Son of Sedonia

32

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“SHIMA CALLING” THE text flashed in the lower-left corner of Kabbard’s vision along with a four-year-old profile picture of Shima. Wasted drunk at the annual EXO Christmas party, shirtless and flexing by the indoor pool. Kabbard reached up, dragged the ‘Ignore’ slider to the left, and resumed watch on the location trace. Despite cruising in the enforcement lane through the Kuwahara Commons, the digits on his ETA ticked down painfully slow. A crime now that he was back at the Zeus’ controls.

“F*ck the speed cap,” said Kabbard into his throat mic, “both of you hit your strobes and follow me.” He squeezed the flight sticks and pressed his foot down, accelerating past the speed cap.

BEEP! The new voicemail tone shrieked in his ear, making him miss the days of handheld communication. At least back then you had something you could tomahawk into a wall.

“Sir, with all due respect, isn’t racing through the Commons with government strobes a little ‘above-board’?” asked Nicks over the comms.

“Follow. Me.” Kabbard said as he flicked his strobes on and pressed faster through the lane. SCPD patrol cars and ambulances made way for him. He glanced at the meandering gold dot in the trace display. It had registered about a half-hour ago in downtown Shibuya, and stayed pretty much still in some chip-trash dump called The Singularity. As the Furies flicked on their blue and whites and throttled up beside him, Kabbard watched his ETA adjust. ‘Sato calling...’

Kabbard wrapped his thick-knuckled fingers around a phantom device in his hand. Releasing it, he dragged the “Answer” slider to the right. The congressman’s wide-set eyes greeted him with a flat scowl.

“I’ve been waiting by the phone, John. I hate waiting by the phone,” said Sato, his silver-tongued voice cracking. The phone’s in your head, a*shole. You’re always waiting by it.

“Uh yes, sir, we’re closing on the subject now and will have him in custody within the hour. Now if you’ll excuse me,” Kabbard did his best to not talk through his teeth. Reached for ‘Disconnect.’

“Within the hour?! It’s been four since you assured me this would be taken care of!”

Kabbard wasn’t scared of this little man. Sato had impressed him once, but now that the bullshit had been screened away, the visionary Governor was just another bureaucrat who decided on things he didn’t understand, delegated all the real work, and threw a fit if the results didn’t taste right. Useless prick. But this wasn’t Sato’s fault. The recognition flickered somewhere in the back of Kabbard’s awareness, doing nothing to calm him. It twisted in his intestines.

“We’ve got a solid location trace, and we—”

“What?! You mean you’re tracking an active chip?! In the goddamn CITY?!” Sato roared. Even through the color fluctuation of Kabbard’s Neural display, he saw the Governor’s oaken skin pale.

“Won’t be active for long, sir. Nicks is talking to the central server right now installing an intercept algorithm on the trace,” said Kabbard. But he knew Sato’s reaction before it left the man’s lips.

“Meaning...Christ. It’s active and available for anyone to see right now, including the f*cking Rindal estate,” said Sato. The Zeus and the Fury ships arrived at the nearest open pad in downtown Shibuya, away from the larger crowds. Kabbard, Nicks, and Andreas stepped out, checked their weapons, then holstered them under their coats. Kabbard kept talking.

“We’ve got no indication that there’s been any transmission to the estate.”

“Actually, sir,” Andreas said, joining the call stream, “the target has accessed—”

“Gotta deal with what’s in front of us. Let me do my job and we’ll have him within the hour, sir. Kabbard out,” Kabbard swiped across the call, ending it. He set his status to ‘Busy: Try again later’ then lunged at Andreas, grabbing the snake by the silk tie. Cocked back a shaking fist.

“Undermine me again. Please,” Kabbard growled, inches from Andreas’ crooked, wide-eyed face. Kabbard stared until a bead of sweat rolled down the kid’s brow, then released him.

“I was just going to say,” said Andreas readjusting the suit, “the estate has already been pinged. Nicks managed to tag it as a hacking violation, but it looks like the kid has charged over fifteen-hundred credits and counting to the trust fund,” Andreas smiled, revealing his crowded teeth. “One hell of a bar tab.”