One of the journalists working at ‘The Walker,’ the local newspaper was Glen Usher. Few people knew that his loyalties lay with the security. Most of the time Landau gave Usher to do the dirty work no one else could. His main specialty was gathering of information. Landau did not mind that Glen used violence as his main tool. Glen pushed some people here, paid some money there and information always found ways to reveal itself.
Everyone in the office knew his interest in secrets. He was kind to those who shared stories and gossip with him. Sometimes he would even reward the better ‘story-tellers’ with a symbolic amount of money or a favor. No hidden fact or secret escaped his ears. Even if some dirty stories did not make it to the daylight, they found a way to Glen’s memory for sure.
------
Today he took a half-day off to visit the wealthiest man in the city, named Cho Juan.
Glen left the city center and walked a wide street towards the farther districts. Two skyscrapers stood far in the distance behind him, words ‘The Walker’ was shining in transparent red on the top of the lower one. He passed a couple of intersecting paths and turned to an alley. There, on both sides, one after another, stood a series of buildings that gave entertainment to the folk with no ‘special’ needs. If one had a wish to relax, this was the place to go to. Bars of many different themes, ranging from Wild West saloon to an alien tropical world, offered all kinds of alcohol and table games. Casinos provided gamblers with tons of slot machines and playing tables. Earns and loses in the city was much smaller from the casinos back home, but still, one could get relief from daily routine and dive into a world of greed and competition. Water spas, massage salons and much more entertainment followed casinos in a line at the never ending alley. After passing the lousy section of the alley, Glen stopped in front of a tight, tall, door-less house squeezed between a competitive card games club and a locked building titled “Sunrise Expeditions". He had no clue what went on in the last one. Glen knew, this was Cho’s house. It had no signboards or advertisement projections, only a tall white wall made from glittering white material, a picture of a warrior fighting a giant python carved into it.
Glen got closer to the picture and a voice, coming from the wall, whispered, “Come on in, Mister Usher.”
The wall shifted. Now, the victorious warrior held the python by its head, his free hand pointed at a rectangular passageway that opened up during the shift. Glen walked into the darkness and after a few steps he came into a white room. The light inside was too bright for his taste. An elderly man, in white suit stood in front of him, smiling, his bald head reflected a small part of light. He said, “Now, would you explain me why were you so urgent to visit me?” He walked further into the light and sat on a chair. Glen was left standing.
He saw nothing more than four white glittering walls and Cho on his chair in the room. Cho’s arrogance tingled Glen’s nerves. He replied, “Sir, I know everything about you, and by saying this, I mean everything. So please save my time and trouble. Just give me the names of individuals that came to ask you for a financial support in the recent years. I had to put a lot of effort to make this meeting happen and I want to get the most results out of it.”
“Not a journalist, are you?”
“Not your business.”
“What would happen if told my friends of the Walker about your insolence?”
“Nothing,” Glen replied, no muscle moved on his face.
“What would happen if I lied?”
“I would get the information the hard way.”
“One of the security scum, I see. Have met many of you during my long years; have tried the hard way as well. Let’s not toy with the old head of mine. I am too old for that. I will talk,” Cho sighed, “I think I know who you are looking for. You see. I’m a great supporter of liberal rights, I think it's a mistake to consider people equal and—“
Glen interrupted, “I don’t care about your false beliefs. If your way of getting this wealth”—he pointed at the lights and the ‘magical’ wall behind him—“was liberal, I can’t imagine what are you standing for. Please, just shut up and give me the names so I can leave this place.”
“Aron Rondo.”
“Who is he and what does he do?”
“He’s a small politician, knows a lot, just like you. Even though we agree on many political subjects, there is something strange about him – a sort of menacing aura. I have a feeling he feeds the money I give him to some dangerous people.”
“Why did you not try to take care of him? A man with your power could rid of annoyances with ease.”
“Oh, I did, once, and failed so hard. He said I shouldn't try it again. So I don’t.”
“Interesting, old man, interesting.” Glen turned towards the exit and spoke as he walked, “Don’t have hard feelings on me. It was just business. Hope we won’t meet again.”
“Hope so too.” Glen could hear words coming from behind his back.
He stepped out to the alley and the wall shifted, leaving the man to fight the python again. He took a longer glimpse at it, the symbology reminded him of something. Something he had learned at school and long forgotten.
Glen took the comms device out of his pocked, used it for a while and strode towards the outskirts of the city. Let’s see what are you mister Rondo.
-----
Glen stopped by the largest house in a humble neighborhood on the higher end of the city sloping upwards. It was a bad idea for famous people to try and stand out of public. That’s exactly what the individual living in the house did, with all the oversized exotic trees, huge swimming pool and unnecessary house decorations.
As the doorbell chirped in bird’s voice, Glen looked around and saw how simple, the neighboring properties were. How much have money corrupted this man?
The door opened. A little fat man put up a warm smile and extended his small arm to greet Glen.
“Mister Usher I welcome you to my humble house. Please come in, you must be tired, walking all the way from the center. I believe you know my name, but please, just call me Ron.”
Glen did not like him from the moment he saw him. The information he managed to gather on the way was that the man had ugly character and was famous at failing to control his temper. The warm smile was disturbing Glen, it did not go away even after they shook hands.
“Thank you Ron for your kind welcome. Do you know the purpose of my visit?” Glen asked while following Aron through the corridors. Old pictures, stuffed animals and expensive antique furniture made an impression that Aron was trying to turn his house into a time machine - everything here felt ancient, this little man must have been admiring the times of past.
“No, my assistant informed me about the meeting only an hour ago. I’m sorry. I did not prepare a decent welcome. Please take a seat in my office while I go and make some tea.” Aron pointed a finger to one of the rooms and rushed away. “Feel free to read some of my books or check some holocrons. I will be back in a minute...” Words were fading away as he disappeared in the hallway.
Glen did as suggested. Inside the room there were some old books written two or three centuries ago, it must have been his parents who brought them in. Most of the books about politics, written by famous thinkers and philosophers, they looked intriguing, but Glen chose to check holocrons instead. He took the dustiest one, cleaned it with a sleeve and placed into the holographic projector. It was a record of children’s birthday party. The little kid with a bad temper must have been Aron. He was opening gifts, crying, being mean to other children. The character patterns shown in the hologram had matched the ones Glen learned about. As the holocron's record was about to end and Glen tried to take a seat, Aron rushed into the room, he was so clumsy that he managed to nudge Glen. Usher lost his balance and dropped to the chair.
“Sorry, for that and I’m so sorry for making you wait. Here is your tea.” Aron put a cup of tea on the table in front of Glen. A strong flavor of strawberries filled the room.
“Thank you for the hospitality.”
“It’s nothing.” Aron paused. “Let me ask, why are you here? Are you writing some story?” The little man looked intrigued.
“No, not today, this time I came to get some confidential information that never makes it to the stories.”
Aron lifted his eyebrows. “I’m a member of the parliament. All information about me is accessible to anyone on the ship. I can’t tell you anything you would not find in the public data.”
“Yes, you can, mister Aron, and you are going to tell me everything.”
“About what?” The warm smile had not left the politicians face. Was he still thinking he was in control of the situation?
“About you, taking bribes and trying to push society crippling laws. About the money you are using to support small time terrorists. You are going to tell me everything you know and give names of all your dirty friends.”
“You have no leverage to ask for this.”
Glen was waiting for this moment.
“No leverage you say. Some people would disagree, but I do think that violence sometimes is the answer. I represent the first citizen. I could snap your neck and walk away unpunished. I think of doing it right now. The leverage is your life!” Glen lifted up the tea cup and crushed it without flinching. The smell of strawberries was gone, only tension remained in the room.
Glen’s eyes radiated with a deadly intent, he threatened, “You won't escape, so speak.”
“You don’t know who you are talking to, my little policeman.” Aron looked amused. “I know it was Landau who sent you. I know you visited Cho today and I know much more.” He continued the conversation in a gentle soft voice. “By accident you kicked hornets’ nest and you will get bitten. I guess that’s what happens when you roam in the jungle too often.”
Glen started having doubts if this was the same person described in the data he found. He knew Rondo was a selfish man with a weak character, it should have been easy to break him with simple threats. The person in front of him was different. He understood he had made a mistake by underestimating this small man.
“Who are you?”
“It doesn’t matter who I am. What matters are the reasons why I’m here.”
“Why are you here then? You can’t be Aron Rondo.”
“Why, do I not look like him? My agenda is beyond comprehension of your small brain. Why do I even bother talking to you? Not like you are going to remember any of this.” Little man shook his head and stood up.
Glen was reaching for his tranquilizer gun. It was gone. It was in the hands of Aron pointed at him. He saw a blast followed with a loud bang. As Glen got dizzy he heard words coming from Rondo.
“Don't be upset, we will meet again.”
*****
The next day Glen woke up in a hospital; he had lost memory of the last two months. When Landau found out about it, he visited Cho Juan, who seemed to have suffered from a partial memory loss as well. According to Usher, Cho should have had some political agenda, but he did not. The lead Glen followed became a dead end. The doctors had no clue, what had caused the memory loss, but Tom had a feeling in his gut, it was work of the mystery man Ermac asked him to find.
Tom bought ‘The Walker’ on the way home. The title on the front page was the following - “Politician Aron Rondo found dead in apparent murder-suicide.” The first citizen sighed, he was in disbelief that people were still capable of taking their own lives. Sometimes he would visit the funeral of politicians to pay some respect, but not this time, he had no idea who that man was, nor sympathized with the way he left.