Read Inquisitor for Free Online Page A

corporations designed these cities, pretty much every apartment overlooked water of some sort.
    She slowed, and her gaze lingered on three girls as they walked past. Uniformed, backpacked, and holding hands, they were on their way to school.
    In the foyer, a dozen old women trailing trolleys filled with boxes waited at the elevators. As each door opened, there was only room for one of them and her booty from an all-night shopping spree. She checked Viktor’s floor again, twenty-seven, and sighed. Angel attempted to squeeze in between the old women, but any gap closed before she could pass through. A couple of the women glared at her. Leaving them to their traffic jam, she opened the door to the emergency stairs and jogged her way upward.
    On the landing of floor seventeen, she paused, breathing lightly from her exertions. Someone was following her. The footsteps were light, but there was a purposefulness to them. They’d been keeping pace with her, and she’d been climbing quickly, so it wasn’t someone else who’d decided not to wait for the elevators. The footsteps grew louder, then a door a few levels down opened, closed, and the stairwell was silent.
    Huh. She was getting paranoid after what happened to Jessica. Angel shook her head and continued up to floor twenty-seven.
    “Viktor!” she yelled, and pounded on his door. She pressed the buzzer again and again. Another check of her implants confirmed he hadn’t returned her messages and hadn’t checked in to the local Inquisitor station.
    Something was wrong. She bit her bottom lip.
    Angel drew her hand-cannon and ducked against the wall to the side of the door. Her implants meshed with the locking mechanism and overrode the controls. The door snicked open a few centimeters. Inside was dark, except for faint flashes of light splashing the walls. Likely the display wall was on.
    Angel stretched one leg out and toed the door open further. Nothing happened. She squeezed off a few rounds of flea-grenades. These were Inquisitor-only, sensitive to their unique implants, and if Viktor were inside, they wouldn’t trigger near him. They jumped around the apartment just like their namesake, but there were no explosions.
    Angel breathed a sigh of relief, unaware she’d been holding her breath. She scurried inside the apartment, hand-cannon extended. It was empty. Empty except for Viktor’s body lying in a pool of blood on the carpet in front of his synthetic leather couch. His lifeless eyes stared at the ceiling. His clothes had been shredded, revealing his tanned skin. Splashes of scarlet stained his crotch and thighs, and there was something red in his mouth. Dribbles of blood trailed down his cheeks. On his chest was a raised red welt about the same size as his nipple. Most likely from a portable nerve disruptor. Angel squinted. And one of his eyes was… deflated, as if the vitreous humor had been extracted.
    A half-empty bottle of local beer sat on a table, with an empty one lying on the floor. On a wall, a local sports channel with muted sound was replaying a game from yesterday. She was sure Viktor had mentioned interest in one of the teams that was participating.
    Angel swallowed. Another partner killed. Gods, he was a mess. Poor bastard had only been out of the academy for a year. She should have told him to be more careful. He should have been on some bustling station inspecting cargo permits, not—
    Angel’s feet shifted uneasily. Someone was trying to derail their case, didn’t want them investigating. It was as clear as day to her… It looked like they’d go to any lengths to interfere.
    Angel triggered an emergency response and moved to one wall. She leaned against it then slid down to the floor, where she intended to stay, still gripping her hand-cannon.
    •
    Angel, in a freshly pressed dark Inquisitor shirt and jacket, made her way to one of the zero-sound communication rooms at the local law enforcement offices they—she—was working out of. Heads