Page 66 of The Alien Reindeer's Bounty
“Since Reilen withdrew support, I suspect that he’s been funding himself by selling pieces of Reilen tech.”
Svallin scratched his temple. “What tech? Do you have proof of this?”
Did he want to make the situation worse for Karl? The old bull was already wanted for a litany of offenses. One more would not make a difference but would appear that he was complying with his mission.
Mads held up his phone and unlocked the device with his thumb. “These were extraordinarily clunky when I left. Now they are quite advanced.”
“Beyond human capabilities?”
Mads shrugged, allowing Svallin’s own prejudices and arrogance to fill in the silence. “Let us go inside.”
“He is not here,” Svallin said.
“We do not know this. We must be thorough. That is protocol.”
“Now he cares about protocol,” the male grumbled.
Amazingly, the rotted steps on the front porch held. It took no effort to force the door. Fetid air overwhelmed his senses, along with damp, rot and the acrid stench of ammonia.
Litter and refuse covered the floor. In the front room was a stained mattress. Snow had drifted in through the broken windows, coating the filth with a fine powder.
The kitchen had been converted into a lab. Buckets and bottles littered the floor. Smaller containers covered the counters and the folding tables were pushed against the wall.
“Drug production,” Mads said. “Meth. It was becoming a problem when I left.”
“After Karl abandoned this place?” Svallin held a hand over his mouth, though it did nothing to protect him from the stench.
“Yes, unless he is cooking meth to fund his research.” He wouldn’t put it past the old bull.
In the cellar, they found broken pieces of reilendeer tech. The sloppiness offended Mads. It was as if when his equipment failed from age or misuse, Karl just tossed it into a junk pile in the basement. The tech was useless but a simple analysis would show that several components were made of materials not found on Earth.
They documented the find with photographs and then cleaned up the abandoned junk.
Behind the house, they burned the remains of Karl’s lab. An oily, acrid smoke hung near the ground.
“Tell me true,” Svallin said. “If I had not been with you today, would you have spun me a fable about finding Karl dead and lab ransacked?”
Mads rubbed the back of his neck, his fingers tracing the raised star-shaped scar. “No. Too much is missing for this to be his most recent hiding place. And if Earth’s government had found this location, they would have taken everything to study. You would have seen through my deception too easily.”
“Interesting choice of words.”
Mads held Svallin’s gaze refusing to look away. Years ago, when they were both newly enlisted, Mads had nearly confessed everything to his friend. His lonely childhood until he made a human friend, his mate, their incomplete bond, his father’s neglect and cruelty, and how he could not find a comfortable place on Reilen. Svallin had never betrayed him but Mads found himself unwilling to trust the male completely, and now he congratulated himself for his own discretion.
Whatever they had been in the past, Svallin was not his friend now.
“Well, this has been an interesting excursion,” Svallin said, dusting his hands together. “Now how about we visit your wayward uncle?”
Odessa
Bonnie’s mother,Bridgett, walked into the market, mud caking her boots. She left a trail as she pushed the cart up and down the aisles, mindlessly tossing in items. Odessa had never seen a person look so bereft.
“Can I help?” Odessa asked.
The woman plastered a thin smile on her face, completely fake and fooling no one. “No, you’ve done enough, don’t you think? You left her there all alone and now my baby is missing.”
Her back stiffened and she couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone in the store listened in on their conversation. “Bonnie wasn’t alone.”
Bridgett shook her head. “I don’t care what the boneheaded cop says; my Bonnie did not leave that bar with a strange man. She was a good girl.” A pained expression crossed her face. “Is. She is a good girl,” Bridgett whispered.
