Chapter 28
Matt was waiting in the lobby as Jill emerged from the interview room. She had been one of thirty witnesses, so the department called her in to give an account of what she saw. Her eyes were red and puffy. It had been a long day for both of them. The image of the bloody palm chip in Ken’s hand, her palm chip haunted his memory “I’m sorry Matt.” The chief’s not yet spoken words rang in his memory, paying over the words on the board, “I’m sorry Dales”. Her life was in danger, he didn’t know when or how, but he was sure of it.
If he protected her, could he stop it from happening? What if his attentions made her a target? How could he save her if his protection led the killer to her in the first place? A sharp spike of pain shot through his head. It was impossible. How could he know?
If she was going to be one the killer’s victims, then at least he would know where the killer would strike.
Did he just consider using her for bait?
The thought pained him. He hardly knew her, being with her was comforting. Even though she was a stranger, every nuance of her voice and movement of her body felt familiar to him. Whatever the consequences, he would protect her, and to do that, he would have to stay close to her.
“Are you here to walk me home again?” She walked up to him as if he were the only one in the room.
“Least I could do since our lunch ended so tragically.” He said.
“Yeah, not much of a date was it?”
“Was it?” He looked at her with hopeful eyes.
“What?”
“A date.” He said.
“Well I did my best.” A slight, but fatigued smile crossed her face. “Couldn’t you tell?”
“Most dates don’t usually end up in an interview room?”
“Really, seems to be happening to me more and more.” She mused.
“Dates usually end in a kiss, not a police report.”
“This does seem to be getting to be a trend for me.” She said. “But the nights not over yet.” She held out her arm. He took it and they walked out. They walked down the path until they reached the park then Jill started to head for the path she’d taken the night before. Walking the same path every night could make them easy to attack, they should be tougher to predict, He didn’t want to make her an easy target, but how could he explain without letting her know about the killer.
“Can we walk on the main walk tonight?”
“If you like,” she said nervously. “Makes the walk longer though.”
“We can take the nearest train if you like?”
“No, I’m fine. A long walk will help me depressurize. It’s been a… well, the last few days will stick with me for a while.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “No one should have to go through what you have.”
“Hey,” she brushed his cheek. “It’s not like you’re responsible. I’m the one who took you out to lunch. Seems to me, you just keep helping.”
“Still,” her touch sent his senses into overload. His body tingled. “Let’s get you home before the night gets any more eventful.”
“I’m not sure I can take anymore today.” She seemed tired.
As she spoke, a memory popped into Matt’s mind. He’d done this before, or dreamed it. Something was about to happen, something illegal, something that he would have to stop. “Then you are not going to like this very much. We need to get out of sight, now.”
“Why in the world?” She protested as he pulled her into a shadowed area off the path. “There are easier ways to get a girl into the bushes. You might try a compliment.”
“I love the way you can move quickly and quietly, it’s very attractive.”
“You are so very strange.”
“Crouch down.” Matt kneeled, pulling gently on her arm to follow him.
“What’s going on?’
“Something is about to happen. Please be quiet.”
“What?” she sounded upset. “What’s going to happen?”
“Not exactly sure.” He hunched lower. Jill followed his example.
“You’re pulling my leg, aren’t you?” she whispered.
“Quiet, they are almost here.” Matt pointed toward a couple of young men coming across the park out of a poorly lit area.
“What about them?”
“Pay attention.” Matt saw the familiar scene unfold before him. An older man stepped out from between two buildings and met with the other two. There was some hushed conversation and a mobile palm reader appeared in the older man’s hand. The other two ran their hands across the device. “A drug deal.”
The older man confirmed his suspicion when he looked at the reader display and then reached into his pocket to produce two small vials.
“Fantasia?” Jill asked.
“I’d bet on it.” Matt waved his palm over his radio.
“Detective Matthew Dales confirmed.” The radio responded.
“Crime in progress. Tracer locate code six five. Send patrol.”
“Confirmed. Units dispatched.”
“Now what?” Jill asked.
“Now, I make an arrest. And you wait here.” Matt stood up. “I’ll be back.”
Matt walked out of the shadows. He closed to within ten meters before the small group took notice of him. One of the younger men, the one dressed in expensive clothing, yelped when he saw him the security markings. Matt would have been amused by the reaction, except that he saw nothing at all funny about Fantasia. In his mind, everyone who traded in it was no better than killers were themselves. The older man secreted the palm reader with a smooth practiced motion.
“What can we do for you?” The older man said.
“Security,” Matt called out. “Stay where you are!”
The finely dressed man’s face filled with panic, he started to breath heavily. Matt thought for a moment that he was going to be ill.
“Hands on top of your heads.” Matt continued with caution. The older man and the poorer dressed young man put their hands on their heads. The well-dressed young man took the opportunity to panic and run. Not that it would matter. The cities tracking system logged all identity chips in the area the moment he called in. “Really? Your friend is not that smart.” He activated his radio again. “We have a runner.”
“We have him.” The familiar voice of Marcus Taylor, a patrol officer, responded. Two uniformed officers converged on the runner. From a distance, Matt could make out the familiar crack of a tangler discharge. Matt could see the man fall, encased in fibrous glue that solidified quickly incasing the young offender to be safely apprehended. “That’ll damage that nice suit. Anyone else?”
“No,” the young man said. The other man remained silent.
The two patrol officers approached carrying the other man still encased in his artificial cocoon. Matt could hear him blubbering. He called Jill over and gave his report. An inspection of the younger men yielded not only several vials of Fantasia but also syringes to inject the drug. That was enough to arrest the lot. Matt and Jill had to promise to give official depositions in the morning before they were allowed to go.
“How did you know?” Jill asked as he walked her the rest of the way home.
“What do you mean?”
“You knew that was going to happen.” She stopped and looked into his eyes. “Don’t lie to me. Don’t ever lie to me.”
“Call it a hunch.” He said.
“You mean like women’s intuition. My mom tried that on me too. She used to guess things too.”
“I’m not psychic. I don’t believe in psychics.”
“What do you think these hunches are?”
“Barely noticed stimuli processed by my subconscious and sent to my waking mind as a strong feeling. I saw shadows moving from one direction in an abnormal way, as if they were trying not to be noticed as well as hearing the footsteps from the darkness coming the other way. My mind tells me something illegal is about to happen. Everyone does it. I’m just a little better at listening because of my training.”
“Is that what you really think?” she looked directly into his eyes.
“What else could it be?”
“Woman’s intuition.” She laughed.
“I’m sorry.” Matt changed the subject. “This day has been beyond messed up.”
“Well, since I met you, I can say my life hasn’t been boring.”
“Nowadays, I’ll take boring.” Matt looked toward her apartment building. “We are almost there.”
“Thanks for walking me home.” Jill walked toward her building with Matt watching from the walkway. She turned walked back to him and kissed him. “See you in the morning. Pick me up for our deposition.”
“Yes,” Matt told her. “If you like. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.”
“Who knows Detective; maybe it might be more eventful.” She smiled mischievously, planted a firm kiss on his lips and sauntered into her building.
Chapter 29
The lights along the walkway dimmed as the rising of Sirius’ larger sun started to brighten the horizon. The city planners set the lights to go off as the sun’s illumination increased to save energy, but they did not have it timed correctly and the city walkways were dimmer than at any other time of day. The situation usually lasted for about seven or eight minutes. The colonists called it the shade, it was thought of warmly as a twilight time of contemplation, relaxation, a time for the romantically inclined to stroll hand in hand. It was also a great time to ambush an unwary pedestrian from behind a bush.
Matt’s assailant wore dark black clothing; it was an unfamiliar uniform style with no logos, markings or insignia. His head was covered with thin, stocking mask. Matt couldn’t make out enough facial details for identification, not that it would matter, once he made it back to the station, he would run a trace on his palm chip. The shining needle in the man’s hand told him, however, that however this clown was serious. The man had to know that there was no way he’d get away with this, maybe on earth, but not in the dome. The ineptness of the entire situation made Matt want to laugh. The sound stuck in his throat as a second set of black clad arms grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms to his sides.
Suddenly, the man closing on him with a nasty looking syringe seemed much less funny. Adrenaline surged through him, sped along by panic. He had lost control of the situation and he wasn’t happy about it at all. Instinctually, his leg sped forward and kicked the intimidating apparatus from his attacker’s hand. What did they say about riding a bike? He’d been trained in unarmed combat more than a decade ago, yet when he was threatened, he didn’t need to think through his actions? His elbow struck the assailant behind him with enough force to leave him doubled over in pain.
The ambusher to his front dodged, attempting to reach the syringe where it had flown into the grass. Matt leapt at him using both his hands clasp together; he drove them down on the back of the man’s neck as he reached to grab it. The man crumpled under the blow. The other man rushed at him, colliding with enough force to send them both tumbling over the body of the man he just flattened. As the men twisted, rolling on the ground, Matt’s knee came up and caught the man in his private parts. Matt rolled back up to his feet and kicked the now gasping man in the face, sending him flat on his back unconscious.
Panting, sore and still hyped on adrenaline, Matt left his subdued attackers and went to a community terminal a little ways up the path. He swept his palm over the panel and activated the police link. “Detective Matt Dales, Authorize location search, send officers to assist, physical assault. Two assailants, one armed.”
“Confirmed,” a voice returned. “Situation?”
“Assailants neutralized. Require apprehension and investigations teams.” Matt would love to have done the investigation himself, but as he was the victim, there was an obvious conflict of interest and procedures on Sirius were less flexible on the matter.
“Officers dispatched.”
“Confirmed.” He waved his hand over the panel again to deactivate the connection
Matt looked up at the sunbeams as they spread across the top of the dome. It would be a lot easier to make observations vis-à-vis his attackers in the growing light. As he approached the spot where he’d been attacked, he could see the place where the ground was disturbed, but the men were gone. He’d been gone less than a minute. Matt was sure that the two had been unconscious. Had they been acting, or did they perhaps have help? He looked around. Visibility was getting better by the moment; but he couldn’t see any traces of men limping, or being carried away.
Chapter 30
“Trouble seems to be following you around like flies Matt.” Vanderhaar looked over the report.
“Lucky me.”
“Could you tell what they wanted?”
“No,” Matt responded. “I do not think it was random.”
“Stocking faces, black clothing, attacking with what did you say.” he glanced over the paper again. “A syringe as a weapon, even on Sirius it is possible to obtain a knife. No, I do not think it was random. These men, whoever they were, targeted you for a reason.”
“Who did I piss off? I do not recall being overly obnoxious lately. Why a needle?”
“Huh, other than me you mean.”
“Why did they want to inject me with something?”
“Until we know what was in it, we don’t know. We can only speculate.”
“Okay.” Matt said. “What are your thoughts?”
“There are easier ways to kill someone than injecting them with poison, so I don’t think it was an assassination attempt.”
“Could they have been trying to inject me with an illegal drug to discredit me?”
“Who would want to do that?”
“Maybe our mystery blip from the rape case, we never found out who that person was, if they think I was close, well what better way to take me off of the case than to have me wandering around the dome stoned off my head. Or maybe our killer hired some help.”
Vanderhaar looked troubled for a moment then shrugged, “We are still looking into that, don’t worry Matt, we’ll track the culprits down. I think it might have been an abduction attempt.”
“Me? Who would want me? The department doesn’t pay ransoms. It doesn’t have to.”
“I’ve warned you Dales, you make too many lucky guesses. You are very good at keeping your hunches to yourself.” Vanderhaar sighed. “I think someone might have taken notice.”
“You’re talking about the Trust again?”
“Who else?”
“Those guys, they were amateur. I think if such an organization did exist, then their operatives would be better trained.”
“Maybe or maybe they just never had to deal with a police officer with self-defense training.” Vanderhaar offered. “You know how they feel about crime here. I doubt if there are more than a handful of officers on the entire colony who are trained in hand to hand combat. Suspects here know there is no point in trying to escape. There is nowhere to go and the computer tracks them.”
“Well when we get the trace report back on these two guys we can ask them why they tried to jump me.”
“We’ll get on in immediately, until then, I want you at home and resting.”
“I don’t need to rest.”
“You were up all night, and with all the stress you’ve been under… yes, you do.” Vanderhaar stood up.” I’m making this an order. Take the day off. I’ll have Kramer escort you to your apartment. Just in case who ever attacked you has thoughts about trying again.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Matt wanted to talk to Kramer in any case, and he was too tired to argue.