Division Zero (13 page)

“Well… I’ve seen some of the gadgets turn themselves on, and there’s our old sonic toothbrush. The battery won’t hold a charge for more than a few seconds but he uses it like it’s brand new.”

Dorian smiled. “Well, you already learned he was electrokinetic.”

Kirsten picked at her left ear with her middle finger out of sight of Daniel, making Dorian chuckle.

“Sounds like he has a talent with machines and electronics.”

Captain Eze had gifts along the same lines; she made a note to confer with him about exactly what Adrian might be able to do.

Daniel stood and put a hand on her shoulder. She would have jumped back at the sight of a man his size lunging, but the worry in his eyes disarmed her.

“Please, don’t hurt him. He’s a gentle soul.”

Dorian sighed. “Gentle enough to smash a housekeeper?”

Kirsten ignored him, and nodded at Daniel. “I will do everything I can to prevent that, though I do owe him a pop to the nose.”

“He hit you?” Daniel lifted an eyebrow.

“You could say that.” She offered a brief summary.

He winced through most of it. “I don’t know the details, but he had some prior history with Division 0; I think he just panicked.”

“How much do you know?”

Daniel shrugged. “Said he was real little when they noticed him. His parents are paranoid, anti-government types. You know, run-around-the-mountains with rifles survivalist kooks? They took him into The Beneath when he was like six. He grew up down there, probably what messed him up. They filled his head with distrust about anyone in a uniform, especially the psionic cops.”

“Oh, that totally explains why he hooked up with an ex-marine.” Dorian accented his words with a hand gesture.

“Really?” She whispered with an angry rasp in Dorian’s direction, making it sound like a sneeze, before looking back to Daniel. “I spent a year or two under the city myself as a kid; I think I can sympathize to a point.”

Dorian gestured. “You also have the crazy parent thing in common.”

Kirsten closed her eyes and let out a meditative sigh.

“That’s kind of how he got whenever he talked about his time down there. I’m worried he might hurt himself. Please find him before he does something drastic.”

An electronic chirp came from the back of the room. Daniel rushed to grab his NetMini out from under a tank top thrown over the nightstand. Looking at the screen, he glanced back to Kirsten. “He just turned his NetMini on.”

His fingers blurred as he sent a ‘how are you’ message. Kirsten backpedaled to the door, pausing to point at Daniel.

“Don’t tell him I’m coming. As soon as I find him, I’ll call you.”

Dorian winked at her. “You’re such a softie.”

The terminal locked on to Adrian’s NetMini the instant it turned on, lighting a dot on the map a few miles away. It took a few minutes to get to the location―an artistic twist of chrome and blue-tinted glass wrapped around a hundred and four stories of high-end apartments.

Dorian made an appraising face. “Nice place, you should consider something like this.”

“I don’t know. It feels silly to spend so much on an apartment for one. They have so much space. I think it would make me feel lonelier.”

“You should be glad Zero pays so well.”

She giggled. “Psionics are a specialized skill, it’s merit pay.”

“What about that Temple guy? It seems Daniel’s not in the running, despite the way you were checking him out.”

She blushed. “What is your problem with Daniel?”

“Oh, nothing, I just like saying that stuff to watch you squirm. Nice dodge, by the way.”

“You’re impossible.” She guided the patrol craft down out of the hover lane, heading for the map dot. “I’m supposed to at least
try
to act professional.”

“At your service.” He made a flourish with his hand and bowed.

She circled the building until the terminal identified the fifty-fourth floor as the source of the signal. After a roof landing and a brief ride in a marble-paneled elevator, she roamed until she located the exact apartment with her armband display.

Kirsten took the police tool off her belt and zapped the lock. The door opened without a sound, and she followed her E90 inside. Creeping like a mouse, she found a large living room with a dark blue carpet. Electronics made the ceiling look like a starry sky complete with nebulas. Boxes that had once contained all manner of electronic gadgets and game consoles littered the area. At least a dozen entertainment systems lay scattered around, connected to a large holo-bar capable of creating a screen a hundred and fifty inches across. The place looked like the home of a twelve year old boy with unlimited money and no parents.

Dorian chuckled under his breath as he took in the scene. “Guess he was re-acclimating himself to the modern age.”

Kirsten conducted a tactical walkthrough until she confirmed it devoid of people. The master bedroom was soaked in the orange and blue light cast off by holographic fish swimming through a three by six panel on the wall. She found the NetMini abandoned on a desk.

Dammit, he ditched it.

Aside from a pile of empty synthbeer canisters, little indicated anyone had ever even used the king-sized comforgel pad.

A number of display screens appeared over her arm as her fingers danced along. Within a minute, she accessed the management company’s financial records and found Adrian used his real name. From the look of the file, he had been paying the twenty thousand and change credits rent for three months so far.

Dorian feigned an impressed frown. “Not bad for an unemployed fringer.”

“If he’s trying to hide, why use his real name?”

He shrugged. “People hide in many ways.”

“Yeah.” Kirsten stared into nowhere for a moment. “I guess we all do. How is Nila?”

“He might be running for the roof.” Dorian darted out.

She stared at the empty doorway for a moment before looking back to the display on her arm. The trail ran cold, unable to find the source of the payments. With a feeling she knew what Adrian did, she went downstairs to pay the building manager a visit.

At the rear of the lobby, beyond a short hallway, a white door with the word ‘Manager’ inscribed upon it hung ajar. Quiet sounds of activity drifted from behind it, and she walked in without knocking. Crisscrossing beams of simulated sunlight streaked through the dust, angling down from fiberoptic light pipes embedded in the wall. Boxes were stacked here and there amidst piles of datapads and holodisks. At the single desk, a middle-aged Asian man leaned forward, mouth agape, picking at a terminal.

“Excuse me?”

“Gah!” His body made whorls in the airborne dust as he shot upright. “You should knock.”

Kirsten flashed her ID. “I need to see the records for unit 5448.”

“Just a second.” He waved his hand past the screen, tossing whatever he had been doing to the side. His eyes darted to her every few seconds, her presence made his trembling fingers mistype several times. When the screen stopped moving, he looked down his nose at it. “Adrian Lewis took on the lease three months ago. He’s current with the rent, no problems and no complaints. Why are the police here?”

“Why don’t any of his rent payments show up in your management company’s deposits?”

His trembles ceased. “What? That’s not possible.”

She held her arm to the side so he could see. “The logs show a Mr. Chen signed off on the rent being paid, but there’s been no change to the receiving account. The payments are marked in the tenant files, but the financials have no record.”

“I am Mr. Chen.” His voice rose with indignation. “I would not mark rent paid without the credits. What are you insinuating?”

“Calm down, I’m not accusing you of anything other than being a victim.” She held up a hand, trying to stem the tide of his rising offense.

“A victim?” He thrust himself back in his seat. “Of what?”

“All I’m saying is that if someone knew how to ask, they could be very convincing. Like if they told you to
cluck like a chicken
.” A glow flashed in her eyes.

Mr. Chen made a series of strange noises. All the while he clucked, he stared with growing terror. When the compulsion subsided, he scowled.

“Isn’t it against the law what you just did?” The paranormal undertone brought a tremor to his fingertips.

“If you want to split hairs, I suppose it’s somewhere between disturbing the peace and misdemeanor assault. I have a feeling Mr. Lewis is using the same kind of ability on you to make you think he paid his rent.”

Mr. Chen stopped shaking, straightening in his seat as he stared at the sixty-thousand-credit loss. “I want him arrested if this is true.” He thumped his fist on the desk, causing a swarm of small objects to jump.

“It’s too difficult to prove these things right now, so we have a tendency to handle matters quietly. The bad news is you’ll have to sue him to recover the money and will probably lose, but the good news is he will get punished for what he did.”

Mr. Chen deflated into his seat. “That’s just brilliant. If you find Mr. Lewis, tell him his possessions are in storage and he can get them back when he pays.”

“There you go.” She smiled. “Perfectly legal.”

Kirsten stared at the ceiling outside the office. Mr. Chen had no information about Adrian that she did not already have; no alternate address, no next of kin, nothing. Her armband beeped once more. The credstick had just been used not too far from her location.

She had no time to waste.

he city blurred into streams of light and color as Kirsten pushed the patrol craft’s speed toward the edge of controllability. Advert bots streaked past like neon comets; the car swayed side to side as she dodged one after the other. She cursed them for failing to move out of her way; the active police lights and transponder should have made them divert course well ahead of her.

Damn greedy corporate sons of bitches, probably skipped the receiver to save a few credits.

She twisted the sticks and pulled up over the layer of traffic. Free of the clutter, the patrol craft climbed among the buildings in the most direct path to her destination. As she rolled to the side to take a turn, Dorian cringed into the seat.

“What are you worried about? I’m not going to crash.”