Simulation: A Pop Travel Novel Read online

“Sure thing, hon. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  “No. I think we’re all set. Thank you. And here. Geri and I got you a little something for squeezing us into your schedule.” She handed him a blue, cellophane-wrapped gift bag with a shiny bow.

  How sweet of us. Geri smirked. “Nice work, Aimee.”

  While Stu inspected the bag’s contents, Aimee stepped over to the door.

  “Cookies? Awright!”

  “Yes, they’re sugar free, fat free, and gluten free. Geri said you were on a diet and I didn’t know if you had any allergies.”

  Stu lifted one side of his lip in distaste. “Oh.”

  Geri laughed. She knew he wasn’t allergic to anything.

  “Good-bye, Mr. Rothstein,” Aimee said and reached for the doorknob.

  Stu leapt up and put a hand on her arm. “Wait a second, sweetheart. I—”

  Before he could say another word, Aimee grabbed his hand, twisted around, and flipped him onto his back.

  Geri’s mouth dropped open and she straightened up so fast, she spilled some of her coffee. Way to go, rookie! Aimee earned some bonus points with that move. A little extreme, but she could certainly handle herself.

  “Oh. Ow. What’d ya do that for?” Stu got up slowly with the help of his chair, holding his lower back.

  “Sorry. You startled me. I’ll be going now. Thanks again.”

  Stu mumbled as she left, “I think I like Geri better. Ouch.”

  Aimee came out and got in the car with raised eyebrows. Probably waiting for a grade on her first solo assignment.

  As Geri pulled out of the police station, she had a hard time holding back from gushing over Aimee’s performance. Watching Stu hit the floor was the highlight of the year. She hoped Aimee had some other fun surprises in store for her.

  “We’re on a roll, Aimee. You did a great job in there.”

  “Thank you, Geri. I was worried I might…“

  But Geri cut her off as she pulled into the federal building’s parking garage. Her investigative juices were flowing. She was ready to attack someone herself.

  “Let’s get upstairs and talk to the Negrini agents. I’m feeling lucky.”

  Aimee had to skip a few steps to keep up with her as they briskly walked to the elevators.

  Tossing the key fob neatly into the return slot, Geri made a fist and pulled it to her. “Yes!”

  Though Aimee was always in a good mood, pleasing Geri seemed to perk her up even more. “So your throat doesn’t hurt anymore?”

  Geri cleared it. “Ahem. Uh, no. The cough drop must have done the trick.” She held the door open for Aimee to enter first with her goodie basket, looking like Little Red Riding Hood, and told the elevator where to take them: “Tenth floor.”

  “Great!”

  “And since I’m feeling better, I’m going to ask you to let me do the talking. Toni and I go way back.”

  “Of course.”

  Before they exited the elevator, Geri paused and looked sternly at Aimee. “And no recording us.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “And don’t call me ma’am.”

  Aimee bit her lip and nodded.

  When they stepped out onto the narcotics floor, only a couple of the desks were occupied. Then one of the conference room doors opened and agents flooded out wearing determined frowns as they fled in different directions, scattering like cockroaches when the lights come on. The last to emerge was Tonia Fournier.

  After giving some instructions to an assistant, the intimidating, lead agent noticed her and tilted her head.

  They locked eyes.

  “Geri.”

  “Toni.”

  Agent Tonia Fournier was Geri’s biggest rival. The tall, curvaceous amazon with flawless ebony skin, high cheekbones, and smooth, straight hair pulled back into a tight ponytail could have been a model. Instead she directed hot investigations for the FBI.

  As they followed Toni to her office, Geri wondered how the woman walked so smoothly in her silver, skin-tight mini-skirt suit and high heels, making her three inches taller than her five-foot-ten-inches. She was tough and thorough, a real ball-breaker. Geri admired and despised her at the same time.

  Geri’s first undercover case had been tame compared to Toni’s debut. The striking, svelte superwoman transformed herself into a drug-addicted waif. She went through hell and back, almost giving up her life when she posed as a guinea pig for The Alchemist, a notorious madman who created addictive drugs and tested them on desperate volunteers. Toni, left for dead, recovered and dealt with the plummeting depression side effect of the drug. She returned stronger than ever and cleaned house. The Alchemist’s operation was shut down, but he escaped and was still at large. Toni was always on the lookout for him. Geri didn’t doubt the driven agent would catch him someday.

  As they reached Toni’s desk, perky little Aimee started to set the basket on it, but Geri glared at her. She quickly hid it behind her back.

  Toni sat down and lit into Geri, “What are you doing here? You know I can’t help you.”

  Geri pursed her lips and nodded. The woman was already two steps ahead of her. But Geri was tenacious. She wasn’t giving up. She ignored Toni’s brash attempt to dissuade her and went into her polite routine.

  “Agent Fournier, this is Agent Aimee Boscowicz. We’re here to talk about a dismembered finger that belongs to someone you know.”

  Shaking her head, Toni looked to the ceiling. Geri was just as stubborn as she was and she knew it. She pleaded with Geri.

  “Look, this case is entirely too fragile. One leak would send Negrini underground and our agents would be in serious danger. They’re already risking their lives. And they’ve sacrificed everything to get this guy. They’ve been in deep for so long, their families think they’re already dead.”

  Geri crossed her arms. Toni wouldn’t get any sympathy from her. That was all part of the job. “I hear you, Toni. We aren’t trying to invade your case, and we don’t want agents exposed any more than you do. That’s why I came directly to you. You don’t want me nosing around out there, jeopardizing your case by questioning thugs who might be your guys. I’m trying to make this easy. I will just ask you some questions and you can give me answers you’re comfortable with.”

  While Toni considered her options, Geri nodded at Aimee and the girl set the basket on Toni’s desk. Geri unwrapped the cellophane from the muffins and tossed one to Agent Fournier.

  Snatching it out of the air, she glared at Geri, then at the muffin, then at Geri again. Her shoulders relaxed, lowering slightly—a good sign. Toni tilted her head and sniffed the muffin.

  “Is this pomegranate?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Aimee whispered, standing at attention.

  Toni’s eyes flashed at her. “You can drop the ma’am’, Agent Boscowicz. I’m Agent Fournier.”

  “Yes, ma’—Agent Fournier.” She tried to stand up straighter under Toni’s intimidating, judgmental gaze.

  Relenting, Toni shook her head and took a bite of the muffin. She stood and looked the little agent over. “Saddled you with a rookie, eh? I heard about it.”

  Geri huffed and nodded. “Yeah. But she’s okay. She’s got potential.”

  Aimee cracked a smile.

  “Hmm. Let’s go get some coffee to wash this down.” Toni led the way.

  “Sounds good.” Before she followed, Geri put a hand up to Aimee. “Stay. And, at ease.”

  Aimee nodded and obeyed like a good rookie.

  At the coffee machine, Geri explained her situation, “I don’t know how I got roped into this case, but I’m supposed to find out who is tampering with DNA samples. I know it has potentially big ramifications, but I’m no biologist.”

  “Geneticist.”

  “That either.”

  Toni smiled. “DNA tampering? Well, something with that finger was messed up. Their ID of who it belonged to was wrong. It wasn’t our guy, so we told them to try again.”

  Great. Geri would
never get off this case. “How do you know it wasn’t his?”

  “One of our agents saw Pedro this morning and he had all his fingers. We confirmed it.”

  “That’s odd. They ran prints of the finger to verify the ID. I guess the APD screwed up double.”

  Toni took a sip of her coffee. “I’m not surprised. Have you talked to Chris downstairs?”

  “No, I’m still waiting on him.”

  “I’m not surprised about that either. He does seem to lose track of time down there.”

  They both chuckled and headed back to Toni’s desk.

  Geri decided to try another avenue. “Out of curiosity, have you heard of a guy named Rage?”

  Toni’s eyebrows lifted for a second, though she denied knowing him. “Doesn’t sound familiar.”

  “Come on, Toni. I saw that.”

  She glared at Geri. “Of course I know him. But I can’t tell you anything about the little turd.”

  “Hmm. Well, he’s the guy who delivered the finger. I guess I’ll have to find him myself.”

  Toni slammed down her empty paper coffee cup on the desk. “Dammit, Geri.”

  Before she could curse at her some more, her QV rang. She glanced at it and chose to ignore the call, then pointed at Geri and continued.

  “If you screw up this case for me, so help me—”

  Her threat hung in the air unfinished as a subordinate ran up to her.

  “Agent Fournier, we have a situation. Pedro’s body was just found in a dumpster!”

  “What? Oh, shit!” Toni turned to Geri with wide eyes and shook her head fiercely.

  Geri smiled. “Oh, no. I’m right behind you.”

  Toni rolled her eyes. She grimaced at Geri and sat down at her desk. “Fine. Duncan, pull up Cher’s feed.”

  “You aren’t going to the scene?” Geri asked.

  “We have an ally in the APD. She handles any calls related to Negrini and records everything for us. She also helps us get a clean break from narcs like Pedro so we don’t have to show our hand too soon.”

  Geri wondered how she got a police detective to be her eyes and ears. They usually resented FBI involvement and resisted helping them.

  The imager showed the scene. It bobbed up and down as the detective walked closer to the body. She must’ve been wearing a glasses cam.

  Cher, the detective, spoke to the officer at the scene, “What do we have?”

  “Shoeless Joe, there, found the body in the dumpster. It looks like he was strangled. But he didn’t seem to put up a fight. We’ll know more once he goes through the lab.”

  Toni spoke to Cher on her CC imager, “Give me a visual of his hands.”

  The detective used her gloves to inspect the body’s hands. She spread out the fingers of each and they were all accounted for.

  “Volume zero,” Toni said to the imager. Pointing at it, she spoke to Geri. “There. Every finger is attached. On his dead body. Happy?”

  Still keeping an eye on the imager, Geri noticed a crowd around the crime scene with officers holding them back.

  “Not really. And apparently his DNA is clean.”

  Aimee piped up. “How do you know?”

  Geri had momentarily forgotten about her sidekick. Aimee needed to brush up on routine police procedures. That was one of the first classes they took. Forgettable, but a basic every agent should know.

  “The first officers on the scene use their DNA readers. They found out who he was right away. Unlike that finger.”

  “Right.”

  After giving a few commands to her subordinate, Toni frowned over at Geri and remembered she hadn’t gotten rid of her visitors yet. She wasn’t happy.

  “We’re done here.”

  Geri had enough to go on, so decided to let Toni get back to work puzzling out this new mess. “All right. Thanks for the help. Sorry about Pedro.”

  But Toni had already moved on to her next victim. She was screaming at someone on another frame of her CC imager while watching Cher gather evidence.

  With one last glimpse, Geri squinted at the scene on Toni’s imager. As the view panned the crowd, Geri thought she spied Cooper’s face. She shook her head and looked again, but the police detective started talking to an officer. She shrugged it off. Nah, couldn’t be him.

  Grabbing a muffin, she motioned for Aimee to follow her and mouthed, Let’s go.

  Geri sighed once they were in the elevator.

  “I think this DNA tampering thing is nonsense. We’re wasting our time. All we’re doing is chasing mistakes and screw-ups. I wish I could’ve had a little more time with Toni. I probably could’ve gotten some more intel on Rage. He sounded important.”

  Aimee raised a finger. “Oh, yes. If I may?”

  “By all means, Aimee. Speak.”

  “Well. While you and Agent Fournier were talking, Duncan gave me some information about Rage.”

  “Who’s Duncan?”

  “Agent Fournier’s assistant. We were friends at the Academy.”

  Geri raised her eyebrows and nodded. Connections. Just like Geri said earlier. Gotta have ‘em.

  “Good. What did he say?”

  “I got a current address for where he works. It’s a scrapyard for old cars. Duncan said they’ve been watching him for a while. Rage is a suspicious little guy and gets special treatment from Negrini. He still delivers crushed cars to a recycler, but some never make it that far. They haven’t proven anything yet, but the rumor is the cars that don’t make it to the recycler are melted down with bodies inside.”

  Geri shook her head. “Nice. A good cover. Tell the car the address so we can head over there.”

  “Right now?”

  “Of course. Anything else?”

  Aimee nodded and raised her eyebrows. She told the car the address and continued, “Yes. Rage is very good with technology and bioelectronics. He’s made questionable upgrades and added weaponry to Negrini’s cars and androids. Negrini also allowed him to experiment on the bodies before he disposed of them. This is all information their narc Pedro gave them. The one who’s dead.”

  “What a disgusting mess. So Rage is the one who’s been doing the DNA experimenting. I sure hope we find something worthwhile at this address. If we don’t get some solid evidence, we’re going to have to drop this case. It’s getting colder by the minute. We need live witnesses.”

  Atlanta, GA

  Friday, June 12, 2082

  The body was pretty clean for being found in a dumpster.

  Cooper blended in with the spectators and glanced at his QV. The tracking gadget showed him Slug was close. Checking all the faces around him for the kid, Cooper paused when an extraordinarily beautiful woman arrived on the scene. His eyes got a little wider when he realized she was a police detective. With her long blonde hair and tall, high-heeled boots, she belonged on the arm of a rich old coot, not in a low-down, dirty vacant lot with a dead body.

  From time to time, she touched her ear-com. Someone was directing her to inspect the body’s hands, which seemed odd to him since the officer already informed her the nails were clean..

  While the detective continued her investigation, Cooper continued his search for the scrawny frame of Slug among many gaunt-faced look-alikes.

  Just as the body was being zipped into a bag for removal, Slug burst through the masses and dove underneath the perimeter laser light. He grabbed the bag before they could close it and ripped it open. Falling on the dead guy’s chest, Slug cried and sputtered a stream of Spanish. Cooper figured that must’ve been Slug’s missing brother.

  Two officers pulled on Slug, but he wouldn’t let go.

  “Mi hermano. Mi hermano.”

  They finally yanked him away, but he squirmed out of their grasp and pulled out a blade. He waved it at them as if daring them to separate him from his brother.

  The blonde bombshell strode over and took command of the situation.

  “Hijo. Como se llama? What’s your name, son?”

  Slug sniff
ed back his tears. “Santiago. This is my brother.”

  “Lo siento. I’m very sorry, Santiago. Why don’t you come with us to the station?”

  Cooper frowned. If Slug went to the police station, they’d find the tracking salve when he went through their security scanners. Then Cooper would be in trouble for tracking a minor. He had to stop them, or at least remove the salve. He pushed his way to the front of the crowd and spoke up.

  “He can’t go with you.”

  The woman detective cocked her hip and looked Cooper up and down. She sniffed at him.

  “Who are you?”

  He told her as he pulled up his ID on his wrist imager. “Detective J.L. Cooper, private investigator.”

  She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “And?”

  Slug spoke up, stabbing at Cooper, “He’s been following me around! He chased me through the streets!”

  The crowd gasped and grumbled.

  Cooper held up his hands defensively. “Hey, let me explain.”

  Switching her hip from right to left, the model detective pursed her full lips at him. “You have three seconds.”

  He shook his head. Why was he always the bad guy? He appealed to the doubtful crowd.

  “Slug, here, ran away from home. His grandmother, his sweet old grandmother who’s worried sick about him, hired me to find him and bring him back to his foster mom.” He glanced at his QV. “Three seconds.”

  The detective sniffed at him again. “Slug?”

  “That’s his chosen nickname. Something about being tough as a lead bullet. A slug.”

  The kid raised his fists at him. “You want to feel my slugs?”

  The woman stepped in front of him. “Santiago, is this true?”

  He lowered his head. “Maybe.” Then he lifted his defiant chin and gave her the pitiful, puppy dog eyes routine. “But I was looking for mi hermano.”

  She nodded. “Well, I think you should go and show your family you are all right. And tell them about your brother. They will understand.”

  His shoulders sagged.

  Cooper’s did too, but with relief. “Can we go see your abuela?” His attempt at Spanish sounded terrible.

  Slug sneered at him. “Yeah. Let’s go see grand-ma.”

  Putting a hand on Slug’s arm, Cooper wiped it with solvent to remove the tracking salve. He received some evil glares from the bystanders, but they let him and Slug pass.