No response.
Suddenly I heard the various clicks and clacks of metal gears and felt steel on my wrist. Allen jerked me off my feet and handcuffed me to the fridge door. With lightning speed, it retrieved my revolver and placed it within its suit pocket. It took me a few seconds to react, then I blew my stack.
“Allen, what the fuck!”
“I apologize, Detective Roche, but after observing your actions tonight, I believe it would be beneficial to the investigation for you to remain here, under house arrest, until I can —”
“Metal man, take this shit off my hand and stop fucking with me.”
“This is no joke. I must prevent you from endangering other civilians or law enforcement, including myself.” It looked resolute, though I doubt it had any idea what it really was doing.
“Endangering? Shit … Allen, you’re essentially killing people right now by doing this. If you don’t take this cuff of my hand in three seconds, I swear I’ll kill you.” But Allen didn’t back down. It stayed silent, staring at me, calling my bluff. After a few seconds I lost it. “Allen! Fucking stop this!”
“I’m sorry, Detective Roche.”
“No! No, you are not sorry. You have no idea what you’re doing right now. I will make you sorry, you metal fuck!” I grabbed for my revolver, but Allen moved back just out of my reach.
“I’ve watched you engage in police brutality, discharging of a firearm without warrant, forced entry, and several other violations. I doubt that you have done one thing in this time span that even you could point to as ‘good’ besides sparing Stern’s life. I’ve held my tongue until now, but seeing as we have returned to your abode, I thought this the perfect time to prevent you from committing any more infractions.”
“And who’s the judge of my actions, huh? You? A fucking machine?”
“As I said before, I am not a standard Automatic —”
“I couldn’t give a shit! You live in a world of ones and zeros. You could just be some cleverly programmed Automatic Robins sent to fuck with me, but it doesn’t seem that way, so maybe you need a hard lesson, metal man. We don’t live in a world of black and white, never have. Maybe you and your brethren do, but we do not. But I will find a way to make you black and blue if you don’t unlock these cuffs.”
“Yes, I’ve heard before from multiple sources, including some prominent psychoanalysts, that we live in a world of shades of grey. However, unlocking your cuffs now would do little to impede the possibility of violence —”
“No, not a world of grey. Grey wouldn’t do this world justice. We live in a world of shades of red, Allen.”
At this point it let its guard down, perhaps trying to comprehend my metaphor, or thinking of a way to calm me. I grabbed its collar and brought it close to my face, speaking harshly through clenched teeth. “The question I wake up to isn’t ‘Will I do the right thing?’ or ‘What difference will I make?’ That isn’t what crosses my mind when the 5th phones me in. What I ask every day is ‘How many people will die today?’ The fewer, the better. There is not a single day that someone doesn’t die. You can’t save everyone, and sometimes to save some, others have to die. Welcome to the real world. Welcome to my job. You have no idea what it takes to do what I have the past three years. I am the one thing preventing the cops and the Mob from killing each other every goddamn day! You’re not even half the Automatic James was, I swear to —”
In the midst of spitting out my anger at Allen, I saw something I wasn’t prepared for. Allen’s eyelids, or whatever they were, were closing around its blue bulbs, as if it were cringing. I had scared a machine. I let go.
Allen backed away, silent as it smoothed its crumpled collar.
“I left the Force years ago because I realized there’s a thin line between law and justice. I chose justice. The law has rules. The law stops the cops from becoming the people they lock up. But justice is retribution. And sometimes morals get skewed when you’re chasing justice. Sometimes you fall as far as those you chase. I act like a criminal to catch criminals, and that’s what you see me doing. Though I must admit you’re the first person who seems to care.”
I slumped against the fridge. I’d never spat my thoughts out like that before. In fact, this was probably the most I’d spoken in the past few weeks. I used the cuff on my wrist to pull myself up and open the freezer. I pulled out a bottle of hooch and held it between my knees as I popped the top off. I raised it to my lips and downed some of the vile liquid. “Robins doesn’t give a fuck as long as I get him a body or a confession … or both … and if it weren’t for me, the Mafia would have torn up the 5th and every other precinct in Lower Manhattan.”
Allen approached once more, sitting down beside me with its back against the cabinets. It looked like a child drawing its knees up to its chest. We both sat in stunned silence. My wrist was beginning to go numb as the handcuff dug into my skin.
Finally, Allen
