Charged - Book One Read Online Free Page A

seems to be missing something. My guess
would be a transmitter, some kind of locating device. Possibly a
GPS chip.” He then flipped it over and pointed to several
quarter-inch slots that I also couldn’t see in Richie’s dim
apartment.
    “See these? There are thirteen slots designed to
accept plugs of some sort. I think it’s a key.”
    “To what?”
    He then pointed to the inside of the box to the tiny
print set in the center, which read “Station 13.” Under “Station
13” was a series of numbers, which didn’t seem to make much sense.
Well, it wasn’t foreign.
    “So what’s Station 13?” I asked, not really expecting
an answer.
    “It could be anything. A missile base, a database,
the Pentagon’s basement for all I know. Who was the dead guy?”
    “He was nobody important,” I said, not wanting to
reveal the gash in Richie’s head or my past relationship with him.
“That’s it?”
    “No, I wouldn’t say, ‘that’s it.’” He smiled at me,
seeming pleased with his own genius, which was a common expression
for him. “There is no voltage running through this thing. There’s
no electrical current at all.”
    I shook my head, letting him know I wasn’t following
him.
    “It’s glowing. Glowing. Let me put it to you this
way. There is a warning label on every cell phone sold; my DMM can
read the electrical current in a human body, but this? Nothing. I
can’t even get a static charge off of it. I’ve seen a lot of
things, but nothing like this. It’s not metal. Looks like metal,
feels like metal, but it’s not. I put a torch to this thing for
five minutes and it didn’t even get warm. And you’re gonna’ have to
explain to me how this box is glowing without some kind of power,
‘cuz I can’t explain it.”
    Now this intrigued me. This seemed to be a recurring
theme; first the morgue and now this box. Nothing like this.
    “Well, I doubt it opens the Pentagon’s basement,” I
said, laughing a little at his imagination.
    “The good news,” he continued, “is that I checked
everything I could and I believe it’s still working. The bad news
is that, if the owner knows it’s missing, he’s probably already
replaced it or moved whatever this box unlocks.”
    He put the box back together and held it out to me,
reluctant to let it go. I knew he was more than interested in
something like this. I wanted to let him hold on to it, but I
couldn’t. I was certain that it got Richie killed.
    “Thanks.” I grabbed the box and turned to leave.
    “Daddy, Daddy, wait for me,” Aaron said in a girly
voice, holding up the Chihuahua and bouncing him in the air.
    I grabbed Zero, who was still trembling and I gave
Aaron a look.
    “Hey, let me know if you find out anything else about
the dead guy,” he said.
    He knew I wasn’t telling him everything. He always
knew when someone wasn’t telling him something. But for some
reason, he never pried for more information with me. I nodded my
head and left.
    Zero and I walked along the pavement, him seeming
uneasy in every step and my injury reminding me of my own
limitations in every step.

CHAPTER 6
     
    WHEN WE GOT BACK TO MY APARTMENT, we headed
upstairs. As we reached the last step Zero started growling, which
he almost never did. He stopped dead in his tracks and I looked
down the hallway for anything unusual. The door to my apartment was
busted open. I unsnapped my Magnum from its holster, lifted Zero up
into my left arm and slowly walked into the apartment. Quickly, I
searched all the rooms. It was empty.
    Whoever broke in could’ve turned the place upside
down. If they had, I couldn’t tell that much. My piles of books
were now just smaller piles in different places. The bedroom floor
was still covered with clothes, but I wouldn’t have left all the
dishes broken on the kitchen floor and I really wouldn’t have left
the fridge open. The beer would get warm.
    After I bolted the door, I gave Zero some baloney and
told him, “good dog.” The