“Are you sure this is the place?” I asked.

“It’s the place,” Eclain said.

“What room?”

“313.”

“Are you sure? I asked again.

“Yes…I’m sure.” Eclain laughed.

“Heh…thanks.”

“Don’t mention it Cypher. You saved my little girl.”

“Heh, I didn’t save her Eclain, that was all Dr Hanstir Planson.”

“How did you get his number?”

“It seems the Commissioner took that case away from you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You remember that Artificial Death case you were in charge of?”

“Wha-“ He said, then it hit him. “Ahh yes. I remember, the one with the CEO cloning his employee using someone else DNA.”

“Right…DNA Sequence Coders"

"Dr Hanstir Planson was the doctor that found the DNA Sequence Coders. He identified one of the DNA Sequence Code as a recently registered one.”

“Right…”

“I figured he’d know someone that could retrieve your wife’s DNA from the DNA Repository. I don’t believe for one minute that upon death, our DNA is deleted from the Repository.

“Why’s that?”

“I just don’t believe Eclain, look around, our world is shit. It’s best to keep anything that’ll keep us alive long enough”

“I see your point.”

“Yeah…”

“Godspeed Cypher.”

“Godspeed.”

“…oh…and give my regards.”

The line went dead and I took my gaze from the puddle of water beneath my foot, looking up at the run-down Motel that stood before me.

Light from the lamp post beamed across the street, providing some luminescence. I stood next to a stall, heating as the oil sizzled, whilst the owner tossed batter into the Wok as he made fish cakes.

I’d been standing here for fifteen minutes, whiffing the sweet aroma of the salt fish, onion and various spices flooded to my nose as the stall’s owner served bread and twos to each person who stopped to grab a bite.

The rain pattered against the street, providing a cool ambience, one that I planned to nullify tonight. I kept my gaze held on the four-story motel, that sat across the street. It looked like it had seen better days, eighty years ago. It had a few broken windows and no windows at all.

On the ground floor, rusted sinks and fridges were littered across the front yard like trash. It made me think that this was a crack den more than anything, but it still had traces of people.

At the side of the building, a few tires were propped up against the wall, catching water no doubt…to attract mosquitoes.

Once I felt satisfied, I rolled my neck and made it across the street.

The front yard was filthier than I expected. Rotted food in styrofoam crates, lay all around me, strangling me with the faecal scent.

I ran up the staircase, trying my best to free my nose from the faecal prison, only for a cat to dart past me startling me for a moment.

The staircase to the second floor was on the other side of the building. I rounded a few corners, which both went left, and went down to the bottom floor, and made a right, climbing two flights of stairs that led me to the second floor.

A group of men, stood in the middle of the pathway, waving their pistols as they talk. “I’m telling you, this city is going to shit!”

“Shitload a’ credits!” Another shouted.

The three men hawked a laugh. I slumped my shoulders and walked with a limp, making myself seem timid, hoping to not draw in their attention. I scotched around them and felt a shove in my back. “Watch it you piece of shit, don’t you know where you are!?” He growled.

The grumble of a moan I spat, was as close as a drunken stupor I could muster. My concern here was that my pistol didn’t drop from its holster, as I fell on my right side. “Sorry…”I groaned, “just had a shitty day….I didn’t mean to offend.”

“Well if you didn’t mean to offend, move or leave with a bullet to the head.” He said, waving his pistol. I dipped my head down, scrambling across the corridor and running up the stairs, taking me to the third floor.

“313…” I said, finding the door at the end of the corridor. I placed my hand on the door, slid my hand on the doorknob, and picked the lock in less than two seconds. Gotta love the old way I mused.

The room was better than I thought. It was clean, precise and well-coordinated. At the centre of the room was the dining table, with the kitchen on the far right. The sitting area was on the left, whilst there was a door, leading to the back. I assumed it was the bedroom, but that was no place I planned to visit.

I turned to my right, following the light of the room through my night vision and sat in the chair furthest from the door. “Nice place,” I whispered, before peeping through the hole between the curtain and window.

A shadow walked past, and the jingling sound of keys twinkled through the air. The doorknob turned, and my heart thumped in my chest. I guess this is my new room. I mused.

Gonzada walked through the door, scraggly beard, bloodshot eyes and the scent of alcohol and nicotine wafting from under his breath.

The bastard had seen better days.

He took two steps, before turning towards me. I guess someone of his calibre could sense me, it’s not like I’d been hiding anyway.

The moment Gonzada’s eyes caught my attention. I squeezed the trigger of my pistol, firing into his knee, hearing him shriek from the pain. “FUCK!” He growled.

Good.

I got up, walked towards him, then knelt. “Hello, Gonzada, funny meeting you here. In my new place.” I said calmly.

The pain written on his face wasn’t enough for me. He didn’t say anything, but he then tried changing his expression to of nothingness.

I shot him in the other leg.

“Your face speaks for you. Your piece of shit. I have to admit. I never thought you and Akatani were working together. When did it happen? Was it during the Vending machine case we worked? In fact. It doesn’t matter when. You made that fool believe it was me that sent his kids in juvie, painting a target on my back. You thought that was smart. It was in hindsight, but look where it got you…look where it got my family.”

Gonzada didn’t say anything he just knelt there ‘unbroken’ accepting his fate for what it was. No…he’s acting I thought, noticing his hands’ clench as they shook.

I rose from kneeling, heading back to my chair, then I spun around. “Eclain sends his regards,” I said, emptying my clip into his chest, eyes and head, watching him falter to the ground with a thud.

The look of bewilderment painted on his face like a painting come alive. This bastard betrayed me and still found a way to piss me off even more with his mangled face. I walked up to the body and left a cavity the size of a bullet in Gonzada’s chest, eyes and head.

If there was a thing I wouldn’t accept…is someone who would fuck with my family.

The End of Efflux Indignated

Book 3 of The Encrypted Data of Kaiden Cypher