Read Ghost Legion for Free Online Page A

And that was
only because we've had the bomb surrounded by every conceivable type
of sensing device, all sensitive enough to register a hair falling on
it. The guards reacted instantly, entered the vault. They found
nothing. Nothing except that the bomb was gone."
    "The guards didn't see anything? Hear anything?"
    "Now, that's another strange thing, boss. The guards didn't see
or hear anything, but one of them reported feeling something.
About a split second before the alarm went off. She said she felt as
if she'd been shoved into a compression chamber. The feeling passed
immediately. She shows no physical damage, no chemical alteration. No
increase in radiation level, no aftereffects. But notice where she
was standing, boss."
    Dixter looked, gave a low whistle. The guard's position had been
indicated on the diagram. She had been standing directly in the
red-lined path.
    "You mean whatever this was went right through her?"
Dixter was aghast.
    "Through her, through nullgrav steel vault walls, into the
vault, and out again. Look, motion detectors pick it up here, on the
opposite side. It passed on through the rest of the house, exited
here, through another fortified wall. Back out into the garden,
through the force field, and presumably back to wherever it came
from."
    Dixter passed his hand over his face, scratched his chin. "Do
you realize what you're saying, Xris? This thing goes through solid
steel walls with leaving so much as a trace, then actually manages to
touch and move an object? Damn it, it's not possible!"
    The cyborg chewed on the twist. "What can I say, boss? I agree
completely. It's not possible. But it happened."
    "It took the bomb. Through solid matter."
    "Yeah, and ... I wonder if you've considered something else."
    Xris lit the twist, puffed on it absently, flicked the ash to the
floor. He stared at Dixter speculatively.
    "What?" the admiral asked grimly.
    "Whoever has that bomb now," Xris said, letting the smoke
trickle slowly from his lips, "knows it's a fake."
    The pain in Dixter's stomach jabbed him. He winced, pressed his hand
to his side.
    "Damnation," Dixter swore. He bent over the computer
readouts, studied them, willing them to change, to make sense.
    They didn't.
    "What was that you said about ghosts?" Dixter asked
suddenly, thinking back to something Xris had said earlier. "You
said it was funny I should mention it."
    "Oh, yeah. When Raoul was meeting with these jokers who bought
the information, the Little One—you remember the Little One?"
    "The empath in the raincoat."
    "Yeah. Well, the Little One picks up on the name of an
organization these guys are all carrying around in their heads. Ghost
Legion. Ever heard of it?"
    "No, but that doesn't mean much. You think there's a
connection?" "It's one hell of a coincidence if there's
not. These guys buy a layout of the house and grounds and three days
later something goes right through us. Yeah, I'd say there was a
connection."
    "But, like you said earlier"—Dixter waved a hand—"if
they have this type of capability, what did they need with layouts?
Why bother?"
    "Maybe they're trying to tell us something, boss. Send us a
message. Maybe we got caught in our own trap."
    Dixter shook his head. "That doesn't make sense."
    Xris took the twist out of his mouth, tossed it onto the floor. "Let
me know when any of this makes sense, will you, boss?"
    Dixter was thinking. "I suppose the next step is to investigate
this Ghost Legion. Will you—"
    "Sorry, boss. Count me out. I've got ... other business."
    "Xris, this is important," Dixter said quietly.
    "So's my business. I'm leaving tonight, as a matter of fact."
    "I could order you to stay for complete debriefing. I could have
you arrested."
    "Wouldn't be pleasant for either of us, boss. Besides"—Xris
smiled ruefully—"I'm about as debriefed as I can get. The
others, too. I've sent you my complete report, plus Raoul's and the
Little One's, plus the reports of everyone else in