Chapter 27: Grieselda

Grieselda lounged in her cubicle. She rocked on her cushioned chair, took in the pink interior of her workspace, plastered with photo-shopped pictures of her current identity’s fake past back in Natal City.

She’d never even been there. Just another mirror in the optical illusion that was Grieselda Blanchett. All to maintain her cover so she could complete her assignment.

She tilted her down. Her desk littered with documents. Everything they had on the AoF.

But the messed up thing about being undercover, was that you couldn’t neglect your cover job. Even more so within cybercrime because they dealt with the biggest cases.

Special Forces botched the arrest so they had to work even harder to find the slippery Carrasco.

Grieselda glossed over the documents for the umpteenth time.

‘A state transport carrier, BioWear’s lunar labs, the Rhodesia waterworks/secret vault and the city armoury.’

She slumped into her chair, stared at the ceiling in search of insight, anything to connect the dots. But her mind was blank.

She peeked into Shenko’s cubicle beside hers.

“Any luck?” Grieselda asked.

He paused the video playing on his virtual screen. “The flashnukes blinded everything. I’ve reviewed the footage countless times. None of the drones managed to track the agents escape.”

The captain’s office door whizzed open. He strode to their work stations and leaned over their cubicles. His eyes wearier than usual. Testament to the work he was putting in to catch Carrasco.

‘He’s always the most motivated.’

But that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. There was an impatience to the captain, a need to set things straight.

‘Why he ends up frustrated and taking matters into his own hands. His very dirty hands.’

“Any news?” Grieselda asked.

“Hmm, but it ain’t good,” the captain said. “Just got off a link with Special Forces they lost Carrasco’s scent at an old warehouse.”

“What about the other lead?” Grieselda asked.

“Tomorrow. What are you working on?”

“I’m checking some of these older AoF cases trying to find a connection between them, or a pattern. Maybe if we have a clearer idea at what their short term goals are, it might help us find them or anticipate their next move.”

“And what do you think?”

“I don’t know what to think,” she rifled through the paperwork. “Their 1st known heist was the government transport carrier. They stole the carrier and the arsenal of droids it was shipping. I’m guessing they’ll use the small army of droids for another job or attack on the city.”

“Perhaps, they can also use the carrier to disguise themselves as government workers and move around Gau City airspace unhindered”.

She nodded.

‘That’s more in line with the deviousness the AoF employs.’

“Then what about BioWear’s lunar labs?” Grieselda asked. “This makes the least sense. BioWear is a private corporation and from the AoF’s manifesto online their beef is with federation law. Why break into a tech giant like BioWear and for prototype synthetic droid no less.”

“This one I’m not sure,” the captain said.

“You know,” Shenko said. “That stuff about the synthetic droid stuff might be a feint for what they really stole. BioWear hasn’t been too helpful in assisting us with the investigation. As one of the big five corporations they might be conducting secret projects they don’t want us knowing about.”

Grieselda nodded her agreement and said.

“As for the waterworks, it’s pretty obvious they’ll use the field disruptor to breach the glass field around the city. You think that’s how they plan to escape with Carrasco now that we foiled their plans to hide him with a new identity.”

“Maybe,” the captain said. “But the city borders are heavily manned they won’t be able to use the field disruptor easily or at the very least they won’t go unnoticed if they do. Besides I have a feeling the agents and Carrasco are working separately for some reason.”

Grieselda creased her forehead. “You think he betrayed them?”

“I can’t say for sure,” the captain yawned. “At the very least I can tell their moving oddly and I’m sure of this because no one knows the AoF better than me.”

Grieselda rolled her eyes. She reckoned he was right.

‘But the narcissism was uncalled for.’

A flutter of anxiety bubbled through her gut. If she completed the assignment sooner rather than later, would she be robbing the GCPD of their best defence against the agents. After all, no one knew the AoF like the captain.

She regarded him with a wavering will. Perhaps a little flexibility was in order? At least until they obliterated the AoF.

Her doubt only lasted a sliver of moment.

‘Compromising the law is a slippery slope. Tragic as it may seem accountability is required even for good men who are bad cops. Hehe, a good bad cop.’

She threw a palm over her mouth, stifled a chuckle.

‘Rare as the talent for droids controls is he isn’t the only cybermage with the talent.’

There were others who could use the droid controls, perhaps to a lesser scale. But where quality lacks we can use quantity. And the Gau City has plenty of that.

She leaned closer, stared up at him with narrowed eyes and a slightly gaped grin.

‘Once I catch you, I might ask them to let you consult from tomb on difficult cases like they do in the streaming shows. Your mind is too precious to let rot.’

The captain shifted uncomfortably. “You scare me sometimes.”

She blinked profusely. “What do you mean captain?”

“The way you look— Never mind.” He rubbed his fatigued eyes.

“What about the city armoury?” Grieselda asked, quick to move past the awkwardness.

“Unfortunately,” the captain said. “The council isn’t forthcoming with the details of what was taken so we can’t draw much of a theory from that.”

Grieselda pulled her ponytail to the front and braided the tip with familiar precision. “It is most inconvenient.”

“It’s ridiculous,” Shenko snorted. “How are we supposed to work efficiently with missing information?”

‘I concur.’

But the council had its reasons.

Grieselda paused as an emergency com-link buzzed through her brain chip. She glimpsed at the captain, who had the look of one consulting internal hardware so she knew he’d gotten the same alert. She accepted the link without further delay.

“Riot at Robben’s Tomb.” She sprang up. “We have to go.”

“No,” the captain said. “We’ll go. I have another task for you.”

“But—”

“I’ll explain your absence. I want you to look into something else for me.”