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Aidan stated the obvious: “Clearly, you’re all in.”
“Did you doubt it?”
“No. But I’m not happy. Ideally, I’d call in one of our contacts and have him or her do the dirty work.”
“I’m sure you would,” Simone said defensively. “But we don’t have the luxury of time, and I’m perfectly capable of handling this. Plus, I’m as vested as you are in bringing down the insiders who had a hand in Lauren’s kidnapping. A college girl was taken—a vulnerable young woman who’s barely more than a kid. I intend to take an active role in closing this case.”
“And I respect that. But, Simone, planting the bug could be dangerous. You’ll have to work fast and get out of there in a hurry.”
“I’ll be fine, chéri.” Simone’s voice softened as she heard the deep concern in Aidan’s voice. “I managed just fine in Blockman’s office, no?”
“Yes.?
? Aidan blew out a breath. “But in this case, you’re invading someone’s home. And given the players involved, you’re putting yourself in harm’s way. Remember: in America, people can have guns in their homes. So, yeah, I’m worried.”
“You, who are about to put your life on the line by attacking violent killers, are worried about a little breaking and entering?”
The irony of Simone’s words wasn’t lost on Aidan. “Guilty as charged. But we’re talking about you, not me.”
“And I thank you for that. But I’ll take every precaution. You just concentrate on your mission. Terri and I will take care of the rest.”
“Terri’s in New York. You’re the one in Silicon Valley.” Aidan wasn’t ready to wrap up this conversation. “Not only am I worried about you planting the bug, I’m even more worried about what happens afterward. If things go as planned, you’re going to be alone in the car outside the apartment when two desperate people figure out they’ve been played. If I were them, I’d hop the first flight I could out of the country to a place with no extradition. And knowing you, you’d be in hot pursuit to prevent that from happening.”
“You’re right. I would.”
“I’m going to talk to Terri. Once Lauren is safe, I want her to hack into the TSA and place everyone we suspect on the No Fly List. They’ll be stuck in the US until law enforcement picks them up. And if they try to head to Mexico by car, California traffic will prevent them from getting very far.”
“Fine. So there’s no reason for me to follow them. But just in case I’m spotted, I plan on being armed. You have several guns locked in my hotel room safe. One of them is a Glock 27. I’m trained to use that pistol, and you know it.”
“You’ve never shot anyone.”
“And hopefully I won’t have to this time. These are white-collar criminals, not violent offenders. But if one of them has a gun and tries to use it, they’ll be dead before they can pull the trigger. Count on it.”
After they hung up, Aidan looked down to where he was gripping his pen more tightly than he’d realized. He’d never been able to talk Simone out of anything once she made up her stubborn mind. This time had been no different.
Four Seasons Hotel, Palo Alto
1 March
Thursday, 12:05 p.m. local time
Terri answered on the first ring. “Yes?”
“I’m at my hotel,” Simone began without prelude. She was squatting in front of her room safe, removing the package she needed while simultaneously locating her pistol and ammunition. Those she set aside for the moment.
“I’m holding the electronic gift box you sent Aidan.”
“Good. You know what you’re looking for?”
“Aidan told me.” Simone was already rummaging around. “I’ve got the key fob,” she said, extracting the item. “How does it work?”
“Think of it as a really small cell phone.” Terri explained the device in the simplest terms possible to Simone. “The difference is, there’s no speaker in the key fob, so no one can hear your side of the conversation. Only you can hear what’s going on in their location. The microphone is optimized to be very sensitive and to pick up sounds in all directions.”
Simone nodded, pursing her lips as she turned the device over in her hands. It looked totally innocuous. “So the conversations going on in Jia li’s apartment will be transmitted to my cell phone. I’ll have conferenced you in so you can listen and record what’s being said.”
“Exactly. Also, you and I can talk to one another without being heard, just as if we’ve placed them on mute.”
“Okay.” Simone looked inside the package and extracted the black box labelled: Windsor. “I’ve got the cell phone interceptor gadget.”
