Read Smoke and Fire for Free Online Page B

She lowered her arms and turned to Ryder. “I found out who put in the work order.”
    Ryder scooted his chair next to her. “Who?”
    She grabbed the table and pulled her chair forward. Kinsey then pointed to the screen. “The name is Clarice Steinhold. She’s a new employee hired at the start of October.”
    â€œSo?” Con said.
    Kinsey spared him a brief look. “The work order is dated December fourth. After a little checking I ascertained that Clarice called in sick on the fourth.”
    Ryder smiled and nodded. “Nice catch.”
    â€œSomeone used her computer so it wouldna trace back to themselves,” Dmitri said. “Can you find out who?”
    Kinsey bit her lip. “No.”
    â€œI’ll see what I can find,” Ryder said.
    â€œYou learned something new?” Kinsey asked excitedly.
    Ryder had kept a lot of his skills from her before. He paused, unsure of what to say.
    Kinsey then rolled her eyes. “Ah. I see. You’ve always been able to do that. You just failed to mention that part three years ago.”
    â€œThree years,” Con murmured with a raised brow.
    Ryder inwardly winced. Con was going to piece it all together. So much for Ryder keeping what had occurred a secret. Then again, nothing stayed private at Dreagan.
    He ignored Con’s penetrating gaze as well as Kinsey’s censoring stare and focused on his task. It took him but a few minutes to hack into Kyvor’s private server. He then went back to the date in question.
    From there he was able to discover Clarice’s employee number that led him straight to her computer. Then he looked back through the camera to a week earlier, hoping that Kyvor was like most companies and recorded their employees.
    â€œShite,” Ryder said as he glared at the screen.
    Con walked around the side of the monitors to stand beside Ryder. “What is it?”
    â€œSomeone was smart enough to cover the camera on Clarice’s computer screen while they were there. Once they finished…” Ryder punched a button to show them. “The surrounding area was visible once more.”
    Dmitri grunted. “Then someone knew you would be able to hack into the system.”
    â€œOr they just didn’t want to take a chance of being discovered,” Kinsey said.
    Ryder stared at his monitor. “It has to be someone who works there. I’d wager it’s someone higher up in the corporation.”
    â€œNo’ necessarily,” Con said. “Ulrik could easily get to someone much lower on the corporate ladder.”
    Kinsey wrinkled her nose. “That’s true. It could be anyone. There are tens of thousands of people working for the company. We can’t go through each one.”
    â€œWe can, but it willna do any good,” Ryder said.
    Kinsey’s head tilted to the side. “Why do you say that?”
    â€œThey went to great lengths to conceal their identity. There willna be anything to find.”
    â€œSo how do I find out who set me up? And why?” Kinsey asked. “I don’t like this, Ryder. Someone intentionally sent me here because they knew about us.”
    Con turned the gold dragon-head cuff link at his left wrist. “How much do they know? That’s what we need to determine,” he said, looking at Ryder.
    â€œObviously they know enough,” Ryder muttered.
    Con shook his head. “No’ especially. The wanted us to think Kinsey wrote the work order, but they also had to know her skills—and yours, for that matter. It’s why they hid themselves at Clarice’s computer.”
    â€œThen knew we’d clear Kinsey,” Dmitri said, his gaze riveted on her.
    Ryder frowned. He didn’t like the direction the conversation was turning. “Nay,” he stated.
    â€œThat would be a hell no from me,” Kinsey said. “I didn’t willingly come here. Had I known this was where Ryder was, I’d