Excerpt from
Digital Destiny
A Futuristic Crime Thriller
by Jeromie Carr & James Dunn
http://www.DigitalDestinyBook.com
Prologue
It's too bad she'll have to die, Bart Wolfield thought as he
journeyed down the winding mountain road into the sprawling
With little emotion, he activated his electronic D-vice and called up her semi-nude picture. Briefly letting his vehicle pilot itself, he examined her shapely frame in much the same way as a doctor would examine a patient for physical anomalies. While she was no more perfect or imperfect than any of the other sixteen women he had interviewed, she was in reasonable enough health to endure the several-hours long process that awaited her. More importantly, she, above the other women, worked alone and was the least likely to be missed.
He then placed a video call. “Herr Linck, is everything prepared at the lab?”
Linck responded in a thick Czech accent. “Sir, with all due respect, are you certain you should be communicating with me so close to your destination? You are traceable.”
“Don't worry,” Wolfield replied. “You and I are about to become a part of history, my friend. Nothing will take that away from us. Even you have yet to see how well our boss and I have planned this. Nobody will have any record of us tonight. Not the girl's business logs, not R-CARS, not the police, and not the entire global DDI data repository. Our employer’s destiny will be taking a giant leap tonight.”
“Understood. Everything is prepared,” Linck affirmed to his boss as he terminated the call.
Wolfield took one final look at the lovely young woman’s picture before resuming control of his steering wheel as he thought with a satisfied smirk, At least you won’t remember dying.
1
Anita Alvarez reflected on the initial conversation she had a week ago with tonight’s first-time customer:
“Sex is my profession. What kind of experience are you looking for?” she asked, speaking into the Mayan pendant dangling from her neck. The pendant was a voice interface D-vice to Digital Data Incorporated’s master data transfer system.
“I have several criteria,” the man’s voice replied in a businesslike tone. “I found your name in DDI’s directory, and I’m shopping for someone who can provide a diversion at my business when I work there late at night.”
“You came to the right place,” Anita assured him in a
slightly accented but refined voice. “I’m fully licensed in the State of
“You sound like a very kind woman, Anita.” The man addressed her by her name for the first time.
Anita popped a gremlin into her mouth. The specially designed legalized drug gave her a slight tingle and helped her to relax. Its principally non-addictive effect would wear off before the next client arrived. “Siren Song” was the brand she favored. Anita slumped a little in her couch as the gremlin began to dissolve.
As she sat on her aging early 21st century couch, Anita further attempted to scope out this new potential customer. “It sounds like you want an all-nighter?”
“Oh, yes,” the man clarified. “Forgive me. I should have said that. I’ve never made this type of arrangement before.”
Anita settled into a more comfortable mood. “I can make our time together very memorable for you. Do you know what I charge for all-night sessions?”
“Yes, I saw your ad,” the man replied. “Trust me, price is not an issue.”
“It’s too late for an all-night appointment tonight. I already have several appointments. As long as you give me a few days notice, I can arrange things.”
“Good,” the man responded. “I won’t need your services until next week at the earliest, anyway.”
Anita felt like she was on a job interview. Normally, potential customers only asked what she would do and how much she charged.
Anita stated. “I like to see the faces of my customers. Do you mind if I switch you to video?”
“Not at all.”
“Give me a visual of the call,” She commanded a large, ultra-thin panel on her living room wall.
The panel, normally displaying a simulated painting of a southwestern vista, changed to show the face of the gentleman. He was a man of perhaps 30. His casual but stylish clothing reflected domestic designers and indicated a good fashion sense without the extravagance. A corporate type, perhaps working his way to the top, but not there yet, Anita began to speculate about how deliciously handsome he was. It would be enjoyable to service a man with a defined waist, broad shoulders and a back that looked both strong and sexy. His face had a boyish charm that indicated he could get away with anything. However, he looked too aloof, and possibly selfish, to keep a woman for very long.
Anita further speculated about the reasons he chose
to visit her. Could it be that he was on the rebound from a relationship? Was
it easier for him to buy sex than to earn affection? The biggest question on
her mind was why he had chosen her out of all of the girls in the area,
especially since his digital identification showed that he lived in
Once the man established eye contact with Anita on video, he asked, “What about extended business trips?”
She batted her deep brown eyes. It had been a long while since Anita had traveled with a client, but she replied, “If the price is right, I’m willing.”
With a smile, the man said, “If and when the time comes, the price will be very right, Ms. Alvarez. If you’ll excuse me, I need to conduct other business.”
With a wink, Anita said, “Thank you for considering me, Mr. Wolfield. I hope I get to see you next week.”
“Call me Bart,” he smiled back as he terminated the call.
• • •
“Do I have any personal messages?” Detective Jack Tate asked the handheld D-vice that was his connection to the world. A cold morning breeze rustled through the 36 year-old’s barely thinning black hair as he shivered at the designated curb, waiting for the motor coach to arrive to take him to work. The motor coaches took passengers from their neighborhood to a hub, where they would board a train going on a nonstop route to another hub. At the other hubs, one could board another, slower, coach that would make stops in surrounding neighborhoods.
A refined voice spoke from the D-vice, “You have a map and an invitation from Art Delancie about his birthday party.”
Before Jack could read the accompanying simulated handwritten invitation, the motor carriage arrived. He poked his index finger into a hole inside the door. The identification system recognized his unique digital ID, which was a molecular scan of his biological matrix stored on DDI’s master security system. The door opened, verifying that he was permitted to ride.
Sitting on one of the vehicle’s utilitarian seats, Jack spoke to his D-vice just as if it were a person sitting next to him, “Give me some news.”
An image of a young man on the display, a digital
personality, delivered a brief news report similar to the live newscasts from
the days of television, but tailored to the news stories Jack preferred to
hear. The young man said, “To start on a light note, I have some sports news.
Yesterday’s junior football match resulted in
Jack continued to listen as the digital personality delivered more news and information. The last segment of news Jack heard was crime news. For this, Jack selected a different digital personality: a shady character named “Mister X” who resembled a film noir detective. Mister X gave a few reports about domestic disturbances and vandalism in a shady, almost sarcastic tone. Then Mister X paused, took out a cigarette, lit it, puffed it, and spoke in a stereotypical idiom: “As if the mayor of our illustrious town didn’t have enough problems with crime, the international terrorist group known as ‘The Way’ has him up in arms.”
Jack asked, “What did they do?”
“Snipers believed to be associated with The Way have injured
four people since yesterday afternoon, including Eddie Jackson, Mayor Jackson’s
grandson. He sustained a minor gunshot wound to the arm and is in stable
condition at
“Isn’t that magnitude of violence a little out of The Way’s pattern?” Jack queried.
Formulating a coherent answer to the question from DDI’s vast knowledge bank, Mister X answered, “The Way is a
loose-knit international group of nonconformists. They mostly keep to
themselves, hiding out in abandoned structures or in rural areas. They have,
however, on occasion caused small riots or started fires near public buildings
to express their enmity with modern society. Authorities around the world have
fingered The Way in fifteen murders in the last six months. This is the first
such incident in
Jack took out a pillbox from his left jacket pocket labeled, “Airways,” which was his gremlin of choice, and popped one of its light-blue tablets into his mouth. It was intended to stimulate the mind, but Jack also found that it numbed his emotions a little. He was perturbed at what he had just heard, and he needed something to calm his emotions for a while. Kimi, his partner, was continually on his case to give up the pills.
Jack asked one final question. “Did this happen in my district?”
Mister X replied that it had not. At least that meant that Jack and the other detectives on the Denver Police Violent Crimes Division would not have to deal with the incident.
The crime news report ended. Mister X nonchalantly said, “Take care,” crushed his cigarette on the ground, shrugged, and wandered off the display.
Even though Jack’s unit would not be working this incident, he could not get the news he just heard out of his thoughts. What possible political, tactical, or social advantage could The Way hope to gain? Since the advent of DDI, most of society had found a relative measure of peace and prosperity. To try and change what DDI has accomplished would certainly not be popular to the majority of people.
Before long, the motor carriage arrived at the correct train station. Jack boarded the already waiting train and continued on to work. He refocused his mind into his own case load for the day, realizing that he would probably never personally encounter this puzzling group of nonconformists.
A fifteen-minute ride later, Jack greeted Kimi as he came through the doorway into the Violent Crimes Division. Detective Kimi Arimuro was dressed in functional gray pants and a light sweater. Her fishlike eyes, choppy hairdo and unremarkable face made Kimi resemble a Japanese Chihuahua. As usual, she was already well into her morning tasks, giving information and tasks to people seemingly in random order as she made her rounds down the corridor.
Jack barely had time to hang his jacket before Kimi blocked his path to give him his first task of the day. “The Big W Foods processing plant break-in investigation needs your finger of approval,” she dropped her D-vice on his desk for him to touch.
“Why couldn’t the Property Loss Division handle this?” Jack moaned without motivation.
“The vandalism caused injuries substantial enough for the Violent Crimes Division to step in,” Kimi reiterated what Jack already knew. Without double-checking his partner’s work, Jack placed his finger in the ID area on Kimi’s pad and pushed it away.
Kimi plucked up the D-vice and leaned on Jack’s desk. “Do you know if the manufacturer of the vandalized machine has been contacted?”
“Yes,” Jack responded facetiously. “I do know if the manufacturer has been contacted.”
“Jackie.” Kimi scolded lightly. “Even a digital personality could understand what I meant.”
“You’ve always said that humans were too inefficient,” Jack teased.
“I prefer the company of humans, as long as they do what they are asked, when they are asked. I’ve worked with you for five years, and I can’t decide if you’re stubborn or rebellious,” Kimi said, as she shook her head.
Jack grinned. “I hope I’m both. To answer your intended question, I contacted the manufacturer yesterday.”
Kimi briefly changed the subject to personal matters. “I’m going to have to reschedule our dinner. I promised Derek I’d take him to Jumpy’s Burgers tonight. Can you make it tomorrow?”
For Jack, girlfriends were few and far between. Weekly dinners with the Arimuros were the closest Jack usually got to a home-cooked meal. Jack sat down for the first time as he inquired, “What’s on the menu?”
“Wait and see,” she teased.
“Octopus casserole?” Jack grinned.
“Don’t be silly. Octopus is not in season.”
“Please tell me that was supposed to be humorous.”
Interrupting the conversation, Captain Benjamin Miller paged Jack and Kimi from their D-vices. “Tate. Arimuro. We’ve got a body for you. A hooker.”