Been at war for generations. Just brought the battlefield home.

Broken Knight

1 Day Later - Clearview - Bay Area Penthouse

My phone rings again. I block the call. Jesus Christ. You’d think a billionaire (almost/soon-to-be) wouldn’t have to deal with unwanted phone calls. Fuck you, Steve Jobs. You gave us airplane mode, but not I-own-an-airplane mode. Idiot.

Actually, I probably could have my calls screened through an offshore call centre. I’ll do that in the morning. No, I’ll have someone do it. Someone should be doing it right now. There’s nobody else here. I’m new to being rich. Gotta work on my infrastructure. I have the penthouse, but not the 24 hour servitude. The only services I have at this hour are pizza delivery and escorts. I wonder who’d be better at tech support?

My phone rings again. Dang it, shut up. Can’t you see I’m trying to order a tech savvy whore? It’s not easy, their bio’s are not helpful. Fuck it, I just pick an Asian chick. I guess that’s racist. I’ll have to pretend I want an Asian for the sex, not the tech support. I think that makes it okay. I do more cocaine.

Who the fuck is calling anyway? Is it the guys trying to buy my app? The Guild? Fuck them. Clearview is the premier facial recognition app. I have hundreds of police departments using it, and thousands more on the way. They’ll have to use Clearview. I’m the only one with the balls to scrape social media for the billions of pics the app needs. It’s not illegal, just against the “user agreement”, and “highly unethical”, and “illegal”. Fuck it, everybody scrapes Facebook. Who’s gonna arrest me? My fucking clients? Hardly.

I’m never selling this app. It’s a goddamn goldmine. A genie in a bottle. A million cops to grant my wishes. What’s that green dot in my cocaine? PAP!! Holy fuck! There’s a flaming hole in my marble countertop. I look down. There’s a hole through my pant leg, and my chair. A scorched line along my sack. Fuck!

I stagger to my feet. The green dot flickers to my chest. I freeze. The dot goes back to the table. I slowly edge away. The dot flickers back to my chest. Stays there. I slowly get back in my seat. The dot goes back to the table. Blurs out. Spells a message in green laser light - ANSWER YOUR PHONE.

My phone rings.

I answer.

“Listen,” I beg. “I can sell you the app. We can make that happen. Or, I can erase people from the app. Nobody needs to know who you are.”

“We’re past that.” The green dot flickers to my chest. “Tell me about Empty Man.”

I start to pee. “I don’t know what that means.”

“Fair enough. Give me your client list.”