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Chapter 46

Maxwell took a few steps back. It gave him a better view of the small crowd. "This is a fucking nightmare."

"Care to elaborate?" asked Sands. He wiggled his wrist a little. Maxwell didn't notice. His eyes were too busy moving from person to person.

"What just happened makes no sense."

"Take a deep breath," said Morris. "And lower the weapon before you make a mistake."

"What the hell do you mean?" Maxwell looked at his boss – really looked at him – from head to toe. "Something changed since I left your office five minutes ago. What was the last thing we talked about?"

Sands wiggled his wrist a little more and the control bracelet dropped down. He twisted his middle finger up and just managed to tap the metal. It vibrated. "Three fifteen," he said in a low voice.

High above, one of the red robots slowed to a halt and began to descend. No one noticed. It was silent, shifting position until it reached Maxwell. Then both arms lowered. Pinchers at the end opened and clamped on to his shoulders. They closed until a crunch sounded. He screamed and dropped his gun as the robot pulled him into the air. It stopped ten feet above the floor.

"Now that's a great seat for the show!" Sands announced with the zeal of a Circus Ringmaster.

Swimming in pain, Maxwell watched Morris approach Sands and unlock his restraints. "What are you doing?" he shouted.

Sands rubbed his wrists and rolled his eyes. "Come on Chief! You can't be that dense. Do you actually think Gorman's still in there?"

"No... No I don't." His speech was slurred. Shock was setting in. "But I still hoped."

"Waste of time. He's gone - part of the heavens now."

Maxwell hung his head in resignation. Satisfied, Sands looked past him and waved to the crowd assembled at the viewing window.

"And how do you plan on getting what you came for?" Maxwell muttered. "You only have one of the keys."

"Good Christ Chief," said Sands. "I'm hurt. You clearly underestimate me. There's no way I'd arrive at the party without all the tools in my bag."

Maxwell took a deep, raspy breath. "I can't believe I didn't see any of this coming."

"How could you? No one knew about my continued existence. Besides, there were so many diversions and sidetracks – designed to fool the most seasoned detective. We relied on chance a few times but not much. I wasn't sure how things would go when I encouraged that scumbag Mingle to kidnap our friend here." Sands pointed at Richard, who was having his cuffs removed by Gorman. "But Dr. Morris did a fine job overseeing that challenge."

Maxwell winced against the pain in his shoulders, lifted his head and looked from one man to the next. "Did you help him?" he asked Richard. "Or did he help you?"

"I had no idea what was going on."

"It's true," said Sands. "Richard's an unwitting accomplice. Completely innocent."

"Bullshit. He's involved somehow."

"Of course – but there's a difference. He's not the co-conspirator or criminal you so desperately want him to be."

"Either way - it doesn't matter..." Maxwell groaned. Blood had begun to seep through his uniform where the claws held him. "Sobel broke the law and there's consequences."

"Probably not in this case."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Do you know who Sam Tarwell is?" Sands asked.