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Marc had already taken care of the rental arrangements. He’d gotten two dark Peugeot 5008s at the closest place in Osijek. Philip would pick up one, Marc the other. The first would get Philip back to the farmhouse for recon. The second would get Marc to the airport to collect Aidan, after which he’d drive them both out to join Philip at the rescue site.
Sitting back now, Philip dismantled his camera and lens and shoved his equipment into the duffel bag. “I’m finished for now,” he told Ivan via Ellie. “I’d like to drive directly to Osijek so I can pick up my rental car.”
“Fine,” Ivan said. “I’ll leave you there and drive home with the women. Will you be returning tonight?”
“No.” Philip was peeling off two thousand dollars, holding the twenty hundred-dollar bills visibly in his hand. “Once we reach Osijek, I’ll be thanking you for your help and hospitality.” He added another ten hundred-dollar bills. “And asking that you pass this along to Jozef with my thanks. I’m sure he’ll exchange all this for Croatian kuna without a problem. Ellie will be spending the night. Please drive her to the Hotel Osijek in the morning.”
He turned to Ellie and spoke in a low tone. “You and Derica have successfully completed your assignments. Payment will be wired to you ASAP. You can both return to Germany.”
Ellie smiled and extended her hand, shaking Philip’s. “It’s been a pleasure working with you.”
Zermatt Group Offices
West 75th Street, Manhattan, New York
1 March
Thursday, 7:55 a.m. local time
Inside the Cage, Terri sat back in her desk chair, a smug smile on her face as she studied her laptop screen. After long hours, she’d cracked David Cheng wide open, uncovering every facet of his life and, in the process, discovering a whole lot more.
For starters, Cheng was receiving monthly wire transfers of twenty thousand dollars, deposited into his account on the first of every month just like an employee’s salary or an outside consultant’s retainer. Each wire transfer had the same SWIFT code—SZDBCNBSOSA.
Terri quickly identified that code.
It belonged to a Chinese bank—specifically, Ping An Bank. Located in the city of Shenzhen, the code indicated that it originated at headquarters, the offshore banking department. And the originator? Jítuán, a large electronics assembling company that employed tens of thousands of people.
A company that would be crippled by the success of Nano’s new technology and that would thrive if it were able to control and exploit it against competitors.
So now Terri knew what entity Cheng was working for. All she needed was the duplicate cell phone Aidan had overnighted her to find Cheng’s contact at Jítuán and to figure out how high up this went.
She glanced at her watch.
The courier service should be here soon.
Starbucks
Northstar Drive, Lake Tahoe
1 March
Thursday, 7:10 a.m. local time
Vance was even more distraught going into today’s videoconference with Lauren than he had been yesterday.
Simone Martin had showed up at his and Susan’s hotel room door before dawn, explaining that, even though the entire team, including Aidan, would be listening to and observing the videoconference at the same time that Vance was having it, it was she who would be here as a stand-in for Aidan. And when she’d told them why—because Aidan was on his way to Croatia—he’d started to weep, holding his sobbing wife in his arms. They both knew that meant there was a rescue mission in place. Aidan’s on-the-ground team had summoned him. It was time.
And while this entire week had been hell, just knowing that this life-or-death moment was upon them had pushed both Vance and Susan over the edge.
Simone had spent several hours with them, talking calmly and reassuringly. But the fact was, she could offer them no promises. All they could do was to trust in Aidan and the team, follow their own game plan.
And pray.
Now, his laptop ready, Vance tried to calm his breathing as he prepared to give the performance of his life.
He couldn’t so much as hint to what was going on, nor could he act any differently than he had yesterday. As Simone had said, it was imperative that the kidnappers be totally unaware that a rescue mission was in the works.
His heart thundering in his chest, he typed in the new link the kidnappers had provided for today’s use.
