Fox Hunt (Fox Meridian Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

they’ll want to do something. Not a great start to Driscoll’s career.’
    ‘Huh.’ Hepburn got to his feet. ‘I’ll try to close my eyes for a bit.’
    ‘Good. You’re right, though. The ransom demand doesn’t make sense. Maybe he’s expecting to negotiate it down, but…’ Fox frowned and shrugged. ‘Go get some rest.’
    Pushing aside the schematics, Fox pulled up the data she had on Kriel, some of it garnered from personal impressions and some supplied by the UN Trans-Planetary Police. She still had a few contacts there and the UNTPP was generally pretty open about sharing data with other agencies anyway. Even if her departure from them had not been on the best of terms, they kept their bridges intact where they could.
    Kriel was on one of their watch lists and that did not surprise Fox in the least. She had met him on an op with America Special Forces. He had been contracted to assist in anti-drug activities in sub-Saharan Africa: he knew the territory, knew the people, and he had a strong, disciplined unit available for hire. The Army had hired him and he had done his job, but Fox had got the distinct impression that Kriel was always up for switching sides if the money told him to. He was a good tactician but not such a great strategist, so maybe he had come up with this idea and not thought it through… Somehow that was just not sitting right in Fox’s mind. Nothing in the updated data from the UNTPP suggested that Kriel had turned political and yet he had locked himself up in a bunker with one exit. It was a good plan for a terrorist with nothing to lose, but it was just plain dumb for a mercenary. There had to be a backup plan.
    ~~~
    ‘Pierce, what do you know about mining operations in the crater?’
    Pierce was blinking rapidly as she tried to focus. ‘Wha– I was… Where am I? Mining?’
    Fox leaned forward on the table Pierce had been lying on. ‘Sorry, you were asleep. Your husband is in mining, right? What do you, or he, know about the mining operations in Shackleton crater?’
    ‘Uh… They aren’t mining in–’
    ‘No, but they did some. Back when they were setting up the base, they knew there was a higher hydrogen signature in the crater.’
    ‘Oh! Oh, yeah. They thought it might be water ice so they did some exploratory mining. Turned out it wasn’t, but they managed to pull out some useful tritium and helium-three. Then the whole “international resource” thing put a stop to it and they’ve been waiting ever since to find out whether they could reopen it. Word is that they’ve found better sources for the helium anyway.’
    ‘But the mining gear was left down there?’
    ‘That I don’t know. Hold on. Aden won’t be pleased, but…’ Fox got a local call connection request through from her internal telepresence system as Pierce linked up with her, and a frame appeared in-vision indicating that a call was going through. A second or two later a good-looking, blonde-haired man who looked younger than Pierce appeared in the frame, rubbing at his eyes. ‘Aden, this is Inspector Meridian. We need some advice.’
    Aden blinked, which was kind of cute considering that he was probably looking at both women through a virtual interface. ‘Advice from me? Uh… okay. Uh, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Inspector. Lenora has been gushing about you since you got here.’
    ‘Aden…’ Pierce whined. ‘The old mining operations down in Shackleton crater, would they have left the gear down there?’
    ‘Well… depends on the gear. That wasn’t my company. Before my time. As I recall, they were hoping that they could reopen operations. Even if all they could do was pull out the hydrogen, they’ve got useful resources there. They likely left some of the heavier gear in situ because it takes energy to haul it out and then back.’
    ‘Like the cutting equipment?’ Fox asked.
    ‘Yeah. Uh, it’s possible anyway. Typically they’ll be using five-metre mining worm