Page 60 of No Time Off

But Manny nodded. “I’m sorry, Lexi. Apparently, he stumbled across a parrot in the chief of staff’s office. He startled it, and it gave him away. He managed to say he was hiding his phone in the room and to keep the line open. Then he told me to take his laptop and run. Is your phone line still open?”

“Yes.” I walked over and held up my phone. “And I’m still on mute, but I haven’t heard anything. But there was a stretch when we were on the run that I wouldn’t have heard anything even if they’d been shouting.”

“Mine is still open, too. I did hear voices while I was running, probably him being captured, but didn’t have time to listen carefully. But I did think to record it.”

I looked at him in surprise. “You recorded it?” When he nodded, I gave him a hug. “Manny, that’s brilliant. I need that recording now.”

He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Take it. I have no idea how to give it to you. I did stop recording when it had been silent for a while. But you’d better hurry. My phone’s running out of juice.”

“No worries. I’ll take it from here.” I took his phone to my computer and plugged it in.

Manny grabbed a towel from the bathroom to dry his hair and face. He then got a bottle of water from the fridge and sat down across from me.

I started the download of the audio file and worried because it was big, it would take a long time to complete. I decided the best way was to break the file up during compression. That way I could send the initial part to Elvis and Frankie so that they could start translating.

“If the voices are in Chinese, how will the recording help if we don’t know what they’re saying?” Manny asked me and took a big swig of water.

“I’ve got people who can translate,” I said. “All I need is to get the audio file to them to start working on whatever is being said inside that compound.”

Manny perked up. “It’s that easy?”

“I didn’t say it was easy, but it can be done. You didn’t hear Slash speaking at all?”

“I heard something while I was running. I just can’t confirm it was him. We’ll have to listen to it to find out for sure.”

I blew out a breath. It wasn’t the confirmation I wanted that Slash was still alive, but I had to be patient. He could take care of himself, and I needed to keep my focus to help him.

Just then Petra and Henry came into the room and saw Manny. Petra rushed to hug him, and he quickly filled her and Henry in on what had happened at the compound. I kept focused on uploading the audio file.

The prime minister looked horrified when he finished his story. “I’ll turn myself in if they release Slash.”

“That’s not a viable solution, Petra,” I said without removing my gaze from my screen. “We can’t take the Chinese by their word. I don’t think they’ll hurt Slash…yet…because they want to use him as leverage. But if you turn yourself in, they’d have no use for him. And my guess is they’d force you to resign and then you might just…disappear.”

She paled, but she sat, her chin steady. “What do you mean, disappear?”

I sighed, finally lifting my gaze to hers. “Clearly, you’ll not be resigning of your own free will. Keeping you around afterward would leave a dangerous loose end for them.”

“You’re saying they’d kill me? My family?”

“They’ve already tried to assassinate you, Petra,” Manny said gently. “The bottom line is, there is a good chance none of us will survive if they capture you now.”

She closed her eyes, pressing the back of her hand against her mouth. “My children? Henry?” She looked up at her husband, a stricken expression on her face.

“I don’t know.” I put a gentle hand on her arm. “I don’t want to alarm you. This is all just speculation at this point. But we do need to come up with a way to get Slash out of there as soon as possible.”

“Will the recording devices he planted there help us?” she asked.

“Not unless we can retrieve them. Unfortunately, the Chinese will likely be on high alert now. We do have Slash’s phone transmitting what is happening near him. Manny was able to use the open line to record what happened during his capture. Right now, I’m downloading that audio file to send to my translator. It’s a big file, so it’s taking some time.”

“Are you going to tell your government the Chinese have kidnapped him?” she asked me.

“I already have,” I said. “But there’s nothing they can do at this point. The Chinese could simply insist they don’t know who we’re talking about. They’ve never seen him, heard of him, etc. We can’t prove they have him…yet. So that’s not a good option, either. On a more positive note, they are reaching out to contacts in New Zealand and the UK to let them know what’s going on and solicit their assistance. But beyond that, we’re basically on our own.”

Petra got up and walked over to the coffee maker, pouring a cup and handing it to me. “I’m so sorry, Lexi. I never meant to put you two in such danger. You’re exhausted. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I wish there were, Prime Minister,” I said. “As soon as this file uploads and sends, I’ll breathe easier knowing it’s being worked on. And then hopefully we can listen to it ourselves.”

I took the mug and added some milk from a small carton that was sitting on the table. I’d just taken a sip of the coffee when we heard a noise on my and Manny’s phones. We all froze.

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