Chapter 15 (2 of 2)

Doug lurched forward in protest. “Listen, you can’t just barge in like that.” he yelled. “Under whose authority are you…”

An intense pressure seized his shoulder causing him to howl out in pain as he was yanked backwards and restrained up against the wall. Drucker lunged forward to help but another S.P.A. officer swooped in front to barricade his way. He saw Doug puffing like an engine whilst a black-sleeved cybernetic forearm had him pinned by the neck.

On the far side of the room, Rik and Mr. Galloway sat motionless, frozen in a perpetual stare as to what was transpiring before them. The remaining officers stood, arms folded together, also focused in on the action.

Drucker spun around to face the smug military man as the S.P.A. officer moved in closer at the ready. “You’d better have a damn good reason for this, Pactor or whatever the hell your name is!” He roared. “Order these assholes to release my partner immediately! You’re skating a thin line with me that’s gonna come back and bite you in the ass. And yes, that is a threat!” Gleaming droplets of sweat collected at each temple whilst the calm General Pactor clasped both hands.

“You, err… You done yet?” Pactor inquired as straight faced as a vicar delivering a sermon. He jiggled a silver watch in the air. ”Because my time is extremely valuable, Mr. Drucker and you’re wasting precious moments of it. Now, how much longer do I have to watch this pitiful farce before you get out of here?”

Drucker caught hold of himself before doing something that he would regret for the rest of his career. He could hear the sound of Doug spluttering over his shoulder. “Release him now and we’ll leave but not until I know exactly what the hell is going on?”

In an unflinching tone, Pactor responded. “We’re both professionals I assume, right? So I’m going to deal with my people and you are going to deal with yours. Any questions from this point forward, you can take up with Capt. Wallace. As far as you and I are concerned, we’re done here for now until further notice.”

Pactor gestured over to the officer holding Doug. As he let go, a spray of spit flew from his mouth as he coughed and gagged whilst inhaling some much needed air. Drucker rushed to his aid as the colonel and his entourage made their way to Mr. Galloway and his client.

“Good day, gentlemen.”, was heard just within earshot over Pactor’s back. Drucker assisted his lethargic friend out of the Interrogation room but not before giving the colonel one last look of disdain. Slamming it behind him, he rested his partner upon the corridor wall. “Stupid question perhaps, but how you feeling?” asked Drucker.

A pale-faced Doug, still panting heavily, raised his eyes toward him. “Man, let me… tell you… You don’t wanna… go through what I… just did… ever.” His beady eyes rolled around in his head as he steadied himself to find balance. Drucker continued to study him until he regained most of his composure again.

“You gonna be OK, Doug?” he inquired one final time as he slipped a set of office keys into his coat pocket.

“I’m fine now.” he replied hunched over. “Just about, anyways.”

They could both hear inaudible murmurings behind the grey Interrogation door. Something big was happening and answers were needed fast. He placed one hand on Doug’s shoulder. “Now you got the keys, go wait in my office. I’ll be back shortly after I pay a visit to Capt. Wallace. You sure you gonna be OK?”

“Go ahead. I’ll meet you back there. Do what you need to do.” he replied, already starting to shuffle away in the other direction.

The long march down to his superior’s office was a gruelling one. Confusing flashbacks peppered his mind as he attempted to piece together how this case would always take one step forward and three steps back. These unknown extra elements thrown into the equation only seemed to act as a hindrance to his overall main objective. A deep throbbing ache pounded the inner walls of his skull as he reached the familiar etching of “Capt. J. S. Wallace”.

Drucker knocked hard enough to cause an instant stir beyond the frosted glass pane.

“Yes, come in.” Wallace bellowed as Drucker entered the room.

The look in Wallace's eyes already spelled out half the story. The other would have to be verbally assessed.

“So.” Wallace began. “I take it you’ve already met the Colonel.” His outward mannerisms were stern and rigid. More so than usual.

”You mean this Pactor? Yes, we’ve met. Or should I say, been assaulted by!” Drucker could not find the resolve to hold back, so decided on the “guns blazing” approach as the next viable option.

“How could this happen, sir. I mean, we we’re this close to breaking that son-of-a-bitch.” he proceeded. ”I only needed a few minutes longer with him, that’s all. I mean, this is only a murder investigation we’re dealing with.”

“I’m fully aware what we’re dealing with, Detective!” Wallace yelled, asserting his authority as forcefully as he knew how. “You don’t think I would have warned you in advance if I had prior knowledge this would be happening today?”

“What, sir? What is happening today?” he asked in the same tone though this time denuded of anger.

“OK, Drucker. Yesterday, I got word that the military might be stepping in at some point. Nothing was confirmed with me until they turned up just now.” He leaned back in his chair and let out a deep sigh, hands locked behind his head. ”I wasn't aware of this unexpected intrusion. I say again, I would have let you know sooner if I was.”

“I still don’t understand?” Drucker replied. “Why are the military getting involved? This was our case and I was in the middle of dealing with it.”

“By letting them escape when you had them cornered near the forest? By allowing an innocent young man do die at their hands just because you were taking your sweet time in solving this case?” An explosion of anger burst through Drucker ready to be unleashed. The Captain flung both hands in the air and glared straight at him.

“Those are not my words. They are coming straight from the top.” he explained. “Carl Randyll and Dan Reeves have both green lit this initiative. How’s that for an unexpected precedent? The way they see it, one death is one too many and this matter has gone way past simple ordinary law enforcement. They’re going after them with a vengeance and will not stop until the whole damn lot of them are blown to pieces.”

“So just like that? I get slung off this case midway through? And taking full responsibility for the gas station incident? Remember, we’re all in uncharted territory with this situation. A synthetic found a way to disable the Samson chip and went on a killing spree. I mean, who could have seen that coming, right? So that’s how it works. Just one mishap on my part and it’s all over.”

Wallace let out a cold grin. “Why don’t you try telling them that and see what they say have to say about it.” Wallace retorted. He pushed against the floor with his shoes and the leather chair glided across the polished laminate over to the window. He spread apart two metal slats of blinds with his fingers and peered below.

“Just open your eyes and take a look out there, Drucker. All those synthetics tangled up with us humans. Harmonisation between these two expansive groups are the government’s main agenda. But now, since the attack at the gas station, we’ve already had two full-scale riots and several attacks on innocent synthetics resulting in serious injury. Yet they as a collective still haven’t retaliated back.”

He turned back to Drucker and rolled his chair back behind the large mahogany desk. “But what if they started fighting back?” he put to Drucker. “How many more of them out there have found out how to disable the Samson chip? It seems more likely every day now that we’re on the verge of a full scale all-out war. And from where I’m sitting, we won’t have a hope in hell if it comes down to a contest of pure brute force. Therefore, our only salvation lies in politics. I know that’s not the answer you wanna hear, but it’s the only one that makes a goddamn shred of sense right now.”

He stood up and walked toward Drucker who had yet to think of anything useful to say given the rising levels of his frustration.

“Don’t think I know any more than you do?” he concluded. “We’re all just standing to attention, asking no questions and carrying out our instructions. Me, you, this precinct. Hell, the whole damn country of law enforcement. We serve the political machinery and that's always been the way the system works as far as I can recall. So man up and deal with it.”

“Well, where do I stand then in regards to the case?” he asked, almost in a reconciled whisper.

“They’re calling the shot now. Any assistance required from yourself or Doug will come from the top, filter down to me and get passed on to you. Just don’t take any of this personal, OK?” He extended an affable smile and chuckled. “Hey, listen. The world is way bigger than Conway Drucker, maybe even the great James Wallace.”

“I hear you, Captain.” drawled Drucker back at him. “I hear you loud and clear.”

As the comfort of his office leather chair and Doug’s friendly banter beckoned to him, he pondered the future. His personal life, the wife he loved waiting patiently at home for him. The things that actually counted in life. Perhaps there was still time to salvage what was left, he thought. As long as the world keeps on spinning, we’re all just going to keep on running with it. The disillusionment he felt towards his career had never been stronger.

Drucker arrived at the inviting door and entered. To his surprise, he found Doug slouched in one of the wooden chairs encompassing his desk with a stranger seated to his left. Someone who wore the exact same expression of worry and anxiety as Doug had himself. He closed the door behind him with a gentle hand.

“Drucker.” said Doug. “This is Rob Enright. He was waiting for you outside the office when I got here. Believe me, you’re gonna want to hear this.” A slight tremble in his voice roused suspicion at once. He shifted toward the desk, opting not to offer a handshake.

“Mr. Rob Enright, what seems to be the matter?” asked Drucker.

He spoke with a deep southern twang though came across very polite and respectful. His hands were clamped hard over both knees as he began.

“Detective, sorry for intruding unannounced like this. I was going to ring to make an appointment first but I thought a personal visitation would be the more appropriate course of action.” He could not have been a day over thirty as his boyish good looks displayed a smooth, youthful complexion with a thick tussle of wavy hair pulled back over his head. Drucker ushered him to carry on with a light hand gesture.

“Well, I was hunting for some elk in the woods a few days back when all of a sudden I heard something over yonder. I crouched down beside some tall ferns and saw a group of people. Well, actually three synthetics and a child being carried by the big one.” Rob spread his arms out vertically to stress it's size, topped off by a look of sheer amazement. Drucker’s heart raced within his rib-cage at the possibility of where this might be leading. The nausea that came with it was almost stifling. However, he let the boy speak uninterrupted.

“Well, I was a fair distance away and remembered watching the reports on the news about the runaway synthetics. I just knew it had to be them. So I trailed them for a mile or two until they stopped under this large oak and stayed there yammering on for what seemed like forever.”

“Anyways, the big one gets up and opens this trapdoor leading underground. Some kind of bunker, I think. I know for a fact the army used that site as a testing area for explosives. But I'm going way back now, like many years ago. Anyways, before I knew what was going on, they all disappeared inside. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. Well, I made a few phone calls straight after and that’s how I happened upon you, Detective.”

Drucker felt akin to a tennis ball in the midst of an open rally. Another barrier drawn up between Gwen and himself, only minutes before he had managed to steer the ship toward dry land. But there was no time to start rationalising the ethics of his morals. A decision had to be made now, one that may affect the rest of his life and bring with it potentially devastating repercussions based on the outcome. However, the final answer came to him easier than expected.

“OK, Mr. Enright. First things first. Have you told anyone else about this. Anyone at all.” He came across grim and serious.

“Not a soul, Detective. Not even Ma and Pa. Nobody.” he replied.

“Good.” said Drucker with a hint of relief behind his words. “Now, listen to me very carefully. This could turn out well for all of us, but only if you follow exactly what I’m going to say next.”

Hope you enjoyed this chapter of my novel, please look out for more on the way... (author: @ezzy)

The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 15 (2 of 2) (My Original Novel)

Chapter 15 (2 of 2)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter of my novel, please look out for more on the way... (author: @ezzy)