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Aidan started to laugh “And how did you pull that one off? I’m the only person authorized to commission the jet”

“What’s that American expression—so sue me?” Simone sounded very pleased with herself “I may have implied to our pilot that you’d instructed ht plan Are you angry?”

“Furious” Aidan’s headache was vanishing as he spoke “After the videoconference, you’d better order up so to need all your energy for what I have in mind”

San Mateo, California

26 February

Monday, 9:55 pm local time

He lit his cigarette and took a deep drag, exhaling and watching the wisps of s habit He’d proain, that he’d find a way to quit Maybe he’d cave and try hypnosis Nothing else seemed to work They couldn’t counterbalance his stress He needed an outlet And not one that piled pounds on his body Maybe he’d double the au

He’d concluded his work for the day and reported in There’d been no red flags Pennington had spent theat NanoUSA No shocker there He’d been told to stick to the script of his life, and so far, he had Family time or not, there was no way he’d be in fulltime vacation mode when his company was about to revolutionize the electronics world He’d held a full departh-level overseas McKinsey partner who had checked out As had the purpose of thebut necessary But a possible division overhaul? That had interesting connotations It could be a coincidence Or it could be Pennington’s way of finding inroads in order to provide them hatever they demanded in their next set of instructions That would be a smart move on his part

Lauren Pennington wouldn’t have to be disposed of—yet

Ritz-Carlton

26 February

Monday, 10:53 pm local time

Aidan had spent enough time in the hotel lobby to scope out the place for potential surveillance He’d browsed his eed phone calls, and acted like a typical business his jacket over his shoulder, and sucked in his breath—transformed into a businessman as free to relax and unwind in a resort hotel His instincts told him there were no eyes on hi his carry-on bag over his shoulder, going up to the front desk, and checking in to the room he’d reserved for himself in advance That done, he’d taken the elevator up to the third floor, entered his rooh to chuck his jacket and tie on the bed and use the bathroo the stairs rather than the elevator up to the Penningtons’ fourth-floor suite

The teaone well He’d kept it short, partly because of his ti in the back seat of a town car and, sound-deadeningor not, he wasn’t thrilled by the lack of total privacy Mostly, he’d listened He’d put on his noise-canceling headphones for all the debriefings Everything on track He’d also had the opportunity to “ain, Si job Two attractive women in their otten to Marc and Philip ASAP Both well-versed in the Croatian language, one fro lived there for a dozen years and the other fro The former, Derica, had worked undercover cases such as these before, and the latter, Ellie, was fluent in Albanian as well as Croatian Both wo of the word classified They’d been brought up to speed with all the information they needed to know and were fully prepared for the assignments ahead

As for Aidan, he’d enda for the European team to follow, but that it was dependent upon the conversation he was about to have No one asked questions They knehy Aidan wasn’t being ive them the information once it was solidified and when his location was secure