I head back outside and make my way over to where I stashed my transport. It's a silver Ducati Nuovo Zero. My favourite possession. Insanely fast and completely electric. Bought it brand new two years ago.

Cass has surfing. I have this. Sometimes when I have no cases, or I just want some time to think, I go for a ride. Not to anywhere in particular, but just for the simple enjoyment of doing it. There's some great roads up in the Tetsu mountains, about two hours north of the city. Lots of curves and straights. Perfect place for blowing off steam. I plan on heading there tonight. Nothing better than a late night ride through the mountains. Right now though, I can hear sirens. The units Cassandra sent. I need to get out of here. There's no love lost between me and the Police these days. Sure, I do favours for friends in the department. But there's precious few of them left. Most went the same way as me. Booted out of their respective units for every reason except the real one. Politics. The old Police chief was a good guy. Nagata. He'd served in the military. Shinobi and Ronin. He'd been my CO when I was a Ronin. Not that Ronin units were big on chain of command. That defeated the whole point of them. After the Expansion War, the whole of the Kobiyashi system was in upheaval. We had a whole new system of governance. During the war, the Oceanian Union tried to grab the Kobiyashi system for themselves. They had huge numbers of troops. On our side, the Japanese Self Defence Corps had technology and training. Anyone with half a brain can tell you numbers will always beat technology and training in the end. We needed an edge. The Corporations gave us one. Of course, being the good businessmen they were, they made a deal. In return for their help, they wanted a share of the power. The government agreed. At first, it worked out great. We got an edge over the enemy, won the war and the system stayed ours. Then the Corporations came to collect. With no other choices, the government gave in and the Corporations took control. It was chaos. Rioting, looting, violence. The whole period went down in the history books as "The Restructuring". That's where Nagata came in. He saw the need for unconventional policing during those times. Desperate times call for desperate measures. That was his philosophy. Worked like a dream. All the rioting and turmoil going on, but Atoyama was the safest place on Edo. Stayed that way for a while too. Until Nagata died. Car bomb. It was a bad way to go. Especially for a guy like him. Nobody ever found out who did it. Not officially anyway. Unofficially everyone came to the same conclusion. It wasn't that hard. All you had to do was look at his replacement. Things between the Corporations and the people were stabilising and in swooped Police Chief Otomo. He decided to start cleaning house. No more need for "mavericks" and "loose cannons" he said. Instead it was time for a peaceful and respectable Police force. A lot of good cops lost their jobs. Numbers went down, crime rates went up. Very few of the old guard who kept their jobs stayed on. Cass was one of the ones who did. She'd always been more amenable. Starting my bike, I peel out of the docks as the first cruisers pull in. They flash by as I hit the main road heading back into the city. Red and blue lights blurred by the heavy rain. Leaving them behind, I crank the throttle to its stops and streak off down the highway, weaving through the evening traffic.