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Chapter 45

"Shouldn't someone check on your pal?" asked Lapearle. His tone was a mixture of sarcasm and concern. "If Sands is really out there and aware of his purpose he can't be safe."

"I'm doing that now," said Gorman. He pushed a button on the side of his desk and the black surface came to life. Two rows of screens lit across the top – in the middle of each was a white X. Directly in front of him a keyboard appeared.

"If that guy's compromised it changes everything," said Maxwell.

A red light started blinking above the keyboard. Gorman tapped it. The image of old Peter Sands disappeared from the Vid screen on the wall. It was replaced by two figures at the door to the Morgue. One was easy to recognize.

"Holy shit!" Maxwell jumped from the couch and moved to get a closer look – the problem at hand forgotten. "Sobel's in the fucking building??!"

"Who's the woman?" asked Lapearle.

"I'll bet it's either Morris or Sands!"

Lapearle looked at Gorman, who was still in his seat. The Commander's expression was passive. "This is quite the coincidence. Why aren't you surprised?"

Gorman's face pinched into a scowl. The shift was quick. He was clearly unimpressed. "What are you insinuating?"

"Nothing. I just thought...

"This is a lucky fluke. Don't think otherwise for even a blink."

Lapearle turned red. "It was..."

"An ugly assumption. Leave it at that. I worked my ass off for years to connect the dots, and those two idiots just saved us a bunch of effort by walking through the front door! You might..."

"Who gives a shit about details right now?!" Maxwell shouted. His attention was still on the screen. The two figures had paused just past the entrance. "We've been handed an opportunity with a time limit. How should we proceed?"

"Quietly," said Gorman. "I'll get a detail of men on standby. You and Lapearle go down there and approach them. Just be careful."

Both men nodded and left the room. Gorman watched the door close then tapped one of the screens on his desk and set about organizing the group for backup.

A moment later the door swished back open. "I'll just be a second." he said without looking up. "Sorry if I'm..."

Heavy footsteps caught his attention. He pried his eyes from the screen. Crossing toward him with determination was the large Officer that Morris now inhabited.

"Can I help you with something Sergeant Teague?" Gorman asked.

The man raised a small red device and pointed it at him.

"You know what this is?" asked Morris.

Gorman gulped and nodded.

"Good. Put your hands up and push away from the desk." Morris reached into his pocket and pulled out a Swap Box. He plugged one end into his neck and moved closer.

"You'll never get that door unlocked," said Gorman. "Doesn't matter what scheme they've cooked up. I'm half the equation – you'll never find the other."

"All taken care of."

Gorman frowned. Morris plugged the other end of the Swap Box into his Hotwire Port. This made him flinch. "That's impossible."

"Don't be so sure. Sands did figure a way out of his old body. And that was a huge challenge."

"How?" Gorman asked. He gritted his teeth. He knew the end was close.

"Simplest solution." Morris knelt to eye level. "He kidnapped someone and swapped brains. Way messier than HICOP but not much choice. Sealed both skulls up with a machine designed just for the occasion - no one could tell. That fixed the Sterilization. Then he swapped again – this time through Hotwire just to cover his tracks."

"I can't believe that worked."

"We were surprised too. Sands felt it was a bit Kamikaze but there were no other options. His body was useless."

"What about the chip in his neck?"

Morris smiled. "We froze each of them from the neck down and worked fast. Sands old body died as soon as the other brain was inside. That meant two basic notifications at exactly the same time. Figured you wouldn't notice. And you didn't. Only wildcard was the dead brain – we had to cross our fingers and hope it wasn't tested. That would have set off red flags. Guess the thrill of seeing his corpse made you forget."

"Christ," muttered Gorman. "I thought we covered all the bases."

"If it's any comfort Sands respects your determination. And to be fair - lots of people miss the obvious."

"I got lazy."

"Nah, I think you felt the case was closed. On to the next. He was no longer a threat."

"Are you going to tell me how he plans on opening the locker without the other body?"

Morris shook his head. "He told me not to. Said it's his way of getting you back for Sterilizing him."

Gorman adjusted his position, took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Get on with it then."

"Best of luck," Morris said and pushed the black button on top of the Swap Box.