Chapter One

Chapter One

September 2nd, 2228, near the Hexagon, Neo Southern California Metroplex

Erik allowed himself a grin as his MX 60 zipped around a corner of a glittering commercial tower, the reflection of his vehicle visible in the glass. He accelerated. He didn’t want to lose his prey.

His target was a red flitter fleeing through the maze of walkways, towers, and platforms defining Uptown Neo SoCal. The suspect’s vehicle tilted before diving under a walkway. Long lines of other cars hovered in the air, stopped as if everyone in the area decided to form their own walls to complicate the escape of the criminal. But it was not spontaneous civilian assistance. It was a sign that people were paying attention to the police warning broadcasts.

His grin widened as he banked around a stopped flitter. “I didn’t think I would get this lucky,” Erik admitted.

Jia eyed him with an exasperated expression on her face. “What’s so lucky about this?” She waved to the vehicle trying to escape. “We’re chasing a random criminal through town. For all we know, he’s a terrorist.”

“A terrorist?” Erik chuckled. “No, but the vehicle

was

stolen Uptown. Things have been getting boring this last week. Things were a little more interesting after all that crap with Winward and Ceres, but then it cleared up.”

“Boring? Some people might call it peaceful.” Jia frowned at the fleeing suspect. This time, she pointed. “That’s not peaceful.”

“Peaceful isn’t when the crime’s hidden.” Erik’s hands tightened on the yoke. He had to respect the other driver’s bravery, even if there was a thin line between that and stupidity.

Erik’s prey dropped lower, dashing through several towers linked by walkways and the occasional tube. The thick gray and brown clouds of pollution grew denser with the altitude change. They were approaching the Shadow Zone. Normally, that might mean something, but blowing past the line wouldn’t garner any more police attention than the thief already had. Two detectives were on his rear because of fortunate timing, and reinforcements were on their way.

Danger didn’t interest Erik directly, but when a day passed without something to keep his skills or instincts honed, he risked falling into complacency. Taking down the occasional thug or antisocial was entertaining, but his path wouldn’t end in Neo SoCal.

Not while he was alive.

His heart was beating as peacefully as normal. No one had been hurt yet, just some property taken. To the best of his knowledge, there was no dangerous gangster in the car, just a fool who picked the wrong tower.

Erik pushed forward on the control yoke, his vehicle barely missing the walkway. “That’ll take a few years off your life.”

“I’m going to take over if you keep that up,” Emma muttered, her irritated voice coming from all the speakers in the vehicle.

“That might be a good idea,” Erik replied, an idea occurring to him. Unless the suspect left town, they wouldn’t be able to go full-out without too much risk to civilians.

“What are you saying?” Rare surprise filtered into the AI’s voice, satisfying Erik all the more.

“I want you to take control and keep up and fly us until we’re right next to or on top of him,” Erik explained. “It doesn’t have to be close. Get me within twenty or thirty meters.”

“At this speed, that’s pretty close,” Jia observed.

“Don’t worry,” Emma replied with her normal smugness. “The better driver is now taking control. After all, this is my body, too.”

Erik released his grip. The yoke began to move on its own, and the MX 60 continued closing on the fleeing vehicle. Despite her earlier complaint, Emma skimmed the edge of the platform, only barely missing a collision.

“I don’t want to test the latest scratch repair capabilities,” Erik noted.

“You’re both out of control.” Jia looked out the window, a hint of a smile on her face.

For all her desire to stick to the rules, there was never a lot of fear on her face. Erik appreciated that. He could always educate a naïve but brave woman, but it was much harder to instill courage in a coward.

Time in the service had taught him that.

“I know exactly what I’m doing,” Emma assured them. “The question is, does Erik? I’m presuming there’s something else I’m supposed to do besides follow the flitter.”

The suspect’s vehicle spun on its side and passed through a narrow slot formed by intersecting walkways. Emma matched its move with ease. Erik’s stomach lurched. It was a good thing he’d had a light lunch.

After taking a deep breath at the same time Erik’s stomach clenched, Jia turned toward him. “She’s right. What exactly

is

your plan?” Her eyes dipped to her legs and the concealed panel beneath them. “Shooting him with that cannon you pretend is for people and not something that should be classified as field artillery?”

“It

is

a rifle. It just happens to be a huge, ravenous, and expensive-to-shoot rifle.” Erik shook his head. “He’s making this easy for us by heading lower. If we can just get him a little lower and find an appropriate stretch of the Shadow Zone, his grav field should be enough to keep the car intact.”

He pointed at the suspect’s flitter as it passed through a cloud and then slipped between two buildings with only a few meters clearance on either side. Bravery could easily turn into stupidity. A soft grunt escaped his lips as the MX 60 again matched the maneuver.

Jia’s smile slowly faded. Concern, not fear, filled her eyes. “Please tell you’re not going to jump.”

The thought had not occurred to him, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t pursue the idea for fun.

Erik shrugged. “Why not? I did it plenty of times in the Army.”

“Wearing an exoskeleton with grav boots, probably,” Jia pointed out.

“You haven’t lived until you’ve done an orbital drop in a pod. The exoskeleton won’t save your ass if the pod’s breached,” Eric explained.

Jia stared at him. “You’re just messing with me, aren’t you?”

“Emma’s driving. Not like I have to pay that much attention. And I don’t need an exoskeleton for what I’m planning.” Erik reached under his duster to his holster. He grabbed his pistol and ejected the magazine. After removing it, he slipped in a new one with a blue stripe on the side.

“Don’t discourage him from jumping,” Emma interjected. “It might be interesting. He’ll probably survive. Or is that a maybe? Is maybe less of a chance than probably? Hmm.”

“Very funny, you two.” Jia sighed. “We just have to try to box the suspect in until other units can get here.” She looked down for a moment, her brow furrowed his thought. “Taking out one or two grav-field emitters will put him on the ground, and that

is

something you can do, Erik. I’ve seen you do it before.”

Erik pressed a button on his door. His window slid down, the air that was rushing past them almost deafening. He jacked up his voice so Jia could hear, almost yelling. “I’ve got a better idea. I need to test something!”

Jia stared at him. “You’re not going to jump through the window, are you? That doesn’t make sense!”

“Nope. Not jumping out. Not today.”

Jia let out a sigh of relief, then yelled so he could hear her, “Good to hear. I never know what you’re going to try.”

Erik flipped off the safety on his pistol. “Remember when I sent the request for the department to install the EMP?”

“Yes? What about it?”

“They officially denied the request this morning. They don’t care that I’m using a private vehicle for cop work, but they won’t upgrade it, so I made other arrangements to accomplish the same thing.” Erik switched his gun to his left hand and stuck it out the window. “I went ahead and got myself some disruptor bullets.”

“That’ll make the drop uncontrolled,” she argued, looking ahead of them to see where the flitter might crash.

“I know. Just need to find the right place to do it.”

The fleeing vehicle rose at a steep angle. Emma brought up the front of the MX 60 to match, jostling Erik.

Jia looked down at the lidar and jerked her head to the right. “The backup is here.”

Three black and blue patrol flitters approached in tight formation in the distance, spinning red and blue lights on the top. Having someone actually show up when called was nice, compared to when Erik had started at the NSCPD, but if they didn’t bring the suspect down soon, it would only increase the trouble. He needed to take the shot.

Jia pointed to a mostly empty parking platform in the distance. Both vehicles were heading that way.

“If you’re going to try your questionable plan, that’s as good a place as any,” she suggested. “I don’t see anyone moving down there.”

“I’m not seeing anyone on my sensors, either,” Emma confirmed.

Erik nodded. “Fine by me.”

The suspect’s vehicle continued flying forward, the course taking it right over the platform. Erik waited for a sudden course correction, but the other flitter screamed over the platform, barely above it. It was like the Lady was serving the criminal up to Erik.

The gift didn’t make up for everything she’d done, but he’d take it.

Erik lined up the shot, steadying his arm. The disruptor bullets meant he wouldn’t need to be that careful or even use aim assist. The pistol spat the rounds. Blue sparks arced over the suspect’s flitter and it dropped, slamming hard against the parking platform, sparks flying as it ground to a halt a car-length shy of the edge. It left a small trail of smoldering dark-gray debris behind it.

“Bring us down, Emma,” Erik ordered, pulling his arm in. “That was easier than I thought.”

The MX 60 banked hard left, nose flaring up at the last moment and shedding all forward momentum before setting down.

Jia was out in a moment, her stun pistol ready.

Erik still needed to give her the customized pistol he’d purchased for her, but he had been waiting for the best time. All gifts had meaning, and part of imbuing them with that essence involved choosing the appropriate time and place.

Erik holstered his pistol and reached into the compartment on the passenger side to grab his TR-7 rifle. A little escalation through superior firepower helped him solve most difficult cases, and it was possible that an idiot who would lead the police on a high-speed chase was also the kind of idiot who might shoot at them.

Jia pointed her stun pistol at the car. “NSCPD!” she shouted. “Get out of the car with your hands on your head immediately.”

The suspect hesitated, his hands not visible, his head slumped forward. Was he unconscious? A turn of his head revealed he wasn’t.

Erik pushed out of his vehicle and brought up his TR-7. He leapt across the hood of his MX 60, the heavy rifle pointed at the flitter as he slid across.

Jia rolled her eyes at the gratuitous display. He didn’t care. He’d always wanted to do that. The move was impossible with most military vehicles.

“A bit much, don’t you think?” Emma transmitted directly to his ear. “I doubt this driver can put up much resistance.”

“I’m pretty sure someone smarter than me said something about overwhelming your enemy without even fighting,” Erik whispered. He flipped his gun to quad-fire mode. “Trust me,” he shouted. “You aren’t getting out of this. I don’t care what kind of gun you have, mine’s a lot bigger. If you’re trying to restart your flitter, I nailed it with two disruptor bullets. You’re not going anywhere.” He inclined his head toward Jia. “You run, she stuns you. If you try to shoot at us, she stuns you, and I shoot you. Why don’t you just do everyone a favor and get out like my partner said?” he finished with a lopsided smile.

It should be against the law to enjoy taking someone down so much, but with his luck, his partner would arrest him.

The other three patrol flitters landed behind the MX 60, their lights still flashing. Uniformed officers rushed out, all gripping their stun pistols tightly, their expressions serious.

The driver-side door of the disabled flitter opened. Everyone aimed their weapons, ready for dangerous resistance.

“Don’t shoot. I give up.” The suspect slid out slowly, his hands on his head.

Erik was disappointed. The lack of a shootout didn’t bother him, but he had been half-expecting a Tin Man or at least a large gangster, not a gangly man he might see at the bakery where he picked up his favorite beignets. Not all criminals fit the stereotype.

The suspect slowly walked around the back of the car, blood running down from a cut on his forehead. “Who does that? You disabled the flitter when I was still in the air!”

“Turn around and get on your knees,” Erik barked. “And if you don’t want to get shot down, don’t steal flitters.”

The suspect knelt, muttering under his breath.

Jia hurried behind him, her stun pistol pointed at the suspect. She yanked his arms down and slapped on bright orange binding ties to secure him. “You are under arrest. All Article Seven rights apply. Do you need these explained to you?”

“Nope, I’m good,” the man replied morosely. “As good as a man who just got nailed by the cops can be. Not my first time talking to you, but it is the first you all chased me like that. Damn. That was a nice flitter, too. I’m sure the idiot I stole it from had insurance. You didn’t need to come after me like that. It’s not fair.”

“Fair?” Erik shouldered his rifle and reactivated the safety. He’d been expecting more resistance, but he supposed a man who’d had his vehicle shot out of the air recognized that he wasn’t in a position to resist. “Don’t commit crimes if you don’t want the cops to be

unfair

to you.”

The man scooted to face the two detectives and the approaching patrol officers. He narrowed his eyes, his face scrunching in concentration as he looked at Erik and Jia. “Wait a minute.”

“What?” Erik grunted. “Want to whine about things being unfair some more?”

“Hey, I know you,” the suspect muttered. “I know both of you.”

Jia frowned. “I don’t know you,

criminal

.”

“That’s harsh,” he complained.

“Never seen you before in my life,” Erik added. “Not that you’re all that memorable.”

The suspect sighed. “That was what my last girlfriend said, too. But I saw you on the news. You were going after the corps, they said. Hero cops. I never had a damned chance with you two on me.”

Jia shook her head. “We’re not hero cops. We’re just cops. We enforce the law, regardless of who breaks it. It just so happens that some of our recent cases involved some well-connected people.”

Her blasé attitude was a big change from when they’d first met, but Erik wasn’t about to complain.

He glanced her way and back at the suspect. “What, are you suggesting you stole the flitter as a big anti-corp statement? You can tell it to a judge, but I doubt it’s going to keep you out of jail.”

The suspect snorted. “Nope. Nothing like that. My last girlfriend told me she thought my flitter was pathetic. It was our anniversary today, or it would have been. I got pissed and stupid.”

Erik sighed, looking around. “Yeah, I’d call leading the police on a high-speed chase pretty high in the idiot department.”

A patrol officer moved behind them. Jia nodded to the officer, so he reached down and pulled up the suspect. “Stop your yakking. Let’s go. You have a lot of explaining to do.” The officer pushed him toward one of the police cruisers.

Jia watched the man in silence until he had been secured in the back of a patrol flitter before turning to look at Erik. “I’m not wrong, am I? I know I can be judgmental, but his excuse is just pathetic. I almost feel sorry for the guy.”

“You’re right.” Erik checked his weapons to make sure everything was in the right place. “It’s pathetic.” He looked at her. “But I don’t feel sorry for him.”

Not every confrontation could be an epic battle against a corrupt conspiracy.