Free The Inquisitor's Mark by Dianne K. Salerni Page A

Michael said.
    Tegan glanced in Jax’s direction and added, “The stink of Kin in that place is so deep, there’s no telling who she left with.”
    Jax glared at her. Tegan never passed up a chance to take a dig at the Kin and seemed to especially resent the fact that Jax was sworn to one. Just then, his phone vibrated on the desk as a call came in. Of course, it was Billy. Jax hit the ignore button.
    â€œUnless we happen to cross the girl’s trail, there’s nothing we can do,” Michael said. “And if she’s warded, there’s not much chance of that.”
    Now Jax’s phone buzzed repeatedly. He sighed and clicked into his texts to read them.
    Billy: hey jax call me ive been kidnapped
    Billy: they say they want to talk to YOU
    Billy: this is so cool
    â€œIt has to be a trick,” Mr. Crandall insisted. “To flush us out of hiding.”
    â€œBilly’s a moron. It’s probably a prank,” said A.J.
    Meanwhile, Tegan was looking online for news reports about missing boys. Jax wanted to tell her to get off his computer, but she was searching faster than he could have.
    â€œCall the boy’s house,” Mrs. Crandall suggested.
    â€œIf he’s really been kidnapped, they’ll have police listening on the line,” Donovan warned them. “They’ll trace the call.”
    â€œJax can call from his email account,” Tegan said. “It makes voice calls.”
    â€œWhat are you doing in my email?” Jax demanded.
    â€œCan they track us through the service provider?” Mr. Crandall turned on his son. “I told Riley it was a bad idea to get a connection.”
    â€œNot a problem.” Tegan’s fingers flew across the keyboard as she leaned forward, her tangled orange hair a curtain around her freckled face. “Jax is using a serviceprovider out of New Zealand right now.”
    â€œI’m what ? What’d you do to my computer?” Jax peered over her shoulder, totally mystified by the windows of codes and nonsense symbols whizzing by. He guessed she was hacking into computers on the other side of the world, and although he was surprised to see Tegan demonstrate this kind of skill, he probably shouldn’t have been. “Are you stealing credit-card numbers while you’re at it? Draining bank accounts?”
    Tegan stood and offered Jax the chair. “Shut up and make the call.”
    â€œNo,” Mr. Crandall said firmly. “No calls.”
    â€œThey can’t trace this computer,” Tegan insisted. “I’ve hidden it.” Then she launched into an explanation involving encrypted open proxy servers , dynamic IP addresses randomly routed through fifty different countries , and automatic port shuffling . Mr. Crandall listened with his mouth hanging open, then looked at her father.
    Donovan shrugged. “She’s smarter than you and me combined, Crandall. If Tegan says it’s safe, it is.”
    â€œThis is a terrible breach of security,” Mr. Crandall growled. “Riley picked a fine time to jump over seven days!” But he waved a hand, giving permission.
    Mrs. Ramirez was delighted to hear from Jax. She exclaimed about how much Billy had missed him and how Jax was welcome to visit anytime. The more she talked, the more everybody in the room relaxed, because no waywas this the mother of a kidnapped boy.
    â€œCan I speak to Billy?” Jax asked.
    â€œBilly’s at golf camp. He won a scholarship after someone saw him play at school. I always knew he had a gift for it,” Mrs. Ramirez said. “His father and I are so proud of him.”
    The Donovan twins glanced at each other. “Billy almost knocked himself out swinging a golf club in gym class,” Thomas whispered. Tegan nodded.
    Mr. Crandall made a cut gesture, and Jax ended the call as fast as he could. “Someone’s altered her memory,” Mr. Crandall said.
    â€œDulacs,” A.J.