Titan (Old Ironsides Book 2) (12 page)

The figure turned as he ran, and Nathan saw a dark face riven with glowing blue tentacles of light and two red eyes that widened in surprise as they spotted him. Nathan followed the figure, saw him accelerating on legs pumped up on a mixture of biogenetic hydraulics and performance enhancing drugs. The man’s legs suddenly burst into a blur and he launched himself across another larger gap, landing hard with an audible metallic thud as Nathan hurled himself in pursuit across the gap.

Nathan knew the instant that he leaped into the air that he wouldn’t make the jump, the opposite wall just too far for him to reach, his quarry turning to see Nathan plunge out of sight. Nathan’s hand flashed to his belt and he yanked a length of cable out, one end weighted as he hurled it at the top of the wall. A metallic hook flashed in the light as it flew across the gap and opened automatically, sharp four–pointed braces biting deep into the surface of the building as Nathan slammed into the unforgiving wall below and his cable tightened as his took his weight.

Nathan grappled for the line and scrambled up the wall, hauled himself up onto it even as the figure loomed before him and he saw Scheff up close for the first time. A boot flashed before him and slammed into Nathan’s chest and he felt his lungs convulse and his stomach plunge as he was propelled back over the wall. He plunged inverted for a brief moment of time, falling headfirst toward the street below, and then the cable tightened again and he was flipped over in mid–air a meter below the ledge as his boots caught on something beneath him.

Scheff loomed over the edge and peered down at him, a smile revealing a mouth full of solid gold teeth that flashed as they reflected the streetlights. Nathan looked up at the criminal, pulses of blue and white light rippling across the bioluminescent tattoos etched into his bituminous skin.

‘Looks like you’re goin’ down,’ Scheff sneered, his voice tinged with a bizarre Slavic accent.

Nathan hung on grimly to the wire as he smiled back, the sound of approaching sirens heralding the arrival of the police department’s cavalry. Sheff’s sneer turned nasty as he hooked his boot underneath the metallic clasp holding Nathan from a fifty foot drop to the street below. A fine rain began to fall as Scheff heaved his boot up and the shiny hook unclipped from the wall and tumbled past Nathan.

Nathan pushed his boots further into the window ledge upon which he stood as he drew his pistol and aimed it squarely up between Scheff’s eyes, the safety line still dangling from his belt.

‘Surprise! You think you can get away before I hook this up and come after you, Scheff?’

Scheff’s eyes widened and then he whirled away out of sight as Nathan shoved the pistol back into his belt and swung the safety line back up. The metal bit deeply into the building as he hauled himself up and rolled over the ledge to see Scheff sprinting for the next building along, this one far enough away that Nathan knew he would never be able to make the jump, cable or not.

Nathan sprinted in pursuit of Scheff, pushing himself harder than he ever had as the criminal’s legs accelerated into a blur once again as he prepared to make the leap. Nathan hauled out more of the safety line from his belt, the hook in his hand as he ran and swung the weighted wire like a lasso over his head and hurled it out at the fleeing criminal’s legs.

The hook flickered in the dim light as it flew across the roof in front of Nathan and clattered against Scheff’s legs with a metallic clang, betraying the biogenic limbs beneath his pants as Scheff leaped into the air and hurtled over the ledge.

The metallic clasp bit into the metal thigh of Scheff’s right leg and he heard the felon cry out in rage and sudden fear as his valiant leap for freedom was cut abruptly short and he turned in mid–air. Nathan was yanked forward as the cable reached its limit and Scheff’s two hundred pound body pulled against his.

Nathan dug his heels in even as Scheff tried to dislodge the clasp in mid–air, and then Scheff plummeted from view as the cable snapped taut and he was dragged down into freefall. Nathan slid onto his back and rolled, the cable wrapping around his body and taking the criminal’s weight as Nathan heard a cry of alarm and the dull thud of a body hitting a wall.

The cable yanked tightly about Nathan’s waist and he winced as it bit into his skin, but he managed to grab a hold of the cable and pull against it, jerking it up and around so that he could regain his feet. A nearby vent belched steam onto the already humid air as Nathan staggered across to it, Scheff’s weight pulling at the cable as Nathan worked his way around the back of the vent, the cable bending around it and taking the weight of his quarry. Moments later and with the cable wrapped four times around the vent, Nathan unclipped the cable from his belt and tied it in place even as two police cruisers landed on the roof and Vasquez and Allen jumped out, weapons drawn.

Nathan wiped the sweat from his brow and leaned against the vent as the two detectives rushed across to him, concern writ large on their faces.

‘What the hell happened to you, bro’?’ Vasquez demanded. ‘Forrester said no heroics and you’re out here leaping tall buildings?!’

‘Scheff escaped,’ Allen said, ‘we thought he might have taken you hostage!’

Nathan chuckled as though he’d merely been for a stroll.

‘Scheff’s over there,’ he indicated with a casual jab of his thumb. ‘He’s just hanging around.’

Vasquez saw the line tied to the vent and stared at Nathan. ‘No way.’

Detective Foxx appeared from inside the second cruiser and replied for Vasquez.

‘Yes way. We saw him dangling from the line when we landed. Nice catch, Ironside.’

‘You’re welcome,’ Nathan replied, enjoying Vasquez and Allen’s bemused stares. ‘Not bad for a traffic cop, right?’

***

XIII

Fourth Precinct Station

New Washington

Despite his bionic performance over the streets of New Washington, Scheff appeared to Nathan far more inhuman in the lights of the precinct’s box than he had out on North Four. Both of his eyes glowed red due to illegal optical implants and his dark skin was patterned with a lacework of bioluminescent tattoos that glowed a vivid electric blue and seemed to be slaved to his metabolic rate, pulsing and fading with each breath the felon took. His hair was thickly braided and trailed down his back like a bullwhip as he leaned back in his seat, managing to look unruffled despite the manacles around his wrists.

‘Keiron Scheff,’ Foxx read from his rap sheet as she sat down alongside Nathan, ‘born South Africa, 2417. You’ve had quite the ride, Scheff. You’d think that being born planet–side would have done you some good.’

Scheff did not reply with anything other than a languid shrug.

‘You’re up for racketeering, drug running, evading arrest, possession of illegal firearms and biogenic enhancements,’ Nathan announced, Scheff’s eyes snapping around to meet his. ‘Not that they did you much good either. You’re looking at ten to fifteen in the Seven Circles of Hell so I’d start talking if I were you.’

Scheff smiled, his polished gold teeth gleaming back at Nathan. ‘You’re not me.’

‘And he’s glad about that,’ Foxx replied for Nathan. ‘Scheff, I can make this rap sheet double in length in the next ten minutes with every single possible felony I can think of, because you’ve got them all. I will also request from the DA a court order authorizing medical procedures to remove every single one of your enhancements, right down to those epidermal tattoos.’

Scheff’s casual demeanor cracked a little. ‘You’d never get away with it, it’s ‘gainst my human rights.’

‘Which you forfeited when you fled the police and had your dirty little industry exposed,’ Nathan pointed out. ‘Can’t have it both ways Scheff, unless you’ve got paperwork for your hydraulic legs. Not going far without those, right?’

Scheff shifted in his seat, showing the first signs of pressure.

‘There’s no escape Scheff,’ Foxx said, pushing their advantage. ‘And we got you down for capital one, too.’

Scheff froze in motion, stared at Foxx for a long beat. ‘I din’ shoot nobody.’

‘Who said they were shot?’ Nathan asked.

Scheff peered at Nathan and Foxx, his gaze shifting from one to the other like a caged animal seeking an escape. ‘You settin’ me up? You framin’ me?’

‘We don’t need to frame anybody,’ Foxx replied. ‘We’ve got you down in San Diego, three months ago.’

Scheff stared at Foxx, all pretenses vanishing like a passing thought. Nathan knew that they didn’t have any evidence of Scheff being planet–side at the time of the homicide, but he let her play her line as Scheff leaned forward and pointed one thick finger at her.

‘I din’ kill nobody.’

‘Prove it,’ Foxx shot back. ‘You were planet–side three months ago, and guess what happened out near the hills while you were there?’

Scheff retracted his finger into a clenched fist and withdrew it, his predatory gaze never leaving Foxx’s.

‘How’d you locate my machine?’ he demanded.

‘Your what?’ Nathan asked.

‘His drugs machine,’ Foxx replied, ‘his hideout.’

‘Somebody sold me out,’ Scheff growled, glaring at Foxx. ‘Somebody you must’ve busted and turned recently too…’ Scheff’s smile returned, glossy gold and wide as he leaned closer to Foxx. ‘Asil. If anything happens to me, I’ll have that little stool pigeon sliced and diced and the pieces sent to your home.’

‘That’s on record, Scheff,’ Nathan snapped back. ‘If anything happens to this “Asil” you seem to think sold you out, it’ll be on you.’

‘I’ll take the rap,’ Scheff snarled at him, ‘better to do the time than be a snitch.’

‘Your machine had it coming, Scheff,’ Foxx replied, ‘we knew where you were weeks ago and had your site under observation. You’re not a big enough fish, but we were hoping you’d lead us to the real power people. It’s only this case that’s closed your shop and brought you in early. Murder one of a police officer, Anthony Ricard, prison service.’

Scheff watched her suspiciously, silent again as he considered what he had been told. Nathan knew that with his rap sheet Scheff couldn’t possibly avoid a lengthy sentence, the murder of a prison service officer pretty much a death warrant for any felon, let alone an organized criminal like Scheff.

‘I din’ shoot nobody,’ Scheff repeated.

‘How do you know the victim was shot?’ Nathan asked again. ‘You’ve said it twice now.’

‘Just assumed,’ Scheff shrugged.

Foxx leaned back in her seat. ‘You’re never going to walk the streets again unless you cooperate, Scheff. If you didn’t pull the trigger on this guy then you need to tell us where you were.’

‘I ain’t no snitch.’

‘And you don’t have to be the trigger man to be tried for murder one,’ Nathan reminded him. ‘Any involvement renders you as responsible for the crime as the shooter. All you’ve got here is the chance to clear yourself of the actual murder, in return for any kind of leniency you might be able to extract from the DA in return.’

Nathan watched Scheff squirm, noticed a thin sheen of sweat that had formed on his forehead. It interested Nathan that the hardened criminal was under pressure at all. He didn’t think that Scheff had pulled the trigger for the simple reason that if the guy carried enough muscle to get Asil to run weapons for him, he’d have enough to ensure that somebody else carried out his killings for him, clearing him of involvement. A murder to protect or advance his own criminal empire would be something that he would have fought in court, claiming no knowledge just as he had before, and yet here there was something else…

‘You didn’t want to commit the crime at all, did you?’ Nathan said, following his nose in the hope of breaking Scheff’s wall of silence.

The glowing red eyes locked onto Nathan’s and in an instant he knew that he’d cornered Scheff. Nathan leaned forward, pressed the advantage once again.

‘You got dragged into somethin’ here, right? You want to snitch on the shooter but you can’t for some reason. Maybe you’ll blow somethin’ else wide open.’

Scheff almost trembled with supressed rage as he glared at Nathan, and then one thick fist slammed down on the table between them and he jerked back in his seat.

‘I want my lawyer,’ he snarled.

‘We both know that’s not going to work this time, Scheff,’ Foxx countered. ‘We can put you at the scene of the crime and in possession of military grade weapons. It’s enough to send you down for life, Scheff, period. You don’t talk to us now, the talking’s over.’

Scheff dragged a hand down his face, the bioluminescent tattoos pulsing fiercely as he shook his head and looked away.

‘Fine,’ Foxx said as she stood abruptly and turned for the door. ‘Have it your way. I’m just glad we finally nailed your sorry ass, and now we’ve got your operation opened up I’m hoping to find evidence of your past crimes too. I don’t doubt your people will start talking now that you’re looking at decades behind bars. Their crimes won’t be on the same scale as yours so they’ll have wriggle room and before you know it, you’ll be looking out of a cell until the day you die – that’s how it always goes down with felons like you.’

Foxx moved to the door, Nathan standing and following her in silence. The door unlocked and opened, and they stepped through.

‘Wait!’

Scheff slammed a fist down on the table once again and Nathan turned back to him.

‘Make it good or we’re out of here.’

Scheff closed his eyes, the tattoos losing their vigor and fading to a tepid egg–shell blue as he spoke.

‘I got a supplier for the weapons,’ he said finally. ‘The stash isn’t mine.’

‘That just sounds like an excuse,’ Foxx uttered.

‘It’s th’ truth,’ Scheff insisted as Nathan moved to sit back down opposite him. ‘I run the weapons, I don’t use ‘em.’

Foxx moved back to the table but she did not sit down, leaning on it instead. ‘Scheff, this is your last chance. You don’t give us something we can use, you’re history and we go home while you rot for however many years you’ll last in Tethys or whatever slime–ridden hell hole they’ll send you to. Start talking.’

Scheff spoke in a voice that sounded as though he hated every word he was being forced to speak.