The Key

33

It took Arkadian seven of the ten minutes he’d been given to get hold of his old partner and tell him what he needed. The rest was easy — too easy.

‘She’s on Cyprus Turkish Airline TK 7121 to Newark,’ Yun said.

‘What time’s takeoff?’

‘Five minutes ago.’

Arkadian felt oddly relieved. Maybe it was for the best. Liv had wanted to go home after all. ‘Thanks anyway,’ he said.

‘No problem. The information was right there on the system the moment I accessed the database.’

Arkadian frowned. ‘Why would that be?’

‘Could be coincidence. More likely someone else had already put in the request.’

Arkadian’s mind lit up with the implications. ‘Is there any way you can find out who called up the information first?’

‘Sure, hold on.’ He heard the clatter of a keyboard and the background noise of planes. He wondered if one of them was Liv’s. ‘It’s just showing a guest user ID,’ Yun said. ‘It came through on the blue channel though.’

‘What’s that?’

‘The pre-authorized account for the Ruin Police Department. It would have come from one of the dedicated data terminals in your records office. Someone there will be able to tell you who asked for the info.’

It was an inside job.

The phone started beeping in his ear. ‘Listen, Yun, I’ve got another call coming in. I owe you for this.’

‘Just come work for me when you’ve finally had enough of the hours and the grief.’

‘I’ll do that.’ He ended the call and returned the phone to his ear. ‘Gabriel?’

‘Any luck?’

‘Yes and no.’

‘Meaning?’

‘You were right, and we have a big problem.’