Chapter 4
The only property to turn up belonging to either Stalov was a modest home belonging to Gloria. It sat on two acres in the greater L.A. area.
"Meet me out front, K.A.I.S.Y.," Michaela said into her earwig, as she jogged down the steps to the front door of the mansion.
She highly doubted the Stalovs' would have K.I.T.T. and her mom at the house in L.A., but there might be some clues that would lead her to them.
The afternoon sun glinted off K.A.I.S.Y.'s windshield when Michaela opened the mansion door. The temperature was nearing the predicted one hundred five mark.
Even the few steps Michaela had to take to get to the open and waiting driver side door of the Canyon had her breaking out in sweat. She quickly climbed up into the cab and closed the door, grateful for the air conditioning K.A.I.S.Y. had running full blast.
Switching from Auto Cruise to Manual Cruise, Michaela accelerated smoothly out of the driveway. Being sixteen, she already had her driver's licence. K.A.I.S.Y. had been given strict orders not to allow her to drive if they were involved in any kind of high speed chase, though.
K.A.I.S.Y. gave Michaela turn by turn directions during the twenty minute drive.
Michaela pulled up to the curb of a house down the street. She'd given herself a good view of Gloria Stalov's house. It was set well back from the road with a large circular drive and lawn out front.
The house was a beautiful two story structure. Michaela could see from the blue prints K.A.I.S.Y. had pulled up on his monitor that it was a five bedroom, four bath home. An attached three car garage completed the structure.
"Anyone home?" Michaela asked.
"There is currently no one in residence. There is only one car in the garage. The engine is cold."
"We're going in like we own the place. Scan the garage door opener for the code." Michaela turned the truck around and pulled into the circular driveway. K.A.I.S.Y. opened the garage door, and they pulled into the garage. The door closed behind them.
Michaela jumped down out of the truck, just as Casey plopped down out of the passenger side door.
Gloria, like most people, did not lock the connecting door between the garage and the house.
It took Casey a few minutes to pronounce the alarm disabled, however. Michaela then opened the door and entered the house.
"Casey, find any computer equipment and see what you can come up with. I'll look through mail and what not."
Casey nodded and moved off into the house.
Michaela started by just walking through the downstairs of the house. The garage lead into the kitchen, where she currently was. There were two closed doors, and an archway that lead into the dining room. One of the closed doors lead into a walk-in pantry. The other was locked from the inside. She thought it might lead to a basement. Most California homes didn't have basements, but they weren't totally unheard of.
The basement would have to wait until she could have Casey's help with the door.
The kitchen counters were clean and clutter free.
Michaela moved on to the dining room. There was a table and chairs, as well as a sideboard, but that was all. There wasn't even a picture on any of the walls. A door from the dining room lead to the living room.
Here there was a sectional, fireplace, and flat screen TV above the fire place. But again, nothing to make this a home.
The living room contained another door and the stairs to the second floor.
The door from the living room lead to one of the bedrooms with an attached bathroom. This bedroom had been converted to a home office. Casey sat at the desk, his hand resting on top of the computer.
A far away look was on Casey's face, suggesting he was concentrating deeply on the computer.
The computer monitor was on, and images flashed on it in rapid succession, too fast for Michaela to comprehend.
She knew that Casey had sent several of his nanites into the computer, so he was interfaced directly with it.
Leaving Casey to what he was doing, Michaela looked around. This room actually looked "lived in." There were photographs on the wall, as well as several certificates.
On the desk near the computer was a pile of opened mail.
Michaela picked up the mail and began to look through it. Most of the mail were bills specific to the house. Two credit card statements showed nothing interesting. A checking account statement showed a cash withdrawal of five thousand dollars.
"Casey, is there a financial program on that computer?"
"Yes, I was just accessing it. Had to get around password protection."
"Are there any regular cash withdrawals or anything else that might be of interest?"
"There's a monthly withdrawal of five thousand dollars. It goes back at least two years. Nothing else seems out of place."
"Okay. That five grand sounds like cash payments for rent, power, etcetera for an anonymous place to stay or work. I'm going to look around upstairs, let me know if you find anything else in the computer."
Michaela was heading for the stairs when she heard the front door being opened.
"Casey!" she hissed through her earwig. "Turn off the computer, we've got to get out of here!"
"On my way!" was his quick response.
Not caring if she was seen, knowing the deactivated alarm was a dead give away that someone had been in the house, Michaela ran. She was just passing the entryway when the front door finally swung open.
Gloria Stalov, a very surprised look on her face, stopped fiddling with her keys in the door. "Stop!" she shouted, running after Michaela full tilt.
Casey chose that moment to make his appearance. His nanites dropped down from an air conditioning duct right in front of Dr. Stalov. He hit the floor as a blob, but quickly regained his human form.
Dr. Stalov skidded to a halt with a gasped, "There's another one?"
Dr. Stalov's shock gave Michaela the crucial moments she needed. She crashed through the connecting door to the garage, and skidded around the front of the truck. The moment K.A.I.S.Y. opened the door for her, she dove in.
Casey launched himself through the door Michaela had just crashed through, landing on the hood of the truck, where he was instantly reintegrated with the rest of the nanites.
Not bothering with the garage door, K.A.I.S.Y. shifted into reverse, allowed his tires to spin on the concrete for a moment, then rocketed through the garage door. Pieces of garage door flew in all directions.
Dr. Stalov stumbled into the garage in time to duck to avoid flying debris. She shouted after the fleeing Canyon, "You'll never find them!"