((Chapter heading is Ukrainian. I try not to do that often, but this line forced itself on the chapter. Read: Tviy dotyk strashna syla. It means Your touch is a terrible power and is a line taken from the song Вогонь (read: vohon', which means Fire) by Delia.))
Chapter 21
Твій дотик страшна сила
Adam halted right in front of the door of the shelter in a spray of gravel. His sense of something wrong had increased all the way to Aberdeen, something that didn't add up. He slammed his hands on the front desk and stared down at the shrinking woman behind it. 'Did Fabian come back here? Fabian Escriva? I was here with him earlier.'
'He … I am not authorised to …'
Adam swore. 'I think he might be in trouble. I want to help him, for God's sake.'
'You … He's all right. He left with Sergio.'
'Thanks.' On a whim, Adam ran up the stairs to Sergio's room. The door was locked with a mechanical lock. It didn't withstand a good kick with an augmented leg. 'Sorry,' he said to no-one in particular and entered.
Superficially, the room looked tidy enough and perfectly ordinary. The one remarkable thing was that there were no pictures of people at all, but maybe that came with living in a homeless shelter. Adam checked the desk in a corner and found only a few documents. With a glance at the door to make sure he was still alone, Adam looked under the pillow and the covers. After a moment of hesitation, he removed the sheets entirely. At last, without expecting much, he hoisted the mattress off the bed. And there, under the slatted frame, were papers. 'Gotcha,' he said and fished them out. He gave them a glance and sighed. 'Francis? You done?'
'What do you think how long I shower? Uh … Don't answer that.'
'How's your Spanish?'
'About as good as your Urdu.'
'That's what I feared. Can you see this? I need a translation. At least what it is. Hang on, there's English.' Adam had found a paper in a small, untidy scrawl. It was hard to read, but Adam got the gist of it, which was a threat. 'This isn't good. Listen. Fabian went off with Sergio, and Sergio was asked to deliver … There's no date on this, but it was relatively far up on the pile of papers.'
'Did they say where they were going?'
'Doubtful. More Spanish.'
'Forget your Spanish papers, the first one wasn't much, just a list of random stuff, like things that might be in storage somewhere.'
'This is a homeless shelter. I doubt he has things in a storage.'
'I said might be. Maybe it's just things he wants to have eventually. Or things he lost. That last one … oh, will you look at that.'
'What?'
'This, in your hand right now! It's English, Jensen, read it.'
Adam read. 'Dear Mr Bedoya, we regret to inform you that your education cannot be recognised as long as you are unable to provide us with documents that you have, in fact, completed that education. We tried contacting the CETYS University, but have yet to receive a reply.'
'Yeah, yeah. Skip that. Look at the reference heading.'
'Recognition of Acoustics Major.'
'Jensen, the CETYS is all but dead since the Incident.' Adam could hear Francis typing like mad. 'They wouldn't have answered because it has … hang on … yes, burnt down to the ground, their servers are almost completely unsalvageable, and they have lost more than half their staff that day. They didn't answer because they don't know themselves. That recording you had, I have to analyse it yet, but this man is an acoustician with no perspective and someone threatening him to take what little he has left.'
'You are telling me he was trying to frame you?'
'Maybe. Keep looking.'
'There are addresses here.'
'Yes. A bunch of them. Hang on. Give me a … Yes. Damn it. That address, ah, the fifth. I know that one.'
'Glasgow.' Adam closed his eyes. 'Soutar, isn't it?'
'Yes.'
'I knew it. I'm going there now.'
'That's a three hour drive!'
'I know. What else do you want me to do?'
'What do I want?' Francis snorted. 'What I want isn't at issue, but I'll paint you a picture anyway. I want you to come right back here, stick your beautiful, hard cock in me, and fuck me into next week. But I know I can't have that, so there's that.'
Adam was instantly provided with a vivid image of Francis, open and bare and squirming with need. 'I must say I prefer your idea, but I think it'll have to wait.'
'I feared as much. Adam, if you're wrong …'
'I know. But look at it this way. Someone threatened Sergio if he fails to deliver something. Sergio has the knowhow to fake the recording incriminating you. And now he and Fabian walked off together … God knows where. Fabian is either in on this, or he's supposed to be a victim.'
'He is already augmented. The recent victims were all naturals.'
'He has a CASIE-Mod, Pritchard.' Adam was already on his way thundering down the stairs. 'You don't see that unless you push his hair away. Sergio might not even know.'
'If anything happens to him it'll break Abi's heart.'
'That's why I'm going.'
'I … You're right. I'll try and find out if anything did become of Sergio's recognition, but I doubt it. Good luck.'
Ϡ
Adam reached the address on Sergio's paper after dark. It was in Hillington, a place that was actually in Renfrew rather than Glasgow, even though the postal code belonged to the latter. That was what Francis had told him, at least.
The building was as bleak and grey as one would expect in an industrial area. Adam took a walk around it. The windows were all barred and high up, the only door had an electronic lock. There was no way to see if anyone was in there or not. 'Pritchard, do you have any news? Preferably that Fabian has come back home?'
'Sorry, no. And Abi is getting scared. I'll have to tell her, won't I?'
'She'll hear the truth anyway, whatever it is.'
'Maybe I'll leave out the detail that we're not so sure if he isn't there willingly.'
'You know what? Wait until we know if he's there at all. I'm going to try and get past this lock.'
'Wait, maybe I can help you. I've got your location, so I might as well …' Adam did as he was asked. After less than twenty seconds, Francis was back. 'Sorry. I … ah … have bad news.'
'No remote door opening, huh? I'll see what I can do.'
'Jensen, wait, I …'
'I've done enough waiting. I'm going now.'
'Very well. See what good it does you.'
Shaking his head, Adam approached the building.
A red light flared on the panel beside the door and a cluster of voices started speaking. 'Hello. This area is restricted. Please remove yourself from the premises or be prepared to face severe repercussions.'
'Pritchard!'
'I was trying to tell you that I cannot help you because the system guarding the place is the MANES.' He was silent for a few seconds. 'I … I didn't leave myself a backdoor, Jensen. I cannot hack it, either, I never managed in a testing environment. Which was the point, actually. This is my fault, I sold him the thing.'
'You didn't know. You couldn't know.' Adam took a deep breath. 'I have an idea. Just … stay with me.'
'Nothing I'd rather do.'
Adam folded his arms and glared at the panel. 'Hi MANES. Let's have a chat.'
