Simulation: A Pop Travel Novel Read online

  Aimee clamped her lips together. She looked as if she was holding back a smirk. “That’s too bad.” She couldn’t hide her mirth, making Geri even madder. How could the girl be happy when their case was crumbling around them?

  Maybe Aimee would understand the futility of continuing with the case after hearing Geri’s next piece of disappointing news. “Since I had no luck with Dr. Moore, I went and visited a friend who makes deliveries for underground doctors.”

  Aimee tilted her head. “Underground doctors?”

  Geri sighed. Explaining these details to Aimee was tiresome. She wasn’t cut out to be a mentor. “They’re real doctors with legitimate practices, but on the side, they do favors for the right price, off the record. Anyway, I asked my guy if he’d heard any news about DNA tampering to screw with identification. My guy was surprised at first, then got a greedy green glow in his eye. If DNA tampering ever came to light, we’d be in serious trouble trying to keep anyone locked up. He obviously hadn’t heard of it before. Then I gave him Rage’s name. My informant confirmed he worked for Negrini, then he clammed up. I’m telling you, Aimee, this case is doomed. Even if we get past the brick wall, there’s still a monster-filled moat and archers standing ready.”

  Aimee retained her anxious and positive attitude. She looked like she wanted to raise her hand and wave it around so Geri would call on her, the little teacher’s pet.

  “Oh, I don’t know. I may have found a secret passage to circumvent all the fortress’s defenses.” How nice of her to continue with the metaphor.

  “Well, don’t keep me in suspense. What did you find out this weekend? Some information from the sample cloth from the dump?”

  Aimee shook her head. “No. That was clean. No DNA traces and no unusual chemicals.”

  “See? Another dead end.”

  “But, Geri, I—”

  Unable to stifle her annoyance, Geri talked over her. “I’m so tired of being punished. Tired of being forced to work lame cases…”

  Aimee tried to pipe in, “Geri?”

  “With lame evidence…”

  “Excuse me, Geri.”

  “And lame partn—” She cut herself off from finishing her statement, “I’m sorry, Aimee. I’m just so frustrated.” In more ways than one.

  “I understand.”

  No you don’t, little girl. She shook her head. “So what’s your big news? Shoot.”

  Of course, Geri’s QV rang.

  Aimee, who was eager to relieve herself and spill her guts, shut her mouth. Her face dropped. “Go ahead and answer it.”

  Geri mouthed, Sorry. “This is Geri.” Her voice brought the wrist imager to life and a familiar greasy head popped up from it.

  “Dr. Chris Moore. Well, I do declare. Two calls in one week? To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?” Geri laid a thick, sarcastic, Southern drawl on him.

  He tilted his head at her. “Ha ha. You’re good, G-woman. I’m calling because something big came in yesterday. So big I had to leave my conference early.”

  “Aw. Too bad. What have you got?”

  He took a bite of a frosted donut and turned away as he spoke around it, “I’m looking at a monolithic skeleton. This guy could be the missing link.”

  “The missing link to what?”

  He stared blankly at her.

  Aimee covered a smirk beside her. At least she got it.

  “Never mind.”

  He shrugged and panned his QV to show her the body. “Check it out.”

  Geri waved Aimee over and they both widened their eyes at the huge set of remains that required an extra table to support part of the legs and feet. The giant tarnished skeleton was like a caveman on display at the museum.

  “That is big. It’s cool and all, but how do these remains involve me, C-note? I sent you a little finger. This guy seems to have all of his.”

  Chris came back on the imager with a bit of jelly filling on his cheek. “Oh. Well, I can’t identify him. The DNA is all over the place. It’s like each bone, each cell, could be from a different person.”

  Aimee gave Geri a wide grin.

  Geri’s shoulders sagged. Just the break they needed to let the dying case cling to life.

  “Send us the report. We’ll be there in fifteen.” She tapped her QV shut and they left.

  On the short walk to the office, Aimee opened up the case file from Chris and filled Geri in.

  “The remains were found in Crystal Lake in College Park. A search party was dragging the lake, looking for a lost little girl, and that’s how they found it. The remains were in a lead-lined bag, and they were fresh, less than a day old. But they belonged to an adult male. The police DNA scanners didn’t work on the remains at the scene, so they called it in. And since their lab knows we’re already working on a DNA case, they pushed it over to us. Oh, and they found the girl sleeping in a fallen log nearby.”

  “That’s nice. I’m glad Dr. Moore decided to let us in on it.”

  When they got to the office, Geri led her eager little newb down to the lab in the basement.

  They passed through a few secured doors and took an elevator down to a dimly lit, desolate hallway. Perfect setting for disfiguring experiments on lab rats. They probably had a continuous supply down there, with a direct line to the sewer. Geri shivered at the thought. All the doctors in the lab had quirky personalities; a group of mad scientists with the power to unleash who-knows-what on the world. Geri was allergic to science and avoided going down there whenever possible.

  Shaking her head, she concentrated on the case file. “This guy must’ve been important.” Her gears worked overtime considering the possibilities.

  “Why?”

  “Because someone went to a lot of trouble to un-ID him. DNA contamination isn’t a simple, at-home procedure, like lasering off a wart. Whoever did it also preserved his remains in that lead-lined bag. They obviously didn’t want to keep the body around, so they threw it away, but kept his pieces intact for some reason, storing them in case they needed them later.”

  “Oh, I never thought of that. I’m learning so much from you, Geri.” Aimee beamed up at her.

  The girl couldn’t make Geri feel any older.

  Ahead, a hidden window’s light glowed, embedded in the cement wall, directing them to the lab’s entrance. At the thick door, they each gave their thumbprints and retinal scans. Then the lab receptionist asked them over the intercom for the code word of the day. Geri had Aimee type it in on the keypad that lit up in the window. Not to mention, Geri hadn’t read the daily qmail update yet.

  The code was White Russian. That sounded good to Geri.

  The door buzzed to let them in. The contrasting brightness of the small reception area blinded the newcomers. Geri wondered if that was another deterrent for intruders.

  “The Crystal Lake John Doe case,” Geri said to the male android receptionist.

  “Of course, Agent Harper. I’ll page Dr. Moore for you.”

  Dr. Chris Moore showed up a few seconds later, full of sugar-dusted smiles. Must be nice to eat donuts all day and never gain a pound. His lab coat swallowed him. And would it kill him to take a shower once in a while? Come on, C-note. With his stringy hair, worn-out tennis shoes, and who-knows-what stained t-shirts, he really needed to let Geri give him a makeover sometime so he could find a woman to take care of him. She saw potential under that geeky grin, but he foolishly squandered it. But, locked up in the basement all day, who did he have to impress?

  “Hey, C-note. What’s up?”

  “Not much, G-woman. Just me and the stiffs. Who’s this fresh pastry?” Chris’s eyes brightened as he gathered physical evidence on Aimee.

  “Chris, this is Agent Aimee Boscowicz. Aimee, Dr. Chris Moore.”

  Aimee bounced to attention. “Nice to meet you, Doctor”

  Chris smirked. “Nice to meet you too, Aimee. That’s a very pretty name.” He lingered a little too long on Aimee’s youthful attributes.

  Geri shook her head. “A
t ease, Aimee.” Chris was at least fifteen years older than her. Really. Raising her fingers into his face, she literally snapped him out of it. “Ahem. Our remains?”

  “Right. Here you go. Put these on and follow me, ladies.” Chris handed them vinyl gloves and goggles.

  Inside the lab, brighter iridescent bulbs cast a pale blue hue over experiments in progress. They were surrounded by bubbling liquids, spinning machines, and confusing calculations on dozens of hovering imagers. The converging smells of formaldehyde, sanitizer, and burnt plastic alone could keep trespassers at bay. They should bottle that. Combined with the buzzing and beeping, Geri feared she would leave with one heck of a headache. No wonder the lab geeks were so weird.

  Chris bee-bopped to his area, oblivious to the toxic surroundings. “Here we are.”

  “So tell me, C-note, what do you know about DNA contamination?” Geri asked as she took in the spectacle of the remains on his exam table. Remains was an understatement. Up close, she could see the stinky brown pieces were mostly skeletal chunks with bits of flesh hanging on them. And the skeleton was enormous. Geri tried to picture how tall he must have been.

  “Wow. He was big!” Aimee said.

  “Isn’t he something? Six-foot-seven. And this is after some shrinkage from the chemical burning.” Chris grinned proudly as if he was presenting a whiz-bang science fair project.

  Geri nodded. “So what’s the deal with the DNA?”

  “Well, I tell you, Geri. DNA is a bugger of a puzzle to contend with when it’s not contaminated. There’ve been several breakthroughs over the last few decades, but they’ve also opened the doors for unscrupulous geniuses to experiment and tamper with the codes. This is the first case I’ve seen where each sample tested doesn’t match any of the others from the same body.” He had that mad scientist look in his eye as he drooled over the remains.

  “That’s incredible.” Aimee was easily impressed.

  Her sweetness reeled him back in to almost normal. “Thank you.” Chris was easily flattered. And undeservedly so in this case. He hadn’t manipulated the DNA. He just discovered the contamination. He grinned at Aimee like a scary, cymbal-crashing monkey.

  Oh, how sad her friend was. “Christopher. What are you going to do about it? Do you know how to decontaminate it? And who would be the brainiacs of DNA capable of this?”

  “Oh, no. Decontaminating it would be too complicated and too time-consuming. I’ve been backlogged for weeks.” He paced and tapped his chin as he considered their options. Maybe he thought that made him look smarter. When he got close to Aimee he grinned again.

  “There’s a scientist in Hungary. His name is Dr. Andris Forgacs. He has done some amazing reconstructions. And Dr. Leo Min’s team in Korea mutated the DNA of a frog—”

  Geri cut him off, raising her palm. “Any local prospects? I doubt those doctors would bother stashing a body in Po-dunk, Georgia.” The other experts she and Aimee could question later with an interpreter gadget, if needed. But she didn’t doubt Aimee could speak several languages. And DNA was already a foreign language to Geri.

  Chris gave a short laugh and raised his shoulders. “Oh, yes. Of course. I assumed you knew. Your good friend, Dr. Hasan Rakhi wrote a paper on DNA hybridization. But why would he want to contaminate DNA? Like the Creator has nothing better to do than experiment with breaking DNA codes.”

  “Oh, the Creator? He’s a genius!” Aimee oozed perkiness, like one of those silly Disney princesses.

  Geri grunted in disgust. “Oh, brother. Now I see the real reason I was assigned to this case. Come on, Aimee. We have some nerd hunting to do.”

  “Do you think I could meet him?” Aimee swooned, clasping her hands to her chest, like Hasan was some hot, young actor.

  How old are you, little girl? Never mind, I don’t want to know.

  “Hasan? Unfortunately, yes.” Geri made a sour face. “Thanks, Chris. We should probably get going now.”

  “Of course.” Chris held the door open for them to leave, and Geri let Aimee go ahead of her. With Chris keeping his eyes on the younger woman, Geri snapped off a piece of the skeleton’s pinky toe and wrapped it in her glove as she took it off, carefully shoving it into her pocket before she followed.

  “So, Aimee, how long have you been with our little organization?” Chris asked.

  Yeah, Chris will never miss it. Geri smirked.

  “Uh, not long.”

  Though Chris tried to prolong their visit, dragging his feet, making small talk and pointing out other cases on the way, Geri prodded them to move along to the exit.

  “Thanks for the info, Chris. Keep us informed of any progress.”

  “Will do, G-woman.” He saluted her, then turned to Geri’s underling. “It was especially nice meeting you, Aimee.”

  She raised her eyebrows at Geri, seeking help on how to handle Chris’s overt intentions.

  Geri shrugged. The pretty young girl would have to figure out how to deal with all kinds of men in conditions much worse than this. She did a good job with Stu at the police station, but this situation was less intense and more delicate. Aimee was aware she needed to keep a good relationship with Dr. Moore and couldn’t just flip every guy who made advances toward her. Or maybe she could.

  Looking back at the leering geek, Aimee shoved her hand out for Chris to shake it. “Nice meeting you too, Dr. Moore, sir.”

  Chris frowned at Aimee’s innocent, brush-off handshake, making Geri smirk. The girl had promise.

  Geri elbowed her sad buddy. “Sucks getting old, doesn’t it, C-note? Sir.”

  Shrugging, Chris gave her a grin. No harm done. “Good luck, ladies. I’ll call if I find out anything.”

  I won’t hold my breath.

  As they walked back to the elevator, Geri considered what to do with the evidence she took. Chris was going to push their case aside. It would be up to Geri and her smarty-pants partner to figure out who the guy was and who altered him on their own. And she didn’t want to call Hasan right away. He was a delicately wound time bomb of emotions with a crazy candy coating keeping it all together. And even more annoying than Aimee. Geri spent way too much time with him working on the pop travel revamp.

  Aimee cleared her throat as they got into the elevator. Geri kept forgetting about her, lost in a whirlwind of thoughts. The girl was too subtle.

  “Is there something you’d like to say? You can just say it, you know.”

  “Well, I wanted to finish our conversation from before. Is it safe to talk here?”

  “Sure.” Then she looked at the camera in the corner and wondered if what Aimee was going to say would affect other cases. “But let’s go take a walk anyway.”

  They left the building again for the privacy of the busy sidewalks where no one cared about the strangers they passed.

  “Now?”

  “Yes, now.”

  “Well, I found out where Rage is currently working.”

  Geri stopped short and grabbed her arm, spinning her to look her in the eye. “You what? Why didn’t you lead with that?”

  “I tried—”

  When Geri noticed they were drawing some stares, she held up a hand to cut Aimee off and put on a sweet smile. Every civilian was a witness just waiting to catch some action with video evidence. People stopped to record any disturbance, hoping to be the first to share it on the Qnet. As if the webcams on every lamppost weren’t enough to keep everyone on their best behavior.

  “Keep moving,” she said through gritted teeth, and resumed their leisurely pace. “So where is he?”

  “He runs a garage in Decatur, fixing up old cars and converting them to ecars. He also makes other enhancements.”

  Geri nodded. “We’ll have to go check him out. Good work, Boscowicz.”

  Aimee beamed, such a pleaser.

  Giving her a genuine smile back, Geri was happy some evidence was turning up. And happier she wouldn’t have to call Hasan yet.

  Atlanta, GA

  Tuesday, June 16, 2082<
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  wo baseball games, a sports highlights show, a cook-off, and the news played in three-dimensional frames across the top of Cooper’s massive imager as he sat back on his couch, typing up the findings for his latest case in the main frame, using his lap key plate. Lounging in sweats and a t-shirt, Cooper took a swig from his sweet tea. He loved working from his lavish bachelor pad with all its gadgets and conveniences, though it was probably too upscale for his lowbrow lifestyle. Geri had picked it out when she talked him into moving back to Atlanta. The building was in a great location and in close proximity to her place. She picked out most of the furniture and décor too. Since they broke up, he considered moving, but that would be too much of a hassle. He never saw her anyway, and couldn’t leave his favorite lunch spot, the authentic Jewish deli around the corner.

  Without a nagging girlfriend to make him venture out of his comfortable lair, Cooper resumed his reclusive habits. Even when he did have to hit the streets, walking around in the city, he blended into the masses unnoticed. The only words exchanged between strangers were the mumbled Pardon me’s when they swerved around each other, staring at their QVs while they walked. Cooper felt more invisible among the throngs of city dwellers than he had with the handful of folks in Walnut Grove, where everyone knew each other’s medical history and every distorted branch in their family trees. Strange how so many people crammed into a city together could share nothing but air.

  “Cooper, you need a vacation!” The targeted commercial startled him.

  “Mute!” he shouted at the imager.

  The cute redhead on the beach reminded him of Geri, and he frowned. After savoring the comforts of a relationship again, he didn’t enjoy his solitude as much as he used to. Cooper had experienced happiness twice in his lifetime, just to have both yanked away prematurely. He wondered if it was possible to find it a third time, but didn’t believe the odds were in his favor. He doubted the trouble of getting attached to someone again was worth the risk of losing it again, anyway.

  He turned back to his report. His blood boiled looking at the handsome face of the married scumbag professor he’d been tailing. The selfish, perverted asshole who tutored his female students in dark alleys didn’t deserve his beautiful wife and family. Cooper was one of the good guys. He should be living the white picket fence dream by now, cheering on his son at peewee football games, not hiding out all night drinking stale coffee in his crappy car to catch losers in their sinful acts.