Chapter Fourteen

Chief Tanya Wedge turned her gaze away from the cityscape view her office offered her, her dark brown eyes narrowing at him.

“Where the hell have you been?” Her burgundy suit paired perfectly with her dark skin.

“The tunnels,” he lied, “chasing some rats for a case I was working on. I was headed right over when a one-eight-seven got called in. I was a few blocks away so I took it.”

“Dispatch said they told you not to take the call, that you were to return here.”

“It was a few blocks away, Chief.” Geraldo tried to explain.

Tanya held up a finger.. “Mm-mm.” She said as she shook her head. “No, Geraldo. I don’t want excuses.”

Geraldo held out his hands and shrugged.

“Do you want an apology?”

Her eyes narrowed at him again as she folded her hands in front of her.

“It’d be a damn good start.”

“I’m sorry.”

Tanya held him in her intense gaze for a long moment.

“I forgot how bad of a liar you are.” Her hard features relaxed into a smile.

Geraldo returned the smile. The two of them went back a long way. Tanya had been his training officer when he had first started, and when he had made detective the two of them had been partners briefly. Tanya made lieutenant, and then chief a few months earlier.

“Sit your crippled ass down.” She pointed at one of the chairs in front of her desk.

Geraldo took a seat and waited as she rummaged through a desk drawer before she pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

“I thought you quit.” Geraldo said when she offered him one.

“I did.” She took a cigarette out of the pack and placed it between her lips. She flicked a lighter on, cupping it and holding it out for him.

“Does John know?” Geraldo asked as he leaned forward and let her light the cigarette.

“No.” She mumbled as she lit her own. “And I’m not going to tell him.”

She let out a stream of bluish smoke.

“Every good marriage has its secrets, Geraldo.”

“I’ll remember that.”

She leaned back and studied him as she took another drag.

“You heard about the break in?”

“Yeah. They take anything?” Geraldo asked.

“We don’t know. IT tells me all files are intact, and nothing came in or out on the either web.”

“Why bother breaking in then?”

“That’s the question, Geraldo. Management is breathing down my neck to find out how it was done. Worst of all, the breach was made from this precinct. They are threatening to turn it over to Cy-Tech.”

“They won’t let us handle it in-house?” Geraldo raised an eyebrow. Internal problems were almost always taken care of internally. The threat of corporate sabotage was too great, even if the company was contracted to help. Keeping company secrets was the number one priority, even for Taurus. If management was willing to hire Cy-Tech then it meant the breach was more than a quick peek show for a hacker.

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“What do you know about the Taurus system?” Tanya asked as she leaned forward and tapped her cigarette over an ash ray.

“It's an AI that links up with the city management system, Omnisystem. Taurus is responsible for coordinating policing and enforcement.”

“Both their deployment is damn near worldwide.” Tanya added. “Taurus AI isn’t our intellectual property. It’s the property of the UN charter, who happens to be our employer. The backlash from a breach could cost not just my job, but everyone employed by Taurus. The contract from the UN is what made us a global policing powerhouse. Without them, we will be back to guarding shopping malls.”

“You going to get a netbreaker and have them look into it?”

“That’s the thing, Ger.” Tanya leaned forward intently. “It wasn’t hacked through the eitherweb. It was an inside job, and we know the system was accessed from the inside. In this office.”

Geraldo shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He was unsure of where Tanya was heading with this. He was used to deviants being blamed for most of the ills the world had, and why not? Almost all of them were in poverty, and few had any real options. It wasn’t a surprise that when something went wrong and a deviant was nearby, all the fingers would be pointed at them.

He would never imagine that something as serious as this would be pinned on a deviant, let alone him. Geraldo looked over his shoulders, half expecting armed officers to bust through the door to drag him away.

Tanya stamped out her cigarette before she pulled out another and lit it. She stared out the window deep in thought.

“I need you on this, Ger.”

“Me?” Geraldo laughed, his fear and paranoia evaporating with each chuckle.

Tanya shot him a hard look.

“Yes. You.”

“I’m homicide.” He reminded her. “I wouldn’t know one thing about either crime. Find yourself a Netbreaker.”

“I can’t trust anyone on this Ger, I don’t even know if I can trust you.”

“Then why ask me?”

“Because you would have too much to lose if you did this, and let’s face it Geraldo; it’s a wonder you can figure out how to turn the lights on sometimes. Interfacing with an AI seems a little out of your league.” She gave him a sideways glance. “No offense.”

“Look.” Tanya’s voice eased from its normal intensity to almost a soft whisper. “I know you don’t want to do this.”

“What gave it away?” Geraldo grunted and crossed his arms. “It’s true; I’m no netbreaker. I have never even jumped into the Eithernet. The most I have done is dabble on network sites ran off the Eithernet. Ordering food for my cat, getting take out, or enjoying an adult website once in a while, Tanya. I wouldn’t know where to even start.”

“You start with this.” Tanya reached in and pulled out a data tape and held it up. “It’s everything we got so far.”

Geraldo lifted himself from his seat and reached out to take the tape, but just as his fingers were about to touch the small plastic reel, Tanya pulled it away.

“You are the only one on this, do I make myself clear?”

“Like crystal.”

She handed the tape over to him. “Report what you find to me, you understand.”

“Relax,” Geraldo snatched the tape from her, “this will stay between you and me.”

“You crack this and it will be big for you, Geraldo, and for me. But if we can’t get to the bottom of this, then I will find myself out on the street, or worse. Corporations don’t like loose ends. And if I’m not here then there is no one looking out for you.”

You have worked too hard to get here.” She reminded him.

Tanya’s concern was more than the concern for a friend, Geraldo knew that. Her daughter, Vanesa, was a deviant. Tanya had told him that she saw him as hope for her. A sign that things were changing.

Geraldo looked over the tape, flipping it around in his large hands. It was no bigger than a pack of matches, but the data it held was more than most computers could have held a few decades passed.

“How’s V?”

Tanya smiled as she blew out more smoke. Talking about V always seemed to bring a smile to her face.

“She’s good. Started high school. Took to her new legs just like you said she would.”

“She still looking at the stars?”

“Every damn night. What about you Geraldo? Still held up in that shithole with that cat?”

“Inu and I are still held up in our shithole.”

Tanya gave him a leveled stair.

“You know Inu means dog in Japanese, don’t you?”

“I couldn’t afford a dog, thought naming him Inu would make up for it. Plus,” Geraldo stamped out his own smoke, “I think a dog would be too friendly for me. Need something that hates the world as much as I do. The furry little asshole fits the bill.”

Tanya pivoted her chair around to look out at the city scape one last time.

“Take the rest of the day off from the office. Look over the tape, see what you can find.”

“Tell John I said hello.” Geraldo said as he scooted his chair out and stood up.

“I will.”

"And V.” He added before he left.

Tanya only nodded.