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Post by skybright on Aug 10, 2009 22:44:40 GMT -5
"Trying not to irritate his heart, maybe." Daws held the bottle of water up in a faint gesture of salute. "Thanks."
She raised an eyebrow at Nate. "Now, I gotta say -- this story with the lighter sounds too good to let go."
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 10, 2009 22:59:17 GMT -5
Nate squirmed. "Well... a buddy talked me into sneaking a look at who was getting promotions, before they got announced."
"Which meant peeking in your CO's safe," Vance construed flatly, with a mix of fatherly disapproval and grudging admiration for his son's audacity and talent.
"That's... yeah. More or less it." Nate shrugged. "Instead of cutting the wires on the safe alarm, I figured if they were melted, it might just look like an electrical burnout."
"You ever get caught?" Roger asked interestedly.
There was an audible grin in Nate's reply. "If I had, you think I'd be trying it again now?"
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Post by skybright on Aug 10, 2009 23:08:32 GMT -5
Daws laughed. "I love your sneaky streak, my friend." She said, grinning.
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 11, 2009 22:14:19 GMT -5
"Anyway, taking out all the wires is the only way to be sure this thing doesn't have an alarm on a land line," Nate muttered, twisting his arm to reach deeper behind the safe. "After that, as long as we've got wireless signals covered, we're clear... and then I can worry about whether the safe is booby-trapped too."
Vance grimaced. "Ever the optimist."
"Since I came home and found out what you've been up to--sure," Nate retorted.
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Post by skybright on Aug 11, 2009 22:40:56 GMT -5
Daws chuckled. "He's got a point. Better to be a live cynic than a dead optimist."
She finally found a key that seemed to match the lock on Voegel's desk drawer, and bent down to insert it in the lock.
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 11, 2009 22:44:41 GMT -5
Vance leaned over to watch Daws' progress with the locked drawer. "Speaking of cynicism, be careful. Who knows what kind of surprises might be in there, too."
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Post by skybright on Aug 11, 2009 22:56:05 GMT -5
Daws nodded. "Duly noted." She turned the key cautiously in the lock and then leaned away from the drawer as she slid it open -- but the drawer slid open without incident, to reveal a number of hanging files.
Daws shrugged. "Well, that was anticlimactic."
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 11, 2009 23:06:00 GMT -5
Vance eyed the files warily. "If he thought enough of this stuff to lock it up, it oughta be exciting--at least to somebody. Maybe we should've brought our medical genius along."
Nate politely stifled a snort--presumably at the thought of having Doctor Ollivard on a covert mission.
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Post by skybright on Aug 11, 2009 23:12:09 GMT -5
Daws chuckled. "I think we're probably all grateful we didn't, if we want to get out of here without drawing attention to ourselves." She shrugged and started thumbing through the files. "Taking this stuff to him is pretty much guaranteed to be the quieter alternative."
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 11, 2009 23:18:05 GMT -5
"Quiet being an extremely relative term," Nate added.
"Leaving here with more than we came in with was part of the plan." Vance beckoned to Roger and then pointed down at the drawer. "Bag this stuff up. You don't need to bother to look at it--odds are it'd be Greek to us anyway."
Nodding, Roger moved forward with an empty duffel bag.
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Post by skybright on Aug 11, 2009 23:32:35 GMT -5
Daws grinned and began pulling files out of the drawer, handing them over to Roger. "Looks like we're going to be keeping our med guys occupied and out of trouble for a while yet . . ."
Her voice trailed off as her gaze landed on the file folder in her hand, and she gave a start.
The folder was labeled Vance, Maj. J.O.
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 12, 2009 21:50:10 GMT -5
Vance paled and turned away, wrapping his arms around himself. He made no effort to read or examine the folder, but his voice and expression turned hard.
"Try to pick up the pace. We've gotta get this trash to the docs."
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Post by skybright on Aug 12, 2009 22:41:20 GMT -5
Daws nodded grimly and handed the folder to Roger, then quickly turned her attention to emptying the rest of the drawer. That done, she swept the papers that had littered the desktop into a pile and handed them over as well.
She shot a quick glance in Nate's direction. "How's it coming?"
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 13, 2009 22:31:10 GMT -5
"It's pretty safe to say I've killed any alarms that were on this thing," Nate answered, leaning back from his work on the safe. "But I'm no safecracker--and I still can't tell you if it's booby-trapped on the inside."
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Post by skybright on Aug 13, 2009 22:37:04 GMT -5
Daws shrugged and glanced at Vance. "I don't think we brought anybody along who really can tell us that -- unless it's got a wireless signal, and the kid's got that handled."
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 13, 2009 22:50:54 GMT -5
Vance stirred reluctantly from his moody slouch.
"We'll just have to handle it with kid gloves. Get Kindle in here to take a look at it--see if he can burn through the lock."
"I'll get him," Roger said, and went out of the room.
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Post by skybright on Aug 13, 2009 22:56:14 GMT -5
Daws leaned forward, frowning. "If that doesn't work, what's our next step? Seeing if the specter can break it open?"
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 13, 2009 23:14:02 GMT -5
"Could be a combination effort," Vance murmured. "Specter, how does that shadow of yours react to fire?"
Nate shrugged, glancing over his shoulder at the restless dark shape prowling the edges of the room. "Doesn't seem to bother him a bit. Nothing does, actually--he just needs enough light."
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Post by skybright on Aug 13, 2009 23:18:42 GMT -5
"Well, Kindle certainly puts off that." Daws remarked. "Guess it can't hurt to have the two of 'em team up and see what happens."
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Post by Jordanna on Aug 13, 2009 23:31:47 GMT -5
"We can bring in a couple lamps from the other rooms, too," Vance remarked. "We may need that thing as strong as we can make it."
Nate nodded. "That'd do the trick."
Roger returned then, with Kindle in tow. The Scotsman nodded to Vance, then immediately turned to scrutinizing the safe. Like the front door, it had a keypad as well as a combination lock.
"Aye, the lock looks common enough," he remarked, glancing at Nate. "Are ye sure there'll be no trouble about this electronic whatsis on it?"
The young soldier grinned in spite of himself, and shook his head. "Nah. As long as that thing's not gonna be sending out an alarm--and it's not--we don't have to worry about it. We just need to cut through it or tear it open, same as the regular lock." His grin faded. "I'm just still not promising there isn't a bomb in the safe."
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