Stephanie Steele
Chapter 17

Andrea Tattenbach stepped out of Paradise City’s airport into the night and a raging rain storm. She flipped open her umbrella. The large rain droplets battered the material, threatening to tear holes in it. Huge puddles had formed on the road outside, the ancient drains unable to cope with the volume of water. Small rivulets spread around her sensible black shoes and away into the swollen gutter. She pulled the collar of her suit jacket tighter and clung to the umbrella handle lest it blew away.

The porter pushing the trolley with her luggage was less fortunate than her. He had no umbrella and his flimsy uniform wouldn’t keep him dry. Then, as an android, she expected the weather didn’t bother him as much as it bothered humans like her. Still, she felt sorry for him, and offered to share the umbrella. He politely declined.

Her flame red hair was tossed in the wind and she looked jet lagged. The deluge hadn’t delayed her flight but it had seemed like it. The flight from Chicago had been just under two hours but with check-in it had been four hours in total. She was tired and just wanted to get to her hotel as quickly as possible. She needed to register, dump her luggage and get to the office ASAP. Detective Frank had said they’d send a cruiser to pick her up but she couldn’t see it. Instead she decided to flag a cab, unwilling to wait in the rain.

The droid cabbie was polite and promised to get her to the Hotel Strand in fifteen minutes. The skyway was less busy this time of night, he told her.

As Andrea looked out the window of the cab at the city lights and noen vid ads below she thought about everything which had happened in the last forty eight hours. It was crazy how she had been head hunted by Paradise City’s new mayor, Laura Pinkerton, the contract signed and the transfer rushed through in no time. She was sad to be leaving Chicago but the job as chief of police there had become stagnant and unchallenging. Her assistant, Stephen Dalton, had been a nightmare, always undermining her. He had smiled pleasantly and wished her well before she left but she knew he was pleased to see the back of her, now that her job was his.

It was also a chance to start again without the ties. Her divorce last year had been tricky. Adam had wanted them to try again, but after taking him back twice before, a third time was not happening. Each time they’d split up it had been because he’d had affairs with women twenty years younger, barely out of diapers.

She looked at her reflection in the window and studied her face. She was attractive for a woman of forty five and she’d kept herself in good shape. Getting up early each morning and doing a workout at the gym before each shift had kept her toned and slim. She’d seen women her age and younger in terrible shape and looking ten years older. But that hadn’t been enough for Adam. She may have been able to forgive him if it had just been with a Cyber Doll, but they’d been human woman, and that, she couldn’t accept. The last one had been only twenty one. Just a fling he’d said. It meant nothing. She was just glad they’d never had any kids. Small mercies.

She checked her make-up in a compact mirror. It would have to do. She wanted to get in and out of the hotel as soon as possible. Get up to speed on the case.

The new post as chief of Paradise City PD was just the challenge she was looking for to take her mind off Adam. A city riddled with crime, rumours of corruption within the department, a mass killer of young children on the loose and a rogue android killing the mayor and two chiefs of police. Yes, this post would do her very nicely. She was looking forward to kicking some ass.

An hour later she was standing in front of her new department of detectives and beat cops telling them that she was going to clean up the city, that she was going to burn any bent cops, that she was stepping up the investigation into Leon and most importantly she wanted Detective Stephanie Steele found and brought into custody.

Walt had pointed out that she was dead. CCTV at the mayor’s house had positively identified her entering the property and there were many eye witnesses who saw her being arrested by the last chief, and that they’d found what was left of her body in the rubble.

Andrea had been sent Steele’s file and she’d read it on the flight and was positive she was still alive. She knew this because Steele had pulled a stunt like this before. One of her cases had involved infiltrating a gang of kidnappers with an android made up to look like one of them who Steele had captured two days earlier. The android infiltrated the gang and was able to extricate the victim without the rest of the gang knowing. So yes, Steele was still alive and still a danger she told Walt.

She ordered a city wide all-points bulletin on Steele with an authorisation the use lethal force, but wanted her hard drive so preferred it if she came back in one piece. She wanted to know what Steele knew about Leon as she was sure the detective had been withholding information. If it was at all possible she wanted Steele brought in unharmed so she could interrogate her.

Walt knew that the chances of bringing in Steele without filling a few body bags was next to zero. He wished Andrea luck with that one and hoped he wouldn’t be assigned the job.

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