4. A Matter of Time

Complete story — includes the ending

Kiera and Carlos investigate the murder of Professor Martin Ames, a scientist who was developing an antimatter containment device (a step towards fusion energy, widespread in 2077). The device backfired and killed him. Ames' graduate student, Shane Mathers, discovers that all of the professor's files have been stolen. Suspicion falls on Dr. Melissa Dobeck, a former partner who fell out with Ames over safety issues: she denies involvement. The investigation is thwarted when the military takes over on national security grounds. However, the pair uncover a prior claim of intellectual property theft, enabling them to continue investigating. Meanwhile, Liber8's leader, Kagame, suddenly arrives in 2012 and quickly sets out to rejoin his group. Also, Kellog has made a fortune in the stock market, by leveraging information. He helps Maddie by paying off the mortgage on her house. She suspects that he wants something in return, but he insists he is only repaying her father's kindness. (In fact, she is his grandmother, but he keeps that fact secret.) Kiera is led to an intensely personal moral dilemma: whether to prosecute the guilty person or to preserve the future she desperately wants to go home to.