“The bureau is basically controlled by the Alliance right now, so it’s not like we’d actually make any progress in our investigation here,” Fokine’s holo-model said indifferently, sitting on the other side of the rusted garden table. “I talked to Harold about it, and apparently their hold on the bureau is stronger than we thought. Did you read his message?”
“Yes, the one about the Alliance bribing the coroners, right?”
Echika looked over Harold’s message again. It contained a brief, concise report that described how the dead investors had been killed by being injected with the chimeric virus, only for the coroners who inspected them to write off their deaths as “accidental.”
This situation was worse than she expected.
“What about Lloyd’s villa?”
“Bigga and I looked through a lot of cardboard boxes and Lloyd’s workroom, but we didn’t find anything about the Alliance or Lascelles,” Echika answered, trying to mask her disappointment. “If the bureau really is compromised by the Alliance, it feels safe to assume they disposed of any evidence that was here while the search warrant was being stalled.”
“I guess we really should be assuming they have control over the bureau.” Fokine sighed. “What are you gonna do next, Hieda?”
“What do you mean?” Bigga looked confused. “What is she supposed to do?”
“She could pull away from the bureau for a while like I did and help me investigate.”
Echika looked up in contemplation. Either way, she’d have to make a choice; Fokine was right in saying that in a situation like this one, where the bureau was under the Alliance’s thumb, trying to solve this case by going by the book would be difficult. The Alliance would definitely try to impede her the same way they had with Totoki.
She may not have agreed with his methods, but she could understand why Fokine had acted the way he did. But at the same time, this was a risky gamble.
“If the bureau finds out about this, she’ll be in huge trouble,” Bigga said, pale in the face. “That could actually get her fired.”
“No matter how it happens, if we stop the Alliance, the fact they had their people interfere with the bureau will become a sticking point. We can just have what we’re doing be processed as an undercover investigation after the fact.”
“But that would mean we’d be doing private detective work, right?” Echika returned her gaze to Fokine’s holo-model. “Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but…why take all these risks to continue the investigation?”
On a personal level, Echika couldn’t give up on the investigation until she found out if her father, Chikasato, had been involved with the Alliance. She also felt responsible for Totoki’s suspension, which had been expedited by the fact that Echika had performed an unauthorized Brain Dive on Talbot. But the same wasn’t true of Fokine.
“You may have been caught up in the thought manipulation system incident, but unlike me, you don’t have to stay involved. You won’t be in danger if you pull out of this now.”
“Well, it might not hurt me personally…” Fokine scratched his cheek awkwardly, like this had just occurred to him for the first time. “But what happens if the thought manipulation system actually spreads all over the world? Forget me losing my job like Chief Totoki—we’ll have people getting their heads taken over.”
For all I know, it could be my family or friends, he appended in his mind.
“I’d much rather act, to avoid feeling endless regret about not doing anything, even if it puts me in a bit of danger.”
Fokine’s words had a strange weight to them. For as long as she’d known him, he’d always worried about what might happen to other people. He would openly express how agitated he was whenever Echika was in trouble.
She could only speculate, but maybe there was a reason for that, one she didn’t know yet. Echika nodded vaguely and licked the inside of her lips. Either way, she was looking for some kind of breakthrough, and if the Alliance was suspicious of her, staying in the bureau wouldn’t be a wise choice.
“All right. I’ll try to find some kind of arrangement and link up with you.” After working up some courage, she then said, “Will you be working just with us and Aide Lucraft?”
“No, I’ll contact Chief Totoki, too. I don’t know if she’ll agree, but she’s been had by the Alliance, too…”
“Wait, hold on!” Bigga, who’d been passively listening in on the conversation, leaned forward. “I’m helping, too! As a former bio-hacker, I might be able to be of assistance.”
“No, you go back to the academy. It should be safer than the bureau.” Fokine refused her flatly. “You’re still in training, Bigga. If something happens, it’ll crash your police career.”
“Well, yes, maybe, but—”
“No.” He stubbornly turned her down. “Anyway, Hieda, I’ll contact you if anything happens. Also, I have a message from Harold. He said that if we find any information, we should forward it to him.”
Echika glanced at the message that popped up in the edge of her field of vision.
<If you discover anything about the needle used to inject the virus, contact me>
That was all the body of the text contained. She had a lot of things to tell Harold, too, but she’d have to keep them to herself for now.
As they closed the call with Fokine, silence settled over the yard. Despite it being a midwinter afternoon, gentle sunlight filtered through the cracks in the cloudy sky, brushing the back of Echika’s neck. A bird was chirping somewhere, clashing with the weather.
It was quite clear the situation had gotten much more complicated. Yet at the same time, it felt like things had always been going this way after Totoki’s suspension.
“Why am I the only one who gets fussed over like this?” Bigga whispered in displeasure. “You guys are clearly in graver danger than I am…”
“Having you stay in the bureau gives us insight into what’s going on inside.” This was hardly consolation, but she needed to convince Bigga to avoid doing anything rash. Echika didn’t want to put her in danger, either. “Either way, once we’re done with Lloyd’s villa, do as Investigator Fokine says and go back to the academy.”
“I can’t go back to Saint Petersburg alone, I’ll be too worried about you. I can’t leave things—”
“Still… It’d be better than having to spend time alone with Aide Lucraft. That would just hurt,” Echika softly pointed out.
Bigga stopped blinking. For the first time, Echika saw something fragile cross her green eyes. This wasn’t just agitation or confusion. An emotion that she’d kept suppressed rose to the surface alone. Echika would have preferred to not touch on this matter, but right now, making sure Bigga was somewhere safe was more important.