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When he returned to the Penningtons’ hotel room, it was armed with his laptop, which now contained the photos he’d emailed himself.
Susan opened the door. The dubious expression on her face told him she hadn’t believed a word he’d said about the communication he’d received not being related to Lauren’s kidnapping.
There was nothing like a mother’s instinct.
“Did you take care of your business matter?” she inquired, shutting the door behind him.
“Yes.” Aidan neither averted his gaze nor lied. “I didn’t think it would relate to Lauren’s kidnapping, but it might. I need you to tell me.”
“What does that mean?” Vance demanded. “How can we—”
“Not we,” Aidan corrected. “Susan.”
Susan’s brows drew together. “I don’t understand.”
“Let’s you and I sit down.” Aidan was already striding into the living area. He perched at the edge of the sofa and fired up his laptop, simultaneously gesturing for Susan to join him.
She did, and a few moments later, the photos of David Cheng appeared. Aidan zoomed in as close as he could without distorting the images.
“Look closely,” he instructed Susan. “Have you ever seen this man before?”
Susan peered intently at the screen, and the color began to drain from her face. “I think that’s the man who’s been watching us,” she whispered. “I can’t swear to it, but aside from the obvious fact that he’s Asian, there’s a certain tilt to his head and the way his hair hangs over his forehead… As I said, I can’t swear to it, but I think it’s him.”
Vance was beside them in a minute, searching the screen. “Who is he?”
“Right now, just a suspect,” Aidan replied. “If he’s the person who’s been watching you, then he’s probably working for the Chinese company that’s trying to steal your technology.”
“So what do we do with this information?”
“We exploit it, full force. I’ll be taking care of that tonight.” Aidan gave Vance a warning look. “You’ll be doing nothing with this. We’re close, Vance. Leave it to me and my team. No detrimental heroics. Lauren’s life is at stake. And figuring out which company—and who at that company—is orchestrating this industrial espionage can help lead us to the kidnappers.”
“And to Lauren,” Susan breathed.
“Yes. And to Lauren.” Aidan looked at Vance, a hard, penetrating look.
Briefly, Vance shut his eyes. Then he opened them and nodded. “Get us answers.”
21
Mountain View, California
28 February
Wednesday, 7:45 p.m. local time
The two-story apartment complex was new, sleek, and über-pricey. As if it deserved its own elite domain, it was tucked away on a private, tree-lined street, traversed only by a sidewalk where a few evening bicyclists pedaled past, lost in the music coming through their headphones or texting with one hand as they maneuvered along.
It was easy for the two men to slip in and out of Gallagher’s apartment, timing their entry and exit to the moments when the sidewalk was deserted. They knew they had time to do their job; Cheng was taking care of that right now.
They moved from room to room, checking both the accessible and the inaccessible areas, being careful to return things to their previous state so as not to clue Gallagher in to the fact that they had been there.
Mostly, everything was out in the open and contained nothing of interest. But in the spare bedroom, they encountered a locked drawer, which a knife blade took care of quickly. In the back of the bottom drawer, there was a surprising, if not directly relevant, discovery. The men took some photos. They then rearranged things and relocked the desk.
A half hour later, they were gone.
Once
in the car, the taller man texted the photos to Xu Wei. He waited a few minutes and then followed up with a phone call.
