Destined to Fail: Part 04.

The Plan

 

Sam and Holden sat in front of the esper mainframe in LPD headquarters.

"You're better than I gave you credit for, Sammy," said Holden.

Sam ignored the remark in an attempt to seem more professional than his superior and tapped the screen.

"It's definitely a bird of some kind. An owl do you think?"

Holden nodded. "Could be. Or an eagle. Looks unfinished to me though."

"The question is," Sam said, "why would she have an unfinished tattoo on her arm?"

"If she was going to be a pleasure model, it was probably a nice little detail on Tyrell's behalf. Maybe it was to give her a past of some kind. But that's not important. What's important is that now we have something to go by."

Sam nodded in agreement.

"Right. So what do you think we should do about it?"

Holden leaned back in his seat. It was late and he needed coffee.

"Well, I've been thinking and one thing we can do is to check my informers to see if any local underground doctors have had a case of severe bullet wounding in a young girl."

"Why?" said Sam. It was late, he wasn't thinking straight and he was slightly drunk.

"Because they might have tried to get medical attention to the girl replicant who was injured while escaping" said Holden patiently. "We can ask if any of them have seen a woman with an unfinished bird tattoo on her arm, bringing in an injured girl. We can assume they couldn't have travelled too far overground from the plant, so we can check with local eating establishments and convenience stores as well; see if they've seen a woman with such a tattoo."

"I tried that with the picture of the male replicant," said Sam. "That's why I was at Howie's that night. I showed someone the picture of the rep, and she pointed me towards Dan Bridges."

Holden nodded, not wishing to jibe Sam about Dan Bridges.

"Well, there's a chance that our real rep hangs about there as well, so ask if anyone's seen our tattooed girlie." He tapped the photo of the tattooed arm.

"Right," said Sam. "I'll do this tomorrow first thing. What about you?"

"I'm having to get my hands dirty. I've been investigating some of the motels and rooms local to the area, and tomorrow I'll show the owners these photos. Also, I'll try and nudge the boys upstairs into giving us a little more support."

"In what way?"

"More cops means more searching power. If we have, say, ten cops with spinners combing the area it won't be long before they're forced overground, and then we get 'em."

Sam nodded.

"Good plan. I'm going to bed now. Do you want to meet back here tomorrow morning?"

Holden let the tiniest of smiles slip into his mouth.

"Eight o'clock sharp, right here."

Sam nodded. "I'll be there," he said. He knew Holden was just doing this to get at him. For Christ's sake, it was one o'clock now…

Holden left for the coffee machine as Sam went in the opposite direction. Sam was headed for the lift, which would be going to the roof, where his spinner was waiting, which would fly him straight home, back to his nice soft bed…

The mere thought made Sam's eyelids droop. He perked up when he saw Ray McCoy walking towards the elevator in front of him. He was armed with disinfectant and paper towels and was flanked by two tired looking cops, both carrying similar paraphernalia.

Sam liked McCoy. He had a sarcastic air about him that never failed to amuse. He was new to the job, like Sam and the two had helped each other out on numerous occasions.

"What's this in aid of?" Sam said to McCoy's back.

Ray turned around, a look of extreme tiredness and pissed-offness on his face.

"It's a code 3, Sam. A hooker just threw up on Bryant's desk, and they had to drag me away from my ultra important duties as a Blade Runner to lead the clean-up crew."

Sam laughed out loud.

"Best of luck to ya!" he said as they approached the lift. "I'm headed for the roof, you go ahead."

McCoy shook his head.

"No way, I'm going to make this last. I mean how else would someone want to
spend their Saturday night?"

Sam laughed again, and took the next lift to the roof. Finally a nice, soft bed, on a cool October evening.

He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes blissfully. Maybe things
weren't so bad after all…

 

 

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