“David. David!”
His eyes shot up.
“What are you doing David? Come on, put down the gun.”
His head shook. His hand twitched violently.
“We don’t want to hurt you David. Just put it down, slowly, just put it on the floor.
The shaking gun moved no closer to the ground. “I- I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t… I didn’t mean to.”
“Look, whatever happened, we can take care of it. Everything will be okay. David, just put it down.”
“Jess… Abby… Oh God…” he cried. Tears rolled down his face as he cradled his head in his hands, keeping a firm grip on the gun.
“Exactly. Jess and Abby. Don’t you want to see your wife and daughter again? Just put the gun down.”
“Don’t you get it? I will never see my family, ever again!” he screamed through sobs. “They are gone and it’s all because of me.” Eyes hidden behind tears he jammed the barrel of the pistol against his temple. Again and again he pushed it against his skin. Then stopping, put his head back in his hands.
“Jane?”
“Sir?”
“Find David’s family now. Their quarters are on level fifteen, room 1522. Tell a medical team to meet you there.”
“Sir?”
“Go. Go now.” The young woman hesitantly lowered her gun from the armed suspect and hurried away. David still sat sobbing.
It was a long time before he spoke again. “It’s all my fault,” he said barely above a whisper.
“Just put down the gun, David, so we can talk about this. Look at me. See this? We’ll put our guns down, but you have to do it too.”
David watched carefully as the man in front of him began to lower his weapon. “What am I suppose to… What am I suppose to do Jack?”
Jack looked at his crying friend in desperation. Continuing to lower his gun he said softly, “Just put it down.” Glancing over he could see Richard unwillingly lowering his gun as well.
“They’re dead, and it’s because of me. Jack, tell everyone I’m sorry.”
“No David, don’t!”
Bang!
Jack closed his eyes against the grotesque image before him. “Damit!” he screamed at the blood-splattered walls. A long stream of curses followed as he pounded his fist against the side of the small passageway. When he finished, a suffocating silence fell about the dimly lit corridor.
“How did you know him?” Richard asked turning away from the slumped body before them.
“Sergeant First Class David Hanson. That was his name.” It was another moment before he actually answered the question. “I knew him from my second to last tour. We were close ever since.”
“Jack…”
“He just got back from an eight-month patrol on the front lines. Only a few… only a few days ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
Jack nodded absently and then touched the sensor on his headset. “Jane, report.”
“I’m almost there sir. At the door now,” came the hissing voice through the speaker against his ear. Then came the faint sound of the heavy metal door opening. “Oh God,” the speaker screamed followed by the sound of gagging.
“Jane?” Richard said into his own headset.
“You better get up here. Now.”
“I’m on my way,” Jack said hastily in to the microphone. Turning, he addressed Richard. “I need you to collect the weapon and anything else of importance. Call for a medical team and stay with the body until they take him to the morgue.”
“Will do,” came the devoted reply.
With a quick nod Jack was off. He quickly reached the elevator and then was forced to wait a few seconds before the doors opened. Getting in, he punched the button for the fifteenth level. Compared to many others, the city was actually quite small and only went thirty levels below ground. From the lowest corridors of the city the elevator slowly crept up fifteen levels. Once the doors again opened he began to rapidly make his way down the passages.
The room numbers sped past him in the hall. 1519. 1520. 1521. 1522. The door was ajar and Jane stood to the side, bracing herself against the corridor wall. Without stopping Jack turned into the room to only slam to a halt.
His mind went blank. His lungs froze in his chest. His heart became rigid. He could not understand what he saw. Crimson red was everywhere.
His eyes burned. His body trembled. His lips peeled apart for only silence to pass between. He did not want to understand what he saw.
The room was open and uncluttered. Everything resided in its place. Decorative pillows sat in the corners of the couch as always, but with one missing. Chairs stood neatly tucked in under the table. Abigail’s toy pony was positioned in its place of honor on the desk across from the door. Struggling to draw in breath Jack took the few steps across the room, to slowly grasp the small figure in his hand. Gripping the toy he turned and walked back the way he had come. Neither he nor Jane said a word as she stepped aside to allow him back into the corridor in which he soon fell against the wall and slid to the floor, eyes closed.
“Jack. Jack!”
His eyes crawled upward.
“What are you doing, Boss? Come on, get up.”
Jack Dowland slowly rose to his feet. His security officer’s uniform pulled against his neck as his back slid up the rough wall.
“Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”
His eyes began to focus. Out of the haze formed the face of Richard Phillips. The rough, bearded face looked at him with worried eyes. Jack’s vision darted around the face before him, trying to make sense of what was going on.
Absently he felt a weight in his left hand. Hesitantly he brought it up, his bicep straining, unwilling to move from the motionless, statuesque position at his side. As the end of his arm came into view Jack saw that clenched in his fingers was a toy slightly bigger than his fist. An image of a plastic, pink pony formed in his hand as his eyes leveled on the object. “Lulu,” he muttered mostly to himself. His eyes looking back forward he explained to Richard, “That’s what she named it, Lulu. It was her favorite toy.”
Richard’s expression grew even more worried than before. “Please, boss, I know how hard this is, but I need to get you out of here. We can’t let the medical teams see you like this.”
The thoughts rolled over slowly in his head. When things like this happened entire cities, larger than this one, could tear themselves apart in a panic. Fear and confusion could lead to destruction. Good leadership. That was the only thing that could stop it, good, strong leadership. The head of civilian security had to be calm, confident, and in control. With a deep breath he lunged forward out of the fog. Shaking his head, “I’m good, Richard. It’s alright.” Seeming not to have completely assured the man, Jack reached up and put his hand on Richard’s shoulder. With a sharp, confident nod the silent exchange ended and the two men separated.
Filling his lungs with air, Jack straightened himself up. Something in his mind clicked back to the old, military coolness that he had learned years before. Without hesitation he stepped forward into the room as he slipped the toy pony into his jacket pocket.
“Sir,” someone said as he came in.
“Yes doctor,” Jack replied directly.
“We have two victims, the mother, Jessica Hanson, 38, and her daughter, Abigail Hanson, 7. Both Ident cards cleared through. Mother and daughter were both dead when the medical team arrived on scene, apparent gun shot wounds to the upper and mid torso. Unless I find more later, I’d say that that is your cause of death.”
“Time of death?”
“An hour at the most.”
“Thank you doctor.”
“And we’re ready to go as soon as you’re finished. I already requested the medical level to prepare for full tox-screens and post-mortem exams.”
“Keep up the good work.” With a nod the doctor went outside, followed by the other two members of his team. As they passed from view, Richard stepped in.
“Boss. We may have a problem.”
“What’s going on?”
“We have people up and down this level already poking around, asking questions. And Dawna is already waiting at your office.”
“Okay. We have to get control of this. Jane?”
“Yes Sir,” She looked up from the eyepiece of the small camera she was using to take pictures of the blood-covered room. Looking over at her, Jack’s vision fell on the small hand protruding from beneath a medical blanket on the floor. Closing his eyes he could feel the calm wall around himself crumbling. Upon reentering the room he had managed to not look at the two bodies sprawled on the floor.
“Sir?” came Jane’s soft voice.
Air caught in his throat as he shook his head. After a moment he continued, “Jane you know what to do here. Photograph and tag everything. And as soon as that’s done, get started on the ballistics.”
“Yes Sir.”
“And Richard,” he kept going, trying to remain composed. “Call up to the Security office to get some more officers down here and to the other scene. Tell them to interview anyone that might have seen or heard anything. The next mining shift ends in,” he looked at his watch, “two hours. I want both scenes completely locked down by then. Also, call to the Medical level and have them start with David’s autopsy.”
“You got it.”
“Now apparently I have an overly aggressive communications officer to go talk to.”
“At 1:33 this afternoon a report was made of a man stumbling through the lower levels of the city with a firearm. Three officers were dispatched. At 1:41 a request was put in for a medical team to report to the engineering wing of level thirty. Then another was made for a medical team at 1:46 to report to room 1522. Meanwhile two extra officers were dispatched to level thirty, soon followed by two more, at 1:57, and four officers to level fifteen at the same time. And while all of this occurred the medical station on level ten was notified to prepare for three dead bodies. Did I miss anything?”
“Dawna…”
“I know how you work Jack, and I’m telling you that the citizens of this city have the right to know what is going on in their own halls. I don’t care what you say, because I may have the lead on this now but, it is only a matter of time before every other communications officer in this city has it, and I swear to God you will lose all control. Do you hear me Jack? All control.”
“Miss Summers.”
“Yes…”
“Stop talking, and listen.”
Jack was glad to see that her mouth didn’t open again. The professional looking woman before him simply raised her eyebrows and bit the inside of her lip.
“Thank you.” Now breathing slightly better, Jack finished his walk to his desk that had been abruptly halted the moment he had entered the room. Sitting down he motioned for her to do the same. Impatiently, she obliged and pulled a chair closer to the front of his desk.
“Well, I’m listening…”
Jack admired her eagerness, even with the small tinge of annoyance. “I don’t want you to delay the story. I’m actually glad you’re here.”
“I wanted to see if you would give a statement or had anything to add before I released the preliminary news bulletins.”
“And you were right. I do.”
“Okay. Let’s hear it.” She reached a hand into her medium sized black bag slung around her shoulder to pull out a small, grey, audio recorder.
As her finger depressed the red button on the device’s side, Jack began to talk, “Okay… You know as well as I do that if this story is handled wrong it will lead to fear and most likely even more people getting hurt. I need you to make sure that doesn’t happen. In truth there is no one I would rather have leading the story. These cities are powder kegs of mistrust, and it is usually things like this that set them off.”
“The soldiers don’t trust the workers. The workers don’t trust the soldiers. And the businessmen and traders don’t trust either. I know how this city works too.’
“Look, whatever the news release is, I need you to reassure people that the security office has the situation under control.”
“Do you?”
“Yes. Myself and two of my best officers were the first responders on both scenes. They and I will be taking lead on the investigation. We are devoting are best resources to this.”
“Who?”
“Excuse me?”
“The officers. I need their names.”
“You know I can’t give you that.”
“I won’t put them in the first set of releases, but trust me, when this story begins to take off, you are going to have 6,000 very scared people regardless of how reassuring the preliminary bulletins are. Nothing calms people down like knowing who is protecting them.”
“It could also severally endanger the lives of my officers.”
“You think the murderer is still out there?”
“We’re not ruling anything out.”
“So the rumors I’ve already started hearing about this being a murder-suicide are wrong?”
“David would never-“
“David? Is he the gunman? Did you know him? Jack, what aren’t you telling me?”
“Dawna, just make the press release. I’ll tell you more when I know it.” He got up abruptly, signaling her to do the same.
“Jack, come on.”
“I have a job to do. And so do you, now out of my office.”
“Jack.”
“Out.”
Visibly furious she collected the recorder and left the room. Trying to keep from swearing too loudly, Jack slammed his fist on the desk and dragged his other hand through his hair and down the back of his neck. Suddenly a ringing echoed through the room. Angrily, he hit the communications line on his desk.
“Dowland,” he said into the speaker.
After a few seconds of listening to the voice on the other end he replied, “Yes sir. I’ll be there right away.” Getting up he turned off the open line again and started towards the door. His hand on the doorknob, Jack stopped for a moment. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath. Shaking his head, he quietly said to himself, “This is turning into one hell of day.” Still shaking his head he left the security offices and from there quickly made his way to the mayor’s office.
His eyes shifted up to the clock on the wall. 2:42. How long was he going to be kept waiting? He had much better things he could be doing. It had only been an hour and this seemed to already be spiraling out of control.
“Dowland.”
Jack got up and came to the now open door of the mayor’s office.
“Trust me, if there is a problem it won’t be from any of my people. Besides, we aren’t the ones that are armed.”
“If I remember correctly my soldiers aren’t the ones responsible for three quarters of the crime in this city. That title belongs solely to your workers.”
“Maybe they wouldn’t be if they were not starving to death.”
“Both of you shut up,” The mayor slammed his large fist down on the table and rose from his chair. The two men that stood in the center of the room were both taken aback by the outburst of such a refined man as the mayor. “Dowland, come in here.”
Jack, standing just inside the door, barely kept from grimacing as he bit down heavily on his tongue, keeping himself from saying anything about the heated exchange. “I believe you know both Mr. Turner and Major General Hendrix.” Jack looked over the three men in front of him. First his eyes fell on Benjamin Turner, a rough looking man in his mid-forties, head of mining and labor operations, and spokesman for the intercity workers coalition. Next was Major General Nicholas Hendrix, a tall, muscular, man in his late-fifties, and the one in charge of all military personnel stationed throughout the city. And lastly, Mayor Robert Gonzalez, a larger man, early forties, and before entering politics, a profitable, upper class, businessman, much like every other mayor before him.
“Yes, we’ve all met.”
“Good,” Gonzalez said, “Now tell us what the hell is going on.” He was clearly a higher class individual, yet his common speech, when relaxed, didn’t let on.
“Three casualties: Sergeant First Class David Hanson, his wife Jessica Hanson, a surgeon on the med level, and their daughter, Abigail Hanson.”
“God dammit…” Hendrix shook his head. It took him a moment to continue. “The whole regiment had some heavy losses on the last rotation, Hanson’s squad especially. First they lose seven men in the field, and then when they get home they lose their sergeant… Good God…”
“How did they die? I mean the ones in the city, not the one on the surface.” Turner pressed, not even trying to hide his annoyance with the General.
Resisting the urge to punch the man, Jack said through gritted teeth, “The sergeant committed suicide, and his wife and daughter were both shot.”
“Okay, so the rumors are right. Murder-suicide. I guess that’s the end of that, right?”
“No,” Jack snapped back.
“Excuse me?”
“We are not ruling anything out until I have finished my full investigation. And I can guarantee you that all of the men and women that risk their lives for you to be safe won’t pass judgment nearly as quickly as you did. So if I were you, Mr. Turner, I’d keep all of those drunks and washouts you call workers and miners in check.”
“I will not stay here for this.”
“Then you best leave Mr. Turner,” the mayor said. “You have heard all I needed you to.”
With that Mr. Turner stormed out the still ajar door, slamming it behind him.
“Mr. Mayor-“ Jack started to say.
“If you’re about to apologize, don’t even give it a second thought. If you had not said it, I would have. I’m sure we’ll regret it later, but for right now it just feels good to see someone put him in his place.”
Jack was surprised at the mayor’s reaction to his outburst. Although he had served as head of security since before the mayor took office, he had spent very little time around him. In truth, what he knew of the mayor came mostly from his political speeches and appearances. In public Mayor Gonzalez was careful to portray a feeling of equality in regards to every part of society, it was this in fact, that had won him the support of the lower class labor workers in his campaign. “Every child, regardless of who their parents are, deserves an equal opportunity to learn and choose their own path through life,” was what he had said in almost every speech he gave. Jack was, at the moment, pleasantly surprised. “Thank you Mr. Mayor.”
“Okay, now back to the matters at hand… General, I know I don’t have to tell you this, but anything you can do to make sure your men aren’t involved in any type of incident would be greatly appreciated.”
“Yes Sir,” Hendrix said, “but I believe an even more pressing problem will be the deployment tomorrow at noon. Personally, I knew Sergeant Hanson, and I do not believe that he killed his family. Neither will anyone else that knew him.” Jack simply stayed quite. “That said you are going to have a lot of very scared service men and women who are not going to be comfortable leaving there families tomorrow.”
“Do you suggest delaying the deployment?” the mayor asked.
“I believe that would be a mistake sir,” Jack added in. “If I recall, the deployment has already been delayed once due to inventory problems. We need our soldiers on the surface. Delaying the next deployment again will only incite more panic. The best course of action is to simply get this situation under control by then.”
“I will not send out nearly one thousand spouses and parents while fear and panic run rampant in this city,” the mayor said. “Before I will allow any deployment I want the situation completely contained and over with. Do you believe you can do that in under twenty-four hours?”
“Yes sir. Officers Richard Phillips and Jane Charlotte are taking lead with myself. They are my best team, sir. And the security office is devoting all of its resources to this investigation.”
“I take it you don’t believe it is a murder-suicide either.”
“Like I said sir, we are not ruling anything out at the present time.”
“Good. Thank you Mr. Dowland. Now General, I’m sure you have other matters to attend to. Deployment goes as scheduled, for now. You’re dismissed.”
“Thank you sir.” With that the General left as well, leaving Jack and Mayor Gonzalez alone.
“Mr. Dowland, you used to be in the military, correct?”
“Yes sir.”
“I don’t know where this investigation is going to go, but I need to know if you are capable of following it regardless of its destination.”
Jack had to pause. “Are you asking me if I can continue to be an effective investigator if this begins to look bad for the military? The answer to that question, sir, would be yes. I no longer wear the uniform, and I am fully aware of my responsibilities as the head of security for this city.” Jack did not bother hiding that he was insulted.
“Thank you Mr. Dowland. Keep me informed.”
“Yes sir,” Jack almost growled. Silently he turned and left the office.
“Someone tell me news. Now.”
“Turns out no one even heard the gunshots. Looks like the shooter used a pillow to muffle the sound. No one saw any one coming or going either,” Richard said.
“Security tapes?”
“I have a tech working on that and I’ll have them for you as soon as possible.”
“Blood work?”
“No toxins or drugs present in any of the victims.”
“Ballistics?”
“Jane finished photographing the scene and the med level just called down saying that they are sending the bullets from the mother and daughter any minute.”
“Is Jane back yet?”
“Yes sir.” Jane poked her head from around the corner leading to the ballistics lab. “I already did a test fire from Sergeant Hanson’s gun and should be able to compare it with the other bullets the moment they get here.”
The main door opened and a small, medical assistant stepped in. “I was told to deliver these to Officer Charlotte…”
“That’s me. Thank you very much.” She eagerly grabbed the evidence bag from his hand and disappeared around the corner. Timidly the young man did the same out the door.
Jack finally took a moment to look around the room, and saw that the security office was a scene of controlled chaos. The problem with enclosed, underground cities, was that fear was more infectious than the deadliest disease, and just as dangerous. It was an unfortunate truth that as much as seeing the city security controlling a situation calmed the public, it also sent even more into panic. Call lights flashed across the panels throughout the room, mostly people trying to find out what was going on. Jack knew it would only get worse after Dawna filed her story. For now his officers were able to handle it, but it was going to be a very long night.
“Sir.” Jane’s head came back around the corner. “You need to see this.”
Both Jack and Richard made their way back to the ballistics lab, following the woman before them.
“Take a look at this. You were right.” She motioned towards an eyepiece of a microscope. He put his eye to the lens and saw two bullets, each with different sets of grooves carved into the side by the inside of two different gun barrels.
“They were fired from different guns?”
“Exactly.”
Richard put his eye to the lens as well. “So that means either our sergeant had two guns for some reason, or that there was another shooter.”
“We need those security tapes.”
“I’m on it boss.” With that Richard left the lab.
“Sir?” Jane said as Jack started to leave.
“Yeah,” he said, stopping.
“I still don’t understand something though.” He took a step back towards her. “If you’re family had just been killed, why would you then commit suicide? It doesn’t make sense. And he also said that they were gone because of him… Why would he say that and then kill himself if he wasn’t somehow involved in the murders?”
Jack just smiled. “It’s our job to find out. Now come on, Phillips better have that footage ready.”
“Okay,” she said nodding.
As they reentered the main security office both could see the look of frustration on Richard’s face. “Define interference,” he told a scared looking man sitting in front of a large screen.
“Look, I already told you, the footage is there, it’s just like something else was recorded too. Here, just look at it.” His fingers hit a few keys on a keyboard and then the screen came to life, blurry, distorted, whitewashed, and filled with static. “There is nothing wrong with it. The computer says the file isn’t corrupted or damaged in any way. This is actually what the camera recorded.”
“Then something’s wrong with the camera. There should be another one at the other end of that hall.”
“I already tried that. Same thing.”
“Problems?” Jack asked from behind the two of them.
“Sir,” the technician said, spinning around. “I’m sorry, I really don’t know what to tell you.”
“Jane,” he nodded towards the chair the young man now occupied.
“Be my guest,” he said, vacating the chair.
“Okay… let’s see. Well, sir, it looks like he was right. None of the files are corrupted. But oh… take a look at this… Whatever the interference was, it went away. See?” Her fingers flew across the keyboard, speeding up the footage and then returning it to normal speed. All four watched as suddenly the interference faded away to reveal a clear picture of the hallway, filled with a few people. A moment later the medical team appeared on screen taking the two bodies from the room. “Sir, the time stamp says this was about an hour ago. It didn’t clear up until after we had already discovered the scene.”
“Jane, I need you to back track and find when the interference started. Can you do that?”
“Yeah, shouldn’t take long.”
“What about filtering out the interference?”
“To tell the truth sir, I don’t know if I can. I mean if the files were corrupted I could try recovering some of it, but this is actually what the camera recorded. I could try, but it would take a while, and I couldn’t make any promises.”
“Do your best, alright?”
“Yes sir.”
“Okay, and you,” Jack motioned towards the technician. “Why didn’t someone realize there was something wrong with the footage sooner?”
“Well, nothing was actually broken, so none of the normal signals went off. The only way anyone would have seen it sooner is if they had been actually trying to watch the video. There are thousands of camera’s throughout the city, no one is ever watching them all, all the time.”
“Fine, then help her try to filter it out.”
“Yes sir.”
“Richard.”
“Yeah boss.”
“Start running the bullets through the computer. If the gun was legal, then we should get a match. After that I need you to go to the med level. Check on the autopsies and also start asking if anyone had anything against Jessica Hanson. She was a surgeon there. For now nothing is too trivial.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“It turns out David’s squad took heavy casualties on their last patrol. Its possible someone might have had something against him for it.” He stopped for a moment. David couldn’t have killed his wife and daughter, but Jack still had to do his job, so he continued, “Jane… Send a team to walk the path from David’s quarters to the thirtieth level, engineering wing. If there is another gun, we have to find it.”
“Yes sir.”
Jack watched for a second as all of them went to work. “Okay,” he said to himself. Taking a deep breath he turned and started to leave.
As he reached the door someone behind him yelled, “Sir! Reports of shots fired. Level ten. Coroner’s office.”
Jack did not waste his time asking for more. “Phillips, you’re with me. Let’s go.” Richard came dashing around the corner and was right on Jack’s heels as they ran out the door.
“Stairs,” Jack yelled as they sprinted down the hallway. The security office was on level thirteen, three below the med level. Bypassing the elevator the two men launched into the stairway, taking them two at a time.
Nearly taking the door off its hinges the two officers blew onto the tenth level, each one with sidearm drawn. “Coroner’s office is down that hall.” Both ran a full sprint down the quickly emptying passage, as people ran the opposite direction. They slid to a stop, backs against the wall just short of the door. With a nod from Jack, Richard slammed his body against the door, swinging it open and both men went in, guns raised.
“City Security. On the ground now!”
“Put down the gun!”
A woman screamed.
“City Security! Put it down!”
Jack and Richard both stood, guns aimed at a large, muscular man, gun in hand, with his arm holding a doctor as a body shield. In front of him was a younger man and woman, the coroner assistants, blood flowing out of a bullet wound on the young man’s leg. The woman knelt next to him trying to stop the bleeding.
“Just let me see the bodies!” the man said, gun twitching in his hand.
“Put your gun down!” Richard yelled back.
“Shut up! Just shut up! Show me the bodies.” His hand started convulsing more violently.
“Okay. Okay… let’s calm down. What’s your name?” Jack said, keeping his gun aimed at the man’s head.
“Corporal Daniel Jefferson. Now show me the bodies!”
“We’ll do that corporal. You just have to put the gun down.” The man’s hand was shaking so violently at this point, Jack was surprised he managed to keep hold of the gun. “Just put it down corporal. I promise, we’ll show you the bodies. Just put the gun down and let the doctor go.”
The man relaxed his grip on the doctor and then pushed him away.
“You’re doing good corporal, now the gun.”
Twitching, the man slowly lowered the pistol, bent his knees, and placed it on the ground.
“Now kick it over.”
He did, gently. “I just need to see the bodies,” he said breathing heavily.
“Phillips,” Jack nodded towards the man.
Holstering his gun, Richard walked towards the man, waiting until the last second to take out a set of handcuffs. Seeing them out of the corner of his eye, the man grabbed Richard and threw him against the wall. Suddenly a shot rang out and the man crumpled to floor, bullet lodged in his left leg. Richard then slammed his fist into the man’s head, knocking him to the floor, unconscious.
“He still out?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Jesus, Phillips, how hard did you hit him?”
“No matter how much I’d love to take credit for dropping a guy like that, I don’t think I had much to do with it. I mean you saw him. He was headed down before we even got there.”
“You see the tox-report yet?”
“No, what did it say?”
“Completely clear…”
“You’re kidding… How the hell is that possible? Come on boss, you saw him. He was definitely on something.”
“Look at it for yourself. They ran it twice. So, anyways, what did the autopsies come back with?”
“Mother and daughter were both killed by multiple gunshot wounds, just like we thought. And well, we know how David died, but the coroner found something that he claims is interesting. Now seeing as he shot himself in the head don’t ask me how they figured this out, let alone, why they cared enough to look, trust me, I’ve been trying to figure it out for the past half hour, but the doc says the sergeant had cranial swelling in the part of he brain that controls decisions. The parietal something…”
“The parietal cortex?”
“Yeah, how did you…”
“I just got a request from the med level for this guy to have an MRI when he wakes up. It said something about looking for swelling in the parietal cortex.”
“You think they’re related?”
“We’ll know soon enough.”
“So… any luck with the personnel files?”
“None at all. All they could do was confirm that this is Corporal Daniel Jefferson. To release his service folder though, they would need the written consent of Major General Hendrix.”
“So what was the problem?”
“He was off manning the watchtower…” Jack chuckled.
“Meaning…”
“He was top-side, or otherwise consumed. I think the words the personnel officer used were, ‘occupied elsewhere with ongoing military operations.’ They’ll apparently call when he’s done.”
“They still deploying the next regiment tomorrow?”
“Yeah, direct order from the mayor. Hendrix wanted to push it back, but I told the mayor that we would have this under control by then.” He laughed harshly at himself. “We’ve already had a hand full of fights, half a dozen accidents because people are too panicked to pay attention to what they’re doing, and a soldier shot his way into the coroner’s office. Not exactly what I would call under control.”
“Boss, you know better than anyone that we’re doing the best we can. I mean, first public murder in what? Three years? And it comes at a time when food production is down? We haven’t heard from another city in five… six months. The entire city is on edge, it has been for a long time. The way I see it, we’re lucky there haven’t been more shootings…”
“You’re right. But it doesn’t change the fact that we need to wrap up this case, now.”
Both men suddenly turned as a voice from behind them said, “You ask, sir, and you shall receive.” Jane stood in the entrance of the observation room, smiling, folder in hand.
“Security footage?”
Her smile faded for a moment, “No… still working on that… but,” her smile reappeared, “we ran the bullets from Jessica and Abigail Hanson through the computer, and we got a hit.”
“Who?”
She handed the folder to Jack, who opened it and held the papers so Richard could read them too. “The bullets were fired from a 9mm hand gun, issued by the military, to a Specialist Nathan Williams.”
“And who is that?” Richard asked.
“No clue,” Jane said back, shrugging her shoulders. “I tried to get his file, but ran into the same red-tape that the boss did.”
“Damit,” Jack swore. “This is ridiculous. We can’t do anything until we’re able to talk to Hendrix…”
“Well,” Jane said, “we may not know who Specialist Williams is, but maybe he does…” She pointed through the one-way glass, into the holding room where Corporal Jefferson was just beginning to regain consciousness
“Time the corporal and I had a little chat. Phillips, keep trying to get a hold of Hendrix. I don’t want to have to wait for some personnel officer to call down.”
“You got it boss.”
“And Jane,” she pulled her attention away from the holding room, “get me that security footage.”
“Yes sir.”
Jack turned back to the large window, and breathed deeply as, just for a second, his and the corporal’s eyes met. Silently he chuckled to himself, thinking about the fact that on the other side, the window was nothing but a mirror.
“Name and rank, soldier.”
The room was not small, but was rather confining. In the center sat the gurney wheeled in from the med level, on which the man laid, restraints holding his wrists. Around his left leg could be seen a thick bandage wrapped where the bullet had entered his calf. It had taken some doing, but the surgeon had agreed to release him into the security office’s custody after making sure he was stable. As the only condition, a medical officer accompanied him and now waited outside.
“Name and rank. That is an order soldier.”
“I told you before, Daniel Jefferson, Corporal. And I don’t have to take orders from you, Officer.”
Jack smiled, seeing that the man was becoming more coherent. “My name is Jack Dowland, head of security. Nice to meet you Corporal.”
The man’s eyes were still droopy, and he still lay back against the propped up head of the gurney. “I know who you are,” he said weakly.
“Good, then you won’t mind answering a few questions.”
He didn’t answer.
“Who’s bodies did you need to see?”
The corporal kept his eyes forward, away form Jack.
“Jessica and Abigail Hanson?”
He didn’t move for a moment, and then nodded his head, just so slightly.
“Why did you need to see them?”
Again, there was no answer.
Jack sighed. “Corporal? Can I call you Daniel?”
“My friends call me Danny.”
“Okay-“
“You call me Daniel.”
“Okay, Daniel it is. Why did you need to see their bodies Daniel?”
“I can’t remember.”
“You can’t remember why you needed to see them?”
“No. I needed to see them because I can’t remember.”
“What can’t you remember Daniel?”
“I just…”
“What can’t you remember?”
No answer.
“Is it about their murders?”
No answer.
“Is it about the man that murdered them? Is it about Specialist Nathan Williams?”
“Wait… What? Nate? No. No… What does Nate have to do with this?”
“You know him?”
“Yes I know him.” Daniel was fully awake and on the verge of hysterics. “Specialist Nate Williams and I are in the same squad. Sergeant Hanson was our CO.”
“What?” Jack stammered. “David was your commanding officer?”
“Yes. Now please, how was Nate involved?”
Both men’s hearts were pounding. Before answering, Jack took a deep breath. “We believe Specialist Williams is directly connected to the murders of Jessica and Abigail Hanson.”
“No. That’s not possible.”
“I’m afraid it is Corporal.”
“No. You don’t understand. Nate is still in the military infirmary. He has been since our tour ended.”
“Corporal, it was Specialist Williams’s sidearm that was used to kill your sergeant’s family.”
“No. No… that’s not-” Suddenly his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and his body began to convulse.
“Doctor! Get in here!”
Daniel thrashed against the restraints.
As the door burst open the doctor ran in, yelling, “What happened?”
“He just started convulsing.”
“He’s having a seizure. Get these restraints off of him now.” The two men worked quickly, removing the restraints around his wrists and ankles. “Turn him on his side.”
Jack helped roll him onto his side, but then was forced to wait until the seizure was over. “What now,” he asked?
“Now I take him back to the med level. It was a mistake letting him come here.”
Jack swore as, without another word, the doctor wheeled the gurney out of the holding room, out of the security office, and towards the elevator.
“Please tell me you got a hold of Hendrix.”
“Sorry boss. No luck.”
“Jane, tell me you have good news.”
“Okay, so I was able to isolate what the interference is… kind of… See, it’s like some sort of EM field. But, not… It’s actually really cool. I’ve never seen anything like-”
“Jane…”
“Right. Sorry. I’ll just get back to work. Oh, wait…”
“Yes?”
“I played back the video and it looks like the interference started this morning around 9:30 or so…”
“How does that help us?”
“Not really sure… so I’ll just keep working.”
“Thank you,” Jack smiled. Taking a breath he massaged his head for a minute.
“You okay Boss?” Richard asked looking over.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a headache. It’s been a long day.”
“So do we know what happened to the Corporal?”
“I’ve been on the med level for the past few hours trying to find out. Apparently he had a seizure and then slipped into a coma. He had massive cranial swelling, and they had to do some procedure or surgery or something to keep it from killing him.”
“Was it in the same region as the sergeant?”
“As a matter of fact, it was.”
The room was silent until Richard spoke again, “So what do we do now boss?”
“We need to talk to Hendrix. Either that or we need to get in to talk to Specialist Williams.”
“I tried sir, but it turns out I don’t have the right authorization to enter the military base. All they could do was confirm that Specialist Williams was checked into the infirmary after arriving home from his tour.”
“Great. At least we have that.”
“Sir, are you sure that there was nothing else that Corporal Jefferson said?”
“He wasn’t exactly talkative…”
“Well you did shoot him, sir…” Jane added in. Jack could only shrug in agreement. “And about that,” Jane continued, getting up, “the security office is equipped with stun-guns.” She unlocked a small cupboard and pulled out one such stun-gun. “Why do we never use them?”
“We will next time. I promise.”
“All I’m saying is that with one, quick, electric shock and the guy goes down, no need to shoot him in the leg.” She set it down on the desk next to her, and sat back down.
Jack could only laugh.
It was late, that was all he knew. He had lost track of time not long after leaving the security office, and now simply did not care enough to look at his watch. He had told Richard and Jane to get what sleep they could. Both had refused. Jane, continuing on the computer, and Richard, studying every crime scene photo and looking back over each of the preliminary autopsy reports, had still been in the office when he had left. He needed to think, and late night walks through the city sometimes helped.
Jack remembered as a teenager taking similar walks through the dark streets of his hometown, beneath a beautiful blanket of stars. He had not seen stars in almost five years now. That was in fact his only regret of early retirement from the military. As a civilian he was no longer allowed on the surface, and as ruined and as dismal as it was, he had always loved the stars.
He simply let his mind go, and let it roll over everything from the investigation. Closing his eyes he whispered to himself, “None of it makes sense…” He knocked his head into the wall behind him a few times in frustration.
Sighing, he opened his eyes and looked around. When he had first come in he had not bothered turning on the lights, and had slowly found his way to the wall he now sat against. As the minutes crept by, his eyes had adjusted from the brightly lit hallway outside. Now he could see the vague forms of furniture, cupboards, doors, closets, and any number of other objects that made the room what it was. Another hand full of minutes passed and the dark stains on the light carpet slowly formed on the other side of he room.
He had never really meant to come to David’s quarters, yet had found himself standing outside, mindlessly. The security officer guarding the door had let him in immediately, thinking it had something to do with the investigation. Much longer, and the young man would likely check in, seeing if there was anything he could help with.
Thinking about what he should say if the officer found him just sitting in the dark, Jack adjusted himself to a slightly more comfortable position. As he did he felt something in his jacket pocket. Absently he shifted to allow his hand access and reached in to grasp the oddly shaped object. He pulled it out and held it in front of his face. It was a small, pink, pony. “Lulu…” he said barely above a whisper.
He closed his fingers tightly around the toy as flashes of his friend’s young daughter sped through his mind. He had known her since she was just a little girl. Now she was dead. So was her mother. And so was David.
Jack had seen David pass through hell and back on the two tours they had had together, and now he was dead. Just like that. Not even a meaningful death.
“Why the hell did you do it, David? Why the hell did you do it?”
“Morning sunshines…”
The heads of both Richard and Jane shot up from their desks. “Just resting my eyes, Boss,” Richard said quickly.
“Don’t worry about it Phillips. It’s fine. I just got back myself.”
“What time is it sir,” Jane asked.
“5:30. We have six and a half hours before the next regiment is scheduled to deploy. So that means about four and a half to solve this case.”
“We still need to get in to see Hendrix, boss. I kept trying to get a hold of him the whole night.”
“Call again, see when he’s free.”
With a nod, Richard picked up the phone and began dialing.
“Jane,” Jack said walking over to her desk. “If you’re planning a last minute, miraculous revealing of the security footage, now would be the best time.”
“Well sir, I isolated the interference and was able to set up a program that would filter it out. I left the program running all night and it looks like it got most of it. She ran the clip of video on the main screen. “You can clearly see someone walk into the room and then ten minutes later walk out. But that’s pretty much it…”
“Jane, I can’t even tell if that is a man or a woman.”
“Yeah…”
“How long?”
“If I work on it I should have the rest of it clear in the next hour or so.”
“Okay. Let me know.”
“Thank you very much,” Richard said into the phone. “Boss, Hendrix just got back to his office. He’s free to see us.”
“Then let’s go. Jane, get me that footage”
“Yes sir.”
With that the two men were out the door and moving down the hall. Side by side they reached the end of the elevator, hit the button, and got in. The top three levels of the city made up the military base, with Major General Hendrix’s office being on the second. The ride up was slow, as was passing through security upon exiting the elevator. Before long however, they stood outside Hendrix’s office.
“You can go in,” the secretary said.
Nodding politely they entered.
“Mr. Dowland, and I presume, Mr. Phillips,” they were greeted.
“Major General Hendrix. Nice to see you again.”
“The pleasure is mutual. What can I do for you gentlemen?”
Jack looked over the General. The man looked horrible. He appeared exhausted, as if he had slept even less than they had the night before. “What can you tell us about a Corporal Daniel Jefferson and a Specialist Nathan Williams?”
“Corporal Jefferson and Specialist Williams were the only two survivors on Sergeant Hanson’s squad besides himself.”
“We actually already knew that. We’ve been trying to get more information all night.”
“May I ask why?”
“We have Corporal Jefferson in our custody on the Med level for shooting a coroner’s assistant. And the weapon used to kill Jessica and Abigail Hanson belongs to Specialist Williams, who we learned is presently in your infirmary.”
The General seemed at a complete loss for words. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“I’m sorry to have to be this direct, but right now we need information as to what occurred on their last mission and also we would like to talk to Specialist Williams.”
“I don’t know what to tell you Mr. Dowland, but…” he paused, shaking his head in genuine disbelief, “Specialist Williams committed suicide last night. He slit his own wrists…”
“What!” Richard exclaimed. Jack just let his mouth hang open, speechless.
“On their last patrol Sergeant Hanson’s squad came under heavy artillery fire on the frontlines. Seven men died. Upon their return to base, Specialist Williams presented with sever post-traumatic stress disorder. After admission it was also found that he must have suffered some type of head trauma, causing massive amounts of cranial swelling. Then last night he used a spare piece of metal to slit his own wrists.”
“Excuse me?” Richard asked. “Did you say cranial swelling?”
“Yes. Why?”
“General, sir, it was found that both Sergeant Hanson and Corporal Jefferson had similar cranial swelling.”
“Did you discover a cause?”
“No and we were hoping you could tell us. Shortly before we discovered the swelling in Corporal Jefferson’s brain, he lapsed into a coma.”
“Is he going to be alright?”
“He’s stable for now, and truth be told I’m much more worried about Specialist Williams’s weapon at the moment.”
“I’m sorry Mr. Dowland, but if I remember correctly, Specialist Williams’s weapon and his personal diary were the only personal effects he was admitted with. Both of which were picked up by Sergeant Hanson yesterday morning.”
“Are you saying sir, that the weapon used to kill his family was in fact in Sergeant Hanson’s possession at the time of the murders?”
“Yes, I guess I am.”
“Sir, the med level just called down, Corporal Jefferson is awake.”
“Perfect timing,” Jack said stopping just inside the security office door. “Richard, get teams, get everyone you can, find me that other gun. Jane, get me that video!” Jack was out the door before either of them could even respond. Quickly he made his way up the staircase and onto the med level. Taking deep breaths, he walked calmly through the passageways, past the waiting rooms and offices, until finally coming to a stop at the recovery room, guarded by a security officer at the door. Standing aside, the man let Jack enter.
In the room was one gurney, and alongside it were a number of machines Jack didn’t even bother trying to understand. On the gurney was the same man Jack had seen on the gurney in the holding room, only weaker looking, with a bandage wrapped around his head as well. Again, restraints held him down.
“Daniel?”
“Yeah…” His eyes opened and turned towards Jack.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like hell. Why?”
“Just wondering. Is there any chance we could talk again?”
“Its not like I can stop you.”
“What happened on your last patrol? I have a feeling that whatever happened, is responsible for all of this.”
“You wouldn’t understand…”
“Daniel, five years ago I retired as a major from the military. I served my last two tours with Sergeant Hanson under my command. Trust me, I’ll understand.”
“A lot of things have changed in the past few years sir…”
“Like what Corporal?”
“At the peak of the war, there were hundreds of cities below ground, each with patrols. Now… we haven’t seen any other patrols in over two years. And no one has come across a healthy city in just as long. We don’t see our enemy anymore. Soldiers, entire squads, just disappear. The worlds gone… Its just all ruins and death.”
“What happened to your squad?”
“We found something… I don’t know what it was. None of us did. It was just sitting there on the ground. The guy who found it just touched it and it started to glow. The man next to him then shot him square in the chest. He just kept shooting. Sergeant Hanson then shot him. He killed him… and just like that, two men were dead. One of the other men tried crushing the thing with a rock, but as soon as he was about to, he couldn’t find it. The next day, one of the men started saying that he had seen the whole day happen before. That he had lived through it already… Eventually we all started to see things. We saw entire days that never happened. Each time it would be something different, it would glow and someone would die, or see something, or hear something, or even remember things that never even happened. Every single death was friendly fire… It made all of us go insane. No one could trust what they saw… or heard… or thought… And it would keep looking like something different. One time, a dagger, another, a canteen, then another, a rock…Eventually though Nate said he found it and the Sergeant and I saw him smash it. We shouldn’t have trusted our eyes, but when all the stuff stopped, we thought maybe he had done it… but we were wrong… God we were wrong.” Tears rolled down his cheeks.
“You brought it back into the city…” Suddenly a beeping filled Jack’s ear. He touched the headset to open the channel. “What is it?”
“Sir,” Jane’s voice said, “I finished the video. Our shooter is Corporal Jefferson.”
“Thank you.” He turned off the headset before she could say anything else. Now addressing Daniel again, “What couldn’t you remember? Why did you need to see the bodies?”
“I don’t remember what happened… I just realized that I was walking down a hallway. I had Nate’s gun in my hand… I freaked out and threw it in the garbage… I knew I killed them. I thought seeing the bodies would destroy the illusion…”
“So this thing, this device, it is responsible for the cranial swelling, the interference on the video, all of it…”
“I’m so sorry… Oh God… I’m so sorry.”
“Look through all the things collected from the Hanson quarters. See if there is anything that looks like a diary.”
“What? Why?”
“All of this, everything, is being caused by some device. We have to find it…”
Jack dumped the entire contents of four evidence boxes on the central table in the security office.
“A device?”
“David’s squad found it and accidentally brought it back to the city. It tricks people’s minds. Makes them kill other people around them.”
Jane got up and came over, putting her hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Sir, slow down… What’s going on?”
The room fell silent as Jack took in a deep breath. After a few seconds he explained, “It all has to do with Sergeant Hanson’s last patrol. His squad found something. An object or device, or something. Corporal Jefferson couldn’t actually tell me because he said, it changed, it would make the men think it was something else. A rock, a canteen, things like that.”
“And what does that have to do with our case?”
“Sergeant Hanson’s squad all killed each other because of this thing, whatever it is. It has everything to do with the case.”
“Corporal Jefferson says this device made him kill Jessica and Abigail?”
“Yeah, and I believe him.” Jack took a moment to look both of the officers in the eye.
“Yes sir,” Jane responded.
Jack went back to sifting through the evidence bags, but then looked up again as Richard asked a question, “So what about the two suicides? The device cause those too?”
Jack stopped and thought. “No… that wouldn’t make any sense. Especially if they hadn’t killed anyone else first. Maybe they resisted to much and it killed them by making them kill themselves…”
“Is that possible?”
“I don’t see why not.”
“But sir, why would Sergeant Hanson say it was all because of him?”
“Because he brought the device and the gun into his quarters…” Jack said solemnly. “Richard, you remember when it was that the General said David picked up Specialist William’s gun and diary.”
“Mid- morning, yesterday. Why?”
“Because that’s when the interference started…” Jane added in.
“Exactly.”
“The device created the interference… And you think the diary was the device.”
“And that is why we need to find it.”
“But, sir, the interference went away, remember? A little after we found the scene. It went away. Sir? Sir… are you okay?
Jack was frozen, staring at one of the evidence bags. “What is that?” he asked Jane. His finger pointed at a bag with a small, pink pony inside.
“Abigail had that in her hand when she died. Why?”
“Boss?”
Mind swimming Jack reached into his jacket pocket, and pulled out a small, pink pony, identical to the one in the evidence bag. “Oh my God…” he said. Breath caught in his throat he stared at the toy between his fingers. As he turned it over, the figure began to glow.
Suddenly, Jack watched in horror as Richard unholstered his gun and took aim at Jane. “No!” he screamed, but it was too late. Richard tightened his finger around the trigger, again and again and again. The whole thing seemed to flow in slow motion. Blood flew out of Jane’s body, as the bullets slammed into her soft flesh. Leaving a red mist hanging in the air in her place, her small form fell backwards, almost bouncing as it hit the floor. Immediately, Richard began to turn his gun on Jack. Diving under the table, he escaped the first two shots. Before Richard could fire any more, Jack aimed his gun from the floor and fired. The man simply tipped backwards and fell to the ground. The moment Richard’s body hit the floor a sharp tingling took over Jacks body, then a burning rippling over his skin and muscles. Before long, everything went black.
His eyes opened slowly. It took him a long time to understand the picture before him. Jack was in a holding cell, Jane standing unharmed on the other side of the bars.
“Jane! You’re alive!”
“Excuse me?”
“Richard… I saw him shoot you…”
“All I saw was you pulling out your gun and shooting Richard.”
“What? What are you talking about? What happened?”
“You’ve been unconscious for about twelve hours… If what Corporal Jefferson said was right, then the device took control of you, and you killed Richard... Then I took the stun gun that I had left near my desk and shot you with it… Good news is, the shock fried the device in your hand, whatever it was.”
“No, Jane, that’s not what happened. I swear. It took control of Richard.”
“I’m sorry sir, but no.”
“This is not happening…”
“You have no clue what is going on… Destroyed or not, that thing did what it was suppose to do… The mayor’s dead, sir. The miners… they… General Hendrix has declared marshal law. Nearly a thousand soldiers are dead… The city is tearing itself apart…”
“No. No… This is not happening…”
“Goodbye sir…” And with that she left.
“No. No…” Jack kept saying to himself. He stumbled backwards a few steps and slid down the wall to sit on the floor. “This is not happening!”
He closed his eyes and he just put his head back against the wall.
“Jack. Jack!”
His eyes opened and crawled upward.
“What are you doing, Boss? Come on, get up,” Richards voice said,
Jack slowly rose to his feet. His security officer’s uniform pulled against his neck as his back slid up the rough wall.
“Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”
“What? What’s going on?”
His eyes began to focus. Out of the haze formed Richard’s face. The rough, bearded face looked at him with worried eyes. Jack’s vision darted around the face before him, trying to make sense of what was happening.
“No. No. This isn’t right. What’s going on? Where am I?”
“Boss. Level fifteen? Room 1522? Ringing a bell?”
“This isn’t right…” He looked around. They stood just outside David’s quarters, and through the open door he could see Jane taking pictures of the crime scene.
“Seriously boss, I need to get you out of here. We can’t let any of the medical teams see you like this.”
“What?”
“Jack, you are the head of security. You need to be in control. Pull yourself together, boss”
“Wait…”
Absently he felt a weight in his left hand. Hesitantly he brought it up, his bicep straining, unwilling to move from the motionless, statuesque position at his side. As the end of his arm came into view Jack saw that clenched in his fingers was a toy slightly bigger than his fist. An image of a plastic, pink pony formed in his hand as his vision focused on the object. A glowing, plastic, pink pony.
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