“John did say something about the Chinese government.”
“But I presume it was a no.”
“Yes, he’s fairly moral. He was doing a piece to send out to the media and then was contacted by the government about it,” she said. “I forgot about all that. I wasn’t involved in it,” she added. “It was more his deal.”
“But imagine if it, being his deal, also then meant that Jessie had access to the information that he had gotten, if he could have found access.”
“He was pretty sweet on her,” she said quietly. “She was young, flirty, pretty. He’s older, seasoned, and just coming out of a divorce.”
“So he might have given her access or told her where they were, or she found it by some other means.”
“It’s possible,” Brenna said. She shook her head. “It’s against everything we believe in.”
“Oh, you’ll come up against that a couple times in your life,” Killian said. “Particularly in the line of work you do.”
“It’s the first time it’s really been in direct opposition,” she murmured. “Obviously we interview other countries and various government officials because we’re looking for them to expose some of their misdeeds. But I didn’t think Jessie would expose anybody’s misdeeds. She took information that was meant to expose China’s misdeeds. And here instead it looks like she’s taken it and run.”
“Would John have uploaded to the cloud?”
“No, he was very anti-computer, very tightly secretive about his sources. But he has been relaxing his rules a whole lot more easily lately.”
“Is he into booze?”
“A little more since his divorce, yes,” she said. “It hit him pretty hard.”
“It’s also a recipe for a disaster right there,” Killian said, as he printed off something.
She watched as pages spun out of a printer she hadn’t even seen them get. “Where’d that come from?”
“It was here,” he said, “as instructed.”
She sighed. “If your people can do something like this, why can’t they just get that key off her?”
“That’s exactly what’ll happen,” Jerricho said. “But, in that instance, I’ll be the tool to accomplish that.”
She cried out.
“Because it’s what I do,” he said.
She nodded slowly. “And it’s a case of accept it or not, right?”
“It’s a case of accept it,” he said quietly. “It’s part of who I am.”
“And I get that,” she said softly. “I had that conversation with Jessie, oddly enough. That’s why it’s so hard to understand that she might have done this. It seemed like she really understood me.”
“She probably did. She was in an interesting set of circumstances herself,” Killian said. “You don’t know how much of a change of thought she may have had.”
“Just not enough to hand it back, is that it?”
“We’ll never know,” he said, “because that time’s come and gone.”
Chapter 11
Brenna hated the fact that they were making all these plans, and ultimately she was the one who would have to stay in the hotel. They wouldn’t hear anything to do with her going off to capture these two people. “But Jessie knows me,” she tried one more time.
“Exactly. Chances are she’ll see you coming, and she’ll be gone or hidden so deep we’ll never find her.”
“And maybe she won’t see me coming,” she challenged. “Maybe I’m just super quiet.”
“Maybe you are,” he said, “but chances are very good that they will recognize you in a heartbeat.”
She sagged back into the chair. “I still don’t like it.”
“Maybe not. However, you now have time to rest, to have a meal, and to relax. But you will be staying here and under guard, if necessary.”
“Does that mean you’ll stay here and guard me?” she asked in surprise.
“No, but just like the printer arrived,” he said, “I can get a guard too.”
She got up and raised both hands in surrender. “That’s not necessary,” she said. “Any manpower that you can drum up needs to go with you to keep you guys safe.”
“Wow, that’s not a vote of confidence,” Jerricho said.
“Doesn’t matter what my vote of confidence is,” she said. “These people are dangerous.”
“At least you recognize that much,” he said, as he stood up and looked at Killian. “You ready?”
Killian nodded. “We don’t have tons of options,” he said.
“Don’t need them,” Jerricho said. “Just a way in and a way out.”
“The front door works for me,” Killian said, with a big smile.
“That doesn’t even make any sense,” she said. “Why would you even want to go in the front door?”
“Because it’s the least expected.”
“Also will be the one that has the alarms,” she snapped. “And is most likely visible from the closest office.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because that’s the way offices are designed,” she said. “Somebody needs to be aware when that door opens, so a customer doesn’t have to hang around completely unacknowledged.”
“Except this is a warehouse. And chances are there isn’t very much in the way of walk-in traffic.”
She nodded. “I get that. But still you need to be careful.”
“Will do,” Jerricho said. He grinned. “Glad to see you care.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “I’m just not sure what or how,” she said, “but you’re bringing back an awful lot of memories.”
“Good ones or bad ones?”
“Both,” she said sadly. “A lot of reminders about who I was, and what we had, and what I lost.”
“You are somebody completely different now,” he said, “so that doesn’t even apply. I’m even different,” he said, “because I’ve grown up. I’m not the gauche young boy I was back then.”
She laughed. “That’s the one thing you never were,” she said. “And you were a whole lot nicer than I was.”
“But it’s all in the past, remember?”
“So, amid all this, did you find food in the hotel room?”
He pulled out his phone. “What would you like?”
“A big salad and some pasta,” she said, “and coffee.”
“Are you sure you want coffee? You won’t sleep.”
“Coffee and red wine then,” she said, with a snap to her tone.
He chuckled. “There you are,” he said. “Sounds like you’re returning to normal.”
“Whatever normal is these days,” she muttered. “So what are we doing now?”
“I’m heading down and hopefully taking out somebody who’s causing us trouble. And you’ll sit here, eat, and rest. Have a bath. Do something fun.”