JUSTICE REBORN (A Charlie Taylor Novel Book 1) (28 page)

I think about visiting Ron’s cell but
reject the idea.

It’s a long walk to the parking lot. Jesus,
why do they have these long halls and frigging security gates every 20 feet? I
want to get out of here.  I’m almost through the last gate, when I hear my name
being called. Oh Christ!  It’s Red. I knew she was in control of the scanning
today, alone because of the staff shortages. What the hell does she want?

“Charlie, I was the Medical Tech for Ronald
today and thought I should make you aware of a few things about the process.
Even when I have a probing position established, I have to work with numerous
screens and a range of memory pockets. An interesting and confusing array
bounce around before I allow an image up to a Watcher’s monitor. Often these
pockets jump around the main event; some streams are ahead of the event and
others after the event. But they all are on the screen for five to ten seconds
and then flick to another set of transient images.

These temporary screens are all valid
images derived from his memory and assist with the process which we use to
establish a focal point and a stable output stream. We don’t allow all these
images up to the Watcher because it would be confusing. The Watcher would see
overlapping pictures with rapidly shifting time frames, a mixed kaleidoscope of
future and past all around the event. Hence, we keep that to ourselves. We
observe and wait until we have an established firm picture we can feed up to
the Watchers. ”

She wants a reaction. Well, screw her. I
have had enough of her. I don’t know where this is going, but it doesn’t sound
good. It appears she saw too goddamn much. I try not to fidget, try to look
calm, which has been my goal all day, and ask her. “Alright Miss Scanner, is
there a point to this lesson?”

I can’t read her; she continues. “Yes. When
the Watcher signals AHEAD or BACK, his screen goes blank, but our transmission
of images keeps rolling. It’s like slamming on the brakes in your car, it takes
time to stop the stream from flowing; and, our screens will jump around both
forward and backward around the time point. We get to see a great deal more
than the Watchers.

Sometimes these images are very clear, and
we see a full history of the primary image the Watchers were monitoring, other
times more chaos at these transient points.

 The reason it took a long time to get the
cruiser scene up to your monitor is the first control point landed ahead of the
cruise scene. On the early history of that night I couldn’t get a firm setting;
the pictures kept jumping, and I could barely follow the story. Finally, the
scene stabilized, and the cruiser images arrived at your monitor.

  I think the initial memory is very
emotional for Ronald; that’s probably the reason it proved so difficult for me
to stabilize the stream and stop the violent jumping of the various images.
What do you think?”

 I know I’m in real trouble, down the sewer
with Ronald. I’m trying to think of a way out and nothing is coming. Screw it,
try and bluff. “OK, you get to see the full show and more. I’m still waiting.”

She is actually smiling and knows she has
me. “You’re rather fast to move away from the cruise scene. And the guy in the
passenger seat looked familiar and rather young to be helping a patrolman.”

“Is there a question here, because I am in
a hurry?”

“Relax Charlie, I saw and assessed the
entire show. Normally, there’re two of us in the scanner room but because of
the Dr. Kate issue I worked alone today. I made the decision about which part
of the scan to save for the court records. I didn’t think there was anything
relevant about the cruiser scene and didn’t retain any of the transient images
occurring prior to the cruiser scene

I just kept the bar scene. Before you ask:
legal representatives have their own facilities. I only send them the memory
stream which is relevant and the Historian has sanctioned; they don’t get
swamped with all the intermediate hits and misses.”

I’m usually not lost for words but not one
smart ass comment surfaces; at this point I remember her reputation, empathy
for the less fortunate. I mumble. “Thanks Emma, Ronald will appreciate your
expertise.”

“Charlie, I know Ron’s history, an
overzealous prosecutor, a sloppy detective, a biased judge and numerous failed
appeals.  I thought he was unjustly sentenced and feel Ronald has suffered
enough and shouldn’t have to pay another penalty for one night of a teenage
drunk.”

 With that she starts walking away down the
hall; after a few steps she turns. “Why don’t you call me tomorrow? I will be
finished here, and we can go for the dinner and the dance you wanted.”  After
that bombshell, she turns and walks down the hall.

Can you believe this?.........What a great
ass……Jesus Christ!

THE END

An excerpt from the second Charlie Taylor
novel:
A DISCONNECTED MIND

It was a computer generated sound, a weird
combination of tones, edgy with distorted harmonics. I know it’s impossible,
but the voice sounded psychotic.

I was at Manuel’s desk, at his request, and
impatient to get back to mine. In order to face me Manuel shifted his entire
upper torso; more rehab was required before he would regain normal flexibility
and range of motion in his neck and upper body. A few months ago, the Five Star
serial killer stabbed him. The stabbing and subsequent recovery drained some of
his confidence; he was a more subdued detective who now frequently asked for
direction or permission.

I said, “Again.”

Manuel smiled and hit play.

“You may call me Robin Hood. I
will be taking from the rich and famous and distributing to the less fortunate.
You will know I have arrived when you start finding the body parts. My final
signature will be a painted target on the chest with an arrow right through the
bull’s eye. If you want to stop me, solve these audio clues; it will not be
easy because I am the avatar of a Hindu god.

It is Tuesday, August 24th,
2021; you have a few days. Have a nice day.”

The rest of the audio consisted of four
sound bites, each about 30 seconds long with five-second gaps between each
sample:

Giggling
: 
was a high-pitched sound, like a young man or a boy, a little wild or out of
control, scared, or perhaps hysterical.

 
Snorting:
was an emotional man,
taking gulps of air between the snorts: ready to attack or under attack?

 
Cursing:
was an older man who was
upset or sounding off:  a string of unrelated profanity, loud, angry, some
words slurred.

Wailing:
was
a young woman or girl, frustrated, almost a screaming, moments of silence and
then another piercing wail. A cry for help? In pain?

The third Charlie Taylor novel:
KILL ALL
OF THEM

The random scattering of clothing on either
side of the bed made it apparent no one gave any consideration to the next
wearing or the disorderly housekeeping.

On the bed, the large man left little room
for the woman resting on her stomach. The giant lay on his back, snoring, arms
positioned like a cross, one arm outside the bed, the other over the top of a
woman. She did not complain nor did it wake her. Unfortunately, she would never
wake up, not this morning or any morning.

When he did wake up, the hangover headache
would not help; but Monk would have some decisions to make. 

The end