“No.” Murphy glared at the girl with his dark brown eyes through his holographic green visor before he handed the pistol to Langley. “But if the former kill-bot here really wants to spare lives, she can use this little thing instead of her mauler rounds.”
“I want to defend myself if you think I’m going to die,” Faye said.
“I don’t believe Langley’s visions,” Murphy said. “This is our first gig together, and no offense to you, Langley, but I think the department got a good deal on you because some of your circuits are scrambled.”
“Believe what you need to, but the truth will always remain.” Langley put away the pistol in a holster-like compartment above her hip and resumed scrolling through the tablet.
“There you are!” Cooper sprinted over from the base of a grand stairwell in the main lobby toward his team. His black business shirt and silver tie were contained in his fancy gray frock coat. The bottom of his coat bounced off the back of his knees and his black, braided hair tied into a ponytail swept along his shoulders as he raced over.
Cooper’s computerized sunglasses accented his dark face, and flickers of lights between his eyes and the lenses showed how much he analyzed the grisly scene before him.
“Langley, you know you have authorization to kill once a suspect presents a credible threat to public safety.” Cooper’s deep voice contained a growl to signal his irritation. “Why did you do this?”
“Life is a gift.” Langley turned toward her supervisor. “Cooper, this is Faye, a girl who is missing a Dujour chip.”
“Joseph Cooper, Homeland Defense,” Cooper said as a quick greeting to the girl. He shifted his attention to the android. “This mass hack revolves around expensive cybernetic implants?”
“Yes, sir.” Langley nodded. “There are a few other top brands, but the Dujour chips are the main target. This hacker was tapping into the visual feeds of people out on the commercial loading bays in the back of the mall.”
“I see.” Cooper took a deep breath. “Have you determined their motive?”
“There’s a team behind this attack,” Langley said. “The default state in this hack is to freeze. But the perpetrators can tap into any of their targets and control them like drones. They’re going after the valuable forbidden items being swapped in secret meetings upstairs. This hacker had a list of target books and his drones at the loading bay were putting them into getaway vans.”
“All this to get to banned books?” Cooper lowered his chin in thought.
“There are some other petty targets on their list,” Langley announced. “They have a few jewelry stores in mind. There’s also some restaurants they plan to target because of their easily-breeched registers for a goldmine of card data. Things like that. But those are last, after the big haul of banned reading material.”
“Is Faye involved in this hack?” Cooper stared at the girl.
“No, sir.” Langley continued to scroll through the tablet for information.
“Then you’re not our concern.” Cooper stepped toward Faye. “Go home, kid.”
“Langley said I’m in danger of dying,” Faye said with tears rolling out of her eyes. “She said Murphy could protect me.”
“Langley says a lot of strange things.” Cooper scowled at the android. “She’s military surplus. Her kind were designed to be creative tacticians. Consider her warnings the result of a lingering overactive imagination focused on human mortality. Nothing more.”
Faye’s lips quivered as she could to nothing by stare at the group leader.
“Our government-mandated directive for this gig is to protect convention-goers from harm,” Langley said as she stood and lowered the tablet from her view. “This innocent girl is within the convention center and dangerous hackers are all around us. It falls within our designated duty to protect this young woman.”
Cooper tensed his jaw and walked right up into Langley’s face.
“Are you trying to intimidate me, Reserve Deputy?” Langley puffed her frame in defiance and made sure her breast plating tapped the team leader’s chest. “I’m only required to follow the orders of my purchasing agent, The Lion. You have a lot of work to do in earning my trust after referring to me as malfunctioning surplus.”
Murphy backed away and led Faye to follow him.
“Murphy, you’re in charge of protecting the girl,” Cooper said while staring into Langley’s blank faceplate. “You, android, will secure that prisoner.”
“Take this.” Langley stood taller and slammed the tablet into Cooper’s chest. “You, human, will secure the prisoner and conduct an investigation through this tablet.” She tilted her head and leaned in when her leader ground his teeth. “You’re the one with a brain more adept with computers than my logic drive. I’m just an outdated weapon only good for obsessing over human mortality.” She spun around and walked toward the fountain.
“I didn’t dismiss you,” Cooper said, clutching the tablet. “We’re sticking together.”
“Are we a team now, human?” Langley turned to face the team leader.
Cooper glared at the android.
“Boss, what you said was pretty mean,” Murphy said.
Cooper shot Murphy a laser-like look before he gazed at the tablet in his hands.
“While hackers control this mall, we don’t have a way to communicate remotely with each other,” Cooper said. “We need to stay within range of each other to be effective in this investigation.”
“Then say the magic words,” Langley said with her arms extended. “Human.”
“We’re a team.” Cooper glanced at Murphy and Faye. “I apologize for disrespecting you.”
“No need to mention it,” Langley said. She rushed back to the group and wrapped her arms around the team leader. “Boss.” She delivered a bear hug until she heard the man’s bones pop in her embrace and also rubbed the deadly coils of her palms against the side of his head.
“That’s enough.” Cooper shook the android away and pivoted to take both his team members into view. “There are books crossed off this list, but the next ones down are listed as being in a private meeting room the sixth floor. We’ll go there together.”
“Secret meetings with back room trading of forbidden books?” Murphy pulled out a pumpkin seed to nibble. “I wish I had a team of dragons here for protection.”
“None of us want to hear about your wizardry adventures,” Cooper said. “Langley, take point. Murphy, protect Faye in the center of our group. I’ll take the six. The hackers have caused all the elevators to be full of frozen guests. We’ve got a lot of stairs to climb, let’s get to it!”
***
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