Santana Sokolov Book 1: Law of the Jungle
It’s a dangerous and complicated world in Atlantica but Santana and Terra Kris are as comfortable as can be. Nothing like catching up with an old friend to make chaos seem simple.
2 – “So, are you going to tell me what’s new with you?” Santana asked Terra Kris, the athletic woman who sat across the table. “Got a new fella in your life?”
Music played at a steady level, quieter than some of the other joints in this city. The club was sparsely populated, and of those patrons scattered around the place, a large number of the hot-blooded males kept their eyes fixed on Santana Sokolov.
Who could blame them? It wasn’t often that they’d find a woman dressed as though she were ready for her next expedition into the tropics in a place like this. Santana’s cargo shorts revealed long, muscular legs. Her tank top hugged her form. The long coil of a bullwhip hung at one hip.
Terra scoffed. “You could say that.”
Santana’s eyebrows raised. She studied the woman she’d known since they were both children. Santana, a young girl who had migrated to Atlantica from Russia in her formative years, found this woman fascinating.
Terra was born and bred on the island of Atlantica, had never seen the outside world, or knew of the ways of distant continents. Santana had seen plenty through her travels and knew that nowhere was supposed to be like Atlantica. Atlantica was a cesspool of wonder, crime, fortune, fame, and destruction. Even in the grand old year of 2027, injustice was allowed to reign supreme.
A modern metropolis in which the corrupt ruled the roost, and the authorities constantly swam upstream.
Terra was Atlantica Justice System talent through and through. Everything and anything she’d done in her life had paved the way forward for a career in law enforcement. So why the change in relationship status now?
“Well, I wasn’t expecting that,” Santana stated. “Terra Kris, the perpetually single, taking another into her life. What’s his name?”
“APRIL,” Terra replied.
There was a strange glint in Terra’s eyes. “April?” She mused, a sudden realization dawning on her. “Oh… Have you…I mean…are you?”
“No, no,” Terra interjected, a laugh playing on her lips. “Nothing like that. I’ve… Well… This is going to sound a little crazy.”
Santana sipped her drink and crossed her legs. “I love crazy.”
Terra sighed and leaned forward. “APRIL…it stands for Advanced Police Relationship Intelligence Liaison.”
Santana cocked her head. “I’m not following you.”
Terra tapped the side of her head. There was a series of puckered pink lines at the edges of her scalp, fading away into her hairline. Santana wondered if they were from Terra’s recent accident.
“They…did something to me during my operation,” Terra continued. “After salvaging what they could from what the blast had taken, they had no choice but to piece me together…manually.”
Santana sipped her drink, her interest engaged.
Terra carried on. “They had been trialing a new AI system for the AJS, trying to find ways to increase the force’s effectiveness. Some donor was on the verge of integrating artificial intelligence with bio matter and…” She grinned and spread her arms wide to present herself. “The first successful example is sitting before you.”
Santana’s brow creased. She couldn’t find the words.
“I told you it was crazy,” Terra offered. She looked strange out of uniform. Santana tried to remember the last time she’d seen the officer out of her hexagonal-patterned blue fatigues that were standard among the Atlantica Justice System. Santana had begun to think that Terra lived, worked, and slept in the damned things.
Santana shook her head disbelievingly and waved dismissively. “Shut up.”
“It’s true.” Terra’s drink was nearly empty, a weight falling over her. “Ask me a question about you. Anything.”
“What’s my mother’s name?” Santana teased.
Terra rolled her eyes. “A question you know I wouldn’t know the answer to, please. Something you have on record that would be impossible for me to know.”
“Fine…” Santana thought long and hard. “What’s my social security number?”
She waited a moment while Terra’s eyes narrowed. Something was going on inside her head that Santana wasn’t privy to. Santana had seen a lot of examples of advanced tech in the city, but this one seemed to go too far.
Finally, Terra replied, “078-50-1120.”
Santana’s eyes widened. Holy shit. “Okay…That’s impressive but could be coincidental.”
“Coincidental, how?”
“You could’ve looked at my records on the AJS database before we met up,” Santana replied. “Who were my last three clients to pay fees into my account?” She sat back and folded her arms with a smug grin. There was no way anyone but Santana and her clients would know the answer to this question.
She waited another couple of seconds while Terra calculated and conferred with the so-called tech inside her head. Santana grew curious, wondering if Terra was speaking the truth and what that would mean to Atlantica going forward.
“Taylor Yungheim, Bonita Ung, and Charles Trevors,” Terra replied.
The mirth left Santana’s face, replaced with a deep fascination. She leaned closer to Terra, looking intently into her eyes. She honed in on the sclera, looking toward the pink corneas and wondering if that blinking light she could see behind Terra’s eyes was imaginary or if it was there.
The light blinked again. A small LED tucked into the far reaches of Terra’s eye socket. Santana gasped. “You weren’t kidding.”
“No,” Terra confirmed. “Why would I kid about any of that?”
“I don’t know.” Santana sat back. “Sometimes people play pranks.”
“About AIs sitting inside their minds? I don’t think so.”
“Fascinating,” Santana breathed.
She reached for her glass and drained the last of the contents. Sitting across from her old school friend, trying to digest all that had happened to them in the years since they’d graduated and gone their separate ways was no small feat. Santana thought she and Terra were meeting up for a small catch-up, but this development was huge. This could spell massive disruption in the city.
Lucky that I don’t spend much of my time in the city these days. At least out in the jungles I remain queen.
Finally, she managed, “It can do everything you say it can?”
“Everything and more,” Terra replied. “Even now I’m still finding out things that it can do that I was unaware of.” She nodded at Santana’s glass. “Another?”
Santana thanked Terra. She returned a moment later with two of the same orders. “I’m surprised that you didn’t go for a coffee again,” Santana commented.
“Go big or go home.”
Santana rolled her eyes and swallowed her mouthful. “Do you remember the guys that used to live by that as their mantra? I wonder what they’re doing these days.”
“Mostly rotting in prison cells or drug dens hooked on ink,” Terra replied. “We caught Phillip Vaughn, by the way.”
Santana nearly spat out her drink. “Little Pippin?”
“The very same,” Terra replied. “Caught him a few months back dealing ink to a bunch of school kids. When we dove in further, there was…well, let’s just say there were more kids where they came from.”
“Damn.” Santana’s head filled with images of the vagrants who lined Atlantica’s alleyways, their veins black and pronounced after injecting themselves with the latest narcotics craze the city had to offer. “This city hits their people hard, doesn’t it?”
Terra nodded. “What about you, anyway? Any more trips back to the motherland recently?”
Santana shook her head. “Afraid not. It’s been a few years since I’ve been back to see Papa. I have far too much to keep me busy here.” She considered saying more but held it back. Terra knew better than most about the tragic and untimely death of Santana’s mother after a rogue cave-in caught her underground and took the lives of her entire expedition team.
Her father had never truly been right after that. It barely took him a couple of weeks before announcing to a young Santana that they were migrating back to Russia. “Atlantica has a way of swallowing you and holding you here.”
Terra smirked. “Tell me about it.”
“I do miss the mountains, though,” Santana continued. “Nothing like staring up at the canvas of stars from the top of Mount Elbrus. I can’t describe it…it’s like the gods birthed all their colors and swirls and slapped it on the black. You don’t see that here. Only fog, fog, and more fog.”
Terra looked down at the table. “I’d love to visit one day.”
“You should,” Santana replied. “If our days off ever cross, I’ll take you there. I’ll show the best trails to the top. We’ll wrestle mountain lions and hug goats and…”
“Fall from the top?” Terra laughed. “Just the straight and up, please.”
“You got it.” Santana drained her drink in one. “You down for another?”
Santana smirked, seeing the slight glaze over Terra’s eyes. She wobbled a touch in her chair. Terra had never been that great at holding her liquor, and Santana knew they always had more fun when the uptight, rigid, scheduled, lawful Terra allowed herself to have some fun.
Santana wondered if Terra had enough and was surprised when she rose from the table and took Santana’s glass. “I’ll get this round.”
“Fine.” Santana smiled. “I’ve got next.” She watched Terra wander over to the bar, several nearby men shifting in their chairs and sensing Santana now sitting by herself. Santana caught one man’s eyes and shook her head, clarifying that he shouldn’t attempt what he was about to.
Terra returned with the next round. They both held up their glasses and clinked them together. “For one night only,” Terra stated.
“For one night only.” Santana closed her eyes and sipped, unaware of how much fun she and her old school friend were about to have.
It feels like we are having drinks with old friends here. Who knows what adventure awaits them. Find out October 30th when Sanatan Sokolov Book 1: Law of the Jungle is available on all devices. In the meantime head over and pre-order it today!
