Silence In Numbers: File One, page 4
Right now I’m lying in my bed staring at the ceiling, listening to Sano snoring on my couch, Katsumi said in a tone that made Ayane giggle. How much do you think I’d rather be over there?
I know how much. But like you said, it will happen. She smiled, closing her eyes again and getting comfortable. Until then… Sing me to sleep.
As you wish, Katsumi responded with the soft chuckle that Ayane recognized as the one her older sister often did when she found her cute. Katsumi always managed to make her feel special… valued… even needed. It was something that made lonely nights in the hospital a thousand times easier, because she knew that, while she was lonely, her sister was lonely without her as well. She was lonely, but she never felt alone, and that was the difference; that was the thing that made her smile at night.
Well… That and other things.
Mmm, mmm, hmm, hmm, hm hm hmhmm…
Chapter 3: Ghost
Date: March 22, 2068
Time: 3:58 AM
Location: Guuren International HQ
A man stumbled slowly down the street, paying no attention to passers-by. His hair was brown, dirty and unkempt, and he wore a tattered brown coat which was only slightly less ragged than the rest of his clothing. His face was unshaven but not old, somewhere in the thirties or forties. The man’s eyes were unnaturally wide as if he was in shock or something similar, but he muttered to himself as he stumbled down the sidewalk. Others avoided him, casting glances and whispering, but the man appeared to notice none of it.
He finally stopped in front of the Headquarters building for Guuren International, a large banking firm. The building was incredibly nice as the company was well-off. All the men and women visible inside were in nice suits, even the ones at the doors or desks. The man’s dirty hand rested on one of the windows as he pushed in through the door, walking forward but tripping and falling to the floor of the lobby.
Several people looked over, concerned, and one of the doormen headed over towards him to help him up. “Excuse me, sir, but this is a private business-“
The dirty man stood with his help, waving a hand to push him back so he wouldn’t be forced out. The doorman sighed, waving over someone else to help him, but his attention was drawn to the strange look on the man’s face. His eyes were still wide and his gaze seemed to be boring into him. As the doorman watched, a vein stood out on the man’s forehead, and then another slowly swelled into view. “Whoa…” the doorman stepped back, calling a coworker to come help.
The dirty man started shaking as more veins stood out, his eyes bulging as his forehead seemed to swell. More and more veins began appearing as his face was contorted into something more like a mockery of a human to the horror of everyone watching.
Then he exploded.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Date: March 22, 2068
Time: 4:03 AM
Location: Culsor Apartment Building, Apartment 6711
Katsumi Samakura was awakened by a loud buzz in her ears. She’d only gone to sleep about an hour earlier (due to spending a bit more time than she should have talking to Ayane), so this was a rather unpleasant experience. Sitting up and letting her eyes adjust to the darkness of her apartment, she put a hand to her head, as the buzzing wouldn’t stop. After another few seconds she suddenly realized it was an emergency call and opened the channel in her mind, speaking out loud in answer. “Captain Katsumi Samakura.”
“Rise and shine, Samakura,” M’s voice greeted her in her ears. “There’s been a rather large incident several blocks from your current location and I need you to meet me there.”
Katsumi slid out of bed, moving to her closet and pulling her shirt off on the way. “Care to fill me in, Director?”
As she listened she pulled on a black military outfit that was more formal than her normal attire and made for street duty. “The specifics are unknown at the moment, but there was a large explosion at the Guuren International Headquarters building. The bottom three floors are on fire with dire structural damage on floors one and two and lesser damage on floor three.”
Katsumi straightened her uniform, moving back to her bed. “No cause identified?”
“Not until you get here and tell me, Captain. Fire control teams are already here so your main worries are civilians and investigation.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Katsumi drew the pistol from under her pillow and tucked it into the holster at her side, walking towards the door and kicking the couch on the way, stirring Kurasano. “Get up, Sano; we’ve got work to do.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sano sat in the car with his head in his hands, groaning. “Why did we have to do something now? I only went to sleep like three hours ago, you know.” He glanced at Katsumi, who sat beside him with her arms folded and one leg crossed over the other, looking fully professional. He had no idea how she did it seeing as she should be as messed up as he was.
“Must be the cyber thing…”
“What cyber thing?”
“You know, the fact that your Cyber Percentage is 83%.”
“I fail to see what relevance that has to anything currently going on.”
“C’mon, you’re only like 17% human. The vast majority of people, even military, aren’t even 17% cyber.”
Katsumi looked out the window. “That isn’t important now, nor do I wish to discuss it.”
“Right,” Sano sighed, running a hand through his crimson hair. Stupid idiot, you aren’t supposed to talk about that, especially not so lightly. Why’d you call her seventeen percent human? You’re an asshole. What next, you wanna ask about her bad childhood? See if there are any dead pets you can bring up? Talk about her parents? He sat back, looking out the window at the smoke on the street ahead. He looked over at Samakura, but she said nothing to him as he got out of the car.
Katsumi saw M standing in front of the building and moved to join him. Smoke still poured from the building, though the fire had been put out already. Civilians were huddled all around, some with blankets or medical personnel tending to them. Some were on phones talking to loved ones. Many were injured and dirty, bloody or burned. The dead had yet to be recovered as the living were top priority.
But the living weren’t Katsumi’s job this morning. M looked at her as she walked over, wearing his dark circular glasses even though it was four in the morning. “You’re always prompt, Captain Samakura; very good. As you can see, the scene is chaos right now, but I was fortunately able to keep them from messing with evidence.”
Katsumi nodded, looking over the scene as Sano stood behind her with his hands in his pockets, surveying the damage. Katsumi looked back to M. “This looks like high-grade damage. Where does it start?”
M nodded towards the building and she followed him in, stepping over rubble and around a couple charred or torn corpses. “It’s a messy scene; not only is there the damage to the lobby, but it’s littered with everything – and everyone – that fell from the two floors above.”
Katsumi looked up, noticing the gaping hole above them that went up to the bottom of the fourth floor.
M stopped her at a point in the lobby where there was a large, dark scorch mark in the middle of a small crater. “This is where the blast originated, as you can tell by the rings and the dome shape of the destruction extending from here.”
She nodded, kneeling to inspect the crater. Sano whistled behind them, turning in a circle. “Jesus, look at this stuff… Not your normal bombing.”
Captain Sama nodded her agreement as she looked around. “Too small to be an attack from a competitor, too large to be a disgruntled individual. Any witnesses or security footage left?”
M nodded. “Fortunately some civilians from the street were able to give a description of the bomber. Mid-to-late thirties, dirty, basically a bum with ratty clothing. No business here and no one recognized him; they said he just walked in and a few seconds later there was an explosion.”
“No visible weapons on him?”
“None, but he had a heavy coat so anything could’ve been hidden under it.”
Katsumi nodded. “It wouldn’t be hard to get something strong enough to do this damage in here without it being seen, but my problem is with how a broke street urchin managed to get his hands on such a thing in the first place. And besides that, there’s no clear motive.”
Sano shrugged. “Maybe he was a former employee who was fired and wanted revenge?”
“Maybe…” Katsumi looked over the destruction. “Let’s hope it’s more than that, or this was even more of a waste than it is now.”
“People like that don’t usually think that rationally, Captain.”
Katsumi looked down, running a finger over the scorched ground. Something didn’t quite feel right about this. Somehow, she knew this wasn’t that simple. She stood up as she rubbed human dust between her fingers, looking around. “Point me to one of the witnesses.” M led her to the closest, a young man still in his early twenties. She knelt before the shaken witness. “You saw the bomber?”
The man looked at her, taking in her black-and-silver military uniform before looking into her lavender eyes. “Yes. I mean I think so. I didn’t see him… do this, just go into the building.”
“Tell me what you can about him.”
“There’s nothing to tell except what I told the others. Dirty, looked like a street rat, ragged old clothing with a big brown coat.”
“You left out his hair.”
The man frowned, having no idea why that was important. “It was just hair, brown and messy. Why does that matter?”
Katsumi grabbed his shirt to get his attention, her eyes narrowing slightly in a dangerous manner – she had never worked on her ability to deal with civilians. “You let me worry about what matters. If you miss one detail you might miss another. Is there anything else you remember?”
He shook his head. “N-nothing.”
“Are you sure? You better think. I won’t be happy if you leave something out.”
He shut his eyes, scavenging his memory for any other detail. “Um… His eyes…”
“What about his eyes?”
“They were wide… like he’d seen something horrible or shocking, or maybe he was on drugs. I don’t know, but they were creepy.”
Katsumi let him go, looking at the floor in thought. “Could he have seen something…?”
The man shrugged. “All I know is it was weird. He was stumbling and muttering like he was drunk or drugged though, so maybe he was on something that caused hallucinations?”
“It could be.” Katsumi looked back at the man, patting his shoulder as she stood up. “Thanks for your help. I’m sorry I was rough. You’re free to go.”
He thanked her, leaving the area. Sano stepped up beside Katsumi, who looked to be deep in thought. “What are you thinking?”
“It’s an unusual case…” She looked over her shoulder at the wreckage. “I have more questions than answers. Why was this man who ‘seemed mindless’ coming to attack this building? If he was just an insane bomber, why did he pick here instead of running into the nearest crowded area? If he was a sane bomber looking for a real attack, why pick four AM, when no one’s working and far fewer people are here?” Kasumi folded her arms, looking back at the ground. “Every fact contradicts another fact. It makes no sense. And that’s just motive.”
“What else is there?”
“How, where and why did he get the explosive? What was the explosive? Why didn’t he throw it in here and save himself instead of dying with it? Why blow it up in the lobby? If it wasn’t this man’s idea to do it but that of someone more powerful, why blow it up in the lobby? Is it because his chosen tool couldn’t get past security to get to more vital areas? But then, if he knew that, why not use another tool, someone with business here who could get further? Did he just have no other options? None of the people killed had much to do with this company besides making this building run, so what was the point? Is he just trying to scare them or was it a personal attack against one of the workers in here? And if it was personal, why such a large explosive when assassinating him would be so simple?”
Sano shook his head. “Okay, geez, I get it, lots of questions and no answers.”
“Even the possible answers add more questions. I’m at a loss here, but something tells me I have a short time limit to find the answers in.”
“You think this will happen again,” M clarified.
Katsumi nodded.
Sano looked between them. “What? Why? How do you know that?”
“I don’t know it, I just…”
“Feel it,” M smiled.
Sano raised an eyebrow. “You’re basing your expectations of further bombings on a random feeling?”
“The feelings of an experienced officer are more than simple emotions, Mr. Lionel, and Captain Samakura has a great deal of experience in violent matters such as this. The main reason we have her on investigation in addition to her other duties is her ability to get into the head of criminals and terrorists, as well as her rather unnatural ‘sixth sense’.”
“But she hasn’t even seen this guy. And we don’t even know if there is a guy!”
“It’s a hunch, Sano, that’s all,” Katsumi looked at him. “But if I’m right, we’d better learn what we can as fast as we can.” Katsumi moved away from the group, sighing and opening the main cyber link in her mind. Ayane? I’m sorry to wake you so early again, but I don’t think I’ll be coming today. We had something big happen.
Something big…? It was obvious Ayane had been awakened by Katsumi’s voice, but she still had her full attention. What is it? Are you okay?
I’m fine, it had nothing to do with me, Katsumi reassured her younger sister. Someone bombed GI’s HQ. Lobby and a couple floors above it.
Lobby? That doesn’t make a lot of sense.
That’s the problem. We’re looking at a mystery terrorist attack here. I don’t know how long it will take to figure this out, but I can’t leave right now, not while more people could be hurt.
No, no, of course not. You do what you have to, just be careful. You have a tendency to be in the middle of explosions.
I’m hoping I can prevent there being another explosion. I’ll let you know if something happens. Katsumi closed the link and headed back, her mind already working through what she needed to do.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Samuel Lawrence stepped out of the car, barely fitting through the opening. The dark-skinned, 7’1’’ and 285-lb man stood out instantly among the people gathered at the destructed site of the morning’s bombing. He found himself reminded of how fast the world moved these days as he watched the final civilians leaving the area. Fire control teams were already switching to structural integrity analysis and the area was full of soldiers and peacekeepers from the Aegis Corporation, which held jurisdiction over this area. And all of this was only twenty minutes after the bomb went off.
Samuel flashed his own Aegis badge and walked in, whistling at the destruction inside the building. “Must’ve been pretty heavy ordinance.”
He smiled as he spotted Katsumi Samakura inspecting the area. There was something special about the way she focused on a job. Even in the midst of this chaos, he couldn’t help but notice he wasn’t the only one watching. The woman was only thirty-four, after all, barely halfway to middle-aged, in her prime in every definition of the word. She worked with an efficiency and dedication beyond what most were willing to put into anything. Above all else Sam noticed that; he figured the others were more focused on the soft curls of her violet hair, the intense gaze of her lavender eyes or the shape of her body. He shook his head, realizing that by listing those things he was acknowledging that he, too, had noticed them.
Which wasn’t a problem, it was just that he appreciated his boss’s other qualities more. Still, he thought as those lavender eyes focused on him, they aren’t bad qualities. “Law,” Katsumi’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. “I’m glad you’re here. I need to know anything you can tell me about the explosive used to do this.”
“I’m hoping I can tell you a lot, Captain. Wouldn’t be much of an explosives expert if I couldn’t.”
Katsumi nodded, looking back to data screens only she could see. He wasn’t surprised by her distraction considering the state of the area. Sano stepped up beside him, raising a hand. “Yo, Law! Man, I haven’t seen you in like three days!”
Law turned to him, meeting the high-five in greeting. “How’s it goin’, Sano?”
“Man, I’m on like three hours of sleep and dealing with this at four in the morning, how do you think it's going?”
“That’s how the job goes some days.”
“Yeah, unfortunately.” Sano glanced back at Katsumi, who wasn’t noticing either of them at the moment. He’d been watching her since they got up, but she’d shown no signs of the horrible condition he’d found her in the previous night. He wasn’t sure if something had happened yesterday to put her in that condition or if it was something she’d been dealing with. It wasn’t likely he’d get any answers and looking for them would probably just end badly anyway.
Law tapped his shoulder. “Somethin’ up?”
“Huh?” Sano looked back at him. “Nah, man, I’m just out of it. Not a great morning person, y’know. C’mon, lemme show you the origin point.”
Sam followed him. “I’m guessing it’s the small crater in the middle.”
“Yeah, kinda hard to miss, ain’t it?”
Law stopped in the center, kneeling down to inspect the ground. “Definitely an unfocused blast.”
Sano folded his arms. “Unfocused?” He was good at using weapons, but when it came to the technical side of explosions he usually just let Law handle it, so he liked things to be clarified in situations like this.
