The Recipient

Free The Recipient by Dean Mayes Page A

Book: The Recipient by Dean Mayes Read Free Book Online
Authors: Dean Mayes
through her window.
    A further salvo of loud rapping peppered the door, reverberating in Casey’s ears.
    â€œI’m coming!” she called out gruffly, scrambling drunkenly from under the covers. She searched for a T-shirt and shorts to pull on over her naked form.
    A third volley of knocking caused Casey to squint incredulously at the door.
    â€œI’m coming! Jesus !”
    Padding barefoot across the floor, Casey rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she went up to the door and peeked through the peephole.
    She recognised the woman standing on the other side.
    â€œDammit!” she hissed.
    Hesitating before the door, she eventually flipped the lock and grabbed the handle. Sliding the rumbling door aside, Casey revealed the woman standing there, one arm leaning against the door frame while her other hand remained raised, ready to knock again.
    Dressed in a grey pantsuit, her raven hair pulled into a bun, the woman wore a dripping smile as Casey levelled a glare at her.
    â€œWhat do you want, Prishna?”
    Casey’s eyes dropped down to the woman’s waist; she saw the gold of the detective’s badge glint in the sunlight from the window behind her.
    â€œNothing special,” Detective Sergeant Prishna Argawaal replied. “Just thought I’d drop by and see what you were up to.”
    â€œI’m sleeping,” Casey shot back, standing against the door, her arms folded.
    Prishna took her hand off the door frame and inspected her watch. “At 1PM? Wow, things must be good in your line of work.”
    Casey rolled her eyes. “Moderately good. But you can’t expect me to rely solely on the work you guys send my way.”
    â€œHmm,” Prishna’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I’ll grant you, our budget doesn’t stretch far to remunerate you more generously. I see you’ve been making some influential friends in the corporate sector. They speak highly of your skill set.”
    Casey stared at Prishna.
    Checking up on me again.
    â€œ Others are delivering similar praise,” Prishna continued.
    Casey clenched her teeth. She didn’t respond.
    â€œI’ve been working hard too, Casey, and making some friends in interesting places. You’ll recall our talks in the past about this mystery hacker called Octagon.”
    â€œCracker,” Casey hissed, correcting Prishna. She hated it when people who should know better referred to the common misnomer that was applied to her kind.
    Prishna laughed haughtily. “My mistake. I really should know better, shouldn’t I. Well, the cracker —Octagon—has apparently been active in the underground again.”
    Casey nodded curtly. “Interesting.”
    â€œAnd we’ve managed to secure some fragments of the work,” Prishna continued. “I’ve been showing it around and the consensus seems to be that the programming language is rather shall we say… unique . No one seems able to interpret it, however your name keeps coming up as someone who might.”
    â€œYou want me to look at it?” Casey asked.
    Prishna shrugged.
    â€œPossibly. There is something curious about it, though. I’ve been doing a little comparison study of my own.”
    Here it comes.
    â€œThe programming language appears to have many of the characteristics of your own.”
    Casey retracted her head. A sardonic smile lifted her lips. “Look, Prishna, I’ll ask you once more: what do you want?”
    â€œI’m just thinking out loud, I suppose. I like you, Casey, and I know that you’ve been one of our finest assets. You have helped us solve more cases this year than we have at any other time in Cyber-Crime’s history. But…I’m not convinced that you’re completely untainted.”
    Prishna stepped forward into the doorway until she was very close to Casey’s face. “I think you and this Octagon have more in common than anyone is willing to

Similar Books

Code Orange

Caroline M. Cooney

We Know

Gregg Hurwitz

Ghosts in the Snow

Tamara S Jones

A Man of Honor

Miranda Liasson

A Darker Music

Maris Morton

The Silky Seal Pup

Amelia Cobb

California Killing

George G. Gilman