Chapter 20

“Access Denied”

‘What?’

‘Access Denied’

‘How the?’ Bert had a confused expression in his face, staring at the red screen that the card reader displayed. Quickly he made a beeline towards HR, thinking his card might need a replacement. ‘Margaret? I thought level 4 access cards were glitch free? Why am I being locked out of the evidence locker?’ He asked after storming the HR offices.

‘Umm yes… we’ve been getting similar complaints with other level 4 card holders as well, Even I.T couldn't figure things out.’ She advised.

Bert gave her a still stare before rolling his eyes at the situation. ‘God fu--’

‘Language!’ Margaret interjects as Bert could only scoff at her as he leaves the premises. As soon as he closed the door behind him he swiftly turned his attention towards the evidence locker, keeping his eyes glued to it as he took the opposite route around the police HQ. The office has an open layout where the main desks sat at the middle with a hallway running around its perimeter. Four entry/exit points were positioned at each of the four compass directions. North led to the Director’s office. South was HR. West is where the evidence locker is and East was towards the pantry. All of these rooms were only divided by glass partitions with the exception of the evidence locker, which is encased behind a concrete wall. Bert felt like he suddenly had the urge to get a coffee from the pantry as he turned on the perculator and waited with his eyes still glued to the door across the room.

A few minutes pass by without any worry, that is, until the perculator finished. He swung his gaze towards the little plastic kettle but he froze mid pivot. His eyes had caught something. He lifts his head discreetly to get a clearer view. The Director had been watching him.

It was only for a split second but he knew that his gaze had been following him for longer. Only breaking contact once their eyes have met. ‘Interesting’ He thought. As he was making his coffee.

A teaspoon and a half of ground coffee and five on the creamer. He was supposed to put in two bags of splenda but there was none by the counter where they usually put it, so he had to settle without any sweeteners, but still it didn’t deter his mind from speculating things.

‘And all I ever wanted was a chance to check out that car.’ He thought to himself as he took a sip from his steaming cup of coffee.

‘Bert! Havin an early coffee break?’ Said a man whom he had noticed as Inspector Pedrosa, one of the veterans in the force alongside him and Lando. ‘Ooh may I?’ He said whilst pointing at the perculator. ‘Sure.’ Bert replied.

‘How long have we known each other?’ The inspector asked.

‘Twenty three years… why?’

‘And you’re still doing detective work?’

‘What? You asking me to be like you? I’d rather die on the field than be a desk monkey. Besides being a super senior high ranking detective has its perks.’ Bert replied as he took his first sip from his coffee mug. Pedrosa on the other hand looked irate for some reason.

‘You know Bert, I was quite impressed you got to tail that car last night.’ The detective changed the subject as he poured a hefty amount of hot water into his big mug. ‘Your driving got significantly better! Is that the result of going undercover amongst street racers?’ He asked seemingly trying to get a reaction from him.

‘Nah… I’ve been a car guy ever since I got my first playstation. Besides I’ve always been a good driver. I just don’t get a chance to stretch my legs every now and then.’ Bert replied.

‘Huh… Is that so?’

‘Yeah sure. Why?’

‘Nothing in particular.’

‘Oh.’

Bert was starting to have an inkling of unease in his nerves as he returned his sights towards the Director, who was now gone from his office. He takes another sip from his coffee to hide his gaze as he scans the area for his whereabouts, and sure enough the Director had just opened the door towards the evidence locker.

‘Hey Bert!’

‘What?’ He replied with an annoyed tone. ‘I’m trying to enjoy my coffee here!’

‘You know I don’t get you and your coffee? What’s so special about it? It’s bitter and it stains my teeth. If this thing didn’t keep me awake I don’t even have to drink this thing.’ Pedrosa rants while giving the coffee in his mug a weird look. Bert meanwhile was having none of the small talk.

‘Oh hey Susan whatsup?’ Bert said, greeting the woman behind Pedrosa as he looked surprised, quickly shifting his gaze to the woman behind him, to which he discovered there was none.

‘Oh very funny Bert…’

‘Bye…’ He said with an accomplished smirk on his face as he went back to his desk, coffee in hand. Right now he had two suspects in his mind but he needed more clues as there was no chance that the room could only be accessed by one person in their department. The only person with a level 5 access card in their nook of the HQ was the Director. The others would be the remaining starred generals around the other offices, who incidentally were all out on duty, managing the camps in ground zero. The only ones left with possible access were the level 4 card holders which stretched from the ranks of Major, Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel ranking. As Bert was Police Colonel himself he found it obscure that he had no access to the evidence locker like he should and found it a fallacy that there is some glitch in the system preventing people in his ranks from doing so. He deduced that it would be impossible for lower ranked officers with level 4 access to be allowed inside if there was a conspiracy happening in house, so he narrowed his list by eliminating anyone ranked Major and Lt. Colonel. Which left him with three people.

Him.

Pedrosa.

And a man named Sandoval.

…

‘You didn’t even bother…’ A booming voice echoed through the hallway as a group of girls gathered in the pantry, eavesdropping on the commotion.

‘Well you did say you’ll lock the gates by the time I got back, so yeah… I didn’t.’

‘You fucking think you’re a genius now? Huh?’

The girls wince as they hear the pained screams of Neil as his sister sounded like she had gotten him by the ears, twisting it out of proportion. All of them were listening religiously as they were silently arguing within themselves if they should step in and prevent Neil’s further beating, but as the raging echoes drew closer through the hallway, they quickly scattered around the room, making it look like they heard nothing. The next thing they all saw was Neil’s pained face getting thrown into the kitchen with his sister following suit.

‘Whoa Wendy aren’t you going a bit too far?’ Said Aster, one of the “senior” girls that works for them.

‘Whaddya mean too far? This dipshit needs to learn to follow curfew! Don’t you know how dangerous it is out there? There’s a raid going on and you’re going out there for some bullshit or whatever. Don’t you care for the people who are waiting for you?’ Wendy, his older sister, shouted.

‘Why? Were you the one waiting?’

‘You dipshit!’ She countered, as she landed her right foot, hard, on his unsuspecting thigh.

Neilsen winced in pain as his sister continued to lecture him. ‘Why would I let my girls wait for a dipshit like you, who doesn’t even have a single sense of decency for anybody! Especially with women!’

Neil was frozen in pain and fear, deep inside he wanted to fight back and hurt his sister, who had been giving him pain ever since they were little, but he knows all too well of her power. Leaving him helpless, as he tries to pull himself up from the floor, his legs almost giving out from the pain, but nonetheless he gets up on his own two feet. As he heads upstairs to shut this horrible part of his world, away and out of sight.

‘Yeah good! Get back to your room and think about the bullshit you’ve done. You bet your ass the next time this happens i'm gonna beat you up again!’ Wendy said as Neil visibly rolled his eyes at his sister, to which she replied with a grunt, as she turned her attention to the other people in the room.

‘What?!’ She asked, her eyes wide open and scary.

‘Umm… we’re just chillin here…’ Said one of the girls.

‘Chilling huh?’ Wendy replies as everyone sees her taking a deep breath.

Everyone braces for the worse.

‘GET YOUR ASSES UP AND WORK!’

…

Bert had been looking at his computer screen for far too long now and his back was starting to ache. He figured he’d get another cup of coffee from the pantry but he saw Pedrosa and his posse hanging about in the area so he figured it was better to stay in his seat, as he stretched his arms far towards the ceiling to get his stiff bones cracking. He was keeping himself busy while waiting for something to arrive. ‘T’was a good thing these reports aren't gonna do themselves’ He thought as he went back on his keyboard to finish his write up.

An hour passed by, and another, and before he knew it it was already five in the afternoon and most of his colleagues were starting to pack up. It was at this time where Bert received the message he was waiting for.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source D

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(here’s the link)

(https://otakulive.net/bio/document/1Sz5YIs4fFzW4-7zlY8MLGKVxILIFcEFEyf7Apdi4qPo)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bert looks around before he copies and pastes the link onto his workstation PC. Carefully disconnecting himself from the server before accessing the data.

‘Hmm… so this is your daughter’s job huh?’ He said as he scrolls through the page.

‘Okay then here goes nothing.’ He sends out a reply to the person he was communicating with and within mere minutes someone comes running into their offices to retrieve their belongings before storming out once again in a desperate sprint.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source D

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Don’t doxx her okay?)

(I just needed 30 mins of peace)

(understood)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘Hey Cisco!’ Bert shouts as he follows the man out towards the elevator lobby. ‘Mind if I use your station for a bit, my PC is getting slow and I need to finish my report tonight--’

‘Go ahead no problem Bert.’ He swiftly replied as sweat was pouring down his face.

‘You okay Cisco? You look… Constipated?’

‘No no… I’m-- I’m fine I just-- I forgot it’s my wife’s birthday today… hah… I gotta go get her something…’ He replied, his leg bouncing around restlessly.

‘Okay then…’ Bert answered as he made his way back into the office and straight towards Cisco’s desk.

‘Chief of Operations Francisco Sandoval… oh how you love your daughter… a little bit too much.’ Bert thought as he stared at a picture of Cisco’s family that was displayed on his desk. He sat down and activated his phone to disable the electronic lock on Cisco’s drawer. Upon opening he spots his level 4 keycard and proceeds towards the door of the evidence locker.

‘If my suspicions are right…’

He looks around to see if anyone has their eyes on him as he swipes the card on the lock.

“Access Granted”

‘Shit...’

The lock glows green and Bert slides himself smoothly inside the premises. The evidence locker inside the Police HQ was bigger and better than most evidence lockers around the country. It is a double floor space, meaning the space that it occupied inside the building is two storeys high and it is filled with different pieces of evidence from past and present cases that have been tackled by the police. It even has its own service elevator that is big enough to lift full vehicles eight storeys up to where their offices are which is how they were able to put the suspect’s Skyline right in the center of the room.

‘See? How bad could this be? I just wanted to see it delivered safely I dunno why they had to shut my access off’ He said to himself. ‘And they did it so obviously like they were playing a joke on me… Godammit.’

Bert knew that the rest of the staff knew of his love for cars as it was how he and Lando were known back then but something also tells him that something was off. Out of all the level 4 users he was the only one on active duty investigating on the field. Being so, he was never really present when evidence was being “checked in” which usually needs a notice of approval from both level 4 and level 5 ranking officers.

‘Come to think of it the only evidence I’ve checked in were the ones from the docks and the car…’ He said as he looked around for anything new that he’d missed.

He spotted a particular row of evidence near the car that was labeled “GZ” As he approached it he saw many broken weapons and gadgets that were used by the criminals along with pieces of debris from the properties that were destroyed in the raids. Upon looking at the boxes he spots one containing familiar parts. The prosthetic hands from the warehouse that they confiscated the night before but for some reason these hands looked slightly different. Slightly “better”.

Then as he dug even deeper he saw a face. Or at least what remains of it.

‘What?’ He curiously asked himself while he examined the robotic mask that he held in his hand as he heard a tweeting sound from one of the bigger shelves near the back of the room. And as he approached it a sudden realization dawned on him while he stared at the half assembled humanoids that were hung on the wall like mannequins in a shop front.

…

…

…

…

… Riiiiiingggg

…. Riiiiiingggg

….. Riiiiiingggg

‘Whaaat?!’

An old man in his fifties irately grunts on his phone. Holding a game controller on one hand as he dust’s off the crumbs of chips from his tufted chesterfield sofa. Lando had come off a tiring day from tagging along Bert’s little adventure and had overslept. He figured he could relax a bit and play some games through the internet stream, but it was slowly looking like work once again as he picked up the call.

‘Bad news, looks like I’m getting burned tomorrow…’

‘Hah… you of all people should’ve seen that from a mile away!’ Lando responds.

‘I know, I know. It looks like I dug in too deep this time… and to make it worse I got you involved innit.’

‘Hah! I’m fine, don’t worry. I kinda anticipated that, I’m pretty sure nobody can track me now…’

‘Famous last words Lando--’

‘No as in… “NOBODY” can track me here. Not even you, not even your phone if they’re tracing the call.’

‘Ohhh…. Spider and the Fly?’

‘Rebel Yell… and oh don’t forget to bring Pandora's box.’

‘Got it…’

Bert turns around and makes his way back to the office, but something along the way gathers his attention. He caught something faintly blinking from inside one of the tail lamps of the car and as he took a look he couldn’t help but laugh.

And laugh he did…

All the way back to his desk…

In a supposedly empty office…

As he flips off every single CCTV inside the area, and he exits the premises as if he was walking away towards a pastel sunset.