Synth, p.8
Synth, page 8
I genuinely don’t think he believed that I would come back to work with him for a second night. For a brief moment, I even wondered if that was why he had pushed so hard. Perhaps, similar to his cutting speech in the car, he was trying to deter me—trying to make me give up by making it seem like the job was impossible.
I was wrong.
The second night was just as brutal, and Hakim made no indication of needing to nor wanting to slow down. I got out of bed at precisely 6:00 pm, showered, ate, packed, and made my way to the precinct. Hakim exited the elevator at 7:29 pm, and we got into vehicle number 403 at exactly 7:30 pm.
Apparently, he was above blatant sabotage; he just wasn’t willing to give me anything for free. A lesson I learned very quickly and kicked myself for not having realized it the night we met. I could have asked him during our introduction what time he specifically wanted to meet, but I hadn’t. If I had shown up late and he’d left me behind, that would have been my fault. This was his case, and I was just an unwanted little pest trailing by his side. So if I wanted to continue to be present, I would need to step it up and ask where I needed to be and when.
Tuesday shift, the drive was just as silent as the first. He didn’t say a word, and I didn’t move in my seat. When we arrived at the second facility, which was another few kilometres further northwest, I didn’t try to get out of the vehicle while we waited for the operations manager to come to meet us. Instead, I sat there, staring out the window until our host exited the office building, and this time, Hakim didn’t lock the doors or say anything. We got out of the SUV, made our way to the trunk, and he waited for me to grab my notebook and gear before closing the hatch.
I followed him to meet Jonathan, and we repeated the same process as the night before, except this time, I knew better what to expect. This time, I didn’t say anything about the lack of security cameras. I just collected all the information that Jonathan had and took as many notes as I could. I paid closer attention to the facility layout as Jonathan directed us around and gave us a tour. I even looked at the surrounding area outside the fenceline, gauging how far away the forest was while making a mental note that this operation was closer to the Norhaven Wildlife Reservation.
We finished up at the second factory farm much more quickly because there was no damage to examine, and we returned to the precinct before sunset. Yet despite this, and despite our shift being nearly over, I followed Hakim back upstairs, ignoring the curious glances that I got from passing officers, then spent another long morning crawling through data with Hakim.
Wednesday shift was more of the same—a third night spent entirely in the office crawling through information until sunlight traced through the sky.
I found absolutely nothing useful in the security footage from the dates of the attacks. I ran rapid background checks on the maintenance crew who had come in to repair a pump the month prior and found nothing but clean records, but I submitted them for an extensive review regardless. Then, Hakim gave me half the guardhouse logbooks and told me to “check them”. If not for having observed him working on the employee records and shift schedules the night before, I’m not sure that I would have completed this new task to his standards. But, having seen him work, the first thing I did was create an electronic spreadsheet—making a note of every unique name that had been to the facility, when they had visited, and for how long.
It took hours to get the data entered, and I knew it would take hours more to comb through it and find anything useful. It was tiring, and for the first time in my life, I started to question my own capabilities. Yet despite this, I felt proud.
I had made it through three nights of working with Hakim. He hadn’t sent me back yet. He hadn’t told me to get out, and I was starting to realize that if he looked at my work and remained silent, it meant I had performed adequately enough to remain in his presence. I never got compliments, nor was I ever told that I had done something well. I knew that he would continue to push me and try to make me leave, but if I could keep this up and continue to be useful to him, then I might just stand a chance.
I might actually get to remain a detective, and if I could survive Hakim, then I could survive anything.
I straightened in my seat as the familiar fenceline came into view, but this time, Hakim drove past the gate when we reached it. He continued on for another five minutes down the road before turning onto an old dirt path that ran along the facility on the outskirts of the fence. The SUV rocked on the uneven ground as we made our way further and further from the main road to the back corner of the property. Then, Hakim stopped, and we got out.
“Keep your radio on at all times,” Hakim said, tossing me one from the trunk as he pinned his own to his hip. “Follow the map and use the GPS device if you need it. Make sure you don’t get lost and put the sensor sets at the exact coordinates that I told you to and make sure the cameras are properly connected. Each sensor pair can’t be more than twenty feet apart, and you need to make sure they’re hidden from view, assuming a northerly approach. Don’t mess it up. Check each set before you move to the next location because I don’t want to have to come back and fix your mistakes.”
“Got it,” I said, grabbing my small supply bag and looping it across my chest before taking the larger gear bag stuffed with sensors and pulling the straps over my shoulders.
I double-checked that I had my compass and extra battery pack for the GPS device. The last thing I wanted to do was get lost in the woods; that would be immediate grounds for Hakim to send me back. Then I grabbed my notebook and made sure I had my paper map and cell phone safely tucked into my vest. I wasn’t sure if there would be much service out here, but I figured it was better to bring it than not.
“And watch your footing,” Hakim said as he closed the trunk, locking the vehicle before he hauled on his own gear bag and set out into the woods. “If you get caught in a trap and can’t get yourself out, I’ll leave you there until I’m done with my section.”
“A trap?” I asked, my brow creasing as I followed along behind him. “You think that they put traps up around the edge of the fenceline? What would be the point?”
To my surprise, he stopped mid-stride and turned to look at me fully.
“Not the attackers, Gorski,” he clarified. “The operations manager and local hunters.”
“But trapping is illegal,” I said, stopping alongside him to meet his gaze. “If there are wild humans outside of the reserve and a hunter was caught poaching them or other wild animals, they would be charged. It’s illegal to hunt outside of open season. That’s a serious federal offence, and if the operations manager of this facility was found to have been laying traps – even if it’s to protect their facility from attackers – they would have a lawsuit on their hands.”
“And?” he challenged, his voice taking on a dark edge as an unnerving glint shone in his eyes. “We’re in the country, in the middle of a forest; there’s no one around to see or hear anything. Do you think the activists planning this would be foolish enough to report it if they got caught? How do you expect we would prove those traps were laid by the operations manager? Or link them to a hunter poaching humans? Better yet – do you think anyone would care? Losing a few dozen wild humans to poaching each year doesn’t damage their population. It’s not our concern.”
I stiffened, and an uneasy feeling tugged through my chest.
“Illegal as they may be, traps are an effective deterrent that will leave behind ample physical evidence. So, watch your feet,” Hakim said, turning and moving forward once more. “A foothold trap won’t kill a Reborn, but they are difficult to pry open, and you’ll be left with a nasty scar. We have eight hours until sunrise, don’t be late.”
I swallowed, forcing myself to follow along behind him as I fought the urge to frown. Even though he had turned away, I could hear the dark amusement in his voice.
We parted ways another thirty feet into the woods. Hakim made his way west while I made my way east toward the first location that he had identified as a potential entry point. I placed my sensors eighteen feet apart, confirming the coordinates with my GPS device and making sure that the laser was unobstructed before I connected the corresponding camera, which would be activated only when the sensor was tripped. Then I tested the set and moved on to the next location.
The process was incredibly tedious and unexpectedly tiring. The two gear bags were heavy, and carrying them together was cumbersome. I made sure to take my time, carefully hiding each sensor behind a tree, log, or rock—low to the ground, so it was unnoticeable—all while watching my feet.
A part of me wanted to believe that Hakim was just trying to frighten me away again and that the illegal traps were a lie. It was difficult to imagine someone of his position being so dismissive of federal laws, but the deeper into the woods I went, the quieter it seemed to get. There was nothing but the rustle of leaves. I was keenly aware of just how alone I was, and doubts started to form.
‘Gorski.’
I jolted, my hand reaching for the radio on my hip as my pulse spiked at the jarring noise.
“Yes,” I said, pressing the button to transmit my voice.
‘I’m finished with the western segment and on my way back,’ Hakim’s voice crackled in response. ‘Just under two hours until sunrise. You had better be done.’
“I’m setting my last set now,” I said, glancing at the large oak tree which I planned to use to hide my final sensor. It was twenty feet away from a massive rock formation, which I made a mental note to mark on our map.
‘Get a move on.’
“Yes, sir,” I said, putting the radio back on my hip and letting out a sigh.
I set the sensor as quickly as I could, double-checking that it was functional before connecting the camera and shouldering the empty gear bag. Then, I turned around and made my way back to our starting point. I moved as quickly as possible while still being careful as the sounds of morning started to ring out through the trees. Birds were chirping. A dim glow was working its way through the sky. My watch beeped to let me know I only had an hour left until the sun was up, and I swallowed down my discomfort. I knew I could push the limits—I wouldn’t get burned until roughly an hour after the sun peeked over the horizon, but I picked up my pace just the same.
For all I knew, Hakim would just leave me in the woods if he got to the SUV before me, and that thought only spurred me to move even faster. I would die out here without my blackout gear unless I could find enough shade to last the entire day.
Following my GPS device and map, I jogged along the final stretch of ground for twenty minutes until I saw the fenceline. Then I slowed, letting out a breath of relief. I could just make out the SUV in the distance through the growing light that was making it harder to see, and Hakim was leaning against the bumper, looking over a large map.
He hadn’t left. He was actually waiting—so maybe I wasn’t giving him enough credit. That or he figured that dealing with the paperwork of leaving me to die was too bothersome.
“Cutting it close,” Hakim said as I neared the SUV and unshouldered my two bags.
He rapidly folded the map he was looking at and stuffed it into his vest, then reached out to take my bags. The gesture was unexpected and caught me off guard, but I let him take them as he gestured with his head for me to get inside the vehicle. I moved toward the passenger side door as he quickly opened the trunk and tossed my stuff inside.
“Sorry, sir,” I said after he had closed the trunk and climbed into the vehicle by my side. “I had some trouble with sensor set four; it wasn’t synching.”
“Did you get it?” he asked, starting the vehicle and putting the sunshield up.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He didn’t say anything else, and I closed my eyes and sank into my seat. We drove back to the precinct in silence, parked in our usual spot among the row of CPD vehicles and then made our way to the elevator. I marked the rock formation and a few other key details on the map using the GPS coordinates I had scribbled down, then watched through a few more hours of useless surveillance footage before Hakim called it a night.
“Gorski.”
“Yes, sir?” I turned to look at him as I grabbed my gear bag from the floor by my chair.
“Take this home and start looking it over,” he said, stepping toward me and holding out a thick file. I took it from him, my eyes narrowing at the confidential stamp that crossed the cover of the manila folder.
“What is it?” I asked, looking up to meet his gaze. He stared at me silently for a moment, then arched his brow as if I were an idiot.
“Another case file,” he answered, and I felt my shoulders sag. “Or did you think detectives only worked one thing at a time?”
“No, sir.” My voice was quiet as I pulled the file tighter to my chest. “I’ll get familiar with it this morning.”
“Good,” he said, grabbing his own bag from the ground before moving toward the door. “Because you will be running background checks this weekend and compiling a timeline of the bodies.”
I nodded, because I didn’t have anything to say. I followed him from the boardroom, waiting for him to lock the door before we both made our way to the elevator in silence. When we reached the parking garage, I watched him move toward a car along the far wall, noting that it was black, nondescript, and just as unnoticeable as I had expected it to be. Then I got into my own car and fought the urge to yawn.
I wasn’t used to feeling tired, and the drive home felt long. My legs were sore from trekking through the woods, and I realized that I would need to find time to start exercising again if I wanted to keep up with him. I had no idea how he’d been able to get back to the SUV so quickly when his section had three more sensor sets than mine did. Perhaps he was just quicker at setting them up because he had used them before, or maybe he was in even better shape than I had thought.
I groaned, dropping my head on my hand as I pulled into the underground parking garage of my building.
I parked in my designated spot, grabbed my gear from the backseat, and then made my way to the elevators. I didn’t feel like cooking, so when I finally got inside my apartment, I just ate six gelatin cubes before collapsing at my table to review my notes. Yet no matter how many times my eyes trailed over the pages of my notebook, I couldn’t seem to see the patterns that Hakim saw. I wasn’t sure why he’d picked the area that he had for us to monitor. I could understand the western front where he had gone to set sensors because it was closer to the outbuilding that housed the youngest humans, which we suspected were a target, but I had no idea why he’d had me move so far east.
Maybe he’d just wanted to give me something to do.
Letting out a frustrated groan, I pushed my notes away, grabbing the new case file that Hakim had given to me before I’d headed home. I couldn’t help but grimace at the images and details when I flipped it open, and I wondered if I would ever get used to seeing things like this.
Then I wondered if I should.
If anyone ever should.
It was a case file for four dead bodies scattered throughout the southeast side of Carneth, which had been initially discovered by officers in Precincts 38 and 40. With both precincts being in our jurisdiction and neither having their own Detective Unit, the cases were passed to us to handle as per regular protocol. The most recent account had happened nearly a month ago, but the recorded case data was vague at best and seemed to be tossed into the folder with little care.
How had Captain Mallick done this for fifty years? How had Detective Hakim done it for over thirty? I knew that not every investigation dealt with factory farms or violent murders, but still. How did they sleep? How did they go home to their families and have any sort of normal life after seeing these things?
Actually, I wasn’t sure if either of them even had families...
I frowned, my stomach knotting as my eyes lingered on the image of a body with lifeless eyes—an unidentified young female, according to the notes in the file. It unsettled me for multiple reasons, some of which I didn’t know how to process. Yet I couldn’t stop looking at it, and I wasn’t sure that I would have put the image down if not for the knock on my door.
Jerking in my chair, I turned to look at the thick, dark wood. “Who the hell?”
I stood, taking a moment to quickly tuck the photos back into the folder and close it before I made my way over. Then I paused, hesitating a moment before looking through the peephole, only to groan out in annoyance.
“Hawthorne,” I said, unlocking the deadbolt and yanking the door open. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Gorski!” He grinned as he leaned against the doorframe. “I just got off patrol; thought I’d swing by.”
“You know, just because you know where I live now doesn’t mean that it’s an open invitation to stop by.”
“Not even if I bring tea?” he asked, holding up two large paper cups.
“It’s 12 pm,” I sighed. “A bit late for tea, don’t you think? And who even let you in the building at this hour?”
“Some nice old lady with a red bag,” Hawthorne answered, and I mentally cursed Mrs. Bailey for being fooled by his charm. “But that’s not the point. It’s decaf, I haven’t seen you since last week, and I heard that Hakim is working you to the bone. So I figured you could use a break. You want the tea or not?”
I stared at him, willing myself to send him away, but the scent of fresh tea filled my nose and his familiar, kind, and genuinely happy smile was comforting after having faced nothing but Hakim’s abrasive edges for the last four nights.
“I want the tea,” I said, opening the door wider and waving him inside. “Now get in here before one of my neighbours sees you and thinks this is some kind of inappropriate midday rendezvous.”
“You make it sound like you would be embarrassed if people thought we were together.” He laughed, stepping inside and turning around to face me as I closed the door. His smile faltered at my expression. “Wait a minute – you’d be embarrassed if people thought we were together? Why? I’m a great catch!”
