White Space Season 2

lawyer.”
    Houser smiled.
    Kaiser didn’t.
    Instead, he clicked his wristband again. This time a video, from yet another camera, showed Houser and Milo getting into his SUV.
    “Tell me, Mr. Houser, why were you with Milo Anderson?”
    Houser ignored the question.
    Kaiser continued circling Houser, exhaling a large, exaggerated sigh. “You see, Mr. Houser, I was hoping you and I would get along better than this. I mean, we’re both law enforcement. Well, you were . And we’re both augmented by the generous folks at Conway Industries, the very folks whose car you set on fire, I might add. I was hoping to find you more cooperative, again, considering how much we have in common.”
    “We ain’t got shit in common,” Houser sneered.
    Kaiser wagged his finger, smiling like a cat, inches from a canary, “You see, Mr. Houser, that’s where you’re wrong. We’re a lot more alike than you might think.”
    Even though Houser figured the man was bluffing, Kaiser’s words sent a chill down his spine. Kaiser was working him, trying to get under his skin. But Houser was way too experienced to let that happen.
    Never let ‘em see you sweat.
    Houser held Kaiser’s stare as if to prove nothing the man could say changed shit. He would call his lawyer and be out in an hour, two tops. His lawyer was good, one of the best. Joe Tannakin, or Joe Fucking Tannakin — J.F.T., as he preferred — would tear these clowns to pieces. First he’d shine some light on all the weird shit spreading across Hamilton like herpes, then he’d dig up evidence of wrongdoing. By the end of the week, Paladin would be offering Houser a comfortable settlement to disappear.
    Houser smiled, hoping to throw Kaiser off his game. Maybe he could get the man to hit him, add battery to the list of charges J.F.T. would hurl at Paladin.
    “Tell me, something,” Houser laughed, “You hard right now? Seems to me you’re getting off on your little display of so-called-power.”
    Houser imagined chuckles from the other side of the glass. Surely the other rent-a-cops hated this prick Kaiser too.
    He cackled a lunatic’s artificial laugh, then slammed both hands on Houser’s shoulders. The sudden blow hurt and surprised him, but Houser held the flinch from his face. He met Kaiser’s eyes as the man dug his fingers deep into Houser’s shoulders, pulling him closer as if on his way to a secret, or to perhaps prove his lunacy by biting Houser’s nose.
    Houser considered head butting the fucker, right in his fake eye, but wanted Kaiser to make the first move, as it seemed he was near doing. Houser’s attempts to get under his skin were nested and now seemed ready to hatch.
    Kaiser leaned in and whispered, “You know, I wasn’t lying when I said we’re a lot alike.”
    Kaiser released Houser’s shoulders, stood, then returned to circling Houser, boots clicking on the floor with every step. “You see, Mr. Houser, when Conway Industries saved you after your careless wreck, they didn’t just fix your leg.”
    That drew Houser’s attention, though he pretended it didn’t. Kaiser promised the truth behind his smile.
    “Conway Industries doesn’t hand out top-of-the-line prosthetics for free, you know?” Glee painted the corners of his mouth. “I mean, there must be something in it for them. You, like me, were seen as investments . Investments which might or might not pay, but investments certainly worth making.”
    Kaiser paused, holding his mirrored stare on Houser as he rotated around him, obviously unwilling to say more until Houser showed that he did, in fact, want to hear every word Kaiser had to say.
    Fuck, he’s got me, and he knows it.
    Houser bit. “What does that mean?”
    “It means it isn’t just your leg Conway Industries made better. They enhanced your brain, too. Right now, you have all these little nanobots running around inside your head, waiting for instructions from their master.”
    “Bullshit,” Houser said, suddenly uncertain, and terrified.
    Kaiser smiled, sinking into the moment. “Oh, Mr. Houser, how I love your naiveté. You really have no idea what’s happening here, do you?”
    Houser pulled at the cuffs binding his hands behind him, wanting to break free and run. He didn’t know what in the hell was happening, but he did know Kaiser wasn’t lying. They had done something to him. Suddenly all the weird shit on the island was starting to add up, even if he couldn’t quite see the equation. Conway Industries was