Read The Peyti Crisis: A Retrieval Artist Novel: Book Five of the Anniversary Day Saga (Retrieval Artist series 12) for Free Online Page A

future event awaiting both of them. Saving her for just the right moment, which had happened today.
    What she couldn’t quite figure out was if he would turn her in. She didn’t think he would because that would raise too many questions. But he wouldn’t be that accommodating either.
    He’d spoken of millions. And now that her head cleared, she understood why. He was going to sell the DNA. Crazies always thought that criminal DNA had uses. And some people liked to buy it just because they had a fetish for horrible people like Frémont.
    She didn’t doubt that there would be millions if Didier figured out a way to monetize Frémont’s DNA. She just doubted that there would be millions for her .
    She would be taking half of the risk, and getting none of the reward.
    She would spend the rest of her life in fear if she didn’t turn him in, and maybe even in fear if she did turn him in.
    After all, she had no idea who Didier was actually working with.
    From his calm attitude, he had done this before—and he knew that she hadn’t.
    She ran her hands through her hair. She couldn’t sit here very long. She had no idea how long it would take Didier to get off shift. Probably a long time, considering the debrief.
    The sirens had ended while she was in the shower, but the investigation was just beginning. She hadn’t been through this before, but she knew the drill. It was in all the procedure manuals.
    Whenever something went wrong on a floor, there would be a full-scale investigation, one that could last weeks, maybe even years. The best thing to do, according to the guidelines, was to be honest.
    And she doubted she was going to do that. Not unless she did it right now.
    Because she needed to turn in Didier right now, or never.
    She wished she knew what he was going to do next.
    She let out a small sigh. She did know one thing: if he had partners, and they expected millions, and she screwed them of those millions, then they would come after her.
    She hadn’t been a government orphan for long, but she’d been one long enough to learn how feral humans could be when threatened. It was a lesson she never forgot.
    Her entire childhood was a lesson she would never forget.
    That decided her. She leaned forward, and used the back of her left hand to unlock the locker. Then she blocked the bottom of the locker with her body as she pulled the door open.
    She grabbed one clean evidence bag, put two of the full evidence bags she had carried out for Didier in that clean bag, and then sealed the clean bag. She then took another evidence bag, opened it, and stuffed her filthy pants into it, the stench of vomit making her gag.
    She put the bag with the two bags on top of her pants, then stuffed her shirt on top of that, tucking in the sides so that none of it was visible with a single glance. All anyone could see would be her clothing, nothing more.
    Her hands were shaking. Her brain stuttered. Her conscience spoke up—not for the first time today—and reminded her of something she already knew.
    This was her last chance. Her last chance to be honest, to do the right thing.
    Her father had done the right thing—and she had never seen him again.
    She sealed the evidence bag, and watched it turn yellow, which meant the seal was active. Then she set it beside her, and took out the box with all those incriminating bags.
    If she reported Didier now, the discrepancy between the bags he said he filled and the ones he actually filled might become a matter of record. She could only hope that he hadn’t counted the bags he used. And if he counted the bags left in the open box, she would tell him that she needed four bags for her clothes.
    He might actually believe that.
    Or he might expect her to steal a bag or two.
    She sat up. Her hands weren’t shaking any more.
    She had made her decision, and she was acting on it.
    Next stop, the storage room to replace the bags, just like Didier had instructed.
    Then she would finish her shift, go home