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I decided to start at the lowest level and work n department was in the basement, but it was ener to leave his video garound level, I dropped the memo off in the security office to the side of the foyer Sauard position, but I couldn’t hting as a security guard at various churches around town to have tie He was also intensely protective of the coun to make me suspect him

Next, I headed up tothat doorway made my stomach knot up I hadn’t been back since I’d been promoted to my current job, and I doubted anyone there would be happy to see ood reason to look for suspects there, too, for aor! I have a ht for the departe of the verification departor was ical He was definitely on ainst Owen He used to have Owen’s job until an accident turned hirow horns when his anger got out of control That proved he had ic

He barely looked up as he took the ht away?" he asked

"No, just sign it and return it when you get a chance You will note that it is binding"

He groaned "Of course it is" He put theelse?"

"No, not really I was just wondering how things are going"

"Sa in the departo They’d been scattered throughout the coularities That also meant they weren’t too carefully supervised Even so, I could probably eli was tooand they knew it, so I doubted they’d do anything to upset that

There was only one verifier I was suspicious about, and fortunately, she wasn’t in the office When I worked in Verification, Ki far toofar too et the job as Merlin’s assistant, and she’d never gotten overinto her ever since I got the job she’d been sche for

As luck would have it, she careeted her If I acted friendly, maybe she wouldn’t claw ave ht a coat on s you back here?"

I wavedmemos for the boss At least I didn’t have to type the the job sound like menial secretarial ould leave her a little less bitter Her eyes narrowed and I waited for her to say soor’s desk Relieved, I left the office before she changed her ht

Next, I headed to R&D Ifat all to do with seeing Owen He , in that uncanny way he had, for the usually locked door opened easily for me I didn’t know the head of the R&D department or even where his office was, but Oas head of the theoretical ic section of R&D, so he was sure to be able to point ht direction

Both Owen and his assistant, Jake, were at work in the theoretical iant book open on the table and a much-erased series of words on a nearby whiteboard Owen said a feords that sounded like nonsense to le of power in the air, then Jake yelped and dropped his clipboard

Oinced "Sorry about that And it looks like that one didn’t work" He erased some of the words on the whiteboard, then bent over to look at the book again "H, and this is what they n words on the whiteboard while Jake, still shaking his right hand, bent to retrieve his clipboard

Jake was probably the one person other than Oho stood a chance of getting into Owen’s office without looking suspicious He’d struck me as fairly loyal to his boss, but that could have been an act On the other hand, he’d been the one to find the first coht it to Owen for testing Would he have helped like that if he’d been working for Idris? But that also meant he tended to frequent places where dark spells were sold I left him in the "possible" coluerous to write him off so soon