Rogue(102)
If she was going to give me easy outs, I’d take them.
“Yeah, I was meeting a girl, or I was supposed to. She didn’t show. Instead, this guy cuts me and takes off with my pouch. Ellie’s not sure what I was doing. I told her I went sightseeing and got lost.”
“They got your pouch,” she said, “but not your very expensive commlink.”
“I had a pretty tight grip on it and I’d already called for help.”
“No, you hadn’t,” she said. “Even if the call didn’t connect, the attempt would be archived. It’s not.
“So, what are you doing that you’d try not to report a fight like that the second it happened? Your first call was to your wife, who called medics only, not police.”
“Alright, dammit,” I said. I went for the embarrassed whisper. “I was meeting a man.”
She snorted, leaned back and said, “Is it industrial or political spying?”
“What? I am not a spy!”
“Stow the fake outrage. I’m not impressed.”
“I can tell,” I said, giving in with a smile. “You’re very sleek in that coat. What are you wearing underneath?”
She stood, restraining a disgusted look.
“This conversation is not over. You will not be leaving here without escort and interview,” she said. I could feel the heat.
We’d see about that.
I felt my body from inside. I had legs and balance and the pain was controlled with medication. I could walk. Sooner was better, so I gave her twenty minutes to clear the building. Then I eased myself out of bed, turned off the monitor so it read “Disconnected,” not flatline. A nurse assistant arrived at once, but I said, “I need to walk. It helps me focus. Exercise.”
“I need to check with the doctor before I allow that, sir,” he said.
“Of course,” I said. I extended my good arm, and he took it, so to assist me back to bed.
I dragged for just a moment so he thought I was a little weak. He leaned to lift me.
That’s when I hit him, hard up into the solar plexus. He whuffed and curled up, unable to breathe, and I levered him into the bed. I pinned him with my weak hand and my weight on his throat, snagged a restraint, then another and pulled his limbs out like a starfish. It had to make his guts hurt even worse, but he seemed to understand he wasn’t going to be hurt further, and stopped resisting.
His nose seemed clear enough, so I gagged him with a handful of gloves, then selected a mild tranquilizer that would keep his vitals near normal. I slapped it on his arm.
That left me free to walk out.
It hurt like hell, but I put on a calm face and walked out toward the monitor station.
Ideally, I’d walk past with a nod and they’d not question it. Though if they recognized me and connected that to the monitor I wasn’t using, they might question me. Or if the investigator had said anything to them.
One of the monitors saw me and jumped up.
“Sir, you’re not allowed to be out here,” she said as she came around the counter and through the ratchet turnstile.
“I’m much better and I will follow up with a private doctor at once,” I said. “I have some important matters to attend to.”
“You can’t do that. You have to stay here.”
“Says who? I have freedom of travel, don’t I?”
She raised herself up and said, “Not under medical supervision, no.”
Perfect.
It’s a cultural thing on Earth. People don’t talk back to authority figures. If you do, you’re either a criminal, or powerful. I did not present as criminal.
The trick is not to threaten with an “attorney.” No one ever believes that.
“Ma’am, I’m a close personal friend of Assemblywoman Vingai, of Quebec. You may recall her campaign has had considerable hassle from right wing corporatists. We’re taking such attacks very seriously, and they will be addressed after the election. I promise you, if I am detained, it will make the news.”
“Sir, I don’t want any trouble, but the investigator said—”
“That ‘investigator’ is a plant by ADM to embarrass the assemblywoman. You call up the bureau and ask about her. They won’t tell you anything because she’s not on official business.”
“Sir, you’re hurt, and—”
“I’m only slightly hurt due to a private matter of mine. This has no bearing on the assemblywoman. I have a right to free association. Are you questioning our rights?”
I’d twisted the argument from me, to a politician, and implied the investigator was fake. I’d like to pull out an official looking ID in a moment and make them cringe. However, all my possessions were in their custody.