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Chapter 11: Mission Brujo

  We now had charges on Delgado for resisting with the weapon. Etienne was cleared to upload him as a suspect. Rafe was sending Aroz’ upload from the van’s Translator. He had already sent up the shooter. Three more personalities for Saint Peter to roast on a spit. We didn’t have anything on the doorman. His little gun was legal on the property with the owner’s permission. There was no opportunity for him to use it in a crime. He got swabbed and held for a statement. The other two guys and their girls appeared to be a business arrangement for today’s porn session. The blonde was called Amanda. They were inebriated and frankly too simple to have been up for a kidnapping. That was the impression received when I separated and took statements from them. Saint Peter was in my ear, offering questions I hadn’t thought of.

  After getting swabs, Saint Peter asked me to release them. He wanted to develop assets in the porn industry side. Fine with me, it would be easier to hang a harboring charge on Delgado if the house wasn’t a circus when the Policia got here.

  It was more than an hour before the Policia came to call. Father Cervantes and Nuncio had been working the scene for a half hour. Sargento Gomez offered no explanations. Cooperation was already slipping. His men rounded up our three criminals and confiscated a suppressed Ranchero rifle. The doorman got his pistol back and was treated and discharged. They gave him a lift to his sister’s. Saint Peter filed to put him under surveillance. His communications should be very interesting for a few days.

  We hung around a couple hours to watch the Father’s back. They finally packed up before two, so I called ahead to Esmeralda and told her to expect us for late lunch. She said Memo was home and feeling much better. I wasn’t sure if she was sincere or Memo was feeding her lines. I told her I’d see them and hung up.

  We kept the HGD signs on. It was still delivery hours, so we would blend back in for a while and then become "Dr. German’s mobile veterinary service" for the drive home. A play to make us harder to track, straight out of the Field Wiki. I didn’t want to bring trouble to Tio’s, now that shots had been fired.

  Memo opened the barn doors for us. His left arm and shoulder were bulked up with an orthopedic Skin. I had seen them used on wounded, but usually for legs. This made him look like a gladiator. His range of motion seemed fair and the doors were hard to move. I would have to get the name of that surgeon. Memo was pretty excited. The surgeon had rebuilt his bones and put a mixture of bots on the wound. Then the base doctor had built the Skin over his arm a layer at a time. The whole thing generated a healing field and was stronger than his old arm. He thought the doctors were going to kiss over the Virtual when they started complimenting each other’s work.