Death in the Shell

"A demonstration," Eve said when the message ended. With a quick check of her wrist unit, she turned to Roarke. "Did Caro tell you about a similar message from Cassandra?"

Roarke nodded, "They're going to hit an empty warehouse I bought a couple months ago."

"You'll explain it to us while you take us there," Motoko ordered and before leaving the safehouse looked at Ishikawa. "Take that ugly comp back to headquarters and finish your digging."

"I'll have a full report when you get back, Major," Ishikawa replied while watching Batou leave with the other three for Roarke's warehouse.

***

"It used to be an old glass factory, I had it slated to be built into housing units." Roarke explained while driving to the warehouse district his building was located at.

"Were any rehab and construction guys supposed to work over there today?" Motoko asked.

Roarke began to hit vertical lift on his vehicle, "No they were supposed to start next week, that district had mostly been abandoned after the Urban Wars."

They swung east, passed reconditioned lofts where young professionals liked to live and shop and eat in overpriced cafes with bad lighting and good wine.

Barely a block over, the ambiance changed to disuse, disrepair, and despair. Misery walked the streets below in the guise of the unemployed and the unwashed, the failed and the desperate.

South of there, the old factories and warehouses loomed, nearly every one abandoned. Bricks were soot gray from smoke, smog, time. Window glass was in shards and sparkling on ground littered with garbage and straggling with weeds that struggled out of broken concrete.

"So basically, you were trying to rebuild this part of town?" Motoko asked after ordering Roarke to keep the car floating.

Roarke nodded, "I was going to open a new manufacturing arm of my industries here."

That was the last thing he said before they saw a series of flashes bloom in the broken windows of the building.

If the car wasn't soundproofed, Eve and Roarke would've definitely dealt with some ringing in their ears, due to the loud noises the explosion was giving. They saw bricks raining all over the ground and glasses raining down like it was sharper than snow.

"Um, Lieutenant, you didn't call the cavalry did you?" Batou asked as he noticed a group of first responders traveling at their direction.

Eve and Motoko looked to see NYPSD and the Fire Department traveling, at lightning speed, to the warehouse district.

"No, but I bet Feeney did."

"Get us out of here, Roarke," Motoko ordered.

"What we're not going to give a statement, Major?" Eve asked.

"Not now," Motoko said while Roarke began to drive away. "But your visit back to the NYPSD might be a lot quicker than expected."

"What do you mean?"

"Once they find out that your husband owns that building, they'll definitely want to question the both of you." Motoko replied.

"But they're going to do it on our terms," Batou added. "We technically still have jurisdiction on this matter, Lieutenant, and the NYPSD will probably want in on our case."

"But what if I don't want them in, Major?" Eve asked with a glare at Batou.

"Still a little sore at them, are you?" It wasn't a question that came out of Batou's mouth.

Eve let out a breath in frustration, "Not really sore, but I was hoping to keep them out of this after we solved this case."

"Well," Motoko sighed and turned to Roarke. "We might not have any other choice, but what I can do is have you in interview, Roarke, and give your background on the building and your plans with it."

"Well before we do any of that," Roarke began to turn the vehicle to the skyscraper that housed his headquarters. "I want to meet with Caro about what Cassandra said on my disc."

***

In Baxter and Peabody's rush to get to the explosion, they failed to notice that Eve Dallas and The Ghost Organization had already disappeared by the time they arrived to survey the damage. Sure enough there was virtually no building left except for the loose bricks, glass shards, the damage definitely looked like it would damage a vehicle beyond repair, if it were anywhere near that building.

Detective Baxter and Officer Peabody had already badged their way through the barricade and found Feeney talking with the Lieutenant from Explosives and Bombs Unit Anne Malloy and to Commander Whitney.

"What do we got?" Baxter asked.

"What we're about to get," Malloy was the first to reply. "Is my team resorting to using three shifts, it might take us up to thirty-six hours before we've swept the site. But my take is that, this wasn't the work of one explosive, might be either two or three bombs."

"And my guess is," Feeney gave Baxter a transcript of Cassandra's letter. "This building might have a connection with our Lieutenant Eve Dallas."

After reading the transcript, Baxter looked at Feeney and said, "Before you start chewing my head off, I got to ask this, do you think she had anything to do with the bombing of this building?"

"First off, fuck no," Feeney replied barely containing his temper. "Second, if we're going to suspect Lt. Dallas then why would they target her with this love letter?"

"Oh I don't know, perhaps she might still hold a grudge against us and maybe defected to this Cassandra group as a cover."

Before Feeney could really lose his temper, Whitney silenced both of them by putting his big hands on both their shoulders motioning them to move away from the first responders and E&B team working on the destruction. Peabody followed suit because if there was something going on about Eve Dallas, she insisted on hearing it first hand.

"Perhaps this is one of those times where we might need to break a code blue for you, Detective."

"Excuse me?" Baxter and Peabody asked in unison.

"There's something about the Lieutenant that both of you need to know about when we get back in my office, but until then that's all you're going to get. But in the meantime, I do not suspect our Lieutenant having any involvement in this, but she's definitely a connection."

On the way back to the vehicles, Whitney received a tablet from an officer, that detailed the owner of the building that was just blown up.

"Captain." He turned to Feeney.

"Yes, sir, what is it?"

"Looks like we're definitely going to need her, this building belonged to Roarke industries."

***

"So aside from that building that just blew up," Motoko said as the group got out of his car. "Did you own any of the other buildings in that area."

"The two buildings on either side," Roarke replied. "And I have a bid on another in the area. They were to be rehabbed into markets, shops, cafes and some offices."

"You think that sector will support that kind of thing?" Eve asked.

"I don't think, Eve," Roarke stopped the private elevator in his parking garage and activated it with his thumbprint. "I believe it will."

She shook her head, thinking of the income level and street crime. "You'd know more about that sort of thing, I guess. The building was insured."

"Yes, for little more than the purchase price at this point. The project's worth a great deal more to me." Taking the neglected, the disdained and giving it value meant a very great deal to him. "The building was old, but it was sound. The problem with progress is that it often sweeps aside, destroying rather than respecting what others have built before us."

She knew of his affection for old things but wasn't sure there was a point here. She'd seen little more than a pile of bricks, and that was before it had been blown up.

His money, she thought with a shrug. His time.

"So what's with this name of Cassandra?"

"What I can tell you that it's not the work of a jealous lover."

"But they had to get the name from somewhere."

"Greek mythology is my guess," Roarke said as the elevator doors opened into the magnificent world of his office.

"Greek Mythology?" Eve asked as they got out of the elevator.

"In mythology, Cassandra could foretell the future, but no one believed her. She warned of death and destruction and was dismissed. Her predictions always came true."

Like clockwork, Roarke's loyal admin Caro had given him the version of Cassandra's disc made for him. Sure enough his version talked about the uprising of the masses to topple corrupt governments and overthrow the greedy upper class.

"Revolution? Killing an old man and blowing up an empty warehouse is a pretty petty way to revolt." But she wouldn't dismiss the possibility of political terrorists.

"Well here's my question," Batou began to say, "We know Ishikawa is working around the fail safe of Howard Bassi's computer, but why didn't they do it first?"

Eve and Motoko gave Batou a mutual scowl at his question before Motoko replied, "If they'd had anyone good enough to break into that fortress of his, they wouldn't have needed him in the first place."

"A very good point," Roarke agreed. "Major, I need to make a press release on the destruction of my property."

"Well if you do, I suggest you keep it minimal and we'll keep you updated on our investigation."

Roarke then turned to Eve and she noticed him looking like a big weight had been lifted from his shoulders, "What is it, Ace?"

And she could barely stop him before he kissed her softly right in front of Motoko and Batou, "There's no telling what would've happened had I not been there with you, away from that blast."

"Roarke," Eve whispered gently rubbed his trembling back. "I told you before, if you put your trust in the Major, we'll make it out alive."

"That's what I'm saying, Lieutenant," Roarke whispered back. "I had no idea how true those words were until we saw that building explode, I almost would have lost you in that building had it not been for Motoko."

"She wouldn't have been too close, Rich Boy," Batou put a gentle hand on his back. "The way that bomb was setup, even a rookie could've spotted trouble a mile away."

Roarke nodded at Batou, "Which is why I'm more than willing to really trust you guys to handle her without my further help."

"Don't worry, Roarke," Motoko began to say. "A big sister always has to look after the little one for safety."

Finally Eve gave Roarke her own kiss, full of love and devotion. "If you ever need me I'll be there, my love."

Motoko had to smile at Eve's twist of her sentence of affection to Roarke while they began to exit the building.

"I'll never stop needing you, Aghra, but I do know that the city needs you more," Roarke said behind Eve's back while she began to follow Motoko and Batou.

***

Meanwhile back at the NYPSD headquarters, Commander Whitney finished giving Detective Baxter and Officer Peabody all the details involving The Ghost Organization and Eve Dallas' involvement with them. Captain Ryan Feeney stood behind him on his left, Chief Henry Tibble on his right, giving all three a commanding presence as they stood with their backs to the skyscrapers.

"So let me get this straight," Baxter said after hearing Whitney's report. "Our Lieutenant had ties to this Ghost Organization and they were the ones who broke the case at the Drake Center?"

"They never did explicitly say it," Feeney replied first. "But we do have cause to believe that Dallas may have been an influence in having them bring the collar back to us."

"From what Captain Feeney, Detective McNab and Detective Webster gathered in their private investigations, The Ghost Organization used to be based out in Japan under Public Security Forces Section 9." Chief Tibble added. "In the aftermath of an incident involving a hacker and child abducter known as The Puppeteer, Section 9 had recieved an invite from the United Nations to break off from Japan and form into an independent global force. They changed their name to The Ghost Organization and since their inception have been run by the husband and wife cyborg team of Batou and Motoko Kusanagi."

Baxter and Peabody began to look at a screen detailing the facial images of The Major and Batou and having the sense of deja-vu, when they began to remember the two strange figures that showed up at Cop Central the month before.

Like a rookie, Peabody began to raise her hand up so she could speak.

"What is it, Officer?" Whitney asked.

"Well umm.." Peabody began to stammer, "Officially, Lieutenant Dallas was supposed to have been raised under foster care, but what is their connection with her?"

Peabody pointed a finger at the two individuals on screen and making Commander Whitney scowl at her question.

"We haven't been able to find that out yet, officer," he replied. "But I do imagine that you're thinking that we might punish her for going rouge and defecting."

"Yes sir," Peabody replied briskly, feeling her stomach tighten at that possibility.

"Technically," Chief Tibble began to say. "The Lieutenant was within her legal rights to announce her leave of absence from the NYPSD and she had her right to find other employment with other people while we had her on suspension. So we cannot do anything about that."

"However," Whitney made Peabody hold that sigh of relief she was about release. "Even though we have cleared her of any wrong doing involving the murder of Officer Ellen Bowers, it is a definite possibility that she has moved on from us and will very likely never return to her post. We had a 90 day furlough issued on her, in case she chooses to return. But if she doesn't return by the end of the month...I will resign."

"WHAT?!?!" Peabody and Baxter shouted that question in stereo.

"What do you mean you plan to resign?" Baxter asked.

"Because Captain Feeney was right," Whitney replied solemnly. "I had followed procedure right down to the most simple comma, and as a result, it's virtually cost us the best officer of the New York Police and Security Department. There had been a strong weight that fell on me when I asked for Lieutenant Dallas' badge and suspended her from duty, a weight that only multiplied when you gave me her resignation letter Baxter." He held up a hand to silence Baxter's protest. "You are not at fault for that weight, that blame is mine and mine alone. Therefore by the end of next month, if Lieutenant Eve Dallas does not return, I will resign."

Seeing the stunned look on Baxter and Peabody's faces, Commander Whitney issued an order. "Detective, I want you and Officer Peabody to work with Lieutenant Anne Malloy and figure out what you can on this group called Cassandra."

"And I imagine, this talk of The Ghost Organization is to only stay in this room?" Baxter asked.

"That is correct, Detective. Both of you are dismissed."

Baxter and Peabody gave Whitney a yes sir and proceeded to exit the room.