Free Finding Grace by Rhea Rhodan

sometimes it’s hard to find him.”
    He was too surprised to talk, and Thorne didn’t say
anything more until they pulled up to the Laundromat and Dagger
parked. The kid’s eyebrows almost cleared the frames of those big
glasses.
    “Paul asked me to take you to the door tonight.”
    Thorne shrugged. “Kind of a den-mother type, isn’t
he, our Buzz?”
    Dagger couldn’t have wiped the grin off his face for
love or money. “Don’t ever let him hear you say that.”
    Maybe the kid really was psychic.

Chapter Six
    Even though she hadn’t found anything conclusive on
FedCo’s silent partner yet, Thorne felt better on her third day at
Blackridge. Dagger had actually joined Farley in full-out laughter
when she’d come in, out of breath and wondering aloud whether the
driving skills of the general population would improve if cell
phones were required to be worn anally while behind the wheel.
    Now she shifted in her chair and nudged the table
back with her feet. The glimpse of midday sun, rare as it was, had
created a glare on her screen. But instead of the code she expected
to see, there was a telltale flash before the darkness brought the
vision and soft whispers of discarnate spirits.
    She didn’t remember turning the stereo off or
running into the big office. It was the sight of Jack doing
paperwork that shocked her back into herself. She wasted a precious
moment contemplating that strange and incongruous sight before the
words spilled out just as they’d come to her.
    “Black as pitch and blowing sand, flash like fire
in an angry god’s hand. Darkness crashes, leaving bones and
ashes .”
    He looked up at her as though she’d been speaking
Latin, which was merely a dead language, not the language of the
dead.
    “What the fuck are you talking about?”
    Now that was the Jack she knew.
    “The explosion. Hawks and Markham are sitting ducks
in the tent, playing cards. Collateral damage. They’ll never know
what hit them.” She reached out to steady herself on the desk
Dagger was sitting behind.
    He just sat there, staring at her, along with
Farley.
    She inhaled harshly and gathered the strength to
scream, “Why are you still sitting here? You have to call them!
Now, Jack! Hurry!”
    “Are you crazy? If I call them, it could alert the
damn insurgents of their presence and their location.”
    At the very moment Thorne realized how much she
needed Jack’s trust, she understood what Paul had been trying to
tell her yesterday. It was all about the team. And the team was
going to have two fewer members unless she could convince Jack of
the danger they were in.
    He hadn’t believed she’d had a vision of what had
turned out to be a kidnapping, but he’d acted on her warning
anyway. If she could just give him something to make what he saw as
a risk worthwhile…
    “I’ll hijack a satellite. There’s got to be
something with infrared capability in the neighborhood.” She didn’t
know if she’d said it or just thought it. He was still sitting
there.
    “Please, Jack, please. If I’m wrong, I promise I’ll
be out of your hair forever.”
    Farley hooted. “But Dagger doesn’t have any—”
    Thorne didn’t hear the rest. She was already back at
her desk, pounding on the keyboard, searching the three displays
and wishing they were bigger and that she had another. Interminable
seconds went by until she found something.
    Then, there it was. And it was beautiful. Too bad it
was—she really shouldn’t. If they traced it…Well, this was life or
death. She’d just have to be real quick about it. She punched the
necessary keys.
    “Yes…yes…yes…gotcha! Here, Jack, look!”
    “You can stop screaming, I’m right here.”
    And he was, standing next to her with his big arms
crossed like some kind of genie out of the Arabian Nights .
Thorne didn’t know she’d jumped until her ass thumped back down on
the chair.
    She grabbed a knitting needle. “There’s Hawks and
Markham in the tent.” She pointed to