“Thea, Dax, I have a mission for you,” Jasper said. The team stood in the precinct lobby, waiting for Detective Park to finish a conversation with the forensic technicians. “Instead of coming with us, snoop around here and find Dr. Prime’s address. Go to her place and see if you can find anything about her hideout on Sera.”
“Got it,” Thea said. Dax added a thumbs up as he followed Thea away from the group.
Detective Park passed the two as he returned, a tablet in his hand and Officers Alyow and Tary trailing behind him. “Where are they going?” he asked.
“Officer Sparks left her refrigerator running and Officer Cure had to get a flu shot.” Before Park could process what she’d said, Jasper added, “Now, let’s go arrest the hell out of this guy!”
Detective Park stared at her for a long moment before speaking. “All right. Mechwell lives in an apartment a few blocks from here. Top floor of the Iris Complex.”
“Hey, since we’re down two, we can all fit in one car!” Alyow exclaimed.
“Sounds great,” Jasper said. “I’ll drive.”
Detective Park shook his head. “Absolutely not. I’ll drive.”
“But—”
“Jasper, let him drive,” Holly hissed.
“Back me up on this, Officer Starling,” Jasper said with a glance at Grace. “I’m a great driver, right?”
Grace hesitated. “Uh, you are good at getting places fast.”
“We aren’t in a hurry,” Detective Park said. “In fact, it’s better we keep a low profile. We don’t want Mechwell knowing we’re coming.”
“Fine, Detective Park can drive,” Jasper conceded. “But I’m calling shotgun.”
“As long as you don’t play that goddamn musical soundtrack, that’s fine by me.” Detective Park said as they walked out of the precinct.
“How about 2000s pop music from Earth?”
“Never heard it, but I’m sure it’s better than what I’ve been listening to.”
Holly interjected. “Actually, it would be helpful if we got some details on Mechwell before we arrive.”
“Good point.” Detective Park handed his tablet to Jasper. “Here, you can read his file.”
“Yippee,” Jasper muttered.
They piled into the car, and Jasper scrolled through the file’s text and photos while they drove. Ro Mechwell was a short, bald guy with pastel pink skin and big round ears. His demeanor in his ID photo was far from menacing. “He’s got an office job at the Sagev Department of Transportation.”
“Doesn’t sound like the killer type,” Alyow said from the back.
“You’d be surprised,” Tary replied. “I saw this movie once where a guy—”
“Lives alone,” Jasper interrupted. “We shouldn’t have to deal with anyone else during the arrest.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Detective Park said. “Civilians tend to get in the way. They hear there’s a criminal on the loose and all come running to take pictures. Some like to play hero and try to catch the guy for us.”
They pulled into the apartment complex parking lot not long after that. On their way into the building, Detective Park barked orders. “We’ll split up, in case he tries to run. I’ll knock on his door. Alyow, Tary, take the ground level exits. Jasper, Mud, Starling, I want you by the elevators and stairs on his floor. Someone on the east side, someone on the west. If anyone sees him, radio in so we can converge.”
Alyow and Tary separated to guard the exits. The elevator took the other four up ten levels to the top floor. While Detective Park headed for Mechwell’s apartment, Jasper turned to Holly and Grace. “One of you take the west side, one of you go east. I’m following Park.”
“Why?” Grace asked.
“If Mechwell makes a run for it, I should be close. I’m the fastest one here.”
Holly sighed. “Can’t argue with that.”
Jasper waited around the corner while Detective Park knocked on Mechwell’s door. When no one answered, she switched to X-ray vision and scanned the apartment. Empty.
There was movement at the other end of the hall just seconds later. Mechwell came around the corner and froze when he saw Detective Park at his door. A moment later, he was gone.
Talk about bad timing.
Detective Park sprinted after Mechwell and grabbed his communicator off his belt. “I’ve got eyes on Mechwell. He’s headed for the west stairwell,” he said into the radio.
“I’ll meet Officer Mud there,” Grace replied.
Jasper ran the other way. She was fast enough to catch Mechwell before he reached the stairs.
Or, she would have been, if people hadn’t poured of their apartments to see what was happening. “Coming through!” Jasper yelled. She slowed to navigate the crowd, fighting her instinct to shove people aside.
“What’s going on?” a woman asked, waving her hand and trying to step in Jasper’s path.
“I’m having a hard time moving,” Detective Park said over radio. “Too many people in the way.” Holly and Grace chimed in to say they were having the same problem.
“Same here,” Jasper told them. Her voice rose. “Everyone get back in your apartments! This is official police business!”
“Are we in danger?” a man asked.
“You wouldn’t be if you went inside!” Jasper gently pushed him out of her way. Squeezing her own police communicator, she said, “Ugh. There has to be some way to make these people listen to us.”
“We certainly can’t threaten them. And there’s no way we could arrest them all,” Detective Park replied.
Honestly, they probably could make questionable threats against civilians and get away with it, given Si Hera’s track record as a functioning government. But Jasper didn’t want to contribute to that.
Wait. Threatening them. There might be a way to make that work. Not as a police officer, of course, but as someone else.
Jasper darted through an apartment door someone had left open in their quest to glimpse the action. She located a closet and pulled out a long, black coat that looked similar to what she usually wore. It was a bit big, but it would work. She threw it on, took off her sunglasses, adjusted her hair, and checked that no part of her police uniform was visible.
After returning to the hall, she aimed her blaster at the ceiling and fired. “Out of the way, idiots! If you don’t want to get shot, you better get back in your apartments.”
“Van Terra!” someone screamed. People scrambled to get out of Jasper’s path, some of them darting through the first open door they could find.
Jasper looked to the left and checked her X-ray vision. Past the apartments in the hall parallel to her, she could see Mechwell running. “He’s almost to the west stairwell,” she warned Holly and Grace over comms.
“We have a problem,” Detective Park said. “Apparently Van Terra’s here.”
“Really?” Holly asked, her voice sharpening. “Well, isn’t that interesting?”
“Oh, don’t give me that tone,” Jasper hissed through the team’s comms. To the communicator, she said, “What about Mechwell?”
“Tary, Alyow, get ready to intercept,” Detective Park replied. “Mud, Starling, I’ll meet you at the stairwell. If we can’t grab him there, you’ll help me find Van Terra.”
Detective Park came around the corner up ahead. His eyes locked with Jasper’s. He pointed his blaster and fired. Jasper dove to her right, through another door that had been left ajar. She ran past the family hiding under the table and into the next room, where she threw open a sliding glass door and stepped onto the balcony.
Her communicator crackled. “Jasper, where are you?” Detective Park asked.
She climbed over the railing and dropped to the next balcony down. “I just hit the floor below you,” she replied, suppressing a grunt of pain. “I think I can catch up to Mechwell.”
“Meet me back at the top of the stairwell. We might be able to trap Van Terra instead.”
Jasper tried the sliding door. Locked. She kicked it with her cybernetic leg. It exploded into a shower of glass. “Sure. Great. I’m on my way back up.” She shrugged off the coat, rolled it up tight, and shoved it into the back of her waistband. Hopefully the police jacket would hide it well enough. On her way out of the apartment, she slid her sunglasses back on.
Detective Park met her at the top at the top of the stairwell. “I think she’s still on this floor. Mud and Starling went that way, so if we go the opposite direction, we should catch her.”
“Great.” As they broke into a run, Jasper asked, “Shouldn’t we send someone to help Tary and Alyow?”
“Van Terra’s far more important. Besides, Tary and Alyow are capable of catching Mechwell on their own. I hope.”
“Well, it sounds like the other two might run into Jasper first and hopefully she won’t get away from them through a window, right guys?”
Detective Park frowned at her odd emphasis. “That…would be unfortunate.”
They flew around the next corner and nearly collided with Holly and Grace.
“Where did she go?” Detective Park asked.
Grace’s eyes met Jasper’s. “She ran into someone’s apartment. I think she jumped out a window.”
Jasper grinned and winked at her. Grace flushed and glanced away.
“Then we’re going down,” Detective Park said. “Move fast.”
Before the detective could add anything else, Jasper cut in. “Starling and I will take the west stairwell. You and Mud can go east.”
“Fine.”
Detective Park and Holly ran off while Jasper and Grace headed the other way. When they reached the stairs, Jasper grabbed the railing and vaulted over. She caught herself on the level below and steadied herself before dropping to the next railing.
Grace leaned over the railing and peered down at her. “Where are you going?”
“To catch Mechwell!”
Jasper was almost to the first floor when she spotted Alyow waiting by the exit. Mechwell must have been on the other stairwell, then. Jasper pulled herself over the railing onto the second-floor landing and ran into the hall.
People down here must not have gotten the memo that Van Terra was on the loose, because it was even more crowded than the tenth floor had been. She ripped off her sunglasses, threw the coat back on, and drew her blaster. “Outta the way! Van Terra coming through!”
Her path to the stairwell cleared. Jasper made it up a flight and a half before she saw Mechwell coming down. She pointed her blaster at him. “Freeze!”
“Van Terra!” Mechwell yelped.
Oh, right. She hadn’t switched back. Wait, this could work. “That’s right. It’s me. Van Terra,” she said, forcing a dramatic flair into her voice. “I’m here to kidnap you, and the police can’t save you!”
Mechwell turned and ran up. “Police! Help!”
Jasper could have caught up with him, but she kept her distance until Detective Park appeared in the doorway. He grabbed Mechwell’s arm and aimed his blaster at Jasper. “Van Terra!”
Jasper jumped over the railing to her left and dropped a few floors before grabbing on to a set of bars. The violent stop sent pain through her body that she ignored.
As she pulled herself up, Detective Park spoke over radio again. “I’ve got Mechwell. Van Terra’s headed down the east stairwell.”
“I’m on my way up!” Tary replied.
Jasper entered the hallway, tossed aside the coat, and put her sunglasses back on. She reached back and pulled her ponytail down into a lower position.
Alyow came around the corner and yelped in surprise. “Oh, Detective Jasper, it’s you! I thought you were Van Terra for a second.” Her eyes widened. “Wait, where is she?”
“I just saw her jump out a window,” Jasper replied.
“Huh. She really likes jumping out windows, doesn’t she?”
Jasper sucked in a sharp breath. “Yep. Sure does.”