Sun of the Sleepless Read Online Free PDF Page B

namesake! Where are the items and who has them?'
    The wide grin appeared on Frans' face again, 'That's more like it! Alright, so, about two weeks ago the book and the ring along with a number of other items were to be transferred from the Netherlands to Poland and as it turned out, Hendricks was charged with seeing that they arrived safely. So, he's busy, he doesn't have time, whatever the reason, rather than organising a proper transport he gets some lower ranks together and tells them to courier the smaller items over by themselves. Guess what? An Apprentice Companion has the book and the ring in a rucksack and decides to drop in on an old friend in The Hague over the weekend. He rides in on the train, doesn't even understand the significance of the things he is carry. Long story short, his rucksack is stolen. The book and the ring, both are gone in double-quick time!'
    He whistled a sharp sweeping sound through his teeth to illustrate the disappearance.
    'Okay, so what are we doing here?' Rey shrugged.
    'Ahhh,' Frans raised a finger skyward to show that there was a point to their excursion, 'the Thrones to the rescue! After she'd heard, Senator Hollis was furious and went to The Sigulah to complain. She couldn't believe that the Seraphim's historic treasures had been treated like a paperback thriller and a mood ring. She asked Cardinal Kernighan to intervene and at Senator White's urgent request, Cardinal Weinberger wasn't far behind with his apologies on behalf of the Cherubim but he couldn't make too much of a noise because he was ultimately responsible. Next thing you know, the Thrones become involved when our own Senator Dru takes Cardinal Aho to one side and asks if there is anything we can do, you know, a bit of spare capacity. He talks to Imperator Bardot who then calls me and, after I've done a bit of digging, I find out where the loot is!'
    He beamed gratuitously at his own success but Rey looked confused and tried to reconcile the timings that had been mentioned.
    'Alright, but these were stolen, what, two weeks ago? Why has it taken so long to get after them?'
    'Politics!' Frans exclaimed, shaking his head in indignation. 'They were stolen from Cherubim, but they technically belong to Seraphim. It was embarrassing for them to say the least. So, they fiddle about for a while not knowing what to do, then Senator Hollis finds out, she is furious, she goes crazy, threatens to turn Hendricks into a eunuch. She goes straight to the Sigulah who is outraged but a little more objective. She asks our Senator Dru to help out. One thing after another, Hollis is happy and since she had requested your involvement and since I'm your boss, I get called in to organise a search and retrieval.'
    'Alright, but how did you find them?'
    'Well, you know, I have people here, I have people there, but luck was on my side. You know we had been working with radio frequency ID tags to mark our own consignments? Well, Senator Hollis had been interested and instigated just such a programme for some of the Order's more important artefacts. An ultra-high frequency passive RFID with a range of over five metres was discretely attached inside the spine of Dirigo Lux . I figured that if the book had been stolen in The Hague, maybe it will be sold on in The Hague, so, I have spent the last week visiting all the old bookshops in the city waiting for my tag reader to bleep at me. It turns out that our thieving friends sold the book to a dealer in town who was not too bothered about provenance when he bought it.'
    Rey was impressed, both with the luck of the timing of the tagging programme and the wiles of his commander, but he was still slightly confused.
    'So why don't you already have the book back?'
    'Ahh,' Frans exhaled sheepishly, 'well, a little complication. It had already been sold as part of a job lot to another dealer. It was sitting there in a big cardboard box but I had no chance to get it without raising attention. Remember what Senator