Intrusion Read Online Free PDF

shelter, the passing of twenty years crumbling like the building’s worn out brick. How could she explain the emotions that had swamped her? Some memories were far too personal and bittersweet to share. The fact that at thirty she still grieved over her lost childhood was nobody’s business but her own.
    “I just...I needed a little personal time, but you know I wouldn’t let it affect my work,” she said, pushing her past back into its proper place. “Surely you can’t question my dedication to this project. I gladly work more hours than you pay me for.”
    She’d fulfilled her obligations, damn it. Why did Charlie look like he wanted to chain her to a chair? Her gaze skittered to the third man in the room who up to now hadn’t said a word. “What’s going on here?”
    He tossed his pen onto the table. “Jim Larson, assistant D.A. Charlie wanted to give you the chance to come clean before taking further action. We hoped you’d cooperate.”
    She curled her fingers into her palms. “I would if I knew what in the hell you’re talking about. Charlie? Jonathan? Why is the assistant D.A. here?”
    Charlie shifted, his chair creaking in the thick silence. “Audra. All employees are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement when they are hired here at Nanodyne. That extends to discussing projects with outsiders as well as taking research outside this facility.”
    “I’m well aware of that, Charlie. I signed the document.”
    “So you willfully broke the agreement when you accessed the vault at three a.m. on the fourteenth.” The assistant D.A. flipped open a notebook with one hand and pointed at her with the other. “When, according to your statement, you should have been in Chicago.”
    Her heart jumped. “Oh, my God. You can’t be serious.”
    The rigid trio of faces said otherwise. She shrank back in her chair, a weight settling in the pit of her stomach. Her armor was gone? No, that wasn’t possible. That project meant everything to her. Everything. And they thought she’d taken it?
    Dark spots swam in front of her vision. Her ears buzzed. “I was in Chicago. I caught my flight as planned, Charlie. You know that.” She slid her stack of papers to the middle of the table. “I have the results of ChemTech’s tests right here.”
    Jonathan sighed and leaned forward in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Audra, Nanodyne’s contract with the Department of Defense makes the armor Government property.”
    The D.A.’s lips twisted into a sneer. “And stealing it is a Federal offense.”
    Blood drained from her head and pooled in her stomach. “There must be some mistake. The last time I accessed the vault was on the twelfth. You can verify that in the logs.”
    Jim Larson skewered her with a sharp gaze. “Nice try. But your thumbprint puts you at the scene.”
    He tossed her a single sheet of paper bearing the scan of a thumbprint. The time and date stamped in the corner matched the one he’d given her.
    She studied the whorls of the ink print then lifted her thumb to examine the lines. God, they looked the same even to her untrained eye.
    She shot up from the chair. “I didn’t do this.” Her hip struck the table and she snagged the edge of the table with her fingers to keep her balance.
    The D.A. stood. “Audra McCain, you’re under arrest for burglary, grand larceny and suspicion of fraud.”
    Her stomach twisted into deeper knots with each tick of the D.A.’s fingers.
    Bile rushed her throat. She blinked a fuzzy Charlie into focus. “No. I didn’t—” An inappropriate urge to laugh swarmed her and she gave into it with a snicker that came out half-shriek, half sob. “Am I being Punk’d? Is that what this is?”
    When Charlie’s face remained chiseled in stone, she sobered. “Charlie, you know me. I wouldn’t do this. What about the man who broke into my lab? Isn’t anyone checking him out?”
    “Yes, let’s talk about the man who—,” The assistant D.A. paused,