They saw the police air cruisers before they reached Dolan’s apartment building. There were street cruisers parked outside the building, and a barrier already locked off the entrance.
A uniformed officer halted their car.
Janek showed his badge as he and Cade climbed out, pulling on waterproof coats against the rain that was still falling.
‘You got an interest in this?’ the officer asked.
‘If it’s to do with Officer Dolan, we have,’ Cade said.
‘Looks like you’re too late,’ the patrolman said. ‘We got the call because somebody heard shooting. By the time we responded, it was all over.’
‘Dead?’ Janek asked.
‘Wouldn’t you be with a full clip of .44 slugs in you? Somebody really wanted Dolan dead.’ The officer’s voice was taut with anger, and both Cade and Janek knew that there would be a lot of anger expressed over Dolan’s death. It was a case of one of their own being murdered.
Cade figured he’d keep his suspicions about Dolan’s illegal dealings to himself at that point.
Janek nudged his elbow. ‘No point in mentioning Dolan’s extra pay is there, T.J.?’ he said softly, anticipating Cade’s thoughts.
‘No. We’ll keep that between you and me for the time being?
A plainclothes detective came out of the building. Stocky and bullnecked, he pushed his way through the barrier, snapping orders to the assembled officers.
He spotted Cade and Janek and crossed to meet them, pulling up the collar of his crumpled topcoat. Cade had known him for a long time, and he maintained a sparring relationship with the man.
‘Hey there, T.J. How’s it rolling for you?’
‘Fine, Milt.’
Milt Schuberg glanced at Janek. ‘See you still got the tin man partnering you. Don’t you ever get tired of having the damn thing trailing around in your shadow?’
‘Janek and me get along just great, Milt.’
‘Fucked if I can understand wanting a tin man for a backup. What’s wrong with a real partner?’
‘You can’t switch them off when they talk too much,’ Cade said dryly. ‘Now, what have you got on Dolan’s murder?’
‘Who said it was murder?’ Schuberg asked defiantly.
‘It sure as hell isn’t suicide, Milt.’
‘Yeah, well, we don’t have too much yet. Whoever did it just kicked his door off its hinges and went in blasting. Shot Dolan so full of holes he just about leaked all his blood over the carpet.’
‘Did anyone see or hear anything concerning the perp?’ Janek asked
Schuberg looked up at the cyborg.
When he spoke, his voice had lost its normal tone. He spoke to Janek as if he were addressing a pet animal.
‘Why, yes. One man in the street saw him running out. The bad guy got in a panel truck and it went down the street. That way. Very fast. You get all that?’
Janek nodded. ‘And I’m pleased you’re at least trying to overcome that annoying speech impediment, Detective Schuberg. T.J., I’ll go and talk to the witness.’
As Janek walked off, Schuberg rounded on Cade. ‘You let him speak like that to people? Son of a bitch wants his ass kicked! Stupid tin freak.’
‘Seems to me you asked for it. Why don’t you quit this thing you’ve got against cybos?’
‘Say what you like, T.J. I just don’t feel right with ‘em around.’
‘Yeah? Well, that’s your problem. Mine’s checking out Dolan’s murder.’
‘Why is the Justice Department interested in a NYPD cop getting blown away?’
‘It’s against the law, Milt. Surely even you know that,’ Cade replied, and left it at that.
‘So you are going to play clam?’ Schuberg’s tone changed. ‘I got a right to know, T.J.’
‘Only if I decide you have.’
‘T.J., I can take this higher,’ Schuberg said, waving a thick finger at Cade.
‘I don’t have time to argue, Milt.’ Cade turned away and crossed to where Janek was completing his questioning of the witness. ‘Anything?’
Janek nodded for Cade’s benefit, then dismissed the witness. ‘Thank you for your cooperation, sir.’
Returning to their car, Janek waited until they were out of earshot of the local police, and especially Schuberg, who was staring in their direction.
‘The killer ran out of the building, still carrying his gun. I guess he figured it would keep people away. A panel truck was waiting for him. It was painted black, T.J., and had a starred windshield.’
‘The truck you encountered was black,’ Cade said. ‘And you laid a few shots into the windshield.’
‘Our witness managed to recall some of the numbers on the license plate. They tied with the ones I recorded.’
‘I didn’t get time to ask before, but did you run a check on it back at the office?’
Janek smiled thinly. ‘The panel truck is registered to a freight company in Newark.’
‘You got a look at the perps you tangled with. Did your witness ID the guy who ran out of Dolan’s building?’
‘Yes. His description was sketchy, but it matched one of the gunmen at the Feldstet and Miles building.’
‘Enough for you to run a computer match?’
‘I believe so.’
Schuberg caught up with them as they reached the car.
‘Gimme a break, T.J.,’ he said. ‘You know how jumpy everybody gets when one of our own is killed. You got anything?’
Cade shook his head. ‘Only a description of the perp. Your boys will already have that. We’ll run it through our computer and see if anything shows. If it does, I’ll give you a call.’
‘Okay,’ Schuberg said. He looked cold and wet and none too happy.
‘I’m sorry about Officer Dolan,’ Janek said.
‘Yeah, thanks,’ Schuberg replied without realizing who he was talking to.
‘Milt, as a matter of interest,’ Cade said. ‘What do you know about Connor? Captain over at UCS.’
‘I know enough to stay away from the mother. Word of warning, T.J., if you get mixed up with Connor, watch your back. He’s a hard one. I’ve heard it rumored he’s not too straight, either, but no one has the guts to say it to his face. UCS is a tough outfit.’
Schuberg’s craggy face froze. He stared at Cade for a moment, then gave a thin smirk.
‘You son of a bitch,’ he said. ‘I heard that a couple of UCS men got downed. You know something about that? What’s going on, T.J.? It got anything to do with Dolan?’
‘Right now, Milt, I’m not sure. And at is the truth.’
‘Christ, T.J., Connor’s going to be after your hide. You watch it, buddy, and I mean that.’
‘I’ll be in touch,’ Cade said, then reached for the cruiser’s door and slipped behind the wheel. He fired the engine and look off with a screech of tires.
‘Isn’t it time you took a refresher course for driving?’ Janek asked as he strapped himself in. ‘You tend to be irresponsible behind the wheel of a car.’
‘Me? Irresponsible? Janek, you’ve got a nerve.’
‘Only humans have nerves. That’s why they’re so touchy. Makes them bad tempered as well.’
Janek slumped back in his seat, eyes half-closed, and Cade knew he’d called up his jazz circuit. The cyborg’s lips curved in a satisfied smile, his head moving slightly as he lost himself in the rhythm of a tune Cade couldn’t even hear.
Cade petulantly fished out a cigar. He fired it up and deliberately blew a cloud of smoke in Janek’s direction. He saw his partner’s nose twitch as he inhaled the aroma, but even that failed to intrude on his relaxed condition.
In retribution Cade stomped hard on the gas pedal, sending the car speeding back downtown, the siren screaming to clear a way. As he weaved in and out of the traffic, the cruiser wreathed in a permanent mist of spray from the wet street, Cade noticed with triumph that Janek’s right hand was gripping the edge of his seat. If it had been possible, Janek’s knuckles would have turned white.
Back at the office it took Janek exactly eight minutes to come up with an ID picture of the suspect. He fed his stored image of the perp directly into the office computer, linked to the national information bank in Washington Central. The network’s data store digested the computer directives and matched it to Washington’s files.
‘Jak Regis. Forty-five years old. Local hard case. Spent most of his teen years on correction farms. Graduated to violent crime once he got himself established in New York. Built himself a rep as a gun hand. Linked to a number of killings but never indicted. He has powerful friends, T.J. Whenever he’s been picked up for questioning, there has always been a lawyer around to bail him out. None of his arrests have ever reached court.’
‘Who represents him?’ Cade asked.
‘A lawyer called Lippin.’
‘Max Lippin?’ Cade asked, and when Janek nodded, he said, ‘There’s something fishy here, Janek. Max Lippin is strictly skidsville. The guy’s so dumb he can hardly write his own name. If he’s working bail for Regis, then he’s fronting for someone higher up. No way Max Lippin is playing solo. That little shyster is operating out of his league.’
The vid-phone burst into life. Cade snatched up the handset and watched the angry face of Captain Connor emerge from the static.
‘What the fuck is going on, Cade? I’ve been trying to get in contact all damn day. Where the hell do you Justice jockeys hide out?’
‘It’s a busy life, Connor. Right now I’m even busier, so what do you want?’
‘Don’t play dumb-ass with me, buster. Last night you killed one of my men and totaled a cybo.’
‘You forgot to mention the gun hands your boy had with him,’ Cade said. ‘And the fact they tried to blow me off the highway?
‘That’s what you say, Cade,’ Connor yelled. ‘But they can’t speak for themselves. Look, mister, I don’t give a shit who you work for. Leave my people alone.’
‘Connor, I told you last night, and I’ll tell you again. My prisoner was taken away by your people. An unauthorized removal and you know it, so don’t play the bullyboy with me. You might scare the local cops, but it won’t work with me. I’m still digging into this mess, Connor. If I find anything that suggests you’re less than lily-white, I’ll be calling in at your office. Now, chew on that, Captain!’
Cade slammed the phone down, grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. ‘Let’s go,’ he said to Janek. ‘If we move fast, we can pick Lippin up at his favorite afternoon haunt.’
The rain still sluiced down out of a darkening sky as Cade rolled the cruiser to a stop at the curb. They were in the dingy streets behind Times Square. Here, away from the main drag, were the strip joints and massage parlors. Shabby theaters proclaimed the best porn movies in town. Holographic images of naked couples enticed the customers through the doors. The narrow streets were littered with trash and abandoned cars.
Streetwalkers wandered back and forth, their painted faces and vacant eyes revealing the hopelessness of their lives.
‘Why doesn’t the city do something about places like this, T.J.?’ Janek asked.
‘Costs money, partner, and the city council hasn’t been able to balance the books for years. Come on, Janek, you’ve studied New York’s social history. The city’s made a career out of going bankrupt.’
They pushed past the shambling derelicts and raucous prostitutes, then Cade turned in at the entrance to a garish theater.
‘We’re going in here?’ Janek asked.
‘Maybe you’re too young and sensitive for this,’ Cade said.
‘Don’t bet on it.’
The big man at the door blocked their way.
‘You didn’t pay,’ he growled. He was over six feet tall and almost as wide. His near-bald skull seemed to protrude over his small, cold eyes as he hunched forward.
‘Janek, explain,’ Cade said. He wasn’t in the mood to argue with the guy, so he took the easy option.
Janek said, ‘We’re Justice Marshals, and we need to take a look inside.’
The doorman grinned, showing a set of gleaming synthetic teeth. ‘You want to get your rocks off, you pay like everyone else.’
Janek smiled thinly. ‘T.J., where do they come up with these throwbacks?’
The doorman’s brain lurched into first gear, and he scowled at Janek.
‘Who you callin’ a throwback?’
He launched a massive fist in Janek’s direction. The cyborg leaned swiftly back out of harm’s way. As the doorman was pulled in toward him by the force of the punch, Janek’s right hand flashed up and forward, catching the man’s wrist. He increased the pressure, his titanium fingers cutting off circulation and numbing the nerves. His other hand caught hold of the doorman’s left thigh. Janek raised him off the floor, turned effortlessly and threw the man into the corner of the foyer.
‘If you’re still around when we come out,’ Janek said, ‘I’ll show you my other trick.’
The auditorium had rings of seats set around the ten-foot raised platform on which the holographic porn movie was playing. The life-size images of two men and three girls relentlessly performed a variety of sexual acts on a king-size bed. The images were as clear as if they were being enacted by live performers. The men were in perfect physical condition and possessed the obligatory oversize sexual organs, while the females had fantasy figures, complete with superb breasts and supple limbs.
As Janek followed Cade into the semidarkness, he tapped his partner on the shoulder.
‘Are these images supposed to represent human form at its best?’
‘In a way,’ Cade said, not sure where Janek’s line of questioning would lead. ‘Why?’
‘I can equate the females with Kate,’ Janek said tactfully. ‘But the males, well, they seem to be somewhat different, especially when it comes to a certain part of the anatomy.’
Cade pretended not to hear. He hadn’t expected Janek to bring up that particular incident at a time like this.
The cyborg had wandered into Cade’s bedroom during one of Kate’s visits and stood watching with almost child-like interest. It had been Kate, glancing over Cade’s shoulder, who had seen Janek watching. To her credit she hadn’t panicked but simply tapped Cade’s naked back.
‘What?’ he’d asked rather absentmindedly. Being interrupted at such a crucial moment hadn’t caught him at his most receptive.
‘We have a visitor,’ Kate had managed to say before exploding with laughter.
Forgetting for the moment his vulnerable state, Cade had twisted his head around to see Janek standing there.
‘Goddamn it, Janek! What?’ he had yelled, Kate’s laughter only feeding his anger.
‘I heard strange noises. I thought someone was having a problem.’
Kate had collapsed beside Cade, hysterical with laughter.
‘T.J., what were you doing to Kate?’
Through her laughter Kate had asked, ‘Yes, what were you doing to Kate?’
Cade had scowled at her, not trusting himself to speak. His anger was rising as swiftly as his passion wilted, and was compounded when he realized that Janek was watching his physical reaction closely.
‘Why is it doing that, T.J.?’ the cyborg had asked, switching his gaze to Cade’s taut features.
The final question had been too much for Kate. Burying her face in the pillow, she had been reduced to uncontrollable laughter, tears streaming down her beautiful face, the sleek curves of her shapely body quivering in spasms.
Cade was able to laugh about the incident himself later, but he had always kept the bedroom door locked from that day on.
They spotted Max Lippin near the front, relaxing in one of the body-molding recliner seats provided for the paying customers. He was so engrossed in the movie that he didn’t notice Cade standing over him. Not until Cade leaned over and tapped his shoulder.
‘Max, I hate to disturb you when you’re working, but we need to talk.’ Lippin twisted his head around, peering up at Cade. His thin features wrinkled into an expression of annoyance, and he waved a bony hand at Cade.
‘I have nothing to say to you, Cade.’
‘Wrong answer, Max.’
Cade caught hold of Lippin’s jacket and hauled him out of the recliner. He dragged the protesting man out of the auditorium, through the foyer and out onto the street. Janek had moved ahead of them. He opened the cruiser’s rear door.
Cade shoved Lippin inside, then followed.
Janek slammed the door shut and moved around to slip behind the wheel. ‘Where to?’ he asked as he fired up the engine.
‘Just cruise,’ Cade said. ‘Stay off the main drag. I don’t want too many witnesses.’
Lippin gave a strangled cry, his lean body wriggling across the rear seat. He tried to open the door of the cruiser as Janek pulled away.
‘Take it easy, Max. You act like a man with something to hide,’ Cade said. ‘You got something to hide? That it, Max?’
Lippin turned suddenly, defiance sharpening his feral eyes. He sat upright, brushing at the lines of his flashy suit.
‘What’s this all about, Cade?’
‘It’s about a cheap little lawyer trying to make the big time, Max.’
‘I don’t have time to play games. What do you want?’
‘Answers, Max. Like who pays Jak Regis’s bail every time you spring him? Who sets up the deals? I know it isn’t you. You don’t handle people like Regis. So who is pulling the strings for you?’
‘What the hell, Cade, you jealous because I raised my game? Can’t a guy improve himself?’
Cade even grinned at that, because it proved his suspicions. ‘Max, I don’t give a damn how high you go. But don’t think you’re taking me in. You’re fronting for someone. Now give, or I’ll have Janek run us down by the East River so I can dump you.’
Lippin gave a halfhearted laugh. The sound died in his throat as he caught the expression in Cade’s eyes. Whatever else he might have thought about the Justice Marshal, Lippin knew that T.J.
Cade was not a man who threatened lightly. He also knew that for somebody of Cade’s caliber, working for the Justice Department meant that he had a free hand when it came to settling his cases.
‘Jesus, Cade, what do you want from a guy? All I do is a little representing for a client. There a law against it?’
‘If you’ve nothing to hide, Max, why get in such a state about it?’
‘The client wanted confidentiality is all.’
Lippin leaned forward in his seat. He rubbed a hand across his face. The pale flesh was moist.
‘Is it hot or what? Hey, you got the heater on or something?’ he called to Janek.
‘Calm down, Max,’ Cade suggested. ‘Just give me what I need.’
‘Yeah, sure. Look, I take on assignments for this guy. He calls and gives me instructions. I do the business and he pays me.’
‘This guy got a name?’
‘Hamilton Lasall. Has his own law firm.’
Janek’s head inclined slightly as he picked up the name. It would be filed away inside his skull for checking when he and Cade returned to the office.
‘That it, Max?’
Lippin nodded vigorously. ‘I don’t know who employs Lasall, and that’s the truth. They don’t say, I don’t ask.’
‘Stop the car, Janek,’ Cade said.
Lippin glanced at the Justice cop. ‘That it? I can go?’
‘Sure, Max. Like I said, all I wanted was a couple of answers.’
Lippin climbed out of the cruiser, still watching Cade. It was as if he expected Cade to suddenly reach out and shoot him. Once the lawyer was on the sidewalk, Cade told Janek to drive on.
‘T.J., he’ll be on the phone by now, telling his client we’ve been questioning him.’
‘Sure he will,’ Cade said, grinning expansively.
‘Which is what you want him to do?’
‘I want him to pass the word that we’re still digging. It helps if you keep everyone guessing.’
‘The principle being that when people become upset they do unexpected things?’
‘You got it.’
‘Back to the office?’ Janek asked.
‘Right. Let’s run some checks on Lasall. In the morning we go and see what the Darksiders have to say.’
‘What about Regis?’
Cade grunted to himself.
‘What does that mean?’ Janek asked.
‘I have a feeling Regis will show up again sooner or later.’