Page 55 of Say Nothing
"He’ll want somewhere familiar, but he can't go anywhere connected to him.Maybe there’s an address on file for his mother, or his childhood home, but he’s too smart for that.He’ll need a place to regroup and think of his next move, a place where we wouldn’t think to look for him, somewhere familiar, maybe?"Alison stood up and called over to Loxley."Are you still tracking Vanessa’s phone?"
"We are, and it’s on the move again, moving fast this time," Loxley said."We’re tracking his phone, too, now, and it’s with hers.They're moving on the highway, headed out of the city.I have a highway patrol car waiting five miles down the road from them, ready to pick them up."
"That’s exactly what he wants," Alison said."He wants us focused elsewhere.If he’s showing us that, then he’s either still in the city or leaving for somewhere else."
Where would you go?Where would you go?
"No," Alison said as a chill ran through her body."You need a place to lay low, and you want a chance to get me.Are you in my home, Keith?Are you waiting there for me to come home so you can kill me?
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Alison opened up a new tab in her browser and searched for the login page for her security system at her house.
"Where is he?"Derek asked.
"He wants to leave the city, but he also wants me," Alison said as she logged in."He needs somewhere secluded where no one will think of looking, somewhere he can hide out after scaring me away, and if I return home for some reason before they leave, then it’s an added bonus for him.He already got into my house once without tripping the alarm; he can do it again."
"He can wipe all of that," Derek pointed out.
"He can, but he doesn’t have his processing power anymore now that we have the basement.Still, if he’s gone in, he’ll have overridden the alarm, and he’ll use the cameras to watch for anyone approaching.I need a tech guy!"
Derek gestured, and one of the techs ran over.
"This is the gate camera," Alison told the tech."It’s pointed at the road.If he’s inside, he’ll be watching the feed.He won't need to override it or wipe anything; he’ll only want to watch the feed for any cop cars approaching so he can get out of there.All I need is for you to slip in unnoticed and do whatever programming thing it is you need to do to run this feed on a loop to anyone watching the camera while we use it.Can that be done?"
"Yeah, it can," the tech said."Just give me a few minutes."
The tech ran back to his desk and returned with a USB stick.He plugged it into her laptop, opened a few folders, and then opened the command prompt and entered some commands.Code flew up the screen so fast that it was unreadable.Then, some other commands and more code ran.The tech sat back in the chair and waited.
Everyone waited with him with bated breath, quiet enough to hear a pin drop.Finally, he opened a new window, and the image from the camera was duplicated, sitting side by side in the window.
"This should be it," the tech said."The one on the left is what anyone watching the feed will see.The one on the right is the actual live feed.This should work."
"It should work?"Alison asked.
"I just need to check that when we move the cameras, it only moves on the right.If not, then we might tip him off."
"Do it," Alison said.
The tech placed the cursor on the feed on the right, held down the mouse button, then dragged a millimeter to the right.The camera feed on the right shifted, but the one of the left didn’t.
"Okay, we’re good," he said.
"Can you turn the camera to face the house?"Alison asked."I know we might be made if he sees the camera moving from the house, but this is our best shot of confirming where he is."
The tech nodded and moved the camera again, shifting it as slowly as possible until it was pointed directly at the house.It was empty—no one visible in any windows.
Alison sighed."He won't risk going in front of a window unless he needs to.
"There," Derek said, pointing to the screen."There was a shadow.Look!Right there again.Someone’s in there?"
"That’s where he’s hiding out," Alison said.
"Okay, we go now, we move on foot when we get near, and we take him out if we get a shot," Derek said."Let’s go!"
***
Alison marched with Derek through the bushes and trees as they approached the house from the front, the side with the large windows that looked down on the city of Oakland.She only hoped they were quick enough to get there before they had left.If everyone were in place, then most of the house would be surrounded, and there would be no escape.
