Chapters (48)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- Chapter One: Fender Bender
- Chapter Two: Bigfoot Burrito
- Chapter Three: Treasure Hunt
- Chapter Four: Open Sesame
- Chapter Five: Central Intelligence
- Chapter Six: First Flight
- Chapter Seven: Park It
- Chapter Eight: Next Steps
- Chapter Nine: Search Strategies
- Chapter Ten: Overflight
- Chapter Eleven: Barn Doors
- Chapter Twelve: Saturn Fly-By
- Chapter Thirteen: Getting a Clue
- Chapter Fourteen: Hacked
- Chapter Fifteen: The Spy Game
- Chapter Sixteen: Investigations
- Chapter Seventeen: Break-In
- Chapter Eighteen: Battening Down
- Chapter Nineteen: Shoring Up Defenses
- Chapter Twenty: Third Time’s the Charm
- Chapter Twenty-One: Proxy
- Chapter Twenty-Two: Rescue
- Chapter Twenty-Three: Chase
- Chapter Twenty-Four: Spies R Us
- Chapter Twenty-Five: Surveillance
- Chapter Twenty-Six: Making Plans
- Chapter Twenty-Seven: Going In
- Chapter Twenty-Eight: Infiltration
- Chapter Twenty-Nine: Accidental Captive
- Chapter Thirty: Interrogation
- Chapter Thirty-One: Reaction
- Chapter Thirty-Two: Kidnappings
- Chapter Thirty-Three: Reviewing Options
- Chapter Thirty-Four: Public Debut
- Chapter Thirty-Five: Distractions
- Chapter Thirty-Six: The Big Reveal
- Chapter Thirty-Seven: Regrouping
- Chapter Thirty-Eight: Waiting for Results
- Chapter Thirty-Nine: It Hits the Fan
- Chapter Forty: Disassembly
- Chapter Forty-One: Wrapping It Up
- Chapter Forty-Two: Negotiations
- Chapter Forty-Three: Coda
- About the Author
- About the Publisher
“I do not know it, Natalie. But so far, Alaric’s suspicions are turning out to be right. Assuming he is correct in most aspects, then one can infer certain likely facts by examining history. In the case of you humans, there were many in occupied countries who cooperated willingly with Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan during World War II. There are similar examples in Gen history, Ka’alag history, Nir-k-hi history, and so on.”
“So even with the cloaking detector, we might detect nothing at all?” Patrick asked. “And other than knowing that there are ships in that field that are probably Lorannic, we might still have squat?”
Nat nodded. “I guess I’m just going to have to play spy at work this week.”
Chapter Sixteen: Investigations
Chapter Sixteen: Investigations
Day 11. Monday
“You’ll need to pick up the truck this morning,” Dad said at the breakfast table.
I stopped with fork halfway to mouth. “It’s ready?”
“That’s what Duke says. He’ll bill us. You could go get it when he opens. If you can get a ride to Duke’s with Patrick, I can head to the store early.”
“I’ll give him a call.” I pulled out my phone and rattled off a text. The reply came back within a minute: No prob. See you in a bit.
“Done,” I said to my father. “Oh, and if it’s okay with you, Patrick was going to pick me up for lunch today. So I’ll need to take an extended break.”
He waved a hand in casual agreement. “You’re back on deliveries this afternoon. Up to you if you’re done early or late. By the way, how’s your top-secret project going? I’m not fishing for details, just wondering if it still looks promising.”
“Making progress, Dad. No dead ends in sight yet. Oh, and I’ve received a couple of application packages for alternative engineering colleges. At least so far, my name hasn’t triggered an instant rejection.” I gave Dad a weak smile and received a tired sigh in reply. I looked at my watch. “Patrick will be here in two minutes. I’d better get ready. See you at the store.”
I headed up to my room and grabbed my stuff. I glanced at my backpack, which had all the gadgets except the cloaking detector, which was in Nat’s possession. Leaving the backpack lying around in my room gave me an uneasy feeling. And I wasn’t going to leave it in the barn after the incident with the video, although I admitted to myself that I might be overreacting a little.
Feeling slightly foolish, I took the gadgets out of the pack and jammed them into the crack behind the seat cushion of my old La-Z-Boy recliner.