CHAPTER 11
Jade was not happy.
“I thought you were just going to be working around Gambling City?” She hovered over Locke while he packed.
“I guess I was wrong. I’m sorry. How many times do I have to say it?” This was the fifth “sorry” so far. He glanced at her then continued to pack his new black clothes with great care.
Jacket, ties, shirts, and pants. All silk, a substance made from an insect. Locke found it unbelievable any small creature could manufacture such exquisite fabric. It slid through his fingers like ice. Hiss had brought the clothing, shoes too, with him per instructions from the OWG’s Clothing Czar.
The OWG possessed the clothing sizes for all subjects. Even when a subject gained or lost weight, the OWG clothing designers knew. All they had to do was check the System, which recorded all subjects’ attire order history. One more way the OWG could discover Jade’s pregnancy if she and Locke weren’t careful. One increase in Jade’s size and the System would notice.
She plopped down on the bed beside Locke’s suitcase. “Okay. Sorry. But when are you coming back?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Jade leaned in, trying to get in his line of sight.
“This is Govicide not Homicide.”
He continued to pack. After a few seconds, he noticed Jade didn’t respond.
Locke stopped packing. “What?”
“I was hoping we were going to get to spend more time together.” She knew how to guilt him when she wanted. “After two years of you going all over the place chasing Hamilton, I thought it would be different.”
“It will be. Listen, my new partner, Govicide Agent Hiss. You should see him. You should have heard him go off on Ned today. Anyway,” Locke sat down on the bed beside his distressed girlcomrade. “He told me something only he and the Director know. Could be something big.”
“He yelled at Ned? How could Hiss do that?”
“Govicide Agent Hiss,” he corrected her.
“Of course. Govicide . . . Agent . . . Hiss,” Jade said, accenting every word.
“Don’t be like that,” Locke glared at her. “I know you haven’t run into Agents much in your life but you know how everyone is supposed to refer to them.”
“Hey,” she poked him. “I’ve heard you slip a few times over the years.”
Locke hadn’t told her about him calling Govicide Agent Hiss, “Alex.” Better to just leave that out.
“In any case, I think solving whatever Govicide Agent Hiss is working on might get us out of our problem.” He pointed at her stomach.
She laid her hand on his. “Another plan?” she smirked at him, obviously remembering how Locke’s plan for his interview fell apart. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”
“Wait a minute,” he pulled his hand away, “that’s not fair. Listen to me. Trust me when I say this is bigger than Agents dying. Let’s just say it’s the worst Offender behavior I’ve ever heard of. I catch them and I think I can write my ticket in Govicide.”
“Okay, Michael, okay,” she set her head on his shoulder.
“You work two weeks in a row starting tomorrow?” Since graduating from OWG high school, Jade worked as a secretary in the OWG Transportation Department.
“Yeah, don’t remind me. I wish I could find a better way to serve the OWG,” she sighed. “Between all the paperwork dealing with problems where the Fourth and Fifth continents meet--train signals going out, jets losing communication, storms blowing sand onto roads—I think I’m going to go blind. Everything just popped up within the last six months. But it’s gotten worse in the last month.”
“Yeah, you’ve told me,” Locke answered.
Since the beginning, the OWG banned the Masses from that continental area. Something had happened making the area lethal to any kind of life. But, transportation—trains, trucks, and SST’s—still traveled on the edges of it.
Locke thought of Hamilton. Those Pyramids he mentioned bordered the western edge of the region.
“I’ll call you from the road.” Locke stood up but his mind wandered, walking the path of his last thought.
In the limousine, Locke thought back to his first trip to Dale City. It was a year and a half ago. He saw a bit of humor that he’d be retracing his steps, though this time at a much swifter pace. SST’s and limousines always got a subject around quicker than trains and buses.
A year and a half ago, the locals and the Govicide Agents treated him as an afterthought. The Agents only talked to him when they needed him to investigate the blood spatter and determine a cause of death. Otherwise, they avoided him.
The limousine made its first turn in the trip to the airport. Locke noticed one of his old bus stops as he passed by. At the next stop sign, the limo driver looked both ways, even though there wasn’t a vehicle in sight. Locke watched him, wondering what the driver was doing. The car sat for two seconds then accelerated through the intersection.
As the car reached cruising speed, Locke still fixated on Hamilton. That was all it took now. In this case, Jade mentioned problems along those continents and Locke thought of the Pyramids. A reference, a word, a syllable having even a very loose connection to the interrogation and Locke’s mind raced to Hamilton.
Hamilton’s talking came back to Locke. He tried to remember everything, yet all that came were words, not complete sentences. What made it difficult was he recognized each word--it was the official OWG language and Hamilton didn’t speak with any kind of accent.But the words he used didn’t go together.
Closing his eyes, Locke concentrated. He was sure what Hamilton said was a clue. Something if known could help him and Hiss figure out where the cash went and its purpose. His mind grasped at each fragment but it was like grabbing at grains of sand blowing through Gambling City. They slipped threw his mind’s fingers.
As much as he pushed himself he couldn’t remember the sentences. A word here, a word there, but nothing more. He slapped his seat.
Opening his eyes, Locke watched the empty living quarters go by. All empty. The OWG built them in preparation for the future when the World would be able to handle more than two billion subjects.
But, how long ago had they been built? He couldn’t remember. He recalled seeing these structures years ago but that couldn’t be the case. The OWG surely would have populated them by now.
No, they must have been built recently, within the last two years.
The limousine wasn’t far from the airport now.
The more he thought about the great future coming, the more Locke’s body twitched about the OWG. The OWG had to be protected so this future could come to fruition. Cash couldn’t be allowed to flow. Offenders must be stopped. Mandates needed followed.
What were Hamilton and his comrades up to?
Locke pounded the armrest again.
He placed his Agent demeanor to the side and slipped into a detective frame of mind again. The more he thought about the cash the more Locke realized Hiss’ analysis was incomplete. This was more than a simple plan to transport cash out of the area, to the Second Continent or wherever. To go to the lengths of murdering fourteen Agents was more than just an effort to transport cash.
No, Locke figured the reason Hamilton killed those Agents was because one Agent could have stopped something else. Something an Agent could ruin on the spot, right at a precise point in time, by himself.
A lone Agent couldn’t stop a group of subjects loading cash. A group of Agents could, but not one on his own. Yet, Hamilton only killed one Agent in each area of the World.
An Agent by himself could only stop one subject. Maybe two. What could be so important that an Agent had to die, especially in the ways in which Hamilton killed them?
“Govicide Agent Locke, we are here,” the driver informed.
Locke had been in such deep thought he didn’t feel the limousine stop at the curb.
Pulling his suitcase through the airport didn’t have the same kind of fascination. But once again he wondered why the OWG built a building so big when only a few subjects used it. He still minded having to carry his bags up the stairs of the disconnected escalator and it seemed odd a few subjects would be traveling on an SST that could have fit one hundred.
Hiss already waited in the gate area when Locke arrived, reading the OWG Manual.
He didn’t look up when Locke sat down beside him.
“Can I ask you a question?” Locke leaned his bags against the chair.
“Yes, Govicide Agent Locke,” Hiss answered, not taking his eyes of the book.
“How did all the buildings in the beginning of the OWG get built so fast?” Locke asked not being able to remember the last time he saw a building go from foundation to completion.
“The first Exalted Ruler mandated it and the subjects complied. Everything is possible when the Exalted Ruler mandates something.”
“But, why is this airport so big?”
“Because the OWG built it for the future when all subjects will fly.”
“When do you think that will be?”
“Soon.” Hiss kept reading.
“How soon?” Locke felt like a little kid who kept asking “why” over and over.
“Soon.”
“What? Five years? Ten years? Twenty?”
“It is not for us to know. The OWG will determine the right day,” Hiss answered.
Locke sucked his lips in not liking Hiss’ answer. Yet, he thought better of continuing the line of questioning. “Of course. The OWG will determine it.”
Hiss nodded, rolling his eyes.
On the SST, Hiss took the very first seat available. Locke was about to take the one behind him when Hiss shook his head, not saying a word. Locke moved toward the back near the same area where he sat on his first flight.
As the jet ascended above the clouds, he watched out the window.
He saw lots of space. But the World was overpopulated.
He saw roads. But the World had very few automobiles.
He saw blue skies. But the World was full of pollution.
And the OWG was perfect. But there were subjects out there disobeying it.