Chapter 2

“Okay, Officer Sanchez, one more time. Tell us from the top.”

Ray’s hands fisted underneath the table. He gritted out, “I’ve been sitting here for the past two hours, telling you my story over and over again. You asking the same question two different ways, isn’t changing a thing.”

Agent Perin from Internal Affairs, let loose a dubious, long-suffering sigh. “Officer Sanchez, you know the drill. We want to make sure your story is solid. We’re just doing our jobs.” The man shrugged in a distant way as if to convey this sort of thing was out of his hands. Just routine. “Okay?” He gave Ray a half-hearted, sheepish smile.

Ray cast his eye over the guy. Was it worth his badge to punch the guy in the face and relieve some of the tension coiled within his body? From the top of his head to the soles of his feet, every muscle hardened like stone.

He detested that patronizing bull from higher ups who had nothing else better to do than wipe someone’s ass with silk sheets. With his sallow, olive complexion, limp, stringy hair, and lackluster blue eyes, Agent Perin looked like he wiped someone’s ass on a daily basis.

“Officer Sanchez,” Agent Clark interjected her high, clear voice, drawing Ray’s eyes away from Agent Perin, “Look at it from our point of view. You’re expecting us to believe that the Terminator came, electrocuted LaJuan Homer, and then took him away?”

Agent Clark’s eyes met his own, unflinchingly. Ray’s indignation eased slightly. He could at least respect her. She didn’t talk down to him although she didn’t believe his story any more than did Agent Perin.

Ray thrust his unsteady hand through his hair. “I know it sounds crazy. You think I want to be sitting here, telling you this? But I know what I saw. One of those freakin’ army bots or whatever you want to call them incapacitated LaJuan Homer and took him away. They almost ran me down. What else do you want me to say?”

“The truth?” Agent Perin mocked, with an amused look in his eyes

Ray’s fingers twitched and his lips curled.

“Tim, why don’t you get me and Officer Benson some coffee, eh?” Agent Clark said, looking just as pissed as Ray felt when she slanted her gaze at her partner. “And while you’re it, grow a pair of balls so when you come back, you can act like an adult.”

“Marion, this is a waste of time. A robot? You sure LaJuan’s name isn’t John Connor?”

Ray jumped to his feet and slammed the metal table with both fists. “Go to hell!”

“Tim, get the coffee,” Agent Clark ordered, her green eyes hard.

Agent Perin scooted his chair back. “Let’s just take this guy’s badge and get on with it.”

Agent Clark narrowed her eyes. The man sighed and rose up. Ray forced himself not to look at the man, preferring to stare at the reflective surface of the table as the agent walked by.

“I’ll be back,” Agent Perin quipped in a bad Australian accent.

The door closed and Ray glanced up, meeting the penetrating green-eyed stare of Agent Clark.

Truth be told, he couldn’t blame Agent Perin or Agent Clark for their skepticism. He saw everything go down and still couldn’t believe it. But nothing could make him imagine a night like that. Especially, the way the robot kept staring even as it incapacitated LaJuan Homer.

“Look, Officer Sanchez,” Agent Clark steeples her hands under her chin. “I want to believe you. With all the heat on the police right now, the last thing I want to be doing is this. Yet, we have a suspect gone missing while you were in pursuit and trying to apprehend him for the assault of Leland Wright, the owner of Wright’s Party Store. Most folks believe you just shot the boy and then hid the body. In fact, that’s what I am inclined to believe.”