TimeSlip Read Online Free Page B

opening
at the museum. That was when I met Raoul. I was due to give a paper at a
conference in Oslo after Easter. When I called up some of the exhibits to take
some new photographs, I knew immediately that they were fakes. Superb ones, but
the originals were gone.”
    “I was the last one to work with them and I couldn’t report
the theft until I knew what else was missing.”
    “So you carried out a little investigation of your own?
Don’t you know how dangerous that was, Ingrid?”
    “I know that now,” she admitted, staring at the bandage on
her foot.
    “I’m sorry,” Strom murmured. “Please continue. What happened
then?”
    “Over the next week, I called up dozens of exhibits at
random. There were a lot fakes. So I went to Dr. Martin, the curator.” Her
voice dropped to a husky whisper. “He discovered that references to the stolen
items were also missing from the new computer catalogue that Raoul and his team
had been working on.
    “David confronted Raoul earlier this evening. It had to be
one of his people, but Raoul just laughed, and then he shot him.” Ingrid’s
voice shook. “He just shot him and then he pointed the gun at me and then I
ran.”
     
    The muscles in his stomach clenched. They had almost been
too late. The geeks at the Department of Temporal Security had cut the
intervention too fine. They had arrived just in time, another few minutes and
Raoul would have killed her. Someone was going to pay for this.

Chapter Three
     
    “Ingrid, who else knows about the fakes?”
    She shook her head. “No one. I have a report of my findings
on my laptop. I’ll pass it over to your colleagues when they arrive. Do you
think they’ll be much longer?”
    Strom hesitated for a moment, wondering how much to tell
her. She had already been through a lot tonight, but he couldn’t let her go on
thinking that he was a law enforcement official. He was saved by a knock on the
door, and he was off the couch in an instant. “Go to your room immediately, and
lock the door. Don’t come out until I call you.”
    For a moment Ingrid’s chin stuck out mutinously, but then
she thought the better of it and hurried down the corridor.
    Strom armed his weapon and moved silently toward the door.
He could hear voices outside. It was Jake and Pete. He breathed a sigh of
relief and let them in. Pete had a bruise over one eye. “Two of the Cyraelians
are dead. We had to vaporize the bodies, but Raoul escaped. Sorry, Boss.”
    “We kicked in a few doors upstairs while the law enforcement
officials were in the basement, so they wouldn’t connect it with Ingrid. I
thought she might miss these.” Jake reached into his backpack and produced a
pair of high heels and a leather handbag.
    “My shoes,” Ingrid said delightedly. She reached up and
planted a kiss on Jake’s cheek. Jake grinned at Strom, who glared back at him.
He commed Jake silently, Don’t you even think about it.
    “I thought I told you to stay in your room,” he growled.
    Ingrid looked behind them into the lobby. “Aren’t the police
with you?”
    Jake looked blankly at her. “What police?”
    Ingrid froze. They weren’t the police. He had lied to her.
She flashed Strom a look of hurt and bewilderment. She had kissed him. She had
kissed the murderous, treacherous toad. Anger flared inside her. Well, she
wasn’t going to die without taking one of them with her. She backed slowly
toward the kitchen.
     
    Strom had caught the hurt look. He didn’t want to tell
Ingrid like this, but she was heading toward the kitchen again, and she was far
too fond of those silly knives. Help yourselves to drinks, guys, he
commed. Then he set off in pursuit.
    Strom lifted her off her feet and manhandled her toward the
bedroom. Ingrid squealed and managed to land several hard kicks on his shins,
but he barely blinked.
    “You said that you would listen to me, Ingrid.”
    She aimed another blow at him. “You told me that you worked
for the police.”
    “No, I did not.