“Detective Lieutenant Ford,” Solme said as his large frame stood, black bolo tie swaying at his throat. “Good to see you again.” He shook hands with Ford, then looked to Salvi. “Detective Brentt,” he gave a nod then turned his eyes back to Ford. It was clear Attis wanted to forget the sordid past that Salvi reminded him of. Then again, she recalled he was the kind that liked to bring up the past when it suited him. Like when he tried to blackmail Ford for information during her previous case, using the drink-driving cover up as leverage. Mitch had found that out when tying up the investigation while Salvi was recovering in hospital. Ford had never mentioned it to Salvi, of course. In fact, she’d never talked about her history with Solme at all.
“Are you here for some kind of follow up from the Bountiful case?” he asked Ford. Salvi fought a smile. The Bountiful Case. Like it had nothing to do with the Solme Complex.
“No,” Ford said, “we’re here on a different case, but one that has unfortunately been linked to you.”
Solme paused. “Me, personally, or the Solme Complex? Again.” His eyes darted to Salvi in accusation. She wanted to jump across the table and throttle him with his tie.
“Neuricle Corporation,” Ford said, “That you own. The company behind the Solme Complex.”
“What about it?”
“Have you been watching the news lately?”
“A little.”
“You’ve seen the crime wave we’ve had in the city?”
He nodded, “Yes.”
“The spike in violent crimes has been linked to a new drug-tech experience. The tech involved, its design, has been traced back to Neuricle Corporation. The very same design that you were looking to bring on to the market when The Crash took place. The tech that works to keep your Subjugates and Serenes in line, is the very same tech being used on the streets now, to make people lose control. Do you know anything about this?”
Attis placed his elbow on the arm of his chair and ran his fingers across his mouth.
“You do, don’t you?” Ford said.
He looked back at her. “Whatever is on the streets has nothing to do with me.”
“It’s your tech, Attis. Cut the bullshit.” Ford gave him a firm stare and Salvi remained quiet. Whatever the history was between them, it seemed that Ford wasn’t scared to interrogate him like this.
“It may be my design,” Attis said, “but I assure you I did not release it onto the street.”
“Then how’d it get there?” Ford asked.
Solme went quiet again, darted his eyes to Salvi.
“Attis, your fingerprints are all over this,” Ford said. “People are dying. So either you start talking here, or we take you back to the hub and start talking there.”
“I didn’t put it on the streets!” he hissed, then took another moment, mind turning something over, before he relented. “It was stolen from me.”
“Stolen?” Ford asked.
He ran his hand over his face and sighed. “Several months ago, our server was hacked. From what we could tell, whoever it was focused solely on the neural tech and neural implant designs. Everything to do with the Subjugates’ halos and the stabilizing drugs we administer. At first, we thought maybe it was a journalist or something, curious about what we were doing here, but…”
“But?” Ford prompted.
“But then several weeks later Dr Remmell reported to me that he’d seen a man wearing similar tech on one of his visits to the city. That’s when we realized that perhaps it had been more than general curiosity.”
“Did you report the hack?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“We didn’t realize anything had been stolen.”
“You are required to report such an incident to federal authorities, and you didn’t?”
“We were close to our annual review. If they knew we’d been hacked, our security systems would be called into question. I couldn’t have that. We bolstered our security and haven’t had any problems since.”
“So when the tech was seen in the city, why didn’t you report it then?” Ford asked. “When you realised it had moved from a hacking incident to theft.”
Solme looked at her. “We’re not the only ones who had been designing or implementing neural tech before The Crash. The tech Remmell saw on the streets could’ve been anyone’s for all we knew. Besides,” he turned his hard glare to Salvi, “by then, your detectives were all over me thanks to the spate of killings in Bountiful. You think I wanted to bring it up then? I was making my own enquiries. For all I knew someone was setting me up.”
“Who would want to set you up?” Salvi asked.
“I told you before, detective, during the Bountiful case. There are many people who do not want me to succeed in treating these individuals.”
“Who?” Salvi asked again more firmly.
Solme turned his eyes back to Ford but didn’t answer.
“Start naming names, Attis,” Ford said. “This is beyond hacking and theft now. We’re talking kidnapping, drug dealing, illegal tech on the streets, and murder. Including the murder of one of my own goddamn officers. So you start telling me some fucking names, now!”
Solme clenched his jaw. “Garner Town have made it clear they don’t want us to exist,” he said.
“Garner Town?” Salvi said. “They’re a survivalist community. They refute technology. How would they hack your systems? Why would they want the tech on the streets?”
“To finish me!” he said through gritted teeth.
“Who else?” Ford said.
“I don’t know!” Solme said. “Start by looking at everyone who opposed this facility, in the government, in the medical fields, in the corrections industry. The list is long.”
“You must have suspicions?” Salvi asked him.
“I just told you. Garner Town. They have openly threatened to shoot any of my Serenes or Subjugates that wander onto their adjoining property.”
“The survivalists hate tech and they hate your Subjugates,” Ford said, “and they’re protective of their property. I don’t see them paying a hacker to access your files.”
“If they wanted to ruin me they would.”
“When I interviewed you during the Bountiful case,” Salvi said, “you told me you were looking to win back trust in
