Antivirus (The Horde Series Book 1) by Michael Koogler Read Free Book Online

over for you for a few hours,” she snapped. “Are you saying he didn’t show?”
    “Nope,” he answered. “I was here until nearly 3:00 in the morning and then went home on my own to catch a few hours of sleep. Come to think of it,” he went on, scratching his stubble-covered chin, “I did see him around midnight for a bit. He said he came in to go over some figures, but that was it.”
    “So he never came in here to take over on diagnostics?”
    Rivers shook his head no.
    “Damn it,” Kat exclaimed angrily as she hurried out of the room, ignoring Rivers’ trailing questions.
    Five seconds later, she was bursting through another door and into Drew Jackson’s office. “When did the prototype go missing, Drew?” she blurted out as the CEO was hanging up the phone.
    “What?”
    “The prototype,” she repeated quickly. “When did it disappear?”
    “I don’t know,” he answered. “It was supposedly packed up in storage for a couple week’s now.”
    “Ever since we got the call from Systemtech,” she nodded.
    “Yeah, that would be about right. We only discovered it missing this morning. Why?”
    “It’s Perry,” she stated flatly.
    “Perry?”
    “He has it. I know he does,” she went on. “Only a few of us have the security code for the storage room and he’s one of them. We need to get over to his house right away, Drew. If he’s using that prototype without supervision, there’s no telling what might happen.”
    “You can’t be serious.”
    “I’m very serious,” Kat countered. “He’s driven once before, so he knows the tech.”
    “But why would you blame him for the missing prototype? I mean, this is Perry we’re talking about, Kat. He may be a grumpy pain-in-the-ass at times, but he’s been with us for years. This isn’t like him at all.”
    “Look, he was supposed to relieve Rivers last night and he never did. Rivers said he came in around midnight for a few minutes, but left. He has it, Drew. I know he does.”
    “You better be wrong,” Drew said in growing anger as he quickly stood up. “What happened to Jon was bad enough. We can’t afford any more blows to this deal, Kat.”
    “I’m more interested in not losing any more lives, Drew,” she said flatly, an angry scowl on her face.
    “Ease up a little,” he soothed, waving a hand in the air to calm her down. “I don’t want to lose anyone else, either. But we don’t know that Jon is dead and Systemtech is still very interested in the product.”
    “Systemtech?” she repeated, somewhat confused at his statement. “How do you know that?”
    He indicated the phone. “That was Monroe who just called. He said they are prepared to table an offer, but they won’t do it until we close the investigation into Jon’s death.”
    “Disappearance,” she corrected angrily.
    “Disappearance,” he agreed. “Regardless, they still feel that, despite what happened, we are still a viable acquisition,” Drew finished, ignoring her mounting anger.
    “That’s mighty big of them,” she said sarcastically. “But right now, I want to find Jon. That’s all the matters, Drew. Frankly, I don’t give a damn about Systemtech or their offer at the moment.”
    “Of course,” he agreed. “And we’ll find him. Now, tell me what you know about Perry. What make you think he has the prototype?”
    “I’ll tell you on the way,” she fumed as she turned and headed back out of his office. Drew followed close behind.
     
     
    Twenty minutes later, Kat pulled her Honda Accord to the curb in front of Perry Edward’s house, right behind a waiting ambulance. There was a patrol car in the driveway and two more official-looking black sedans parked on the other side of the street. She turned and flashed her boss a worried look before both of them quickly got out. They had taken two steps onto the lawn when a uniformed police officer emerged from the house and looked hard at both of them.
    “Can I help you?” he asked