Two shots rang out from Zorro’s pistol, one to Guillermo’s chest, the other to his head. This made Edwardo jump, but somehow, he managed to stay quiet enough not to give away his position. Zorro told the man with him to pick up the bag, and they both fled the scene, leaving Guillermo lying in a pool of blood.
Edwardo waited until he could no longer hear any of the voices, then slowly emerged from his hiding place. He pushed the trapdoor upwards with all his strength until the metal storage rack rolled off to the side. He saw his father’s body lying there facedown, there was blood everywhere. He knew his father was dead, and tears filled his eyes as he sat next to the body, trembling. He eventually gathered himself, wiped the tears from his face, got up, and called 911.
“Hello, 911, what’s your emergency?”
“Hello. It’s my dad, he’s been shot.”
“What is your name?”
“It’s Edwardo, Edwardo Dominguez … “
“Okay Edwardo, are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Okay good, can you tell if your dad is still breathing or if he has a pulse?”
“No, he is dead. They shot him in the head and in the chest.”
“I am so sorry to hear that. How many people were there, do you know if they are nearby?”
“There were two men, they are gone now.”
“Okay, do me a favour—don’t touch anything until the police arrive. Do you think you’ll be able to do that?”
“Yes.”
“I will send the police to you right away. Do you want me to stay on the line with you until the police get there?”
“No, that’s fine, I need to call my mom now. Thank you.”
“No problem at all, hang in there, the police are on the way. I will call back in five minutes to make sure that you are okay.”
“Thank you.”
Edwardo noticed there were drugs and cash in the cellar he had been hiding in. So, after his call to 911, he retrieved the drugs and cash and stashed them behind a dumpster at the back of the restaurant. The plan was to move them to his bedroom at some point that night, while no one was watching. Once he did this, he contacted his mother to let her know what had happened.
Chapter 14
Hard Evidence
Where: The Nations High Court, The United Nations of Europe and Americas, Washington, DC
When: 1010 hours, Wednesday, October 30, 2041
Currency: UNEA credits
The time had come for the prosecution team to present its evidence to the court. Since I was no longer in custody, I would be given the privilege of being physically present in the courtroom during discovery proceedings. I would get to see the judge face to face. There would be no need for the Vexa transmission this time, which is good because I am not a big fan of the technology. I find it a bit surreal and creepy.
During discovery proceedings, the judge would decide what would be accepted into evidence and what would be excluded. Joe would have the opportunity to argue against evidence he deemed unsuitable or irrelevant. Of course, he would have to support his argument with sufficient reason to justify the request for exclusion. Joe was good, but there was no way of guaranteeing a positive outcome. This was completely out of our hands. Previously, we were unsuccessful in our attempt to find out what evidence the prosecution had on me. There was no way of accessing the evidence room or database—we even threw money at the problem, to no avail. We couldn’t find a single corrupt enforcer directly involved in, or close to, the case. There also wasn’t a single enforcer we could find who would accept a bribe in exchange for access to the evidence room. We didn’t know anyone who had access to the local evidence database. It was a local database in the sense that it wasn’t connected to any network, not even the local secured court network. Having the required access would have helped in manipulating the trial, but we didn’t have it, so we’d have to look for other ways to ensure things go our way.
At this point, all we could do is hope for the best. Joe’s strategy is to argue against every single piece of evidence. For anything that can’t be argued against, he will come up with as many questions as possible to raise doubt during the actual trial. At the end of the session, the trial date will be decided by the good judge.
“Your Honour, for the charges of record tampering and identity cultivation, the prosecution presents Exhibit A, data footprints containing an exchange of digital dialogue between two IP addresses. The first address traced back to a comms device belonging to Edom Group. The other IP address belongs to an organization that has been linked to numerous criminal activities in direct violation of Section 7–9(C) of the UNEA Cyber-Security Act. These footprints will not only prove that the defendant has direct involvement with the data cultivation syndicate that is responsible for the generation and facilitation of numerous false identities, it will also show that Mr. Dominguez is the mastermind behind the criminal organization in question.” said the lead prosecutor.
As planned, Joe wasn’t going
