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New Mombasa 18th October 2552, 19:04, NMPD HQ Interrogation room

Dr. Endesha sat at the long rectangular table holding his hands tight around to polystyrene cup of coffee. Compared to the heat outside, the cold white room was freezing; he could see his breath as he exhaled deeply. He brought the cup of coffee that was rapidly cooling to his lips and finished it in a series of gulps. At the far end of the room the door boomed open and Officer Gaumbii walked in. He closed the door gently and it locked with an echoing click.
"Mr. Endesha, again me and my associates want to apologize for Kinsler's barbaric behavior." He started as he walked down the side of the table, footsteps resounding off the walls as he walked; he had changed from his officer clothes to a suit. "Although don't tell him I called his behavior barbaric as he would not hesitate to show me how barbaric he can be." He finished with a smirk and a small chuckle. Dr. Endesha also laughed and shivered at the same time.
"Not meaning to offend but is there a reason it's so cold in here?"
"That would be Kinsler making it uncomfortable for you; everything in this building is run by him. There is very little that the Superintendant can input in this place." Gaumbii said buttoning up his jacket.
"Why would you give one man this much control over his staff and building?"
"It's beyond me, as he said, what goes on in the building is his matter."

"Now," Gaumbii said briskly after a five second pause, "We've been through the wreckage of the Post Office in Lumumba while you've been here, and we retrieved your parcel containing the data crystal… mainly CCTV footage, old schedules for transport, memos and the likes, nothing that is suspicious in your line of work. Neither is it of actual use as it is two years out of date."
Dr. Endesha nodded.
"Yes I only deliver one of those packages a year… and I keep them two years prior to sending them off, just incase we need them. There are backups of the data and stuff – but ONI holds onto that – but if the Superintendant held onto these logs too long, it increases the likelihood for error. Of course it's smart enough to check it, but it saves time and aggravation for all."
"Nothing out of the ordinary then," Gaumbii said sitting on the edge of the table, "However, we are currently following the movements of Garbage truck 028. I must ask, have you ever met or heard of Officer Branley before?"
Dr. Endesha sat bolt upright, confused.
"No I haven't, why is that relevant?"
Gaumbii sighed and looked up at the ceiling.
"Because we have footage of him scaling the top of the very same truck that caused the explosion, it's possible he could have put an explosive substance with the trash. Yes, I know it's hard to believe, as soon as Kinsler found out he went berserk, arrested Branley himself." He pointed to the bruise above the doctor's nose, "You think that's bad… you should see Branley's face."
"From what I gathered officer, that boy seemed like a genuine caring person, I'm almost positive he wouldn't of done this."
"We are digging deeper tracking the trucks movements from the past month, I know he's innocent. But it is admittedly a strange coincidence that wouldn't stand up against the judiciary." Gaumbii said solemnly, "That's all I needed from you right now. You are free to go."

Dr. Endesha got to his numb feet and hobbled across the room alongside Gaumbii. Once through the titanium reinforced door Endesha went to go get another coffee while Gaumbii went to the toilet. The doctor met Officer Dustin in the corridor.
"Officer? Hello, um, do you know where Officer Branley is now?"
Dustin nodded, yes. He looked grim though.
"He was in the holding cells, but Kinsler took him back out again to his office. The elevator to that floor has been temporarily shutdown which means he's being tortured. We'd complain but the fact is crime in Mombasa in general has fallen dramatically since he took the job. No one will speak out against the commissioner." Dustin said as he scooped up some files from a filing cabinet near the wall. Dr. Endesha took a sip of his fresh coffee while thinking.
"You've been through hell today doc. I'd take a deserved rest if I were you; probably take a day off work. It must be damn cold in those underground tunnels." Dustin said finally skimming through the papers.
"Not as much as in that room, please tell him to call me when… if… he get's out in one piece."

*

Kinsler paced up and down his office overlooking the clouds hug the lean skyscrapers of New Mombasa. The sun was setting rapidly emitting an orange – pink glow across the skyline. He sighed, before running up to Officer Branley and kicking him down to the floor. The police officer was held by the arms of two SWAT guards who kept him still while Kinsler punched, kicked, slapped, and cut him. Branley's face was now purple and swollen, blood running down his nose, out of his mouth and cuts above the eyes.
"Officer Mike Branley… twenty-one, passed cadet academy with flying colors, gives generously to charities, no living family. A mixed profile for an Innie." Kinsler said as he kicked the officer in the chest, his boot knocked the breath out of his victim.
"I'm not an Innie; I don't know what you want me to say." Branley wheezed.
"Why the truth of course." The commissioner smiled, the two guards laughed behind their visors.
"I'm innocent."
"You're Innie?" Branley received a punch in the jaw.
"IN-NO-CENT!"
"Sorry misheard you." Kinsler laughed as he clenched his fist.
Branley collapsed; his police uniform was crumpled, torn in some places and mattered in blood. His nose was broke, and his ribs pained when he breathed in. He couldn't feel his arms or legs. Kinsler knelt down on the floor, gave Branley a firm slap to make him look at his intimidating face.
"You don't seem to have any training in explosives; maybe you took it as an extra-curriculum lesson at insurrectionist school. Am I right Branners?"
Branley's eyes wouldn't focus, he felt dizzy.
"Guards, take this officer back to the cells. He's being more stubborn than I anticipated, but rest assured he'll give us answers."
With that the guards dragged Branley out of the room, careful to give his raw legs carpet burn as they did so with speed. The officer only whimpered as he was dragged away. Kinsler swung his arms around loosely to relax his tense shoulders. He walked over to his desk and got out a bottle of Kenya Grape Whisky, a popular and expensive brand of alcohol. He filled up a glass and gulped it down in one. The commissioner then walked round his mahogany desk, reclined on his swivel chair and spun round too look out of the window at New Mombasa. His city.

*

Dr. Endesha paced up and down his laboratory. He had warned the Superintendant to turn up the heat ten minutes prior to his arrival. He took off his ruined sweater and put on his clean and ironed white lab coat. He scaled across the metallic floor to his computer screens. He stood at the keyboard.
"Superintendant, I want to see footage of the Oliphant Garbage Truck 028 for the past three weeks, fast forwarded at times thirty-two speeds." The doctor ordered in a hoarse voice. He grabbed a bottle of brandy from under his desk and took a long swig. His main screen flashed different images of the truck as scripted codes ran along side each image. After a few minutes the Superintendant chirped a series of beeps, loading completed.
"Thanks." Endesha said finishing another swig. He pressed enter on his keyboard, sat on his chair, and gazed at the screen as the video played. He was their for hours pausing, rewinding small segments where a sanitation worker would check or get in the vehicle, looking for anything that can prove Branley's innocence. The night turned to day before he reached a period of the film that took place the previous day. The screen went black for fifteen minutes in real-time and the text "ONI CLASSIFIED " blinked on and off.
"Pause! Pause it!" Endesha shouted with sudden adrenaline. His eyes were near to closed and he was tired. An empty brandy bottle and paper cups which held coffee lay at his feet. He read it over and over again. He had never seen this warning before. In seconds he reached for his phone on the edge of his desk and dialed a number at rapid speed. The Superintendants electronic voice sounded:
"Patching you through to ONI Officer Palk now."
Endesha rapped his fingers as he waited for the waiting music of violins to end.
"Doctor, what can I do for you?" A french woman asked from the other side of the line "I do hope your okay to be at work, all of us here at the ONI site feel…"
"Sorry ma'am this is of importance. What does the ONI code, Keigh-point-one-zero-zero-six-dash-eight-zero-six mean?" Dr. Endesha asked biting the bottom of his lip while he waited for the response.
The sound of typing could be heard as the woman searched for the code.
"Sorry for the wait, it is the personal code used by one Commissioner Kinsler."
Dr. Endesha's blood ran cold, he was momentarily frozen.
"Th… thank you ma'am." He said and immediately slammed the handset down, "Superintendant call me a taxi this instant, I want it here, pre-paid for and knowing to go the faster route to the NMPD building by the time I get up there."
The Superintendant gave a high pitched beep through the speakers.
"Do it!"
The Superintendant called the taxi, the sound of the ringing heard through the speakers to show he was doing it.

*

Endesha burst into the New Mombasa Police Department Headquarters lobby. Officer Gaumbii accompanied him. As the strode across the marble flooring officers and guests parted on looking as Gaumbii slid some rounds into his automag pistol with a silencer attached. At the far side of the grand lobby officer Dustin held open the doors of the elevator. He warned a fellow policeman way from the elevator as Dr. Endesha and Gaumbii approached.
"Hey Dustin what's the hold up?" the policeman inquired.
"It's an emergency."
The elevator doors slid closed and it was winched up along the spine of the building. They had two hundred floors to climb. Around two minute ride up. They reached 'Floor 195' – Holding Cells. The elevator beeped as the doors opened. Officer Gaumbii walked out.
"I'll get Branley out, Kinsler's men can't overrule the ONI authority, but just incase the certification won't do…" He brandished his weapon, "It could get rough."
Dr. Endesha nodded to his friend as the doors slid shut and to Gaumbii walked down the corridor. Two more floors later they reached Commissioner Kinsler's floor.
"This the floor?"
"Yes, remember to not give him anything to through back at you." Dustin said as he pressed the button on the control pad. The lift grinded to an abrupt halt. The music and lights died, and the two were thrown into darkness.
"What's going on?"
"The elevator stopped!" the officer kicked the door, "The bastard killed the power!"
Dr. Endesha began slapping the door, banging in fury. He could imagine Kinsler's smug face beaming down at the elevator that wouldn't outside his office. Which would mean Kinsler is planning something. This was a dangerous conspiracy. One that Kinsler wouldn't want on his head.

*

Officer Gaumbii turned the corner of the receptionist desk. Two policewomen got up from their seats, but Gaumbii's ONI Section One priority badge made them hastily sit down. The officer marched across another corridor to the cells. A SWAT guard blocked the door, he held a M90 shotgun. Gaumbii held up his hands, one with the badge and paper of approval, the other with his pistol.
"Hey, hey, hey!" The guard said, his riot helmet's orange visor reflected Gaumbii's image. He instantly brought up his shotgun, flicked the safety off.
"I am officer Gaumbii; I have official business from ONI Section One to release one officer Branley from custardy. If you do not comply you risk being harmed even fatally, you have the right to view the badge and documents, though I have the authority to retrieve the said prisoner with or without permission."
All of the time Gaumbii spoke the guard lowered his weapon and put a hand to his earpiece as a message came through. Although Gaumbii couldn't hear the message it became clear when the guard raised his shotgun and aimed at his chest. The officer's eyes widened in shock, he pieced it together.
"Any attempt to harm or stop me from completing this approved request will result in you facing grave penalties including imprisonment, conscription or execution."
The SWAT guard immediately began to approach him.
Gaumbii began to shake; this guard has bulletproof clothing and armor.
The guard came so close that Gaumbii could now here the screaming of the voice from his earpiece.
"… DO IT… NOW… SHOOT THE…"

Commissioner Kinsler looked at his personal widescreen TV, showing a live feed from a camera two floor's down. It showed a SWAT officer and officer Gaumbii in a wide corridor. The one with the shotgun listened as Gaumbii approached with a gun and a wallet in hand.
Kinsler smiled, straightened his suit and touched his earpiece in his left ear.
"Sergeant Mugabee, that man approaching you is highly dangerous. He's bypassed security with his fake badge. He's responsible for several deaths of staff. Take him out."
Kinsler knew his message was being received by the SWAT guard as he touched his ear to listen intensively. Although he couldn't hear what was being said Kinsler assumed it was the speech of ONI members before they barge into restricted areas. Sergeant Mugabee raised his shotgun on the screen and took steps towards Gaumbii. Kinsler gritted his teeth in anticipation.
"Do it sergeant. Come on! DO IT AND KILL THE BASTARD NOW! GO ON, SHOOT THE MAN!" He roared.
A second later on screen Kinsler's order was carried out. He watched the silent grayscale screen as Sergeant Mugabee fired his shotgun, a small white flash. Officer Gaumbii staggered back, mouth gawped open, his pistol and badge fell out his hands simultaneously, the man then fell on his back in his expanding pool of blood which showed up black on the screen. Kinsler gave a hearty laugh at the scene and clasped his hands together.
In that moment Dr. Endesha and Officer Dustin ran into his office. Kinsler looked at them, then at the screen.
"Sorry Doctor Endesha, I regret to inform you that Officer Gaumbii has been severely injured. Time of death three thirty a.m. nineteenth October. I'm deeply sorry for you loss." Kinsler gave his sinister smile at the two pained men. It suddenly turned into a fierce angered expression, "Why couldn't you have died doctor? I set it all up so well. With you gone, I would have a chance at gaining access to the New Mombasa AI. If not I would of killed each successor till I get the job."
Dr. Endesha took one step forward, but the familiar sounding of a gun's safety being clicked back echoed in his ear. He turned round to stare at Officer Dustin holding his automag pistol in the centre of his forehead.
"I apologize, doctor, but you're not the one who's paying me." Dustin said with no hint of compassion for his friend's death.
"You bastard!" Endesha muttered as he felt as if he'd been stabbed through the heart. The plan had come together. Kinsler's lust for power had destroyed Endesha's trust in humanity, he was brought up to think the Insurrectionist we're evil, dismissive of the fact the most evil people where the ones using them as scapegoats. "You planned this attack on me for years."
Kinsler nodded.
"You hardly leave your lab. I rigged the Oliphant truck ready to blow at the exact time and place where I knew you'd be. I got Dustin here to rob and old lady of her purse and throw it in the garbage in hope that one of Mombasa's finest would be caught skulking around the vehicle, then I have my suspect. After you get blown up to sky high ONI officials investigate. I interrogate the suspect, beat him senseless till he confesses to future terrorist attacks, and I become a hero. As a reward, I get access to the Superintendant and this city belongs to me."
Dr. Endesha glanced at the screen as medical staff and police stormed the corridor surrounding Gaumbii's dead body.
"A shame," Kinsler tutted, "as soon as I heard you were coming down I had Branley take a pill to help him forget the past two days. He'll never have met you, never know why he's been injured, his records wiped. I hate to kill two good men off in one day."
Dustin laughed as he thrusted his weapon into Endesha's forehead creating a ringed indent in the skin from pressure.
"Branley will be told he was knocked unconscious trying to protect me from a crazed ONI doctor with a gun. You'll have been shot by me in self defense; Dustin gets a promotion for his loyalty so on and so forth. That can be changed however…"
Both Endesha and Officer Dustin looked at Kinsler confused. The commissioner brought out his own pistol and walked over to Doctor Endesha. He out the gun in his hands. With sudden speed, Kinsler punched Dustin in the face. The officer was knocked to the ground. Endesha spun round to leave but Kinsler grabbed his arm tight.
"Shoot the officer who threatened you, you'll get to live, I'll blackmail you with the security tape in trade for your position and smuggle you out of the country."
"How do I know you will keep to your word?"
"You won't but better to live in hope than die without knowing am I right?"

Dr. Endesha shook wildly as he held the gun in his hands. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to be a pawn in Kinsler's horrifying plan. Too many people had died or been hospitalized in the past two days. It was only the next few words Kinsler said that swayed his mind…
"You have a daughter don't you?"
Dr. Endesha shed a tear, raised his gun at Dustin who tried to reach for his fallen pistol. It was a split-second decision which would haunt Endesha forever.
He fired his weapon.

Officer Branley awoke on the commissioner's sofa five hours later. His bruises had died down thanks to medical advancements; Kinsler was stood up watching him awake.
"Rise and shine officer." Kinsler smiled, and extended a fresh latté at Branley. The officer smiled politely and took it, with his free hand he reached for his head to find a plaster.
"What happened, I don't remember much of anything."
Kinsler say down beside him and sighed, smiling at the ceiling.
"Well my friend. There was an incident at the post office in Lumumba where you and Officer Dustin were caught in an explosion. You survived with serious head injuries. I am sorry to say Dustin died with glass wounds to his throat."
Branley looked mortified, and looked at the floor all of a sudden not feeling so thirsty.
"I am even more reluctant to tell you that Officer Gaumbii was caught in friendly fire yesterday. It was never proven what he was doing but the guard followed protocol to the letter and did what he felt was right. He was pronounced dead at the scene."
There was a cold silence in the room, Branley swallowed hard and put his drink down on the coffee table, pondering what to do next.
"I can understand how troublesome this must be for you, you've been promoted to work along side me, the pay is good. You start work tomorrow morning. Go get some rest." Kinsler said looking out of his large window at the New Mombasa skyline, "You have a big day ahead of you."

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