Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
The sun was just peeking over the horizon when the call came in. The thump of the bass and the melody pounding in her ears abruptly segued into the sharp trill of the phone ringing, making the blonde woman wince as she quickly tapped her right earpiece to accept the call. For a moment, all she could hear was the sound of her sneakers hitting the pavement in rhythm and a distant sound of birds chirping in the trees around her.
"Hello?" The word came out in a breathless huff while she focused on keeping her pace steady It was too easy to slow down when you were distracted, and she was almost at the end of her run.
"Hey, it's Alex. Did you get that email I sent over last night? I really need an answer within the next couple of hours."
"You're interrupting my run," she said flatly.
"I know, I know. Listen, this is super important." There was a pause on the line, then he said, "You do know what all that heavy breathing sounds like on my end of the phone, right?"
"Fuck you," she breathed, double tapping her earpiece again to end the call. The sound of her feet was immediately drowned out by the music. She turned the corner of the last block and finally saw her house at the end of the lane.
The trilling came into her ear again and she groaned, tapping her earpiece to answer. "I'm almost done, I'll call you back in fifteen. Don't call again."
She hung up once more and picked up her speed, not giving him any time to respond. At a sprint, she made it down the driveway and to the garage. Placing her hand on the scanner, she waited for the door to roll all the way up while pulling out her wireless earbuds.
Closing the garage from the inside, she made her way into the house. She stepped through the kitchen and down the hallway toward her bedroom, the lights flicking on and off seamlessly as she walked between rooms.
In the bathroom, she turned the hot water on in the shower and pulled off her sweaty activewear, removing the holder of her phone from her upper arm and sighing as she saw Alex's name flashing across the screen. Still vibrating, she tossed the device on the counter and stepped under the stream of now steaming water.
"It's been seventeen minutes, Taylor," Alex complained as soon as he picked up the phone. Taylor rolled her eyes as she started pulling ingredients out of the fridge to make an omelet. Placing them on the counter beside the stove, she turned back to her open laptop on the counter and started pulling up her inbox on the screen.
"I'm trying to make breakfast, Alex. Why can't you just tell me what this is about?"
"It's better if you read it. You're going to like this, I promise." He paused on the other end of the line, she was sure for the dramatic effect, before he said, "It's about the deviants."
Taylor paused over the keyboard as she was typing in her password. She forgot where she was and had to erase it and start over while she responded, trying not to sound too excited, "What about it?"
"See? I knew you'd be like this. Just think of all the time you wasted fucking around."
"I will hang up on you again," she warned, scrolling through her inbox to find the email in question. When she opened it, she realized it was a forward from his own inbox. At the top of the original was the letterhead of CyberLife. "Holy shit."
Alex laughed in her ear while she scrolled, trying to read the text as fast as possible. "They want you as a consultant on the deviant investigation they're conducting in Detroit."
"Yes," she replied immediately, only halfway through the email.
"The contract is attached. You really should read the terms first." Alex was laughing at her again.
"You've read it. How bad?" Taylor asked, still skimming. When she reached the bottom, she clicked on the attached pdf file.
"Typical stuff. It's basically saying you can't disclose any details of the investigation, liability agreements, etc."
"So, what do you think?" She pressed, scrolling through the pages as quickly as she could.
"I think it's a shit deal. You won't be able to post about any of this and you're not getting paid, which means I'm not getting paid. I have a baby." His voice was laced with amusement as the said infant's cries penetrated the phone call.
"I don't care about money. I'll pay you in diapers and formula if you're that hard up. How is Emily by the way?" Taylor's lips quirked into a smile as she heard Alex trying to soothe the three-month-old in the background. She could just picture him pacing the room with the tiny little girl cradled in his arms, trying to keep her quiet while his wife, Becca, snatched some desperately needed sleep on the other side of the house.
"Oh, she's great. Colicky all the time though. Did you know colicky is an Old English word that means 'fucking pissed off and there's nothing you can do about it'?" Taylor laughed, finally turning away from the computer to start cooking.
"You really shouldn't curse like that in front of your daughter, you know. There are some great colic drops that worked for Hayley when she was a baby. I'll send them to you." She froze, spatula hovering over the frying pan, realizing what she'd just said. There was a pregnant pause on the line while she closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose.
"I'll let them know you're going to do it. You'll have to come in to sign the contract." Alex chose to gloss over her statement, returning to the business at hand. She couldn't say thank you without bringing it up again, but she knew he would understand. He always did.
"When do I report in?" She asked.
"Tomorrow morning. I booked you a flight already. You can head to the airport from the office and still have time to sleep when you get there." Taylor smiled as she flipped her omelet.
"You knew I was going to say yes."
"Of course I did. Eat your breakfast. Post a photo of you cooking, the fans love that domestic shit."
"I'm not posting my breakfast on the internet, Alex. I'll see you soon." Double tapping the earpiece, she slid her omelet onto a plate and brought it with her to the table, along with the still open laptop. She continued to scroll through the contract as she ate, trying to fight down the excitement bubbling up within her.
Taylor knocked twice on the wood paneled door and waited. Sunlight slanted onto the porch into her eyes and she shifted on her feet, facing the other direction. Traffic on the street was nearly nonexistent in this neighborhood, not even automatic taxis taking routes through the streets.
Three men were making their way down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the lane, but when they saw her standing at the door of the two-story house with its boarded windows and overgrown lawn, they crossed the street. She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry, straining to hear the sound of a footstep or a shuffle from inside.
"Hey babe, I think you're in the wrong place." One of the men came forward, giving her a smile that showed his two front canines as he took the first step onto the drive. She glanced down at her sneakers to make sure they were tied. She fought the urge to knock on the door again.
"I'm not," she said, shifting on her feet. The two other men were trailing their supposed leader, but the three of them all hesitated a step when she spoke. Taking a breath, she clarified, "In the wrong place."
"I think you are." His smile widened, baring all of his teeth. Taylor took a step backwards, her back connecting with the doorframe. "I think you should be at my place."
"No thanks. I'm meeting someone here." Maybe they would leave her alone. Men would only back off if they thought they were encroaching on someone else's territory. Her hands slid into the pockets of her coat.
"Oh really? In this abandoned house?" They were almost at the porch steps now. She tensed, and her hand curled around the gun in her pocket, but she didn't draw it. "Who's that?"
"That would be me." The voice sounded magical in her ears. Her fingers relaxed and she leaned her weight into the wall behind her, boneless. She hadn't heard the door open, but she realized now it was because her heart was thumping against her eardrums. "Can I help you gentlemen? You're trespassing."
Taylor turned her head so that she could finally see him standing in the open door. He had one arm above his head, leaning into the doorway next to her with a careless smile. The three men were sizing him up now, trying to decide if maybe the fight was still worth it.
"This your girl?" This time the one on the left spoke.
"Oh, she's nobody's girl. You can come try your luck if you want, but I think she's ready to blow a hole in the chest of whoever steps on the porch first with that gun in her pocket." The three of them shared a wide-eyed look, and they all stared at the hand sitting in her coat, still not moving.
"We didn't mean no harm, miss. We were just leaving." The one on the right smacked the one in the middle in the shoulder before he turned and sped back down the driveway without a backward glance. The other two trailed on his heels, not wasting any time.
"Nice going, Raj." Taylor collected herself enough to move, pushing past him and into the house. "What are you going to do if they call the cops?"
"You're welcome, Blondie." Raj closed the door behind her, plunging the entranceway into a near darkness. He led her back toward the kitchen, the only lights in the rooms coming from handheld lanterns that were placed unceremoniously along the floor. "They won't call the cops. They were in the process of assaulting and raping you, in case you didn't notice."
Taylor didn't respond. Her hands were still in her pockets, and the hard metal of the handgun pressed against her palm felt like a centering point for her universe. The hallways they navigated were bare, paint chipping away. No one had lived here in a long time.
His footsteps echoed when they crossed onto the linoleum. There was natural light filtering in through the windows here, so only one lantern sat on the kitchen island throwing extra glow across the walls. He turned to face her, ready to speak, but drew up short.
"Hey, you okay?" He took two long strides back across the kitchen until he was right in front of her. His hands were suddenly under her elbows, steadying her. She realized that her heart was still pounding, a steady, painful drum in her chest.
There weren't any chairs to be found, so Raj led her to the island and boosted her up. The world spun for a second before it righted itself, and she was face to face with him, staring into his dark brown eyes.
"Taylor, breathe." She was breathing. Rapid, shallow breaths, making her dizzy. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in her nose. Held it. Released. Over and over until her heartbeat slowed.
When she opened her eyes, Raj was peering into her face, concern lining his brow. Swallowing, she said, "I'm okay."
He backed away to the kitchen counter opposite, still eyeing her. She leaned her weight into her hands but didn't slide down to her feet just yet. After a few beats of silence, he decided to speak up. "What the hell was so important that you needed to come out to this shit hole, anyway?"
"I got an opportunity in Detroit." Her voice was steady when she spoke. She met his gaze. "CyberLife wants me to be a consultant on an investigation the Detroit Police Department is conducting into deviant androids."
"CyberLife?" Raj's voice was tinged with disbelief. He crossed his arms over his chest. "I didn't think CyberLife would touch you with a ten-foot pole."
"Yes, well. My outspokenness has finally caught their attention." A hint of a smile touched her face. "I came to see what you thought. What we're doing here is more important to me, obviously. If you don't think I should go, then I won't."
He sat there for a few minutes, considering her in silence, his eyebrows furrowed. Taylor started tapping her fingers against the counter, waiting. His eyes flitted to her hands before he said, "Something is happening in Detroit."
"What do you mean?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"You've heard about it, I know." He raised his eyebrows. "There's increasing rates of deviancy everywhere, no matter what CyberLife reports to the media. But in Detroit, it's different. Violent, and rapid. I don't have a lot of eyes up there. You know that deviants can be violent, but it's unprecedented."
"I know what you mean." She bit her lip. She certainly had heard; the recurrent stories had been thrown in her face again and again. Examples of why deviancy could not be tolerated. "So you think I should go?"
"I think it would help both of us to know why this is happening." He nodded. "Things here will be fine without you for a while. I know how to get in touch with you if I need you."
"Right." She smiled, sliding off the counter and back onto her feet. Raj walked her back out to the door, but she did a double take when he followed her onto the porch. "What are you...?"
"I'm escorting you back to civilization." He pulled the door shut as he stepped out. "Those guys scurried off fast enough, but I'd hate to think they were waiting for you around the corner."
She blinked, unsure, but he walked right past her and to the edge of the porch. Then he turned back, giving her an impatient look. Her lips stretched upward into a smile. "Thanks, Raj."