The door closed automatically behind me. "Doug in his office?"

"You know the way, Phil. But then again, you know the way to a lot of places where I haven't seen you lately."

I laughed. "One of these days, Stephanie, I'm going to take you up on the offer."

"Promises, promises." She dismissed me as a call came through on the radio. Duty took priority.

I moved down the sealed concrete floor of the freshly painted hallway. Even through the closed door of the Sheriff's office, he could hear Doug Webb's ba.s.s voice. The words were indistinct, but the meaning was more than clear from the tone of the voice. Someone was being called onto the carpet.

Knowing better than to knock, I leaned back to wait. Knowing Doug Webb, it wouldn't be long until his temper blew itself out.

After a couple of minutes, the door to the office opened and a very upset looking young deputy exited. I knew the boy. His folks and I had been in High School together. Somehow, I didn't think of myself as being old enough to be a grandfather. But, this deputy's wife had just given birth to their first child.

"Boss in a foul mood, today, Clyde?"

"He should have had his ration of human hide for the day. G.o.d knows the strip that he peeled off me was wide enough. Do yourself a favor. Knock before you go in. If he growls, stay away."

"Thanks for the warning."

"So, Spider," I said, not quite casually, from where I sat across from the Sheriff's desk, "tell me about the couple of rural robberies which you are investigating?"

Doug (Spider) Webb looked at me for a long moment. Doug ran a hand through his sandy hair. Then he stood. He walked over to his filing cabinet and pulled out the folder.

Leaning against the wall, Doug thumbed through the pages contained within the manila file folder. "Why are you asking?"

"How much do you know about the situation with Alicia Jenkins?"

"Oh, I see."

"I may be grasping at straws here."

"Maybe, maybe not," Doug allowed.

"I understand that an insulin kit was taken from the Peterson's house."

"Yeah. Irene Peterson was real upset about that. She had to get a new prescription before she could replace Jimmy's stuff."

"And all the other things taken were things that a child would want or need?"

"A portable TV/VCR, a Nintendo game and tapes, VCR movies, jeans boy's size 16 slim, t-shirts, that sort of thing. The FBI told me about the kidnapping. Was the girl a diabetic?"

"No."

"Then what makes you think that the two are related?"

"A kit was found in Al's bedroom, along with a good quant.i.ty of heroin."

Doug whistled through his teeth. "I can't believe that Alicia's a user," the sheriff said after a moment's hesitation. "She's not. But, there have been at least two instances of someone getting into Geoff's place."

"A plant? That would make sense."

"Frankly, none of this makes sense. When it starts to make sense to me, I'll begin to worry about my sanity."

The sheriff laughed. Then he became serious. "How's Alicia holding up?"

"This is rough for her. Especially now. I don't know how she is going to hold up."

"You know, the robberies could have been done by a teenager with a drug problem.

This could be totally unconnected."

"I know that is your theory. But would a drugged out teenager have left money behind?"

"Why would a kidnapper?"

"That's a very good question."

The two FBI Agents who were handling the abduction of the Houston girl were waiting at the police station when I returned to my office.

"Coffee?"

"No thanks," Agent Matthews said as he took a chair.

"What's up?"

"Understand that you've had a bit of excitement, Chief," Agent Hulme stated quietly.

I poured myself a cup of coffee from the carafe, then placed the half-full pot back on the warming plate. I took my seat at my desk. "That's one way of putting it, I suppose. It's been an eventful few days."

"The Houstons have been contacted with a video tape of the girl," Ellis Matthews stated.

I just waited for the Agents to continue.

Grace Hulme removed a copy of the tape from her briefcase. "I wouldn't watch it just before bed unless you want nightmares."

"Why the volunteer cooperation?" I asked.

"This impacts on your investigation, as much as it does on ours," Grace Hulme said. "We went to see your Doctor Jenkins. But, it seems that neither she nor her lawyer were at home."

"She's in the hospital," I replied.

Ellis Matthews asked, "Hospital?"

I picked up the bag containing the canister of tea. "Someone poisoned her herb tea.

She lost her baby, and d.a.m.n near died herself."

"G.o.d," Ellis Matthews said in disgust.

"When will she be out of the hospital?" Grace Hulme asked.

"Tomorrow, if she is lucky, according to her doctors. But, I doubt that she will be herself for a while after that."

"What a mess," Grace Hulme replied.

As a summation of the situation, that was as good as anything.

*Chapter 34*

'Alicia'

I looked at my wrist.w.a.tch on Wednesday morning, May 20, as I left the house. I sighed. 6:30. By all rights, I should still be in bed, resting. But there was no rest. I hadn't had more than ten hours total sleep since Sat.u.r.day.

I had come home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon. Monday morning I had returned to work at the college. Physically, I felt weak. Mentally, I was devastated. But, I told myself, that sitting around feeling sorry for myself wasn't going to change anything. At least, by keeping busy, I would not have time to dwell on dark thoughts. Maybe, I hoped, I wouldn't have to think at all.

John, the bodyguard, was walking beside me. "Are you sure that you feel up to this, Doctor?"

I sighed, but kept walking. "If I didn't feel up to it, I would still be in bed," I said. "I intend to work for the next few hours. You can sit quietly and read, or you can leave me alone until the time to go to the college."

"Always trying to shake me off, aren't you?" John replied in half amus.e.m.e.nt. "I'm not the enemy, you know?"

"I know. Look, I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. I know that you are doing your job, the job that Geoff and I are paying you to do. And I know that I probably ought to be giving you hazard pay for having to put up with my bad humor."

John laughed as we walked. "Oh, no, Doctor. Not at all," he said. "It's been an experience."

I laughed. "You have diplomatic skills."

"My idea of diplomacy is to knock heads together in the hopes of installing sense," he teased. "I've never found any need to be diplomatic with you or Mr. Samson."

We walked silently to the Jencomp laboratory building.

I let John and myself into the lobby, then into the workrooms, locking the doors behind us. John looked around with interest as he walked through with me to my office. When I settled in at my desk, he took a place on the sofa and waited patiently as I worked my way through a stack of correspondence.

The presence of the bodyguard distracted me for a few moments, then I surrendered myself to the work. Finishing the correspondence, I retrieved the schematics for the system that was under development. After intensely reviewing all of the circuit diagrams I had drawn for the machine, I rose from the desk and went into the cleanroom dressing area. John started to follow me, but I waved him off.

I slid into a white coverall, and hid my hair under a paper snood. Paper booties went over my shoes. John could observe me clearly through the door.

He watched me do the final a.s.sembly for a rather large machine for the next three hours. A machine very similar to the one I was constructing stood in the corner of the clean room.

Finally, I came out of the clean room, triple locking that reinforced steel door behind me. One of the locks had a key. Another was a state of the art digital lock. And the third lock was featured a ten tumbler a.n.a.log combination. Any one of the locks would have been sufficient to keep the door closed. It was unlikely that any one person would have the skill to get through all of the locks. And the wall was reinforced concrete.

"What is that thing?" John demanded.

I smiled. "That's a little complicated to explain. Would you believe me if I told you that it was one of the next big advances in artificial intelligence and robotics?"

John gulped. "That important."

"I sure hope so. I've been working on it for the last few years," I answered. "There's a quarter of a million dollars of development funds setting there in those two prototypes."

"What does it do?"

I laughed. "Come on, John. I've got to teach a cla.s.s in a half-hour. And I've got to lock up the plans first."

"As though you need a reminder, semester projects are due no later than fifteen hundred hours on Friday. Any project turned in later than that will not be accepted. I will be here until fifteen thirty," I informed the Operating Systems cla.s.s. "The final will one week from today. See you then."

John watched as the students filed out of the cla.s.sroom. "I'll bet that you give a mean test."

"A thorough one, at any rate," I replied as I erased the chalkboard.

John looked over to the doorway.

Geoff stood there. "You want a ride home, 'Licia?"

I nodded affirmatively. "That would be nice. I'm about ready for a long nap."

Geoff looked at me in concern, hearing the weariness in my voice. "You aren't wearing yourself too thin, are you?"

"Probably. But, when have you ever known me to do otherwise?" I answered.

Geoff sighed. "Come on, 'Licia. Let's go home. We wrapped up the Lancaster suit this morning and Her Honor ruled in my favor. I thought that a lazy afternoon at home would be nice in celebration."

I awoke suddenly, shaking from the all-too-real dream. Geoff was instantly awake.

"Another dream?" he asked.

I only sighed and looked over at the clock. "Do you realize that we've slept the afternoon and evening away?"

"Does it matter?" Geoff asked. "You needed the rest."

"Thank you for being here."

"Where else would I be?"

"Are you hungry?"