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

said. "Pleased to meet you, Katie."

5. Ghoster
    Eva started, then covered her surprise with anger. "Who is this? How did you connect to this line?"
    "I thought we already covered that," the voice answered, sounding annoyed. "I'm Ghoster. Now, here's my question: why is a Federal Ghost Targets agent discussing me and my services with an officer of the court?"
    Katie's eyes narrowed, but her voice was level. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you could get in for hacking the communications of a federal agent?"
    He answered with a laugh in his voice. "I do. None. I'm walking away from this. Look, I know you're new to the department and all, and apparently you haven't gotten your orientation yet. So here's the most important bit of it. You forget about me. I don't exist, as far as you're concerned. In exchange, I'll throw you a bone now and then. That's the deal."
    She caught Eva's eye, and hers were as wide as Katie's. She shrugged, just as confused as Katie. Katie said, "Look, umm...Ghoster. I don't—"
    "That's all, Ms. Pratt. Leave me out of your plans. Goodbye."
    Silence fell in the car once more. Then Katie shook her head. "What the hell?"
    "Okay," Eva said. "I guess I don't know a guy. You're on your own."
    Katie said, "No. Hathor, connect me to Ghoster." Her headset played a tone to indicate the name couldn't be resolved. She said, "Hathor, reconnect the previous call." The same tone played, and she growled. Then she barked, "Ghoster! Ghoster, Ghoster, Ghoster! Database Archive Management. I'm talking about you!"
    He spoke from her headset once again. "Stop that. You trigger alarms when you do that."
    "I know," she said. "You weren't taking my calls."
    "I told you—"
    "I need your help," she said. "Apparently you know a thing or two about Hathor. Someone has found a way to blind her, and I need you to explain what's going on."
    "You couldn't afford me," Ghoster said. "Get your boss to show you how to track down ghosts. It's not as hard as you think."
    "This is different," she said, and then her confidence wavered. "I think this is different. It's not just a blind spot. The whole scene is blacked out, in HaRRE. I've never seen anything like it. It's like the lights just go out."
    "There are no lights in HaRRE."
    He sounded patronizing, and she answered it with irritation. "I know," she said. "I'm trying to describe it. The murderer on my case is already a ghost, but somehow the entire office building goes black, just before the crime. Audio is just noise—a solid bar of noise."
    She got no answer from Ghoster. After a moment, she said, "Hello?"
    "I'm here," he said. "I'm thinking." Several seconds later he said, "Okay, that's weird. When do you get back from Brooklyn?"
    Eva shot her a warning look, but she ignored it. "I'm heading back this afternoon."
    "You'll be in the office tomorrow?"
    She nodded, "Bright and early."
    "Okay. I have a ten o'clock spot free. I'm going to meet you there."
    Her eyes shot wide. "Really?"
    "You've got me stumped," he said, then added quickly, "It's probably something stupid. No offense, but it usually is. But my Thursdays are usually slow, so I'll give it a look." Before she could thank him—before she really understood that he had volunteered to help—he cut off the conversation with a terse, "Goodbye."
    She looked at Eva. After a moment, her face split in a grin. She said, "Thank you, Eva."
    "I didn't really do anything," she said.
    Katie laughed. "You've given me some hope, for the first time since I started this thing. It's probably something stupid, like he said." She waved away Eva's protest. "No, I've known that from the start. But this is my first opportunity to find out what . I just want to know how to do my job."
    Eva smiled back at her. "You've got that, then. This guy sounded like a real jerk, though."
    She laughed. She glanced at her watch, "Ah. I've used up your whole day."
    "Don't worry about it," Eva said. "I took most of the afternoon off as soon as I learned you