John Kennex walked to his desk in the squad room with a fresh cup of coffee. It wasn't the best coffee in the world, but it was strong, which was what he needed. He'd had a rough couple of weeks, and sleep wasn't coming easily.

His partner, Dorian, walked in a few minutes later, bright and cheery after a full night's charge. John pretended to study a case file, not quite ready to deal with the android.

"Good morning," Dorian said as he approached.

"Morning."

Dorian sat down in a chair next to John's desk. "Still having trouble sleeping?"

"No," John said flatly before sipping his coffee. His eyes never left the screen in front of him.

"You're a horrible liar when you're tired."

John gave him a sideways glance. Blue lines ran across Dorian's face, just beneath the surface, before he spoke again.

"Still backed up, I see."

"Excuse me?" John put down his mug and turned in his chair to face Dorian.

"You're particularly grumpy today. I've noticed it's been building. Your job has relieved some of your tension, but we haven't had a high-stakes case in a while. You're still backed up, and you have no outlet."

"How about I empty my clip into your face? That'll release some tension."

"John, I'm only-"

"I told you not to scan my testicles again... It's weird, man."

John stood and walked away. A moment later, an officer from the main entrance came into the room.

"We need help out front. I think we have some kind of nut job out here."

John motioned for Dorian to follow and they went to the front desk. He could hear a woman's slightly raised, panicked voice before he saw her. A brunette, likely in her early thirties, stood at the front desk. She was leaning over the counter, pleading to speak with a detective. Her eyes were wide and her hands were shaking.

"I'm trying to keep my cool here," she said, "but I need you to listen to me."

"Ma'am," John said, "I'm Detective Kennex. Is there something we can do for you?"

"Yes," he said. A look of pure relief washed over her face. She stood in front of John, looking up slightly into his eyes. "I need to talk to you, alone. I've had two attempts on my life already today, and I'm afraid he'll be successful with the next one."

"Well, ma'am, we can use a conference room. An MX will escort you-"

"No. No droids."

"I'm sorry, protocol-"

"You can have as many humans in that room as you want. Strap me down if it makes you feel better. I'm not a danger to you. No droids."

John stared into the woman's eyes for a moment. His gut told him she wasn't lying. She thought she was in danger. It was his job to find out why.

"Okay," he said. "Follow me."

Dorian secretly did a quick scan of the woman for weapons. When he found none, he gave John a nod. The nod was returned and he escorted the woman through the squad room, into a glass-walled conference room. When Dorian tried to follow them in, John blocked the door.

"Why don't you go get the captain," John said.

"It's because I'm a droid, isn't it?"

"At least until we find out why she doesn't want any around," John whispered. "We need her calm and focused. She won't be if you're here."

"Okay," Dorian said with a nod. "I'll wait at your desk."

John closed the door as Dorian went to get the captain. He sat at the table, to her right, and noticed that she was playing with her fingers. He wondered if it was a nervous habit, or an honest reaction to being scared and trying to stay calm.

"So," John started, "can I get your name?"

"Jessica Townsend." She looked nervously around the squad room, which she could still see as it became more and more crowded. "Can we do something about the glass walls? I know no one can hear us, but I still feel..."

"Exposed?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, me too. I complain about it all the time," John said as he pulled up a holographic keyboard. After a few key strokes, the glass walls became opaque. "I mean, what's wrong with good old solid walls, right?"

Jessica didn't answer, but a small, nervous smile pulled at her lips.

"Okay," John said. "You said there were two attempts on your life today?"

"Yes."

"Tell me about them."

"First, my driver."

"Your driver?"

"I work for Neilson Advanced. I'm an assistant to one of the top executives. A car and driver is one of the perks." John nodded, so Jessica continued. "My driver, a droid, took a sharp turn off of the road on the way home and picked up speed headed straight for a huge tree. I had to climb into the front and fight for control of the wheel. We just barely missed the tree, and then the droid just collapsed."

"Malfunction?"

"No. Once I was home, my housekeeper, also a droid, tried to strangle me."

Jessica pulled down the high collar of her shirt, revealing large red marks around the bottom of her neck.

"I have no idea how I got away," she said. "Adrenaline... fear... I just ran out of the house. I found a cab with a human driver and came here. I need protection."

John was about to ask a question when the captain walked in. She sat next to John and he introduced them.

"Ms. Townsend, this is Captain Sandra Maldonado." John turned to the captain and filled her in on what he had been told so far, then he gave his attention back to Jessica. "What makes you think these were anything more than malfunctions?"

"I saw something that I wasn't supposed to see."

"What was that," Captain Maldonado asked.

"My boss sent me several files to review today, and I'm sure there was one that I wasn't supposed to get. It had detailed information about droid hacking and jobs."

"What kind of jobs," John asked.

"The back robbery last week, where the security droid 'malfunctioned' and shot the human guard? This file had details of the droid specs, date and time of the robbery... but the time stamp on the file was dated two weeks before it happened."

"So," John said, "you're saying that the droid didn't malfunction. That it was..."

"Hacked. Remotely. And that wasn't the only instance in the file. There were a lot more. I believe my boss realized he sent me the file. He would have seen that I read it, and now he's trying to kill me."

"What is your boss' name," Captain Maldonado asked.

"Peter Alexander."

"And you think he's capable of doing something like this?"

"He's smart. He's got degrees in engieneering, robotics... anything tech. I'm sure he has the skill."

"Do you still have this file that you saw?"

"I, uh... I sent myself a copy before I left work." She looked at them with a bit of guilt. "We're not supposed to do that, but he's not supposed to be hacking droids, so..."

"No," John said. "If he's really doing this, then you did good."

"Can you pull up the file from here," Maldonado asked.

"Yeah."

John swiped the keyboard toward her and she pulled up her networked files. A moment later, virtual papers filled the air in front of them. John and Maldonado began sliding the papers toward different walls, organizing them by the recent crimes they recognized.

"There are more than a dozen robberies here," John said. "A few murders... all involving supposed malfunctioning droids."

With a few taps of the holographic keyboard, Maldonado collapsed the file, and the room was empty again.

"Excuse us for one moment," Maldonado said. She and John stepped out of the room. "What do you think," she asked him.

"My gut says she's genuinely afraid. She doesn't seem to be lying."

"I think you're right. I think we should give that file to Rudy, see if he can do anything with it. Maybe he can find a way for us to start looking into this without alerting her boss that we know, or that we have her."

"Good idea."

"We'll put a couple of droids on her for prot-"

"She won't have it," John said. "She demanded to talk to a detective, and wanted the droids away from her."

"She thinks he can hack police droids?"

"Looks like she doesn't want to risk it."

"What about Dorian?"

"It might take some convincing."

"It will, but you see the bigger picture here, right?"

"What's that?"

"Dorian is your partner," she said. "If he gets protection detail..."

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"Nope. Be prepared."

The two went back inside. Jessica, who had been sitting with her head in her hands, elbows on the table, looked up at the sound of the door.

"Ms. Townsend-" Maldonado started."

"Please, call me Jessica."

The captain nodded. "We're going to put a protection detail on you."

"Thank you." Jessica let out a sigh, and tears of relief threatened to spill from her eyes.

"I'll need you to tell us exactly where you left your driver. Is the droid housekeeper still at your home?"

"It was when I left. If he wants it to look like a malfunction, it probably still is."

"Okay. You can stay in this room for now. I'll post two guards at the door. Not droids... but I need you to consider something for me. A droid can be far superior to a person in some ways when it comes to protection detail."

Jessica began shaking her head. "No. If he knows where I am, he can hack your droids."

"We don't know that for sure."

"Well, I don't want to take that chance, okay?" Jessica's voice started to rise again, and John sat next to her.

"It's okay," he said. "My partner... he's a droid." Jessica started shaking her head again, but John stopped her. "Hang on. He's different. He has what's called a synthetic soul. He feels emotions and can make moral judgements, almost exactly like you or me. He doesn't just blindly follow programming."

"Really?"

"Really. Now, the captain has already told me if my partner gets put on your detail, then I do, too. So, it wouldn't just be a droid. You'd have a person there, too."

"A highly trained officer," Captain Maldonado added, "who is very good at his job."

"I don't know," Jessica said.

"Think about it," the captain said. "Detective Kennex is going to help start the investigation. You sit tight. Let the guards know if there's anything you need, and you can give me an answer later. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Kennex, stay with her until I can post a couple of uniforms outside."

John nodded as she walked out. "So," he said after a moment, "do you not like being called Ms.?"

"No, it's not that. I've just never been an overly formal person. I kind of like the idea of it, being polite and all, but it just doesn't seem to matter when your life is on the line."

"Understood."

"Your partner..." She seemed to hesitate. "Is he the one who walked to this room with us? The one you sent away?"

"He is."

"He didn't like being sent away, did he?"

"Not really," John said with a grin, "but he gets that you're scared. He agreed to stay away until we found out why."

"Agreed?"

"I told you, he doesn't just follow orders."

There was a knock at the door, and John stood to open it. The two guards were at the door. He turned back to Jessica.

"Just try to stay calm. If you can think of anything else useful, tell these guys and they'll come find me or the captain."

Jessica nodded, but as John turned to leave, she stood.

"Detective... I accept. You and your partner. No other droids."

"Okay. I'll let the captain know... And you can call me John."

"Thank you," she said with a small smile.

John nodded. "Sit tight."

He closed the door behind him as he left the room, then headed to his desk to talk to Dorian.