Moose started to get up, but Neil stopped him. “The dart cameras are okay for outside, but I doubt you can get one in the lobby without being noticed. However, since I’m a genius, I still have a few of the little sticker microphones we used before. If you stick a couple of them up in the lobby, I’ve got a program that can listen for keywords. If I put in all of our names, including our real names and fake ones, it will sound off if anybody comes in asking about us.”
“That sounds good,” Moose said. “Give me a couple of them, and a couple of the dart cameras.” He picked up the air rifle as Neil opened his bags to get the gadget, then opened the door and peeked into the hallway before slipping out. He was back in less than ten minutes. “Got one camera facing the parking lot entrance, and one focused right on our car. The microphones are in place in the lobby, too, one of them stuck under the lip of the front desk and the other on the wall by the door.”
Neil pushed a button on a small black box and then turned to his computer. A couple of minutes later, he had a split screen showing the views from the two cameras, and had told the computer to listen to the microphones for their names.
“That’s as close as we can get to setting up a perimeter of security,” Noah said. “Neil, you take first watch while Moose gets some sleep. Wake him up in four hours and let him take over. Moose, that will put your shift ending at about seven. We’ll plan on going down for breakfast around seven thirty.”
Moose and Neil left the room, taking the computer with them. As soon as they were gone, Sarah got up and began stripping. “I’m headed for the shower,” she said. “Come with me?”
Noah didn’t answer, but stood up and began taking off his own clothes. The bathroom simply had a tub with a shower curtain, and it was a little tight. They spent a couple of minutes just holding each other under the spray.
“Noah, I’m scared,” Sarah said. “Nicolaich is good, we probably won’t see them coming.”
Noah pulled her a little tighter to his chest. “It’s me he wants most,” he said. “And he seems to be just a little bit crazy about it. Crazy people make mistakes, that’s what I’m counting on. We’re going to get him this time. I want him dead so that he can’t ever cause us problems again.”
Sarah held onto him for another moment, then let go and turned to pick up the bottle of body wash. Noah took it from her hands and squeezed it into one of his own.
*
The hotel had a continental breakfast, but none of them were in the mood for waffles that morning. Neil had studied the view from the two little cameras and concluded that no one was sitting outside, watching for them, so they walked out and got into the car. The GPS said there was a Bob Evans restaurant not far away, and Sarah started in that direction.
They sat at a table so that each of them could watch in a different direction as they ate. The breakfast was good and they lingered over it for a bit, finally leaving at just before nine. The drive into DC took most of an hour, so they arrived at the Dexter Reedy office building just a few minutes ahead of schedule.
Sarah found a parking space that was almost in front of the entrance, and they walked inside. Two security guards at a desk in the lobby looked up with smiles on their faces.
“Good morning,” one of them said. “Can we help you?”
Noah smiled back. “Yes, I’m Wyatt Wilson, I have an appointment to see Molly Hanson this morning.”
“No problem, could I see some identification, please?”
All four of them produced the IDs they were using and the guard looked at them as he scanned a list of scheduled visitors on the computer. Satisfied, he handed them back and then passed each of them a visitor’s badge on a lanyard.
“Just hang those around your necks,” he said. “I’ll call Ms. Hanson and she’ll be down to get you in just a moment.”
They did as they were told and Molly appeared only a couple of minutes later, stepping out of an elevator. “Yoohoo,” she called. “Come on up.”
They followed her into the elevator and she pushed the button for the fifth floor. “How’s the sky looking out there?” she asked. “There’s a rumor going around that there might be a storm coming.”
Sarah blinked. “Looked pretty clear to me,” she said, and then it dawned on her that Molly was actually asking whether the situation was likely to blow up anytime soon. “But you never know, sometimes lightning can strike out of what looks like a clear blue sky.”
“Don’t I know it,” Molly said. “I swear, sometimes things you just couldn’t possibly expect come at you from your blind side. It’s a weird feeling, almost like somebody coming back from the dead, you know?”
The twinkle in her eyes caused Sarah to smile, but she didn’t respond. The elevator stopped and opened, and they followed Molly down the long hallway and into a conference room. She closed the door behind them and then held up one finger as she crossed the room to a cabinet that held a coffee urn. She opened a drawer that was apparently full with an electronic device of some sort, pushed the button on it and then turned back to face Noah.