The System Hunter

Chapter 11: The Hunter Without a Badge

Elias had expected the officer to raise his weapon. Instead, the man placed it on the floor.

"My name is Captain Len Arcos," he said. "If you stay here, another squad will take over. They won't ask for a badge scan, and there won't be an appeal."

Rafi stared at the weapon. "How do we know you’re not buying time for them?" The captain had held a gun on them minutes earlier. Trusting him now felt like trusting the lock because it had opened once.

"You don't. That's what makes this choice unpleasant."

Arcos reached into his jacket and produced a battered paper route card. It mapped the hospital's retired supply tram, a narrow rail service running beneath the north freight exchange. "The System doesn't manage its switches. Dispatch used it before the implants were mandatory. The tram still works if someone can power the first relay."

Mara examined the card. "The hospital uses that line to move backup oxygen cartridges. The control key is mechanical."

"And the gate?" Elias asked.

"Guarded. I can order my squad away for four minutes. After that my disobedience becomes public."

Elias studied Arcos. The captain's Life Balance showed twelve hours. Not enough to survive losing a job and a legal license, perhaps, but enough to make the offer credible. He held out his hand for the paper map.

"You're coming with us?" Arcos asked.

"I won't leave the boy."

Mara shook her head. "The ward has two separate emergency feeds now. His father is arriving with a civilian care team. We shouldn't move him again."

Niko lay beneath the overhead light, ventilator breathing steadily. His counter displayed nine minutes, then rose by ten as Mara completed a second verified treatment objective. She had used her technician license, not a hunter contract. Elias realized she was building her own way to keep the boy alive.

"Call the father," he said. "Tell him which equipment he needs."

Hollen waited by the service door, hands still restrained. Tessa inspected the plastic cuffs and cut one tie so he could hold the tram rail. "You're not free," she told him. "You're a witness."

"I've been a prisoner since I took that delivery job," he answered.

They reached the unused freight stairs with Rafi carrying a medical power cell and Elias pushing the impostor in a wheeled security chair. Her features were ordinary under the harsh light. The resemblance to Mara came from a thin biometric projection film bonded around her face and neck. With the display disabled, she looked like a stranger pretending to be family.

"What's your real name?" Elias asked.

"If I tell you, they'll empty my account before you reach the bottom."

"Then tell us who paid you."

"You saw the square-nine seal. That should be enough warning."

At the lower landing, a gate blocked their path. Mara inserted the mechanical key. The motor whined, drawing power from the cell, but a red notification appeared on Rafi's interface.

CONTRACT EVENT: UNLICENSED MOVEMENT OF DETAINED PERSON.

PENALTY RISK: -01:00:00.

"That can't be right," Rafi said. "We captured her legally."

"Your badge still recognizes her as Mara Venn," Tessa said. "The public correction hasn't reached detention services."

Elias tried opening his hunter license. Instead, a warning announced that his credentials were suspended pending the intrusion case. He could not move a prisoner, legally or otherwise. The locked gate trembled as something struck it from the opposite side.

"Another squad," Arcos said over the emergency line. "They're early."

Elias stared at the impostor. If he abandoned her, the System could delete the only living proof of the forged identity. If he took her, Rafi would lose an hour he could not spare.

"Give me the cuffs," Elias said. "And your badge."

Rafi did both. Elias fastened the cuffs around his own wrist, connecting himself to the chair's restraint bar, then placed Rafi's badge in the record slot.

"What are you doing?" Tessa demanded.

"Making the system see who owns the risk."

The gate rose. A security drone waited beyond it, targeting light fixed on Elias's chest. The System issued a new message.

UNREGISTERED DETAINER IDENTIFIED.

RECOVERY BOUNTY ACTIVATED: ELIAS VENN.

Behind the drone, someone stepped from the shadows and said, "I was wondering when you'd lose your badge."