Chapter 49

“Gabriela?” Geraldo called out, looking for her. He stumbled out through an open door into a courtyard. Geraldo saw Gabriela ascending a large staircase which led to the lip of the dam.

“Gabriela!” Geraldo shouted after her. She paused and looked back for a moment before she limped her way up the stairs.

Geraldo cursed himself for letting his body grow soft in the past few years. The stairs were steep. Geraldo stopped briefly next to a backpack Gabriela had been wearing. She had discarded it on one of the platforms the stairs leveled off on, before they continued upward. There was a bench for visitors of the dam to rest at, allowing them a view of the river. Geraldo shook his head as he passed it. He raised his rifle and scanned the area when he got to the top of the stairs. His head spun as he gasped for air. He lowered the weapon when he saw Gabriela standing at the edge of the dam.He approached slowly.

“Gab.” He called out. Geraldo had to shout to be heard over the sound of the water that rushed into the dam. She quickly turned around, looking him in the eyes. Her pistol was raised and ready.

“Whoa!” Geraldo cried and raised his own weapon.

“I didn’t kill him, Geraldo.” She said robotically. The pistol trained on him.

“I know.” Geraldo's finger hovered over the trigger. “Put the gun down, Gab.”

“You know what I really did.”

“You helped the Sons hack Taurus. I saw your memory recording.”

“I had no idea any of this would happen, Geraldo.”

“All those people, Gab. They are dead.” Geraldo took a step closer.

“This wasn't my fault. They used me. The Sons used me to hack Taurus.

“Why, Gabriela? You had it all. A good job, a future. Why throw it all away?”

“I have nothing, Geraldo. Everything I had they took from me.” A tear slid down Gabriela's face as she took a step back, closer to the edge of the dam. “Angela told me that they planned for my baby to die. Not that they knew, but that they made it happen, Geraldo. She was my world. My reason for being.”

“Who are ‘they’?” Geraldo asked. He was beginning to worry about how close Gabriela was to the edge of the dam.

“I don’t know. That's why I need to wait here. To finally understand why this has all happened to me.” She shook her head. “There's no coming back from this. The only way out is through to the other end.”

Geraldo took a step closer to her.

“We can fix this.” He was so close to her, he knew that in a few more steps he could grab her, pull her away from the edge.

Gabriela let the pistol drop a few inches. “Do you really believe that?”

“I think we can try, together.” One more step closer.

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Gabriela wiped her nose with the back of her hand and raised the pistol once more, causing Geraldo to take a step back.

“If I go with you then all of this was for nothing. I need answers, Geraldo, and you know what the company does to corporate moles. It would be better if you kill me; here and now.”

“Please, Gabriela. Don’t make me shoot you.” Geraldo pleaded. He had come too far himself. He needed his own answers. He couldn't let this end in a shootout, or by Gabriela jumping to her death.

“You're a good man, Geraldo. Maybe that's what's really held you back all these years.”

The sound of a gunshot caused Geraldo to flinch. He watched Gabriel jerk, her eyes wide as she fell backwards. He tried to catch her, his outreached hand brushing her fingers before she toppled backwards, over the dam and into the rushing waters below.

Gabriela was gone. Geraldo scrambled to the edge of the dam, hoping beyond hope that he could see her in the rapids of the water below. When he couldn't, he turned back, his weapon raised, searching for the gunman. The barrel of the rifle shook when he saw Brian on the lamp post, LMR in hand. He had a perfect bead on his position. Geraldo thought that the man would end him next, but Brian only climbed down the tower.

Geraldo looked for Brian, but he couldn't find him. Taurus arrived before Cy-Tech and quickly took control of the crime scene. Geraldo sat with his back against a wall, staring out over the dam. He had looked through Gabriela’s backpack, finding only a meta deck, which he had slid into his pocket, hiding it from Taurus.

He had sat there in quiet contemplation for nearly an hour before Tanya arrived.

“Brian contacted me.” Tanya said as she took a seat next to him. “Said you took her out. Had no choice.”

“Is that so?” Geraldo clenched his teeth.

“Said she tried to shoot you. It's a clean cut story, Ger.” She stressed. “Do you understand?”

“Yeah, Chief. I understand.” Geraldo let his head drop. “What about Cy-Tech?”

“Andrews went rogue. He was a psychopath that slipped through psych evaluation. Shit happens.”

“How many people are dead, Tanya?” Geraldo turned and looked at her for the first time.

“A lot, Ger.” She gave his shoulder a squeeze. “But you did everything you could. There was no way of knowing what the Sons were planning, no way we could have stopped them.”

We have proof that they hacked Taurus.” Tanya must have seen the look of disgust on his face, and misread it as she continued. “I know you always like to get your man, and you thought that the hacker was Gabriela, but sometimes you just have to accept that you barked up the wrong tree. In the end you got the perp, just not the one you were looking for. You are a hero.”

“How did they do it? How did the Sons compromise Taurus?” Geraldo probed.

“How did they get a bomb into the city, Tanya?”

“Dallis Sean,” She explained. The name sounded familiar, but Geraldo couldn't place it. “He was the tech on duty that night during the break in.”

Geraldo put the name to a face. The neurodivergent tech he had interviewed. “How do you know it was Dallis Sean?”

“He had the means, and the motive.” She added.

“What motive? The kid’s a loner, a nobody.” He wanted to scream in her face that she was lying, that he knew it was her, but instead he only frowned and grimaced.

“He had debts, and his history in the ether is dubious.” Tanya leaned back against the wall. “Extremist virtual rooms, questionable activity in the ether. That sort of thing.”

Geraldo stood up. He didn't feel like a hero. He felt like a failure. He knew the truth, but it was worthless now, and worst of all they were going to let some kid hang for it. Geraldo figured the only thing that Dalis was guilty of was being born neurodivergent. It was the only thing worse than being born a crip.

He looked back down at Tanya. “I’ll have my report on your desk first thing in the morning.” He told her.

“Maybe you should wait.” She stood up and put a hand on his chest. “Go to the hospital, get yourself checked out”

“This is nothing.” Geraldo motioned to his beat up body. “A beer and a reheated meal is all I need. I’ll be fine.” He assured her.

“Okay.”

“Tomorrow?” He asked and took her hand from his chest and held it for a moment.

“Tomorrow.” She nodded.