Pulling up a screen on the terminal, he turned the screen toward the crowd. “Cole was a graduate of the Chicago annex of the Culinary Institute of America. They put out fifty students in his class, but his best friend didn’t finish the course. So as not to waste the time he had spent in the school, that friend took an apprenticeship in butchery. The knife skills he had learned came in handy in his new profession, as well as his new
hobby.
My guess is the two of them got together, figured out some reason to hate cabbies and took it to the next level.”
Decker, who had been following Terry’s monolog with interest, brought up a quick point. “If this guy is the partner of the one we...that died, and the pair of them were culinary students, how do you explain how that punk got so strong?”
Terry’s grin widened. “We can ask him once we get him in a room. This time with enough men in the room to make sure if he does try anything, we don’t have to beat him down alone.”
Crane asked the next question. “What about Chans’ zombie?”
Terry shrugged. “Maybe an act, maybe some kind of ritual they use to psyche themselves up for their kills. Who knows? Point is, they use some kind of doping to make themselves strong enough to take out the cabbies and whatever else they find, then they get away, maybe take an antidote for this mystery drug, and go on with their lives.”
Crane looked at the mayor, belligerence dripping from his eyes like tears. He knew he had burned a few bridges with his outburst, but he didn’t really give a damn. The mayor was an anachronism, a puppet that the corporations used to give the city the appearance of being run by the people. It wasn’t a new thing, but this version got old really fast. Maybe when this was over, it was time to get out of this racket, but for now, until this was over, he was...necessary. And he had to be there to ride herd on him. Like it or not.
So with as much diplomacy as he could muster, Crane asked, still ignoring the mayor, “If this guy is the other one we’ve been looking for, would it be too much to ask for his name so we can have him picked up?”
“All in good time. First, I need to be sure that His Honor here doesn’t think my contribution is free. Or cheap!”
The mayor did his best to look hurt. “Despite what you may think of me, I want this thing resolved as much if not more than anyone here. You say you know who he is, okay. Give me proof and name your price.”
“Again, all in good time, Mr. Mayor. First, I need a little help from Decker on a related matter, and then, we’ll deal with this clown.”
Now, everyone looked at Terry as though he had completely flipped. Holding up his hands, he said quickly, “Let me assure you, gentlemen, that this is, by definition, imperative. I told you I know what happened. Now, it’s a matter of finding out why. And for that, I need Decker. And let’s say twenty-four hours. Then, I give you the name of the other freak.”
It was easy to see everyone was losing it, but none of them wanted to challenge Terry at that moment. Even Benin didn’t want to push the issue. Decker was also confused, but to him, whatever it took, he wanted this done with. If Terry said he needed him to help him finish this, he was all for it. But the mayor wanted his bet hedged.
“All right, Bridger,” the mayor quipped, “you say it’s a related matter, we don’t have time to argue. You and Decker can go handle that. For the twenty-four hours you said you needed. Anything else?”
“Yeah,” Terry said, with just a hint of smugness in his voice, “my fee. And in this case, I think I can settle on a nice round figure. Let’s say, oh I don’t know. One million dollars."
* * * *
It is said that silence is the absence of sound. That without vibrations pummeling the air around us, the result is a quiet nothing that, in some cases, people enjoy or even seek out in times of stress.
This was beyond that by several orders of magnitude. This was, as far as anyone present could tell, the complete and utter opposite of any noise they had ever heard. A nothing so profound that the room itself seemed smaller from its presence.
Terry had expected this. He had practically been hoping for it. He thought of it as a just dessert for all of them. He waited for them to make the next comment.
He did not have to wait long.
The mayor tried to be the first to speak, but his voice failed him yet again, as his mouth worked more and more feverishly but still nothing managed to escape it. Finally, he croaked rather loudly, “Are you insane?”
Terry’s smile seemed to grow even larger. “Sorry, Mr. Mayor, but I assure you, I am quite sane. And quiet sure about the amount as well. Remember, my friend has been in your system for quite some time. She knows precisely how much your slush fund can handle. Of course, you may not be able to make your annual pilgrimage to the Bahamas this year, but in the interests of your duty to your constituency, it seems a small price to pay, don’t you agree?”
The mayor’s mouth began working again, but seeing the looks he was getting from the others in the room, he decided not to press the issue. He decided, instead, to bide his time. After all, Bridger wouldn’t get a dime without his say so. And to him, this was nothing short of blackmail. There was no way he was going to give this punk anything like a million dollars. From where he sat, even if he did solve this thing, he didn’t really deserve anything. After all, he did kill this guy. Lord only knew how much that would cost the city. If it came down to it, he could always order the police superintendent to arrest him and let him fight his way out in court. Even if he won, by the time he finished, it would discredit him enough that no one would believe anything he said anyway. He was beginning to feel smug again, at least for a minute.
Until he caught sight of Crane staring at him through slitted eyes.
Crane was no fool. Least of all when it came to the mayor and his predilections for slithering around any debt he owed. He was sure this would be another bait and switch on Bridger if the mayor had his way. Normally, he wouldn’t care but this Bridger was doing an apparently good job and quickly. And he also knew that the price he had quoted had more to do with the way he saw this organization than what he had had to do. So he was ready as well.
Sidling up to the mayor, he leaned in close, whispering, “Before you think about how you can cheat him out of whatever it is he wants, remember if this hacker of his is in that deep, they may already have all the things he needs to insure your compliance. Or your sentence. I already know that the fund can take the hit without too much of a problem. The question is, can you?”
The mayor began sputtering again, but he gathered himself quickly, snapping his eyes around to make sure no one was in range of their whispered conversation.
“Whose side are you on, Crane? If I can’t trust you, you can find yourself on the outside of this administration as fast as you came in.”
Crane let his temper flare undisturbed for a moment, just to enjoy the thoughts it brought of what he would like to do to this idiot, but for the moment, he was the mayor and he still needed him. So, he took the easy way out, whispering back.
“Okay, truth or consequences time. You keep forgetting that I take my orders from the same people you do. Or that when they need something, they send the request through me. You and Finch get the make nice for the people, but they want me to take care of the problems. More than a few of them being you and some of your antics. Fact is they want this whole thing gone yesterday, and if this Bridger guy can deliver, they’re all for it! Now, I don’t know exactly what he has on tap with this hacker, but I can tell you that if there is anything in those files that leads back to them and
you
force his hand and make him bring them out in the open, they are not just going to step in waving hello to the crowd. And when it’s over, trust me, so are you. They may like the shadows, but they aren’t afraid to come out of them if they have to. So, if you got any of your normal plans to screw over this guy, ask yourself if it’s worth pissing off the people we work for? Because, if they ask me, it isn’t and you ain’t either.”
The mayor went to open his mouth, thought better of it and spun on his heel, finally saying over his shoulder, “Fine! You deal with this! And when
they
ask where the money went, you be sure and tell them! See how they react to you!”
Crane also turned away, but for a different reason. He didn’t want Mayor Moron to see the satisfied grin on his face as he nodded to Terry. Whatever happened, he would have to explain to his benefactors, but either way it went, he was sure he was backing the best horse in this race.
With the meeting over, Decker slid up to Terry, curious as to what his new part would be in this.
Terry, meanwhile, sat down behind the terminal and began running through screens, motioning Decker to sit while he did.
In reality, the screens were a cover. Charlie had been sending data into Terry’s mind and removing it once it had been processed, at speeds rivaling the speed of light. In doing so, he had not taken the time to process it himself or to make any of the deductions that Terry had. Or to sift those deductions from Terry’s mind directly. As a result, he had had to listen to what Terry had told the mayor and his cronies through more normal methods. Normal for him at least.
The only problem was that as he had listened, Charlie had noted, throughout the telling of his story that Terry was lying. Not overtly but rather by omission. He knew far more than he was saying. Or far less.
As soon as Terry established the ruse with the computer, Charlie began.
“All right, Terry, now, you can tell me what you didn’t tell them. As well as how, to use the vernacular, the hell did you figure this out?”
“You gave me all the data I needed during the transference. I just had to correlate it. It wasn’t really as hard as you might think. The key points were just hidden, that’s all.”
Charlie was impressed.
“And they were?”
Terry smiled to himself.
“The first was the fact that the cuts on the victims were all nearly surgical in their precision. Like I said, that was enough to tell me that I was looking for someone with serious knife skills. Once I learned that the guy we had a picture of was a chef, I knew what field to look for.”
Charlie’s confusion was evident.
“What would make you think that they had to know each other?”
“I didn’t. But someone brought them together. That meant they knew them. They had to, to know what they were capable of and, more importantly, what they had to do to control them.”
Charlie returned to being impressed.
“Interesting. But I fail to see the connection.”
“Only because you don’t know the procedures that go with being a chef. One of them is a rather extensive medical exam. Can’t have a communicable disease and cook for the public. And since they had to have that kind of intimate knowledge of their medical history, it had to be someone that knew what to look for not just in skills but susceptibility to the kind of control they needed to have over them.”
Charlie was beginning to follow Terry’s logic. Still, there were gaps, but they were filling rapidly as Terry continued.
“The next trick was realizing that for whatever reason the person behind this was doing it, it was definitely revenge for something. These guys were the tools, but the motive was missing. Killing like this was for a reason. So that was when I shifted gears and had you feed me the data from the social medias.”
Now, Charlie blanched, verbally at least.
“The Facebook information? What does that have to do with this?”
Terry went on without missing a beat.
“Despite the fact that both of us hate the damn thing, it’s like a diary for the whole planet. Anything that happens winds up on somebody’s page. Thanks to that trick you do with my brain, I was able to prove what I thought was going on and make the connections.”
“Such as?”
“Sorry, Charlie, but for that, you need to wait, because Decker is going to need to hear this as well. You just sit back and let me explain.”
Charlie’s whole being revolted.
“You can’t do that.”
“I have to! Even in here, there isn’t time to do both. Just lay back and play it by ear. Trust me, this is where it gets interesting.”
With that, Terry brought up a screen he had saved for just this purpose and turned to look at Decker. He knew that there would be trouble when he went over this with him, but he had to make him understand. If not, they could still bring in the guy Chans had seen, but that wouldn’t solve the problem. To do that, he had to stop it at the source. The trouble was that the source, according to what he had found, was one of the few good things about this town. And Decker loved this town.
* * * *
Decker appeared to be chomping at the bit. Clearly, he wanted to get on with it. He’d heard what Terry promised, and the time restraints he had put on himself. It seemed a bit optimistic, but he had read the reports of Terry’s other jobs and was suitably impressed. And what he had seen had only added to that respect. He just hoped he hadn’t over done it this time. As soon as the others filed out, he turned to Terry.
“You ready?”
Terry snapped his head up and smiled. “Sure. My question is, are you? I am not gonna lie to you, man, this is probably not gonna be what you want to hear.”
Decker frowned. “What do you mean?”
By way of answer, Terry turned the computer screen around and showed him a picture of a dark-skinned woman somewhere in middle age. “Do you know her?”
Decker’s frown deepened. “Sure, I know her. That’s Dr. Laura Broche. She heads up the New Garden program. Been a big hit all over the city. Helps inner-city youth and the whole nine yards. Hell, a couple of years ago, she got an award from the president. Why?”
Terry took a deep breath. “Because, as near as I can figure, she is the one behind all of this.”
There were a number of reactions that Terry would have felt at home with here. Anger, disbelief, shock. Anything along those lines would have been expected. Instead, he got a roaring laugh that literally shook the room. It went on for several seconds until Decker finally got a hold of himself and calmed down.