Page 42 of K-9 Prime Target

“No problem.” Stevie sat in a rolling chair and spun around to face a monitor. “What’s the name of the guy you’re looking for?”

“Aaron Nicholson.” Nina moved over to stand behind Stevie’s chair.

“Spell that for me,” Stevie said.

Nina did so, and watched the cursor blink on the screen, followed shortly by “Not Found.”

“So maybe he’s not using his real name,” Stevie said. “Let’s try Nichels. Or Nichols. Or maybe he’s going by Nick Aaron.”

She conducted each of these searches. Nichols turned up an Adam Nichols, and Nina’s heart beat faster. “Says here he rented a condo for six people,” Stevie said. “They purchased lift tickets, too—four adults and two children. Two of the adults are seniors. Looks like a family group.” She glanced up at Nina. “Unless your guy has a boatload of money to throw around and is going to all kinds of trouble to disguise what he’s up to, I’m thinking this isn’t him.”

“I think you’re right,” Nina said.

“Any other names you want to try?” Stevie asked.

“Try the last name Rose,” Liam said.

Stevie shaped her mouth into an O. “That would be devious.” She typed in the name, then sagged against the back of the chair. “Nada. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you for trying,” Nina said.

“The lifties are already on alert, trying to spot this guy,” Raz said. “If they do, at least then we’ll know what name he’s using, since it will be right on the lift ticket. That could help us find out where he’s staying.”

“Thanks again.” Nina took the medal in its box from Renee and returned it to her bag. “We’d better go, before someone wonders why we’re all up here.”

“I was so sure this was going to work,” Raz said as they headed toward the elevator.

“It was a good idea,” Nina said. “But it makes sense Nicholson would use an alias. He obviously knows how to hide.”

“He’s getting bolder, coming up to you in broad daylight the way he did this morning,” Renee said. “Maybe that means he’ll make a mistake and we’ll catch him.”

Or maybe it means he’s going to escalate to violence, Liam thought, but he kept the idea to himself.

Outside again, Raz and Renee headed off in one direction, Nina and Liam toward her car, parked in the garage across from the office tower. He put his arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”

“I knew it was a long shot,” she said. She fished her keys from her bag. “It was worth a shot. And hey, I got to take my medal out of the safe and adm—”

A shout and a flash of blinding light silenced her. Liam threw himself on her and pushed her to the ground, then lay atop her, waiting for the worst. The light faded, leaving his vision grayed at the edges, and running footsteps retreated through the garage.

“I think they’re gone,” Nina said, her voice strained.

He rolled off of her. “I didn’t mean to crush you,” he said.

“It’s okay.” She sat, then struggled to her feet.

He rose also. “What happened?” he asked.

“I think it was a camera flash,” she said. “A really bright one.”

“You mean, like, paparazzi?” he asked.

She frowned. “I don’t know why they’d be interested in me. And they don’t usually take just one photo if they can get away with it.” She checked her bag. “My medal is still here, so it wasn’t a thief.”

“Do you think it was Nicholson?”

“Why would he do something like this? Maybe it was someone’s idea of a joke.”

He took her arm. “Let’s get out of here.”