djinn wars 04 - broken Read Online Free PDF

Undone by somebody’s pee break. Julia knew she wouldn’t say that aloud, though, because it was ridiculous to expect someone to put in a day’s shift watching the prisoner and not take a break sometime. The captive hadn’t been held in some county jail’s flimsy lockup, either, but a state-of-the-art facility faced in bulletproof glass and with full-spectrum laser monitoring. She hadn’t seen the place for herself, having no desire to be in Margolis’ company any longer than she had to, but Miles had explained the setup to her, since he was the one who’d reset the security measures so Zahrias’ people could use them. There should have been no way for Richard Margolis to escape, even if his guard had gone up to the surface, ordered a Big Mac, and watched the midday news.
    Okay, Big Macs and noon newscasts were things of the past, but still.
    “How?” she asked.
    “We are still assessing. At the moment, it seems as if he simply vanished. There was no sign that the biometric lock was tampered with. Only five people can open that lock — the four whose duty it was to guard the cell, and myself. They all swear that they did not touch it, and I know I did not.”
    Julia was silent for a moment, pondering what Zahrias had just told her. She didn’t know the people who’d been assigned to guard the prisoner, but if Zahrias had chosen them, then she guessed their loyalty must be unimpeachable. On the other hand, Margolis was many things, but an expert jail-breaker he was not. And if he actually did possess the skill to get out of such a cell on his own, why do it now, six months after he’d been locked up, rather than immediately after he’d been imprisoned there?
    Something definitely didn’t smell right here.
    The words startled her, even as they emerged from her mouth. “I want to talk to them. And I want to see the cell.”
    Zahrias sounded startled as well. “Julia, I do not think — ”
    “I think I have a right to speak to them. Margolis’ escape could very well affect me more than it does anyone else.” Maybe she was being irrational, but she’d always been the kind of person who needed to see someone’s face when she spoke with them. They had these radios, but the Internet was dead, and Skype and Facetime along with it, and so the only way she’d be able to read their expressions was to do so in person.
    “And how do you propose to do that?”
    “I’ll come to you — with an armed party,” she added hastily, sensing that Zahrias was about to offer another protest. “We’ll bring one of Miles’s devices with us, just as we always do when we go out scavenging. Then we’ll turn it off when we reach the border of Santa Fe, since we’ll be under your protection at that point.”
    A long pause. “Very well. That should work. I assume you will be taking the northern approach into town?”
    “Yes, down the 285.” How prosaic that sounded, as if she was merely planning a brief lunch outing.
    “Then we will all meet you at the U.S. Marshals’ office. You know the way?”
    She didn’t exactly, but she didn’t want to admit that to Zahrias. There were plenty of paper maps on hand here at the office, so she’d consult one of them. “Yes. Give me an hour or so to get everything set up, and then we’ll head over.”
    Another one of those hesitations. “It will be late afternoon by the time you get here. Perhaps it would be better if you and your party stayed overnight. Yes, you will have one of Miles’s devices to protect you, but I think it would be safer if you did not make the return journey after dark.”
    Journey . Something in her wanted to smile at his old-fashioned language, since he was talking about a trip of only a little more than thirty miles, all of it on paved roads that had been laboriously cleared of any abandoned vehicles. But they were also completely unlit roads. Maybe it would be better to stay in Santa Fe.
    Giving you more time around Zahrias, she thought.
    Right.