The Alibi – Chapter 43 Section V Mega Chapter 2 (part 9)
John Rhinehold palmed his BPD Detective’s shield as he stepped out of his blue Suburu WRX. He parked across the street from the police barricades and crime scene tapes and the WRX, modified well beyond Suburu’s specs, locked itself and went on stand-by as he walked away. He pulled a pair of heavier than usual RayBans out of his shirt pocket, put them on, and put in some earbuds.
His phone pinged a TXT message. The phone had four SIMs which activated randomly and he routinely switched these with a number of SIMs he kept specifically for randomizing purposes. The incoming TXT came from one of his burners planted at locations from Portland through Portsmouth to Boston then onto Providence, Hartford, and NYC. It’d be pointless to TXT back because whoever knew about the phone would know enough to destroy the SIM and smash the phone for double-good measure.
He read the TXT and his eyebrows lifted momentarily.
A foot patrol officer came up to him. “Something I can do for you?”
Rhinehold put his phone away and flashed his badge. The foot officer nodded and let him past.
SkyHook security didn’t accept the badge as valid until Throne gave him an Okay via a phone call. “Yeah, he was with me yesterday. Let him through but keep your eyes on him. No souvenir hunting.”
The security guard, wearing a dark gray pinstripe suit, open collared pink oxford sans tie, and comfortable loafers, smiled at Rhinehold. “I’ll go with you. Maybe you’ll see something we missed.”
Rhinehold smiled. Smooth, friend. Smooth.
Forensics hadn’t cleared the blast zone for cleanup and grit crunched underfoot as they walked. Rhinehold smiled. The crunching reminded him of his mother’s stories of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, how everybody and their brother scrambled to get a piece of history and offer it to the highest bidders, how the ground crunched underfoot from gravel to grit as more and more people came from around the world to claim this moment of history.
The backwash of daylight grew less and less as they walked deeper and deeper into the garage. Rhinehold pulled a small light out of his pocket and flicked it on. A pale green light misted in the garage like a gentle spring rain.
The guard squinted into the light’s mist.”Doesn’t throw much light.” He lifted his phone. Rhinehold held his hand up. “No thanks. I got this.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to take off your sunglasses?”
“Sensitive eyes.”
Rhinehold splayed the light back and forth like it was a hand-held lighthouse searching for ships lost at sea.
Nothing, nothing.
Nothing, nothing.
They walked towards Shaul’s destroyed Exige.
Something!
Rhinehold stopped walking. His brow furrowed, his hand held the light still and fixed as he focused.
The guard squinted into the dim green light. “What? What is it?”
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Rexall Shaul sat on the remains of his Exige shaking his head. The sharp edges left by the explosion didn’t bother him. He realized he didn’t interact with objects normally any more. He could sit on, sit halfway in so twisted metal came through him, sit on the floor with his head poking through what use to be a fender and wheel well. It didn’t matter. “Fuck that heaven and hell bullshit they taught me in Sunday School, right, Shaul? Oh, no, Father Huntress, none of that matters now, huh? And all those times you asked me into your office to help you with your robes? You sick fuck. But I have you to thank for setting me on this path, didn’t I?” He laughed. “Yeah, a fucking path to being dead and unable to do anything about it.”
A thought struck him and his head snapped up. “Hey…where are all the other dead people? Boston? The waterfront? I can’t be the only person who’s died here in all of history. Thiis place should be crawling with spooks.”
A green light filled the garage and he felt it as a pressure on his skin, the warmth of sunlight on a Bermuda beach. “This is not how it’s suppose to be. I had a job to do. I was careful. I fucking trained saboteurs and terrorists, goddammit.” He looked up, his eyes above the lightbeam and directly on Rhinehold face. “Shit. The last time we worked together was JAWBREAKER. And you thought we made out well then? Boss, if only I was alive and could tell you what I’ve learned. We could both be rich.” He stood up. “Wait a second. I’m a ghost. And I decide how much I interact with not-dead things.” A twisted smile creased his lips.
***
Rhinehold’s glasses picked up an ion-trace trailing through the garage, it went back and forth like a dog tracking down a fox. The trace increased density at the rear of the Exige, as if whatever caused it stopped to admire the flash car.
An invisibility cloak?
All the tech companies he’d looked into were close but wrong and the goal was a cloak like J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. He heard SkyHook was close. His man here never reported anything like this but this cinched it.
The ion trace. The byproduct of polarized matter?
Something else flickered on the edge of light. He turned the light towards it. A fresh trace. It moved out from the Exige.
He kept moving the light and played it on the walls and floor, always keeping it moving while he adjusted both the beam and his glasses. A trace flickering, yes, and he took a chance and followed the trail.
There it was. Polarized matter.
Keep the light moving!
Whoever this operative was, they may be able to tell when his light hits them. Keep it moving.
One trace active.
He took a dare, caught an image from the floor, traced it’s foggy outline up.
Jesus Fuck Christ! It’s a man!
He kept the light moving up unilt it played along the ceiling.
Whoever it was came back to check on the damage? What the hell did they use that was portable and could do this kind of damage?
He’d worry about that later.
The fog outlined figure turned and looked directly at him. He kept moving his light all around, using his peripheral vision to determine where they were, his eyes always looking where the fog figures wasn’t while seeing where it was for another thirty seconds, then removed his glasses. “Yeah, right. Much better with the sunglasses off, huh? Duh.”
Rhinehold chuckled as he secured his glasses and the light back in his pockets.
A functioning invisibility cloak was good enough, but polarized matter could give you real anti-gravity.
And what a wonderful weapon that would make.
SkyHook’s security guy looked around. “Did you hear that?”
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