Hard As Ice (Fortis Series 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

telepresence.
    Evan rubbed at his chin, thinking through the new variables discovered today that changed the viability of his original plan for Nia James.
    “We built the covert approach to get as close to James as quickly as possible and confirm her involvement in the robbery,” Evan explained. “Based on the information Edward provided about her as smart, dedicated, and honest to a fault, and her fairly clean background, we made the logical assumption that if she were involved in the robbery it was likely as an unwilling participant in this heist. Perhaps coerced by a boyfriend, or forced to participate for some other reason. As such, she would be scared, vulnerable, and looking for any way to get out of the mess. So by presenting me as an eager buyer of hot goods, we could see if she would take the bait out of desperation. Her reaction alone would tell us if she was in some way involved.”
    His team all nodded from their various positions in the room. Tony was standing beside Evan, similar in height and size, but about ten years older. After spending over twenty years with Interpol, he was their expert in stolen commodities. If there was any intel about the heist in the black market, he would find it.
    “It’s a good plan,” Sam stated from his seat beside Lucas in the large conference room at their headquarters.
    “It was good,” Evan countered. “When we had the security guard as our weak link, and could play James and Flannigan off each other until one of them cracked. But someone’s taken him out of the equation.”
    “He was the key,” stated Raymond Blunt, their on-site security specialist. He was about the same age as Evan, with a long, wavy head of dirty blond hair that made him look more like a surfer than a former NSA specialist. “There is no way someone inside or outside Worthington got around their video surveillance and the motion sensor technology throughout the gallery and near the safe without his help. Flannigan might have missed the image loop on the security cameras, even though I found it in two minutes, but he couldn’t have missed the thirty-minute power disruption to the warehouse sensors. There would have been warnings lighting up his security monitors until they were manually turned off.”
    “Well, judging by the bullet in his head, he wasn’t the thief,” Tony added. “He only had a couple of hundred bucks on him. Whoever took him out never even tried to take what he had, so they just wanted to shut him up.”
    “And we couldn’t get to his apartment before the police,” Evan explained.
    “Flannigan must have made a real mess because his girlfriend got home just after he left and thought they had been robbed,” continued Tony. “The cops were still investigating when his body was found. It might be a couple of days before I can get in.”
    “So, right now, that only leaves James as our prime suspect,” summarized Lucas.
    Evan crossed his arms across his chest and took a deep breath.
    “Except we never considered that she may actually be the thief or a willing accomplice.“
    “Not seriously, anyway,” Tony added, walking up to stand beside Evan. “It didn’t make sense at the time. Selling the red diamond was going to make her career in the auction world, and earn her a tidy bonus. So why risk it by stealing the necklace and other pieces?”
    “Yup, we agreed, it didn’t make sense,” Lucas chimed in. “Particularly since she would obviously be the first person under suspicion.”
    “So that left her as an unwilling accomplice, likely coerced with some serious leverage,” finished Evan.
    “Assuming she is the inside man, not someone else within Worthington,” threw in Sam. “I still think she’s too convenient.”
    “She was the only one with the code to the safe, so we have to put her at the top of this list,” stated Michael Thorpe.
    He was the last, and youngest member of Evan’s team. As a former FBI agent, he was their prime investigator.
    They