Twilight Hunger by MAGGIE SHAYNE Read Free Book Online Page A

dipped,” Officer Malone said to himself. “What the hell is all this about?”
    Licking her lips, Maxine stepped out of her cover, walked up to Lou and cleared her throat. He turned fast, then gaped at her in surprise. She loved him. Had since tenth grade. And it didn’t matter that his face was hard and lined, or that he was eighteen years older than she was, or that he saw her as little more than a pain-in-the-ass kid with a big imagination.
    â€œWell, if it isn’t Mad Maxie Stuart, my favorite redhead,” he said, shaking his head slowly. “Why the hell am I not surprised to see you here?”
    â€œHey, Lou. I just wanted to see the fire.”
    â€œUh-huh.” He glanced at her friends. “Don’t you two know better than to let her drag you into her schemes?”
    They shrugged, said nothing.
    â€œLou, I don’t like this,” Max said. “This whole soldier bit. They’re searching everyone.”
    â€œYeah, I see that.”
    â€œJust an excuse to grope the females,” Stormy said. “If they think they’re gonna run their hands all over my body, they’d better think again.”
    Maxine watched Lou’s eyes slide to hers as Stormy spoke and knew her friend had fallen on the right tactic. “I don’t relish the idea of them copping a feel of my ass, either, Storm.” Even as she said it, a soldier slammed afirefighter who resisted him up against the guardhouse. Lou saw it and winced.
    â€œI’m scared, Lou. I just want to get out of here,” Max said.
    Lou Malone pursed his lips in thought; then, finally, he nodded. “It’s not like you kids are any threat to national security. These guys are a little overzealous, I think. Look, there’s a break in the fence, just past those pines. See that tallest one? It’s near that. Go on, get outta here. I never saw you.”
    â€œThanks, Lou.”
    He gave Maxine a worried nod, and, impulsively, she leaned up and planted a kiss on his cheek.
    â€œGet your ass straight home, Mad Max. No more screwing around with grown-up stuff, okay?”
    â€œI promise,” she said. Then she ran off in the direction he’d shown her.
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    Max waited until Jason and Storm had gone home. She told them nothing about the man she had seen gathering evidence from the rubble. Nothing about the trophies she had recovered. She didn’t want to tell them anything that could put them in danger or make them accessories if what she had done turned out to be a crime. Late that night, very late, she gently wiped the soot from the partially melted plastic of the name badge.
    There was a photograph of a man, and the words, “Frank W. Stiles. Security Level: Alpha. DPI.”
    She knew what “Security Level: Alpha” meant. She had learned that the first time she tried to uncover the truth about UFOs and government cover-ups. Alpha was the word used to indicate the top-level securityclearances in certain agencies under the auspices of the CIA. But in all her years of re search she had never once come across any reference to any agency or operation called DPI.
    Jesus, what the hell had she stumbled upon?
    She was nearly shaking when she washed the soot from the CD-ROM and slid it into her computer, praying the heat hadn’t ruined it. It hadn’t.
    When she clicked RUN, the driver whirred and the screen went black. Red letters lit up the screen.
    Â 
    TOP SECRET DOCUMENTS
    Â 
    of
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    THE DIVISION OF PARANORMAL INVESTIGATIONS
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    CASE FILES D145.9—H376.51
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    Continue?
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    The final word blinked its question at her, almost daring her to take it up on the challenge.
    Stiffening her spine, she clicked on the word and brought up a table of contents. Names. They were simply names.
    Damien, aka Namtar, Damien, aka Gilgamesh
    Daniels, Matthew
Daniella
    Dante
    Devon, Josephina
    Obviously alphabetical, the list began in the D s and ended in the H s. Some were