. . . 5 Hours and Counting . . .

Ray turned his head away from the man and continued reading the e-mail message as fast as he could. He would ignore the intruder, he decided. He needed all the information that he could get. His eyes scanned the text as quickly and cleanly as he could. What he read there made his blood run cold.

Behind him, a debate raged.

“We are investigating a federal case here, agent Verr, and we would appreciate your cooperation in this matter,” shouted back agent Vasquez.

“What case?” demanded Verr. “You’ve been removed from this case, and now you’re interfering in my investigation. You’re tampering and possibly destroying valuable evidence, Vasquez!”

“We are investigating a missing person’s case, namely that of Justin Vance, Dr. Vance’s son.”

Even though he was reading and ignoring, Ray had to admire the hint of triumph in her voice.

“Vance’s kid?” Verr’s face twisted into a scowl with deeper furrows than usual. “How the hell did you swing that?”

“The same way that you managed to steal our case in the first place, I imagine.”

Verr ignored the jibe and seemed to notice Ray for the first time. “You mean to tell me this is Vance? My prime suspect for homicide, international computer vandalism and a list of other crimes is just sitting here, doing as he pleases with evidence that is doubtless key to his conviction?”

“No, sir—” she began.

“Have you lost your mind, Vasquez?” demanded Verr.

“As I said, we are investigating a federal case, and I would appreciate your cooperation.”

Verr held up one finger to silence her. He snapped open his cell phone and glared as he punched in a string of numbers. “Thirty seconds. Within thirty seconds, I’ll have you out of here, Vasquez.”

He began talking quickly into his phone. The room was now crowded with men in uniforms looking uncertain and uncomfortable.

Vasquez squeezed Ray’s shoulder and whispered into his ear, “Read fast and try to make a back up on the floppy.”

Ray did exactly that, but before he could finish copying the file, a large, long finger reached down and snapped the power off.

“What the hell—” protested Vasquez. Verr handed her the phone with a shit-eating grin.

“I believe your supervisor wishes to have a word with you, agent Vasquez.”

She took the phone with ill-grace. After a few minutes of rolling her eyes and sputtering, she handed the phone back to Verr.

“Come on,” she said over her shoulder to Johansen and Vance. “We’re taking you in, Dr. Vance.”

“Hold it,” said Verr. “I’ll take him back. I want to make sure that he doesn’t take any further detours.”

“He’s my prisoner, and you’ll just have to wait, Verr,” she growled back as they left.

Ray stumbled through the crowded room of unsmiling faces. They all thought him a murderer and a vandal of unprecedented proportions, but it didn’t matter. All he could think of was what he had read on Ingles’ computer screen.