531

Wu DaQi was an occasionally patient man. He didn’t reveal the trait often, preferring to jump head first into things, but he could hold back if he had a reason. He was also very good at playing dumb. Not unintelligent, but sometimes unobservant. Like pretending not to notice that he was under constant surveillance, even when he was off the clock. Like pretending not to notice that Jackson was more babysitter than partner.

Like pretending not to notice that their case of tracking stolen research items had turned into a hunt for Agent 531.

He stared up at the ceiling and threw the ball in his hand. He watched it rise and fall, to catch it and repeat the process. He was leaning back in a chair in his boss’s office, waiting. He wasn’t even sure what for.

He didn’t look up as the door opened. It was Jackson. He knew that by the scent of the cologne that preceded him. He was still walking oddly as well, a gait that betrayed him to DaQi’s sensitive hearing.

“You need to take this seriously, DaQi,” Jackson said as he nabbed the ball when it soared into the air. “They’re talking suspension.”

“I wasn’t the only one who lost him,” he reminded Jackson.

“No, but it’s you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know… the whole … brain… thing.” Jackson waved his hand towards DaQi’s head. “You let him go.”

“That’s not what happened. I tried to secure Fulmer, but they both got away. I just wasn’t going to jump out the window to follow them.”

It wasn’t an honest answer, and he knew that. He had more than one chance to take the shot. He had his gun pointed at 531, but he lowered his weapon. There was something about the agent that made DaQi drop his guard.

And what the hell was that kiss?

The door behind him opened again and DaQi stood as Mr. Salin came in.

“Jackson, get the hell out of here.”

Jackson gave DaQi a sympathetic look, then walked out, leaving them alone. The head of the Mann Enterprises security department sat behind the desk and opened the file he’d carried in. DaQi didn’t need to wonder what the folder was about. This was no longer about Agent 531, but him. He’d already been debriefed about the mission.

“From the reports, you were alone with 531 for a few minutes before he escaped, but you didn’t suffer any injuries.”

“Yes.” There was nothing else to say.They’d been over everything already.

“Did he speak to you? Did he do anything to you?”

“He spouted the line about being a PI and just wanting Fulmer. We fought. He must have been augmented because he knocked me across the room with a single shove. Then he grabbed Fulmer and jumped out the window.” Simple. True. Just not quite right.

“Go home, Wu DaQi.”

It wasn’t the answer he’d expected. He nodded though and stood. “Thanks, Boss. I didn’t get knocked out like Jackson, but that throw across the room wasn’t easy on the back.”

Salin ignored him as he walked out of the room, but DaQi left a small crack in the door when he closed it. He stopped outside and stooped down to retie his shoes. The augmentations that erased his memories had also given him extended hearing and he listened as Salin made a call.

“It’s Salin.”

DaQi could hear a woman’s voice on the other end of the line, but he couldn’t make out the words.

“Keep an eye on him. 531 didn’t come face to face with him to let him go.”

The call ended and DaQi walked away. He didn’t bother to return to his desk. He got his motorcycle from the garage and left the office.

###

It only took three blocks to lose the tails that Salin had on him. He didn’t usually try, but today he needed to be free. For three months, he’d been patient and waited for them to stop following him, to trust him to do his job even with the memories that he’d lost. Now, he wasn’t sure they ever would. Salin confirmed one thing, at least. He did know 531. Had he been on the Fulmer case because of him? Or was that a chance meeting?

He pulled his bike off the road as he scoffed at his own thoughts. Mann Enterprises didn’t leave much to chance. Every agent in the building knew about 531. He was their number one priority if he was spotted. It had been 6 years since they’d lost his trail though and this new sighting had everyone spooked.

531 was a boogeyman. A ghost. An unstoppable force.

DaQi had seen how good he was, so why was he still alive?

My name is Yi. You know me, Two. More than anyone else in this world.

He sped through the streets until he was back in the Piles. He turned his bike towards the waterfront. He tried not to go there too often, but it was his favorite place in the city. The docks were always busy and DaQi parked his bike behind his favorite food stall. He walked through the back and to a counter that was lined with chairs. He took one and smiled at the woman manning the front. She winked at him as she placed a beer bottle in front of him but didn’t stop to talk yet. He spun his chair away from the counter and looked over the docks.

The water nearest the boats had a reddish tint from the wash of the city above. Here, at the waterfront, was the only place in the Piles where you could see the night sky. The market was just across from the piers and people called out their services and deals for the day. It was close to sunset and DaQi watched as the sun fell.

“What can I get you, hotshot?”

DaQi turned around and smiled. “Why would I come here if I wasn’t ordering the best tacos in the Piles?” he asked.

“On it.”

He was left alone again, and he was thankful for the noise and movement of the people around him. After 531 jumped out of the building DaQi hadn’t been left alone to think.

Be careful, these people aren’t who they say they are. And neither are you.

You taught me to fly.

They’re lying to you, DaQi. Your real name is Two and I’m the one who gave it to you.

It didn’t make sense. Neither did the way he’d felt safer in that smoky building standing across from 531, than he did when he was at the office, with his co-workers.

It was time to start digging. There’d been inconsistencies in their stories when they’d talked about his past. The extra measures they took to keep an eye on him had always pinged in the back of his mind. Augmentation surgery rarely had major complications anymore, especially one as severe as his memory loss.

Or they took the memories from you.

Wu DaQi? Two?

Find me.

It was time to find the truth and to find his past.