*
Margaret was barely aware of the black-and-white tiles of the guest cottage as she crossed them hurriedly to get to her bedroom.
She slammed the door and threw the backpack on the bed.
Then she took a deep breath, unzipped the backpack, pulled out the towel she’d used at the beach, and then the small waterproof package.
Definitely not her phone. Now to find what Lassiter had sent her and why.
She sat down on the bed and carefully unwrapped the object. Sleek stainless steel, it appeared to be a device of some sort.
But it was also wrapped in a waterproof sleeve that contained a brief message.
LX-40. It’s one of my designs and not out on the market yet. Press activate and it will record all history and contacts on any mobile phone carried by anyone within fifteen feet of the device. Depending on quantity, it will take from eight to fifteen minutes. I’ve set it to transmit info to my phone the moment you turn device off. At the same time, it will erase all trace of the recording and the LX-40 will appear to be just a smart phone, in case you’re caught with it.
I tried to make it as safe for you as possible, Margaret. I won’t try to contact you again unless you call and tell me you weren’t able to transfer the info. Otherwise, urgent you phone me from Montego Bay. If you can’t do it, I’ll find a way to get you out regardless.
As safe as possible. Yes, he’s done that, she thought as she let the paper drop on the bed. She should have known Lassiter would have some super-duper technology that would make stealing information both slick and speedy. Not only was he a computer magnate, but he had all that CIA experience.
She didn’t care where he’d gotten the technology; she was just glad that he’d given it to her. It would make finding out what was necessary incredibly simpler.
Perhaps.
Eight to fifteen minutes. She’d have to aim for fifteen minutes to be safe. That meant engaging Nicos or Salva in a conversation that would not make them suspicious if she had to stretch it out.
Nicos or Salva? Which one?
She’d already mentally made the choice. Every instinct said Salva would be her best chance of getting to Nicos’s computer expert. But he might also be the most difficult choice. He didn’t have Nicos’s total lack of respect for women. He regarded them as tools that could be used but that could also cut and lacerate. Anyone who could possibly hurt him or stem his ambitions would be looked upon with suspicion.
She gazed down at the small phone. If Salva discovered her with this device, he wouldn’t let her make explanations. He would kill her and make explanations to Nicos later.
Then trust Lassiter. He wouldn’t have given her a piece of equipment unless it was absolutely without flaw. Salva wouldn’t be searching her to see if she was carrying a weapon or phone. That had already been done. All she had to do was stay close to Salva for fifteen minutes and let that LX-40 do its work.
Tonight? Or wait until tomorrow?
Lord, she was exhausted. It had been another nightmare day.
But Sean Patrick had probably suffered an even more nightmare day. And his nightmares might kill him if they couldn’t stop them. If she delayed even one more night to get that information Lassiter needed, it might be Patrick’s last.
So it was going to be tonight.
She stood up and headed for the shower. Take a hot shower and eat a little of the meal that Nicos’s servants always left outside the front door of the guesthouse. Then take a trip across the courtyard to Salva’s living quarters to have a fifteen-minute chat with him.
And hope she’d made the right choice.
Santo Domingo
Dominican Republic
10:40 P.M.
“Yes, I found Bildwan. But he isn’t the right man,” Mandell said flatly as he met Lassiter outside the small apartment building on Aguilera Street. They had split up earlier in the night to check out two separate prospects they’d been furnished by the Silicon Valley Office. “This man is a fairly good computer geek but nothing on the scale that you said you found on Nicos’s file. Hell, I accessed his personal computer and even I managed to get through his firewalls. You know I’m not that good.”
“You’re not that bad, either,” Lassiter said. But it had taken Lassiter days to get through that firewall developed for Nicos, and Mandell had been in Bildwan’s apartment for only a little over an hour. “Did you question him?”
“Not seriously. He fell apart after the first ten minutes. He doesn’t know anything, Lassiter.” He shrugged. “Trust me, wrong guy.”
Lassiter did trust him. Mandell was savvy and would not have been fooled. He should have known that he wouldn’t get lucky the first time. It would have been too easy. “You made sure he wouldn’t talk about our visit to anyone?”
Mandell looked pained. “Lassiter.”
“Sorry. The next few days are going to be rough. We can’t afford any leaks.”
“There won’t be any. Who’s our next person of interest?”
“I don’t know. On the way to the airport, I’ll call Cambry and see if he’s received any more updates about addresses on Montgomery or Zwecker.” He got into the driver’s seat of the rental car. “Right now, I’ll take whatever we can get.”
Vadaz Island
11:05 P.M.
The lights were still burning in Salva’s office across the courtyard.
Margaret stood outside the guesthouse, gazing at Salva’s quarters, trying to brace herself to start across the courtyard. She had the LX-40 phone recorder in the pocket of her khakis; all she had to do was press the button before she entered Salva’s office.
Fifteen minutes.
It wasn’t that long a time. The only thing she had to do was find a logical reason why she had come to him, and then stretch that conversation out for fifteen minutes.
Only? She thought she had figured out somewhere to start, but heaven knows where it would take her. Well, it wouldn’t take her anywhere if she didn’t stop standing here and cross that courtyard.
Don’t think. Don’t dread it. Just move.
A moment later, she was standing in front of the door of Salva’s office. She hesitated one last moment, then punched the button on the recorder and knocked on the door.
It wasn’t opened immediately and her nerves were immediately on edge. Then the door swung open and Salva stood there looking at her with a sardonic smile. “Hello, Margaret. What a surprise. I was about to go to bed. If you were planning on joining me, I’m afraid that I’ll have to disappoint you. Nicos still believes that nonsense about keeping you pure as the driven snow, and I’m not ready to go against him yet.”