Cathay
Solaris City
Solaris VII
25 April 3061
Detective Nicky Vale sat in her car outside the bar and grille where the meeting was taking place between Lin Ming and the character they knew only as Drake. She hadn't been able to get anything on his identity from the few details that Lin had provided, but this was a chance to surveil him and see where he went after the meet.
Sure enough, the man that Nicky tagged as Drake emerged from the restaurant and headed south on foot. Nicky got out of her car and cautiously followed him to see where he was going.
The guy was good, he made several stop and rebounds to clear any potential tails, but Nicky was still able to keep to his trail. He basically took her for a tour of the Black Hills, even stopping outside the Boreal Reach arena for a time.
Nicky was now wondering if he knew he was being tailed and was deliberately leading her on a wild goose chase, but she had no option but to continue the pursuit. Finally he moved off into a residential area, and for a moment it seemed as if she had lost him in the chaos of the everyday comings and goings of the locals.
But she caught sight of him once again as he darted into an alley between an apartment block and a bodega. Not wanting to lose him, she cautiously made her way into the alley.
As she got halfway down the alley, she was suddenly aware of someone behind her. She was being boxed in, and would have nowhere to go. She powered through, and rounded the corner to find herself staring at the barrel of a gun.
A nondescript man was pointing the handgun at her. She knew she could not turn back. She had been boxed in. Beside the man with the gun stood Drake, a foul expression on his face.
"You've got exactly ten seconds to tell me why you're following me."
She had no choice but to play her badge at this point. "Detective Nicky Vale, SCPD. And I'm following you in connection to a murder."
Drake smirked. "You're a bold one, I'll give you that. You could have got into a lot of trouble. As it is, you just stumbled onto an open investigation. I'm Peter Drake, Black Hills PD."
Nicky relaxed slightly. At least it was only an inter-jurisdictional fight now. "Let's say I buy your story. What are you doing meeting with a MechWarrior of the games?"
"That's part of my investigation. You don't need to know more than that. Go home, detective. This is a very sensitive case."
Nicky shook her head. "SCPD has jurisdiction across the city. I'm running down a murder case. You better believe that I'll check things out, and I'll get read in on your investigation, whatever it is. Might as well spare us the time and tell me now."
Drake shrugged. "Not my call. You do what you have to, detective. Just steer clear of my case."
With that, he turned and walked away, and his associates holstered their arms and blended back into the city, leaving Nicky alone with a whirlwind of thoughts. She would have to catch up with Lin and see what the meeting had been about.
#####
A few hours later, and she was meeting up with Lin Ming at their rendezvous in the International zone. After comparing notes on each of their meetings, Nicky found herself confused.
"I'll track down his story, see if it checks out. But it doesn't make any sense. Why would a Black Hills cop be working corporate espionage? It doesn't track. Something is wrong here."
Lin frowned. "So where does that leave me? I've got this drive cloner that he wants me to work on Red Dragon, but if he's to be believed, they're the ones responsible for the murder."
Nicky reached out and touched Lin on the arm. "This is getting into dangerous territory. You don't have to keep this up if you don't want to. It would be safer to quit."
Lin shook her head. "I can't quit now. One way or another, I'm involved in this case, I have to see it through. But what do I do?"
Nicky took a deep breath. "Let me check out this Drake story a little bit more. If he checks out, you can make the play with the cloner, do what they ask, and see what happens. I don't know if I trust this guy. In fact, I know I don't trust this guy."
"But I'm starting to not trust Red Dragon either. What if they are the ones behind this?"
"Then you have a target on your back and you have to be very careful. We can possibly smoke them out and take them down, but it will be dangerous. Hell, it's going to be dangerous either way. Are you sure you still want in on this?"
Lin smiled nervously. "Yes. I'm more sure now than I was before. I have to see this through."
"Okay. Then we're in this together. We're going to get to the bottom of this. I just hope it doesn't kill us."
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