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Doctor of New Mombasa by Mr AngryPants
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Doctor of New Mombasa (Part 1)
Date: 1 October 2009, 8:20 pm
(This story is entirely fiction but based on 'Sadie's Story' from Halo 3: ODST. Although it contains no spoilers, it is probaly best to play the game and find out the jist of the sub-story itself before reading. I do hope you enjoy.)
New Mombasa, 18th October 2552
Mike Branley an officer of the New Mombasa Police Department (NMPD) jumped down from the garbage truck. His dark blue uniform was drenched in foul smelling juices and sticky with foil and remains of food, he still kept a beaming smile on his dark face as he marched over to an elderly lady. He extended his hand with an antelope-hide purse.
"There you go miss." He said in his Kenyan accent as the old lady gingerly took it.
"May God bless you officer." The lady smiled weakly and walked with her cane on the sidewalk of the Lumumba District. Branley nodded in satisfaction as he dusted his uniform clean of litter, he sweated under the hot sun and smelt of the garbage he's happily dug through to retrieve the woman's purse.
He turned to the blue Garbage truck.
"Thank you Superintendent you can be on your way now."
The Garbage truck gave a small series of beeps and ignited the engines and the truck slowly began to move down the road. The traffic was less congested today Branley thought as he walked across the road and in the shade of the buildings. The best thing about New Mombasa was the tall skyscrapers offered great shade from the sun. On a boring Saturday night Branley researched and found out patients coming into hospital from dehydration and sun stroke decreased by forty-two percent in the past year due to completion of new upper floors to major skyscrapers. Branley wiped the sweat off his brow and checked his watch, quarter to one, his lunch break. Branley thought of the lattés on offer in his local coffee house and decided to go and check it out.
The Garbage truck ploughed on down the streets of Lumumba as the time reached two o'clock. Its mechanical arms picked up black trash bags and placed them in the big blue compartment on its back. Lumumba Alley was particularly deserted with no cars just making enough room for the truck to fit in between the modern apartment building on one side and a post office on the opposite side. At one minute past two the truck came to a screeching halt. Deep within its electronic database the city's AI, the Superintendant, was denied access to control the truck around its weekly route to collect the rubbish. It stopped in-between the two metal buildings.
Dr. Endesha was dressed more casually than he would be wearing his white lab coat to deliver a parcel to the post office. His cotton sweater made him blend in the queue with around twenty people behind him. He smiled and brushed the sweat of the humid air off his head and stepped forward to the desk. A friendly faced Kenyan girl beamed up at him with a black ponytail dangling from her head to her elbows.
"Welcome again doctor, what is it you wish to deliver this time?" She asked hands out to receive the square parcel.
"Oh its just some data chips, optics, holograms… all the stuff cluttering my lab floor." Dr. Endesha said, finishing off with a friendly wink.
"You mean a heart?" The girl asked jokingly.
"No Loretta, I'm not a voodoo doctor. It's the old data crystals from the Mombasa AI, I always send one a year to the archives in the city centre. They've been a bit…uh… preoccupied to see me in person, so first class post will have to do."
Loretta accepted the parcel and put it in a large safe integrated on the wall.
"I'll make sure it gets on the first van to deliver the afternoon post for you sir." She smiled as she locked the safe and twisted the dial for the back up lock.
"I was thinking maybe you and I could catch up sometime…" Dr. Endesha blurted out; nervously… quiet conversations from the people waiting behind him died in an instant to eavesdrop on the reply. Loretta blushed and gave a coy smile.
"I… I am sorry doctor, my Father has strict rules on who I go out with… your almost ten years older… he'd protest." Loretta said, her smile fading with every syllable until it settled into a sympathizing look.
Dr. Endesha nodded, dropped the Post Office pen he was fiddling with in his hand, went to pick it up, and banged his head on the desk. The people in the queue who had tried not to let the humor of the rejection escape roared in laughter. The doctor picked up the pen with one hand, keeping his other pressed to his forehead, he could feel the pain. Loretta walked around the desk to check up on him, but he flinched back.
"I am fine, I really am. I better get back to the lab." He made a quick exit for the door.
"Oh let me get that for you." Loretta called out running past the doctor to open the old fashioned reinforced glass wall. As soon as she pulled the door toward her and the air outside filled the stuffy Post Office, the Garbage truck positioned to the right side of the building exploded.
The wall caved in, metal, mortar and splintered wood flew in a shockwave at the people queuing up and the clerks behind their destroyed desks. Paper turned to ash in seconds, parcels flew off the shelves and the glass windows and doors shattered. Everyone was thrown to the floor.
The lights were out, smoke filled the air, and it was dark. Dr. Endesha found himself on the hot maroon carpet floor, ringing deafened his ears and his eyes stung to open. He rolled himself onto his stomach and looked around to see people who were in the queue on the floor too, bleeding. One man, not much younger than himself, had a wooden stake plunged in his chest, blood stained his white shirt. In the back of the room a small child knelt down beside his mother tugging at her dress, he screamed hysterically as the mother looked back with lifeless eyes. Endesha got to his feet, almost falling down from dizziness. He stumbled across the dead bodies of the previously laughing customers towards the child. He must have been four or five years old dressed in a smart school shirt.
"Mama! Mama!" He screamed in a high pitched voice it cut through Dr. Endesha's heart like a dagger. He scooped down to pick up the child. The boy protested kicking and flailing his arms as the stranger dragged him away from his mother.
"Come on little one," Endesha said, coughing and trying to see through the smoke, "it's okay. It's going to be okay." The doctor reached the door and stepped through the panes that would have been blocked with glass. He stumbled down the street and placed the child on the floor. "You stay." He said firmly. The boy didn't seem to take notice; he slid down the wall of another building crying out to the sky.
Endesha limped back into the wreckage of the Post Office discovering his legs wouldn't allow him to run. He tripped on the door pane and outstretched his hand to catch himself; he received a shard of glass in his left palm. He shouted in pain, and crawled to the nearest figure. The smoke was so intense he didn't even know which way he'd fallen from. He fumbled around the floor and found a leg. He crawled along to the body to see it was on fire. He quickly turned the body round to see flames licking up a female's face… Loretta's face. At first she whimpered, then as she came gradually around and aware of the pain it turned into screaming. Dr. Endesha tried to put out the flames with his dirty sweater but Loretta wouldn't keep still. She twitched and rolled and at one point kicked Endesha in the crotch, the doctor toppled down beside her. He could see the woman he had developed a crush with for years in agony, her beautiful face melting towards the floor, hair charring and vanishing in flames. Her screams fell silent abruptly. Endesha looked horrified on, he didn't even notice the sirens of the emergency services gathering outside.
Branley gasped at the sight of the inferno that blazed down the street, the skeleton of the Garbage truck smoked in the middle. Firemen hosed down the flames from their fire engine hose. There were already a dozen or so police officers on the scene, and twice as many medics. Survivors of the explosions groaned as they were carried on stretchers, those who were dead carried in black body bags. Branley walked towards two other officers conversing from a safe distance.
"What happened here?" Branley asked as officers walked past with roadblocks to place at the end of the street. Officer Gaumbii turned to answer; he looked similar to Branley but shorter.
"Around two o'clock the link between the Superintendant and truck broke. It stopped in the alley way and exploded a few minutes later. It was a planned attack. We even have a suspect target." Gaumbii said nudging his head to a nearby ambulance where medics were fussing over one man. The man seemed active enough from his shouting.
"Get off me! I'm a doctor I'll look after my self!" Endesha yelled. The paramedics got the message and left him alone to attend to those with worse wounds.
"He's the suspect target?" Branley asked again.
"Doctor Endesha, renown in his field of medicine, computer and an AI wizard, literally. He bit our heads off once we mentioned the Superintendant malfunctioned. He said only people with high authority or a criminal mastermind could disrupt the AI." Gaumbii said as he took a long slurp from his water bottle.
"He didn't have any security around him, couldn't be that important could he?" Branley commented watching the doctor as he got off of the ambulance bed and dusted ash from his blackened sweater.
"That's the point…" intervened the second officer, Dustin, a white south-African.
"He's ONI." Gaumbii finished his sentence.
"So… Endesha went to the post office, unprotected, and the Garbage truck stalled right outside of the building. What can we gather around that?" Branley asked as he indicated for a sip of Gaumbii's water.
The shorter officer passed his bottle to Branley.
"Well the Superintendant was helpful in supplying CCTV monitoring Endesha's movements and that of the vehicle. The truck was moving along its normal route at regular speeds with no obstacles. Endesha went to the Post Office to deliver old data chips or something like that to Mombasa archives. That is probably what the killer was after."
"Woah Woah, Gaumbii, lets not jump to conclusions. I don't understand. Its plausible how someone would want to attack the doctor for his package… But if I wanted something this badly, I wouldn't risk blowing it up. If this was a planned attack, no one on CCTV was seen to be making a move to retrieve the parcel." Branley said, the two officers looked with blank expressions as they thought about it. Branley finished off the drink and thrust the bottle into Gaumbii's hands, "I'll have a word with Endesha."
"Mr. Endesha, may I ask to have a few words with you?" Branley said with his gentle smile.
Dr. Endesha brushed past his shoulder.
"You just did."
"No sir, please. Do have any reason to believe if its possible someone has ordered an assassination on your life?" Branley said raising his voice as the doctor walked away. He stopped dead in his tracks at the word 'assassination'.
"It's… possible."
*
The NMPD Pelican dropship flew in-between the skyscrapers of New Mombasa's city centre. The black aircraft shuddered as it went through some turbulence. Dr. Endesha held on tight to his chair with his legs while cradling a bucket in his arms underneath his chin. Officer Branley, Gaumbii and Dustin chose to stand up on the troop compartment hanging on to the overhead handles.
"Sorry doctor… If I knew of your air travel sickness I would of taking the squad car." Branley said loudly over the roar of the engines.
"Then why…" Endesha almost threw up, but gulped the foul smelling gas down, "why didn't you?"
Gaumbii answered his question while he took out a cigar from his shirt pocket and put it in his mouth.
"Commissioner Kinsler was very clear, he wanted you at the NMPD HQ as soon as possible, and there was a Pelican already awaiting you."
Dr. Endesha looked up, bloodshot eyed.
"Kinsler? Has that moron been promoted?"
"'Fraid so. Think he's bad… try having him as a boss." Gaumbii said as he gave a nervous laugh. He reached for his lighter with his free hand and sparked up a light, "Once he was interrogating an Insurrectionist, he took the poor soul to the edge of the highest air pad platform and dangled him off the side. He held him by the collar of his shirt which was threads away from ripping clean off. No surprise he sung like a canary afterwards. He's in a psychiatric ward now."
"Dear Lord, have you ever tried to ask him for a raise?" Endesha asked, burping some gas out of his mouth.
"Yeah, never again. He stubbed out his cigar on my neck." Branley said as he showed a small now white circle on his dark skin where it had been burnt.
"Surely he can't get away with it?"
"He's the Commissioner," Dustin broke in, "He can do whatever the damn hell he likes. No consequences, no warnings, nothing."
Three minutes later the Pelican swooped round the NMPD HQ's upper air pad. The launch ramp lowered and a howling wind rushed throughout the compartment. The Pelican hovered over the big '4' in the centre on the platform before touching down. The pilot exited his cockpit and jumped off the aircraft, followed by the three officers and Dr. Endesha still holding the bucket. Out to great them where several officers dressed in SWAT kit with Magnums aimed at Endesha. In the centre of their semi-circle formation was Commissioner Kinsler himself. Kinsler was bulky, tall, chubby face with a gritty stubble and dark eyes. He spoke in a gruff voice possibly due to his smoking habits.
"Why if it isn't the good doctor wasting my time with his personal quarrels." Kinsler said marching up to Endesha till their noses nearly touched, "suspicious how you work with the AI who coincidently malfunctioned very close to your position, isn't it?"
Endesha tried not to shake, not to let this brutish man know he was intimidating.
"Mr. Kinsler sir, the Superintendant does not harm innocent civilians, damage properties. Your officers told me they checked the logs. The Superintendant tried multiple times to reconnect to Garbage Truck 028 until it saw it explode on nearby CCTV cameras. I'm sure if you weren't too busy torturing your employees you would see for your…"
Dr. Endesha was stopped by Kinsler head butting him above the bridge of his nose. Endesha fell to the floor hands covering the bruise. It didn't bleed but it hurt. Branley who was watching from the sidelines took a few steps forward but a SWAT officer stepped in the way and pushed him back.
"What goes on in your cold laboratory stays between you and your ONI weasels. What goes on in MY building, with MY staff and MY BLOODY CITY, stays with me!" Kinsler roared, his face getting redder and redder in anger, "Now listen up doctor, you start thinking about who would want to have the great satisfaction in killing you so my officers can do what they are meant to do. I would lock you in the holding cells but I bet I'd have some ONI sod sniveling in my ear about 'human rights'. So get thinking, then get out, and please for the love and goodness of God… don't let there be another terrorist attack on you again. Earth has enough to worry about with the Covenant, let alone a frail old man dancing around with a bullseye on his ass for Insurrectionist scum to take a shot at."
Dr. Endesha managed to get up off the cold platform, the fierce wind blew the small plastic bucket off the edge, the breeze caught it and it flew in the orange skies.
"Its funny commissioner… you seem very quick to pin this all on Insurrectionists." Endesha said giving a weak smile. The SWAT officers began to murmur, Branley, Gaumbii and Dustin stared at Kinsler for a response. The Commissioner hissed and quickly marched away to the main building, his SWAT team followed. Officer Branley walked briskly to Endesha, glad that the vicious man had left.
"Doctor I do apologize… if I had known he was going to respond like this…"
"He's a villain officers, soon his true colors will come to light."
Doctor of New Mombasa (Part 2 / 2)
Date: 7 October 2009, 6:07 pm
New Mombasa 18th October 2552, 19:04, NMPD HQ Interrogation room
Dr. Endesha sat at the long rectangular table holding his hands tight around to polystyrene cup of coffee. Compared to the heat outside, the cold white room was freezing; he could see his breath as he exhaled deeply. He brought the cup of coffee that was rapidly cooling to his lips and finished it in a series of gulps. At the far end of the room the door boomed open and Officer Gaumbii walked in. He closed the door gently and it locked with an echoing click.
"Mr. Endesha, again me and my associates want to apologize for Kinsler's barbaric behavior." He started as he walked down the side of the table, footsteps resounding off the walls as he walked; he had changed from his officer clothes to a suit. "Although don't tell him I called his behavior barbaric as he would not hesitate to show me how barbaric he can be." He finished with a smirk and a small chuckle. Dr. Endesha also laughed and shivered at the same time.
"Not meaning to offend but is there a reason it's so cold in here?"
"That would be Kinsler making it uncomfortable for you; everything in this building is run by him. There is very little that the Superintendant can input in this place." Gaumbii said buttoning up his jacket.
"Why would you give one man this much control over his staff and building?"
"It's beyond me, as he said, what goes on in the building is his matter."
"Now," Gaumbii said briskly after a five second pause, "We've been through the wreckage of the Post Office in Lumumba while you've been here, and we retrieved your parcel containing the data crystal… mainly CCTV footage, old schedules for transport, memos and the likes, nothing that is suspicious in your line of work. Neither is it of actual use as it is two years out of date."
Dr. Endesha nodded.
"Yes I only deliver one of those packages a year… and I keep them two years prior to sending them off, just incase we need them. There are backups of the data and stuff – but ONI holds onto that – but if the Superintendant held onto these logs too long, it increases the likelihood for error. Of course it's smart enough to check it, but it saves time and aggravation for all."
"Nothing out of the ordinary then," Gaumbii said sitting on the edge of the table, "However, we are currently following the movements of Garbage truck 028. I must ask, have you ever met or heard of Officer Branley before?"
Dr. Endesha sat bolt upright, confused.
"No I haven't, why is that relevant?"
Gaumbii sighed and looked up at the ceiling.
"Because we have footage of him scaling the top of the very same truck that caused the explosion, it's possible he could have put an explosive substance with the trash. Yes, I know it's hard to believe, as soon as Kinsler found out he went berserk, arrested Branley himself." He pointed to the bruise above the doctor's nose, "You think that's bad… you should see Branley's face."
"From what I gathered officer, that boy seemed like a genuine caring person, I'm almost positive he wouldn't of done this."
"We are digging deeper tracking the trucks movements from the past month, I know he's innocent. But it is admittedly a strange coincidence that wouldn't stand up against the judiciary." Gaumbii said solemnly, "That's all I needed from you right now. You are free to go."
Dr. Endesha got to his numb feet and hobbled across the room alongside Gaumbii. Once through the titanium reinforced door Endesha went to go get another coffee while Gaumbii went to the toilet. The doctor met Officer Dustin in the corridor.
"Officer? Hello, um, do you know where Officer Branley is now?"
Dustin nodded, yes. He looked grim though.
"He was in the holding cells, but Kinsler took him back out again to his office. The elevator to that floor has been temporarily shutdown which means he's being tortured. We'd complain but the fact is crime in Mombasa in general has fallen dramatically since he took the job. No one will speak out against the commissioner." Dustin said as he scooped up some files from a filing cabinet near the wall. Dr. Endesha took a sip of his fresh coffee while thinking.
"You've been through hell today doc. I'd take a deserved rest if I were you; probably take a day off work. It must be damn cold in those underground tunnels." Dustin said finally skimming through the papers.
"Not as much as in that room, please tell him to call me when… if… he get's out in one piece."
*
Kinsler paced up and down his office overlooking the clouds hug the lean skyscrapers of New Mombasa. The sun was setting rapidly emitting an orange – pink glow across the skyline. He sighed, before running up to Officer Branley and kicking him down to the floor. The police officer was held by the arms of two SWAT guards who kept him still while Kinsler punched, kicked, slapped, and cut him. Branley's face was now purple and swollen, blood running down his nose, out of his mouth and cuts above the eyes.
"Officer Mike Branley… twenty-one, passed cadet academy with flying colors, gives generously to charities, no living family. A mixed profile for an Innie." Kinsler said as he kicked the officer in the chest, his boot knocked the breath out of his victim.
"I'm not an Innie; I don't know what you want me to say." Branley wheezed.
"Why the truth of course." The commissioner smiled, the two guards laughed behind their visors.
"I'm innocent."
"You're Innie?" Branley received a punch in the jaw.
"IN-NO-CENT!"
"Sorry misheard you." Kinsler laughed as he clenched his fist.
Branley collapsed; his police uniform was crumpled, torn in some places and mattered in blood. His nose was broke, and his ribs pained when he breathed in. He couldn't feel his arms or legs. Kinsler knelt down on the floor, gave Branley a firm slap to make him look at his intimidating face.
"You don't seem to have any training in explosives; maybe you took it as an extra-curriculum lesson at insurrectionist school. Am I right Branners?"
Branley's eyes wouldn't focus, he felt dizzy.
"Guards, take this officer back to the cells. He's being more stubborn than I anticipated, but rest assured he'll give us answers."
With that the guards dragged Branley out of the room, careful to give his raw legs carpet burn as they did so with speed. The officer only whimpered as he was dragged away. Kinsler swung his arms around loosely to relax his tense shoulders. He walked over to his desk and got out a bottle of Kenya Grape Whisky, a popular and expensive brand of alcohol. He filled up a glass and gulped it down in one. The commissioner then walked round his mahogany desk, reclined on his swivel chair and spun round too look out of the window at New Mombasa. His city.
*
Dr. Endesha paced up and down his laboratory. He had warned the Superintendant to turn up the heat ten minutes prior to his arrival. He took off his ruined sweater and put on his clean and ironed white lab coat. He scaled across the metallic floor to his computer screens. He stood at the keyboard.
"Superintendant, I want to see footage of the Oliphant Garbage Truck 028 for the past three weeks, fast forwarded at times thirty-two speeds." The doctor ordered in a hoarse voice. He grabbed a bottle of brandy from under his desk and took a long swig. His main screen flashed different images of the truck as scripted codes ran along side each image. After a few minutes the Superintendant chirped a series of beeps, loading completed.
"Thanks." Endesha said finishing another swig. He pressed enter on his keyboard, sat on his chair, and gazed at the screen as the video played. He was their for hours pausing, rewinding small segments where a sanitation worker would check or get in the vehicle, looking for anything that can prove Branley's innocence. The night turned to day before he reached a period of the film that took place the previous day. The screen went black for fifteen minutes in real-time and the text "ONI CLASSIFIED " blinked on and off.
"Pause! Pause it!" Endesha shouted with sudden adrenaline. His eyes were near to closed and he was tired. An empty brandy bottle and paper cups which held coffee lay at his feet. He read it over and over again. He had never seen this warning before. In seconds he reached for his phone on the edge of his desk and dialed a number at rapid speed. The Superintendants electronic voice sounded:
"Patching you through to ONI Officer Palk now."
Endesha rapped his fingers as he waited for the waiting music of violins to end.
"Doctor, what can I do for you?" A french woman asked from the other side of the line "I do hope your okay to be at work, all of us here at the ONI site feel…"
"Sorry ma'am this is of importance. What does the ONI code, Keigh-point-one-zero-zero-six-dash-eight-zero-six mean?" Dr. Endesha asked biting the bottom of his lip while he waited for the response.
The sound of typing could be heard as the woman searched for the code.
"Sorry for the wait, it is the personal code used by one Commissioner Kinsler."
Dr. Endesha's blood ran cold, he was momentarily frozen.
"Th… thank you ma'am." He said and immediately slammed the handset down, "Superintendant call me a taxi this instant, I want it here, pre-paid for and knowing to go the faster route to the NMPD building by the time I get up there."
The Superintendant gave a high pitched beep through the speakers.
"Do it!"
The Superintendant called the taxi, the sound of the ringing heard through the speakers to show he was doing it.
*
Endesha burst into the New Mombasa Police Department Headquarters lobby. Officer Gaumbii accompanied him. As the strode across the marble flooring officers and guests parted on looking as Gaumbii slid some rounds into his automag pistol with a silencer attached. At the far side of the grand lobby officer Dustin held open the doors of the elevator. He warned a fellow policeman way from the elevator as Dr. Endesha and Gaumbii approached.
"Hey Dustin what's the hold up?" the policeman inquired.
"It's an emergency."
The elevator doors slid closed and it was winched up along the spine of the building. They had two hundred floors to climb. Around two minute ride up. They reached 'Floor 195' – Holding Cells. The elevator beeped as the doors opened. Officer Gaumbii walked out.
"I'll get Branley out, Kinsler's men can't overrule the ONI authority, but just incase the certification won't do…" He brandished his weapon, "It could get rough."
Dr. Endesha nodded to his friend as the doors slid shut and to Gaumbii walked down the corridor. Two more floors later they reached Commissioner Kinsler's floor.
"This the floor?"
"Yes, remember to not give him anything to through back at you." Dustin said as he pressed the button on the control pad. The lift grinded to an abrupt halt. The music and lights died, and the two were thrown into darkness.
"What's going on?"
"The elevator stopped!" the officer kicked the door, "The bastard killed the power!"
Dr. Endesha began slapping the door, banging in fury. He could imagine Kinsler's smug face beaming down at the elevator that wouldn't outside his office. Which would mean Kinsler is planning something. This was a dangerous conspiracy. One that Kinsler wouldn't want on his head.
*
Officer Gaumbii turned the corner of the receptionist desk. Two policewomen got up from their seats, but Gaumbii's ONI Section One priority badge made them hastily sit down. The officer marched across another corridor to the cells. A SWAT guard blocked the door, he held a M90 shotgun. Gaumbii held up his hands, one with the badge and paper of approval, the other with his pistol.
"Hey, hey, hey!" The guard said, his riot helmet's orange visor reflected Gaumbii's image. He instantly brought up his shotgun, flicked the safety off.
"I am officer Gaumbii; I have official business from ONI Section One to release one officer Branley from custardy. If you do not comply you risk being harmed even fatally, you have the right to view the badge and documents, though I have the authority to retrieve the said prisoner with or without permission."
All of the time Gaumbii spoke the guard lowered his weapon and put a hand to his earpiece as a message came through. Although Gaumbii couldn't hear the message it became clear when the guard raised his shotgun and aimed at his chest. The officer's eyes widened in shock, he pieced it together.
"Any attempt to harm or stop me from completing this approved request will result in you facing grave penalties including imprisonment, conscription or execution."
The SWAT guard immediately began to approach him.
Gaumbii began to shake; this guard has bulletproof clothing and armor.
The guard came so close that Gaumbii could now here the screaming of the voice from his earpiece.
"… DO IT… NOW… SHOOT THE…"
Commissioner Kinsler looked at his personal widescreen TV, showing a live feed from a camera two floor's down. It showed a SWAT officer and officer Gaumbii in a wide corridor. The one with the shotgun listened as Gaumbii approached with a gun and a wallet in hand.
Kinsler smiled, straightened his suit and touched his earpiece in his left ear.
"Sergeant Mugabee, that man approaching you is highly dangerous. He's bypassed security with his fake badge. He's responsible for several deaths of staff. Take him out."
Kinsler knew his message was being received by the SWAT guard as he touched his ear to listen intensively. Although he couldn't hear what was being said Kinsler assumed it was the speech of ONI members before they barge into restricted areas. Sergeant Mugabee raised his shotgun on the screen and took steps towards Gaumbii. Kinsler gritted his teeth in anticipation.
"Do it sergeant. Come on! DO IT AND KILL THE BASTARD NOW! GO ON, SHOOT THE MAN!" He roared.
A second later on screen Kinsler's order was carried out. He watched the silent grayscale screen as Sergeant Mugabee fired his shotgun, a small white flash. Officer Gaumbii staggered back, mouth gawped open, his pistol and badge fell out his hands simultaneously, the man then fell on his back in his expanding pool of blood which showed up black on the screen. Kinsler gave a hearty laugh at the scene and clasped his hands together.
In that moment Dr. Endesha and Officer Dustin ran into his office. Kinsler looked at them, then at the screen.
"Sorry Doctor Endesha, I regret to inform you that Officer Gaumbii has been severely injured. Time of death three thirty a.m. nineteenth October. I'm deeply sorry for you loss." Kinsler gave his sinister smile at the two pained men. It suddenly turned into a fierce angered expression, "Why couldn't you have died doctor? I set it all up so well. With you gone, I would have a chance at gaining access to the New Mombasa AI. If not I would of killed each successor till I get the job."
Dr. Endesha took one step forward, but the familiar sounding of a gun's safety being clicked back echoed in his ear. He turned round to stare at Officer Dustin holding his automag pistol in the centre of his forehead.
"I apologize, doctor, but you're not the one who's paying me." Dustin said with no hint of compassion for his friend's death.
"You bastard!" Endesha muttered as he felt as if he'd been stabbed through the heart. The plan had come together. Kinsler's lust for power had destroyed Endesha's trust in humanity, he was brought up to think the Insurrectionist we're evil, dismissive of the fact the most evil people where the ones using them as scapegoats. "You planned this attack on me for years."
Kinsler nodded.
"You hardly leave your lab. I rigged the Oliphant truck ready to blow at the exact time and place where I knew you'd be. I got Dustin here to rob and old lady of her purse and throw it in the garbage in hope that one of Mombasa's finest would be caught skulking around the vehicle, then I have my suspect. After you get blown up to sky high ONI officials investigate. I interrogate the suspect, beat him senseless till he confesses to future terrorist attacks, and I become a hero. As a reward, I get access to the Superintendant and this city belongs to me."
Dr. Endesha glanced at the screen as medical staff and police stormed the corridor surrounding Gaumbii's dead body.
"A shame," Kinsler tutted, "as soon as I heard you were coming down I had Branley take a pill to help him forget the past two days. He'll never have met you, never know why he's been injured, his records wiped. I hate to kill two good men off in one day."
Dustin laughed as he thrusted his weapon into Endesha's forehead creating a ringed indent in the skin from pressure.
"Branley will be told he was knocked unconscious trying to protect me from a crazed ONI doctor with a gun. You'll have been shot by me in self defense; Dustin gets a promotion for his loyalty so on and so forth. That can be changed however…"
Both Endesha and Officer Dustin looked at Kinsler confused. The commissioner brought out his own pistol and walked over to Doctor Endesha. He out the gun in his hands. With sudden speed, Kinsler punched Dustin in the face. The officer was knocked to the ground. Endesha spun round to leave but Kinsler grabbed his arm tight.
"Shoot the officer who threatened you, you'll get to live, I'll blackmail you with the security tape in trade for your position and smuggle you out of the country."
"How do I know you will keep to your word?"
"You won't but better to live in hope than die without knowing am I right?"
Dr. Endesha shook wildly as he held the gun in his hands. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to be a pawn in Kinsler's horrifying plan. Too many people had died or been hospitalized in the past two days. It was only the next few words Kinsler said that swayed his mind…
"You have a daughter don't you?"
Dr. Endesha shed a tear, raised his gun at Dustin who tried to reach for his fallen pistol. It was a split-second decision which would haunt Endesha forever.
He fired his weapon.
Officer Branley awoke on the commissioner's sofa five hours later. His bruises had died down thanks to medical advancements; Kinsler was stood up watching him awake.
"Rise and shine officer." Kinsler smiled, and extended a fresh latté at Branley. The officer smiled politely and took it, with his free hand he reached for his head to find a plaster.
"What happened, I don't remember much of anything."
Kinsler say down beside him and sighed, smiling at the ceiling.
"Well my friend. There was an incident at the post office in Lumumba where you and Officer Dustin were caught in an explosion. You survived with serious head injuries. I am sorry to say Dustin died with glass wounds to his throat."
Branley looked mortified, and looked at the floor all of a sudden not feeling so thirsty.
"I am even more reluctant to tell you that Officer Gaumbii was caught in friendly fire yesterday. It was never proven what he was doing but the guard followed protocol to the letter and did what he felt was right. He was pronounced dead at the scene."
There was a cold silence in the room, Branley swallowed hard and put his drink down on the coffee table, pondering what to do next.
"I can understand how troublesome this must be for you, you've been promoted to work along side me, the pay is good. You start work tomorrow morning. Go get some rest." Kinsler said looking out of his large window at the New Mombasa skyline, "You have a big day ahead of you."
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