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Chapter Two

Chapter Two

January 6, 2229, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Police Enforcement Zone 122 Station, Briefing Room

Jia drummed her fingers on the table in front of her. She sat next to Erik, unsure why Captain Ragnar had pulled the bulk of the on-duty members of the 1-2-2 into the briefing room.

A low, constant rumble, the cacophony of the combined conversations, filled the room as the detectives and uniformed officers awaited their briefing.

She looked around, thinking about how much things had changed.

Many of the detectives, such as Halil in the back, no longer spent their time undermining her. The supporters of their old captain dwindled with each passing month or had at least learned to keep their mouths shut, even if a few, such as Jared Thompson, openly harbored grudges.

There was little they could do as long as Captain Ragnar remained committed to Jia’s and Erik’s views on law enforcement.

Jared might be annoying and lazy, but he did do a halfway decent job when he was pushed. That was the only reason he hadn’t been bounced from the department already.

Jia looked forward to a time when the entire department was filled with cops who cared about doing their jobs, and not just men who only cared about maintaining the status quo.

Erik turned to Jia, his voice low as he leaned toward her. “How was your date?”

“It was okay.” Jia frowned. “Do you really want to talk about that right now?” She nodded at the captain, who was murmuring quietly as he finished a call. “I don’t think he called us in here so we could talk about arranging a fundraiser. Something’s about to go down.”

“Something’s always about to go down.” Erik shrugged. “That’s Neo SoCal. It’s what keeps us busy.”

“You could be less busy, even with the job,” Jia suggested. “Then you could go on dates, too.”

Erik grinned. “With Corbin?”

“I don’t think he’s your type.”

“You got another fangirl?” Erik replied, his grin widening.

“I’m sorry about that particular mismatch.” Jia looked away, her cheeks burning. “It seems absurd now that I think about it.”

A tall, skinny detective in an ill-fitting suit wandered in. Detective Luis Martinez. He had transferred into the 1-2-2 in December, and Jia was still getting a feel for him. Thus far, he seemed dedicated enough to the job.

Luis dropped into an empty seat on the other side of her. “Jia. Erik.” He looked around the room before smiling. “You two didn’t stir something up, did you? Find some gangsters smuggling WMDs or something?”

“Not yet,” Erik replied, lifting his eyebrows. “But it’s only Tuesday.”

Luis reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver-wrapped piece of chocolate. “Want one? It’s Venusian. I don’t know what it is they do. Maybe it’s the way they handle the air cycling in the cloud cities or something, but it tastes much better than anything we produce on Earth.”

Jia and Erik shook their heads.

“Really?” Luis looked surprised. “Your loss.” He plopped the candy into his mouth and chewed slowly. “

Delicious

.”

Captain Ragnar cleared his throat, cutting into the conversations. “All right. Listen up, 1-2-2. Sorry for the abrupt call, but something has come up, and we’re going to need to move fast.” He tapped his PNIU.

A hologram of a dark warehouse appeared. Given the haze, roads, and tower bases visible in the image, it had to be in the Shadow Zone.

“CID has been investigating the smuggling of Dragon Tear into NSC for the last three months,” the captain began.

Surprised murmurs swept through the room.

Jia narrowed her eyes. The highly addictive and often deadly drug couldn’t be produced on Earth since it required a particular combination of soil chemistry to native gravity for successful production.

To the best of her knowledge, all attempts at terrestrial cultivation had failed. Some even claimed it was an alien plot. Criminals were desperate to establish facilities on the small numbers of moons or colonies with both the appropriate conditions and a smaller governmental footprint, given the insane premium on the drug.

“It would have been nice if CID had shared a little more of their investigation with the locals,” the captain continued with a nod at the warehouse, “but I’m sure they have their reasons. Now, though, they need our help, along with a few other EZs, for a raid.”

“CID doesn’t have enough people?” asked Halil. “If they’ve been watching this place for three months, you’d think they would be better prepared.”

Several other cops nodded their agreement with his question.

Captain Ragnar’s smile never wavered. “I’ll just note that it’s not only the NSCPD who has had to clean things up last year. They have operational security concerns and are reaching out to select EZs for manpower. The thing is, we don’t have a lot of time. This raid is going down in two hours, and everyone in this room will be participating.”

“That’s crazy,” Jared complained. “We’re participating in a major raid with barely enough time to gear up and go there. There is challenging, but that is simply dangerous.”

“It’s a short timeline.” Captain Ragnar nodded his agreement. “I’ll grant you that, but this is a chance to help cripple, if not eliminate, Dragon Tear-smuggling, not only into Neo SoCal, but onto Earth, and I’ve already given my approval.” His eyes traveled around the room. “This isn’t up for debate. I called you in to tell you what you’d be doing tonight.”

He tapped his PNIU and two additional holograms appeared, an overhead and a wireframe layout of the warehouse.

Jia heard a few whispered comments as the captain continued. “Our part is easy. We just have to cover the northside entrances. We are to make sure no one escapes. CID and TPST are going to be hitting the main entrances.”

“Dragon Tear-smuggling is extremely profitable,” Jia observed, her gaze fixed on the overhead layout. “I’m assuming this isn’t just a couple of Uptowners making a little additional money. I’d also assume we might face potentially fierce, well-equipped resistance?”

“No, this is a major criminal operation, and you’re right. We probably

should

expect significant resistance. We will, of course, give anyone a chance to surrender, and primary weapons will be stun-based, but every officer is authorized to take a lethal firearm.” Captain Ragnar’s smile finally faded. “LEO protection is our primary concern. I don’t want anyone getting hurt while we take these bastards down. If all goes well, between the CID and other teams, we might not even see any action.”

Luis swallowed his latest bite of chocolate and groaned. “That’s no fun. We can’t let those other guys have all the glory, am I right?”

“CID believes an overwhelming show of force might convince the criminals inside to surrender,” Captain Ragnar explained. “To the best of their knowledge, and based on our own local information, there are no direct links between the syndicate running this operation and terrorists, which means they have sufficient reasons to surrender. There’s no glorious ideology to die for today, other than money.”

Erik shook his head as he spoke up. “No offense, Captain, but this is Dragon Tear-smuggling. They’re all going to be spending a lot of time in an off-world prison. That might be enough to convince them to not cooperate.”

Captain Ragnar nodded. “We’ll see. For now, we’ll go through the plan, then we’ll arm up. Tonight, one way or another, we’re going to make Neo SoCal a safer place.”

Erik’s MX 60 hovered about two hundred meters away from the warehouse.

Erik had adjusted its color to gray and black to better blend with the shadows. That didn’t do anything for the dozens of other police vehicles in the area, but they weren’t using their lights, and a swarm of drones kept an eye on the warehouse.

Only a few minutes remained until go time.

Erik patted his tactical vest, his heart offering a steady beat. There was something routine about the whole affair, so it didn’t trouble him.

His TR-7 was nestled in his lap, and the pockets of his duster overflowed with magazines. Two hours’ notice might not be a lot of planning time, but it was better than the almost monthly surprises involving terrorists or killer robots.

Jia wore her dual holster with both her stun pistol and her slug thrower.

In theory, neither detective would have to worry about running out of ammunition as they had in previous encounters, but there was no such thing as being overprepared when your life was on the line. Emma had even rehashed a recent scenario where they’d had to clear a building with only one full magazine.

They’d run out and had to depend on hand-to-hand for the last few opponents, but her point was well-taken.

Emma spoke up. “I’ve taken the liberty of examining some of the drone feeds. There are a sizeable number of gun goblins inside, based on the thermals. The warehouse’s systems have enough basic security that attempts to hack them might alert the criminals, so I’ll avoid doing any of that until the raid has begun. As far as I can tell, the CID and rest of the NSCPD are operating under the same assumption.”

“We’re a minute out,” Erik noted. “Go ahead and take us that way nice and slow.” He cracked his knuckles and picked up his rifle. “When we land, I want to head straight into the fun.”

The MX 60 headed toward the darkened warehouse. The lack of nearby external lighting, even in the Shadow Zone, was suspicious in and of itself, but if the locals understood it was controlled by organized crime, that was all the reason they needed to avoid it.

Jia pulled out her stun pistol, turning it sideways to check out the small status lights. “CID trusts the 1-2-2.”

“Huh?” Erik slapped a fresh mag into the rifle.

“We’re one of the few EZs they’ve selected, and the only one of the closer EZs involved in the raid.” Jia smiled. “I’d like to think that’s because we’ve proven ourselves.”

“It’s because we’ve kicked criminal ass,” he offered. “Nothing gets you noticed like success.”

“All units, we’ve got movement,” announced the incident commander over their PNIUs. “Go, go, go!”

Emma accelerated. Red and blue holographic lights lit the area.

Men scurried from nearby alleys in fear, their worn clothes and ragged appearance suggesting they were homeless rather than gangsters. The police vehicles descended on the warehouse, several circling the area, along with the drones. The MX 60 stopped a few meters from their appointed entrance.

Erik threw open the door and leapt out, pointing his gun. Jia exited at the same time. “Hey!” Emma shouted as Jia vaulted over the hood to catch up with her partner.

He grinned but chose not to point out that Jia’d copied a move she had previously mocked.

CID agents and police flowed out of their cars to form an instant army. Large TPST transports opened their back doors, allowing exoskeleton-clad specialists to leap out with loud, resounding clanks as they hit the ground.

Another officer arrived at the door first and slapped a small black metallic patch on it. They didn’t have time to hack it, so the override patch would have to do unless they wanted to blow the entire thing open.

The door slid open a second later and the officer charged in, followed by Erik, Jia, and several others.

Several large cargo flitters were parked in the main bay. Judging by their appearance, they were either disguised or stolen from different companies, including local delivery specialists such as Windward and Lee and Sons.

CID could follow that up later.

Dozens of criminals with pistols took up positions behind the vehicles, crates, tables, and even overturned chairs. Additional police and CID agents rushed into the room. The large bay door rose with a rumbling hum, revealing several officers in exoskeletons.

“This is the police,” bellowed a loud voice from the intercom. “This facility is completely surrounded. Drop your weapons and put your hands up.”

The criminals loudly spewed profanities in a number of different languages. Neo SoCal was where the best of the world gathered, and after the best came the worst, hoping to make a few dollars of their own. The criminals kept looking around, hoping to see a way out as cops continued to pour into the building. Finally, they dropped their weapons and raised their hands, spouting curse words that impressed Jia with their comprehensive command of the language.

“Erik,” Emma transmitted. “Someone’s escaped the cordon.”

Erik spun, catching Jia’s attention, and they started running back out of the building. “Where?” His head swiveled from left to right.

“Multiple suspects.” Emma transmitted a green directional marker to Erik’s smart lenses. “Alerting 1-2-2 Incident Command.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll catch them.” He sprinted toward the fleeing suspects with Jia following, looking for anyone trying to ambush them.

The two detectives now led a small force of four other cops. The group rapidly closed on the six fleeing criminals. The suspects broke into two groups and ran in different directions. Erik and Jia followed one group, and the other cops rushed after the second.

The chase led Erik and Jia away from the darkened warehouse to a narrow street between distressed buildings in need of repair, but at least the occasional light shone to fight the gloom.

Jia jumped a pool of stagnant water. “Why always the stench?” she griped. “Couldn’t they choose an alley with better airflow?”

Eric snickered. What he was thinking, she was willing to say out loud. He dodged a shaky-looking pillar of boxes. “Why aren’t they shooting?”

“Maybe they don’t want to risk additional charges,” Jia called to him. “Or they realize who they’re dealing with?”

A bright yellow Taxútnta MX-60 hovered down the street. The car’s doors popped open, and the suspects picked up the pace of their desperate charge toward the vehicle.

“You obviously…share…similar tastes,” Jia remarked, panting as the two of them continued their effort to catch the criminals.

“Now they’re just pissing me off,” Erik growled. He ejected his magazine, catching it and slipping it into his pocket as he selected a different one, pulled it out, and popped it into his gun. He whipped up the weapon and narrowed his eyes. Using aim assist wouldn’t hurt, given the distance and the lighting.

Jia glanced at him, having overtaken him while he was switching magazines. “You haven’t fired a shot yet. Why did you reload?”

“You’ll see.” Erik slowed his run and waited until the three suspects had jumped into the car. He fired three times, satisfied with the blue arcs his shots produced. The flitter fell a meter to the ground, throwing out brief sparks.

“Disruptor bullets,” Jia observed.

“Trying to be more prepared,” he admitted as the two resumed their run.

The suspects hesitated for a few seconds before opening the doors, and the two detectives closed the distance. Erik shoved his weapon into one man’s face as he turned around, gun in hand. Jia stunned a second.

The third man, the driver, had his gun out but shook his head and ran for a nearby alley.

“Damn it.” Erik shoved his suspect to his knees. “Take care of this guy.”

Jia hurried around the front of the car and fired a round, stunning the suspect. “There.”

“That’s not what I meant, but that works.” Erik chuckled as the two of them hurried after the remaining suspect.

“You want to take him down, or should I?” Jia’s voice was getting a little strained. The run wasn’t a normal jog in the park.

“Knock yourself out,” he answered, looking around for any issues on their six.

Jia lined up her shot and fired once. The man yelped before collapsing. She winced at the hard impact and the two teeth that launched from his mouth.

“They shouldn’t run.” She shook her head. “This kind of thing wouldn’t happen if they didn’t run.”

He nodded as the two of them approached the suspect. “True enough. Let’s collect the trash, put ties on them, and drive their MX 60 back to the warehouse.” He looked up as a few windows opened above them and heads peeked out at the odd noises from below. “Anyone else on the run, Emma?”

“Not that I can see. There were a few on the second floor who attempted to resist until TPST arrived. It’s over.”

Erik shouldered his rifle. “Nice. A clean op.” Jia stood up, having placed a tie around the suspect’s wrists.

“Have you had your Wheaties this morning?” she asked, smiling.

Erik looked at her, his eyebrows narrowing in thought. “What’s a Wheatie?”

The two of them continued arguing over Wheaties as Eric grabbed the guy and hoisted him over his shoulder. One of the ladies paying attention to the cops below could hear the male detective as they walked away.

“Really? You are asking me about a breakfast food that ceased production in the twenty-second century? Are you sure you’re only in your twenties?”

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