The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Chapter 37: Checkmate

"Stand by, Daedalus," she indicated before looking over at her comrade. "We're up, Duffy."

"Right," Duffy acknowledged as he reached for the nearest of the dozen small lozenge-like cylinders he had unloaded from Mordecai's duffel bag. Picking it up, he gave the top a twist, activating it.

Humming softly, the cylinder began to rapidly transform itself, parts of itself drawing inward and shifting about so quickly that it was difficult to follow. Choosing not to, Duffy flipped the unit through the open window in front of him. And he was quickly rewarded by a low buzz as the unit abruptly climbed past the window and out of sight.

Duffy then sent the rest of the cylinders out the window, twisting each one by its top before tossing it out until the lot of them were launched. As the last one flitted upwards past the window, he looked over his shoulder at Dee.

"Probes are launched, Tragedy," he reported and Dee nodded as she returned her attention to the complicated looking assembly of silvery boxes, rods and smoothly curving half-circles sitting in front of her. Definitely not as sleek as Paladin and the linked units of Mordecai's information system. But it would do them just fine!

"Daedalus, establish an uplink to the probes that Duffy just launched."

"Uplink established, Detective," Daedalus reported in its soft voice. "I'm receiving good telemetry from the probes."

"Good. Begin mapping the city, making note of all psionically active locations."

"Confirmed, Detective. Mapping is commencing, with noted parameters."

Dee nodded once again as she stood, dusting off her pants as she looked over at Duffy with a grin.

"Looks like we're cooking," she indicated before stepping back over to the bed to check on Mordecai. Thankfully the big man had fallen asleep and, from all appearances, it seemed to be a relatively relaxed and restful one as he lay unmoving, his face untouched by pain. They could only hope that when he found consciousness again, he'd be much better.

"Excellent," Duffy said with a smile, turning away from the bag of equipment. "Daedalus should have a completed map in about an hour or so, if I remember Mordecai's instructions correctly."

Dee nodded in acknowledgement.

"Yup, that's what I remember, too. Just enough time to get out and physically reconnoiter our target." She reached into her jacket to give her Shiva sitting in its holster a shake. "According to the map of Toronto I was looking at on the plane, the Sheraton on University and Richmond is only a few blocks from Bay Street. And the BCE Building is at the corner of Bay and Front Street, a handful of blocks south from Richmond and Bay. We could easily walk there in a couple of minutes and have ourselves a look-see."

"A capital idea." Duffy nodded with a smile on his grizzled and jowly face. He pulled his rumpled coat closer about him. "Shall we make like MI-6 and spy the place out, then?"

It was nearly an hour and a half later by the time the two detectives returned to the hotel, the imposing Sheraton a fixture on University as it loomed over the city around it. Riding up in the elevator to their suite, some eleven floors up, they compared notes.

"I didn't realize the place was so damn big!" Dee exclaimed with a shake of her head as the elevator doors opened to spill them out onto their floor.

"Quite impressive," Duffy agreed. "Especially that atrium inside. Did you know that it was built to simulate a whale skeleton? Very grand."

"Very. And with plenty of exits, both by stairs and by elevator. Shouldn't be hard to reach our objective, do what we need to then withdraw in order. As long as the Brotherhood doesn't have the entire place rigged to blow if they get hit."