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The Cubs beat the Reds, six to one. Adam took his earbuds out and slowly climbed the stairs to the apartment where Henry, his usual hacker, lived. Henry refused to deliver his reports via phone or email, which drove Adam nuts. But he’d never found anyone as thorough or skilled, so he made the trek to Henry’s Uptown condo with a minimum of complaint.
The last time he’d seen Henry was right before he surprised Jess at AJ Hudson’s. It seemed like a lifetime ago. Hell, anything before Vegas seemed like a lifetime ago. Probably because he couldn’t get that day with Jess out of his mind. Jesus, they’d been insatiable. He’d taken her again and again—on the bed, floor, in the shower. He’d never forget that day as long as he lived. He’d probably be daydreaming about it when he was ninety years old.
He hadn’t wanted her to go. When the limo driver called to announce that he was on his way to take her to the airport, they’d clung to each other and kissed like it was the last kiss of their lives.
Which it was. The last kiss between them anyway. The moment Jess walked out the hotel door, Adam knew he was dissolving their partnership. Further, he was going to be a coward about it. He wasn’t going to tell her it was over, he would just disappear. Jess was a smart girl; she’d know.
Sure, he felt like a complete ass for pulling the disappearing act. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. It made him sick to his stomach to think about her feeling betrayed. But he didn’t feel conflicted about his choice. To keep Jess involved in this game any longer was to put her in danger—of jail or worse. He’d already lost the most important person in his life because of his own idiocy and bad decision-making. He wasn’t losing her.
If that meant he never saw her again, so be it. If that meant she hated him, he deserved it.
Rounding the last flight of stairs, he shook his head. If only he could be sure that she’d stay out of it. But she was so goddamn stubborn and insistent on proving her innocence. And he’d made another mistake—he’d given her the recording of Knoll and Sedarno talking in the golf cart. Idiot. But he’d handed it over before they fell into bed together and after he was too dazed to even remember that she had it.
He’d listened to the recording of Knoll and Sedarno so many times he had it memorized. It started with some chit chat about Sedarno’s wife, his tango-dancing mistress, some ongoing renovations to his vacation home in Lake Tahoe, the cost of Knoll’s divorce attorney, what Jess’s ass looked like as she bent over the tee. They didn’t start talking business until the eighth hole.
“My couriers will be returning with your merchandise
sometime in May,” Knoll said. “Once I consolidate, I’ll be ready for the hand-off. Where should I bring them? Tahoe?”
“No, I’ll come to you.” Sedarno’s words, while innocuous, had sounded vaguely threatening. “I have to trust you to get the goods to Chicago, but I’ll be taking possession almost immediately thereafter.”
“Fine!” Knoll managed to laugh heartily while still sounding scared. Adam always enjoyed the thread of fear in his voice. “Sweet home Chicago, it is.”
It was May. The diamond-smuggling fake-exchange students would fly home any day now and sometime soon after, Knoll would collect the diamonds and Sedarno would arrive in the city to pick them up.
He could act on this information because of his contact on Knoll’s staff. But Jess would be stuck. There wasn’t any way she could find out the actual logistics of the diamond transfer...could she? His stomach started to hurt. There’s only so much you can do. Just stay away from her.
He knocked on Henry’s door. Rolled his eyes when Henry whispered, “Identify yourself,” as though he didn’t have security cameras tracking every visitor’s movements.
“Thomas Paine.” When Henry opened the door, he handed over his wallet without comment, and let him do whatever paranoid bullshit made him feel better.
“You said you had something on Knoll?” Adam had commissioned Henry to watch for anything unusual on Knoll’s accounts. Now that he was finally in his sights, he didn’t want Knoll fleeing the country or anything. Which would be the smartest course of action to escape Sedarno’s wrath if something fell through with the diamonds. Since things seemed to be progressing fine with his Ignatius University plan, he didn’t expect unusual activity from Knoll, but he hadn’t lived this long and successfully as a thief without a lot of double-checking.
Henry handed his wallet back and gestured for Adam to follow him to his command center at the back of the apartment. He did this every time Adam stopped by, gesturing to the lines of code on his screens as though Adam could understand any of it.
“Not Knoll. Nothing weird there. He’s just living his normal, extravagant life.” Henry sniffed.
Adam stifled the flare of annoyance. “So why did I make the trip up here?”
“The chick—the one you asked me to electronically surveil the last time you were here—I found weirdness on her.”
Adam’s stomach flipped all the way over. He’d almost forgotten he asked Henry to look at Jess’s electronic profile. He’d known almost nothing about her when he made the request. “What is she doing that’s unusual?”
“Nothing.” Henry gave him a Cheshire smile.
“Henry.” Adam’s tone was soft but dangerous, and Henry dropped the act.
“Chick’s not doing anything odd,” Henry explained. “But I’m not the only one watching.”
Adam went cold all over. “Elaborate.”
“Someone else set up bots to watch her—her financial accounts, social media, email. Everything. She’s not doing anything weird, but whatever she’s doing online is being tracked.”
Adam thought about Jess’s custom encryption programs, her hacking prowess, her easy entry to the Dark Web. Somehow he doubted that everything she was actually doing was being tracked or Henry would have commented on it. But just the fact that someone was looking was enough to change this entire game.
“Can you tell who’s tracking her?”
One side of Henry’s mouth quirked up. “Think so. Shitty-ass programmer. Leaves his ugly fucking footprints on everything.”
