Page 69 of Shockproof

“No.”

“You know where he lives?”

“No.”

“You know where he’s comin’ from?”

“I know where’s he’s going to be.” An unpredicted cringe is almost immediately presented. “Kind of.”

“Clarify.”

“The algorithm was able to identify the patterns of each individual’s assumed name and essentially map out his whole life according to persona. None of them overlap. Not looks. Not locations. Not known associates. Not hobbies. Not evencuisinetypes, which is ironically enough, what created a flaw in his rather ironclad alias setup.”

I fold my fingers at the small of her back and continue to wordlessly listen on.

“There isoneThai restaurant, Thick Thais, that he visits here in downtown Dalvegan quarterly. I’m fairly certain it’s some sort of drop or pickup location.”

“Perfect.”

“Mmm…not exactly.” A tiny bite is stolen out of the side of her lip. “It’s always done within the samewindowof time but not the same date or day of the week or even month necessarily. What I’ve done is managed to find you a window, it just happens that window is um…let’s say midsized.”

“How midsized we talkin’?”

“Bay.”

Displeasure has me sucking my teeth in response.

“There are only a few weeks left in the quarter and according to Wiz’s monitoring, he hasn’t arrived yet, which means hewillbe arriving sometime in this month.”

“So, we have to do recon of the Thai restaurant every day from now until the 31st?”

“Technically, no. They’re closed on Christmas day.”

I force myself to find a smile. “At least I know we’ll be together for that.”

“Andthey close early on Christmas Eve; therefore, we can still spendNochebuenawith Ma.” Her beam is sweet. Optimistic. “I honestly don’t think you’ll have to stakeout the place that long.”

She’s tossed a quirked eyebrow of question.

“From an analyzing standpoint, he’s least likely to visit the week of Christmas. It’s a high-risk environment with too many variables he can’t control or predict.”

“It compromises the security of his situation. Puttin’ himself as much as whatever he’s there to pick up or drop off in possible danger.”

“Plus, law enforcement presence increases exponentially downtown that week in particular. That means more eyes. More eyes mean more bodies. More bodies mean more-”

“Complications.”

“Exactly. And the same can be said for New Years.”

“So, really…we’re lookin’ at a couple weeksat most.”

Arley quickly nods. “Notidealbut definitely manageable.”

“I’ll organize a mission plan and update the others accordingly.” Allowing my shoulders to untense is followed by me asking, “What are their hours?”

“Eleven to nine.”

“Good. That means we can finally go Christmas tree shoppin’ in the mornin’. Lot opens at seven. Hot coco truck at seven thirty.”

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