Brad, not sure of how long the other man had been following him, quickly began considering his options.

I could make a scene. There are enough people around that he wouldn’t dare doing something if I got their attention.

Then again…if I scare him off I won't be able to question him.

Brad quickly looked over his shoulder at the man, who looked at the screen of his communicator, trying to “act naturally”. The man was about six feet, wearing a loose hooded sweater, hiding his physique. Possibly hiding a weapon as well.

A gun wouldn’t be as likely. Anything manufactured in the colony itself would be so heavily monitored that an investigation would only really be a formality, and the cost of importing things from off-colony was prohibitively expensive, not likely to be within the means of your common street punk. This is to say nothing about the cost of ammunition in addition to the cost of the firearm itself. And while laser weapons were in an experimental phase, they too were too rare, expensive, and unreliable to be worth the effort of obtaining for anyone besides the staunchest of enthusiasts.

There was the possibility for weapons to have been smuggled onto the colony. But a smuggling ring like that would probably require an inside man in the police force or the military.

Now there’s an idea…

Brad quickly ran over the scenario in his head.

If I don’t head straight to the apartment he’ll know I’m onto him for sure and may try to peel off at the first sign I’m deviating from his script. On the other hand I don’t know if there’s someone else waiting for me at the apartment.

Brad covertly looked the man over through the reflection in a nearby window. He had Brad beat in size, for sure.

If I get the jump on him it might not be too bad, but in a “fair” fight things could get much uglier.

Well, nothing ventured.

Brad took out his communication device and quickly sent a message to Elaine.

“Got company. Going to Cortez’ place. Send help if you don’t hear from me in the next hour.”

Brad eventually made his way to the apartment in question. The building itself wasn’t terribly large, only three stories, annoyingly with Cortez’s apartment on the top floor. No elevator. Brad sighed and made his way to the third floor, finding himself in front of the entrance to Cortez’s apartment. Sure enough, the code given by Cortez opened the door immediately, so Brad let himself in.

Although he’d expected the apartment to be a dump characteristic of this part of the colony, the truth is it wasn’t terrible. Two bedrooms. Fairly large sitting area. Walls, floor, doors, even the furniture looked to have been redone within the last few years. It was spacious. Clearly meant for the family Cortez was hoping to have soon. Though to be fair anything was “spacious” compared to the shoeboxes that most people in this older part of the colony lived in, having been repurposed from the spartan barracks of the colony’s infancy.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The place would have been quite nice if it hadn’t been completely trashed. Belongings strewn about, blood all over the carpet. The body had been moved, but thankfully the body wasn’t what Brad was there for.

I’m kind of amazed the cleanup crew hasn’t been here yet though…

Brad found a computer terminal in the spare bedroom, which had been fashioned into a makeshift office. Not a bad place to get work done from home, though it could be troublesome once a baby was on the way.

The room itself had all the makings of an independent journalist’s office. Books strewn about. Conspiracy board on the wall linking different people to different things. Brad took a closer look at it but nothing really stuck out amidst the red string and photos.

Let’s try the computer.

The computer booted up quickly, but of course the first thing that popped onto the screen was a password field.

Crap. Forgot to ask if Cortez knew her hubby’s password.

Brad quickly typed in a few things off the top of his head. Various combinations of the couple’s names, their anniversary date, nothing was working.

Of course he made his password impossible to brute force. Guess I’m gonna need to call in a favor on this.

He turned the power on the terminal off, opened it up with the toolkit he made sure to have in his jacket, and unseated the hard drive.

Breaking and entering, as well as theft. I’m really on a roll today.

As Brad slipped the hard drive into his jacket pocket, he took a look at the time. He’d arrived at the apartment at about 1 PM, and he’d sat at the computer trying to brute force the password for about twenty minutes.

So far, so good. Maybe I won’t need the backup I asked for after all. Though I’m kind of surprised my paparazzo didn’t take the bait.

Brad shot off another message to Elaine.

“I couldn’t figure out the password to access the computer so I’m stealing the hard drive. I may know a guy who can help me retrieve whatever is on it.”

Sliding the communicator back into his pocket, Brad started towards the entrance of the apartment. He’d scarcely opened the door and stepped out onto the apartment building’s landing before catching the glint of steel in the corner of his eye.

Instinctively he rolled to the left, barely avoiding the extending baton swung by the man he’d seen earlier.

Should have seen this coming.

Brad quickly looked over his surroundings. Nothing to grab to use as a weapon. Being on the third floor, jumping over the railing could be a bit dicey. It looked to be about a twenty foot drop.

Time for a cheap shot…

Brad quickly rolled onto his back and launched his feet directly into the man’s groin. As the man doubled over screaming in pain, Brad quickly wrapped his legs around the man’s neck and gave his body a violent twist, bringing him the rest of the way to the ground.

Brad silently cursed, wishing he’d thought to bring something to tie the man up with, a set of handcuffs, a rope, something, but considering Brad hadn’t expected to get jumped today, he’d have to find a chance later. Brad quickly sprinted towards the stairway and made his way down to the ground floor, more jumping down the stairs than running down them.

Brad quickly pulled his communicator out, meaning to update Elaine on what happened to him, but during the struggle Brad must have missed his notification ring, because there was a message from Elaine.

“Cortez is dead. Someone shot her.”