Page 73 of One Knight Stand

“It’s now or never,” Mike murmured as Remington’s car approached. I released my breath when I saw him pull into the parking lot.

“Success,” Mike said, raising his fist. “Angel, you’re either a genius or the luckiest person who ever lived.”

“Only if this operation works,” I said, but I was relieved. He had no idea how scared I’d been, especially after I’d run the odds on this plan working.

“He’s parking over there,” Wally said, pointing to a spot across the parking lot from us.

“The target is in the parking lot and should be inside the store within a minute,” I said into the communication devices. “Get ready.”

“I’m ready,” Kira said.

“We’re in place,” Bo reported.

“Me, too,” Hala added.

We watched as Remington exited his car and walked toward the entrance. “Target is wearing a tan trench coat,” I said. “Entering now.”

A couple of minutes passed with no sound.

“Excuse me, sir.” I finally heard Frankie speaking through her mic. “I have a few questions about a tablet over there. Can you help me, please?”

“Of course,” the reply came.

I assumed Frankie had moved the associate away from the register, freeing up Kira to talk to Remington. I turned her mic down so I could focus on Kira. Two minutes later, I heard her talking.

“Hello, sir,” Kira said.

“She’s engaged Remington,” I whispered to Wally and Mike, who watched me intently.

“Can I help you find something?” Kira added.

“No,” Remington answered. “I’m just here to buy a couple of burner phones.”

“Well, you’re in luck. We’ve been running a special on prepaid burner phones. Two for one.”

“Really? Which ones?”

“These right here. You came at the right time, because there are only two left. Would you like to purchase them?”

They discussed the price for a moment, and then Remington fell silent. I presumed he was looking over the phones. I prayed Frankie had done a good job of repackaging the ones we’d bought and replaced with our versions, so he didn’t spot anything suspicious.

We all gave a collective sigh when he said, “Okay, I’ll take them.”

“Great. I’ll ring you up over here.”

“No, thanks,” he said. “I need to pick up a couple more things. I’ll pay at the front.”

I exchanged a panicked glance with Wally and Mike.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Kira said smoothly. “They need to be purchased from the electronics register since it’s a special deal.”

There was a pause, and then he must have agreed, because we heard some shuffling noises. I hoped they were headed toward the register.

I checked the audio on the others and discovered Bo had intercepted the associate after he’d left Frankie and was asking him questions about a digital camera.

“Here you go,” I heard Kira say as I turned down Bo’s audio. “Have a nice day.”

A minute later, Kira murmured, “Mission successful.”

---