Epilogue
A red light blinked in Detective Stone’s left peripheral vision. An emergency call was coming in. He acknowledged the call and a deeply tanned, round face instantly filled his console screen. Captain Romero stared at him from the console, the muscles of his jaw clenched and unclenched spasmodically.
Great, thought Stone, he’s pissed. “Yes, Captain?” He asked.
“You take your meds today, Stone?” The gravelly voice of the Captain shot from the speakers.
That’s a weird question, “Yeah. Why?”
“You won’t believe me if I tell you. Access department vid-feed, file number 9847342-AF.” The Captain sat back and crossed his arms.
Stone closed his eyes and pulled up the department’s vid-feed library. He commanded the AI to access file 9847342-AF and waited the moment it took to load.
The holo burst to life in his mind. Like a fly on the ceiling, he saw the inside of a cell. The prisoner sat in the middle of the floor, resting his weight on one arm, head down. He was soaked in sweat, surrounded by a pool of liquid, and it looked like he’d messed himself.
The prisoner looked up and Stone’s heart froze, then burst in fury. It was prisoner 250465. He hated that monster! The worst part was knowing they’d never have caught the freak if not for the anonymous tip.
“Yes!” 250465 cried. “I was blind... Forgive me.” And he was crying. Tears streamed down his cheeks, his eyes were puffy red.
If it had been almost anyone else, Stone would have sworn he heard true remorse in his voice. But not this monster, he thought, he’s broken beyond repair.
“I know.” 250465 said. A moment later he repeated, “I know.”
What’s going on here? 250465 seemed like he was talking to someone. But he was alone in the room. Maybe he’s completely crazy now.
250465 stood and stepped to the wall. He examined it closely for a minute and then placed his right palm flat against the surface. His body blurred, shimmered, and then vanished.
“What in the..?” Stone gasped waiting for the punch line. He swallowed hard. “Is this a joke, Captain?”
“No.” Captain Romero responded, breaking through Stone’s initial shock. “Last night at twenty-two hundred hours, Prisoner 250465 vanished from his cell. At first we thought he was vaporized. But ten minutes ago a facial recognition AI picked up his image in Old Town. That’s why I’m bringing you in on this one.”
“What about his tracker?” Stone asked.
Captain Romero shook his head. “His tracker AI went silent the same time he disappeared. He’s off grid.”
“Crap!” Stone muttered. No-one’s ever escaped Hell’s Tower. Why did 250465 have to be the first?
He backed the holo up and stopped right before prisoner 250465 placed his hand on the wall. Then he zoomed in tight—Was that a crack?—and replayed it at one-tenth speed. The crack began glowing when his hand was an inch from the wall. When he touched it his hand grew translucent. Then it became so bright it looked like white-hot steel, his body shimmered and he was gone.
Where had he gone?
Stone backed the vid up to when 250465’s hand started glowing. He set it to one one-hundredth speed, and let it play.
There!
When the hand was blinding bright, it seemed to squeeze into the crack in the wall. The rest of 250465’s body followed, swallowed in a fraction of a second.
“Techs review this Captain?” Stone asked.
Captain Romero nodded, “They found no evidence of tampering. This is the raw video…”
“But did they see this?” Stone isolated two seconds of the zoomed footage and sent it to the Captain. Then he cut the link to the holo, opened his eyes, and said, “Watch the wall and his hand.”
A moment later Captain Romero asked, “How’s that possible?”
“How’s any of this possible, Captain?” Stone rubbed his eyes. I Should’a shot him on the spot the first time I saw him, Stone thought. But he said, “We knew this freak was trouble from the start. Now he’s on the lose again…”
End
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