The Runners: Chapter 7
Chapter 7
‘Ring, Bang, Bang, Ring’
David opened his eyes to the thundering sounds of his alarm clock. Reaching for the clock on the lamp stand next to his bed, he noticed the current time of 5:45AM. He hit the snooze and fell back into his bed. Crossing his hands on the top of his pillow, he comfortably rested his head in his hands. He fixed his eyes on to the ceiling light, staring occasionally with squinting eyes as if he was intensely searching for an answer to some unsolvable riddle.
He was up most of the night, trying to figure out what possible motives someone could have in killing Tony Lahey. The victim didn’t seem to have any enemies, didn’t owe any money to anyone, no relatives who visited him, nor did he have much social life to speak of. He was an inconspicuous nobody, who kept to himself. There was not a single motive that David could possibly associate anyone from murdering this person. No one would even notice if he had gone missing for days at a time as it might have been the case if Lahey hadn’t made the call to his landlord.
The scene of the murder was made to look like a robbery by the assailant as far as David could tell. But then, even if it was a real robbery, what valuable things could Lahey be possibly storing in that apartment, in that rundown neighborhood, David wondered. The murder scene was not particularly violent. Only a single bullet to the chest penetrated the heart. There weren’t any signs of break in or struggles with the assailant. Further, based on the two cups of coffee on the table with one cup half filled, David assumed that the victim and the assailant were most likely acquaintances and that Lahey was expecting a visitor. Perhaps, the victim drank half of his coffee while waiting for his deadly guest, who would later fatally shoot him upon arrival. Whichever the scenario was, it would be revealed to him soon with the help of the forensics.
It seemed like an unlikely end for Lahey. David brought his hands to his face and squeezed his eyes with the palm of his hands. Giving a tall stretch from head to toe, he got up from the bed. Walking over to the kitchen, he set a timer on his Keurig Coffee maker before heading for a wake up shower.
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Splashing cool after shave on his chin and properly combing his hair, David proceeded to put on his usual navy blue suit, white dress shirt, his favorite dark blue tie and a pair of black loafers. He put on the pistol holster around his chest and placed his UNBI issued gun into it. On his way back to the kitchen, he placed his official badge onto his belt. The soothing aroma of French vanilla coffee filled his small one bedroom condo, in downtown Chicago.
As usual, he poured his coffee into his black Thermo bottle then set it on the counter. Grabbing an apple from the fridge, he took a big bite into it then held it in his mouth as he put on his jacket. He took three more quick bites into the apple and tossed the remaining core in to the garbage. After grabbing the Thermo bottle and his brief case, he headed out the door.
He walked up to his car that was already waiting for him with the engine running by the basement garage door. He got into the car and set the destination on the navigation to the Local HQ office, after which he gave a brief command, “go!”
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“Good morning, Sgt. Davis!” David looked up and gave a nod as he greeted the female officer at the main lobby desk as he came in through the entrance.
“Good morning, David! You’re bright and early today.”
Having received a couple of voice messages from detective Woodson on his drive to the station, David replied in a low key, “I’m not so sure about that…”
“By the way, detective Woodson has been waiting for you in his office.”
“I know. I’m there!” and David quickly jogged past Sgt. Davis and stepped up onto the escalator.
The Chicago Office was completely rebuilt and retrofitted with the latest gadgets. It was a five story rectangular building with the latest polymer exterior skeletons and large protective glass windows. It also had the latest cooling system to keep the interior temperatures between 70 – 78 F degrees all year round. There was a large reception desk in the front lobby, which Sgt. Davis was occupying. The desk was built in an oval shape and stood taller than David. A large screen came down directly upon it from the high ceiling above. When David entered the building, the same screen displayed “Good morning, David!”
Beyond the desk was an open panoramic space, where a series of escalators were located at the exact center behind the desk. One up-down pair carried people to and from the 2nd level. On the second level, one pair carried people between the 2nd and the 3rd levels, the third pair carried people between the 3rd and the 4th levels and so on to the 5th level. There was another pair in the center which carried people directly up and down the 65 ft height between the 5th level and the ground floor.
Each floor was fitted with chest high glass walled balconies. Beyond the balconies were pokes of corridors that led to various offices, departments and conference rooms. The panoramic view of the escalator and the walls of glasses were not only impressive, but it seemed to enhance one’s ability to breathe as well. It was always nice to enter this building even though this was the center of the law enforcement activities in the greater Chicago region.
David got on to the express escalator for a direct 65 feet ride up to the 5th floor. Turning his head and looking down towards the reception area, he got a different vantage point. He saw that the entire flooring was put together with shiny white marbles. Cut into hexagonal shapes with the length of each side at several feet and laid in perfect seams one next to another, they stretched out to all four corners of the lobby. It reminded him of the pattern of a honeycomb that he once saw in an encyclopedia. The center area between the main entrance and the reception desk was a closely knit group of marbles which had a holographic projection of the symbol that signified UNBI and the Chicago office.
The shape of a golden globe set on golden olive branches, the new symbol of peace and prosperity, was readily visible. The two five pointed stars were set in perfect balance on either side, below the olive branches. Displaying prominently were the Greek letters Upsilon, Nu, Beta and Eta under one set of the stars representing the UNBI. Under the second set of the stars were the letters Kappa and Omicron, representing the Chicago Office. David also noticed that irrespective of the angles at which he looked at the insignia, the entire symbol would always appear in upright orientation. He couldn’t explain how this was made possible and no one else could give him a good technical explanation for it, either.
Turning his head towards the top of the escalator, he felt a sudden sense of pride that he was part of this great organization and he understood clearly that his duties were to bring justice to all his cases. “There will be no exceptions,” he reminded himself of that. It was a great privilege to be working at UNBI as far as David was concerned. As the escalator carried him close to the 5th level, he leapt off the escalator. Then, turning to his right, he headed to the last corridor on his left to find Det. Woodson’s office.
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‘Knock’ ‘Knock’
“Come in!” Woodson yelled from his office.
“Good morning, sir. Sorry, I am late. I didn’t know we had a meeting this morning.” As he apologized, he noticed another gentleman sitting in one of the two guest chairs in front of Woodson’s desk.
“No. You’re on time, I am early. Take a seat!” Without taking his eyes off of some report that he was reading, Woodson introduced the coroner for Lahey’s case.
“This is Dr. Joseph Kim, the coroner for Lahey case. Doctor, this is investigator David Chan.”
“Hello, Dr. How are you, sir?”
“Good, Mr. Chan. Thank you!”
After exchanging short pleasantries, Woodson started the official meeting.
“Dr. Kim had performed the initial autopsy of Lahey and he had prepared a report as part of the investigation. Chan, the autopsy report is on-line. Access the case file, CO32219015.
The autopsy can be retrieved with Lahey-Kim32219015.”
David opened his brief case and took out his tablet. He quickly logged in to the central case database and moved to access the autopsy file of Tony Lahey.
“Got it!” David looked up at Woodson and Dr. Kim when he had retrieved the file.
“Dr. Kim, could you please give us a run down on the findings from your autopsy?” Woodson requested, making an eye contact with the coroner.
“Sure!” Replied Dr. Kim as he began his report.
“When the victim was brought in for the autopsy, full body scan revealed that he had been deceased for 60 hours or 2.5 days. There weren’t any traces of defensive wounds, cuts, or scratches. The arms were clean of any abrasions or other types of wounds. No trace of damage to the cranial areas or around the facial structures. Nothing blunt in nature struck the victim’s head or any part of his body. The decomposition of the body was accelerated, as expected, due to the high temperature in the room, which measured 146 F degrees at the time of his discovery…,” after a brief pause, Dr. Kim continued, “we removed pieces of bullet shrapnel that were lodged in the left ventricle and the right atrium. After lodging in to the heart, the bullet appeared to have exploded, causing massive internal trauma, but not necessarily visible from the outside.”
“Pardon me for the interruption. But, I thought these types of cartridges were banned, at least no longer being manufactured since 2140! I remember hearing about the ban during my training days at the academy.” Sitting back against his chair, David crossed his arms in deep thoughts.
“That is correct. The UN had banned these types of shells late in 2140s. These were mostly stocked up by the OOA, a terrorist organization that crumbled away few years later. They used to carry out specific covert assassinations using these types of weapons. They allowed for high mission success rates for the terrorists as long as they hit near the fatal organs of the target.” Detective Woodson succinctly chimed in.
“Is it possible that the remnants of these bullets and weaponry from those days could still be around?”
“It’s hard to fathom that, agent Chan. Given that it has been fifty years since the ban went into effect and that no known manufacturing facilities operated during the same period, it is unlikely that they still exist. The UN also made sure that all the existing stocks of these bullets and other arsenals were marked destroyed on their official books.”
“But, it turned up here today, in Chicago…,” said Chan, curiously.
“So, the assailant wanted to ensure that Lahey dies, but why? He appeared to be an insignificant person based on what we know about him.” Chan murmured quietly, but curiously.
“No one would have survived such a hit. We found no other finger prints or foreign DNA traces on the corpse. The cause of death—”
“Shot to the heart!” Chan cut off the coroner.
“The official cause of death is a combination of exsanguinations and hypoxia, in other words, the loss of blood and oxygen, yes, preceded by the shot to the heart.” Dr. Kim confirmed.
“Dr. Kim, I noticed that there is no photo of the victim prior to his murder. All you have provided is the photo from the crime scene. Is it safe to assume that you were not able to positively ID the victim?” Det. Woodson asked looking at the doctor as he drew the focus of the subject to the victim’s identity.
“No positive ID?” Baffled, Chan turned right to look at the doctor sitting next to him. He has not come across any case studies at the UNBI academy, where a victim to a crime has never been identified. So he tuned in very closely to listen to the doctor’s explanation.
“Unfortunately, that is correct. As you know, gentlemen, the coroner’s office has one of the highest clearance levels of access to the UN citizenship central database. They are searched by one of two criteria. One is using a bio-digital ID chip that gets embedded inside a person within the first three week’s time of the birth, usually in the cranial area. The second method is to use the iris scan in verifying one’s identification. In some cases, we would apply both criteria as keys to the CCDB to identify a victim, should higher accuracy be merited. Theoretically, anyone on the face of the Earth would be identifiable by either one of these two methods…”
“So, what happened?” Chan followed impatiently.
“Due to the accelerated decomposition of the body, the condition of the victim’s iris was not reliable for this purpose. That’s normal under the circumstances. But, what was not normal was that the victim did not have the UN sanctioned bio-digital ID chip anywhere in his body. Our ID scanner failed to locate the chip. After we’ve opened up the corpse, we discovered that the ID chip had been surgically removed about two years ago. The timeline was determined based on the proximity tissue analysis where the chip used to reside.”
“Is it possible to remove the ID chip from someone, surgically without causing harm?” Woodson asked passively.
“If done right, there is absolutely no physical harm to the person undergoing the procedure. But, let me note that without a written authorization by the UN security department, no legitimate facility would consider performing the removal procedure—”
“Did it appear to have been done by a reputable clinic, in your opinion?” David eagerly interrupted before Woodson could follow up on his question.
“Two years ago is a long time for the internal body tissues to heal and many wounds would heal back to restore to the former self. But, we can hypothesize on the size of the wound based on the pattern of the healing. What we noticed was that the removal seemed to have taken place, utilizing a laser cutting device that may have been over 25 years old. The cuts around where the ID chip would have been normally implanted measured a 0.0001 cm and bigger. The latest UN approved device, since ten years ago, would make cuts at 0.00001cm or less.”
Again, Chan followed, “Do some of the clinics and hospitals that are approved for this procedure still use the old device that you have described?”
“Not likely, but possible. When new devices are approved for this purpose, the UN ensures that those authorized clinics get the highest priority in getting the necessary equipment upgrades. The UN even subsidizes these medical clinics in upgrading the tools as it is not a money maker for the clinics. There are only a few locations around the world that have the licenses to do this. Even so, they are done under very extraordinary circumstances and performed very rarely at that. So, without the incentives and subsidies for the upgrades, they won’t line up in a hurry to get the equipment upgraded first. As it has been ten years since the approval, I am assuming that most would be equipped with the latest devices by now.”
“I see. So if not at these clinics, where would one get such procedures done doctor?” David followed again.
“There is no telling. It could be an underground operation. Some doctors or unlicensed technicians may perform this illegally. However, it is one of the highest criminal offenses against the medical laws tied to the UN Citizen’s ID administration. As such, they are risking a lot by performing this without proper qualifications and authorizations.”
“But, it is possible that some could do it, correct?”
“I would think so.” Dr. Kim said looking in David’s direction.
“Further, anyone who would undergo this procedure will risk his or her identity being deleted from the face of the Earth. He or she would no longer be a productive member of the economy or political system. There is no way to buy or sell since much of the financial transaction systems are tied to this chip…,” Dr. Kim added as an afterthought.
“That’s right. So, how and what did he live on for the last two years? No clear identification! This would have limited him from finding work or conduct any kind of normal financial transactions. Even buying a simple cheese burger would have been a challenge!” David stood up in subdued excitement as he recalled his interview with the custodian,
“Wait! The custodian did say that Lahey came into some money and that the apartment rents were being paid, always using cash! But, where did he get the money?”
“Dr. Kim, could the removed ID chip be recycled into, say, someone else’s body?”
“Unlikely. The ID chips are engineered with the specific information of the person’s DNA from a sample tissue which later grows and attaches to the tissues, where it is implanted. Successful implantation occurs when the ID chip is bio-physically fused with the person’s internal tissues and grows to become part of the physical organ. The chip stores the specific iris data and encoded with the family relationships, blood type and other referential data. It will render useless in another person’s body. Not to mention that it won’t survive in a foreign body.”
“That rules out ID chip’s recyclability or selling it for money. The person then simply gives up his identity, that’s what it boils down to…,” murmured David as he fell into a thought.
“So, we have no knowledge of the victim’s real name, age, place of birth, or where he came from, and how he ended up dead in that apartment? Is this what we are working with here?” Woodson summarized with slight grin.
“I can only tell you that my office could not positively ID him. We just know the cause of death. What we can do is that we can try to run his DNA samples and see if we get any kind of match from the old legacy DNA database. We no longer use this system as a lot of data had been tainted in the past, either accidentally or on purpose. The reliability had been challenged in the UN court systems, involving both civil and criminal cases when it was applied for the purpose of accurate identification.”
“I remember. The courts eventually ruled them unreliable and banned from any legal proceedings.” Woodson followed nonchalantly.
“So, he was alive, but not really alive! How can this be possible in this day and age?” David excitedly shouted in surprise, in stark contrast to the veteran Det. Woodson’s subdued reaction.
“Based on what we know about the condition of the corpse and missing ID chip, it will require tracing the victim’s history manually. That’s where you detective boys come in and get paid the big bucks for. I am also having my team track the dental records. So, if anything comes up, I’ll let you boys know. But again, the dental records are part of the old legacy system that had outlived its practical application, many decades ago.”
“Is there anything else that we need to be aware of doctor?” asked Woodson.
“Yes.., and I was just getting to that..,” sliding the pages of the autopsy report, Dr. Kim brought his right hand to his forehead and continued, “one more thing, there was an incision which appeared to have been made by laser surgical tool of some kind, on his lower torso. The shape looked like three diamonds connected to a single stem.”
“Pardon me?” Woodson replied with puzzled look on his face.
“Yes, diamond shapes with a stem. One diamond shape was at the top with two diamonds located below it on either side. A long line ran down from the top about one and a half inches connecting the three diamonds. Hold on, let me show you.” He tapped on his tablet and brought up the images of the wound that he had discovered. “Here it is. Now, you boys should be able to see them on your respective devices as well.”
Chan and Woodson dropped their eyes and looked at their respective screens.
“Sir, it looks like a leaf made up of diamond figures,” looking over to Dr. Kim and Woodson back and forth, David made the obvious observation and wondered,
“What could this be?” David murmured to himself as a rhetorical question. Det. Woodson heard David and after studying the images for a while, he said, “That’s a good question” to himself, somewhat reserved.
“Is this some sort of insignia of some kind of affiliation with a street gang…?” Woodson murmured once again.
“The cut appeared to have been made with laser accuracy. It was done with very high precision. With a tool that is capable of cutting at 1/10000 of an inch. Further, the cut was about one and a half inches deep near his spine,” and the coroner added, “but, the wound did not directly contribute to the victim’s demise. It only caused minute local tissue damage.” Dr. Kim wasn’t worried about this wound. But, he was interested in the detectives’ assessment as to what it signified since it was an unusual mark.
“Would any known illnesses or diseases cause this type of tissue damage?” with a puzzled tone, Woodson asked the doctor.
“Some diseases like measles, which were eradicated very long ago, do leave some permanent marks on the body. However, the pattern is too regular to say that it was made by natural causes.” Dr. Kim ruled out any notion of natural causes for it.
“Would any medical surgery known today require this type of incisions in order to treat a disease, perhaps, unusual muscular diseases or something?” David followed.
Looking at David and Woodson, Dr. Kim said, “Negative! I am not aware of any known surgical procedures that would require such incision patterns.”
David thought the wound was very interesting. It was not a random shape and that’s what he was bothered most by it.
“Is the wound fresh?” David asked.
“The wound appears to have occurred around the same time the victim was killed. The decomposition in the tissue indicates that the cut was made within several minutes of his death based on the compared samples between the wounds from the gunshot and the torso area.” Dr. Kim explained.
“We’ll certainly look into it. There may be a connection with this and the victim’s death.” Looking into Woodson’s direction David continued. “Perhaps, it’s some kind of message the killer was leaving behind for us or others who may cross them?” David looked up as he waited for Det. Woodson’s comments.
“That’s a good idea! Let’s look into any criminal activities that may have had this type of signatures.” Woodson replied to David as he raised his eyes to meet David’s.
Then, Woodson asked the coroner, “Dr. Kim, is there anything else that we need to be looking at?”
“I think you boys got the gist of the autopsy. Again, it was mainly trauma from the gun shot that did the job. I will keep you boys posted if I find anything else. In the mean time, my office is always available for consultation.” With that he said, “Good bye, boys!” and he exited Woodson’s office, promising to get together again should there be any discovery of new evidences.
“Thank you doctor, it looks like we have work cut out for us,” said Woodson.
“Thank you Dr. Kim!” David said quietly as he thought the autopsy has undoubtedly left too many unanswered questions.
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“Detective Woodson, this murder case just doesn’t add up. Lahey, uh.., John Doe is nobody by any measure. But, why would anyone go to such a length to ensure that the guy gets his life cut short? Even surgically removing the ID chip and all, coming into big money…, presumably, allowing him to sustain for over two years. All seems very illogical!”
“I understand your point of view. We have not been able to establish the true identity of the victim or definitive evidence that remotely hints at a possible suspect or motive. Without it, the case may as well go into the cold files. We have many cases that need our attention—”
“Are you suggesting that we not investigate this case now?”
“That is not what I am implying. We have other murder cases, where the victims have clearly been identified with evidences that will lead to apprehending their killers. The victims loved ones are anxious for us to serve justice on their behalf. I want to focus on those cases. Seemingly, Lahey has no family, no friends and no social life. He is nobody and it may simply be an isolated incidence. It would be more productive to focus on other cases until we have some firm evidences that we can go forward with. The coroner’s office as well as forensics department are sifting through the crime scene evidences for further analysis. We could put off until we receive new leads from them. With his eyes cringing, Woodson looked directly into David’s eyes in an attempt to persuade David, perhaps, to plead at the same time.
“With the evidences that are available, my thought is that it is premature to decide not to move forward. There has to be ways to trace the victim’s history. We can start connecting the dots, now that we have some background on the victim. David could not see this case go to ‘unresolved cold files’ directly this early. There were just “too many loose ends not to mention the strange wound on his lower back. At least let me look into some of these aspects, sir!” David requested persistently.
“Alright then, I’ll give you one month to work on this case. But, you also have three other cases that were assigned to you as of yesterday. I would suggest that you use your time wisely and any evidences that you uncover on Lahey case, you are to notify me immediately!” Reluctantly, Woodson gave Chan a permission to move forward with Lahey case. But, he also told Chan three other pressing reasons such that he needed to utilize his time smartly.
“Understood and thank you, sir! I’ll get to work right away!”
With that Chan left Woodson’s office. As he came back to the balcony of the 5th floor, he leaned against the glass rail and looked down on the panoramic view of the lobby and the walls of windows. The whole setup looked incredibly serene, almost dream like. He could not believe that this was the center where the crimes of all types and levels are investigated and solved. It looked more like a lobby of some fancy nine-star hotel.
“I will go see Rick Haney, his girl friend, CST for video surveillance tapes, Northern Meat Packing International, go over the last trails of Lahey’s bank records, if any, …” He took a deep breath as he walked the steps in his mind, the logical sequence of actions that he would take in order to connect the dots in Lahey’s murder.