Sullivan Saga 1: Sullivan's War

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Book: Sullivan Saga 1: Sullivan's War Read Free
Author: Michael Rose
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twelve hours, and the prostitute lead had fizzled; she didn’t appear to be involved. On the surveillance footage, they had watched her arrive the night before then leave an hour later. Palmer had followed her to the door and could be seen grabbing her ass as she left the apartment.
    But the footage of the assassin had proven to be much more enlightening. He could clearly be seen ringing Palmer’s bell and pulling and firing an energy weapon when the door opened.
    Wagner tossed the baseball. Allen plucked it from the air and held it, turning it over in his hands. “So… Caucasian, one hundred and eighty centimeters, brown hair, medium build. Do we think he’s from Edaline or a hired pro?” He tossed the baseball back to Wagner.
    She caught the ball. “The hit was professional. But they have hit men on Edaline. A local boy would be easier and safer to hire than trying to reach out to someone on Earth.”
    “Especially if said hit man shares their political ideas,” said Allen, catching the return. “So we check passenger manifests for flights arriving from Edaline.”
    “Problem is, Frank, he could have planet-hopped his way here. Or he could have come in a year ago and been lying low. If we go back that far and restrict the search to just flights from Edaline, we’re still probably talking about over a million guys matching our description.”
    “We can narrow that down. I researched the Edaline issue earlier. The first time Palmer publicly announced his support for incorporation was on April third.”
    “About a year ago.”
    “Right. Let’s say that as soon as he heard about Palmer’s support, the assassin got on the first available flight to Earth. The fastest ships can make the trip in three months. Add to that the three months it would’ve taken for an outgoing ship to carry the news from Earth to Edaline, and we’re up to six months. And that’s being generous. With the time it would take the rebellion’s leaders to decide upon a plan and find someone to do the deed, I’d bet we’re down to four months. Still, we’ll go back six just to cover our bases. If we don’t find anyone we like on those flights then we’ll start looking at flights from other planets.”
    As Allen was speaking, Wagner went to work on her computer. “So all flights from Edaline to Earth within the past six months….”
    “Don’t forget freighters. They often take on passengers and list them as crew.”
    “Unless they’re smuggling someone in.”
    “Let’s just see what we have on legal entries first.”
    Wagner squinted her eyes at her screen. “Adding commercial passengers and freighter crews comes to… eight hundred thousand, seven hundred and fifty-two, of which five hundred nineteen thousand, two hundred and eleven are men. Damn.”
    Allen got up from his desk and moved around to see Wagner’s screen. “How many were Caucasian?”
    “Two hundred and eight thousand, three hundred and forty-nine.”
    “All right… now set the height variable for a range from one seventy-five to one eighty-five.”
    “One hundred ninety thousand, seven hundred and three.”
    “We can ignore hair color, that can be easily altered. So how many of those are still on Earth?”
    “Two thousand and eighty.”
    “All right, one final variable: how many have either been in or through New York within the last week?”
    “One hundred and seventy-seven.”
    “You want to know what I think? I think our perp came to New York at least a week ago. He’d want to spend some time tailing his mark, learning his habits. And I think he plans on staying a while longer. He’d have to know we would check passenger manifests. What would stand out?”
    “Someone who left today, soon after the murder.”
    “Exactly. I’ll bet he’s still in New York or within a few hours of the city by train.”
    “If we eliminate those recently passing though, we’re down to ninety-five.”
    “We can work with that number. Bring up their files, one at

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