Chapter 43

BILLBOARDS OF BETRAYAL

Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters, Los Angeles, California, United States

“I fear this city is in more trouble than ever before,” Captain Neal said, shaking his head after reviewing the information that Gen had presented to him.

Luckily, for once, being arrested by this nefarious force had worked in her favor. According to her bail terms and conditions, Gen had to present attendance at certain times during the week, meaning she had a reason to be at the LAPD headquarters. This gave her the perfect reason to be in the facility and in this circumstance, she had found a meeting time with Captain Neal. They couldn’t meet outright, but during her bail requirements, it didn’t look suspicious at all for him to drop in to question her, like they were doing now.

“What do you know about the billboards?” Gen asked, looking across the interrogation table at the man.

She didn’t feel like she was being questioned, but rather doing all the questioning, since they both knew she was the one who had the ability to intervene. Captain Neal had to play things safely, fearful to lose his position again, and his ability to have surveillance from within, which they needed. Not only that, but he was in a good place to step in, when the time came, but that involved having more evidence—much more.

He pressed his thin lips together. Shook his head. Real defeat in his eyes. “I don’t know. The Commissioner’s office is guarding that agenda very closely. But there’s so many rumors going about. No one thinks they are good. Even within the precinct, we all know they are being used to create dominance.”

Gen balled up her fist, wanting to slam it down on the metal table between them, but resisting. “How can so many see what’s wrong and not do anything about it?”

A cold chuckle actually popped out of the trusting man’s mouth before her. He gave her a commiserating smile. “That’s how our society works. Don’t you know?”

He asked this question full of so much honesty that she almost wanted to answer, with the truth. She wanted to tell him that she was from the medieval era and in that time much wrong happened, but people fought it outwardly. There were few laws, so the people became the enforcers. A single person had to stand up for what was right. And they had to believe, so hard that they convinced the others. And they couldn’t falter when the forces were built against them. She wanted to tell Captain Neal that she was from a place where they didn’t allow injustice.

Instead, Gen simply shook her head and said, “Well, I’m going to do something to stop this. Commissioner Sloane has done a lot to hurt this city. I won’t stand for him to get any stronger and really take advantage of the people of Los Angeles.”

Captain Neal looked at her, a real confusion in his gray eyes. Wrinkles sprayed out on the side of his face as he seemed to try and piece together the puzzle before him. “Why? Why do you care?”

“I’m a Rogue Rider,” Gen insisted at once.

He wasn’t bought by this answer and shook his head. “No, I’ve worked with those guys. But you’re different. They don’t go to these extremes. You’re not hunting out the rat’s den, like they would, so they can exploit the others. You’re exterminating rats. Why is that? Who are you?”

His question seemed to be trying to dissect her. Again, she wanted to be honest and tell the truth. Gen wanted to confess to being something so raw and new that she operated from fundamentals most in this complex time wouldn’t understand. But then Gen reminded herself that this was why she couldn’t expose her secrets. She wasn’t like those in this world. She saw society not as it was, but how it should be.

Gen had seen enough of the modern world to know that most became complacent in this day and age. They said things like, “That’s just how it is.” Or they just believed that the complications of their complex world meant that it couldn’t be changed. But Gen came from a time when there was no organization or order and she created structure. If anything, Gen believed that things could change. They could be made better. They could be controlled. But it took a resilience that she thought might be extinct in the modern-day.

Biting her lip, Gen held back all her truths and shook her head. “I just fear that if left unchecked, that Charlie Sloane will do horrible things to Los Angeles and then what? He’ll go after more. Bigger places. More people. It never stops with a man like him.” She glanced off, feeling cold suddenly. “I’ve seen it with other similar type people. They don’t quit until they’ve taken over lands and empires and have crushed them, seizing every resource they can get their hands on. And in the end, the ones who suffer are the people who trusted those meant to protect them. Instead of getting the support they need, they were conquered under the power they gave to a corrupt leader.”

Captain Neal studied her for a long moment. He drew in a breath and smiled at her slightly. “I don’t know who you are, Gen Beaufont, but something tells me you have secrets. Ones that you are probably right to protect, but still, I can’t help but be intrigued by.”

She shrugged. “I just smell a rat…”

He nodded. “And although you were good to find the evidence linking Charlie Sloane to the LACMA and Federal Reserve Bank robbery, unfortunately, in light of what he’s done recently, it’s not enough. I’m sorry to say that he’s a step ahead of us. With the billboard technology he’s using, he can brainwash everyone to believe that he was on the side of good. Already, the citizens are showing blind allegiance to him, endorsing any and every initiative he enacts.”

“So, I’ve got to get rid of the transmitters,” Gen said, already a step ahead, or at least hoping to be, very soon.

Captain Neal shook his head. “You’ve got to do one better than that. Like with Barry Fer at the Federal Bank Reserve robbery, I can’t go after Charlie Sloane without hard evidence. Right now, what you have on the heist isn’t enough. You’ve got to stop the billboards’ messaging corrupting citizens’ minds. Then you have to tie him to the scandal. We need to show that the Commissioner is behind it all and without a way for him to defend himself. Then I can swoop in and make an indisputable arrest.”

Gen was nodding before she could stop herself. She didn’t know if she could do what was being asked of her. But knowing if she could and knowing she had to try were two different things. Gen would do everything that she could to stop Charlie Sloane and ensure he was stopped and punished for the many ways he’d tried to hurt the citizens of Los Angeles. She might be born to the medieval era, but these were her people. And she was meant to protect them from bad men—like the present Commissioner.