“Wouldn’t Flores or Spade have him turn off the Wi-Fi?”
“Possibly, but most adults don’t realize the capabilities of handheld video games. You can’t download a lot of data from the Internet, for example, because they don’t have the storage—the memory is primarily used to play the game and store game progress, but you still need a disk or chip to play. There’s no Internet browsing, for example—most are not designed like that. The one Jesse has, though a new model, is primarily for game playing—including multi-player games, on a limited scale.
“But,” Sean continued, “even if he turns off the Wi-Fi, he has to open the device to turn it off, which means at one point the device pinged the Wi-Fi system, and that system is serviced by a provider.”
“I think I got it.”
“Good—because I’ve already started running my program, and we should have his location in a couple of hours.”
“There’s a bigger issue here, Sean—getting him out. Even if we know exactly where he is—down to the room, and you can’t tell me your tech can pinpoint him to a ten-by-ten spot—we have to get to him, then convince him to leave quietly.”
“That’s why I need to get him information. I can send him a note on his device—if he’s on it.”
“Do it.”
“And the secondary thing is that once I get the IP address for the wireless system, I can analyze the data and see how they run their security system—whether it’s dedicated or not. I suspect it’s a combination of both, but even taking out part of the system will help us.”
“We need a diversion. If we can get Jesse out of the compound, it would be much easier to grab him.”
“Flores will have what? Fifty men or so?”
“Probably less.”
Sean shook his head. He should laugh at the absurdity of Kane’s matter-of-fact tone, but he was exhausted.
“I’m talking about a diversion he won’t expect. Let me think on it. I have a couple of ideas, but none that I’m confident we can survive.”
“I need to check on the plane, then get some sleep.”
“Say hi to Lucy for me.”
*
Lucy was familiar with death. She’d seen it close up—when she was younger, knowing her cousin and best friend Justin was in a coffin at the front of the church the day of his funeral; when she was eighteen and killed her rapist; when she worked in the morgue and saw the dead every day. And now, on the job, she saw the dead.
But this case … it was different than others.
She’d been able to put Jane Doe out of her head when she was in the office with Zach and Noah, talking about shell corporations and property management and legal issues for possible warrants. It helped focus her on the present. But now, as she lay in bed after midnight, she only saw Jane Doe’s corpse and the swollen stomach where her baby had once grown.
Jane Doe had died for no reason other than someone had wanted her baby. She could have survived if they’d taken her to the hospital, given her emergency medical care. It was the absolutely senselessness of her death that disturbed Lucy. She should have survived.
But she’d died in childbirth because of the cruelty of those who had her. Then two bullets in the head. Dismissed. Tossed in the garbage. Her son taken. Why? To be sold? To be used? Did that baby have anyone to love him? Did he have a bright future, or was it as bleak as his mother’s?
Lucy wanted to believe that someone misguided but desperate for a child would raise the premature little boy who’d been born so violently; but she knew from her experience and training that there were other, darker purposes for children.
She closed her eyes and bit back a cry.
No.
She wouldn’t go there, she couldn’t and survive. Not now, in the middle of the night, when nightmares were par for the course, followed by insomnia and the overwhelming sense of hopelessness. She’d thought she’d gotten past all that, but after she rescued a group of foster boys who’d been brutalized and used as mules by the drug cartels, the nightmares returned about the ones she couldn’t save.
She got up, desperately needing sleep, but mostly needing to clear her mind. It was midnight, but she swam in her pool, thirty hard laps, back and forth, until her muscles ached and her lungs burned. Then she turned and floated on her back, gently pushing herself along. Back and forth. Clearing her mind, focusing on the stars in the sky, the pin lights Sean had put in the trees. She loved her house, but especially the backyard, where she and Sean spent so much time sitting and relaxing. There were balconies and a covered patio outside the poolhouse. They had a small garden, trees and flowers, and of course the pool. Lucy loved swimming, and the pool was large and mostly rectangular so she could swim laps.
Sometimes, she never wanted to leave. She’d been only half joking when she told Sean that they should tell everyone they were going away for their honeymoon, but come back here and stay locked inside for a week, no interruptions, no work, just them.