The Demon Maelstrom, Excerpt #4

Dear Readers,

Here is the fourth excerpt from The Demon Maelstrom, the second book in the SubVersion Trilogy. I hope you enjoy, and I hope it keeps you guessing! Stay tuned for more news and content about the book, and as always, Let There Be Life!

Excerpt #4

“I'm here,” Sam admitted, “to talk about one person in particular who happens to interest me greatly. Someone who has been needing thorough investigation for months now.”

Farkas shot him a despairing look. “Is that person the next in line to the Secretary's desk, perchance? Is it a woman? Is she the one redesigning our entire computer and database system here at Central Admin? And is her name Annalise McLean? Because if the person you're talking about bears any resemblance to that woman then I can assure you that I am not interested.”

Color flushed into Sam's face and he moved to the edge of the seat in his anger. “How could you not be interested?”

“It's easy, Sam,” Farkas shot back. “You have absolutely nothing on her. I have nothing on her. She is as clean as a whistle, and I am not interested. You've had seven months and you've failed to change my mind.”

Sam dropped his briefcase next to the chair and slammed a fist onto the armrest, causing the metal to vibrate dully. With an oath he verbally tore into the other man. “Her commex stayed in her house in exactly the same place for eighteen hours! And after she came back to Central Admin was when everything began to fall apart! And speaking of falling apart, she fell apart when I- when Captain James died, and now on top of everything else she's pregnant! There's a pattern here, I tell you, and nobody else is concerned about it!”

Farkas jumped to his feet and propped himself over the desk, his burning eyes fixed in a glare on Sam's face. “She's clean, Sam! She's clean, cleaner than anyone I've ever known! Jim Jarvis in IT has scanned her personal office computer and found nothing, three separate times! We've followed her movements throughout Central Admin and they represent nothing erratic! We've run trace after trace on the wedge file data dump that Vérité pulled on you and Jim, and the only thing we've been able to find is that it ends in the UK, nothing else. Miss McLean is either completely innocent of any attachment to Vérité or she is one of the best hackers on the planet.” He glowered at his old boss. “In short, if she is Vérité then she's a ghost.”

 Sam stared back incredulously. “And you've done nothing else? Like have her followed to her home?”

Farkas groaned and sat back down. “Don't start on this again.”

“Answer my question!” Sam insisted. “You didn't have her followed? Why in the world not?”

“Because I was not authorized to do so,” Farkas replied wearily. “As a matter of fact, I was told to avoid doing so at all costs.”