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They did that, and Sovern said if the Russians managed to backtrack them, it would take time—maybe quite a bit of time. “More time than they have, to stop us,” he said.
Letty and Cartwrightwould patrol from roughly dusk to dawn, when they thought it most likely that an attack would occur, and Longstreet would take the daylight hours. Kaiser and Bunker would doze when they had to, but in place—if the Russians got past the people on the perimeter, they would be ready to defend the hallway.
Letty pointed out that schedule would cut into the time Cartwright might need to keep Sovern relaxed, but Cartwright said that wouldn’t be a problem. “Staying alive is more important than being relaxed.”
“What are you talking about?” Longstreet asked them, looking from Cartwright to Letty.
“You gotta see Sovern to understand it,” Letty told her. “Barb’s taken advantage of the poor boy.”
“Ah.”
Catherine Shofly had a roomon the fourth floor; after she checked in, she’d cruised her own floor, found it quiet, then went down to the first-floor restaurant and ordered a drink. She was looking for a particular employee, one who was too busy to be careful.
The best she could do was a frizzy-haired desk clerk who seemed to have trouble checking people in, who was exasperated bydemands for service. Shofly stepped behind a man who was visibly annoyed by the slow speed of the check-in. When he left, barely suppressing a sneer, she stepped up to the desk with a Realtor’s friendly smile. “I checked in a few minutes ago and I thought my friends were on Four, but they’re not. A bunch of computer people working together?”
“Eight,” the frizzy-haired woman said, and looked at the next person in line.
Shofly said, “Thanks,” and went to check out Eight.
Patty Bunker was watchingTV, eating corn chips, and monitoring her iPhone, all at once. She didn’t miss much: every time the phone chirped, she was on it. All of the chirps had been routine: people leaving their rooms and walking to the elevator, and vice-versa.
Until Shofly turned up.
Shofly, a square-shouldered, well-groomed woman, with stripey blond hair and Texas clothes, stepped off the elevator, looked both ways. She had a key card in her hand, but something about her attitude ticked Bunker’s bullshit meter. She watched as Shofly walked slowly along the hallway in one direction, all the way to the end, looking at doors, then turned and walked in the other direction, all the way to the far end, still looking at doors, pausing at some of them, apparently listening, never using her card.
She got on her radio and called Kaiser: “We might have a live one. Out in the hall. Woman with streaky blond hair, a white blouse, fashion jeans, turquoise necklace. Got a big purse; doesn’t look like she’s carrying on her body...”
Cartwright was on the street and heard the call, said, “I’mcoming up.” Kaiser went into the other suite, where Letty was reading a Joseph Kanon novel, and called, “Letty: Patty’s calling. Woman in the hallway...”
Letty put the book on a side table and headed for the door. Before going out, she used Kaiser’s radio to call Bunker: “Is she outside the suites?”
“No, she’s down toward the other end of the hall.”
Letty called Cartwright, told her to hang in the lobby where she could see the elevators, and gave the radio back to Kaiser. Slipping her hand into her 938 pocket, she stepped into the hallway, closed the door, and started walking toward the elevator. The woman at the far end of the hall had turned and was walking toward her; they met at the elevator.
Letty reached out and punched the down button and the woman asked, “Are you with the computer people?”
“No-o-o... What computer people?”
“I’ve just seen people coming and going with laptops and stuff,” Shofly said. “I don’t know what they’re doing...”
Letty shrugged. “Haven’t seen anything like that, but I’m not around much. I’m here for an economics conference at UCLA.”
“Mmm. Doesn’t sound like much fun. The economists I’ve known have been grumpy old men.”
“There is that,” Letty said, nodding and smiling. “But, if you want to get ahead... at least at Minnesota... you put up with it. I probably wouldn’t have come, if it wasn’t February in Minneapolis.”
They were in the elevator and Shofly pushed the lobby button and Letty went with it.
“Do not let the grumpy old men get you down,” Shofly advised, as the elevator doors closed. “Believe me, I had enough of that.That’s what I like about being a Realtor. I’m pretty much on my own and we’ve got more women in my office than men. We won’t take any guff from them, and they know it.”
“Right on,” Letty said, with a grin. A moment later, in the lobby, she found Cartwright and said, “We have a problem.”
Kaiser, Letty, and Cartwrightwere in the suites, talking quickly, heads together, guns in evidence. The hackers were concerned, wanted to know what was going on.
Letty told them, “We’re not sure. We had an odd person up here, a woman, says she’s a real estate agent. She’s nosy, and we’re not taking any chances.”
Able asked, “Should we be worried?”
