The Last Great Detective

By S L Hendrickson

Nick Conrad wakes up hundred and fifty years in the future to find that humans are not the dominate life form.
Nick was a US Marshall and a lieutenant in the New York homicide division. He must find Dr. Jensen who escaped on his way to prison for killing three Alpha. Since the pandemic, Alphas have taken over key positions in government and business and the world can’t function without them. He will discover that Jansen is innocent and must find the real killer and uncovers a secret that will shake this world to its very foundation and may start a war between humans and Alpha.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S L Hendrickson
• Release date: Jul 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463963623

S L Hendrickson

After serving in the Army, I earned a B.A. Degree. I've worked many different jobs: Security Guard, Printing Press Operator, and Loan Processor. I know write full time mostly erotic fiction also science fiction. Sometimes I combine the two. I live and write in Phoenix, Arizona.

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The Last Great Detective

STEVEN HENDRICKSON

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Fate moved its heavy hand.

Dr. Benjamin Jansen headed for the prison to serve a life sentence for murder. He sat looking out the window, his last view of the outside world. Next to him was an Alpha 3.

How long until we arrive? Jansen asked.

You have twenty minutes of freedom left. The Alpha responded in a monotone voice without judgment. The district attorney decided to move him without an announcement out the back of the jail and use the train to avoid the protestors on both sides of the debate and the media that filled the street outside of the jail. The train tracks were not used very often.

At midnight, torrential rain and sixty miles per hour Santa Ana winds hit the Los Angeles area. The heavy rain washed away the dirt, loosening the support beams of the trestle. The vibration of the train car made it give way. The car fell twenty feet. Wood planks and metal supports came crashing through the window. A beam hit the Alpha in the head. Jansen checked, and it was dead. He crawled out the window. It would take a few minutes to realize the car had gone off the track. Drones or even a helicopter would be dispatched. He started walking down the service road that went along the tracks. There was no plan at first, and then as he walked back towards the city and away from the prison, it became a second chance. He had sat passively through the trial; for the most part, a nonparticipant was given two lawyers, one human, one Alpha 5 it was a show trial. He was guilty before it even started.

This second chance was an opportunity to prove his innocence. He moved more quickly. The sun was just coming up. He got off the service road because in the sky ahead, there were lights. He walked through large puddles getting his dress shoes, and socks wet making his feet cold. There were now two drones above the train car with lights sweeping the area. He ducked behind a building and watched as a larger train car pulled up to the spot, and four Alpha 3 got out.

He could have gone down the tracks and back to the Top but going deeper into the Bottom was safer. They wouldn’t send any Alpha there. They would meet too much resistance. He went down an alley with many stray dogs and cats, hissing and barking as he invaded their territory. He had to go down one more alley before finding a street sign. Market Street meant he was about a mile from the clinic. Once a month, he would come to the Bottom and work in a free clinic.

Axel lived just a couple of blocks from the clinic. Jansen employed him as a kind of bouncer, and security guard, because some of the people would be belligerent from bad reactions to street drugs and homemade hooch. Jansen got him some medications to help him lose weight, but it didn’t help. Being an ex-cop, maybe he could help him find out who killed his wife. Stores and little shops were starting to open. They had their own currency at the Bottom, and there was a lot of barter, and everyone was off the net and financial grid.

He went into the clinic and turned on the lights. The first order of business was to remove the chip. Everyone on Top had one. It was