Celtic Empire (Dirk Pitt 25)
At first light, Riki checked to make sure Dirk was still asleep. She took his cell phone off the coffee table, grabbed her travel bag, and went into the bathroom. She locked the door and turned on the shower, but had no immediate intention of getting wet.
She riffled through her bag, pulled out a slim laptop, and accessed the hotel’s WiFi. Pulling up the website to a company that sold phone monitoring software, she accessed an established account. Following the site’s guidance, she picked up Dirk’s phone and downloaded a stealth monitoring application.
After grilling him on the Meritaten grave search the night before, she had borrowed his phone under the guise that hers was dead and had made a note of his passcode. Disabling its antivirus software, she downloaded a tracking program and added a secret cell number. With that, she could silently call Dirk’s phone at any time and tap into its microphone, to listen in on nearby conversations.
After completing the download and covering her access tracks, she showered and dressed.
Dirk heard the shower and was up and dressed by the time she reentered the room. “I didn’t hear you get up.”
“I didn’t want to wake you.” She concealed his phone behind her travel bag. “I’m afraid I have a morning meeting with the secretary-general of the environment department in Dublin.”
“Can you come back tonight?”
“Doubtful. There’s a trade dinner I’m scheduled to attend. Tomorrow night looks free.”
“It’s a date, then.”
As they kissed, she reached behind him and set his phone on the dresser. When she got to the door Riki stopped, turned, and looked into Dirk’s eyes, then quickly turned again and disappeared down the hall.
She took her travel bag to the parking lot and climbed into the silver Audi. Motoring a few blocks across town, she stopped in front of a small hotel
where Gavin and Ainsley stood on the sidewalk.
“We didn’t see you in the lobby this morning,” Gavin said as he slid into the passenger seat.
Riki ignored the comment. “Did you find us a boat?”
“Yes, but not at Portmagee,” Gavin replied. “We found a suitable rental in Cahersiveen.” He held up his phone, displaying a photo of a stout workboat. “Best we could find after receiving your early-morning text. Lucky for that, at this hour of the day.”
“Where’s Cahersiveen?”
“About ten miles this side of Portmagee. It’s on an inlet, same as Portmagee. We can motor down and wait for them on the water. That is, if they’re not too speedy. We won’t be able to pick up the keys to the boat until half eight.”
Riki glanced at her watch. “All right, let’s be on our way,” she said, punching the city’s name into the vehicle’s GPS system.
She drove southwest from Tralee before turning along the southern shore of Dingle Bay. In less than an hour, they reached Cahersiveen, a colorful small town that stretched along the River Fertha. Riki parked next to the town’s marina, and Gavin led the way to a blue and white workboat moored between a pair of sailboats.
“This is the one,” he said. “A retired gent rents it for charters. I told him we were in for a day of cod fishing.”
There was no one about the marina. Ainsley checked the time. “It’s shy of eight,” she said. “Gavin and I didn’t have a chance to eat this morning. You mind if we look for some takeaway in town to bring with us?”
Riki tossed her the car keys. “Grab me a coffee, if you would, but be quick about it. And bring me my tablet from the car when you return.” She found a large storage box on the dock she used as a seat and sat down to wait.
Ainsley slipped behind the Audi’s wheel as Gavin climbed in the passenger’s side. Riki’s tablet was lying on the seat, and he scooped it up and tapped the screen. The device illuminated with a map of the region, their present location indicated at the center.
“Do you think it will be rough offshore?” Ainsley asked, backing the car out of the lot.
“Afraid of the water?” Gavin replied with a snort.
“Seasickness.”
“There’s two thousand miles of open ocean pounding the Irish coast here. I bet it’s always rough.”
The Glasgow girl turned pale. Gavin laughed again, then studied the map on the tablet. A tiny red ball was visible moving along the road from Tralee.
“Our friends are on their way.” He held up the image for Ainsley to see. “Why don’t we just take care of business now and save ourselves the sea voyage.”
“What are you saying?” she asked.