Page 64 of The Hacker
“Which means that she knows we were in her office. Shit! Then what did she say?”
“She was doing her gym-owner thing, checking up on how much I was fraternizing with my client. She mentioned us being hot and heavy at dinner at Carmella’s. But we weren’t. In fact, we barely spent any time there, so she must have seen us in the basement. That’s the only explanation. Anyway I told her it didn’t work out and not to give you a refund.”
He gave a ghost of a laugh. “Damn, that’s a hundred and fifty dollars down the tube. But the rest of it is no laughing matter. She’s suspicious enough to keep tabs on you.”
“Yeah, but the fact that we reallywerehot and heavy works in our favor.” She put an emphasis on the past tense to see if he reacted.
“Granted, but it’s still a problem.”
Maybe he hadn’t noticed the past tense. The edge in his voice was growing sharper and sharper, which meant he wasn’t thinking about their relationship. He was thinking about the arms dealers.
“I had a thought about the basement,” she said, following his lead. “It’s huge and no one goes down there, except in the part where we were. Wouldn’t it be the perfect place to store guns?”
“Not only perfect, but all the gym members coming and going provide an excellent cover for any customers. Tully got hold of blueprints of the building. Luckily, the college had them archived. There’s a hell of a lot of potential storage down there.”
“But how did they get all the guns in there without anyone noticing? That’s a big delivery.”
“In multiple small shipments. Or one truck late at night. There are several ways it could happen without creating a scene. That’s assuming the weapons are really there, which we can’t be sure of until we see them. It’s useful to know that there are security cameras down there now.”
She decided not to mention her plan of grabbing a case of water from the basement to scope out the camera location. Leland wouldn’t approve.
“Are you really all right?” His voice changed from clipped consultant to southern charmer, his honeyed drawl whispering through her body. “It sucks that I’m not there with you. This can’t be easy.”
Hope fluttered its wings. “Seriously, I’m fine.” She decided to go out on a limb. “I miss you, though.”
She heard a voice in the background and realized someone, probably Tully, was there with him. “Ditto,” he said. “In a big way.”
The wings fluttered a little faster, just like her heartbeat. “I guess you can’t talk freely.”
“Not about that. What time do you finish at the gym?”
“Seven. My late appointment canceled at the last minute, the inconsiderate jerk.” Leland had been on her schedule for seven thirty that evening.
“Yeah, I hear you on that.” He did not sound like he was smiling. “I’ll call you later.”
He disconnected before she could tell him to stop worrying about her.
However, she did a little jig at the prospect of talking with him when she got off work.
Leland set his own encrypted phone carefully on the desk. He’d had to browbeat Tully into allowing him to ship its counterpart to Dawn. His partner hadn’t wanted to chance spooking the arms dealers and thereby putting Dawn in danger. But after Leland asked him for the tenth time if the bodyguard had reported anyone following Dawn, Tully had relented, mostly to get Leland off his back.
“I’m not blind,” Tully said. “I know you wanted to whisper sweet nothings into that phone. You didn’t have to hold back on my account.”
Leland scowled at him. “I wanted to tell her not to go anywhere near that damned basement but that’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull.”
Tully raised his eyebrows. “Takes one to know one.” He turned serious. “I like Dawn. She’s a strong woman.”
“More than you know,” Leland said. “But that won’t stop a bullet.”
“I meant that I’m glad you and she are together.”
Leland held up a hand to stop him. “Not here. Not now.”
“Where the hell else am I supposed to talk to you about it? You never leave this office except to swim or—thank God for Dawn!—to go to the gym in New Jersey.” Tully bent forward, his forearms on his thighs. “She’s good for you. You should try to hold on to her.”
“Right now, I just want to make sure she stays alive and unhurt,” Leland said, irritated at Tully’s interference in his personal life. He had enough concerns about Dawn without adding the future of their relationship to the mix.
“Fine. I’ve said my piece. You just think about it.” Tully straightened up. “I’ve gotta get in there tonight before they move the goods.”
