AL:ICE-9 Read Free Page A

recruiting Robert and his hoard.
    “Hector, what do you say we get some food and water to those people while we wait them out?”
    Jake then asked to the room, “Can you put me on the speakers in the hangar please?”
    “Ready when you are sir,” came the reply from one of the women at a console along the wall.
    “This is Major Thomas. We don’t want anyone else to get hurt. We are sending you food, water and a communicator box so we can talk this over,” Jake’s voice echoing throughout the hangar.
    In reply, someone shouted, “Don’t come any closer or we’ll shoot!”
    “No one will come near you. I am sending one of the little robots with a tray. There will be no tricks, no one will come any closer,” Jake finished.
    After a long pause, they heard, “OK, just one of those little critters, no people.”
    “On its way,” Jake replied then made a slashing sign across his throat indicated she should cut the connection.
    “ALICE, you know what to do, right?” Jake asked.
    “Yes Jake, the attendant is on its way now.”
    On the hologram of the hangar, Jake saw one of the many attendant robots scooting across the floor, past the bodies, stopping next to a gap between the parked vehicles. As Jake watched, three more bots followed the first, and each retrieved one of the bodies of the fallen. Jake’s focus on the hostages had been so blinding that he kicked himself for not thinking of that. The first bot placed the tray on the ground and then all four retreated. Next, they saw an arm reach out from between the vehicles and slide the tray out of sight.
    Waiting for a few seconds, Jake then announced, “OK ALICE turn it on in passive mode.” At that, the image in the hologram changed. It was now the area between the vehicles, they could clearly make out the three hostages, huddled together on one side while the four offenders rifled through the supplies on the tray. As if an afterthought, one of the men collected a few of the water bottles and walked them over to the women.
    “You’re using the comm. box to spy on them!” Hector declared.
    “A trick I learned from Bonnie,” Jake replied with a smile.
    Hector had a confused look for a second, and then Jake could see the understanding as a smile spread across his face. He realized Bonnie had used this trick on them.
    “Clever!” was his reply.
    As they all watched, the four men continued to sort through the food on the tray, first giving samples to the hostages, clearly looking for some indication the supplies were spiked. Once a suitable period had passed they began eating, sliding a portion to the hostages but keeping the lions share for themselves. All of this transpired mostly in silence with the occasional whispered comments between the four men.
    It was during all this that one of the communications specialist reported, “Major, we have a report from the team in Republic.”
    “Split screen please, I want to keep an eye on these guys.”
    “Yes sir” was the response as the hologram split in two with the second half displaying a combat suited figure with a rifle slung over one shoulder. The faceplate was in the mirror setting so he couldn’t see the face, but the voice was distinctly female and recognizable.
    Abby opened with, “Jake, we got some info for you.”
    “Report,” was his reply.
    “OK, well first of all, we found the four missing women, alive and unharmed. Apparently, once released from the interview, to gather their personal effects, the four men you have there, jumped them and locked them in a storage shed. It was located somewhere the locals here call the ‘old Burnett place’ on the lake outside of town. That’s why no one noticed until we showed up looking for them. As to the four men, they are local troublemakers. The head rat is Troy and the other three are Juan, Rex, and Jess. They have no family here, just showed up a few years back, and managed not to be driven off. They have no real history of murder or other