Chapter 13

The grainy fuzzed black and white display bore down against beady red bloodshot eyes. A white shapeless smudge flickered at the lower left hand corner of the screen. Even through narrowed vision, a clear likeness would have been almost impossible to discern. Out of the dull grey car stepped a huge machine whom the every next moment hurled itself into the air to go careening through the clear glass door. Another squared-off video feed positioned directly to the right of the original showed the interior of the store. It approached the counter with caution, exhibiting a concerned stare at something just out of sight of the camera’s lens. On pause and closer inspection, even through the vibrating scanlines and pixilation, an identification could have been made with relative ease.

A loud knock at the door broke Drucker’s concentrated focus. He shook his head to clear away any cobwebs of thought before he answered. “Yes, come in!” he hollered. The door pushed open to reveal a rather elegant, well-to-do gentlemen sporting a black pin-striped cashmere suit and tie. It was the affable Mr. Dunbar.

He walked toward Drucker extending a hand in front of him. “Mr. Drucker, a pleasure to see you again.” His pristine leather shoes clacked at regular intervals upon the traditional hardwood floor. “Likewise.” He politely reciprocated with a soft added sigh. “Thank you for coming in at such short notice.” A burdened undertone came across loud and clear. “As you’re probably well aware by now, things have taken a drastic turn for the worse.” He directed Mr. Dunbar’s attention to the flat television perched up in the top corner of the room. “That gigantic brute right over there is somehow involved in all of this but we’ve yet to confirm an ID.” He looked back at Mr. Dunbar, head tilted slightly. “I take it you’ve never seen this synthetic before. Am I right?”

From an indistinct slit in his breast pocket, Mr. Dunbar produced a neat set of rounded bi-focal’s. Upon balancing them on the bridge of his nose, he focused in on the blurry luminous rectangle above him.

“I see what you mean.” he replied in awe. “He certainly is of a sizable proportion. But no, I can honestly say I’ve never seen him before.”

“Don’t’ worry, Mr. Dunbar.” He said moving toward his desk. “Just thought I’d throw that out there just in case. No, the real reason I requested your kind visitation was this.” He scooped up a flat, black device and began rotating a tiny jog shuttle that shifted the picture on-screen in accordance. The video stopped at a hooded figure standing in front of the counter. “Recognize her?” he inquired.

Mr. Dunbar offered up a series of squints and postulations before confirming the obvious. “I cannot believe what I’m about to say… But that is unmistakably Mrs. Dullet. Though she is somewhat covering her face, it’s her outline that gives it away.” He lowered his head in deep thought. “How on earth could this be? Such an unassuming lady and always so polite and jovial. She was very liked by all who came in contact with her, you know.”

“Was she polite enough to split a young kid’s head in two and kidnap an innocent child?” Mr. Dunbar raised his head with a sudden jerk at Drucker’s words. “I’m sure you understand the severity of this situation. The blissful harmony that existed between us and the synthetics is now gone. Possibly forever. An ominous divide now stands in its place.” Drucker spoke as if the weight of the entire world was resting on his shoulders. “Timothy Booth. Yesterday an unknown college student working on minimum wage at a gas station, today a national treasure and patriot of his race. Go figure.” Mr. Dunbar nodded in hesitant agreement. “This isn’t just your run-of-the-mill murder investigation, but an international incident we’re dealing with here. It’s changed the whole political landscape literally overnight. So the person you thought she was is now in effect dead. I urge you to please bear that in mind moving forward.” After an uncomfortable brief interlude, he ran his fingers over the dial once again as the shadowy figures scurried about the screen. It came to rest at a certain point a few minutes beforehand. Whilst the shop interior was now visibly restored back to an orderly state, another small inlay from the surveillance footage showed someone outside filling up the car with gas. “What about this guy? Look familiar to you?” Drucker asked.

Almost instinctively, Mr. Dunbar replied. “Mr. Dullet. Without question, that is Mr. Dullet.” This time, he appeared to be more resigned to the fact that his former residential occupants were in actuality cold-blooded killers.

Drucker ambled over to the safety of his high back leather chair and collapsed into it fatigued and subdued. He placed a hand above his brow and smoothed back his black gelled hair. “Please leave any preconceptions at the door now, Mr. Dunbar. Make no mistake; these are fugitives and dangerous ones to boot. So if you have any more information that may help us, I would be very grateful indeed.”

He imparted a pleasant closed-lip smiled revealing a fuller face than Drucker would have expected. “Of course I will, Detective. Anything to assist you, but as of now, there is nothing that springs to mind. If that should change for whatever reason, you will be the first to know about it.”

There was a restrained knock at the door.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me.” Mr. Dunbar said. “I have some important matters to attend to. You have my number in case I’m needed. Good day, Detective.”

“No problem. And thank you once again for your time.” Drucker said as the tall, thin gentleman let himself out the door. Just in time for Doug to come waddling in holding a filed police report in one hand and a cup of hot coffee in the other. He seemed nowhere near as stressed and lethargic as Drucker did himself.

“Any updates?” he drawled as Doug took a seat in front of him. The usual tagline of address when he saw him.

“Oh, you bet. In fact, some major ones as you’re about to find out.” Drucker could sense the inner enjoyment he felt in reciting that information out loud. The feelings associated with achievement and self-worth were like his oxygen. It seemed almost like a requirement to function at his very best and he knew Doug was now at his most productive. In essence, the spark had ignited the flame.

Drucker leaned forward with a fresh boost of vigour and attentiveness. “OK, continue.” he pressed.

“Well, in the last hour or so we got a phone call from a Mr. Daniel Evans. He lives about five miles uptown and owns one of those large high rises. Anyways, at some point late last night, his car was broken into and somebody took off with it. It was a certain blue Ford station wagon.” He slapped the report lightly upon the palm of his hand. “The same as the one in that video. The plates and everything match up perfectly.”

“Right.” said Drucker still frowning after hearing the good news. “But what about matching up any ID’s on whoever stole it. I mean, who in the hell is that big pile of greased metal perusing around in that store like he’s doing his weekly grocery shopping or something.” He raised one eyebrow in the direction of the paused television set.

“It gets better, don’t worry.” Poor choice of words, Drucker thought but allowed him to continue. “It just so happens that our carjacker didn’t have to break into the vehicle after all. Mr. Evans noticed some time later that his keys were missing. Somebody took them and slipped off into the night.” Doug held up a pudgy wagging thumb over his shoulder behind him. “That thing back there on the feed is Marv Grecor. Somewhat of a caretaker and tenant to Mr. Evans. He was staying there as a resident for the best part of last year. Before you ask, we’re running a thorough background check on him now but from what I’ve heard so far, he had some kind of affiliations with the military before that.”

Drucker liked what he was hearing. Finally, the pieces were all fitting together and his respect within the department may have still been salvageable. A glimmer of a grin escaped from his lips. “That's just what we need. Good work, Doug. Thank you for everything. You got the photo’s I asked for too?” Doug motioned his hands in the air. “All been taken care of. We got Bob passing them by here any minute now. This is a big push for us, Druck. As long as we got their identities on lockdown, it’s just a case of rounding them up and bringing them in.” A content and beaming Doug fell back into the chair gripping the edges of the report.

“So, this is what we can ascertain for sure as of now. There are three of them on the run with an abducted child. We know who they are and are soon to find out exactly what they look like. One of them being a humongous synthetic military ape with a bald head. You tell me, Doug. How hard can this actually be?”

“I’m not done yet.” Doug persevered now leaning forwarding again with a stifled groan but brimming with excitement. “You’re really gonna love this next one.” Again, an inappropriate selection of words, Drucker thought. “Our souped-up iron queen on the loose, Dee. Before her notorious assault on the city that morning, she’d been quite busy making some kind of preparations it seems. A large amount of cash had left her bank account just a day or so prior to the abduction.”

“Oh really? Do you know where it went?” asked Drucker with an urgent expectancy.

“To an account registered in the name of none other than Mr. Rik Haime.” Doug said with a satisfied grin on his face.

Drucker’s eyes widened with disbelief. “You mean THE Rik Haime? As in the actor? The movie star? That walking talking synthetic muppet?”

“The one and only.” Doug replied pursing his lips. “Seems our friend Mr. Dullet did him a favour once at the insurance agency he was working for. They had a few social engagements after that but nothing too serious came of it. From what I can see, it was more an associate-based friendship than anything else.”

This bombardment of critical new information for the case could not have come any sooner. He needed a few moments to process it all. “What in the world would Rik be doing receiving money from her? How much was it?”

“One hundred thousand smackers.” He bellowed.

Drucker tapped his fingers with anxiousness upon his desk. “I can’t believe it. What's the connection? We need to talk to him ASAP.” Again, Doug raised both palms in the air. “Done and dusted. He got picked up not too long ago and should be here any minute now. And the best part? We personally get to interrogate that arrogant piece of shit.” He found it hard to tell if Doug was actually starting to enjoy his role in this investigation a little too much for his own good.

“That’s the best round of news I think I’ve ever received in all my years working here.” he said with a broad smile. “Can you add the cherry on top and tell me you got something back from the car?”

“Sorry Druck, but that was a no go. I mean, there were a few specks of blood that are being analysed as we speak, but I’m sure it’ll just confirm what we already know. The identity of little Nathan.”

“No problem at all. We’ve managed to get plenty of blood outta this stone already today. Excuse the pun." Drucker said, very pleased with the astonishing progress made within the last few minutes. “What a rollercoaster rider this is turning out to be for us, Doug. One minute we got the fugitives cornered just to let them slip from our fingers with pretty much nothing to show for it and the next, all the information we could have hoped to collect for their apprehension being neatly laid out in front of us. And all due to their utter negligence. We ought to pass them a medal each on their way out to the firing squad.”

Another soft knock at the door grabbed the two men’s attention. “Come in.” Drucker called loudly as a young looking officer opened the door and poked his head around the corner. “Detective Drucker, I’d like to inform you that we have Mr. Rik Haime in interrogation ready for questioning, sir.” His high pitched voice gave away the youth hiding behind his external manly demeanour.

“No problem. I’ll be there shortly.” said Drucker in a casual manner.

“Very good, sir.” was the last thing they heard before the door closed with noticeable due care.

“OK, Doug.” he said getting up from the warmth of his office chair. “And the show begins…”

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

The Symbiotic Protocol - Prologue
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 1
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 2
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 3
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 4
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 5
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 6
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 7
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 8
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 9
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 10
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 11
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 12