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“Clearly, he isn’t dead,” Claire said. “He’s alive and well and living in Brooklyn.”
“How could that be?” Ryan was livid—mostly at himself. “We all saw the death certificate. Which means the death was staged. But why would Jack stage his own death? Glen must have been involved the whole time. I’m such an asshole. I should’ve dug deeper and made sure the death certificate was legit. In the meantime, why is Glen transferring cash to Jack? Is he supporting him? Or is it more?”
“More as in working with him?” Claire asked. She swallowed hard. “Or even killing for him?”
“Anything’s possible.” Ryan had already grabbed his iPhone and was punching in Marc’s number on speed dial. “I’ll take a better look at Jack’s background later tonight. But for now, we’ve got to get to him—fast. We have no time to lose. When he collects his cash, we’ll collect him.”
Chapter Twenty
Marc groped for his iPhone and saw Ryan’s caller ID pop up on the screen.
“What now?”
Ryan’s brows rose. It wasn’t like Marc to sound so irked, and maybe even a little distracted.
It was a moot point, because Marc’s mood changed the instant Ryan told him about Suzanne’s impending money transfer to Jack.
“Tell me what you need,” Marc said.
“I need your help breaking into the meat market and planting Gecko. Tonight.”
“I’ll be at the office in an hour.”
Right before Marc disconnected the call, Ryan heard the distinct sound of a woman’s disappointed voice in the background. So Marc really did have a sex life. And Ryan had just screwed it up—at least for tonight. That explained his foul mood when he’d answered the phone.
Good thing Marc always showed such iron control. Otherwise, he’d probably kick Ryan’s ass.
* * *
There was a ton to do before Marc arrived—all of which had to be done without noise or interruption. Ryan was already inside his own head, oblivious to everything and everyone around him
.
Claire and Leilah took the hint, climbing the stairs to the first floor.
There was an awkward silence as they stood in the hallway together, neither of them quite sure what to say.
Finally, Leilah made a disgusted sound and rolled her eyes. “This is ridiculous,” she declared. “I admire you, Claire. You’re intelligent, you’re strong and you speak your mind. We’re not that different, except that you keep your thoughts private and I wear mine on my sleeve. I can’t speak for you, but I think we could be friends, if we could get past this absurd rivalry. One thing I’ve learned for sure—no man is worth it.”
Claire’s lips curved in a smile. “I like you, too, Leilah. And I apologize if I acted like a high-schooler. You’re right. We have a lot in common. As for Ryan, he is who he is.”
“Exactly.” Leilah glanced at her watch. “It’s still early. Why don’t you and I go out for a drink and you can explain to me the difference between a psychic and a claircognizant.”
“You’re on.”
* * *
Ryan’s first course of business was to double-check Gecko and make sure that his mechanical and electronic marvel was fully charged and ready for action. He needed his little critter’s mission-critical capabilities to pull this off.
There would be no second chances.
He connected Gecko’s USB port to his computer, fired up the diagnostic program that would run Gecko through a thorough analysis of all his subsystems, as well as calibrate his internal gyro, GPS sensors and servo motors.
While Gecko was undergoing his “physical,” Ryan turned to the next order of business—getting as much information about the meat market and the building it was located in as possible.
Ryan’s first digital stop was the Department of Finance’s Digital Tax Map online service. Once the site was up, he entered the address of the meat market and quickly found the block and lot number of the building. Exploring the public records available, he saw several building permits from a few years ago related to the heating and electrical system upgrades that had been performed. Since the building was owned by a Columbia University trust, a tier-one contractor, Gotham Mechanical, had completed the work.
Next, Ryan opened up another independent X window session on his computer, retrieved the hacking script he had written for just such occasions and began the process of circumventing the firewalls sitting between him and the Gotham Mechanical projects server. A few minutes later, Ryan was looking at the “as built” drawings of the upgraded HVAC system Gotham had modified just three years ago.
