Devolution

Outside KittyKat City things had livened up considerably. From underneath rocks and out of crevices and dungeons had crept the seedy night shift, those creatures, those people apparently afraid of the light for they slept all day and only came out to play at night. It was a smaller crowd than the earlier shift, but a crowd nonetheless.

Looking both ways up and down Bayswater Rd, Jacobssen finally caught sight of Ginger Beer and set off in pursuit. He was walking very quickly, almost breaking into a canter and Jacobssen struggled to match his stride. When Ginger Beer turned right off Bayswater into Crocker Street, the inspector backed off as the road was long and straight and much quieter. It was also less well lit which was unhelpful. Ahead of Ginger Beer he could see Dr. Daniel Smisco shuffling along at an uncomfortably fast pace.

It was obvious that Ginger Beer would catch up to Smisco before Adrian could but he hoped he would still be able to assist. Activating a secured line alarm which ran to the Kings Cross police station, Adrian keyed his location and situation into the pad of his phone and quickened his pace. Although he was feeling the strain burning in his legs and beginning to run out of puff, the sense of urgency, of desperation pushed him on.

Smisco was continually checking over his shoulder as he went, and clearly aware by now that he was being followed. Ginger Beer knew he had been detected and broke into a run forcing Adrian to start running as well. Smisco glanced over his shoulder to check on the progress of his chaser and tripped on a crack in the sidewalk. Falling headlong onto the ground, his elbows and hips only slowed the momentum of his body enough to stop his head splitting but not enough to stop it hitting the concrete.

Before he could scramble to his feet, Ginger Beer was on top of him, had drawn his electrogun and fired a lethal burst into Daniel’s temple. Adrian was too late. Ginger Beer turned to see the inspector bearing down on him and bounced to his feet. Jacobssen pulled a NETT canister from his belt, pointed it at Ginger Beer and fired. He saw it coming and was able to dive out of the way as the canister burst opened and showered thin strips of rubber in a parachute which dropped to the empty sidewalk.

Still running, Adrian grabbed a second canister. He heard a siren and was soon overtaken by a police ATV. Ginger Beer turned left into Cowpers Lane and the police followed. Adrian stopped and tried to remember the geography of Kings Cross from the satellite navigation map in his rented vehicle. Cowpers Lane. Cowpers Lane. That’s it. He changed direction allowing the patrol to pursue Ginger Beer and he ran back to the mouth of the previous laneway.

Arriving just in time to see Ginger Beer round the corner and head down the lane towards him.

‘Stop!’ ordered Jacobssen as Ginger Beer sped towards him with the patrol vehicle behind him. ‘Stop!’

Two meters directly in front of him with the patrol closing in from the rear, Jacobssen lifted the NETT canister, aimed it at Ginger Beer and fired. Another shower of compressed rubber plumed towards Sid, but as the canister burst open he changed direction, diving into the front garden of a small block of units. The NETT landed on the bonnet of the blue and white ATV.

Beckoning the officers in the patrol car to assist, Adrian leaped over the fence, and into the yard but Ginger Beer was gone.

‘We need more manpower here,’ said Jacobssen to the officer now standing beside him. ‘We have to get this guy, and he can’t have got too far. He must be hiding around here somewhere’

The man spoke into his sleeve, ‘This is Maloney. We need a full search squad to assist Inspector Jacobssen at the corner of Cowper and Crocker in the Cross. Suspect wanted for murder. Is armed and considered highly dangerous.’

‘Right,’ said Adrian, ‘Let’s wake up the neighbors and shed some light on the subject.’

The police started banging on doors and waking people up as they searched every apartment and all through the gardens and yards of the surrounding properties. Soon more police arrived and more lights came on up and down the street as quiet little Crocker Street became the bustling noisy center of a full scale search and police investigation. Crowds of onlookers oozed out of every dark corner gathering to watch the spectacle.

Before too long the situation was out of control and Jacobssen began to feel the search was a waste of time. Reports kept coming back to him that nobody had seen or heard anything, and there was no sign of a man fitting the description Adrian had given out. Smisco was dead and his murderer had vanished, swallowed by the darkness from which he came but Adrian felt, despite the immediate frustration and disappointment that he now had a real chance of getting to the bottom of this conspiracy and actually solving what had turned into the largest criminal mystery in the Post war world.