02/14/2025 Snippet, PICKMAN’S MODELS.

I realized that my hero is very passive in this story. He needs more to do. Sorry, Commander Marsh…

“With the lights later removed.” Tobias couldn’t see Reithner’s face, but from the tone of her voice, she was frowning. “That’s odd. Why were the mountings also not taken? The metal too would have value.”

That was a really good question, Tobias decided. These days, anything that could be recycled was, including things that normally wouldn’t be considered recyclable. Leaving behind perfectly good pieces of metal felt wasteful. Unless they weren’t being wasted… “Hold!” he barked.

The Euros were well-trained, and stopped immediately; Buckley’s squad was just a touch sloppier. They were a bit too bunched up, but Tobias decided to worry about that later. “Check the walls by you, and the floor!” he told them. “Tripwires, spydots, spring-operated plates. Then check around your buddy. Then check yourself again.”

For a moment, he wondered if he was being paranoid — but then Buckley swore, and carefully squatted. “Found something, sir. Looks like a sensor. Passive, minilight beam. And there’s another sensor on the other side there.”

Patreon!