The Minority Report
Part 2
By Jordi Sharpe
Lamar acknowledged his secretary and turned back to Lara… that odd look lingered upon her face.
"I never told you that she drowned," Lara repeated softly, referring to Anne Lively. She looked up into Lamar's eyes.
That bitch… he thought. Obviously the precog and Andertion had told her what they had seen. And now, she had incriminating evidence.
"My dear," he smiled gently, "perhaps you do not remember correctly. You said that this… Ms. Lively character was drowned."
Yet, Lamar Burgress was perspiring. It seemed as if that fool Anderton had seen past the Echo excuse… but how? The minority reports were destroyed immediately, were they not? How could John Anderton have seen the minority reports? They didn't exist! Unless Dr. Heinemann had somehow come up with some way of backing up all of the files… no, that'd be too complicated.
"You did do it…" Lara breathed. She began to back away from the Precrime Administrator, making her way to the door.
"My dear," he followed her, matching her movements. "What on Earth are you talking about? I did not kill a woman that I've never even heard of."
"Yes you did…" she hissed as her hand shot out and reached into the box of John's gear. She felt for the gun there, raised it and said, "I hope you burn in hell for what you did to John!"
The precogs still were not functioning. At least not at the moment, for no Precrime officers burst in through the windows or door. Lara felt adrenaline pump as she pulled the trigger.
Click.
There was no deafening bang, no smoke, no bullet released from the chamber. The gun simply clicked.
It was empty.
"My dear," Lamar's smile was broader now, "did you really think that I'd leave that weapon loaded? Come now… my two minutes are almost up."
In a swift movement, one that felt almost routine, he reached into his coat, pulled his gun from the holster, aimed and fire at Lara Anderton. She was hit in the chest, almost exactly where Witlow had been. Lara gasped for air as the bullet laid to rest in her right lung.
"It is most unfortunate my dear… after all, John is not dead, just in Containment."
Lara fell to her knees, gasping for air now. Lamar strutted to her as she clasped her hand against her chest. With a foul, menacing grin, he aimed his pistol at her head and fired twice into her skull.
Lara slumped over, dead.
The shots had not been heard by anyone; his secretary was downstairs in the banquet hall, awaiting his arrival. As quickly as he could, Lamar dragged Lara's corpse into the closet behind his desk and locked the door. He'd dispose of the body later; right now, he was being expected downstairs.
Making sure that no blood touched his clothing, he left his office.
The night went smoothly. About half way through the celebration, Jad and Fletcher phoned him, telling him that Wally had set Agatha back in her place and that the precogs were functional once more. They also informed him, albeit stoically, that John Anderton was now in Containment (much to Gideon's glee).
The next few weeks turn out to be hectic. The nation had voted "yes" on Precrime defense. New stations were set to be built within the next three years, and Wally would need to begin research on extending the precogs' powers to help the entire nation.
Jad took John's place as the chief Precrime Officer while Fletcher remained on the offensive force. Nobody from the force had dropped away because of John Anderton. They felt that he had made the wrong choice consciously, murdering Crow and abducting Agatha, leaving the city of Washington, D.C. vulnerable.
Across town, Dr. Solomon denied any contact with Anderton. Rufus Reily tried to con the interviewing officers and wound up with a fine for bribery. Dr. Heinemann worked on her odd and exotic menagerie of plants whilst the reports of John Anderton's crime circulated and the success of her creation unfolded.
The precogs continued to predict future murders, giving the occasional red ball, testing Jad.
Lamar Burgress just let the good times roll, eventually disposing of Lara Anderton's corpse for good, before any suspicion could arise. Her disappearance was filed, later, as Unknown. And to Lamar's good wishes, nobody batted an eye.
And John Anderton remained in Containment under the watchful eye of the slightly mad Gideon.
2055
Agatha was the first of the three to sense something. As usual, a murder. The victim, sixty-three year old Roger Ford. The perpitrator, a woman, Dana McCourt, thirty-nine years old. Not a red ball, but a ball nonetheless. And Jad saw it right away.
"Male victim," he told Fletcher as he began to scrub the timeframe.
"Female perp huh?" Fletcher asked with a grin. "Never seen this one before."
"That's because the men usually don't remember that we've got their diabolical thoughts under guard here," Jad told his partner. "Women hardly ever kill anyway."
Jad sifted through the timeframe until he found the address. Right there in front of McCourt.
"Looks like a relative of some sort," Fletch commented as he saw the two faces and their stats.
"He's her husband's mother's brother. She's been living with him since he was fifty. From what I can see, she's hated every single day of it."
Below in the Temple, Wally kept an eye on the three precogs' vitals. He was mostly worried about Agatha. She'd been different ever since last year's disaster. But she was still as useful as always.
Jad glanced at his watch and saw that they had fifteen minutes, twenty two seconds until the timeframe.
"Get going. Now!"
Fletcher ran at full speed. He gathered the troops and made their way to the scene.
Agatha could remember…
That time where the voices had been silenced… the future was no longer at every blink of her eyes.
Murder was not the constan
t (nightmare.)
It had been
(glorious)
an amazing thi
(why was she back…)
ng to exper
(where was John?)
ience.
(i must run)
Agatha felt the voices screaming again.
(murder)
Murder again.
(murder)
Arthur and Dash couldn't feel it.
(murder)
She felt the agony of the victim.
(!MURDER!)
Wally dozed on occasion. It was a bad habit, but he was forced to live with it. He hardly slept at night. That, and having to care for the precogs day in and day out took a harsh toll on his mentality. He usually awoke to find the precogs drifting passively through their "slumber", or on a few occasions, in the middle of a red ball situation.
Today was different however. The moment he awoke, he knew that he had seriously fucked up. The vitals alarms were blaring madly. He looked up to see Agatha's vitals off the wall. Scared shitless, he jumped from his seat and raced towards the pool. Agatha was bucking madly, having a seizure it seemed.
"Oh Aggie… don't do this honey…"
Wally grabbed Agatha's hand and searched for a pulse. As he did this, she stopped flailing.
Her heartbeat was normal.
"What the hell?"
He looked at Agatha's face. Her eyes were open, staring straight up at the ceiling. Wally took a chance and looked too.
The image of Lamar Burgress, wearing a foul, evil smile sent shivers up Wally's spine. The grab for the gun by Lara… the click made Wally's stomach drop. And when Lamar shot his own firearm, he sensed a red ball.
But there was nothing. None of the other precogs felt it. Dash and Arthur remained peaceful, completely oblivious to their sister's mental attack.
Wally looked down into Agatha's eyes, wondering what he was seeing. Past, present or future?
Whatever it was, he didn't like it one bit.
It happened again three days later. Only this time, Jad was on duty. Wally was at Agatha's side instantly. Jad up top thought that there would be a ball, but there wasn't.
"Wally, what the hell is going on?"
"I don't know chief!" he yelled back as the images of Lamar Burgress killing Lara Anderton flooded the screens. Only this time, they were fuzzier. Very unclear, as if Agatha were starting to forget the memory.
"My God…" Jad whispered as he saw the images. "This… this has got to be the past."
Jad scanned through the time frame as best he could. He saw the suit on Lamar. He saw the box of Anderton's things. He saw outside the window, the night was exhuberant. Lights flickered in the background, near the Washington Monument.
It was a year ago Jad decided, when Lamar had been honored for the Precrime System. That had been around the same time that Lara had disappeared.
But what could he do? This was a single report, not a unanimous one. Therefore, it had to be discarded.
Still…
Wally kept a firm grip on Agatha's hand as she rocked, then ceased. Her eyes stared blankly towards the ceiling as the sequence played once more.
"Can you see?" she whispered, causing Wally to jump.
Agatha felt nothing now. Only that she was living, as she had once before with John Anderton, and she was aware of her surroundings. A man was just a few feet away. Her brothers to her left and right.
She opened her eyes to see a screen on the ceiling. It was blank.
Agatha felt the strange fluid around her and turned her head ever so slightly. Yes, the man was watching her now. His face was scrunched with confusion.
He decided to approach her. Agatha saw this and tried to sit up.
"Whoa! What are you doing?" the man almost yelled in shock. Agatha was sitting up now, clutching her legs to her chest, trembling from the cold.
The man dropped to his knees beside her and looked into her eyes. She looked back, as if she could see him. Like she was consciously aware of him.
"Agatha? Can you hear me?" he asked.
She nodded.
The man stood and backed away slowly as Agatha struggled to stand. She succeeded on weak legs, but almost fell as she climbed out of the pool. Shaking and weakly, she walked towards a seat. She knew what it was for, after seeing it used so many times before. She sat in it, trying to keep her body under control. The trembling was almost overwhelming.
Wally threw a blanket over her, hoping to help her warm up. He didn't want to let her stay out of the pool, but what other choice did he have? She'd pretty much been malfunctioning over the past year or so.
Malfunctioning.
What a harsh word to use. After all, she was a human being, not a machine, and therefore, she was sick.
Not malfunctioning.
Wally gave himself a mental slap. Agatha and Arthur and Dash weren't machines. They were human beings. They didn't malfunction. That was a dirty word…
"Are you all right?" he asked. The precog girl nodded.
Wally had to think fast. He had a fluid that could stop her from trembling, but he was only to use it if he were certain that Agatha was to stay out of the pool. She would reject the fluid in the pool if he injected her with this serum, and therefore render her powers useless. That would mean that Precrime would fail.
"Agatha, I think that you should get back into the pool."
But she shook her head furiously.
"Agatha—"
"No!" she suddenly cried.
"But—"
"I must see John."
"John?" Wally started. She wanted to see John? Could she remember him clearly?
"Why do you want to see John?" Wally asked Agatha. He was unsure still, if he should inject her, in this state.
"He is innocent. I know what happened."
Wally shook his head and told her in a condescending voice, "Now Aggie," he began to lift her up, "let's just settle you back into—"
"No!" And with that, Agatha thrashed, hitting Wally hard in the nose. Agatha fell back into the seat and tried to stand. Wally was clutching his nose still. A stream of red was flowing from it.
"I must see John Anderton," Agatha stated firmly.
Wally didn't disagree. And though he knew that he would most likely be fired, maybe even killed for it, he didn't know what else to do. Jad wasn't up there. Nobody was. If they had a report, someone in the building elsewhere would be informed right away.
Am I willing to risk my life and job for this? People could be killed while she's gone… god dammit!
He shook his head and said, Yes. For John's sake. And for the sake of Lamar Burgress's capture.
"Agatha. Agatha, come here. I want to help you."
Agatha eyed him suspiciously, then approached carefully, trying to detect any foulplay.
"I have a needle here for you," Wally told Agatha. "It will help you adapt to the environment here easily."
Agatha looked uncertain, but came within a few feet of him. He held up the needle and said, "Please don't worry. I don't want to hurt you."
With that said, he plunged the needle into Agatha. She cried out, but the needle was only held in for a matter of seconds. He pulled it out and waited. Agatha was still shivering… wait! It was ceasing. She felt warmth flow through her veins as the serum took effect quickly. Seconds later, Agatha was standing tall, not wavering in the least.
"Better?" he asked.
Agatha nodded. "Better."
The trick now was to find a way to get into containment. Even if Wally could get in, there was still the matter of Gideon. And what about John? He knew that Wally had hit that alarm. Plus the fact that he would be walking around with a precog, which would be a bad blow for his reputaion.
She had no idea what to do either.