Free Preda's Voice (Guardians of Vaka Book 1) by Carolyn Gross Page B

to kill—only incapacitate for a few minutes. Neither Jim nor Will had ever used one on a live person before.
    Jim followed Will slowly up the stairs and marveled at his friend’s unrelenting confidence. They passed many rooms on the second and third floor that could have been full of bad people, but Will moved ever upward. He was like an arrow that had been loosed.
    As they reached the top floor, Will stepped aside so Jim could enter yet another code. This one was only eleven digits long. There had been no way to know how many digits the code was based on the keypad, and the numbers had been chosen at random. If someone was up there, that person certainly didn’t get there from the inside of the warehouse. This lock was intact.
    When the door opened, Will walked out first and immediately turned right. Jim could see all four corners of the roof from this vantage point, and he breathed a sigh of relief. It was obvious they were the only people up there. Will was crouched down on the edge of the roof. He overlooked the alley they had just been walking in, and Jim went over to see what he was inspecting. It was a broken electrical field transmitter. On initial inspection it was obvious the device had intentionally been crushed. Jim knelt down and pulled the bent casing off to evaluate the wiring.
    “It needs replacement parts to function again,” Jim said. He looked up at Will’s stern face and elaborated. “We’re never going to find anything even remotely close to what we need around here.”
    Will cursed and moved to inspect the rest of the rooftop. He was looking for the point of security breach. Jim could tell his friend was angry and made himself useful by removing all the tiny intricate pieces of foreign technology he could identify from the transmitter. Once he was satisfied he had removed all the damning evidence, he placed them securely in his bag and walked over to where Will was kneeling over the edge of the roof on the western-facing side.
    Jim could see small shreds of licre still burning where the electrical field had been breached. Even standing he could smell traces of the substance. Licre was a metallic product found in only one place—home. More importantly it was the only thing that could have gotten a person safely through that much electricity without getting completely fried. Before leaving home, Jim had read about the recent production of bodysuits made from the strong metal.
    “We have to call him. Now,” Jim said. The presence of a licre suit here was terrifying.
    “I know.” Will sighed.
    He sounded angry with himself. Personally Jim felt relief that they didn’t have to fight anybody today. He was also relieved his friend was so gifted and had caught on to the security breach before it really mattered.
    Will got his phone out and redialed the last number called. His face instantly dropped. “His phone is no longer in service. He must have had it disconnected,” he said in quiet alarm.
    Jim stated the obvious. “He would do that only if his position was compromised and he wanted to drop off the radar.”
    From the look on Will’s face, Jim could tell they were thinking the same thing. “I know,” Will confirmed.
    “What’s our next move, boss?” Jim asked with a hint of sarcasm.
    “We prepare for the rendezvous.”

13
    P reda awoke to blinding light. She quickly closed her eyes and tried to sit up. She let out a groan as the excruciating pain in her head and left side bloomed like shock waves.
    “Shh. Just lie back. Don’t move or speak.”
    The voice belonged to Al. He was sitting next to her. Preda almost started sobbing in relief as the memory of what had happened at the airport came back to her. She could feel the loud vibration underneath her of what must be an airplane flying. Preda absurdly felt cheated because she didn’t remember takeoff. She had always thought that must be the most exciting part of flying.
    After a few seconds, she could hear Al and Tamron