"How's the lip?" Geraldo asked as Gabriela examined her swollen lip in the car's vanity mirror.

"It will heal." She touched delicately around the now-closed wound of her lip before she pushed the mirror away. "I don't think it will need stitches."

“It’s healing fast.” Geraldo noted with a glance.

“I’m a designer baby. Mom wanted to make sure she wasn’t weighed down by a sick kid. Paid extra to have my immune system tweaked.” Gabriela turned head away and looked out the window as they drove, her head resting in her hand against the car door. Her transparent reflection stared back at her.

“Any other ‘designer additions’?”

“Other than my good looks and charm?”

"I'm sorry," Geraldo said abruptly.

Gabriela glanced over at him and then quickly back to the window. "For?"

"Sending you in there like that. I should have been with you."

"You said it yourself; Pet would recognize you. So it had to be me."

"I know, but I should have been there."

Gabriela rolled her eyes and looked back at him. "Listen, Geraldo. I don't need you looking out for me. I can handle myself."

Geraldo glanced over at her, and then quickly back to the road. "I never said you did."

"I thought you would be different." She mumbled.

"From what?"

"From everyone else." She leaned forward and turned to him slightly, brushing back her hair. "Everyone has tried to keep me out of harm's way since the day I joined. I thought that you, of all people, would treat me more than some fragile wallflower."

"Because I am a crip?" He scoffed back.

"Jesus, no." Gabriela struggled to keep her voice down. "Because you of all people didn't seem to give a damn. Every day I see you walk into the office. There is no bullshit, no ass-kissing. You just go to your office and do your job. Fuck, I thought you would be harder on me because we are both trying for the same promotion."

"You are right." He said after a long movement. "You are not some greenhorn rookie. I'm sorry. You don't deserve this."

"I am not easy to work with." Geraldo admitted after another pause. "Haven't had a partner since I made detective. Not a whole lot of people lining up to be partnered with a crip."

"I'm sorry, Geraldo." She felt ashamed for how she had treated him. She had mistaken his concern for condescending support.

"I'm not saying that to make you feel bad," He interrupted. "I don't need pity. I am telling you this because I know what it's like to be treated differently simply for how you were born. You and I may be from different worlds, but we are still walking the same road."

And my concern for you isn't misplaced bias. I really should have been with you, especially after we learned that gangers were involved. It could have ended badly for both of us." He added.

"You were there when it mattered."

Geraldo gave her his signature stiff nod.

"What should we expect from the Church of Saint Saviour?" She said, changing the subject. The moment had gotten too personal for Gabriela. It wasn't that she hated tender moments; she just wasn't good at them. She chalked it up to her cold upbringing.

"It's a mission for the cast-outs." He explained. "People who don't belong to a gang or community."

"Why wouldn't they belong to a community?"

"Depends," Geraldo explained as he pulled the car off the main road. The side streets were littered with trash, and the vehicle’s cooling fans kicked up a whirlwind of papers and discarded food wrappers. "Some of them are refugees fleeing Russia, others are just migrants, and some just want to be forgotten."

He stopped the car. The Church of Saint Saviour was built out of stone. Its architecture was old, older than the city itself. A high gothic steeple reached above them, nestled between two mega structures.

"Shit, this is old." Gabriela mumbled.

"Older than the city, and older than the city New Madrid was built on."

"Surprised it wasn't torn down." Gabriela unlatched her buckle and opened the door,

"There are hidden gems like this scattered all over Lower City, and a few in Upper City."

Gabriela unholstered her gun. "Look at you learning." Geraldo smiled, and drew his own.

"No more bullshit. Let's find this Nora Thane."

"Agreed." Geraldo slammed the car door and headed for the church doors, Gabriela close behind.

The church smelled as old as it looked. The main chapel was a large room with golden religious iconography on the far wall of the dais. The pews that should have filled this room were gone, replaced by make-shift spaces made from tarps and sheets. And the ever present smell of mildew and incense.

Dirty faces turned towards them. Someone gasped and cried out, "Taurus!"

"No one move!" Geraldo bellowed out. "Under article five-five-one-dot-five-one-seven, anyone attempting to flee an official security sweep can be met with extreme and or lethal force!"

The people who had started to move toward the exit paused and hunkered down in place. "You don't have authority here!" A tall, lanky man said as he walked up to them. Gabriela could see by the white-collar that he was a priest.

"Are you Father Diaz?" Gabriela asked.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"I am." The Priest stomped up to them and repeated. "You do not have authority here."

"Religious immunity was revoked in the Charter. It hasn't been a thing for fifty years." Gabriela informed him.

Father Diaz looked from Gabriela to Geraldo before he ran a frail hand over his wispy hair. "Please, this is the house of the Lord."

"Oh?" Geraldo raised an eyebrow. "Is he home? Because we will need to question him too."

"We are looking for a woman named Nora Thane. Is she here?"

"Please, officers." The Priest clasped his hands together and walked backwards as they walked forward. "These people are simple people, trying to just get through the day. They are not criminals."

"Nora Thane," Gabriela growled. "This is the last time I'm going to ask you if she is here."

The Priest opened his mouth one more time before a woman near the iconography stood up and shouted. "I'm here! I am Nora Thane."

Gabriela pushed Father Diaz aside, who continued to beg and plead with them to go. She stepped down the small set of steps that led into the main chapel. The woman who claimed to be Nora took a step back as they approached. Her eyes darting to the small tent she stood by.

The woman's clothes were dirty, filled with holes and fraying seams. A blanket was draped over her head like a vale. Hiding her face from them.

"Nora Thane," Geraldo said as they approached. "You are under arrest for soliciting and procuring stolen implants.

Nora held up her hands and shook her head. "Please, it's not what you think." Gabriela could see her lip had been cleft, a jagged scar running up the middle of her lip to her nose.

"Turn around and put your hands behind your back." Geraldo instructed, forcefully turning her around.

Gabriela stopped by her tent and slowly lifted the canvas. "Geraldo. Stop." She said when her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the tent's interior. Personal belongings were stacked at one end, with a sleeping bag taking up the rest of the tent's space. Swaddled on top of the sleeping bag was a tiny baby.

Gabriela lifted the tent flap higher so that Geraldo could see what was inside. "Shit." He whispered before he let Nora go.

"It's unregistered." Gabriela's AFD highlighted the child's face and the words "No match found" flashed across her vision.

"Get everyone out of here," Geraldo demanded.

Father Diez nodded and called everyone to follow him outside. "Please, follow me out so that we can pray."

"They will kill the baby." A man pointed out frantically. "We can't just leave her here."

Geraldo raised his gun and leveled it at the man's head. "I suggest you go pray with the Priest." He turned around, addressing everyone. "Everyone out. This is the last time I am going to ask."

People filed past them quickly. A few were brave enough to glare as they walked past. One old woman was bold enough to spit at their feet. Geraldo and Gabriela waited until the heavy doors closed behind them. "Now what?" Geraldo asked.

"Unregistered children are supposed to be terminated."

"Please," Nora rushed to her baby and picked her up before she backed away from them, sobbing. "Please don't hurt her. She's innocent."

Gabriela holstered her pistol before Geraldo did the same. She held up her hands and slowly approached the woman and her child. The baby looked perfect, save for a scar on the side of the baby's head.

"She looks-" Gabriela struggled for the right words.

"Perfect." Geraldo finished for her.

"She is. She is perfect, or near enough to be perfect." Nora looked up at them. The tears had left streaks in the grime that covered her face. "She has no physical deformities. She is typical in every way, except for seizures."

"She couldn't have bought the implant legally," Gabriela said. It suddenly all made sense to her then. "The baby would be terminated the moment she took it to a clinic."

Nora nodded but said nothing. Instead, she only whispered indiscernibly to the tiny baby.

"We need to know where you got the implant," Geraldo said softly. "Who installed it?"

"I will tell you anything you want, just please don't hurt her."

"Start with who sold the implant."

"I don't know his name," Nora admitted.

Gabriela groaned and shook her head.

"But I can tell you where they are." Insisted Nora. "There is an apothecary on old Front Street, that's where I bought the implant, and they installed it there. The doctor has a clinic below the apothecary. When I got there, I was told to ask for something for migraines and tell them I saw three spots. That's how they knew it was me. The deal was set up by a shadow broker. I'm sorry, that's all I know."

"Thank you," Gabriela said softly.

Geraldo took Gabriela by the arm and pulled her away. He leaned in and whispered. "What do we do about the baby?"

Gabriela looked into his strange eyes and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Do you have a kit in the car?”

“Yeah. I’ll go get it.”

Nora continued to sob and rock her child while Gabriela waited on Geraldo. He came back with a small Velcro seal pouch and handed it to her. “I can do this.” He offered.

“I will handle this. Go outside and make sure the rest of the people keep calm." She told him.

"Are you sure?"

She gave his shoulder a squeeze and nodded. "Go." Gabriela stepped away from him and slowly turned towards Nora and her baby,

Geraldo left without a word.

"Please don't do this." Nora wailed and slowly sank to her knees. Her baby began to fuss as Gabriela opened the kit. Inside was an auto injector. She said nothing to Nora as she walked slowly forward.

The loud sound of the heavy doors opening and closing caused Nora to flinch.

Gabriela slowly knelt down in front of the woman and her baby. "What's her name?"

"Please don't do this," Nora screamed again.

"I had a child once," Gabriela explained. "I was young and thought I was in love. Nickolas, that was the father's name. He and I thought that since we were both gen perfect, and that I was designed with a better immune system, that we would be safe from the phage."

A tear rolled down Gabriela’s cheek as she reached out and touched the baby's soft, smooth skin. She was perfect. "It was a girl. She lived for five minutes. The best five minutes of my entire life. We didn't officially name her, but I knew she had a name. I knew in my heart her name was Monica." Gabriela touched just above her left breast. "She was so small, so tiny."

Gabriela checked behind her one last time, ensuring no one was there to witness what was about to happen. Then, slowly Gabriela stood up and looked down at the woman who desperately tried to shelter the baby from what was about to come next.

Slowly, Gabriela raised the auto injector, and ejected the cartridge. It shattered on the stone floor, She reached into her pocket with her free hand, and pulled out a credit chip. She let the chip fall to the ground. "There is one tenth of an Etherium on that chip, enough to get you out of New Madrid. Don't head west to the states. They are under the Charter. Go to Russia."

Nora looked up. Wide-eyed.

"Hurry," Gabriela whispered.

"What's your name?"

"Gabriela."

"Then that's what I will name her." Nora reached out and took the chip.

Gabriela stood and watched her go. Nora stopped by the back door and turned around once more and mouthed the words "Thank you." Before she left.

Gabriela counted to thirty, giving Nora and her baby enough time to be far enough away. She could hear the babies crying growing dimmer as they left. She waited until she could no longer hear its cries before she turned and left.

Outside, the church's residents were weeping and praying. Some yelled angrily at her as she walked by. Geraldo had the car door opened for her and waited inside.

“You are a fucking monster!” The brazen old woman shouted.

"You, okay?" He asked as she shut the car door.

"Peachy. Let's go to old Front Street."

The crowd followed them as the car backed out from the church. Once they were pulling away the mob began to throw trash and rubbish at them. Gabriela flinched when a rock hit the back window.

“What did you do with the baby?” Geraldo asked.

Gabriela wiped a tear away. “I did what was right.

Geraldo didn’t ask anything else. They drove in silence.