Hidden Impact (Safeguard #1)(17)
“I didn’t see signs of video surveillance in the usual places,” Gabe interjected. “But there was only me looking.”
“What would it look like?” Maylin thought Gabe had taken a long time looking through her apartment, but she’d been tired at the time and confused about what he’d been doing.
“There’s all sorts of possibilities,” Marc answered. “It’s close to impossible for a single person to do this sort of sweep and find even most of the devices present, much less all of them. That’s why our whole fire team is going in to look. Even if we only acquire one or two samples, we want to take note of the placement of every one we can find. Do you have a sound system, Maylin?”
“I have a small set of speakers in the kitchen and the bedroom.” Startled, Maylin fumbled for her phone. “I hook them up to my phone for music.”
Marc nodded. “When we go in, Maylin, once it’s clear I’d like you to come in too and turn on some music. Not anything superdynamic with loud booms and quiet lulls, but music you play normally with a steady amount of sound. It’ll allow us to have quiet communication without them being able to make out what we’re saying.”
“Hand me your phone, love.” Victoria held out her hand. “I’ll look through your playlists and pull some songs together that would be suitable.”
Maylin passed her phone to Victoria gladly. “But if there’s video surveillance, won’t they know we’re all there?”
“Yes. Not optimal, but you’ve been gone long enough they have to know you found somebody to stay with overnight.” Marc nodded. His lips pressed in a thin line. “But we’ll go in taking measures to hide our own conversation. They might have most of us identified from when they tried to run you down anyway. We were all there. It’s not giving them that much more information to see our faces on video surveillance. It’ll be even more frustrating if they can’t figure out what we’re saying.”
Made sense.
Most of them wore baseball caps, though Victoria had opted for a fedora. Studying them for a minute, Maylin realized their faces would be hard to see from most security cameras set at ceiling level. Their hats went with their casual attire, so it didn’t seem all that out of place in a public area.
If anything, she stood out from the rest of them. When they all got out of the car, they kept her between them and she decided a hat was going to be the least of her worries. She matched their pace and walked with confidence. This was her parking garage and her apartment building. She belonged here, knew exactly where she was going, and there was no reason to be afraid.
Or every reason to refuse to show how nervous she was.
They headed up to her apartment, and she gave Gabe the key when he turned and held out his hand. She watched in fascination as they each readied themselves for some surprise, keeping her around the corner from her entryway as Gabe unlocked the door and let them inside.
Gabe and Lizzy went in first, clearing the apartment while Marc and Victoria waited outside with her. Once it was clear, Lizzy returned and motioned for them to enter.
Marc indicated she should proceed with definitive gestures to the speakers she kept in the kitchen as Gabe drew the curtains across all the windows in her apartment. She set up her phone with the playlist Victoria had hastily created and hit Play.
Music filled the apartment and they began to spread out. Victoria and Marc began in the living room while Lizzy started in the kitchen. Maylin followed Gabe into her bedroom.
He leaned close to her, his breath tickling her ear. “Don’t touch anything but look closely. Does anything look different, out of place? Is there any disturbed dust, or a place that looks like it’s been dusted more recently than the last time you cleaned? Look especially around the level of about five feet, anywhere someone would be standing at bookcases, picture frames, lamps, any kind of fixture.”
“Why five feet?” she asked in a low whisper.
Gabe shrugged. “Fairly optimal to catch conversation for people of average height.”
She was so going to regret bringing this up. “Would the person placing these things in my home take into account that I run somewhat shorter than average?”
Hello, she had to arch her back and tilt her head to look up at Gabe when he got into her personal space. Which he did kind of often. Whether she minded or not was something to think about later.
The corner of Gabe’s mouth lifted slowly. “We’ll check in a range give or take six inches and lower areas around places you’d be seated or laying down. Why don’t you update the others on the team and join me back here? Stay away from the windows, even with the curtains drawn.”
She pressed her lips together. The minute she turned her back, he was going to have the biggest grin on his face. She knew it. Couldn’t prove it. And for no good reason, she wanted a picture of it.
So not the time to be obsessing over the range of his facial expressions.
The sooner they found one or more of these bugs, the sooner they had their hands on physical evidence of whoever was trying to keep Maylin out of the way. More than likely, they were the same people responsible for An-mei’s disappearance, and Maylin wanted answers.
She cautiously headed back to the kitchen and passed her message on to Lizzy. Lizzy only nodded. “I always check. You and I are around the same height. Stick with Diaz and I’ll pass the message on to Marc and Victoria.”