Page 14 of Tiger on the Prowl

7

“Look who’s back,” Fox announced as Jay entered the computer room in Ace’s mansion. “Must’ve been a good night.”

The room was equipped with the latest technology, and according to Fox, the gray color the room was painted with prevented any enemy from eavesdropping on them, should they ever find out where they were holed up.

Fox wasn’t alone. In fact, the entire gang was assembled. Michelle was sitting next to Fox, typing away on a keyboard, while Ace and Yankee were hunched over a large map that was spread out on the biggest desk in the room. Phoebe and Lilly were going through stacks of printouts and comparing them to other stacks of paper.

“Hey, guys,” Jay said.

Everybody greeted him.

Ace motioned to a computer monitor in one corner. “We’re piping the cameras and sound recordings of Olivia’s house right into that PC. It’s recording everything. Good job.”

“Yeah,” Fox added, “the cameras are placed perfectly. We’ll see if Smith shows up there like in your premonition. And if she talks to him on the phone, we’ll be able to record at least her side of the conversation.”

Jay nodded, though he didn’t feel very proud about what he’d done. “That’s good.”

“Hey, Tiger,” Fox said. “Didn’t I give you five devices to install? Must’ve miscounted.”

“You didn’t. I had a fifth one, but I decided not to bug her bedroom.”

“Why not? What if Smith is her lover?” Fox asked.

“You know, pillow talk and all,” Yankee added.

“He’s not her lover,” Jay said.

“How would you know that? Sure, there’s an age difference, but maybe he’s her sugar daddy,” Fox insisted.

“He’s not!” Jay ground out, getting in Fox’s face, glaring at him.

Fox let out a breath. “And you know that because you spent one night with her? Come on.”

“Nick!” Michelle put her hand on Fox’s arm. “Don’t! It’s none of your business, or would you like me to remind you that you thought you could keep emotions out of it when you slept with me to get info on Smith, and that you failed just as miserably as Tiger?”

Jay didn’t know whether he should be grateful to Michelle for reigning in her boyfriend or be annoyed that she’d seen right through him.

“Sorry, Jay,” Michelle said. “But I saw on the recording this morning how you looked at her. Kinda hard to miss.”

Ah, fuck! Now everybody knew his business, and they were all staring at him. He glared back at them. “I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing: use her to find Smith. End of story. It doesn’t matter that I fucked her, okay? She’s a means to an end.”

Who was he kidding? Not even he believed that.

“We have to get to Smith, and Olivia is our only lead so far. Or have you found a better one?” Jay snapped.

Ace rose, though he spoke in a calm voice. “Nothing yet. We’re still working on going through traffic cameras and any cameras at train and Metro stations in the vicinity of the warehouse we blew up, but so far, his face hasn’t shown up anywhere.” He pointed to Lilly. “Lilly is cross-referencing every car registration with the driver’s licenses of the owners to see if she recognizes his face. Yankee has been doing the same.”

“Yeah, the problem is,” Fox interjected, “that we have to do it all manually. If we had an actual picture of Smith, we could run it through facial recognition. But we don’t have one.”

Jay took a long breath, calming himself. He knew everybody was doing their best, working tirelessly to find Smith and whomever he worked for. They all had the same goal.

“I’m just a bit worn out,” Jay admitted.

“How’s your head?” Lilly asked, concerned, and rose from her chair. “Still getting headaches?” She was a doctor, a medical researcher actually, but had gone into hiding with Yankee after Smith had targeted her for elimination. She and Yankee now lived at Ace’s mansion, just like Jay.

“Not as much anymore, thanks.”

“If you want me to give you something for it…” Lilly offered.