CHAPTER 24
Locke parked in the same space he occupied an hour and a half before. His hand gripped the door handle when his phone rang. He glanced at the display. It was Hiss.
“What does he want?” Locke pressed the answer button. “Hello, Govicide Agent Hiss.” He tried to sound happy to hear from his partner.
“Govicide Agent Locke, I received some new information. There is a site in the northeastern part of the Fourth Continent we should investigate.” The concern in his voice filtered through the phone.
“And . . . ” The news caught Locke’s attention, but he was on a different mission.
“We depart in an hour. We must check it out immediately.”
No. Not now. Like a spring, Locke punched his window. His bony knuckles shuddered.
Calm down. “In an hour? Don’t we have Govicide Agents over there who can check it out?”
“Other Govicide Agents?” Hiss shouted. Locke thought Hiss’ hand might come through the phone and grab his throat. “You want some other team to get credit for this?”
“No.” I don’t care, he wished he could say I out loud.
“Then we will have to follow this case wherever it takes us. And I get the feeling there will be other leads coming. I have a bulletin out to every Govicide office around the World. If anyone discovers cash or our receiver stations detect any WPS signals, we will be notified since only you and I and the Director know about this other side of the Hamilton murders. Be at the airport in forty-five minutes.”
Hiss hung up. Locke pressed the off button and threw the phone against the seat.Had Hiss been sitting there, Locke would’ve strangled him with the seat belt. Under normal OWG procedures, the choice would be easy between a criminal and a partner. This time, it wasn’t so simple.
Ironically, Locke knew where Hiss meant. This area was the scene of Hamilton’s second murder.
All the information they needed sat three hundred yards from Locke, if he could just figure how to get it out of Hamilton. If only Hiss could stand being in the same room as the murderer.
But Locke couldn’t take the risk. Even if he persuaded Hiss to come down to Homicide, what if Hamilton mentioned Locke had just been there? Hiss wouldn’t listen to anything else after. He’d take Locke into custody for violating the Director’s mandate, no matter how much information Locke uncovered.
No, Locke would have to let the next conversation wait. The anticipation would eat its way through his body until the next time. It would gnaw at him from the time he pulled out of the Homicide parking lot until he came back. But he had no choice since Hiss expected him at the airport.
The time away from Gambling City might give Locke a chance to plan out different tactics in confronting Hamilton. Had he stormed in there now, he would’ve been running on pure emotion, coming away empty-handed yet again. Moreover, with one wrong move he could’ve gotten caught and landed a death sentence.
With a heavy right foot, Locke pulled out of the parking lot, hoping no one noticed him pull in. He tried to clear his head on the way home, stocking it with good feelings in an effort to settle down. The OWG providing for everything for everyone. The System making sure nobody wanted for anything. Govicide making it all happen. He even entertained the thought of a partnership between the OWG and Hamilton.
What a great ending to a bad story: “Govicide Agent convinces Hamilton to reveal secrets of living outside the System. Ends in OWG becoming more efficient and subjects receiving even more Goods and Services.”
Was it possible? Sure it was. Yes, Hamilton hated the System—he killed those Agents after all. But, he didn’t want to see the Masses die, subjects who had done him no harm. Did he? He was a Free Enterpriser, but still . . .
Maybe Hamilton would be reasonable. Forget all this talk about Pyramids and rights. If Locke persuaded Hamilton to teach everyone his abilities, the Masses would become even more efficient, thus improving the OWG.
With Locke’s success, Jade would surely be allowed to get her abortion with no penalties.
Then, everything would be back to normal. The OWG would still be in control but better. Govicide would hunt Offenders down but there would even be fewer of them. And the System would keep track of everything but everyone would be improved.
It was the perfect answer.
He stopped to call the limousine driver before going inside his living quarters. The driver would be there in half an hour.
Jade sat on the couch reading her favorite magazine, OWG Female’s Monthly. “Where have you been?” Jade folded the magazine, tossing it beside her. Her cheeks rippled as her teeth ground behind them.
“I thought I told you to jump in bed.” If she’d been asleep, he wouldn’t have to give her the bad news.
“You can command everyone out there. But not in here. Where were you? Don’t tell me you were at Homicide this whole time.”
“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. And I can’t tell you anyway.” Locke ducked into the bedroom to pack.
She followed.
Locke laid the envelope and the letter on the nightstand then pulled out his suitcase, noticing her shadow on the floor.
“What are you doing?”
Locke didn’t look up. “Hiss called. We’re leaving.” That last part was going to sting.
“Where are you going?” Her shadow drifted over him.
Locke felt her glare cutting through his back. “I can’t tell you that.” Locke grabbed his clothes, avoiding any eye contact.
“How long will you be gone?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why not?”
“Because I never know where this case is going to take me.” His words spouted out like water from a fountain.
“Okay,” Jade said, surprising him. She sat on the bed beside the suitcase.
Locke shot her a quick glance. “You’re not mad?”
“Of course I am. I’m furious. But I can’t do anything about it, can I?”
There was no need for Locke to respond. They both knew the answer to that question.
She continued, “But I need to be convinced whatever you’re doing can get us out of this pregnancy.”
He hesitated in his packing to give her his full attention. “It will.”
“Then I won’t give you any more of a hard time.” She shook her head slowly.
“Thank you.” He kissed her and grabbed the envelope. He glimpsed the time on his phone. “I have time to tell you one interesting thing. You know this?” He pointed to the Symbol on the envelope “I found out a little bit more.”
“You did?” Locke’s favorite smile transformed her face.
“We had it wrong. It’s an upside-down U.” He turned it around.
“And what does it mean?” She touched his hand as she grasped the paper.
“I’m not sure.” The fears from the last two hours knocked at him again but this moment offered some insight. “But I have to ask you something, and don’t think I’m losing my mind. When you ride the bus, do you look out? Do you watch the scenery go by?”
“Uh, no. I don’t think anybody does. Did you?”
“No, I didn’t either until I interrogated Hamilton. Then, on the way home I noticed the casinos are kind of rundown. And lots of buildings are empty. And the streets are empty. But, I’m not sure what he did or said to change my behavior. It’s like he opened my eyes or something. Don’t you think it’s strange that nobody looks out?” He thought of those two buses passing on the street.
“I guess,” she shrugged.
He sat beside her. “Tell me this. When was the last time you remember watching the buildings and signs go by while you were on the bus?”
Jade’s hand went to her face, her fingertips pushing into her left cheek. “I can’t remember. Maybe a year? Two years? I think I just got bored.”
“Yes . . . ” Her words caused his mind to latch on to a new thought, but the thought slipped away. “Anyway, these upside down U’s are all over town but it doesn’t seem like anyone has noticed them. They’re everywhere.”
“I’ve never seen them.”
“No wonder. You’re not watching your surroundings,” he answered right back. “Oh, and I figured out Hamilton marked each of the murder scenes with this Symbol. And now I’ve found them all over town.”
“All over? And nobody sees them?”
“Yes, because, like you, everyone has their heads down. But I’m not sure that’s the entire answer.”
“Does the Director know? Govicide Agent Hiss?”
He glanced at his phone. The driver would be there soon. “I just figured it out myself. And I can’t tell them because I’m afraid the conversation will eventually make its way back to your pregnancy and this envelope.”
Locke handed it to her.
“What could it mean? It looks like a hump.” Jade laughed. “That couldn’t be right.”
It was nice to hear her laugh after all the stress they’d been feeling. “No, I don’t think so.”
Jade placed the envelope on the bed. Locke put it in an inside pocket of his jacket and stood up.
“Shouldn’t someone ask Hamilton about it?”
Locke hesitated as he shut the suitcase. She didn’t seem to notice. “I’m sure the Director will get around to it.”
Then, as if Hamilton was standing in the room, Locke heard the murderer’s voice. I am what the OWG fears.
The Director was afraid of Hamilton?
Fear. That’s what Locke noticed when Hamilton’s name came up during his interview. During the entire Hamilton conversation, the Director gazed out his huge window, avoiding eye contact with Locke—a subtle sign the Director was unsure of himself.
Preposterous. Locke laughed out loud, startling himself. The Director, like the OWG, feared nothing. But, what if the Director already realized Hamilton was a--
“What’s so funny?” Jade asked.
“Nothing.” He leaned over and kissed her. “I’m really going to miss you. But I will be back as soon as possible.”
The limousine pulled up a minute later. Locke left Jade standing in the doorway.
Locke realized his travel on the roads of Gambling City had taken on a new significance. His eyes were wide open. Searching. Investigating. Seeking. The need to see the Symbols eclipsed his missing of Jade.
These OWG buildings, stores, bus stops, and signs he passed so many times. True, he’d been gone quite a bit for Hamilton’s case. But, every time he returned he traveled these particular streets. There were no Symbols here or he would’ve seen them.
But, he remembered: He had his head down like everyone else until recently.
And before long, looking out the passenger side window, the Symbols revealed themselves. His hand covered his eyes, trying to ignore them. He peeked out between his fingers.
The Symbols were hard to see since it was dark and the limousine motored down each block at over sixty miles per hour. But he caught a glimpse of enough of them. He spotted one on the brick wall of the OWG restaurant where he and Jade ate on their first date. It took all his credits to take her.
He found another at the stop where he used to change buses. One was even scrawled on a sidewalk Locke traveled between bus stops. He’d stepped right on it and not noticed.
His shivering returned. He’d thought himself better than this. An hour and a half ago he’d thought other subjects missed these Symbols because he was in an area he didn’t frequent anymore.
But these Symbols, they were practically in his backyard. He’d passed them just days ago and hadn’t seen them. They hadn’t been there, had they? They must have been spray-painted on these surfaces within the last 48 hours.
No sense lying to himself. He knew better. All of these were old, like the others he saw.
And not one subject, including Locke, did anything about them. Not one subject tried to erase them or wash them away because nobody noticed them in the first place. And if Hamilton hadn’t given him that simple puzzle, he wouldn’t have seen them either.
What was wrong with everyone?
What was wrong with him?
It was one thing to claim others weren’t giving attention to their environment. To their city. To their streets.
But now it was Locke himself.
Locke tapped the driver on the shoulder. “Driver.”
The male took his eyes off the road to glance in the rearview mirror. “Yes, Govicide Agent Locke?”
“What do you think about these upside U’s out there?” Locke pointed to the street.
The limousine traveled a block while the driver surveyed each side. Locke counted how many Symbols they passed. Ten, at least.
“What do you think? How many did you see?”
“Well . . . ”
“What?”
“I did not see any. Is this some sort of trick, Govicide Agent Locke?”
“Wait.” Locke leaned forward. “You’re telling me we traveled a block and you didn’t see one? I counted ten.”
“Well, I am . . . uh . . . driving and well . . . I did not want to look too hard. I might wreck,” the driver stuttered.
Locke noticed a Symbol coming up on the right side of the limousine. It was bright in the headlights. A Symbol on a green metal box just off the sidewalk. “See that?”
The driver studied where Locke pointed. He squinted and seemed to notice it.
“You saw it?”
“The black upside down U on the green box? Yes, I saw it.” The driver seemed proud of himself.
“Okay. Great. Have you seen any of them anywhere else?”
“No, Govicide Agent Locke. That is the first one I have ever seen.” The driver looked in the rearview mirror for reassurance.
“The first one? But they’re all over!” Locke shouted at the driver.
“Sorry, Govicide Agent Locke. Am I in trouble?”
“No, no of course not.” Locke lowered his head. “How about giving a little closer attention to your surroundings from now on?”
“Yes, sir, Govicide Agent Locke. I will. If I can ask, what is it? Someone should be getting in trouble for defacing OWG property.”
“Only if somebody notices,” Locke grumbled under his breath.