Part 14b

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

More phone calls! whee! ^_^

In which we learn that Steve's partner's name is not actually Shaun Shaunassey. Steve just likes to call him Shaun. *nodnod*


~*~*~

"Buy yourself some clothes," Steve said, handing Val a neatly folded pile of cash. "And a new pair of shoes probably wouldn't hurt."

Val thumbed through the money, eyes widening at the amount. "Whatever I want?"

"Just stay out of the arcade," Steve replied, lighting a cigarette.

"Well, duh," Val said, tucking the money into his pants pocket and reaching for the door handle. "Like I really want my brain to short out again."

Steve exhaled a short puff of smoke. "Take this, too," he said, handing a small oval disc to Val.

"What is it?" he asked, turning the disk over curiously. There was a thumb-sized indentation on one side with a smaller circular nub in the center of the dent. "Worry stone?"

"Panic button. It pages me directly and acts as a homing beacon."

Val glanced up and met his gaze squarely for a moment. "Oh. Um... thanks."

Nodding shortly, Steve rested his hand on the gear stick. "Get going. I'll meet you in the food court in a couple hours."

"Right." Opening the door, Val got out of the car and walked away without glancing back.

Narrowing his eyes thoughtfully, Steve put the car in gear and pulled away.


He was ten minutes from the bio-plant Val was registered to when his phone rang.

"Steve, you are not gonna believe what's on this drive," Shaunasee exclaimed as soon as the call connected. And before Steve could respond, his partner had launched into an explanation.

Steve listened silently. And then he did something he rarely did.

He pulled over and stopped the car.

"Are you sure, Michael?" he asked his partner. His gaze remained fixed out the windshield, unmoving, as he listened.

"As sure as the techs can make me," Shaunasee replied, excitement still all too obvious in his voice. "Like I said, they're still picking away at the encryption layers, but they say the style of the code matches that of the other remnants we found in those infected systems."

"Jeeeezus..." Steve murmured.

"This could be --"

"It could," Steve interrupted. "But don't go jumping to any conclusions. And be careful with that thing. It may be booby-trapped against reverse engineering or decompiling. The last thing we need is for it to infect our systems."

"The techs are being careful. As close to white room as they can make it. Are you coming in?"

Putting the car back in gear, Steve checked his mirrors and pulled back onto the road faster than he needed to. His tires spat gravel, sending it pinging against the insides of the wheel-wells. "No," he said shortly, accelerating quickly and smoothly. "Got some digging to do first."

There was a pause, during which Shaunasee must have been checking his GPS. "Steve, tell me you're not..."

"Why?"

"Kurosai is outside our jurisdiction. They're not gonna want to talk to you without an official request."

"So I'll call it a matter of personal interest."

"You know that won't fly. You're logged as on-duty today. We've got time to do this the right way."

Clamping his lips tight around his cigarette, Steve growled, "No, I don't think we do, Shaun."

Staticy silence, and the gates of the bio-plant appeared. He downshifted, slowing the car to a rolling stop beside the security post.

"Be careful."

He cut the call.

~*~*~

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