CHAPTER FOUR
John Watson was a man of many talents. Not the least of which was gathering intelligence on his neighbors and coworkers. Living out different lie after different lie, day in and day out.
The years of turning innocent men and women in for the Cardinal Law had eaten and eaten away at him like a bacteria. He felt infected. He was not a good man. A veteran of the battles at Crescent Creek and Magnolia Hill, he had seen his fair share of death.
But now he wanted out, he wanted out of his life espionage and spying, of murder and bloodshed. He wanted to settle down with a woman, have a family and live in a good sector.
John Watson wanted many things. Whether or not the Cardinal Law and the Watchers would believe he had served his purpose and deserved to be free was an entirely different matter.
Are we ever really free? John thought.
When John was twelve he stole water; a basic necessity any citizen should be allowed to have. However because of his status he was seen as unfit to have daily water and received it only every other day. He was young, angry and thirsty. He did what anyone would do and he stole it.
John was caught right away by the Watchers and dragged before a Cardinal Judge for sentencing. For some reason no one, not even John knew, the Cardinal spared him time in a prison or child factory and instead recruited him.
John remembers the Watchers well; cloaked in black, like Death's reapers, minions from on high sent to scoop him up and carry him away in their black chariots of terror.
For the rest of his youth John was trained as a soldier and a spy. He fitted in everywhere and his track record was impeccable. Even getting shot four times didn't stop him. He had also been the only man in the field to successfully disarm and terminate a rogue Synthetic Humanoid, third generation of its model and it was immediately discontinued after the incident.
The android had malfunctioned after accidentally downloading a virus from a resistence computer and then went on a bloody rampage for twenty four hours.
The rogue SH destroyed five sectors before John, with nothing but a sidearm, put it out of it's misery. Bullets can harm an android, you just have to shoot them in their hard drive. It won't kill them but it will cause a blackout. During the SH's blackout, John used a toolkit to open the back of it's head and remove the Life-Line; the part of the robotic brain that kept it alive.
John had been seen as a hero and he went on living the life of a soldier and a spy. Even through the years of training and torture and conditioning, John never forgot home. He never got the sister and brother he left behind or the parents he never saw again after stealing water, stealing to survive. He assumed his family died of starvation or thirst.
So, here the great spy and war hero stood.
Station 4, where the Watchers watched and the Cardinals watched them. He looked at his tablet and brought up his appointment reminder.
Appointment with S. Holmes Deputy Director of Intelligence and Cardinal Law Consultant, 1:00 PM.
Well, that's a mouthful of a title, John thought.
He took a deep and breath entered the building. He wasn't nervous persay, he just wanted to get it over with. He had to ask his superior officer's superior officer first. And then from there he had to get written permission to speak to a Watcher at Station 6 who would oversee his case. And from there he needed that Watcher's written recommendation that he speak to someone at Station 4 with high enough rank who would either grant his request for a transfer and retirement or deny it.
They're not short on hoops to jump through, John thought to himself.
He knew they wouldn't make it easy on him. The Cardinal Law tried to make it as hard for any of their citizens (no matter their background or upbringing) to do anything.
Discouragement at its most refined.
John approached the receptionist, placing a hand on the clear surface of the counter, glancing briefly at the many security cameras, but only with his eyes. Years of training to know when he was being watched kicked in. He was instantly on edge, high on alert.
But he remained calm, for he knew of what little else to do.
They could end me if they wanted to right now, he thought.
"Name." The nondescript woman behind the glass counter said, her tone flat.
"Captain John Watson." He said simply.
"Hand print please." She said, passing him a tablet with a cable connected to her computer at her desk.
John went through the various security motions. Hand print, verbal identification, retinal scan, urine test for DNA confirmation. And lastly an evaluation with a psychologist.
The psychologist in question was a thirty something year old woman with dark skin and pretty eyes. She spoke calmly and softly. If wasn't for the subtle lines near the corners of her eyes John would have thought she was an android.
But there weren't hundreds of different models when it came to the Synthetic Humanoids. As far as John knew, there were only four different models- well, three now that the fourth had been terminated permanently. .
"Are you happy?" She asked him. John didn't know her name and they both knew he didn't need it. They'd never meet again after today. They sat in a little room with a two way mirror. John had a few ideas who might be behind it.
"Define happy," he said with a chuckle. She scribbled something down on her pad.
"Are you seeing anyone?" She asked.
"No, no I haven't really had the time to apply for a companion." He answered honestly.
"But you've had sexual intercourse recently?" She asked him blankly.
John nodded. He was male after all. She jotted something down on her pad. He took notice-
"Sexually active," it read.
"When was the last time you killed someone?" She asked.
Pointed, standard questions filtered out of her on command.
"Just today?" He joked again and she drew a line underneath her second to last sentence.
"You're deflecting." She said simply. He shrugged.
"I'm being honest."
"You killed someone today?"
"No, that part I was lying. Obviously."
"Yes. Obviously."
The interview went on like that for a while. Back and forth, question and answer. No real progress but they determined he wasn't insane or an anarchist.
After two hours of being interviewed, scanned and declared that his urine did truly belong to him he was lead to Mr. Holmes' office.
Mr. Holmes was not in yet, he was off on assignment and John was ordered, not asked, to wait.
The chair was comfortable as far as sitting chairs went. He crossed his legs then uncrossed them. He felt himself growing a little nervous but he refused to get his hopes up. He decided that to expect the expected (being denied) was the best course of action. That way when the inevitable did finally happen he wouldn't be disappointed.
After twenty minutes of waiting the door burst open and a tall man with dark hair entered, followed by a SH, the IA model- or the Irene's as they were called.
Mr. Holmes took no notice of John at first, tearing his tie off and unbuttoning the first two buttons on his shirt. He looked flustered and yet strangely dignified. He was older than most Watchers that John had encountered.
The Irene immediately noticed John. He stood and she held out her hand in a queer, plastic and practiced manner.
"Hello," John said politely. He knew she was scanning him and determining his purpose.
"Captain John Watson," the Irene said smiling, her teeth perfect and abnormal at the same time.
"Ah, yes, that's me." John replied, she held his hand in hers.
"The only human to disable an android," she said without emotion, tone or pitch in her voice. It unnerved him. "Tell me, does killing a human feel the same as killing an android?"
John paused, glanced at Mr. Holmes who was busying himself at his desk and flipping through a computer pad.
"It doesn't." John replied. The Irene released his hand.
"Fascinating." She said and then turned her attention to Mr. Holmes.
"I must reboot and upload the mission reports of today." She informed her boss who only nodded and shooed her away with a hand motion. If she were human perhaps she would take offense (depending on the human of course) but Irene wasn't so after Mr. Holmes' dismissal she simply ignored John and departed.
"Please, have a seat." Mr. Holmes said, finally acknowledging John's presence.
"Thank you." John said sitting.
Mr. Holmes opened his desk drawer without sitting and removed a new tie from it and began tying it around his neck.
"So sorry, bit of blood." Mr. Holmes said, he finished without another word and picked up his tablet. "Captain John Watson it has come to my direct attention you're requesting transfer and or retirement."
John nodded.
"Yes, well, that's why I'm here." John said, folding his hands in his hand.
"I presume this is because of your wound?" Mr. Holmes inquired. John shook his head.
"No, shot four times healed nicely." John said with a polite smile. Mr. Holmes also smiled but there was something rude and devious about it.
"I'm not referring to your combat injuries, Captain Watson." Mr. Holmes said and John narrowed his eyes.
What the hell-
"I am, however, referring to the injury you sustained when you were a child at the hands of someone much older than you," Mr. Holmes paused, waiting for John to correct him, which the shorter man did not do. "Beat you quite badly, didn't he?"
John cleared his throat.
"He?" John questioned and Mr. Holmes nodded.
"Yes," Mr. Holmes said, leaning his hand on his chin, pointing lazily with a finger. "When Irene introduced herself, in her own disturbing way, you turned your head slightly to the right which told me you're hard of hearing in your left and you watched her lips as she spoke, clearly not a sign of attraction or your eyes would have dilated.
A person with perfectly normal hearing wouldn't do such thing but you've had this condition for quite some time and have trained yourself to tilt your head and read lips- however you've never had it fixed. Spy, soldier, medical training as well judging from your hands, but you never had your hearing fixed. Why?"
John wasn't quite sure where or how to begin. He had never told anyone that. It was true though, all of it. When John had been caught stealing water the Watcher who found him beat him, slapping him again and again in his left ear. And for some reason none of his doctors over the course of his life had ever noticed it.
John wanted to keep it; an invisible scar, a bloody and bruising personal trophy to remind him what these types of men were capable of doing to a child. Beating them to deafness.
The Watcher's face flashed with amazement at his own trick.
"How... how could you possibly know that?" John asked him, his mouth had gone dry.
Mr. Holmes smirked and shrugged.
"I didn't, you just told me." Mr. Holmes replied.
John sighed and felt the meeting coming to an end. He felt like he had just failed a test.
"Captain Watson you're a good field officer and an impressive foot soldier," Mr. Holmes began and John couldn't help but snicker. "I'm willing to grant your request."
John held his breath and locked eyes with the man sitting opposite him.
"You what?" John asked, sounding more shocked than he had meant to.
"Yes. However, there will be a stipulation." Mr. Holmes went on.
"Of course there would be."
"Work with me, one month, Watcher's salary."
John nearly choked at the offer.
"I-I'm sorry, am I in the wrong office?" John said glancing around the spartan room for any sign this was a trick or a game. Mr. Holmes shook his head.
"Of course not. I may use of a man with your abilities. A case landed on my desk this morning, one I had hoped I could dispatch today with Irene's help but she... well, she lacks the human touch."
"Meaning?" John questioned.
"Meaning she tore out a man's throat today for information. Hence my new tie." Mr. Holmes replied.
John inwardly grimaced at the thought, he glanced down at his hand that had shaken the Irene's. Hours before she had mutilated a man with that same hand, possibly, the same hand. And then she went on to ask him personal questions about killing.
Huh, all makes sense now, he thought.
"So, one month helping me with a case." Mr. Holmes reminded him.
"Why a month?"
"Because that's when I think I'll have solved it."
"What's the case?"
Mr. Holmes brought John to the mortuary. Four men lay naked on slabs under bright light in the sterile room.
"What do you think?" Mr. Holmes asked and John observed the bodies and studied them, making mental notes.
"All men, late twenties-early thirties. Bullet wound to the back of the head." John said, all of it was quite obvious.
"Meaning?" Mr. Holmes asked immediately.
"Well, either they didn't see their attacker coming-"
"-which is highly unlikely-"
"-or... they were executed."
Mr. Holmes smiled broadly.
"My thoughts exactly. Someone is trying to send a statement. And that someone is going around murdering Watchers. You can see why Cardinal Law and the Elders want me to tie this up quite quickly." Mr. Holmes explained. John nodded.
"I thought only Watchers murdered Watchers," John said jokingly. Mr. Holmes shrugged.
"Apparently not. Be here tomorrow morning for mission statement. Irene will have your security clearance when you leave." Mr. Holmes said moving to exit the mortuary.
John frowned.
"Wait," he said and Mr. Holmes did. "How did you know I would accept?"
Mr. Holmes cleared his throat, for the first time seeming... undone? Unsure? John couldn't tell.
"You've served your masters well. One should be rewarded for their efforts." Mr. Holmes said before departing from the dead room, leaving John alone.
The man sighed and glanced once more at the dead Watchers. He stepped up to one of them and stared. He was used to death but this was different. He had never seen a dead Watcher before. There was something so... inhuman about them. Worse than Irene.
They were still human but lacked everything that was important about being human. It seemed only appropriate that they should be working side by side with sociopathic robots who would kill without a second thought. That's what they seemed to long to be, after all.
As John returned to the first floor to leave, Irene was indeed waiting there for him.
Irene walked him out.
"You worked with him a while now?" John asked her and she nodded.
"Correct. I know him well." Irene replied.
"Right. Well, see you tomorrow."
"Be careful, Captain Watson," Irene called and John turned back, looking at her queerly. She pointed strangely to the traffic. "Look both ways." She warned him. John couldn't tell if she was trying be polite by telling him to watch for oncoming cars or if there was something more foreboding in her warning.
And what of Mr. Holmes himself? He knew that John was practically deaf in one ear. How could he have known that after barely being in the same room with him for more than three minutes?
John felt that there were plenty of things he didn't know in the coming weeks. He wondered if this final mission would his last? Whether in a happy ending way or a fatal one, he didn't know.