Page 129 of CHOICE Lover
Inspector Wanda’s eyes narrow. “You’re suggesting that in housing them like we have, we’ve violated the RCCM guidelines?”
That’s exactly what he thinks. He glances at Sable, afraid to answer honestly and upset the inspector, making things worse for Electra. Sable doesn’t hesitate. “Yes. It seems you’re in violation. You’re managing them according to objective reality, when the RCCM clearly states that subjective experience trumps that when taking into consideration the well-being of NHOS citizens. I studied Electra’s scans. All themarkers you would expect with intact long-term memories are there. Her body is new, but in her brain it’s as if she made a time jump.”
The silence drags on as Wanda considers. Finally, she says, “I’ll have to loop in one of my team members who has a relationship with the Department of Human Affairs for the issue of personhood, but I feel confident we can make that happen. As for the rest of it, we are all working in the best interest of the citizens of MSP. Are we not?”
Res6 nods eagerly. “We are.”
Thank Zorg for Sable and her quick, analytical mind. He’s going to get a real ID for Electra—now they just have to get her home. Inspector Wanda is proving to be exceptionally reasonable. He toggles to the man’s dossier. “His identifier is G-Eliot-MSP-00098754. Three years ago his location code changed from PRS to MSP. That’s around the same time he began his employment in the product development division as a lab tech for ManuMATE.”
She gives him an incredulous look. “Conveniently, one of your biggest competitors.”
“Not convenient at all. The problem being isolated to GROW would be my preference. The last thing I want is for a competitor to draw scrutiny to my creation and give NHOS a reason to revoke our licensing.”
“Then we’d better solve this case quickly.” She takes her tablet off the desk. “Send me the latest images you have of Electra and Lextr. I want to see if I can get a surveillance trace on their latest whereabouts.”
Res6 complies, nervously tapping his foot. “What are we going to do about the ransom?”
“I have a friend who can falsify the data enough to fool them. Should we move on that?” Sable asks.
Inspector Wanda doesn’t look up. “What about Lextr? If he’s working with them, won’t he realize it’s fake?”
“I don’t want to risk it. I’ll just send the real documents.”
“Hold on.” Sable stands, turning to face the back of the room. “Hey. Can you embed some code in a decoy file package that contaminates the data after a set period?” She pauses, listening with her m-volt. “Okay. What about preventing its being copied?” She’s nodding now. “Oh, that’s even better.” She turns back around. “He says he can corrupt the data remotely. As long as the system is connected to the network.”
“Do it,” Inspector Wanda instructs.
“You can expect the files within the next hour.” Sable turns to him, pointing at his system. “Clock’s racing.”
“I found them,” Inspector Wanda says. A second later, he gets a request to cast to his system.
Wordlessly he approves it, and a map with two pinpoints appears on the large particle pane that is his north window.
“V Quadrant? That seems random,” Sable says.
“At least we know they aren’t at ManuMATE’s headquarters,” Res6 points out.
Inspector Wanda selects the first image, and a video pulls up showing the interior of a SAT garage. It shows Electra being dragged out of a SAT and roughly set on her feet by a man wearing an operational ID Scramble-Tech visor. She stumbles, throwing an arm out for balance, like she isn’t fully in control of her motor functions. When the man with the broken visor steps out of the vehicle, he roughly grabs her arm, but not to steady her. He jerks her violently forward, and Res6 is certain she’ll have marks on her arms from the bruising grip. He grips the arms of his chair as a wave of fury washes over him.
She’s in danger because of him and hisstupid company. The irony isn’t lost on him. Only a month ago, she’d said those words to him. Considering their circumstances, he couldn’t agree more.
“Easy, tiger,” Sable says, eyeing the death grip he has on his chair.
“We’re going to get her back unharmed.” Inspector Wanda says. “We need to focus in order to do that.” She flips to another video, this time of Lextr being approached in a dusty hallway in Y Quadrant from behind by two men wearing full-face respirators—indoors.
“I guess in Y Quadrant they don’t care about being inconspicuous?” Sable asks.
She gets her answer when they dart forward. Lextr must hear them because he spins, wearing a comically shocked expression. The nearest man’s arm shoots forward. The camera doesn’t pick up the rest of his action, but Lextr wobbles, and it’s clear they drugged him. The other man places a bag over his head before they drag him into a room. They walk out a few minutes later, wheeling a table, presumably with Lextr’s limp body lying covered atop it.
“How are they going to get him to V Quadrant without drawing suspicion?” he asks.
Sable scoffs. “It’s Y Quadrant.” As if that means anything to him.
Inspector Wanda chuckles. “My team calls it the Y ask, Y tell quadrant.”
“For instance, Y Quadrant is the location of the boxing club,” Sable fills in.
His eyes widen, and he nods to the NHOS inspector, who only seems to take issue withsomeillegal dealings.
