Chapter Twenty Nine Sy

Sy is looking at his phone again for probably the hundredth time today. He hasn’t received any updates since Cris and Gerald were sported at the airport. He can’t imagine how they haven’t been seen even once since. It’s not a good sign at all. If they can disappear like this, they can probably pop up out of nowhere just as easily too.

Normally it’d take a lot more to get him worked up like this, but he really hates these kinds of things. Cris and Gerald have made it personal, and vindictive this time. He’s also annoyed at how casually Vaun is taking the whole ordeal. Maybe it’s because he’s already gotten to do his part. He stands behind his desk, with his back against the glass outside wall, and glares at him.

“I want these pieces of shit just… gone.”

Vaun leans forward and snuffs out what’s left of his cigar in the ashtray. “And why haven’t these rats of yours done their damn job? How much did you pay them? Shit, give me that much and I’ll go and do it right fukin now.”

It’s a tempting offer. He turns around to look outside, across the city, and folds his arms across his chest. “No, it’s not that simple. We’ve got these new investigators to deal with now too. They didn’t all of a simply show up at random the day after those assholes turned themselves in. They’ve already tattled on us.”

“You think? But they’d be outing themselves too, if they did.”

“Not if they were little fuckin liars. You see, we can’t cry to Quincy about the cops showing up one day, then go out and stir up shit the next, can we. We have to be…”

Vaun looks up at him and lets out a deep breath. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Damnit, I hate this shit.”

The “thwap” sound of a silenced pistol shot comes from Sy’s phone, letting him know he’s received a message. He snatches it up off the desk and unlocks it as fast as he can.

He had suspected as much, but couldn’t fathom the precinct would do something so stupid. “Well, so much for that.”

“What?”

“They’re cops again?”

Vaun almost gets out of his seat. “What! Now we’ve got four of em! The rats won’t do a damn thing now!”

He rakes his hands through his blonde hair. “They’re like cancer! We’ve gotta do this quick now. If they build up any more of a track record of fucking with us, the motive on our end will get real thick. We need to take them out before they get dug in.”

Vaun sits back quietly for a bit, considering their options. He has an idea, but he knows Sy isn’t going to like it. “We need someone smart, who doesn’t even, like officially exist, who won’t blink when blood is splashed on their face. Someone that can’t be linked to us, or flipped, no matter what.”

“Who, Marek? He wouldn’t have a chance.”

Vaun raises an eyebrow as if Sy were stupid. “No.”

“Alexis? She just got back tho. That’s not exactly fair.”

He was trying to be a little sarcastic, as if it were obvious. “No you dumbshit. Aaron! Hell, throw in Arma too.”

Sy’s eyebrows damn near try to crawl all the way over the top of his head. “Not a chance in hell! No no no. Uh uh. He’s already wanted for the most epic murder spree in Welan city’s history. No way in hell is he gonna to smoke a couple of cops and then pull the non-human card to get out of it. The entire country would come down on us.”

Aaron was really Vaun’s best hope for success. He’s so damn fast and efficient. It would’ve been nice to be able to send someone that doesn’t have a life on the line to do it. Even if he got killed, they could just remake him. “What if we put a different face on him? Or maybe put him in a completely different frame?”

Sy’s eyes shift about, considering it for a second. “Good try, but I don’t know. I don’t like the idea of their physiology possibly being captured. I don’t want the visibility on us. Not like that.”

Vaun plops his hands down on the armrests of his cush black leather chair. “Well, then fine. Marek probly is our best option. He may not be as up on his combat training as the others, but that’s not exactly what we need him for anyway. We’re kind of trying to avoid a firefight this time right? He has the rats working for us, and they want this as bad as we do, cops or not. These investigators killed a lot of them.”

He thinks for a second. Putting his hand on his chin. Do the rats know he and Alexis work for us?” I mean, we did kidnap them all in the dark of the night, and out of town.”

He feels a little bad for considering putting Alexis on such a dangerous job again, and so soon. In reality, she’s still pretty green. It’ll probably look like he’s trying to kill her and Marek off by giving them back to back shit jobs. He’ll make sure the reward reflects their efforts.

“Maybe we should just use Alexis and Marek. I don’t know. They can work with the rats we already paid.”

Vaun isn’t too excited about it. He stiffly gets up out of his seat and turns to head back downstairs, giving Sy a fair warning on his way out. “Fine, but stop and listen to what it sounds like for a second. You’re working with the rats to get a real important job done. Nothing is going to go the way it’s supposed to. Just sayin.”

He drops his hands down to his sides, as if they’r back to square one all over again. “I know, but I’m pretty sure we don’t have the time to make a new body for Aaron, let alone one that can go nuclear if he gets caught. It’d make us look like a terrorist organization either way.”

Vaun pauses at the door. “Yeah, I suppose. Shit.”

A few minutes after Vaun has left, his phone starts to ring. It’s a number he’s never seen before. He really hates it when he gets calls from people who shouldn’t have his number. He almost refuses to answer, but does it anyway. It could be something about the watchlist.

“Hello? Who is this?”

Cris is standing at the window of the small studio apartment he set up for Gerald and himself. He looks out across the street at the massive old war mechs in front of the precinct. To the public, the hundred foot tall yellow behemoths are supposed to be nothing more than defunct statues, but he knows the truth. He hopes they still work like they’re supposed to.

After pausing to add a little suspense, he answers. “A dead man.”

Sy pauses, wondering if he missed something. “Wait... what? You’re dead, like you’re supposed to be a ghost or something?”

“NO, you’re a dead man!”

He sighs in complete disappointment. “This is stupid. Have a nice day.” He drops the phone down to his side and rubs his eyes with the other.

From the phone, a frantic voice continues to carry on. “Sy! I am going to kill you. I’m going to kill you, Vaun, and all of your shitty little friends!”

He roll his eyes, imagining what greasy little shithole of a place the call could be coming from. Suddenly, he opens his eyes, having recognized the voice. “Wait a minute. Is that you Cris?” He puts the phone back up to his ear. “Oh my god, Cris! Good to hear you buddy. I was afraid you might’ve gone down with that ship with all those other losers. Vaun said he didn’t see you guys while he was killing everyone, but then a few people did burn alive down below deck.”

“Fuck you, you little bastard! Your ass is going down in a big way this time!”

“Ha, the only way that’s gonna happen is if it’s over your grave, after eating Mexican food.”

“Don’t worry about being too afraid to come out of your little hole in the ground this time. We’ll be coming for you.”

“Give me a break. I knew you were on your way back before you even landed yesterday. Don’t worry, I already went ahead and set some things up for you. Hey, you remember that long range rifle I used to keep next to my desk? The one with that expensive aperture radar scope on it, that shoots tungsten darts.”

“I could give a shit.”

Sy walks over to his rifle and hunches down to crank the bolt back on it. He has no idea where Cris could be right now, but Cris probably has no idea where he really is either. He makes sure Cris can hear him gently chambering a round into the breach over the phone. “You give a shit now dumbass?” He starts laughing when he hears Cris toss the phone across the room and leap to the floor for his life. “Ah ha ha! You’re such a phony Cris!”

After it sounds like the phone gets smashed by something a couple times, the call drops. He’s about in tears with laughter and can’t believe Cris fell for such a basic prank.

Cris hadn’t considered Sy would’ve had eyes on him and Gerald already. It takes him a few minutes to work up the courage to get up off the floor and go back into the main room to retrieve his other phone. There’s still a chance Sy is actually out there, but he figures he would’ve already taken at least one the shot if he were. That scope is supposed to be able to detect motion through walls. He considers Sy sure as hell wouldn’t have given him any warning like that, if he really was out there. It’s not his style.

Still, he needs to warn Gerald that the two of them are already being watched. They need to get Sy’s goons in the facial recognition system, and speed up their schedule. They might not have time to cozy back into their jobs first anymore. Getting ahold of the command controllers for those mechs will have to go a little more brashly than they had planned. The idea was to shed some attention off themselves before making any moves.

Now that he’s feeling a little too on-edge to stay in the apartment alone, he heads downstairs and crosses the street to the precinct. He keeps his rifle slung in front of him and his hands casually on it, just in case, even when ascending the steps up to the main hall. No one but the sentry robots give him a second look. It’s more than normal for an investigator to constantly be on guard like this. He watches all of the armed robot’s heads swivel as their blue eyes follow him like prey. The tracking beacon in his armor is the only thing keeping them from cutting him down on the spot. Not many would ever dare approaching the precinct armed like he is.

Once inside, Gerald meets him down on the main floor, and accompanies him back upstairs to their old office. The other investigators have already booted whomever moved in there out, and set up their old stuff from storage. It’s almost the same as when they left so abruptly. With the door shut, the two of them discuss just how far they’re willing to take things. They kind of like having their badges and old lives back, but it was never the plan. They still have tons of money and don’t even need the work. The real reason they’re there, is for access to the precinct.

Management was going to abandon them, like they were nothing, and they don’t owe anyone there a damn thing. For all they care anymore, Welan City can go right to hell along with SSS. And that’s exactly where they’re going to send it.