“Got it.”
“Give me her number.”
Chay read it off.
“Okay. Her phone’s gonna ring. Take the call, but don’t say anything. Then give me five minutes.”
It took three. Then Bianca’s phone disconnected.
“Son of a bitch,” Sanchez said. “Yes, there’s a tracer program in there. Dude. What are you into?”
Chay looked at the phone as if it had turned into a venomous snake.
“I’ll tell you more when I see you.”
“You want me to kill that program?”
“No,” Chay said quickly. “Leave it just the way it is. But what happens if you were to download the contacts from the phone? I mean, will the bug be part of the download?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Olivieri,” Sanchez said patiently, “trust me. You want the contacts? You can have them. Bug free.”
“Can you transfer them to my phone?”
Declan laughed. “This is gonna be quite a story when you finally get around to clueing me in. Yeah. Sure. Give me five minutes.”
Sanchez worked his magic again. By the time Chay ended the call, he had Bianca’s contact list.
He tossed her phone aside and took a deep breath.
On to the rest of the plan. Compared with all this, it would be easy.
According to his hotel reservation, he’d be leaving on Monday. There was no reason to tell the desk anything different. This way, if someone checked up, reception would say that yes, Chay Olivieri was still in residence.
He and Bianca would leave a few things in the room so the cleaning staff wouldn’t raise any questions. Toothbrushes. A change of clothes. Stuff people would normally have lying around.
As far as the hotel would know, he’d still be here.
Excellent—except, he wouldn’t be, which took him to the next part of the plan.
Leaving the hotel without a watcher knowing they were leaving.
Walking out the door and getting into a taxi? No way. That was far too visible.
But the hotel had a car rental company right on the property.
Chay made a quick call and requested a mid-sized, mid-priced, mid-everything vehicle. The clerk came up with the name of something so dull it made Chay’s Harley-loving self shudder, but he knew that a car like that would be all but invisible on the teeming Manhattan streets and he arranged to pick it up in the hotel’s parking garage.
Finally, it was time to get moving.
“Honey? You ready?
“Yes,” Bianca said as she came out of the bathroom. “I’m ready.”
He looked at her. She’d put on jeans, an oversized T-shirt, and flat-heeled sandals. No makeup, as usual, and she’d pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
She was, no question, the most beautiful woman in the world.
He didn’t realize he was staring until she gave a nervous little laugh.
“What? Is something not right with how I am dressed? I thought it would be best to look, you know, unobstructed.”
He smiled. “Unobtrusive,” he said softly, and he took her in his arms and kissed her. She melted into him and he felt his heart, his soul, his head fill with her. He wanted to stand here forever, holding her, holding onto this moment that he knew could not, would not last…
“Chayton?”
“Yes?”
There was so much she longed to say, to tell him…
“Thank you,” she whispered.
He tilted her chin up. “Hang on to that thought,” he said, smiling, “after you discover that my house isn’t much bigger than this room.”
• • •
He told her about her phone just before they left their room.
Her face went white.
“What? Are you telling me that—that this person inserted something into my phone? That he has been following me by—by listening to my calls?”
Chay assured her that the program didn’t work that way.
“The bug isn’t designed to hear calls, only to bounce signals off a satellite that tracks where the phone goes.”
“Where I go, you mean.”
He’d deliberately tried to make the bug’s function sound impersonal, but there was noting impersonal about Bianca’s reaction. She was upset. Very. And though he hated seeing her like that, he knew her reaction at least meant that her final mental resistance to leaving the city was gone.
They took the elevator to the car rental office on the garage level, where Chay made a quick detour to a trash can. He dropped Bianca’s phone into it. The phone was fully charged and it would continue broadcasting their location from the hotel. Tomorrow, when trash was picked up, her cellphone would broadcast their supposed travels through Manhattan.
By then, they’d be long gone.
The car he’d rented was waiting. Chay signed a few documents and they were on their way.
Bianca phoned Lacey on Chay’s phone as they drove off. When Lacey answered, Bianca put her on speakerphone.
“Lacey,” she said briskly, “it’s Bianca. Would it be okay to stop by your place for a minute?”
Lacey sounded puzzled. Why wouldn’t she? She and Bianca had gone to lunch a couple of times, but nothing more.
“It’s important,” Bianca said quickly. “And—and I’ll have a friend with me. Okay?”
“A friend?”
Chay put his hand on Bianca’s thigh. “A building inspector,” he mouthed.
Bianca nodded. “Actually, he’s a friend who is a building inspector.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t mean to sound mysterious… We’ll only take a few minutes of your time, I promise.”
“You’ve got my curiosity up,” Lacey said, laughing. “Sure. Come on over.”
She lived on the Upper West Side. Sunday traffic was relatively light, but it took a few minutes to find a parking space. Then Chay and Bianca hurried back the couple of blocks to Lacey’s building and walked up three flights to her apartment.
Chay put his hand over Bianca’s as she reached for the doorbell.
“Remember,” he said, “let me do most of the talking, okay?”
She nodded and he stepped back so Lacey would see Bianca, not him, when she looked out the peephole. The receptionist knew Bianca was bringing a friend—is that what I am? A friend?—but smart New Yorkers never opened the door without looking out the peephole, and Chay knew there were some people who might find a guy his height and build intimidating.
Why take chances?
“Go for it,” he said, and Bianca took a breath and rang the bell.
A few seconds went by.
“Coming,” a voice called.
More silence. Chay assumed Lacey was peering out the peephole. Then a lock thunked as it turned, a chain clinked as it was undone, and the door swung open.
“Hi, Lacey,” Bianca said. “Thank you for seeing—”
Lacey’s eyes had fastened on Chay. No intimidation there. Nothing but sheer female appreciation.
Chay smiled. “Lacey,” he said, extending his hand, “it’s nice to meet you. I’m Chay.”
“Chay. It’s a pleasure.” She stepped back and Bianca and Chay entered a small, somewhat messy living room. “My roommates,” she said, and gave an apologetic shrug. “Sorry I didn’t have time to clean up. Can I get you guys anything? Coffee? Tea? Water?” She flashed Chay a huge smile. “A beer, perhaps?”
Bianca didn’t give Chay the chance to respond. “Nothing, thank you,” she said coolly.
“Water would be great,” Chay said, his voice cutting across hers.
Lacey all but batted her lashes. “Water coming right up.”
Bianca glared at him as Lacey left the room. Well, well, well. Was his sexy shrink staking her claim? Jesus, he hoped
so—but he didn’t need her ruffling Lacey’s feathers.
He reached for Bianca’s hand and squeezed it. “Easy,” he said in a low voice.
“Easy?” she hissed. “What does that mean, easy? I am easy. I am very—”
Lacey returned, with three bottles of water. She distributed them, her gaze touching on Bianca’s and Chay’s clasped hands, and then she sighed and looked at Bianca.
“You never mentioned your—friend,” she said.
“No,” Chay said quickly, “she probably didn’t. See, we haven’t seen each other in a while and I just happened to phone her yesterday and she mentioned the blackout Friday and since things like that fall into my job description—”
“What blackout?”
“The blackout in our building,” Bianca said.
Lacey frowned. “There was a blackout in our office? East Side Associates?”
“In the entire build—”
Chay applied a little pressure to Bianca’s hand.
“Bianca says you left before she did,” he said.
“Uh-huh.”
“The power was okay when you left?”
“Yes. It was fine. Well, it would be, considering that the entire electrical system had just been overhauled.”
“Well, apparently not,” Bianca said, “because right after you left, the electricity began shutting down.”
Lacey looked puzzled. “See, that’s impossible.”
“It is not impossible. I am telling you what—”
Chay’s hand tightened again on Bianca’s. “What do you mean, it’s impossible?”
“After the electrical upgrade was completed, Dr. Epstein and building management set up a new system. If the power were to go out again, she and I would both get automatic notifications. Hers would be just for administrative purposes. Mine would be so I could contact all the doctors. So they could, you know, get in touch with any patients who might have appointments.”
Chay’s eyes narrowed. “And you had no such notification?”
“No.”
He nodded. “And when you left on Friday… Did you see anybody on your way out?”
Lacey shook her head. “Not a soul.”
“You sure? No one in the hall? The elevator? The lobby?”
“Nobody… Well, yes. I did see a janitor.”
“Where?”
“In the lobby. Heading for the service door to the basement.”
“Did you know him?” Chay asked, trying to keep his voice calm. “Recognize him?”
“No. I mean, how could I? His back was to me. Plus he was wearing a uniform.”
“Describe the uniform.”
“It was the same kind all the service people in the building wear,” Lacey said, looking from Chay to Bianca and then to Chay again. “Charcoal gray. One piece. Long sleeves. With the name of the building management company stenciled on the back. Avido.”
Chay nodded. “That’s it? Nothing else?”
“No,” she said, as she turned towards Bianca. “Doc? Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”
Bianca looked at Chay. He slipped his arm around her shoulders.
“Just some kind of mix-up,” he said. “Nothing for you to worry about. Just one last favor…”
“Yes?”
“When you go in on Monday, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention any of this to anyone.” He flashed a quick smile. “You know what bureaucracy is like. Your boss calls management, management calls my boss, my boss calls me, and a problem that could have been dealt with in maybe an hour ends up taking a month.”
Lacey sighed. “Tell me about it. Last week? I couldn’t get any hot water in the bathroom. I should have just phoned the super, but no, I phoned the landlord and it took days until I had hot water again.”
“Right,” Chay said cheerfully. His arm tightened around Bianca as they all walked towards the door. “Oh, and one other thing…” He looked down at Bianca. “Honey? You want to let Lacey in on our little secret?”
“What little—”
“About us going away for a few days. To Miami.”
Bianca’s eyes widened. Then she nodded. “Oh. That.”
“Miami? You guys are going to Miami?” Lacey stared at Bianca. “What about your patients? Your dissertation?”
“She’ll call her patients,” Chay said lazily. “Reschedule her appointments. See, we used to be, you know, very close. And now that we’re in touch again…”
Lacey grinned. “Why, Doc,” she said teasingly, “I’d never have imagined you doing something so cool.”
“No,” Bianca said. “Neither would I.”
“You just go and have fun. I’ll get in a little early and phone your patients for you tomorrow. Actually, if I remember right, I think you have a pretty light day Monday, don’t you?”
“I—I—Yes. I think I do.”
Lacey grinned. “You just go to Miami and have fun. And Doc?” She leaned in close. “What we both said about work before, you know, before other things?” She flicked Chay a fast look. “Not when other things look like that,” she said, and giggled.
• • •
They took the George Washington Bridge to the Palisades Parkway, where Chay pulled over at what was labeled a scenic rest stop, not for the scenery or the rest, but that so he could phone the Avido Management Company.
“It’s Sunday,” Bianca whispered. “Who—”
Chay held up his index finger.
“Yes,” he said briskly. “This is John W. Smith. I’m a supervisor with the Department of Public Works. I need to speak with someone who has the authority to give me some information about the electrical system at…” He snapped his fingers, and Bianca rattled off the address of the building that housed East Side Associates. Chay repeated the information. “I know it’s a Sunday, but I’m a born and bred workaholic.” He barked out a laugh that made Bianca raise her eyebrows. “I’m trying to close out a file and I have a couple of simple questions. I’m sure we can do this over the phone. Of course, I’ll understand if you prefer to wait until business hours tomorrow, when we can schedule an appointment for me to send in some of my people to go over things with you. Done that way, we shouldn’t need more than, say, three or four hours of your time. Thank you, and please get back to me ASAP at 1-555-231-4752.”
He disconnected.
Bianca looked at him. “Voice mail?”
Chay nodded.
“Really, Chayton. You cannot possibly think that anyone is going to respond to a message left on a Sunday by a man named John Smith…”
“John W. Smith. No joke, honey. The initial makes all the difference. Just give it a minute and—”
His phone rang. He tried not to look smug as he answered it.
“John W. Smith here.” Bianca’s mouth dropped open. Chay grinned and touched the tip of his finger to her bottom lip. “Yes, Mr. Garson. Thank you for returning my call so promptly…”
Ten minutes later, he’d confirmed what he’d already suspected.
There had been no power failure on Friday. If there had been, the system would have automatically relayed that information to Avido Management. The new system was programmed to deliver that sort of feedback.
Chay thanked Garson. Then he ended the call.
Bianca had been listening to every word. Now, she turned and faced him.
“So—so someone was in the building,” she said. “Someone who wanted to—to—”
Her face was pale. She sat rigidly upright, her fingers tightly laced together in her lap. She was doing her best to remain self-composed, but he could see the fear in her eyes.
Chay cursed, reached for her and gathered her tightly in his arms.
“You are mine,” he said fiercely. “And there’s not a way in the world I would ever let anything or anyone harm you.”
Instead, he did the next best thing.
He kissed her again and again, until she was whispering his name against his lips…
Until the words he’d never dreamed he’d want to say were right there, unspoken—in his heart.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Their flight was waiting for them in Newburgh.
The pilot introduced himself as an old pal of Liam Sanchez.
“Heard you guys need a lift to Santa Barbara,” he said cheerfully.
Chay nodded as they shook hands. “I can’t thank you enough for this.”
The pilot grinned. “No need, dude. Happy to do a favor for Liam—especially since now he’ll owe me one.”
Chay laughed. “What goes around comes around, right?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely.”
The accommodations were sparse but comfortable. The flight was long. Bianca slept through much of it, but even though Chay hadn’t had much sleep, he was too wired to do more than doze.
They landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The time difference made it late afternoon.
The Santa Monica Municipal Airport, where Chay had left his Silverado, was just a twenty-something-minute taxi ride away. The trip from there to Chay’s place took another twenty minutes.
Soon, he was pulling the truck into the small garage that adjoined his house.
His cottage.
Hell. His shack.
He’d bought it because of its location on a mostly forgotten stretch of beach that was usually home to more sea lions and seals than people. Shorebirds danced at the ocean’s edge, and sunsets were spectacular. As far as Chay was concerned, those things more than made up for what the place lacked in size and amenities, but as Bianca stepped down from the truck, it hit him that a woman accustomed to city living might not see things the same way.
At least she wouldn’t find the place untidy. Years of military training had made him a stickler for neatness, but knowing things would all be in their proper places wasn’t much comfort when he unlocked the door that led from the garage to the kitchen, stepped back and motioned her past him.
Privilege: Special Tactical Units Division: Book Two Page 21