, you’re missing the point,” Summer said. “The charm Nep gave me was freshly made. I’m talking hours, not days.”
“You think he got it on the way home?” Clayton asked.
“No, Clay.” Now it was my turn to sigh. “She’s saying that Janas made the charms himself. That’s the big secret that everyone’s been keeping. The device everyone’s after is a charm press made by Ellcron, no doubt.”
“He made charms in his own home? Holy crap.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if his wife knew, or at the very least suspected. Maybe the son, though I doubt it. If he’d known, he’d probably have tried to trash the device. He only saw it as a case.”
“Just when I thought that family couldn’t get more fucked up.”
“Maybe Ellcron made them that way. However, that’s not our biggest problem.”
“Yeah, without the actual device, we couldn’t prove a thing. And no judge will allow us to go through Ellcron’s tech schematics on circumstantial evidence.”
“An even bigger problem. If Janas had the ability to make charms in his home, who’s to say that he didn’t try to sell some? That could have ruffled some feathers among the established players, not to mention that Ellcron wouldn’t have been happy about it.”
