Nowhere Safe

CHAPTER 51



Chatton enjoyed the breeze that ruffled her hair as it blew past the outdoor café in Milan. She made a point of smiling for the paparazzi that followed an international car racer from Belgium. Today she was Sassone, a French model on the arm of the sexy driver.

The General and Wayan would be watching this live news feed. She’d told them to watch the telly last night and today if they wanted proof she was nowhere near the US.

She’d attended highly publicized events since arriving. Easy to do with a celebrity like the one she’d spent last night with. She had no doubt that, since she’d arrived, she’d been under surveillance by The General, Wayan, or both.

Neither could blame her for the failed test that ended with a US Senator being hailed a hero.

She hadn’t opened the three boxes. The General’s man who’d constructed the laser unit wouldn’t have noticed the meticulous job she’d done of loosening the two-finger wide corded strapping tape. She’d sliced out tiny strips of cording and replaced each one with a paper-thin, quarter-inch strip of electronics, conformed to fit the ridges of the tape.

Once activated by a cut through the hair-like wires running through the tape, the tiny electronic piece acted as an EPIRB, an emergency tracking beacon. She’d inserted a continuous piece of wire under the edge of the tape that circled each box. It was amazing what a skilled person could do while inside a container at sea.

But the attack on Flight 819 had been only a test. What was Wayan really planning to do with a laser unit like that? And why had The General arranged for the test to be on US soil?

She did love a challenge, and she also loved a good puzzle.