Captain Fox listened intently as Laith shared his plan with her. It came, unsurprisingly, with a request. Laith knew he couldn’t pull off his plan alone. He wished he didn’t have to resort to such measures – wished that he could walk away from all of this and pretend he didn’t know anything at all. Now, however, there was absolutely no chance of that happening. In fact, there was no chance of much of anything happening.

Laith needed to think about his family first – about Warda and himself, about their parents and other relatives – and ensure their safety. After his run-in with Lockwood earlier that morning, he was sure it wouldn’t just be one monster looking to shut him up and destroy any evidence that had been amassed against him. It’d be his whole posse – all the so-called Devils in the Ruins. They certainly knew how to style themselves. And then, beyond that… There was PATET to deal with.

Finally, Captain Fox broke her silence. “The scorched earth tactic is… Well, it’s drastic, but might just be viable in this situation. But even before we get to that, the plan needs to succeed at so many phases… Are you sure this is the only way?” she asked.

“Do you have any better ideas?” Laith responded, and when she shook his head, he said: “Then, yes, this is the best I can think of on short notice. I need to make sure everyone is safe before I can start moving on my own, and I need to make sure the Devils are taken care of before we do anything else.”

“We could always just work concurrently. I’ll take care of PATET, and you take care of Lockwood and the Devils in the Ruins,” she suggested.

Laith shook his head. “PATET is just a tool. We could jump straight into the scorched earth strategy – or even just a complete shut-down – but it would cause a mass panic. Can you imagine what would happen if just one hour – one hour – of downtime happened? Everything would come to a halt. Everything would be a mess. Not to mention the fact that all the security systems would be out of order. The Devils would use that as an opportunity. Besides, it’ll require time and resources to plan. You’ll probably be working on that, anyway. Will you help me?”

Captain Olivia Fox chewed on her lip thoughtfully, then huffed and shook out her hands nervously. “I’ve never done something like this before, but… Yes, I think I can make it happen. I’ll have to scout out some more people we can use – people we can trust within the Heliopolis PD force. I don’t know how deep the corruption goes. We’ll need a Specialist, though – someone like Grot Antrum to help us out on the PATET front. We won’t be able to make it work otherwise. Like you said, though, it’ll take too long to plant one of our own in there.”

“I don’t think we’ll need to. I know someone who can help,” Laith said. “Someone who won’t have any other choice.”

“Oh?” Captain Fox asked curiously. “And who might that be, Detective?”

“A little friend that played me for a fool a while back,” Laith told her, rubbing his hands together. “It’s about time I repaid the favour, I think.”

☀️ ☀️ ☀️

Audra Haize looked older than he remembered, mostly because she now sported an impressive set of dark eye bags and a heavy-lidded look of weariness she hadn’t had before. Back when he’d last seen her, Audra Haize was chipper, active, and very chatty. This morning, however, she was anything but – and it might have had something to do with their crack-of-dawn meeting and the slight amount of unpleasant and probably quite shocking blackmail that had taken place.

It also might have had something to do with the fact that she’d been up most of the night, using her skills to help a certain someone break into a certain apartment undetected.

“So, you want me to write up a set of false reports and witness statements?” she asked, using her Slate to open yet another door. Her hand shook slightly. The irony of a place with so many security checkpoints being home to one of the biggest security issues Heliopolis had ever seen was not completely lost on Laith.

“The sooner you get started, the better,” Captain Fox said, taking in her surroundings. “We’re on a time crunch here, so how about you look a little lively, eh?”

PATET HQ was completely empty, save for the three of them – Audra, Laith, and Olivia. The Captain had come along to give more weight to his blackmail. Warda, on the other hand, had left to visit her parents. It was easier if she was elsewhere when Laith did what he needed to do. Even though he’d told her his plan, he didn’t want there to be any question that she hadn’t been involved at all.

“How did you know it was me, anyway?” Haize grumbled, taking a seat at her desk and slipping her Slate into the slot. The screen lit up, and when she pressed the tips of all five fingers on her right hand on the screen, she was granted access.

“I didn’t suspect you at first. Actually, I suspected Grot Antrum,” Laith said. “He allegedly messed around with PATET before and had never been caught, and I assumed that, being the one person I knew of who was a PATET Specialist and who was also connected to Cassia Grove, it made sense that he was probably involved in her murder. Now, though, I have a problem with that theory: Grot Antrum is dead. He died days ago. But last night, a murderer was able to get into my home without setting off any alarms. Not possible without help from a PATET insider. And then I got to thinking – if Antrum’s dead, then who could possibly be helping this killer out?” Laith took a seat at the desk beside hers.

“Oddly enough, you popped into my mind, Ms. Haize,” he said with a small smile. “I can’t say why, exactly. Maybe it’s because of the fact that you made it quite obvious you’re skilled enough to pull something like this off – going so far as to dig into logs and registries that an entry-level Specialist such as yourself should have no access to. You’re obviously a very knowledgeable and very capable young woman. Or maybe it’s because you paid with cash that day at the cafe – and big bills, to boot. Keep the change, you said. I kept thinking about that – about how much money that was, to be carrying around as cash, and how a Specialist got her hands on that kind of money when your boss Grot Antrum lived in a tiny apartment and just about barely made his rent. And that’s when I realized that you were Invidia.”

She frowned. “That’s a big jump,” she said. “I’m Invidia because I can do my job well and I have cash?”

“No,” Laith told her. “Grot Antrum was living in deplorable conditions for someone who was making as much as he was. He was supposed to be raking in more money that you, as your superior, but he wasn’t really doing all that well financially. His apartment is tiny, and all of his furtniture looks worn and old. Someone with his paycheck wouldn’t live in a place like that. At the very least, he’d replace his furniture. But he didn’t. Not because he didn’t want to – I don’t think anyone would say no to fixing up their own place – but because he couldn’t. You see, most of that money that he was making wasn’t being used by him at all. You were blackmailing him, too, weren’t you?”

Haize didn’t say anything, but Laith noticed her tightly set jaw and the way her hands balled into fists on her lap, and he realized that he’d been right all along. “You’re not a professional, of course. You just saw an opportunity and took it. But I don’t think you realized what you’d gotten yourself into, did you? You didn’t realize what Antrum was tangled up in with Cassia Grove and Aster Lockwood. Somehow, you found out about Lockwood’s false identity and Antrum’s role in the whole thing, and you thought it was a clear cut case of identity fraud. You didn’t realize that there was murder involved. Or, maybe you did. Maybe you knew all along, and you didn’t care that you were helping out a murderer by keeping quiet – you just wanted your money.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“That’s not true!” Haize burst out, turning around in her chair to face him, her inky black braid flipping over her shoulder. “That’s not true. I didn’t know about the murder. He was just some guy with a fake ID. I know that kind of thing happens – Antrum wasn’t the first Specialist to dip his fingers in a little bonus work – but I’d never actually seen it for myself. When I figured out what Antrum had done, and who he’d helped out… You’re right. I took the opportunity. Lockwood’s rich and Antrum was a jerk, so I figured at least I could make a little money off of them. Keep Antrum in line, keep my evaluations positive so I could move up the ladder a bit quicker, and earn some extra cash. Antrum paid up because he was terrified of going to prison, but Lockwood wouldn’t budge. He wouldn’t pay up, and even though I threatened him, he… He called my bluff. He knew I couldn’t do what I was threatening to do.”

“You didn’t actually want to turn in your new sources of income,” Captain Fox guessed, her tone derisive. Every now and then, she looked to the computer, to the Slate, and shifted uncomfortably. Laith knew what she was worried about; he was concerned, too, but he imagined if Lockwood’s rat was with them, then there was no way he was listening in.

Assuming it’s only Audra Haize that Lockwood has working for him.

Haize crossed her arms stiffly, then nodded. “That, and I had placed myself in a compromising position. I couldn’t really tell the police about them without throwing myself under the bus, too. I moved on to Cassia, and she was a lot easier than her husband. She was scared, too, like Antrum, and she just wanted it all to go away. So she was more than happy to pay up. I didn’t even have to threaten her all that much. The whole thing worked like a dream, for a while. But then she grew a back-bone, and she called my bluff, too. But I didn’t kill her over the money. I wouldn’t go that far.”

“I know you didn’t kill her,” Laith said. “But you know who killed her, don’t you? You know exactly who it was that stabbed Cassia Grove to death in her home – and you know exactly who it was that did the same to Antrum.”

Haize looked away, staring at the screen, her skin even more sickly in the blue-white glow of the computer. She swallowed hard, twisting the hem of her shirt anxiously “I… I had to help him. I didn’t have a choice. He learned about me from that coward Antrum, and he said if I didn’t help him, I’d end up just like Cassia, and just like Grot.” She shivered and shook her head, and Laith almost felt bad for her. She had gotten a taste of her own medicine, tenfold.

“So, you decided to become an accessory to murder,” Captain Fox pointed out dryly.

“What would you have done?” Audra Haize demanded, turning back towards us. “No offense to you upstanding protectors of justice, but I’m not about to go die for some higher moral ground. Don’t act like you wouldn’t do whatever it took to stay alive if you were in my position.”

“Enough,” Captain Fox said. “Let’s stop wasting time and get to work. You know what we need. Make it happen. This might just save your life, too.” She checked her Slate with a deep frown. “We have a couple of hours at best.”

“Everything’s ready on my side of things,” Laith said. After all, there wasn’t much for him to prepare.

The two of them watched as Audra Haize got to work. It wasn’t long before she paused in hesitation, her fingers hovering over the screen. Her whole demeanor changed.

“What is it?” Laith asked.

She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she tilted her head to one side and pursed her lips as though considering something.

“Ms. Haize,” Laith urged, unable to keep the impatience out of his voice. Time was of the essence. The sooner his plan moved into motion, the better. True, he might not be around to help them see it through, but he had to push things into being. He did not have time for indecisiveness. “Tell us.”

“I think I have something that may be of use to you,” Audra Haize said at last. She turned in her chair to face Laith, her tired eyes glistening. “He’s asked me to make something for him. Something that could let him go anywhere, anytime, and raise no alarms whatsoever.”

“What do you mean?” Captain Fox demanded. “I thought he already has that in you.”

“Right,” Haize confirmed, nodding her head. “But he has to contact me first. I have to make it happen. He can’t just go wherever and do whatever – I have to make sure it’s all clear on the PATET front. So, he asked me recently to make him a tool that bypasses the need for my involvement. Something that allows him to enter any location whenever he wishes, even secure or private locations.”

“And you’re doing it?” Fox asked, the judgment clear in her tone. Her hands were balled tightly into fists at her sides, a small tremor working its way into her jaw. “You agreed to make such a thing for him?”

Audra Haize exhaled in frustration. “I don’t relish the idea of ending up dead like the others, okay? I don’t know who else he has on his payroll, but Grot didn’t fare too well, and neither will I if I don’t do what Lockwood asks of me.” She plucked at an errant string on the hem of her shirt. “I’ve completed the tool. It’s a bit rough around the edges, but it wasn’t all that hard to make, all things considered,” she said with a shrug. Laith got the sense that she was disappointed that it hadn’t taken her longer to make.

“Have you given it to him yet?” If she had, there was no way of knowing where or when Lockwood would strike next.

“No, not yet,” Haize told them. Laith sighed with relief as she continued. “I’m holding out for as long as I can. I know I made a stupid mistake with Grove and Grot and that whole mess, but I’m not dumb. I know quite well that if I give this to Lockwood, he won’t have any need for me anymore. I’ll be a loose end, and he won’t want any unnecessary loose ends. I’ve been trying to come up with a plan to keep myself safe, and trying to bide my time while I do that. It’s… I suppose it’s one of the reasons that I wanted to point you in the right direction, Detective.”

Haize reached into her pocket and pulled out an X-Drive like the type Laith had found in Cassia Grove’s office. “It’s all in here,” she said quietly. “Some lines of code. That’s all there is to it. With it, you can have an all-access pass to all of Heliopolis.” She placed it on her desk, staring at it intently. “It’s the most valuable thing I’ve ever made, I think. But I don’t want it to get into the wrong hands.”

Laith could only imagine the terror that would befall their fair eco-city if Lockwood got his hands on this kind of tool – or if he decided to sell copies of it to the rest of the Devils in the Ruins. The thought made a chill run down his spine.

“I’m going to give it to you both,” she went on, straightening her back and nodding with new resolve. “I’ve decided that it’s better that you have it instead of that murderer. Better that you use it to stop him. In fact,” she said, turning back to her screen and tapping away, “I’ll activate it for you now. I can show you how to use it.”

It was simple enough to use. Laith and Captain Fox each had all-access clearance now – to all of Heliopolis. He hadn’t counted on such a useful tool, but it was kind of… perfect, really. It made his whole plan a lot easier. “Audra, how do you feel about being our double agent?” he asked.

“Double agent?” she echoed, glancing away nervously. “I-I don’t know if I could pull that off. What if he found out?”

“He won’t,” Laith told her. “All you need to go is tell Captain Fox here what he’s planning. We’ll have to work smart, of course,” Laith said, turning to Olivia. “You’ll have to find a way to make sure that if you intervene to save someone, it’s got to feel natural. A coincidence. We can’t let him know we’re on to him.”

“Even if she tells us everything he’s planning, we won’t be able to interfere all the time,” Captain Fox said reluctantly. She looked away, shaking her head. “If we do, he might know… He might know we’re on to him. We can’t let him know. The first person he’ll suspect is Haize, and she’s the most important link we have.”

He blinked. “What are you talking about? You have to save them all – all the ones you know about,” Laith protested, a feeling of repulsion flooding him. “You can’t just let some of them die and some of them live. You can’t make that choice, Captain.”

Captain Fox didn’t say anything for a moment. With an irritated tsk, she cocked her head towards the door. “I’ll take care of it, but you should get going. We’re running out of time, and everything’s ready to go. The sooner the better. I can buy you some time. Leave this to me.”

Laith wasn’t absolutely certain that Fox was sold on the whole help-everyone scheme, but he glanced at the time on the wall and realized that she was right. He didn’t have time. He needed to leave right away. “What about--”

“Leave her to me,” Captain Fox said confidently. “Leave it all to me. You can trust that I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Right,” Laith said with a nod. At the very least, he could trust that she would do her best. In a situation like this, that was vital. He stood and rolled up his sleeves, trying very hard to keep his nerves steady. Every moment – every second – counted now more than ever. He had much to do, and it would be dangerous no matter what happened. But he had no other choice. He sucked in a deep breath and pushed some bravado into his voice.

“Goodbye, Captain,” he said, making for the door.

“Goodbye, Detective,” she called after him.