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< Part 31
Everton’s
vision was blurred as he awoke. He didn’t recognize his surroundings. He was
laying on a pallet of some sort close to the floor. He blinked a few times and
his vision cleared. He was in a dimly lit room. The walls were bare wood
paneling. A small oil lamp in the corner
was the only illumination.
“Ahh,
you’re awake.”
He heard Hawke’s
voice from behind him somewhere. He tried to roll over to see the man who had
somehow bested him. He couldn’t roll over. He was tied down quite tightly. He
glanced down, he was wearing unfamiliar clothes. He flexed his fingers, trying
to feel for the triggers that he had built into his gloves. He wasn’t wearing
his gloves. His gauntlets were gone. He was stuck.
“I got you
some dry clothes. I hope you won’t mind. You were quite hypothermic already, I
didn’t want you sick.”
“I trust
you have not harmed my creations?”
“Oh, you
mean the gadgets built into your coat and gauntlets?” Jason smiled. “No,
they’re fine.”
“Gadgets.”
Dr. Montebanque spat the word.
“You had
some very groundbreaking things, Dr. Montebanque. I mean that in the nicest
possible sense. I meant what I said before; you are truly a genius, a man ahead
of your time. Or perhaps behind your time.”
“Nonsense.
I only find solutions to the problems of our age.”
“Yes,
about that. I suppose that robbing a train could be considered a problem in
need of a solution, but I’m not sure that the authorities will agree.”
“You are
the authorities, are you not?”
Jason
pulled up a chair and sat opposite the low pallet. “I work on behalf of my client,
not the police. I’m a detective for hire.”
“Then I
have not assaulted a police officer. I feel better already. It also means that
I do not need to talk to you. If you’ll kindly return my things, I will be
going.” Everton shifted his weight, trying to find a more comfortable position.
“Well,
it’s not that simple, really. Whether I am the police or not, a crime was
committed. Tell me: if the perpetrator of the crime is handed to the police,
will they refuse the offer?”
Everton
grumbled. He knew it was true. “And you’re about to tell me that I have other
options?”
“Help me
catch the others. I know you’re not the leader of the group.”
Everton
laughed, “I thought you had Charlotte in custody already. Can’t she tell you all
that you need to know?”
Hawke gave
a sly smile. “A necessary lie. We do have her under custody; unfortunately, she
is not currently in a condition to speak. She was involved in an accident and
is currently recuperating in hospital. They have her sedated.”
“I see.
You need me then. Which gives me a much better bargaining position.” Everton
gave a bittersweet grimace. “In point of fact, there is no way you know I am
not the leader. Perhaps I will tell you that there is another leader in order
to get what I want.”
“True.” Hawke replied. “I cannot prove whether
you are the leader. I suspect that you are not the criminal type, merely a man
who took an opportunity. Though, I suspect an operation planned and led by you
would not have seen two people already caught. You are a wise man. You could
have planned a better heist, I’m sure.”
“Well. In
our defense, we pulled it off. But you’re right, I am not the leader.” Everton
made another grimace. “I am unarmed, could you loosen these ropes? If we are
going to talk as gentlemen, I would like to be able to sit up like a
gentleman.”
Hawke
untied Everton. He sat up on his pallet and rubbed the spots on his wrists
where the ropes had been. He brushed some dirt off the unfamiliar shirt he was
wearing. He stood and stretched his arms and legs before sitting again and
facing his captor.
“I hope
you are more comfortable, Dr. Montebanque.” Hawke handed him a small canteen of
water. “If you’d like something harder to drink, let me know.”
Everton
took a long drink of the water. He was stalling. He didn’t know if he wanted to
talk to this man. He didn’t want to help him. “Why should I help you rather
than going straight to the police myself? I’m sure they could offer as good or
better than anything you could.”
“Ok. You
can go to the police then. They will take your information. They will make you
an offer. I’m sure they will want to know how you’re involved in this whole
thing. They may even want to come to your shop and see the sorts of things you
work on there.”
Hawke walked
over to the pallet with the wingsuit boot. “They may want to see the wingsuit
up close. They may want to know how you produced a material such as carbon
fiber. It’s a tricky thing to make without illegal technology, isn’t it?”
He pulled
a small device from his pocket and tossed it on Everton’s lap. “They might be
curious what this device does.”
Everton
picked up the device and recognized it as his own handiwork. It was a prototype
long-distance communication device. It used a coiled spring to turn a small
inducer that could generate a weak radio wave. It was not specifically illegal
to do this, but it was dangerously close to the line.
Jason sat
down again in the chair and put his hands on his knees, leaning toward Everton
as he continued, “You are a smart man, Dr. Montebanque. You walk the fine line
between invention and technology. How confident are you that you’ve never
crossed it? The police will be much less tolerant of Digit sympathizers than I
am.”
“That is
uncalled for!” Everton stood and pointed at Hawke. “I will not stand for such
slander!”
Hawke put
a hand on Everton’s shoulder, “Take it easy, Dr. Montebanque. I don’t care what
you do. I’m not going to report you. But you should know that the punishment
for technology is far greater than the punishment for theft. The difference
between me and the cops is that I wouldn’t care if you were a footsoldier in
the Technologist Army. I just want to get my hands on the stolen property and
find the man who organized your group.”
“I will
return the money, or my portion of it. I cannot guarantee that the others have
not already spent theirs.”
“Fair
enough. You give your portion of the money back. If we capture your
co-conspirators, I can negotiate on your behalf for a light sentence.”
“I will
not bargain on anything that involves jail time.” Everton crossed his arms.
“I cannot
guarantee that. But I think a period of house arrest would not be out of the
question.”
“I want
freedom to work. I don’t want people checking in on what I’m doing.”
Jason
smiled, “So long as you can avoid giving them a reason, I won’t speak a word of
anything I’ve seen.”
Everton
took a deep breath. Could he betray the others? What if Hawke couldn’t capture
them all? What happens when the others are out of jail? Will they come after
him? If he doesn’t agree, what will happen to him? He’d surely be branded a
traitor. He was careful not to cross the line, but the line wasn’t as solid as
people made it out to be. He knew that more than a few of his creations could
easily be called illegal.
If he was
branded a Digit, he’d never see the light of day. Technologists were given no
mercy. He couldn’t handle that. There was nothing the others could do that
would be worse than being called a traitor. If they killed him, it would be
more merciful than the life of a convicted Technologist. He looked at his
hands, battered and filthy. Those hands had made countless amazing creations.
He couldn’t stop doing that.
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