Page 40 of Dangerous Liaisons

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Jesse stared through the Harvester’s passenger window as tall buildings gave way to private homes. Soon, civilization yielded to densely foliaged countryside. By two thirty, they’d left all human life behind and were bouncing along a dirt road surrounded by jungle. At Jesse’s direction, Cole abruptly turned off onto another dirt road. He stopped five minutes later and shut down the engine. He had driven a mere twenty-five minutes, yet the road cut through total isolation where no man would dare venture more than five feet off the beaten track. Dense foliage hugged the ruts in the road and tree limbs arched overhead. The air hung so thick even sounds suffered an unnatural attenuation. They were alone.

“Come on,” Cole said, and left the truck.

Jesse got out and they met at the rear of the Harvester.

He opened the door and slid the aluminum case toward him. “I got the camera, binoculars, radios, handgun, and lock picks. I got a few extra items.” He opened the case and removed a box the size of a paperback book with a rocker switch and a two-inch-long rubber antenna.

“It’s a cell phone scrambler. It’ll jam all cell phones in a four hundred meter area. Without a landline, your judge will be out of communication with the outside world.”

Jesse caught her shock before it reached her expression, and nodded. The damn jammer would disable her sniffer. Leave it to Cole to bring the one piece of equipment that would completely undermine her mission. She’d have to make sure the jammer stayed off.

Cole pulled out two black headsets consisting of an ear bud with a tiny microphone affixed to a stiff wire. “These are wideband, spread spectrum radios. Impossible to pick up with ordinary receivers.” He affixed one to his ear, then handed her the other. Next he lifted out two ordinary looking analog watches. He gave one to Jesse. “Just push this button.” He motioned for her to listen with the ear bud, then pushed the bottom-most pushbutton on the side of the watch.

“Fourteen, oh-nine,” a female voice announced.

“Hold the button down and it ticks off the seconds.” He pulled two pairs of horned rimmed glasses from the case. “These have ultraviolet sensitive lenses with light sources in the frame. The light is invisible to the naked eye, and will let us see in the dark.” He unfolded a pair and handed them to her. “The batteries are rechargeable and last about thirty-minutes. The light turns off automatically when you fold them up.”

Jesse examined the glasses. “Why not inferred?”

“Inferred light can be seen by common IR cameras. UV is rarer and less likely to be picked up. We also have this.” Cole pulled out a camera not much larger than her fist. “This is sensitive to UV, just like the glasses, and designed specifically to photograph documents. It’s got Maco lens, auto-focus, UV flash.”

“Very nice,” Jesse said.

What would Emma you think of modern technology? Not much. Emma would use her brains. Jesse might have to do the same.

The sleeve on Cole’s right arm hiked up as he reached forward to lay the camera back in the case and she caught sight of a cigarette burn above his wrist. What he would do if she unbuttoned his shirt to get a look at the rest of those scars?

*****

Jesse rose onto her elbows on the spongy ground next to Cole and adjusted her binoculars against the sun’s glare. Their vantage point high atop a thick foliaged hill overlooking Albert Menendez’s mansion gave a clear view of the grounds. The hacienda was a collection of various sized wings, one and two-story stucco sections, each with a hip-roof of terracotta tiles. Wooden beams protruded through the outer walls at the level of floors and eaves. She scanned the covered veranda bordering the far side of a central courtyard that featured an Olympic-sized pool.

The judge’s young wife sunned herself at the pool’s edge. Sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat shaded her face. The waistband of her black bikini bottom straddled her hipbones, barely touching her flat stomach, and the tiny top hugged a pair of full C-cup breasts. Flesh exposed by the bikini top lay partially hidden by wisps of long, black hair. Her oiled, bronzed body shimmered in the sun.

Jesse released a slow whistle. “You could fry eggs on that.” She handed Cole the binoculars. “What do you think, are they real?”

Cole pressed the glasses to his eyes. He gave a low whistle. “I’m no expert, but I’d say it doesn't matter. Who is she?”

“Yolanda Menendez. Her husband is federal judge Albert Menendez. If my intel is right, he’s in Perez’s pocket. Yolanda turns in at eleven. Menendez waits until she falls asleep, then sneaks to the servants’ quarters and screws the cook, Velda. That’s when we go in.”

Cole’s gaze riveted onto Jesse. “He’s cheating on her?”

Jesse shrugged. She had to agree with Cole. “That’s what the report said.”

Cole’s gaze sharpened and a tremor rippled through Jesse. Was he connecting the intel on Menendez with her Colombian college lover her file was sure to have mentioned?

“What about Menendez’s security?” Cole finally said.

“Five guards with automatic weapons make rounds every twenty minutes,” she replied, and tried to ignore the thought that Michael’s slide into the Colombian underworld was the luckiest break she’d had during this nightmare. “They also have guard dogs. Look at the main house, left of the pool. You’ll see a balcony on the second floor. His study is behind the double French doors.”

Cole looked through the glasses again and shifted slightly left, brushing his arm against Jesse’s shoulder. She resisted the urge to rub back.

“Those railings are supported by Doric columns topped with an eight-inch thick cap,” he said. “We should be able to grab the columns and climb over. How about the locks?”

“Lever system. They lock from the inside, but we can get in using a plastic card.”

“What about electronic security?” he asked.

“The electric service out here is unreliable, so he didn’t have one installed.”

“Not even surveillance cameras?”

“No. He has floodlights under the eaves. My guess is they’ll turn on when there’s an alarm. There’s a search light in the three-story turret at the center of the compound.”

Cole lowered the glasses and looked at her. “He doesn’t seem concerned about security. You sure he’s in Perez’s pocket?”

“Perez is the best security system in the world.”

Cole grunted. “True. We go in when he heads to the maid’s room?”

Jesse glanced at the sun. “Yeah. It’ll be dark in two hours. But we’ll keep a close watch on the guards, make sure everything’s what it’s supposed to be.”

“What are we looking for?” Cole asked.

“Anything that looks like it might connect to Perez: an address, bank statements, phone numbers, internet addresses.”

Cole lifted the binoculars back to his eyes. Jesse adjusted her position slightly. The airlink sniffer dug into her ribs.