4

Tracy smirked, “You’re thinking that my personal interest in the “yang” incubus interferes in family business.” She released the safety strap on her holster. SILer shrugged and turned to walk behind the store, “Only because you haven’t drawn your weapon.”
“I can draw and fire before you can remove the safety on yours,” Tracy answered and followed him. SILer turned his pistol in her direction playfully and she immobilized it a pinch from two fingers.
“Mean little machine,” SILer smiled and turned to leave, pausing when Tracy held his weapon for an extra second.
“Do you actually think you’ll find him?” Tracy asked as she looked behind a stack of boxes.
SILer raised an eyebrow and pushed the door to the employee restroom open, “Probably. There’s not a bone of intrigue in his body.”

SILer flashed a security badge at the store manager, who had protested the appearance of people with drawn weapons in his store. The manager apparently couldn’t tell the difference between security and law enforcement badges at a glance because he nodded quickly, “Oh, okay.”
“We’re looking for a man with bright blonde hair, almost white. A synthetic like me, have you seen him?” SILer asked the manager. “No sir,” The manager answered.
Tracy looked at SILer, “He’s telling the truth,” She made her way through the back rooms of the store with her gun drawn.

They searched the store, several other businesses and another graveyard before stopping to strategize at the second chapel.
“Look, I have to get back,” Tracy finally said, “I’ll search his face on sensor cams. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”
SILer nodded silently and watched Tracy walk out of the chapel before dialing Bert, “Yes sir, I thought you would. I’ll get a rental.” He listened to Burt’s instructions and replied, “That will complicate things if we have to end things publicly. They’ll ask why you didn’t report the synth unit missing.”
Bert cursed, “Damnit… you’re right.” He thought a moment before ordering, “Alright, I’ll go back to Ishi with SILvia and you stay here as security at the lifter port. Vacate that house so we can say that he was taking care of things and we didn’t know he was gone until it was too late.”

**

Tracy picked the grass-stained outfit out of the store trash and frowned, AnSIL never was cut out for duplicity. Her neural network slipped into the back door for city sensor net security. Several vans matched possible time and distance locations but so far, no one on the street looked like AnSIL.
There were no depressions in the grass nearby, no scuffmarks that matched the color of AnSIL’s shoes. Tracy scanned the area slowly though and a wash towel across the street caught her attention, a quick spectral resonance check and she found that it matched AnSIL’s blood type. The towel wasn’t there before. He must have been close when they were searching for him.
“What are you doing?” She whispered quietly as she picked the bloody rag from the trash bin. Deciding that she wouldn’t be helping anything if SILer spotted her, she returned to her car and turned in the direction of home.

The sensor/stop light seemed to stare back at AnSIL, a metal helmet protected him from normal scans, his road armor obscured his measurements and his scooter had been reserved with cash. He’d thought of everything, even the sunglasses that he wore were tinted with welding-grade gold.
A bright safety-orange car pulled to a stop beside AnSIL and he nearly lost his balance when he took a quick look at it. SILer sat within arms’ reach, hacking into city sensor data.

(What I'm listening to - "Go it alone" by Beck)