2036 Chapter 4: The_American_confesses

4. The_American_Confesses.

1/31/2036

The terror of Howard street, Soma!

Terror struck the streets of Soma last night, as an unnamed murderer brutally attacked Dr Anne Locke, an innocent college professor. The attacker was talked down by GodsEyes police captain Karen Danvers to line up a non-lethal shot from a GodsEyes drone. Shortly after, an ambulance arrived on the scene to take the man to a MEMEC hospital, and the temporary containment of a Themis prison. Accounts suggest the offender was a lonely man who kept to himself and was in possession of various illegal items, including a firearm. 

Chairwoman Brie gave her thoughts on the matter early this morning. She said “This man was quickly proven disturbed by the latest advancements in detective technology. For what he has done to Dr Locke, he will be punished for in re-education.”

This report was sponsored by GodsEyes. Keeping the bay area safe for 5 years.

The sponsorship didn’t surprise me. The Eyes would want an almost fictional news story showing their sophistication in dealing with crimes, and the local news probably got a lot of money out of it. They didn't even know ANYTHING about the case, since the IO forensics branch occupied the scene after Felix was rushed to hospital. I was, however, surprised Chairwoman Brie herself had actually spoken about the ordeal. Then again, it was a short speech that didn’t seem as… passionate as her usual. This meant it was likely a forged report.

As I put my phone away and picked up my tea, Sarah rushed into my cubical, with a scared look on her face.

“Akira… Micah needs… Micah wants you…” she said through tired breaths.

“Why?” I asked.

“He… IO... their taking…” she looked like she was going to collapse.

“Sarah, don’t worry… How fast did you run here?”

“Just… go.”

And with that, I headed off. If “IO” and “Taking” were in the same sentence, it was bad news.

I dashed to Micah’s office at the end of the room. I ran so fast the cubicles and faces of my colleagues were just blurs. I yanked the door open to see Micah looking out the window, nervously. Micah only looked out the window when he was nervous

“I’m thinking they’ll be here in 10 minutes.” He said to himself.

“Micah, you wanted to see me?” I said through gasping breaths.

“Ok Akira. I just got of the phone with Burgundy, she said IO lawyers are coming to take Felix into their custody.”

“WHAT!” I shouted “W-WHEN?”

“In 10 minutes. We haven’t been able to get a full interrogation in, and the news have already rewritten the case. I need you to get in there and find out what Mr DeBlanc knows.”

“But we don’t have the time, the resources, we don’t even have interrogation ma- “

 Micah grabbed me by the shoulders. “Akira. This could be a life or death situation. You know how few people come back after being taken by IO! Now I need you, in there, talking to that man, so we can find out anything about this case.”

I didn’t even say ok, let alone argue. Micah was right. I prepared for the shortest interrogation of my life.

…

In official UISC law, interrogations of criminals who’ve committed assault or attempted murder needed a full half hour to 2-hour interrogation with at least two armed interrogators wearing reflective interrogation masks. I was going into an interrogation with a now 9-minute window, no second officer, no interrogation mask. I didn’t even know if Felix had been lying last night.

But I didn’t think about that. All I needed to do was talk to him.

I opened the door to the cell Felix was in, down on level 4. It would be quicker to interrogate him in his cell than move him to an interrogation room upstairs. I also set my watch to go off in 9-minutes, just so I could keep track of time. I also decided to go good cop, since he could still be innocent.

The moment I walked in Felix looked up at me from his chair. Last night, I wasn’t really able to get a good look at his face. He was tall, but also pretty young, around early to mid-20’s. The kid was no older than my sister. He had tanned skin, surprisingly well-kept hair, a small scar on his neck, dry hands, and bandaged, bare feet. He was in Themis prison clothes, since IO took his shirt for “evidence”. Throughout the interrogation, he never kept still. He was either tapping his feet, rubbing his chin or palms, scratching his scar or rubbing his eyes. He looked shocked that I’d come into his cell, let alone decided to interrogate him.

“How did I get caught last night?” he asked.

…

“I’m sorry?” I replied.

“After I got shot, your friend caught me. I’m pretty heavy, not gonna lie. I shoulda crushed her”

“Oh… that.” For a moment, I thought he was saying he was guilty. “Sar- my friend had recent spine implants. Took a crowbar to her spinal column just a week ago. MEMEC doctors had to put her whole spine back together.”

“Aren’t you not supposed to tell me about your life?” he asked.

“Well Mr DeBlanc, this is a desperate interrogation.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Look man” I started “I need you to trust me because… IO lawyers are coming to take you into their custody in about… 8 minutes. I need you to tell me everything about last night, or we could lose you forever.”

His jaw dropped and his eyes widened. He seemed to have known about IO ‘taking people into their custody.’

…

We lost about 30 seconds for Felix to process that information.

“Ok, I’ll… tell you everything.”

I whipped out my notebook and began writing down his story.

“It was New Year’s Eve. I was homeless at the time, but a woman let me stay at her house for the evening. Her name was Anne. I told her about my situation, and she said I could stay at her house until I was able to get back on my feet.”

7 minutes

“She was nice to me. Most people don’t treat Americans that well, especially in Soma. She let me sleep on her couch and stuff like that. Hell, she even helped me get a job at the university she worked at. Just janitor work, nothing special. It paid well. At least it did until I got fired.”

6 minutes

“For some reason, I was never told why. The Uni’s administrator just told me to pack my bags. After that, I had to rely on Anne for financial help. But for some reason, she always got sensitive when I asked her for money. She even began saying I was a ‘parasite.’ I assumed it was banter. I did try to get another job, but it was borderline impossible. It was like the world was working against me.”

5 minutes

“But somehow, I found a job in a corner store. It didn’t pay as well as the last one, but it was fine. But when I came back home, Anne was gone. I looked for her, until I found her basement, which… explained the REAL reason she’d taken me in.”

4 minutes

“It was filled with maps of cities from all across the country. LA, San Diego, San Jose, Here, Portland, Vegas and Phoenix, all with pictures of people connected by string, linking them to the maps. Some of the pictures had white writing on them saying ‘candidate’ but others had a red cross over them. The scariest thing was my picture was on the San Fran map, and it had a red cross over it.”

3 minutes

“That was when… when…”

“Felix, you ok?” I asked.

“Yeah, yeah. Of course. That’s when… I saw Anne standing on the basement stairs. She was holding one of her kitchen knives in her hand. Soon as I knew it… she attacked at me. I tried to get up the stairs, but I stood on a loose nail. Luckily I managed to get free and up the stairs. To defend myself, I grabbed one of her porcelain pots and…

2 minutes

“And… And I…”

“Felix, it’s ok. Just tell me what happened.” The kid looked on the verge of tears.

“… I threw it at her, and she… she fell down the steps and…” 

He went silent. 

I knew that after this. The whole episode last night unfolded. It explained Felix’s bleeding feet and why he sounded so fearful. I couldn’t imagine how shocked he felt when someone who had cared for him for an entire month tried to kill him. And the news had painted her as a victim? It might have been to cover IO’s tracks, but they said she was dead! You can’t just make a person disappear! Unless they gave her a new identity or something. There was also the basement Felix told me about. People in all of the UISC’s major cities selected as ‘candidates’ for something? Candidates for what? Why were there red crosses over some of them? Did they die? Why weren’t there names on the photos if Anne had to cover SEVEN CITIES?”

There were too many loose threads to the case, but that made sense. IO didn’t want to get caught doing what they were doing, if they were doing anything. I tried to find answers to the case, but I got more questions. But it wasn’t Felix’s fault. The kid wasn’t himself.

As I left the cell, I realised the IO lawyers were here. Right on time. There was no point trying to stop them. I didn’t even look at them. They just went into Felix’s cell and took him away.

There was only one way I could resolve this. I had to get to 77 Howard street.

2036 Chapter 3: The Night Before

3. The night before.

22^nd May 2036

Lilian the hacc man.

Hey Lil, Marcus was throwing a party

at his place. I’m nearby if you wanna lift

:)

No thanks.

C’mon man! Everyone’s there, even

Unger probably.

Where is it.

Marcus’s house in New Oakland.

No

Come on man, please!

I said no.

Fair enough.

Chat ended.

I pulled up to Lilian’s apartment block in my car just as he walked out the door.

"Get in Lil."

“RHYS, I SAID N- “

“I know exactly what you said.” I said, “Sitting in that apartment all day, doin’… whatever it is you do has changed you man!”

“Don’t- “

“Back in TRANsport you went to almost every party the other drivers had! Sure, you didn’t do much, and I had to ask you to come most times, but you were there man! You were with me and the rest of ‘em!

“Working at TRANsport was one of the worst things to happen to me!” He snapped back.

“This isn’t about TRANsport, Lil. Please, just come.”

…

We stood there awkwardly for almost a minute until Lilian let up. 

“Ok” he said, “Bit I’m not happy about this whatsoever.”

For the vast majority of the journey Lilian didn’t say a word… or move, come to think of it. He just looked angrily at the back of my seat. Then again, Lilian did have a reputation of holding extremely long grudges against almost anyone, from a guy who pushed him in the streets around a year ago to a Wendy’s employee who got his order wrong back in University.

It’s crazy how long I’ve known him. The first time we met was when he started college back in ‘22, when his sister Margo was in almost all of my classes. We were seniors and he was a junior, but his intelligence (at least in technology) was through the roof. When my PC broke down, Margo said he would fix it for me. Just a day later he’d completely rewired it, replaced the graphics card, he’d even polished the thing. He definitely knew his stuff when it came to tech. But the same couldn’t be said about his social life. He didn’t strike me as someone who would even leave his apartment, let alone fly from Oregon to Pennsylvania. Then again, sending someone to Philly University because their older sibling went there was pretty common in the 20’s, since they were offering reduced student fees, making it one of the cheapest universities to attend back then.

As I drove through the rainy streets of San Francisco, I saw the usual sights. Old American buildings dilapidated and abandoned, and newer buildings, mostly chain restaurants and apartment blocks, in peak condition, as if anyone who even looked at it funny would get sent to re-education. We passed a least 5 “war memorials” and 10 government approved anti-American graffiti walls. Most of them were either the UISC’s flag with one of Chairwoman Brie’s sayings, or cartoonish send-ups of US President McTavish. I honestly don’t know how one nation could hate one guy so much they payed graffiti artists to directly make fun of him. He wasn’t even such a bad guy… well, he didn’t do much, just occasionally going to meetings to improve foreign relations with some country in the middle east or giving funding to charities. Why the UISC’s government hated him so much was beyond me…

I realised I had driven all the way from San Fran to New Oakland without even knowing. Strangely enough, Marcus’s house was just around the bend.

I pulled up into a spare parking space outside his house. Surprisingly, Marcus actually owned a house, instead of one of the many flats in the towering Oakland apartment blocks. It was also in pretty good condition, with clear glass windows, faded brick walls and a polished wooden door that wasn’t ripped off its hinges. It was like a house from Old Oakland was plucked from the 90’s and placed in the modern-day towering neighbourhoods of New Oakland.

As me and Lilian got out of the car, we saw a man standing completely still on the pavement. He seemed to be looking out at the Alameda re-education centre. I walked towards him, only to realise it was Unger, of all people.

“Um… Unger? You good?”

“No, I’m not.” He replied “I’m looking at my office. Seven years ago.”

I was confused.

“I worked as a re-educator in that place for seven damn years of my life. Seven years of guarding the cells of innocents. Seven years of watching the UISC break people. Seven years of seeing pain, loss and sadness. The words on the front of that centre said
‘Udv a pokolban'… ‘Welcome to hell”. It was sad I was the only one there who knew what it meant. I could have started a riot or, tackled the guards of an interrogation. I could have done anything to save those people from the backhands and water hoses of those evil people who laughed as innocent civilians lost their minds. The worst part is I have no idea why… I have no idea.”

Through that entire speech, Unger’s eyes never left Alameda. It was a haunting image. It almost reminded me of the ending of Apocalypse Now, where Colonel Kurtz spoke his last words. Lilian was strangely unaffected by Unger’s speech.

Suddenly, he snapped out of his trance and noticed I was there. “Sorry, Rhys… It’s just…”

“Unger don’t worry. Just- just come inside.” I said.

He gave me an understanding look. “Yeah. Yeah you’re right.”

I had seen a side to Unger I had never seen before. He was usually a motivational speaker who always thought of his team first, who was always as charismatic and understanding as they come. But I had just seen him at his lowest.

But it wasn’t a time for feeling sorry. It was a time for Marcus’s party.

2036 Chapter 2: Cpt_Akira_Shinkawa

2. Cpt_Akira_Shinkawa.

1/30/2036

Crime report: Murder at 77_Howard street, Soma.

Offender: unidentified at time of processing

Searching sfOS cameras…

Searching noOS cameras…

Predicting suspect…

Identifying…

Found!

Offender: Felix Anon DeBlanc.

D.O.B: June 22^nd, 2009 (age 27)

Nationality: American (New York) *NO UISC CITIZENSHIP*

Other info: user of various illegal social media programs, Recorded incorrect speech

*Back in America, we actually HAVE veteran’s day. * 10/10/2035

*Ok boomer. * 9/22/2030

*I guess… I expected the UISC to be less crazy than they actually where. * 10/9/2029

Offender location: scene of crime

Offender causalities: Dr Anne Locke  

Probability of being armed: High

Probability of holding hostages: Low

Probability of attacking: Very high.

Verdict: ATTACK IF ATTACKED FIRST

Sending SWAT team…

This was an overreaction.

A whole SWAT team with live weapons for one murderer? Declaring the guy insane over a few voice recordings? I’m starting to think Silicon Valley and the private police corps are trying to remove Americans from the country. That wasn’t what the UISC I knew would have done. However, Silicon Valley offered Themis 1,000,000 dollars to capture this guy. A million is a lot these days. Especially to a private police corporation that ISN’T IO or GodsEyes. They couldn’t say no to that.

I stepped out of the dingy van and into to cool night air. If it wasn’t for the murder, the night would have been almost peaceful. The pre-war street held some of the last houses built back when California was part of America. Very idyllic design. Wooden porch, brick driveway, triangular roof and square windows. Far detached from the “Modern Californian house”. 

I was followed by Sarah, who stared at the house in curiosity. I don’t think she’d seen a pre-war house in a while, if not ever. Most younger people from LA never had.

“Is it safe in there, Cap?” she asked

“Well no, the man in that house just killed someone. However, there where no reported gunshots, so its likely he’s only armed with a knife.” I said.

She looked dazed “How did you know that?”

“Mind powers, Sarah.” I joked.

For some reason she looked even more confused.

“Nevermind.” I said.

We walked up to another officer staring at the main window stroking her chin, quietly muttering “That American is up there.” When she noticed me, she jumped.

“Oh! Sorry Captain Shinkawa, you scared me. But not it ‘that’ way, as in, you, just coming up behi- “

“Don’t worry about it, officer.” I said, “Just tell me the situation.”

“Right, right, ok. The, uh, murderer is up there, in that window, as you can see. Since he has already killed someone, we’ve been authorised to use lethal force if necessary.”

Suddenly, the top window burst open. Out stepped a bare footed man in a Hawaiian shirt and black jeans. He held his hands behind his head, and a terrified expression covered his face. The most disturbing thing was his feet were bleeding. Every cop with a gun immediately pointed their weapons at him. I suddenly had a feeling someone would get shot.

I dashed to a police loudspeaker an began the tensest conversation of my life.

“EVERYONE, PUT YOUR GUNS DOWN!” I shouted. The last thing we needed was a foreign civilian casualty.

Only a few officers lowered their guns, to my annoyance.

“Sir, what’s your name.” I said, as calm as I could.

“… Why should I tell you!” He shouted back.

“Sir, I know the guns aren’t helping. But I need you to calm down. We’re here to help.”

“Oh, of course you are! And your also here to rig a court case against me and give me in jail for the rest of my days!”

“I assure you sir; everything will be fine. We’re Themis, not IO or GodsEyes. Just tell me your name and why you killed the resident of this house.”

 “I HAVEN’T KILLED ANYONE!” he shouted, setting my heart off. “SHE'S DOWNSTAIRS!”

I signalled to Sarah to call an ambulance. I had to assume the victim was injured.

“Is anyone else in there with you?” I asked.

“No, why would there be?”

“Ok, ok. Is the resident injured in any way.”

“She’s… out cold. But that’s it, and it wasn’t my fault!”

I felt like I had this man’s trust.

“Ok. Sir, this is what’s gonna happen. My fellow officers will lower their weapons, and you will come out through the main door, where you will be escorted to the Themis police station. If what you’ve said is true, you’ll only serve a maximum of half a month in prison, or no prison sentence at all.”

Just as he nodded his head. Just as everyone lowered their guns. Just as my pulse returned to a normal pace. Just as it looked like this would go down as a successful operation… I heard a buzzing. 

It was a GodsEyes ACP drone.

A shot rang out across the street. The shot had gone straight into the man’s slide. He yelled, and then fell from the window. My heart stopped.

…

Then I saw Sarah had caught the man in her arms. Almost on cue, the ambulance had arrived to take the man to a hospital.

If it wasn’t for my negotiation and Sarah’s quick thinking, this could have ended much differently.

2036 Chapter 1: The Plan.

1: The plan.

22^nd May 2036.

I drove the car into the space outside the den. It was more of a warehouse than a den. An old community centre that shut down after a lack of funding for the charity. Sad thing seeing a building that used to stand as a shelter for the poor just… abandoned… and moved into by some small organised crime gang. Actually, that part might be alright. ‘least the way Unger made it sound.

I locked my car and walked through the door. At the head of the huge hall sat 4 degenerates listening to 1 genius. He was probably talking about something historical, like the Bolshevik revolution or Iraq. Unger liked his wars, civil and international. He might have even fought in one, since he was in the army so long.

“Ah! Rhys! Good to see you. Sit down, the new guy brought coffee.”

My ears pricked up. So did my stomach’s.

I swiftly walked over to the group, smelling the sweet aroma of that warm life juice. When I got there, they were surprisingly all in mugs.

“This is Mr Rhys Smith, our driver. One of the best in San Fran.” Said Unger.

“Unger, they know who I am.” I responded.

“I know, but he doesn’t.” Unger pointed at a new guy I hadn’t seen before. He wore a red bomber jacket, a dirty tank-top, worn grey jeans and a pair of old Air Jordan’s. He was a tall bloke.

 “This is Mr Marcus Rhodes; he’ll be joining us on the job tomorrow.” Said Unger.

I held my hand out for a handshake, but the new guy gave me a funny look.

“What you doin’?” he asked. I awkwardly sat down in my seat.

We were all gathered around a circular table. To the left of me was Marcus, who seemed to have brushed off the handshake situation, and to the left of him was Lilian, tapping away at his computer, fully invested in his own world, or at least that’s what it looked like. Marcus looked to be annoyed by his almost non-stop touch typing. To the right of me was Scalp, arms crossed and eyes droopy, probably after another night of drinking. He was talking to Carmine, rubbing her chin and tapping her feet. Her arm had a large plaster on it, but I couldn’t tell what exactly happened, as it could be anything from a large bruise to a protection from the ghost of JFK. Carmine was one strange individual. Unger alone rose above the down to earth deminer of the others. He stood relaxed, planning away at his blackboard. His expression was borderline emotionless, but I could tell he knew what he was doing. Hell, Unger probably had a plan of everywhere he would step today that was written five years ago.

“Ok everyone, listen up!” he said. Scalp and Carmine stopped their conversation and Marcus gave Lilian a funny look when he didn’t stop typing.

The plan was about to begin.

“Through a mix of our collective thought and months of planning, we’ve got our plan. The bank we’re robbing is the UISC western bank, formerly the union bank. Around 10 months ago, a gang called the Uncle Toriyama boys…”

“What, like Akira Toriyama?” said Lilian.

“Inciteful Lilian, but I need you to focus.” Replied Unger. “Also, no, the creator of Dragon ball Z doesn’t have a criminal presence in the bay area.” Replied Unger.

Lilian sunk back into his seat and started typing again.

“Right. Anyway, the UTB are using the bank to launder money, taking it from its rightful owners. The bankers know this. They’re robbing these people blind, but they’re also using the bank to store their own money, a large amount of which was given to them by multiple private police organisations, more specifically IO and GodsEyes.”

“Why would the corps give a gang money?” asked Carmine.

Unger replied almost immediately. “Fighting against rival gangs and other private police. Giving them a good foothold in the criminal underworld. Supplying the “other” needs of their officers to keep them going. The UTB are IO and GodsEyes proxies, like North Korea or the NVA and Vietcong in the cold war. They use them as a way to indirectly fight their enemies and avoid major confrontation.”

“Now, here’s the actual plan. Rhys, you’ll need to drive Marcus, Carmine and Scalp to the east side of the bank. Carmine and Scalp will go through the main entrance disguised as IO lawyers trying to take out a loan of 500,000 dollars on behalf of Samantha Burgundy, IO’s head of law. I’ve printed identity cards that the bank will think are genuine. Then, Scalp will use this…” He held up a white USB stick “…to get Lilian access to the banks security protocols. Lilian will then hack the cameras in the main lobby too short out, leading security to the front of the bank. Lilian will then hack the remaining cameras to monitor Marcus, who will go in through the roof. He’ll take out any guards still monitoring the main vault. NON. LETHALLY… and Lilian will open it using the code I’ve given him. Lastly, Marcus will throw a dye bomb at the money, making it unusable. He’ll then escape through the roof in a change of clothes. Once your all done, head to the red Toyota Lynx in the North-east parking lot on level 9. Rhys, the keys will be in your car. Lastly, drive to the south part of Yerba Buena Island on the memorial overpass and you’ll find a boat with me on it. Put the money in the bag I put in your trunk and throw it down to the boat. Then, head back, and you’ll all get 100,000 dollars each. Any questions?”

“Just one.” asked Marcus “The kid next to me was typing the entire way through that presentation.”

“He heard.” Said Unger

“But he-“

“Michael. He. Heard.., See you guys tomorrow.”