Dane

​​

John sat back, looking very pleased with himself.

Dane, who'd been winding tighter and tighter while he waited, looked at him expectantly. "Well?"

"Okay," John rubbed his hands together. "So, there's no doubt these days the very best way to track someone is through their phone. But as you know, the system triangulation has its limits. Even the carriers are restricted by—"

Reminded of James and his endless bleating about technology sources and intelligence networks, Dane snapped, "Just the facts, John. I don't have time. I know you understand it, just tell me what you can do. And tell me how the phone will help when we know she had to be separated from it. It hasn't moved from her apartment, but she's not there."

This little fact was what Dane had grown up jokingly calling "Villain 101." The first thing his father had taught him was that if you wanted to take someone, separate them from their phone and you separated them not only from their means of communication with the outside world, but also with the means for others to find them.

"Well, you see, that's the thing that made me suspicious: You said she wasn't with her phone, that it hadn't moved since Chris dropped her off on Friday. But we're dealing with professionals here. They aren't taking her without knowing where her phone is and what's on it—checking to make sure she didn't call anyone, or have any plans that would get them interrupted. So, unless she hid it—which seems very unlikely when she's drunk at midnight—that means someone's tampered with the logs on it. To hide their movements."

Dane blinked. "You can do that?"

John snorted. "You can do anything with technology if you know how. Including finding the old logs, and finding out which phones were nearby that number before it was changed."

Dane's eyes went wide. "Find it. Tell me. Right now."

"This is way outside our brief, Dane," John said, his face suddenly very serious. "Even law enforcement don't usually know this can be done. And the people who do… they're in a place to make sure their systems don't get exploited, if you know what I mean. If they find out it was us who did this… there will be the kind of hell to pay that usually only comes for your father, if you know what I mean?"

"I don't care. You've obviously done this before and they haven't tracked you—"

"Yes, but since I'll be looking up your staff member and… I just want you to know, if they find us, we're in deep shit."

Dane held his gaze and tried to force himself to think it through. Was it worth it for Tish? If it was Lila who was gone, there'd be no question. But if this ended up getting them shut down…

But if they didn't find Tish, they couldn't figure out how his father was getting in. He had to do it to make sure they never got Lila in the first place.

He grunted and nodded. "Do it."

John didn't need another word. "Give me a minute."

Dane took a deep breath and sat back in his chair. Then he pulled his phone out and texted Lila.

I'M GOING TO BE LATE, BUT

WE'RE ON TO SOMETHING.

ARE YOU OKAY? HOME SAFE?

He almost sent more—almost told her sorry for being so cold. For the Rupert thing. But he needed to do that face to face. He knew. So he pressed send and prayed she wouldn't ignore him when he got home tonight.

"Okay, we're in," John muttered. "Yeah, look at this, Dane."

Dane got up and walked around to lean behind John's chair. "See, this is the official log of her coordinates—look how the timestamp doesn't change, even though the date does? That's someone who was in a hurry—or didn't know enough to cover their tracks properly. Most people would never go deep enough to see it. But look…"

He taps a few keys, and the computer flashed a new, almost identical screen. "That's her real tracking. See, the phone did move—just not very far. It moved on Saturday, then again today. Not far, though."

"Can you see what other numbers were nearby when it moved?"

"Sure. But that's a little harder. Just give me a minute."

Dane stood and paced while the man worked. They were getting somewhere, he knew it.

Hold on, Tish.

*****

Lila

It was stupid and rash, but she couldn't see any other way. If they opened both sides of the car, the men would notice and they'd find Tish, and even though Lila hoped these two would only ever help her, she couldn't be sure. And she wasn't going to put the poor girl through the trauma if she didn't have to.

So, the second the car pulled up to the elevator in the apartment building, Lila pushed out of the car on the passenger side and, leaving it open, stepped up to open Josh's door for him. He stared at her shocked as she leaned in, over him, offering a hand to the driver. "Thank you so much for all your doing—I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?"

"I'm George,"

"Well, I want to thank you, George. I know you guys are working so hard right now, and I just wanted to—"

"Lila, let me get out of the car," Josh said through his teeth. "I'd like to keep my job."

"Oh, right. Right. Sorry."

The stairwell door clicked and the back-up car pulled in, just as Josh was getting out. Lila's heart just about pounded out of her chest. She'd forgotten there was another car following. If they'd been a little closer… Lila prayed that Josh hadn't noticed the door and leaned back in to shake George's hand again while Josh got her bags out of the back. She prayed Tish hadn't left any bloodstains or signs she'd been there. But Josh just leaned back out of the car with her bags in his hands, and urged her to the elevator.

"Okay, okay, by George. Thank you again!"

The driver waved, then she pushed the door closed and trotted over to the elevator.

Josh stared at her, flat-faced, but he didn't say anything.

"We need to go to my apartment first remember," she said. Josh nodded and elbowed the button on the elevator.

Lila prayed Tish wouldn't give herself away. She'd been scared to try to go to Lila's apartment, but they hadn't had time to come up with a better plan.

So, as they rode the elevator, then walked the hall towards her apartment, Lila talked about how hungry she was, and how hungry Josh must be, and convinced him to order them both pizza while she went inside to check the cat and grab her things.

He didn't go for it immediately, but she pointed out that they were now inside the guarded building, and technically he was legally supposed to have a dinner break. She'd even stay there waiting in the door while he ordered if it made him feel better.

In the end they agreed, he'd sweep the apartment and make sure no one was there, then he'd arrange dinner for her and the other staff at the Penthouse while she grabbed her things.

There was a nervous moment when he got on the phone and she was afraid he was just going to stare at her the whole time. But luckily he did turn away at one point when he had trouble hearing. Lila waved Tish—who'd hidden around the corner—into the apartment behind her while Josh kept talking. Then, when he was done, she thanked him and said she'd be inside for half an hour. He was welcome to take a break.

"No, ma'am. I'll walk you up to the Penthouse when you're ready. I want to keep my job."

They both laughed, but Lila almost cried.

"Okay, well, I'll be inside. You call me if you need me."

She went inside, locked the door behind her and turned to look. "Tish?"

"In here," came the answering whisper from the direction of the bedroom. "Is he gone?"

"Yes," she lied, so Tish would relax. "We're alone."