37.

The smell of blood permeated the room. Geraldo sat with an unlit cigarette between his lips, staring at the body of Boris. He had managed to make sure all the video footage was scrubbed from the dead man's terminal and did his best to ensure that the spool in his pocket was the only remaining copy of Gabriela’s memory recording.

His fingers fidgeted with the data spool. Turning the tape over and over in his jacket pocket as he watched the techs do their job.

Charles was the first tech to arrive, and he had quickly gotten to work after the officers cleared the crime scene. Soon the room was filled with techs, all of them combing over the evidence the room contained. It was a treasure trove of contraband. Boris had been busy. Very busy.

“You okay, Ger?” Charles asked as he hobbled over to him.

“I killed him.” Geraldo looked at Charles with a vacant stare.

Charles looked over his shoulder before he ordered the rest of the techs and officers out of the room. He waited until they were all gone before he turned back to Geraldo. “You did what you had to, kid.”

“Is his brain dock still intact?”

“Do you want it to be?”

Geraldo looked back at the body. “No,” He whispered.

“Then no, it was too damaged to pull anything off of.” Charles put a hand on Geraldo’s shoulder. “What happened?”

“I shot him, Chuck. I killed a man.”

“You have killed lots of men, Geraldo. It’s part of the job.” The old man reassured him.

Geraldo shook his head. “Not like this.”

Charles sighed, pulled a stool over and took a seat. The metal stool groaned as he eased himself on to it. “What's going on?”

“I’m in some deep shit, Chuck.” Geraldo buried his face in his hands before he pulled them up, and ran them over his bald head. “Some real deep fucking shit.”

“Does this have to do with Gabriela?”

“Yeah.”

Charles took a deep breath. “Listen, I like the kid, but she chose to murder a man.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“I just murdered a man,” Geraldo reminded him.

“This is different. Gabriela murdered an innocent man in cold blood. She’s a terrorist. This man.” Charles dipped his head towards the dead body. “He got what was coming for him. We haven’t even gone through a fraction of the stuff this sicko had on his terminal, but what we do have is some real sick stuff. He was taking memories, snuff memories, and creating constructs around them.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he was making it so clients could not just witness these memories, but reliving them. And he had an eclectic collection of sick shit. Rape, murder, torture. And it didn’t seem to matter the age of the victims, Geraldo. This man was making a fortune peddling murder porn of kids. You did the world a favor. His ass is rotting in hell.”

“Do you believe in that?”

“What? Hell?.” Charles shrugged. “I dunno, kid. I like the idea that bad people get what's coming to them.”

“She didn’t do it.” Geraldo mumbled. The cigarette between his lips danced up and down.

Charles pulled out a lighter and lit it for him, before he lit one of his own. The old man took a long drag and exhaled. “She didn’t do what?”

“Gabriela didn’t kill Owen Conner.”

Charles laughed a little. “Geraldo, there is a mountain of evidence that says otherwise.”

“She was framed. She was at Taurus at the time of the murder.”

Charles' eyes narrowed. “And you have proof of this?”

Geraldo pulled the data spool from his pocket and handed it to Charles.

“What's this?” The old man asked as he examined the spool.

“Memories. Gabriela's memories. She broke in to the Taurus mainframe, and had the memories changed so she couldn’t implicate anyone else involved.”

“And the raw memories are on this?” Charles lifted the spool up.

“All of them. Do you think they could be faked? Like a video?”

“No.” Charles handed the spool back to him. “I would get rid of that, and keep your mouth shut.”

“What about Gabriela?”

Charles leaned back. “If what you say is true, that she is somehow being framed, then there is nothing that can be done to save her, and if you try, then whoever has the power to do this to her, will come after you.”

“Why would someone frame her?”

“Who knows. Maybe they wanted Owen Conner dead, and she just happened to fit the profile for someone who could pull it off. Maybe it has to do with her mother. I heard she is an important woman. This could be some sort of political hit. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is you drop it, and forget about it. You will live longer.”

“I can’t do that, Chuck.” Geraldo shook his head. “I can’t let her take the fall for something she didn’t do.”

“But she did do something, you said it yourself; she broke into the Taurus mainframe.” Charlies pointed a meaty finger at him. “Think the company will just shrug it off? She is dead either way you look at it.”

“I can’t let them get away with this, whoever they are.”

Charles sighed. “You're right, Geraldo. You are in some deep shit.”

They both jumped when Geraldo's personal terminal rang. Slowly, Geraldo pulled it from his pocket.

“Yes?”

“Where are you?” Andrew’s voice demanded.

“Wet Street.”

“You need to get your ass to Cy-Tech HQ. Stay where you are and I’ll send a gun ship to pick you up.”

Geraldo slowly stood up. “Why, what's going on?”

“We found her. We found Gabriela Fohren.”