Episode Forty-Nine- The Persistent Patrolmen

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Glass and broken concrete crunched under boots as the Patrolmen surveyed the old hotel. Dried blood and already decaying bodies painted a clear picture. They had been here.

"Officer Sandoval!"

The Patrolman turned around, his helmet tucked beneath his arm. He scanned the room until he found the source calling out his name. One of his fellow Patrolmen, Officer Rowland, was kneeling over one of the dead bodies, a woman.

Sandoval marched over to him and looked down at the tablet in his hands.

An image of the woman, taken when she was alive, rotated on the screen. Her information was organized neatly beside the picture.

"Vida Camacho. Thirty-two years old. Class-A Avoider." Sandoval flared his nostrils.

How did an assassin get herself killed?

"What were they doing here? This is well beyond any territory set aside for the Avoiders," Sandoval said.

Rowland pressed the side of his helmet, the visor going transparent. His eyes held an emotion in them. Excitement. Sandoval despised the newer Patrolmen. They were too much like the citizens.

"I think I have it figured out. This one here," he motioned down at the woman, "was with the other group that took off. These other bodies were Avoiders too. Known associates of Camacho's. But it looks like they fought for some reason. The bullet that killed her matches the gun from this guy that had his throat slit. However, all the other Avoiders were killed by a gun that's not at the scene."

"Have you found anything else?" Sandoval was unsatisfied with the answer. It didn't tell him where those that had left disappeared to. The rain had washed away any sign of them outside.

"We found a microchip," Rowland said, nodding over to a box they had pulled out of the trunk of one of the vehicles.

Sandoval frowned at the crude image painted on the car.

"A microchip?" His eyes pulled away from the drawing as he folded his hands in front of him. He was still unsure if what the Patrolman said next would disappoint him even further.

 "I think it's from the sabotaged A.I back in Marksberg. From when those four people escaped. It doesn't look like they wiped it. We pulled up footage from the last minutes of recording." Rowland touched the screen of the tablet a few times before turning it back around. The image of four people clearly displayed on its screen.

Assuredly, Sandoval nodded. No, the answer certainly didn't disappoint him.

He turned his head, motioning for another Patrolman behind him to bring forward one of their two prisoners. The other, Brin, was less likely to answer; especially since her jaw was broken.

"Gianna, are these the people you were with at the bunker?"

They shoved the Keeper forward onto her knees and yanked her tear-streaked face to look at him. She stared at the screen. How easily a Keeper could be broken without their pet.

Gianna continued to look at the tablet. No sign of acknowledgement passed over her broken features.

Sharply, Sandoval gave a nod of his head, and the Patrolman holding the Keeper shoved her to the ground. A loud shriek escaped her as they dragged her across the broken glass beneath their feet.

"You don't have a Designation to worry about anymore, only yourself. Tell me, now. Are these the same people?"

A sob shook Gianna's body.

Emotions were very troublesome. Sandoval sighed and knelt down, pinning his knee in the small of her back. The other Patrolman shoved the tablet further into her face.

There was a clicking sound, a very comforting and familiar noise, as Sandoval's gun formed in his hand. He loaded the weapon and pressed the muzzle into Gianna's cheek.

"Yes," the Keeper choked out. "Yes, it's them. Those are the other Designations and Keepers."

"That wasn't so difficult, was it?" Sandoval stood up, slowly. He watched as the sniveling Keeper was pulled to her feet and dragged away to a Cruiser parked outside the building.

The information she provided would be useful. It confirmed the children he had encountered in Marksberg himself had been the ones who had destroyed the A.I. Perhaps even Elias Achilles would support his wishes to make it his personal task to track them down and bring them in for their treason.

"Are we taking them to see Mr. Achilles?" Rowland questioned, stepping noisily over the broken glass.

Sandoval clenched his fist, turning on the heel of his boot. "Why do you always ask where we're going, Officer Rowland? You asked before we left, and now you ask again. Do you have somewhere else to be?"

"No, Sir, I-I-" Rowland stuttered, shaking his head. "Sorry, Sir. I'm just eager to finally meet him in person. I haven't been on a case where we've had live Keepers before."

"Hmm," Sandoval grumbled. He stepped past Rowland, eyeing him curiously, before heading for the Cruiser himself. Sandoval was not a fan of the questions or eagerness from the new Patrolman.

"We will finish up here and meet back at Marksberg!" Rowland called from behind him.

The Cruisers were lined up outside, humming above the ground in a perfectly spaced order. Sandoval climbed into the first Cruiser, pulling away from the group with a second vehicle close behind him.

Sandoval wasn't one to have emotions, but he certainly was looking forward to finding the Designations and Keepers that slipped through his fingers once before. 


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