“Forget about your pasts and everything in them. We will shape you, teach you, and mould you into perfect servants. From now until the day we release you, you’re ours.” He fastened the ID necklace around Alex’s neck and stood back with a grim smile. “You belong to Belvedere now.”
Chapter Five
OCTOBER 2095
Josiah
Josiah slid into the duck and glanced at Alex, who was sitting, slumped, in the passenger seat, looking defeated.
“So that’s it,” Alex said wearily. “I should have known that Tyler would win in the end. He always does.”
Josiah laughed. Alex turned to look at him with an expression of such angry surprise that Josiah threw back his head and laughed even more.
“What?” Alex demanded.
“So, your key witness flunks out on you, and you assume that’s the end of it? God, you’d make a useless investigator.” Josiah started the duck. “I’ve only just opened this investigation – I’m nowhere near done yet.”
“You mean that?” Alex sat up eagerly. “You’ll keep going?”
“Well, yeah. I thought you’d read up on me, Alex – this is what I’m good at, and I sure as hell don’t give up after one little setback.”
“Sorry.” Alex flashed him a wry smile. “You’re right – I would make a really bad investigator.”
“You’re just green. I’m sure I can polish you up a bit, teach you a few tricks of the trade.” Josiah tapped the side of his nose.
“Really?” Alex looked pathetically excited. “So, I can be your sidekick – like Reed?”
“I’ve never wanted to kiss Reed, but yeah, if you like.”
Alex laughed. “So, where to now, Mr Investigator?”
Josiah glanced at his holopad and scrolled through the latest infodump from Reed. There were also several missed calls from Esther, but he ignored those. “Billericay,” he replied, slamming his foot down on the accelerator.
“Any reason?” Alex asked.
“Yup – according to Reed, that’s where we can find Mick Reynolds.”
Mick’s address was one of the old housing estates the government had built during the Rising. Colloquially known as “cubes”, they’d been designed as an interim measure to house those displaced by the floods, but they’d ended up becoming a permanent fixture. The estates were ugly – rows of pre-fabricated square boxes, built one on top of the other in glowering grey lines. Each box consisted of one room that had to house an entire family. Sixteen boxes formed a square, four on each side, with a shared bathroom and kitchen in the middle. They towered sixteen storeys high, squatting on the skyline like scabs.
“Nice area,” Josiah muttered as he drew up outside the stark grey buildings. “Tyler doesn’t exactly reward his witnesses with luxury, does he?”
“I suppose if he gave them too much, they might be able to save it up, and then they wouldn’t need his ongoing… generosity.” Alex made a face.
They entered the block of cubes and walked up the stairwell. The stench of urine was almost overpowering, and the metalsteps were worn and rickety. Mick lived on the top floor, but there was no reply when Josiah knocked on the door.
“Mick Reynolds?” He called out. “It’s Investigator Raine from Inquisitus. I have some questions for you.” There was still no reply, so he rapped on the door once more, making a loud din with his fist.
A woman with sallow skin and dark circles under her eyes poked her head out of the next-door cube.
“Shut the fuck up,” she snapped. “I’ve got a baby sleeping in here.”
“I’m looking for a Mr Reynolds?” He held up his Inquisitus ID. She glared at him. He smiled back. “Sometimes known as Big Mick?”
“Oh yeah, I know Big Mick – fat gut, always pissed, stinks of booze. He ain’t in.” She slammed the door shut.
“Another dead end,” Alex said gloomily as he followed Josiah down the dark stairwell and back onto the street.
“On the contrary – rather a good lead, I thought.” Josiah grinned. “Now, where’s the nearest pub?”
