Crossing Infamy

Chapter 6 - Agent Cassanova

OK, meeting with the captain, check. Reviewing new evidence, check. Briefing with the agents who worked the case while I was on leave, check. Compiling the info we have into a seriously awesome, retro push-pins-and-yarn-style murder board, check. Show it to Agent Grey and finally get back to work on our case together... not check.

Where is he, anyway?

"Vivian, locate Agent Grey," I instruct the virtual assistant.

"In order to use Vivian Pro for Enterprises to locate a co-worker within your facility, you must be registered as an employee," the computerized voice responds.

"What are you talking about? I am an employee."

"User: Rachel Cassanova was temporarily disabled as an authorized user under your organization's Vivian Pro for Enterprises subscription details. If you believe this is a mistake, please contact your system administrator."

Seriously? They haven't re-enabled my Vivian subscription yet? Guess I'll add that to my to-do list. Waving open the hologram and keyboard projection, I quickly type "contact IT re: Vivian", then go to search for my partner myself.

Luckily, it turns out he's not far — just leaving Captain Rhonsen's office.

"Grey, hey! How's it going?"

"Pretty good. You seem excited, what's up?"

"I just finished going through all the info we have so far, and reviewing the temp agents' notes, and I have so many ideas! Also, I made a murder board. Want to see?"

He laughs. "Sure. And, I'm glad you're, well, happy again."

"I passed my psych exam, that's got to mean something, right?"

We walk to my desk, and I open the corkboard hologram with its display of evidence, notes and theories.

"Why do they call it a murder board, anyway?" Grey asks. "Nobody was murdered."

"I don't know. That's just what they call it on detective shows and movies." I pause for a second. "I guess those shows and movies usually involve murders. But 'cybercrime, illegal travel and probably identity fraud board' really doesn't sound as cool."

"Fair enough."

His eyes travel over the projection for a minute or so, taking in the layout of information and notes.

"Cool. That's definitely very thorough." He points to an image of Dr. Rovart Blayne near the top left corner. "Why's he here, though?"

"Just a hunch," I answer. "A few months ago, I overheard a conversation in the office with— Wait, you were there."

"What?"

"The conversation with Azria Quarta. I heard you two talking about Dr. Blayne's project, whatever it is. She said something about him wanting to experiment on a girl from Japan."

"Oh, right... Yeah, I remember, I couldn't help her since it was a corporate conflict."

I nod. "Well, I was wondering if Kalix could be this test subject. He's experimenting with cybernetic technology, and she's 62% cyborg, the highest percentage of any successful cybernetic restoration surgery. I don't know the specifics of his experiments — I guess no one really does — but she certainly seems like a tempting subject for someone like him, and she fits Quarta's description — female, adolescent, living in Japan. Some people reported seeing Dr. Blayne in the country on the day she disappeared, too, but there's no documentation of him arriving at either airport."

"He could have just landed in a private hover, somewhere more secluded to avoid public attention," Grey suggested. "After all, he's been trending lately. It doesn't necessarily mean he was trying to hide. And, to be fair, there are a lot of teenage, female cyborgs in Japan — after all, that was basically Evan Barcy's description of Codebreaker, and it took a lot more to figure out who she was."