3:00am
The once muffled struggling cries had long since ceased when the screeching drain lid disturbed the silence as it was pushed off the instigators hide out. The cautious eyes of the instigator peered out of the drain checking that it was safe to expose herself and give away her precious base. All seemed safe, the riot had cleared up leaving only a deadly silence and herself behind. A sleek smile stretched across her face, she had successfully outwitted the police.
Carefully, she heaved herself out of the drain and stood up slowly as she was in an awful amount of pain, as you would expect if you had been cramped up for 5 hours! As she stretched she could think about where she was going to go next, there would still be police surveying the area because she was now the police’s most wanted. Her home would be swarming with police by now, so she couldn’t go there, she would have to leave the city. At the end of the alley, she could just see a car dimly illuminated by a blinking streetlamp. This would be her means of escape.
Something stirred in the gloomy alley which now seemed to be everywhere in this city. She wasn’t quite sure what it was but she was sure she didn’t want to find out. She reached into her jacket and withdrew a small black pistol. It fitted snuggly into her hand and she felt much safer having it with her. After three shots into the rubbish heap that protected the cowering animal she felt assured that whatever it was, it was no longer a threat to anyone.
With four quick strides, she reached the end of the alley where she looked around and returned the pistol to its holster. The sickly hot wind howled around the corner almost knocking her to the ground. In the process, she stooped low enough for the streetlamp that was illuminating the car to blink onto her bare left shoulder. Etched into the back of it was a tattoo of an elaborate red dragon. After bracing herself for what was to come, she stepped out of the concealed alley onto the brightly lit street where it was as if she morphed from the silhouetted characterless person she was to a criminal human being. No sooner had she come out of the alley did she regret ever having done so. It appeared that the alley wasn’t as empty as she had perceived.
“Freeze Police!”
Two shots echoed down the alley and struck the instigator in the back of the head. Her dark brown hair parted only a little to let the deadly bullet strike its target. The victim did not falter and she did not show any pain at the metal projectile that had shattered her fragile existence. Instead, she stood lifeless as though hanging in the balance between what her life had been and what was inevitably to come. Two shots. That’s all it took to literally blow her mind, ensuring that she would never see the light of day again. A deadly silence settled on that dark alley leaving only a feeling of death as her body began to decay.
“I can’t help thinking that there’s something missing about this,” muttered Harris under his breath. Paul Harris was about six foot two with short brown hair and eyes that his friends informed him could pierce through anyone he interviewed which was a good quality to have when working in the police force. He put his weapon away in its holster just as John Willis the armourer approached him.
“Don’t be too happy, even though this is the third dimension you weren’t supposed to kill any one. This is training you know for the real world and you wouldn’t be allowed to kill anyone in real life. Technically you failed this mission.” He said with a slight grin.
“You’re just saying that because you don’t believe that I shot a target in the head twice from 50 meters!!” replied Harris as he turned to face Willis. He felt a twang of guilt pass through his brain but quickly suppressed it before it could worm its way into his conscious mind-you couldn’t do this job if your conscious came into play every time you fired your weapon.
“You shot well but don’t get big headed,” reminded Willis as Harris moved over to the girl he had shot as if he was inspecting his prey. The girl was flickering and blurred in and out of visibility.
“It’s hard to believe that this was all a simulation, it was so lifelike, they keep getting better and better” exclaimed Harris in a somewhat baffled tone.
Just as Harris completed his sentence the illusion flickered to an end and vanished leaving no trace of what had just taken place. The alley disappeared along with the victim leaving only a white room just like it was a blank canvas ready to create whatever the operator wanted. All that was left in the room was Harris and Willis. Willis strode over to the door and pushed a flashing panel beside it. The door shot open and Willis walked through followed by Harris as if leaving the world and country they were in a few minutes ago. They had traveled from Tokyo in Japan to Washington in America just by walking through a door.
“I’ll see you next week…agent.” Willis made a sharp turn and breezed down a long corridor that led off the main corridor that Harris was walking down.
Harris carried on walking down the corridor, heading for his office to have a well-deserved break. Approaching him, he could see the Directors secretary; she was walking fast almost running.
“The Director wants to see you in his office right now” she explained out of breath.
“Oh great, another case. I can’t wait, just when I was going to have a break aswell.” Said Harris sarcastically as he turned to the lift that had just appeared to his right. The lift arrived quickly and he entered it and pushed the second floor button. Harris got out and headed for the Directors office as the corridors vanished behind him.
“Come in” replied the Director after Harris’ knock. Harris pushed the door open and walked in.
“Sit down, agent,” ordered the Director. Harris did as he was told. The Directors office was expensively furnished but only contained a few items. The were almost hidden by glossy wood panels and aside from the odd side table or lamp the room was more or less bare apart from the large antique desk at which the Director sat. On this table was piles of paperwork that looked anything but organised. Harris felt sorry for the secretary who would have to bring order to such a chaotic workspace.
“What have you got for me, sir?” asked Harris. The Director swung around in his swivel chair, got up and wandered to a large flat-screen television that was emerging from one of the glossy wood panels. He pressed a button on the side of the television, which activated the screen to show the forces unit badge displayed in the center of the screen.
After a few seconds, a picture of a girl with dark brown shoulder-length hair appeared on the screen. Harris couldn’t see the rest of her body-only her head and shoulders-but he had a nagging feeling that told him he’d seen this girl before.
“A young woman was murdered last night, or early this morning in a back alley just outside Tokyo city center,” explained the Director.
“Tokyo, sir?” Harris blurted out.
“Yes agent, Tokyo in Japan. I know it sounds like it’s nothing to do with us but you’ll see why in a minute” he told Harris, “Like I said, this young woman was murdered in this alley by an unknown assailant which we have found no trace. This is the only picture that could be found of her and it’s from a surveillance camera not far from the alley where her body was found. The Japanese police have been working on the case since the riots they received a phone call from another unknown party telling them where to find the body. The results of the forensic tests came through this morning, it showed that a weapon of American origin from this force was used as the murder weapon-and I know this is hard to understand, but it has been tied down to your weapon.
“My weapon?” Harris almost screeched in disbelief. How can it be my weapon? He thought it’s been with me all the time! Harris reminded himself that it was vital to stay calm.
“I'm afraid that’s nothing-wait until you hear this: it seems that there was a CCTV camera in the area its disc has been analyised. This still has been sent to us showing the attacker” he pressed another button on the panel beside the television and another picture appeared-this time a very blurred photo of a young man in what appeared to be dark overalls or possibly a uniform.
“It doesn’t look like much at the moment but the analyising team downstairs have managed to enhance the picture digitally and this is the result.” The Director pointed at a picture, which had newly appeared on the screen.
Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit Harris’ body and he slumped back in his chair. He could not believe what was happening, he kept thinking how could this be? However, after staring at the screen for a few minutes, he realized he’d have to face up to the fact that what he was witnessing was real all right: he was looking at himself.
“Before you worry, I know the evidence is overwhelming, but I’m not accusing you because I know that it couldn’t possibly be you, you left here last night at midnight, you couldn’t possibly get to Tokyo, kill someone at 3:00am and get back to America in time for work this morning, could you?” asked the Director in an unsure tone of voice.
“Now can you see why this concerns us? I have decided after much deliberation to put you to put you on the case. You’re scheduled to leave tomorrow night on a direct flight to Tokyo. I expect an answer on this mystery soon, you’re the best agent I have and I’d hate to loose you. If we don’t solve this mystery I will have the Japanese senators breathing down my neck for the next three years. Do you understand?”
“Err... yes, sir. I’ll solve this mystery if it’s the last thing I do” Despite the fact that Harris’ mind was still racing he still managed a small smile.
“Lets hope it doesn’t take long, dismissed.”
With that Harris got up and left the office. What he had just been told had severely damaged him mentally. He decided the best thing to do was to go home and think about what he had just been told, as he could not work in his current frame of mind. Harris couldn’t help pondering over what the Director had just told him as he headed for the car park. If I left here at 12:00pm how could I go to another country, murder someone and then be back in this country for work in the morning? He thought and more to the point: who was it that I was supposed to have killed? Harris could not get rid of the feeling that he had seen her somewhere before. Harris reached the lift and pushed the flashing panel naturally without putting any thought into it at all. After a few seconds, the lift appeared, Harris got in and pushed the garage floor button. With that the door shot closed and Harris was transported to the garage. Harris’ actions were slow, due to the fact that he was severely dazed and deep in thought about the murder he was supposed to have committed.
The lift door shot open and vanished straight after Harris got out. The garage lights turned on which seemed to daze Harris further making come around from his trance. Harris located his car, which was rather corroded and old compared to the cars surrounding it, getting a new one was the last thing on his mind; he could soon be tried for murder.
Despite thinking about what he had just been accused of throughout the whole journey home, he just couldn’t remember where he had seen the mystery woman nor recall any information about her. Harris was almost home and still following this line of thought, did not notice that his car was veering into the side of the road. Even though other cars were beeping over and over again and his onboard computer was alerting him of his mistake he did not attempt to correct it. In fact he did not notice the lamppost that his car was fast approaching until it was too late. His car careened into the post but zoomed straight through it, the post just blinking a little as though it was not there. His car screeched to a halt on the pavement, waking Harris up from his almost fatal trance.
Harris looked back from his car to see the lamppost with not one single scratch on it- it was a hologram, which Harris now remembered had replaced streetlamps due to accidents such as that which nearly happened to him.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, he powered his car up again and raced back onto the road in the opposite direction-he was heading back to the station. As he drove he expanded on his idea until it had become a fully-fledged theory-enough to make an accusation.
When he arrived back at the station he parked his car messily and went straight up to level two where the simulation room was located. Harris went straight in, not bothering to touch the panel beside the entrance to activate the simulation. He headed across the room to a small door at the fore end of the long firing range part of the simulation.
He opened the door which was marked ‘Armourer’s Office’ and almost ran to the large wooden counter behind which Willis sat on a stool reading this mornings paper. He didn’t seem to notice that Harris had walked in but Harris was about to change that.
“It was you wasn’t it?” Questioned Harris with a dark urgency in his voice.
“What...?” said Willis a look of bewilderment crept over his face and then he smiled. It wasn’t a normal smile of affection but instead one of evil with a touch of dementia.
“So you figured it out? Well done, I really didn’t expect you to work it out so soon. I knew it wouldn’t take too long when I heard that the director wanted to see you, but I thought you’d at least make it to Tokyo-I figured I’d kill you off when you were out there. I suppose you want me to tell you how I did it?” Willis sighed. It was clear that his amusement at the situation had worn off and he now realized that he wasn’t going to be a free man much longer. Harris wondered why he had done such a sick crime but Willis never let on as to why, only how for the time being.
“You may as well since your not going to leave this room free.” Harris said waving a pair of handcuffs that he’d unclipped from his belt as though reinforcing what he had just said. Willis’ face had changed it had now gained a weathered look instead of looking the forty odd he was, he looked more like sixty. He took a deep breath as though bracing himself for the truth before continuing:
“It was basically a simulation like the ones we have in the simulation room. I sent a simulation emitter to a friend in Tokyo. He set it up in a rented room by the alley and set it up so that the CCTV camera would pick it up as though it was real. Then all I had to do was send the simulation I had made”
“That’s why I recognized that woman. She was the one from the riot training simulation!” cried Harris excited that that mystery had been solved.
“But what about the body the Japanese police found?” asked Harris.
“That took a lot of thought, the emitter was specially made so that as soon as you fired that fatal bullet in the simulation it materialized and hit a lady who was being held hostage there.”
It’s cold blooded murder and you will be punished!” shouted Harris angrily “I have one more question though, why?” Willis chuckled evilly and replied:
“Now that I will take to my grave!”
“I don’t think so I will get it out of you sooner or later, I am definitely not going to be punished for something I did not do!” expressed Harris at the end of his teather.
“Somehow, I doubt that. For you see, I’m not really here…” and with that Willis well… vanished.
Was there a crime?
Two shadows danced in the shadows as its two matching figures walked hand in hand down the dimly lit back alley. Gone was the rubbish dump but the stench of downtown Tokyo clung to the walls as though it had been burnt by the hot sun of many scorching days only to be cooled by the sticky hot nights that hid all dark and devious deeds. As the previous two figures passed under the soft orange glow of a nearby streetlamp their faces emerged from the darkness that had previously smothered their features. One was a man and one was a woman. The man in his forties, although he looked sixty-odd, and the woman had dark brown shoulder-length hair and…a tattoo on her left shoulder of an elaborate red dragon.
