New Breed

Aaron

Howels slid behind the wheel. He waited for Sparrow to close the door. A courtesy he extended to few, as his patience was short and Howels was not below driving away with his passenger falling out of the car. “You need to pay more attention to what you say. Now they know that Cindy Ferbaugh is a victim.”

“I didn’t say that she was murdered.” Sparrow sighed. This was not he first time he had slipped up with information in an investigation. A previous inquiry was destroyed by his inability to keep back information. It had happened when he was a rookie, but his coworkers never let him forget about it. “I’m sorry. I’ve messed up the investigation.”

Howels scanned his fingerprint to start the car. “No. It wasn’t detrimental to our investigation. We need to check out Ferbaugh’s apartment. She may have more documents on her research.”

“Do you think she was killed for her research? I thought this was a New Breed homicide.” Sparrow scrunched his face. “Is this bigger than we thought? Am I on a real case?” The other cases were simple and required no in-depth investigation and had been solved within a few days. This could be Sparrow’s first proper investigation.

The tall detective frowned. “Every case is real.” He pulled into the police-parking garage. “Aaron, you need to think before you speak. I know you are hyper and loquacious, but that can get you into trouble. Don’t say everything that pops into your head.”

“How often do I speak?” Sparrow carried the evidence into the elevator. This was an issue that was brought to his attention previously but he had dismissed it as other’s poking fun at him.

“A lot.”

Sparrow poked the button with his only free finger, his pinky. “Do I ramble?”

“Yes.” Howels was reading over his notes. “Yesterday you pondered on the great mystery of how much further our technology would have advanced if New Breed hadn’t almost destroyed the world.”

Sparrow played with the plastic bags. “It was only 50 years, but it could have set us back 100 technical years.”

“I know.” Howels nodded to his notebook. “It’s here in my notes. You then spent over an hour describing in detail the inventions you wish were finished and mass produced.”

“All of that is in your notes?”

“There’s a summary.” He tucked the notepad into his pocket. Howels tilted his head up to the corner of the elevator and smirked to the camera. The thought of what that camera had seen crossed his mind. It always made him squirm inside to think about the tapes being checked. But he could not be the only person if the office to have an in office affair captured on the elevator tapes.

Perhaps the tapes would not create a negative impact on Howels’s reputation. He was offer referred to as inhuman and devoid of emotion. Some people in the department went as far as to call him a robot. The ding of the elevator snapped Howels back into the present and he continued to hear Sparrow speaking.

“There are some things that should stay private.” Sparrow allowed his superior to exit the elevator first. “Don't show that notepad to anyone.”

“Sharing my notes would gain me nothing.” He pulled a chair from the desk before sitting in his own seat. “I’m more interested in Ferbaugh’s notes. Regular office hours were over at her time of death. Why was she walking home with work documents at that hour?”

The young detective wrote his own note as he absentmindedly sat in the presented seat. The evidence was carefully placed on the desk. “It could be a coincidence. The company was trying to test and approve a new alloy. Ferbaugh might have stayed late in the lab.”

“That is a valid point.” Howels woke up his desk. He brought up the city map. “Ferbaugh murder scene was on the main path from BioPet Industries to her apartment. BioPet Industry files say that she left work at 11:42.” The files were added to the virtual desk. “Time of death was around midnight. Evidence suggests that she went from her work straight to her apartment.”

Sparrow was examining his notes. “We need to go back to the company and see if anyone else had a late night. Also, we can check which employees stay late regularly and if they have had any problems with New Breed.” He frowned at the notebook. “It is odd that a New Breed came so far into the city.”

“They take the sewers.” Howels typed notes into the desktop. “New Breed this far in isn’t unheard of. The odd thing about this case is that it is similar to other recent deaths. Two other BioPet employees and a reporter.”

“Other scientists?”

“Correct.” Howels slid the digital files to Sparrow’s desktop. “They worked in the smaller labs that are housed in other parts of the city.”

Sparrow poked at the files. He scrolled through the other district’s case. “Out of our jurisdiction. Still labs, though.” He leaned back in his chair. “Drugs?”

“That is a decent guess. We’ll collect more evidence and I’ll let the other districts know about Ferbaugh. Right now, we let the evidence paint a picture for us and we can speculate later.”

Aaron Sparrow nudged the desktop. “Amelia Curta. She’s the head of that department. Did she know about the other deaths?”

“There’s cause to guess that she was told about them. I doubt she knew the other’s personally.” Howels folded his hands and relaxed in his seat. “She has a past with New Breed.”

“Past?”

Howels pulled up the police report. “At age 20 she had gone to visit her parents only to find that they had been murdered by a New Breed.” He rested his head on his knuckle. Howels let his eyebrows rest and widened his eyes slightly. “Sorry, I know it’s still fresh.”

“Next week makes one year.” Sparrow dropped his gaze to the desktop. His eyes weren’t looking at anything in particular. “I’m not holding a grudge against them. They were programed to think like wild animals. And a Type 3 Small Dog BioPet was no match for a New Breed Wolf. I told them that.”

Aaron’s vision blurred and he could feel the tears stinging. He had offered his Type 1 BioPet to stay with them. But his mother had insisted that the robotic bear stay with him.

BearSaw had been given to him at a young age. The BioPet protected him and allowed Sparrow to grow without any harm. This was a difficult task because the Sparrow family lived at the edge of the city.

Sparrow’s grandfather had purchased BearSaw when the Type 1 line was first released. There was little supply for the great demand of the BioPets. They were the only proven method of protection against New Breed.

His grandfather told the story of how they had escaped the New York City. People fled to the country in the hopes that there was less of the New Breed. It was a grave mistake. New Breed factories had long been in the forests hidden by the trees.

He had nightmares about the New Breed stories when he was young. Sparrow imagined the fear the fleeing city dwellers had when they discovered the factories. New Breed surrounded them with armor that could stop a bullet.

Sparrow’s family probably felt the same as the Wolf crept into their house. The Small Dog, lovingly named Duke, was swatted out of the way. The investigators found the Type 3 Small Dog destroyed. Duke fought to protect his masters.

“Are you doing anything for it?” Howels straightened his back.

Sparrow jumped. “The anniversary?” He played with his desktop by shifting icons around the screen. “I’m going to visit the graves. Will you come with me?”

“To your parent’s graves?” Howels stared at him. “Yeah.”

A large box was tossed between them. “Here are all of the papers found at the Ferbaugh house.” The police officer lifted out the folders and stacked them on the desk. “It looks like research for a new line of BioPets.”

“Thank you.” Howels waved the uniform away. “This should be more research on Titan Feather.” He shifted the folders and flipped through the papers. “It looks like Cindy was experimenting on New Breed armor. She was examining the type of steel used.”

Sparrow frowned. “Why? The steel used on New Breed should have nothing to do with a new alloy created in her lab. What does Titan Feather have to do with New Breed steel?”

“Maybe nothing.” The tall detective read over more of the reports. “It’s strange that she was recently hired, then killed.”

Aaron turned to the wall. “New Breed doesn’t care about occupations. I told you, they are wild animals.”

“Let’s take a walk.” Howels tossed the file onto the stack. “I think you need some fresh air.” He slid his jacket on in one movement. “Bring your bear. We might need him.”

Sparrow fell into the passenger seat and dialed on his cell phone. “Are we going out of the city?” He held his thumbs above the screen with part of a message typed.

“We have a few stops to make.” Howels scanned his finger. “We can start with the reporter’s apartment.” He handed Sparrow his notebook. “That’s the address. Tell your friend to meet us there.”

Aaron sent the message. “The address is the edge of the city. This is near where I grew up.” He ran his thumbs together and allowed them to circle while he thought. “I haven’t been that close to the wilderness for years.”

“It’ll be okay.” Howels rested his arms on the steering wheel. It took little effort to turn the wheel. Sometimes, the detective would rotate the wheel only inches and allow the automatic driving of the car to take over. “It’s a long ride, do you want anything?”

Sparrow sighed and fell back against the seat. “Snacks?”

“Wake up, Sparrow.” Howels backhanded Aaron’s shoulder. “Aaron! We’re here.” He sighed before he ripped open the car door. “Wake up your master,” he yelled over the hood.

The large jaw opened outside Sparrow’s window. A roar echoed through the decrepit buildings and the grey hills. It shook the bulletproof glass of the car.

“BearSaw!” Sparrow screamed through the window. His chest heaved and he stared around with wide eyes. “Greg,” he sighed while looking through the open door to Howels. “I told you to not do that.”

Howels shrugged. “Get up when you’re told. Then I won't use your bear as an alarm clock.”

“It my bear. He’s not suppose to take orders from you.” Sparrow slammed the door. “You’re my pet,” he yelled to the bouncing bear. “You take orders from me.”

The robotic bear rolled onto his back. His tongue hung out as he panted happily. Small roars and yelps came from the massive beast. He wiggled around on the grass.

“Yeah, yeah. Just stay out here and guard the place.” Sparrow waved at Bearsaw. “Goofy creature.”

Howels was already in the building and searching with a small flashlight. “The other tenants left after the murder. Last straw, I suppose. It was the tenth death in three months.”

“I read the report.” Sparrow shoved his hands into his pockets. “This isn’t my first case.”

“I know.” Howels turned away and became interested in his beam of light.

Sparrow’s eyes followed the light. “We’re searching for documents? The local collected little evidence and none of it was paper.” He bit his lip. “I guess they just didn’t want to bother investigating a death that could be chalked up to a New Breed attack.”

“It’s what they’re use to.” Howels trudged up the stairs to the next landing. “Here’s the apartment.” A loud thump told Sparrow that the door had been kicked open. “Aaron, get up here.”

Aaron dashed up the stairs and into the reporter’s apartment. “Is it something important?”

“Yeah.” Howels handed a stack of papers to Sparrow. “I think we’ll skip the murder scene tour. We have a stop to make that is more important.”