When a bad habit of blowing things up gets Detective Vince Kato discharged from the force, he finds himself caught in the middle of a war between two syndicate rivals whose main objective is a new prototype facial recognition sniper rifle code named...
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"Awe! Mistaken identity Chief. Those bombs were wired way too poorly anyway. That pinhead couldn't set an explosive for the life of him," whined Vince.
He absent-mindedly put a cigarette in his mouth. Vince stuck his hands into his jean pockets and patted his navy blue life vest as if looking for something. Sitting beside him was Frank, who gave Vince an-all-too familiar look that said something like, "what the heck are you doing man?!"
The chief stopped for a second and squinted her eyes and shook her head slightly as if trying to comprehend what just happened. Her office suddenly felt colder.
"You blew up the top half of the bank and part of a four-story parking garage. You could have killed those poor hostages, not to mention yourselves."
"Aha, but they weren't killed," replied Vince, the cigarette dangling on the corner of his lip. Finally, he found the zippo lighter he was looking for. He slid the lighter across a well-worn side of his jeans, put his feet up on the side of the chief's desk, and attempted to light the cigarette.
"Do you know how much this little charade of yours is going to cost? You are literally singlehandedly bankrupting Battery City and its tax payers."
The chief shoved Vince's high tops off of her desk. She leaned over and smacked the cigarette out of Vince's mouth.
"And Frank, how could you let him do this...again? You know better." She almost sounded sympathetic. "I am letting you off with a warning detective." The chief turned back to Vince.
"And you, Mr. Kato. You are a great detective, one of the finest, but I'm afraid your methods are just too unorthodox for this agency. I have no choice but to put you on suspension. Trust me, it will be for your own good."
Vince's jaw dropped, another cigarette falling out of his mouth. Beside him, Frank began sweating bullets as he squirmed in his seat.
"Awe, have a heart chief. It won't happen again, you can count on that," commented Vince. He leaned in towards the Chief and smiled, "by the way, I believe a congratulations is in order, hmmm? How far along are you?"
The chief stopped and took a deep breath. She began muttering some sort of mantra to herself, something she had picked up specifically for her frequent encounters with Vince.
Frank punched Vince on the side of his arm as hard as he could and grit his teeth, "Un-do-it."
The chief shook her head in disbelief, "clearly we have no boundaries, Mr. Kato. I will contact you once the hearing is over to determine the length of your suspension, but until then, as of this moment you are off active duty. That will be all, detectives." Vince opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a glaring look from the chief. Vince closed his mouth, smacked Frank on the shoulder and quickly headed for the door.
"Your badge and gun, Mr. Kato," said the chief.
Vince closed his eyes and turned back to the chief's desk. "Crap," he muttered.
He slowly slipped his badge from his jean loop and took his gun out from the holster. After laying it on the desk he turned to Frank and winked.
"Good day, Vince," said the chief. "Yes, chief, you as well."
Vince turned to Frank. "See ya, buddy."
"Yeah, see ya buddy," replied Frank gloomily.
As Frank got up to leave he was stopped by the chief.
He almost face planted into the door as someone on the other side opened it. A woman in her mid-30s with long chestnut colored hair entered. Her white pants-suit made a swishing sound as she closed the door behind her. Frank couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about this woman that made him more nervous than the chief did. She seemed to control the room. Almost as if she owned everyone, and everything in it.
"It's good to see you, Jennifer," said the woman with an uncharacteristic smile. Despite the woman having strong confidence in her voice there was also an overshadow of feminism that seemed to make Frank even more nervous.
The chief stood and walked around her desk to meet the woman. After a short greeting, which seemed more like a friendly reunion, the chief finally spoke.
"Frank, I'm sorry to do this to you, but I will have a replacement partner for you shortly. Until then I want you to work closely with Diana."
Frank looked puzzled as he shook Diana's hand.
The chief continued. "She and several other FBI agents are doing a quiet investigation of a mass arms dealer, as well as the recent murders in the area. Since you and Vince were the most experienced in that area I need you to help her. I will let Diana explain the details."
The chief closed the blinds and office door as Diana turned towards the desk and opened her briefcase. She pulled out a 16" x 18" roll of several carbon papers and unrolled it to reveal plans for some sort of sniper rifle. Although its shape was the same as other rifles he had seen, Frank was not familiar with this particular brand or type. As if reading the look on Frank's face Diana began to speak.
"This is the (Soliton Nano Input Phasor), or for short, the SNIP. It is the latest in military weaponry. Our R&D (research and development) team has been developing it for quite some time now. It is able to identify certain targets through several channels of facial recognition using a specified microchip."
Frank's eyes opened wide in astonishment as Diana continued.
"Unfortunately, three days ago the prototype was stolen from our research lab. Due to the specific built in GPS and satellite tracker we were able to trace it here. However, the GPS was somehow removed shortly after tracing it to Battery City. We noticed a trend of murders since then. It seemed no coincidence that the two were connected."
"So why would they choose to take it here?" chimed in the chief.
"We believe there is a mole within the city that was able to smuggle the SNIP out. Considering this is a Pilate city for new tech., this would be the most likely choice. I would assume he would keep a copy for himself and sell it to the highest bidder, then use the money to mass produce them, or bargain with us."
Diana's phone rang.
"Excuse me, I have to take this. I look forward to working with you detective."
Diana nodded towards Frank as if dismissing him.
Frank almost lost his tongue, but managed to reply. "Affirmatively."
"I will be in touch," said Diana.
"Ah, affirmative," replied Frank obediently and walked towards the door. Just as Frank put his hand on the doorknob the chief called to him.
"And one more thing, detective. This is top secret, I don't want to see Vince anywhere near this investigation." Frank nodded, "I wouldn't be so sure," he thought to himself.
