su….” Nick stopped talking, and his face reflected an incident. “Except the time a while back when the chain broke, and Kelli offered to fix it for me. She was only gone an hour or so, went to a jewelry store, I think, and she came back with the new chain.”
“How’d they break, Nicky Boy? Were you both in the heat of the moment, and Kelli ripped them off your neck?” Flint stepped forward with an extended hand.
Stunned, Nick took the tags off his neck and dropped them into Flint’s large hand. Meanwhile, I’d pulled my flashlight from my knapsack and crossed over to a reading lamp on an end table, where the two men joined me. I took the tags and began to examine each one.
“What the hell could be on my tags so small I couldn’t see it?”
“We’re going to see.” I flipped the tags over and examined the other side of each. “Here’s something,” I said. “Flint, you got a pair of tweezers?”
“You bet.” He crossed to the kitchen and opened a drawer, bringing out a rolled up black leather pouch. I knew at a glance they were for the fine art of picking a lock but said nothing. He unrolled it and pulled a small pair of tweezers from one of the pockets. He handed them over.
With care, I pried free and lifted the tiny square metal from the tag. “Now I need a magnifying glass.”
“Coming up,” said Flint, returning to the leather kit and pilfering through another pouch.
“What’s that?” asked Nick, leaning in to see what I had trapped on the end of the tweezers.
Flint handed me the round magnifying glass, and I peered through it. “It’s a plastic-coated, miniaturized data chip. Maybe even one of those new ones weighing next to nothing. If I were to release it right now, it probably would hover in the air for a time.”
“Are you kidding?”
“No, I’m not. Apple, Sony, Toshiba, all the big companies have been working on a ‘lighter than air’ concept for some time now. At least, that’s what Richard tells me. Not only would your phone and laptop weigh literally next to nothing, these chips can hold enough information to fill a library.”
“How would Kelli get something like that, and why would she put it on my dog tags?”
“And an even bigger question,” I said, “is what information is on this chip that’s important enough to engage in such an elaborate subterfuge?”
Chapter Eight
Caught in the Crosshairs
The cellphone rang. It was Richard. I answered it by saying, “Got anything?”
“The carrier is in Primm. You’ve got twenty-five to thirty-five minutes before the car hits Vegas. So you know, I’ve locked onto your cellphone. This way I can tell how far apart you are from the carrier.”
“Thanks. Did you manage to lock on to Kelli’s cellphone?”
“No signal I can find. She probably destroyed it. She’s a pretty smart babe, judging by what’s transpired so far.”
“True. Along those lines, I’ve got a microchip, looks plastic coated, about one-sixteenth of an inch, silver in color with brass lines running through it. Found it attached to one of Nick’s dog tags. I think Kelli put it there.”
Richard let out a low whistle. “Bet it’s important.”
“I think so, yes.”
“Any idea what’s on it?”
“No.”
“Then we’re going to need to scan it. It sounds digital, but I don’t know of any company out in your neck of the woods with anything like that, except MAPLAB, IDE.”
“What’s that when it’s at home?”
“MAPLAB is self explanatory.”
“Not to me.”
“Never mind, let’s move on to the relevant part. The IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment. An integrated toolset for the development of embedded applications employing microchips and microcontrollers.”
“Richard,” I said, dragging out his name in annoyance, “you’re talking in a foreign language again.”
“Lee,” he said, imitating my tone, “they deal with microchip compilations for medical timed-release chips, intelligent
“How’d they break, Nicky Boy? Were you both in the heat of the moment, and Kelli ripped them off your neck?” Flint stepped forward with an extended hand.
Stunned, Nick took the tags off his neck and dropped them into Flint’s large hand. Meanwhile, I’d pulled my flashlight from my knapsack and crossed over to a reading lamp on an end table, where the two men joined me. I took the tags and began to examine each one.
“What the hell could be on my tags so small I couldn’t see it?”
“We’re going to see.” I flipped the tags over and examined the other side of each. “Here’s something,” I said. “Flint, you got a pair of tweezers?”
“You bet.” He crossed to the kitchen and opened a drawer, bringing out a rolled up black leather pouch. I knew at a glance they were for the fine art of picking a lock but said nothing. He unrolled it and pulled a small pair of tweezers from one of the pockets. He handed them over.
With care, I pried free and lifted the tiny square metal from the tag. “Now I need a magnifying glass.”
“Coming up,” said Flint, returning to the leather kit and pilfering through another pouch.
“What’s that?” asked Nick, leaning in to see what I had trapped on the end of the tweezers.
Flint handed me the round magnifying glass, and I peered through it. “It’s a plastic-coated, miniaturized data chip. Maybe even one of those new ones weighing next to nothing. If I were to release it right now, it probably would hover in the air for a time.”
“Are you kidding?”
“No, I’m not. Apple, Sony, Toshiba, all the big companies have been working on a ‘lighter than air’ concept for some time now. At least, that’s what Richard tells me. Not only would your phone and laptop weigh literally next to nothing, these chips can hold enough information to fill a library.”
“How would Kelli get something like that, and why would she put it on my dog tags?”
“And an even bigger question,” I said, “is what information is on this chip that’s important enough to engage in such an elaborate subterfuge?”
Chapter Eight
Caught in the Crosshairs
The cellphone rang. It was Richard. I answered it by saying, “Got anything?”
“The carrier is in Primm. You’ve got twenty-five to thirty-five minutes before the car hits Vegas. So you know, I’ve locked onto your cellphone. This way I can tell how far apart you are from the carrier.”
“Thanks. Did you manage to lock on to Kelli’s cellphone?”
“No signal I can find. She probably destroyed it. She’s a pretty smart babe, judging by what’s transpired so far.”
“True. Along those lines, I’ve got a microchip, looks plastic coated, about one-sixteenth of an inch, silver in color with brass lines running through it. Found it attached to one of Nick’s dog tags. I think Kelli put it there.”
Richard let out a low whistle. “Bet it’s important.”
“I think so, yes.”
“Any idea what’s on it?”
“No.”
“Then we’re going to need to scan it. It sounds digital, but I don’t know of any company out in your neck of the woods with anything like that, except MAPLAB, IDE.”
“What’s that when it’s at home?”
“MAPLAB is self explanatory.”
“Not to me.”
“Never mind, let’s move on to the relevant part. The IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment. An integrated toolset for the development of embedded applications employing microchips and microcontrollers.”
“Richard,” I said, dragging out his name in annoyance, “you’re talking in a foreign language again.”
“Lee,” he said, imitating my tone, “they deal with microchip compilations for medical timed-release chips, intelligent
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