Free Surveillance (Ghost Targets Book 1) by Aaron Pogue Page A

their IDs plummets. It could take weeks for them to repair that. This has ramifications way beyond my homicide."
    "How so? I mean, sure, maybe some bystanders can't get good credit for a couple weeks—"
    "No. Eva, think about it." Their earlier argument was still fresh on her mind. "That blackout is manufacturing ghosts. The murderer was already  erased, but this is ghosting everyone. Anything they do is lost to history. Any voice notes they record on Hathor, any last, precious conversation with a dying friend, any violent comment that could have shown motive in some crime of passion weeks from now. And any crimes. If someone was mugged out on the street, we would have no more evidence against them than against my ghost. This is a nightmare. And it's growing."
    Eva opened her mouth, but she found herself at a loss for words. That was for the best. Katie said, "Hathor, connect me to Rick Goodall, high priority." He didn't answer, and instead of leaving a message Katie said, "Goodbye. Hathor, connect me to Craig, FBI. Craig, connect me to Rick, high priority."
    This time Rick took the call, and Katie immediately said, breathlessly, "Rick, we've got a problem."
    "What's wrong?" His concerned voice flooded the interior of the car.
    "It's the Little Rock case," Katie said, turning down the volume a little. "There's something very bad there. It's not just a regular ghost. There's some sort of blackout—"
    Rick cut her off, laughter in his voice. "Hey, slow down. Take a breath. I know how hard you're working on this case, so I took a look at your case file this morning and there's nothing to panic over. It's a little odd, but I can show you how to handle it as soon as I can get a minute free—"
    "Rick, it's growing. It's a real problem—"
    He chuckled. "We have ways of dealing with it, Katie. I appreciate your zeal, but this is nothing worth getting worked up over. How did your appeal go?"
    "I trashed them," she said, trying not to sound petulant. Her voice just came out flat. "It went great."
    "Great!" he said. "Take your time getting home. I'll see you in the morning. Goodbye."
    They sat in silence for a while, Katie fuming. Eva finally spoke up. "Look, Katie, I know you don't want to hear this—"
    "No," she said. "I know they're the experts. I know I'm just a rookie now. But there's no way this is routine. If it is —" She stopped, and took a deep breath. "If it is, the whole system is a lie. All our confidence...." She trailed off, furious and frustrated.
    Eva waited a moment, then said. "I know a guy." Katie looked up and met her eyes. Eva shrugged. "Look, if they're as busy as you say they are...if it's the president, Katie, and they only have a handful of agents, your case isn't changing priority in their eyes. You just have to accept that." Katie's eyes flashed, and Eva hurried on. "However, if you want to get to the bottom of this on your own, there's a few things you can do. You can go to Little Rock and knock on doors—"
    "I already have permission for that. I fly out Monday."
    Eva smiled, a tightening of her lips, and went on. "That's a start. Interview everyone involved, and see if anything turns up." She glanced back at Katie's handheld on the seat between them, the HaRRE screen still solid black. "If you want to figure that out, though, you're going to need an expert."
    "And you know a guy."
    She shrugged. "I know of  a guy. Runs a company called Database Archive Management, Inc. The Times  ran a feature on him a couple months back, and I knew you were looking into Ghost Targets so I shared it with you." Katie looked away, and Eva said, "I know, you were busy. But this guy sells a...service. He 'manages' the database archives of the rich and powerful. The database in question being Hathor's." Katie's eyes grew wide, and Eva said, "Yeah. Right out in the open. They call him Ghoster."
    She said, "Ghoster?"
    A silky smooth, unfamiliar voice answered her, unnaturally loud from the headset speaker. "Ghoster," it