“Driving? Nobody was driving. Ain’t a body to be found in this wreckage, mister. This was a tragic accident, lemme tell ya. Something in the transponder box must have shorted its circuits. Can’t rightly tell until I get it back at the depot.”
“Waitaminute.” I glared up at the bucket of bolts. “You trying to tell me an airbus somehow lost control, ran directly into our ride, and then just so happened to fall on top of us?”
“Sounds a right bit unlikely when you say it like that.” It tilted its hat back and scratched its rusted dome with a wiry finger before shrugging. “But hey, TINH, right?”
“Yeah. This is New Haven.” I could tell I wasn’t gonna get anything from the scrap heap. It was programmed to avoid liability, not provide any solid answers.
The mandroid took a final look around. “Well, looks like there are no fatalities. These buildings are supposed to be abandoned, so more than likely they’re uninsured. Litigation parameters are acceptable, so it looks like my job is done.” It tapped on the holographic screen that sprang from receptors in its hand. “I’ll shoot the official report to your holoband so you can make a claim for any damages to self or property if applicable, pending a formal investigation and report. Thanks for your cooperation. New Haven Airbus Lines would like to remind you that despite this tragic occurrence, air traffic is still the safest way to fly. Have a swell evening, mister.”
The thrusters in its feet pulsed, hurtling it upward in a cloud of dust and gravel. In no time it joined the air traffic above, where the city lights turned the upper part of the city bright as day.
“My head is killing me.” Ben the Bear stumbled from the floater’s wreckage, ripping foam from his rags. “What the hell happened?” He took a disoriented look around. “I remember the airbus slamming into us, and then falling, and then… ” He looked up, glaring my direction. “You! You took a swing at me, didn’t you? I outta—”
“Do what? Start screaming like a little girl again?” I stalked over and stabbed a finger in his chest. It was like poking a brick wall, but I managed to mask the pain. “And I didn’t just take a swing at you, I cold clocked you clean. Deal with it.”
“No way.” He rubbed his meaty chin and winced. “I ducked back and must’ve hit my head or something… ”
“That’s the way you wanna play it? I know exactly what happened. Wanna know how? ‘Cause I was right there when it happened. You went belly up on me the minute things went sour, and that don’t sit well with me. I can’t save our necks and think for you at the same time. So you better man up, or I’ll stick you in the garden with the rest of the pansies, got it?”
I knew I went too far when the Bear seized me by the collar and blasted hot breath perfume in my face. “Whaddya trying to call me, a coward? You saying I’m gutless, Mick? That what you’re trying to say?”
I’m pretty good as sneering. I gave him one of the best in my arsenal as my heels dangled a few inches from the ground. “I’m saying you’re about one vertebrae shy of being the most spineless bruiser I’ve ever seen. Moe Flacco must’ve thought it a real joke to handicap me with a load like you.”
I figured I’d earned some chin music from spitting the truth, but Benny just glowered for a tense minute before tossing me aside like a rag doll. He turned away, staring at his shoes with his mitts thrust in his pockets. While he sulked, I took the time to straighten out my rumpled tie. And my dignity. The lug might have been mentally soft as a little girl’s bed pillow, but he was still strong as your average synoid.
“You’re right.” His shoulders slumped. “I’m worthless. Just ask anyone in the family. Ben the Bear, they call me.” He shot me a wounded look. “You wanna know why?”
I pulled a gasper from the deck in my pocket and lit it. The nicotine rush calmed my rattled nerves a bit. I exhaled fumes into the rain. “The way I hear it, it’s cause of how you rip punks limb from limb when you get bent. What’s wrong with that?”
“That’s not it at all.” Even though his voice was gruff, it still managed to sound whiny at the same time. “It’s ‘cause I sleep all the time. Hibernating, they call it. That’s why they call me the Bear.”
He looked up to see if I found that funny, but fortunately my poker face masked my amusement. I kept the guffaws on the inside as he continued to confess as if I wore robes on Sunday.
“It’s not like I don’t try. I’ve been on a few missions, but the sight of blood makes me sick to the stomach. My uncle put me on some soldati work, but that didn’t pan out either. I couldn’t even keep an eye on things. Kept falling asleep. The last time some of our boys got pinched because of me napping. Uncle Flacco nearly blew his top.”
He threw up his arms. “I’m a jamook, alright? I screw everything up, so it’s no surprise I mucked this up too. The only reason why I haven’t been whacked is because of my blood. And even that won’t get me much farther. Uncle Flacco already told me this was my last shot. I won’t blame you if you don’t want me around, Mr. Trubble. Hell, I’d feel the same way if I had to deal with me.” He exhaled a shuddering breath and stared upward as if for answers. Instead, all he got was rain on his face.
“Call me Mick.” I pulled out the flask I kept on my person at all times. “Have a drink, kid.” I gave him a keen glance while he took a pull of the Wild Turkey, managing to get it down without coughing too much. He handed it back with a shaky hand.
I downed a swig and let the heat settle in my stomach. “That’s all you got, Ace? When life gets tough you just fold like a rookie poker player?”
“Whaddya want, an apology?” Benny slammed his fist against the crumbled roof of the floater, adding another dent to the collection. “You don’t know nothing about me, Mick. You don’t know about my life. What I have to deal with living up to an uncle like Moe Flacco.”
“Your right, kid. I don’t know.” I took another swig. “What I do know is we either live by our choices or die by our mistakes. Doesn’t matter who you are or what you have, it’s what you choose that decides your fate. You can either cry about it or face up to it. Either way you gotta deal.”
I held the flask out to him. “Right?”
He stared at me before taking it. “Right.” He didn’t cough on the second round. Maybe he wasn’t such a load after all.
I took a look around. “All right, then. We’re soaking wet, but that’s a lot better than being dead. So now we get to put together what we know.”
“What we know?” Benny snorted. “What we know is some goon tried to ice us, that’s what we know. He knows exactly who you are from the sound of it, too.”
“Right. But you’re missing the most important part, Ace.”
He frowned. “More important than attempted murder?”
“That’s right. You’re missing the why, kid.”
“The why?”
“Stop repeating what I say, you’re not a parrot. Look at the situation. Why would someone want to take us out?”
Benny paused in thought. “Because they don’t want you to investigate Sophia’s murder.”
“That’s the obvious answer. But the only people who knew I was put on the case were the six people in that room, right? So unless you think one of your inner circle is a rat… ”
“No.” He shook his head emphatically. “No way there’s a rat that close to home.”
“I believe you.” I exhaled the last of my gasper and flicked the butt into the wet rubble. “But that just brings us back to square one. Air traffic collision is a clumsy way to put a hit on someone, so that tells me it was meant to look like an accident. The airbus’ transponder was obviously hacked and operated by remote. We crash and burn and no one’s the wiser. But why?”