Asimov’s Science Fiction, January/February 2026
Jack Twice, a streetwise “gitman” (investigator) and clone of a powerful political figure, takes on what seems like a simple missing persons case in the Freedom Zone, the gritty side of a futuristic divided city. A client calling himself Pascal Campion hires Jack to find his sister Coral, offering a half-kay down payment with promises of much more. However, Jack quickly discovers that Pascal doesn’t exist—the Campion family had only two daughters, Coral and the deceased Pastel.
Jack’s investigation leads through the Freedom Zone’s underworld, where various crime bosses (“misters”) control territory. Jack has connections to Boniface’s organization through their adoptive father Aage Fisker, Boniface’s chief data analyst. Coincidentally, Boniface is also seeking Coral for a substantial finder’s reward, as she’s gone missing from her wealthy Uptown residence.
Through database research and street surveillance, Jack traces Coral to the Cull-dee-Sack, a secure compound with ties to Londuchíne, the city’s most powerful crime boss. Jack stakes out the location and follows a woman in desert camouflage being escorted by Astarté, Londuchíne’s second-in-command, to Londuchíne’s flagship club. There, Astarté confronts Jack, warning them cryptically about the danger of the situation.
The case grows more complex when Jack realizes the true identity of their client: the body belongs to Olivier Barone, Coral’s wealthy boyfriend, but houses the psyche of Pastel Campion. Pastel had been killed in a nightclub attack that was actually meant for Coral—orchestrated by Olivier himself to claim Coral’s inheritance through a secret pre-nuptial agreement. After Pastel’s death, Olivier offered one of his spare clone bodies to house her psyche while a new body was grown, using this opportunity to manipulate both sisters.
The climax occurs in an abandoned toy warehouse where Olivier, revealed as the true villain, tries to force Jack to assassinate Coral. A confrontation ensues involving Olivier’s bodyguard Patience and intervention by Astarté’s team. Jack ends up shooting Olivier in self-defense, though the scene is staged to implicate Coral’s fiercely loyal bodyguard Kale, who willingly confesses to protect Coral.
The resolution brings Jack significant financial rewards: fifty thousand from Pastel, five thousand plus a third of Boniface’s finder’s fee (another hundred thousand), and seventy-five thousand from a grateful Coral—over a quarter million total. The story concludes with Jack and Aage sharing a meal, with Jack finally calling Aage “Pop” and Aage reciprocating by using Jack’s chosen name, signifying their deepened familial bond through the dangerous case that tested Jack’s detective skills, moral compass, and survival instincts in the morally ambiguous Freedom Zone.
