In Fire Forged: Worlds of Honor V-ARC Read Online Free PDF Page B

without question. It’s pretty standard to check traffic patterns in an area before and during a sensitive transit situation.”
    “Want to see who might have been hanging around for just a bit too long,” Michael said. “Good. Get on it.”
    “What are you going to do when you’re done with the jamming field?” Todd asked.
    “I’m going to take a look at the chip Judith made,” Michael said. “You recorded it, didn’t you, Judith?”
    “I did, but what good will viewing it do?” Judith asked. “I told you, they used some sort of avatar program.”
    “I know,” Michael said. “Trust me. I won’t be wasting our time.”
    His stomach did a funny flipflop when Judith looked at him, those brown-rimmed green eyes steady. “Never doubt it, Michael. I trust you.”
    *     *     *
    Judith jumped when Vincent Valless broke the intense silence that had filled the room as each had turned to their assignment. True, she and Todd Liatt had talked a little as he helped her access and set up the right graphics program, but once that was done, and Judith focused on building up an image of Dulcis McKinley from Human Services, talk had hardly been necessary.
    “Sir,” Vincent Valless said, “I have something I think you should inspect without further delay.”
    He projected the data from his minicomp so everyone could see. “This is the scene immediately around this tower shortly before Ruth was taken.”
    He zoomed in on a landing platform one floor below the Judith’s apartment. “This is the vehicle from Human Services. These…” He showed a line of mismatched air cars, “are all registered to residents of this complex. This one vehicle is the only anomalous one.”
    He indicated a neat van bearing the logo of Anywhere Anytime, a well-known delivery company—a type of vehicle so ubiquitous that no one would give it a second glance.
    “The A.A. van,” Valless went on, “arrived at approximately the same time as the air car from Human Services. The A.A. man went to a service entry. The woman from H.S. went to the public entry.”
    “Surveillance cameras don’t extend beyond the entryways into the building,” Valless continued, “but those on the exterior captured the following sequence.”
    The delivery man had entered the building carrying a bundle, easily recognizable as one of the unassembled shipping boxes A.A. supplied for their customer’s convenience. When he exited just a few minutes later, he was carrying a similar box, but assembled. Judith imagined Ruth tucked inside, body bent in a fetal position. She pressed her fist to her lips to keep from screaming.
    The man from A.A. loaded the box into the back of the van, made certain the back was locked, got into the driver’s side, and a moment later, the vehicle pulled away from the building and left the complex.
    “Judith,” Michael asked, “is there another entry into this apartment?”
    “Only the windows,” she began, but Dinah interrupted.
    “There is,” she said. “There’s a conduit from which pipes and other such things can be serviced without the need to cut holes in the walls. Technically, the conduit doesn’t ‘enter’ the apartment as such, but if someone entered the conduit and knew the layout of the building, they could get into any apartment.”
    Todd was nodding. “They’d need to remove a couple of wall or ceiling panels, but if they had the right tools, it would be easy. I worked summers for a company that did repairs, and I always felt a bit like a burglar. Of course, entering that way without permission is highly illegal…”
    “But so is kidnapping,” Judith said sharply. “Lieutenant Valless, where did that A.A. van go?”
    Valless snapped his head in a curt, military nod. “I tracked it, and I believe you’ll find the following sequence quite informative.”
    In her impatience, Judith appreciated that Valless had set his record to run slightly faster than real-time, but seeing the van speed away made her