The Genehunter by Simon Kewin

Author:Simon Kewin [Kewin, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SciFi, Cyberpunk, Science Fiction, Detective, Hard-boiled
Publisher: Simon Kewin
Published: 2014-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

Ten hours later, Simms emerged from the Fisherman's Wharf jump node in San Francisco. As he pushed through the crowds he sent his habitual scan for shadows into the jump network. For once he saw a possible match. The probability counted up from 10% to 30% to 60%. He'd taken twelve hops to jump from London to SF, including a few through remote corners of the globe. Expensive on the private networks but it meant he was harder to follow and that any pursuer was easier to spot. The match hit 90%. Close enough. He kicked off other probes to find out more.

Snatches of hard information trickled back. He studied it as he walked, barely seeing the streets around him. His pursuer was a man. ID encrypted, but there were other ways to identify people. The jump networks by definition knew everything about you, from your blood-group right up to what you had pierced. And what you were thinking of getting pierced. People forgot that, figuring they were safe by hiding the obvious information. But if you had a head full of sophisticated algorithms, the sort normally only available to the security services, you could go a long way towards piecing things together. It was a risk, opening yourself up to being spotted by the real spooks, but sometimes you had to gamble. It was just a shame actual DNA code was unobtainable. That would make life a whole lot easier. But the laws were insanely strict and gene sequences were encrypted so strongly as they passed through the jump networks, not even quantum computers could get at them.

Still, Simms soon retrieved enough fragmentary data to rule out anyone he knew. OK, which meant nothing. clONE, the GMA, Forty Days: any of them could pay an assassin. Something about it bugged him, though. The person was good at hiding in the data. Damn good. Had access to highly privileged encryption keys. Simms' plug-ins could identify just about anyone but this figure remained an unknown.

Simms hadn't had a friendly chat with Ballard recently, but the GMA tended to blunder in guns blazing. Subtlety wasn't their thing. Forty Days, perhaps? They probably had the required tech. Why would they follow him, though? They had him on a leash. clONE might be checking up on him, of course. But there was another possibility. The people who created him from Grendel's DNA. If they were still around they'd be able to afford the best. Maybe they'd heard about his investigations and come looking for him.

Just what he needed. Another bunch of maniacs on his trail.

Still weighing up the probabilities, he reached the Double Helix and pushed open the door.

He caught the brief moment of hush as he entered. He knew what it meant. It was the reaction strangers got when they blundered inside. Unwelcome strangers. Word had got round.

He ignored it and walked up to the bar. Mac stood there ready to serve, drying glasses on a white cloth. There were machines to do that, of course, but Mac preferred the manual approach.

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