End of Days (Pike Logan #16)(26)

I waited a bit, and then started to go again, the mission of keeping him in sight for Shoshana the foremost in my mind. Jennifer pulled my arm saying, “You want to follow him up that? We’ll be burned for anything else. Call Knuckles and have him interdict.”

Her words broke through my mission focus. It dawned on me. That son of a bitch is conducting a surveillance detection route.

I clicked my earpiece, saying, “Knuckles, Blood, what’s your status?”

I heard, “On the west side, moving your way. About thirty seconds out.”

“This guy is running an SDR. I can’t follow. Get on him.”

I sent them my location through the phone and waited. I saw the realization blossom in Jennifer’s eyes. She said, “Shoshana’s right. This guy is bad.”

I smiled and said, “Maybe. Maybe you’re just paranoid.”

Standing there with her now-melted ice cream cone, looking out over the Limmat River, she hip-bumped me and said, “I guess being paranoid was worth it.”

I laughed and said, “Still got to prove it.”

I contacted Aaron and said, “Target is still on the move. Temporarily unsighted due to terrain. Got the other team about to lock on, but they haven’t yet. What’s your status?”

He came back and said, “We’re in. Not a lot here. We have control of his computer and the only thing suspicious is a steganography program.”

“Okay, keep working it. I’ll let you know if we lose control. If they don’t find him in five minutes, get out.”

“Roger all.”

I then contacted Knuckles saying, “Do you have him?”

He said, “No. Unsighted.”

I turned to Jennifer and said, “Get up there. As fast as you can.” I knew if he was conducting a surveillance detection route, he’d have pinged on me instead of Jennifer. And I was sick of waiting around.

She nodded at me and took off like a gazelle, her long legs pumping up the stairs like she was trying to power a generator. She reached the top, and said, “Unsighted.”

I went to the stairs myself, and started jogging up them saying, “Find him. He’s close.”

Brett came on, saying, “I got five-five. I have the target. He’s on a street called Rollengasse. Still moving, but looking around. I’m ahead of him, so no threat. But he’s definitely running an SDR.”

I said, “Can we come up?”

“Yeah, bring it. Knuckles is down the street so he’s boxed.”

I contacted Aaron and said, “Target acquired. Continue the mission.”

As I reached Jennifer I heard, “Roger. Still working the room. Let us know when he’s coming back.”

Jennifer said, “I told you. This guy is up to no good.”

I said, “Yeah, probably so, but let’s make sure it’s not just some coyote refugee bullshit before we go crazy and say he’s the next bin Laden. Keep working the problem.”

We went up the stairs, faced a split, and I glanced at the location of Brett’s phone on our moving map. I said, “Right.”

Jennifer went that way and Brett said, “He’s on the move again. No longer looking at the staircase. I’m on him.”

Knuckles said, “I see you. I see you. I have backup.”

We followed the blue icons on our phone without seeing the target again, winding through the narrow alleys of the old town, until both of the icons ended up together, outside of a building.

I said, “What’s happening?”

“He went inside a hotel called Kindli. Knuckles is inside keeping eyes on.”

We raced to the location, found Brett, and I said, “What’s he doing?”

He said, “No idea. Why’s it matter? All we have to do is keep him in sight to let the Israelis do their thing.”

I glanced at Jennifer, thinking about what she’d said earlier, then at the door, and said, “Because I think he’s bad. We need to get on him.” I went to the net and said, “Knuckles, Knuckles, where are you?”

“In the lobby. Target went deeper. He can’t leave without passing me. What’s up?”

I said, “Did he go to a room?”

“No. The elevators are in my sight. He went down a hallway. No idea what’s there, but he didn’t go to a room.”

I said, “He’s doing something here. This is no longer tag and trace. It’s penetration.”

“You want me to approach?”

“No. I’m clean. You’re not. Stay where you are to pick him up again. I’m doing an intrusion. I’ll go by you and stay until he’s gone.”

I turned to Jennifer and Brett and said, “I don’t know what that guy’s doing, but it’s not good. You guys have the box out here. Knuckles is the trigger. You follow when he leaves.”

Brett nodded, glanced at the street, and said, “I’ll take north; Koko, you’ve got south.”

It was happening so fast that I didn’t even get a chance to address Jennifer directly. She looked at me and said, “Yeah, I got south. I told you.”

I grinned and said, “Yeah, you did.” I pecked her lips and said, “Don’t screw up the follow. Aaron and Carrie are still inside.”

Brett rolled his eyes, saying, “When do I get a kiss on the lips?”