Free The iFactor by R.W. Van Sant Page A

course, such a thing couldn't happen on Sirius. The legal system was designed so that the computer wouldn’t have let him file an arrest order if there were any technical issues. Still, it was his first case and he wanted it to be perfect.
“Crap!” the voice of Officer Perry echoed across the room
Matt signed his final document, sent it out and walked over. “What's up?”
“Having problems with an identification.” Perry said.
“What are you working on?”
“Same case.” Perry said. “I was just going over the final review of the contact web.”
“So what's the problem?”
“The problem is that I have the dock manager who we linked to the bursar. It looks like a clandestine meeting with someone in the park. At the same time, a large financial transaction was made to an unidentifiable person. He paid someone off.” Perry said.
“Can't you run the ID?” Matt asked.
“No, the individual was four steps removed from the rapist. Outside our warrant limitations. Standard procedure is three step.” Perry said. “So I requested a supplemental warrant to find out this contact. They denied it. Too far removed from principal to have relevance to our case.”
“Well nothing you can do but note it in the paperwork. I'll see what I can do to get the chief to look into it. The drug smugglers might have been paying off someone in the colonial authority to look the other way.” Matt said. “I'll talk to you about this later. It’s a good lead, we’ll follow up.”
“Okay, thanks,” Perry looked up. “I just never hit a wall before.”
“Join the club. Running into walls happens all the time on earth. Hell you’re not a proper detective until you found your way around a few of them. We’ll figure it out.” Matt took a step back toward his office when his palm started vibrating again.
“Can I borrow your palm reader?” he asked Officer Perry.
“Go ahead.” Perry pushed his chair back and clasped his hands behind his head.
Matt walked around the desk and waved his hand over the scanner. The screen, which made up most of its surface lit up. “It’s the chief; he wants me in his office when I have a minute.”
“Well that was a short lived promotion.”
“I don’t think I messed up that badly in a day.” Matt replied. “Don’t stress the wall. Think of it as an opportunity to earn our pay.”
“Dales?”
“Yeah?”
“You were good at your job, back on Earth, right?”
“I thought so; I guess the Chief thinks so to.”
“I want to be more than a file jockey. Can you teach me?”
“Getting close to me might not be a career maker. I’ll teach you what I can, but I’m not sure how much of it applies here. How about a trade. You teach me to comprehend the synapsis and I teach you how to get around walls.”
“Deal. Good luck with the chief.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
He’d just finished his paperwork; it was as good a time as any. He stepped into the elevator and pushed the chief’s floor. “You rang.” On arrival, he looked cautiously into his office.
“Yes, I did.” The chief said. “I hear you did pretty well for a first timer in the detective unit.”
“Thank you.”
“Close the door please.” The chief looked more intense than he'd seen him since their earth days. Matt closed the door and sat in the chair before the large wooden desk. “I don't want anyone to hear our conversation.”
“If you're trying to scare me,” Matt's heart braced for the shoe to drop. “It’s working.”
“Sorry, I'm not trying to. Look, I have a case I need you on, one that will require your special talent for hunches.” He leaned forward in his desk. “Can you be discreet? I mean can you give the team the benefit of your hunches without letting them know they come from your gut, or intuition, or where ever the hell they come from.”
“Are you still worried about the Trust?” Matt’s desire to laugh it off was eclipsed by the memory of the feelings he’d had the previous night. He could swear that he