Tek Money Read Online Free Page A

friend.”
    â€œHe was somebody I knew a long time ago, that’s all.”
    She reached over and touched his arm. “I know why he was coming to talk to you.”
    He turned to look at her. “Oh, so?”
    â€œPeter and I haven’t been especially close lately,” Janine began. “I mean, he didn’t think too much of some of the acting jobs I had to take—and he was annoyed because I kept after him to get himself, quick, into some kind of Tek rehab program.” She lowered her head, sniffling again. “He was a bright man, a good person before he got all tangled up with that stuff.”
    â€œGet back to what Pete was so anxious to talk to me about.”
    â€œI’m coming to that,” she said. “I want you to understand that I don’t know as much as I should because we didn’t see each other as often these past few weeks.”
    â€œOkay, go on.”
    â€œWhat I do know is that Peter was very upset about something that was going on at Gunsmiths, Ltd. He was working for them, you know.”
    â€œYeah. Were weapons being stolen from there?”
    â€œDid he tell you that tonight?”
    â€œHe didn’t tell me a damn thing. He was dead and done for long before I got home.”
    â€œMaybe he told your son?”
    â€œNo, that was just a guess, Janine. Based on what you’ve been telling me.”
    â€œAll right, I think he was worried about some sort of particularly dangerous weapon,” she said, leaning an elbow on the rail and watching the surf glide in across the dark sand. “He hinted, without coming out directly, that a dangerous weapon was being smuggled out of Gunsmiths. Probably from their San Andreas Arsenal warehouse.”
    â€œWhat’s kept there?”
    â€œFrom what my brother told me, that’s where they stockpile stuff. And where they’re supposed to mothball supplies of weapons that have been outlawed or put on hold because of UN rulings and such.”
    â€œHe give you any specifics?” Jake took hold of her thin arm and guided her back toward the chair.
    Shaking her head, she sat again. “All I know is that he was very scared,” she said. “He suspected someone in the company—an important someone—was letting something important be taken out of the warehouse.”
    â€œYou know anybody named Denton or Dennis?”
    She patted the gun in her pocket again. “That might be Dennis Barragray,” she answered. “He’s one of the vice presidents at Gunsmiths, and a good friend of my brother’s. Where’d you hear about him?”
    Straddling the neowood chair, Jake asked her, “What about Wes Flanders?”
    â€œI never heard of him. Is he somebody who worked at Gunsmiths, Ltd., with Peter?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œCan we get back, then, to why I came to see you, Cardigan?” She folded her thin hands together. “Will you, please, take the case? It’s important, not just to me, to find out who did this to my brother—and exactly why.”
    Jake said, “I work for the Cosmos agency, not myself, Janine. Walt Bascom isn’t noted for sentimentality or generosity. If you want to hit Amy St. Mars on your own and persuade her to finance this—that’s fine. Otherwise, this is all we have to talk about.”
    â€œThat’s a shitty attitude.” Janine stood up, thrust her hands deep into her jacket pockets. “Don’t you give a damn what happened to him?”
    â€œI’m sorry he’s dead,” he replied. “But I never do charity work. On top of which, it’s one hell of a long time since I risked my ass for a cause.”
    â€œBut I thought you believed in what you did.”
    â€œI’m a professional. I don’t need faith.” He nodded toward the night beach. “Where’d you park your skycar?”
    â€œI took a skycab.”
    â€œI’ll take you