Dead in a Week (Forensic Instincts 7)

He’d barely opened his mouth when his regular cell phone rang.

* * *

Emma ordered herself a drink at the bar, watching as her target disconnected whatever call he was already on, pocketed the phone, and prepared to resume a conversation with the guy at his table. Abruptly, he paused, holding up one finger and plucking a different phone out of his shirt pocket.

This was the call that would be her cue.

She put down her drink, pleased to see that her target was standing. It would make her job a hell of a lot easier. Slowly, she weaved her way over, timing her approach as her target glanced at his Caller ID and immediately took the call.

“Hello?” He frowned. “Hello? Anyone there?”

With a frustrated shake of his head, he disconnected the call and dropped the phone back into his shirt pocket.

“Wrong number, I guess,” he told his friend.

Okay, Emma thought, lifting Aidan’s cell phone to her ear and pretending she was chatting with someone as she closed in on her prey. Time to get into the target’s right front pocket.

“…get their hands on the industry-changing technology that NanoUSA is about to release…” the target was saying. “…must be even higher levels of security to prevent leaks…”

The other guy seemed to tense up, but Emma didn’t dwell on it. She had one focus and one focus alone.

She eased her way behind the target, making her fictitious telephone conversation seem more and more intense.

“I told you, I was working,” she said into the phone, stopping just behind the target’s left shoulder. “There is no one else.”

Automatically, he averted his head toward the sound of the distressed woman’s voice.

“Sorry,” Emma murmured with an apologetic look. Boyfriend, she mouthed and pretended to shoot herself in the head.

The target gave her an understanding smile.

By the time he turned back to his friend, Emma was palming the burner phone. She walked a short distance away and then, with seeming annoyance, hung up on her boyfriend.

Fast as lightning, she opened Aidan’s Bluejack app and pressed the red start button. The icon started spinning. Holding the two phones low and close together, she waited.

A minute and a half later, she got the big green check mark she’d been waiting for. Whatever syncing Aida

n wanted was done.

She pocketed Aidan’s phone, reaching over to pick up a cocktail napkin. She wiped her prints off the target’s phone, carrying it that way as she retraced her steps to his table.

“…hard to believe the whole company is so loyal that no one would be tempted to work with any of the entities who are dying to steal the technology before it’s released…” the target was saying.

Emma bent down to adjust the strap of her sandal.

She slipped the phone back into the target’s pocket as she rose.

Discarding the cocktail napkin, she walked toward the entrance. Abruptly, she paused. Working at Forensic Instincts had honed her budding investigative skills. The snippets of conversation that were just now sinking in seemed like they might be of interest to Aidan. Also, if the guy whose pocket she’d just picked was important, maybe his friend was, too.

She wriggled Aidan’s phone out of her pocket and took a few unobtrusive photos of the men.

Hey, she thought, you can’t have too much information.

* * *

Aidan’s brows rose as Emma got back into the car and handed him his phone.

“Mission accomplished,” she said.