Transparency: Bio-Tech Cavern Secrets Untold Read Online Free

appreciated that they didn’t view him with suspicion.
    After dinner Señora Martinez held a short one-sided conversation with her daughter, in Spanish. She glanced at Halliday. He noticed her sunken eyes and white complexion. Halliday thought the woman might be ill. Mr. Martinez, a proud man embarrassed by the whole episode, sat on the other side of Halliday. He had his say.
    Maria stared at her sandals, embarrassed. When her mother prodded her the girl looked up at him and said, “ Señor Halliday, do you believe in ghosts?”
    “Ghosts?” He shook his head. “No, I believe in things I can see.” He glanced at Maria’s T-shirt. A Goth type character brandished fangs and razor sharp, foot-long fingernails.
    Señora Martinez fired off several more words in Spanish that raised the eyebrows of her daughter. Maria translated, which brought a wry smile along the edges of her mother’s dry lips.
    “My mother says that there are Indian ghosts in the valley. You should be careful to respect them.”
    Halliday grinned at the young girl’s attempt to be grown up. “Yeah, I’ll be careful.” He crunched the empty can of Tecate beer and tossed it in the trash heap.
    “Mother said the ghost lives in this house. She will not be coming with us.”
    “Your mother doesn’t want to leave?”
    The little girl gave a tight lipped smile and said, “No, the ghost is not leaving.”
    Halliday had little time for ghosts. Especially those of the female gender.
    “Mother asks that you take care of her since you are alone. The ghost… she needs your help.”
    The sadness in the little girl’s eyes reminded him of her lot in life. “I’ll do what I can Maria. Are you going to be okay?”
    She looked at him with vacant eyes. The word “okay” held no meaning for her.
    It was time to go.
    Señora Martinez stood in the doorway of the matchbox house for a moment. Was she saying goodbye to the house or the ghost? Halliday followed her out the door. He locked it, keeping the key. The woman’s last glance over her shoulder told it all: It might not have been much but it was home.
    Halliday followed the Martinez family out of the driveway. He didn’t pull them over regarding the burnt-out trailer brake light.

Chapter Four

    The current PD building reminded Halliday of U.S. embassies he had visited in third world countries during his protective details with Diplomatic Security. The surrounding glass and steel city government buildings gave the old adobe structure an inferiority complex. Its clay tile roof required constant repair and most of the leaks occurred over Police Chief Matthew Brayden’s office.
    Mayberry R.F.D. , as it was affectionately referred to, had been earmarked to house the Chamber of Commerce. A block away the new Santa Reina PD’s steel skeleton promised a firmer hand. Scheduled for completion in a year, it would have not been constructed had it not been for a huge grant from Genevive Labs.
    The duty sergeant sat in a glass box that jutted out into the lobby. He conversed with visitors through a microphone connected to loud speakers hanging from the walls. The Marine Guard had a similar arrangement in a third world U.S. Embassy. However, here, “Yes, sir” and “No, Ma’am” had been replaced by “Yeah, sure” and “Why you asking me?”
    Halliday headed to door marked AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
    The standing rule applied: “No badge, no entry.” The absence of a badge required a document to be filled out, a task he had never had to perform. He swiped his badge across the scanner.
    The door buzzed open.
    Inside the squad room were two rows of computer laden cubicles edged by small offices on both sides.
    In the middle of the floor a bulletin board served as a meeting area where personnel discussed the latest scuttlebutt for all ears. Halliday checked the board and listened in on a breaking story. Detective Leo Bergman said, “Get this, the inmate escaped Soledad prison at 0600 hours by hiding out in the